2 Thou 'rt nigh, and yet my labouring mind
Feels after Thee in vain :
Thy herald is the stormy wind,
Thy path the watery plain :
But Thee in tempests who can find,
Or in the trackless main?
3 We hear Thy voice when thunders roll
Through the wide fields of air :
The waves obey Thy dread control;
Yet still Thou art not there.
Where shall I find Him, O my soul!
Who yet is everywhere?
4 O not in circling depth or height,
But in the conscious breast,
Present to faith, though veiled from sight,
There does His spirit rest.
O come, thou Presence infinite!
And make Thy creature blest.
1 Lord of the worlds above!
How pleasant and how fair
The dwellings of Thy love,
Thy earthly temples are!
To Thine abode
My heart aspires,
With warm desires
To see my God.
2 O happy souls that pray
Where God appoints to hear!
O happy men who pay
Their constant service there!
They praise Thee still;
And happy they
That love the way
To Zion's hill.
3 They go from strength to strength
Through this dark vale of tears,
Till each arrives at length,
Till each in heaven appears:
O glorious seat,
When God our King
Shall thither bring
Our willing feet!
1 Lord! in Thy sacred hour, Within Thy courts we bend,
And bless Thy love, and own Thy power,
Our Father and our Friend!
In courts by mortals trod,
Nor only is this day Thine own,
When men draw near their God.
3 Thy temple is the arch
Of yon unmeasured sky;
Thy Sabbath, the stupendous march
Of Thine eternity.
4 Lord! may that holier day
Dawn on Thy servants' sight,
And grant us in those courts to pray
Of pure unclouded light!
1 How pleasant, how divinely fair,
O Lord of hosts, thy dwellings are!
With long desire my spirit faints
To meet the assemblies of Thy saints.
2 Blest are the saints who sit on high,
Around Thy throne of majesty ;
Thy brightest glories shine above,
And all their work is praise and love.
3 Blest are the souls that find a place
Within the temple of Thy grace;
There they behold Thy gentler rays,
And seek Thy face, and learn Thy praise.
4 Blest are the men whose hearts are set
To find the way to Zion's gate;
God is their strength, and through the road They lean upon their Helper, God.
5 Cheerful they walk with growing strength,
Till all shall meet in heaven at length,
Till all before Thy face appear,
And join in nobler worship there.
1 Lord of the Sabbath! hear our vows, On this Thy day, in this Thy house; And own, as grateful sacrifice,
The songs which from Thy temple rise.
2 Thine earthly sabbaths, Lord, we love ;
But there's a nobler rest above;
To that our longing souls aspire,
With ardent hope and strong desire.
3 No more fatigue, no more distress,
Nor sin, nor death, shall reach the place;
No groans shall mingle with the songs
Which dwell upon immortal tongues.
4 No rude alarms of angry foes;
No cares to break the long repose;
No midnight shade, no clouded sun,
But sacred, high, eternal noon.
5 O long-expected day, begin!
Dawn on these realms of pain and sin;
With joy we 'll tread the appointed road,
And sleep in death, to rest with God.
1 Hosanna! Lord, thine angels cry;
Hosanna! Lord, we here reply;
Above, beneath us, and around,
The dead and living swell the sound.
2 O Father! with protecting care
Meet us in this Thy house of prayer;
Assembled in Thy sacred name,
Light from their God Thy children claim.
3 But, chiefest, in our cleansed breast,
Eternal! let Thy spirit rest,
And make our secret soul to be
A temple pure, and worthy Thee!
4 So, in the last and dreadful day,
When earth and heaven shall melt away,
Thy flock, redeemed from sinful stain,
Shall swell the sound of praise again.
Father! who art on high!
Weak is the melody
Of voice or song to reach Thine awful ear,
Unless the heart be there,
Winging the words of
With its own fervent faith, or suppliant fear.
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