1 SWEET is the task, O Lord,
Thy glorious acts to sing,
To praise thy name, and hear thy word,
And grateful offerings bring.
2 Sweet at the dawning hour,
Thy boundless love to tell ;
And when the night-wind shuts the flower,
Still on the theme to dwell.
3 Sweet on this day of rest,
To join in heart and voice,
With those who love and serve thee best,
And in thy name rejoice.
4 To songs of praise and joy,
Be every Sabbath given,
That such may be our blest employ
Eternally in heaven.
8 & 7s. M. SUN. SCHOOL H. B.
1 WELCOME, welcome, quiet morning,
Welcome is this holy day;
Now the Sabbath morn returning,
Says a week has passed away.
Let me think how time is passing,
Soon the longest life departs,
Nothing human is abiding,
Save the love of humble hearts.
2 Love to God, and to our neighbor,
Makes our purest happiness;
Vain the wish, the care, the labor,
Earth's poor trifles to possess.
Swift my life's vain dreams are passing,
Like the startled dove they fly;
Or the clouds each other chasing,
Over yonder quiet sky.
3 Father, now one prayer I raise thee;
Give an humble, grateful heart;
Never let me cease to praise thee,
Never from thy fear depart.
Then, when years have gather'd o'er me,
And the world is sunk in shade,
Heaven's bright realm will rise before me;
There my treasure will be laid.
1 WE bless thee for this sacred day,
Thou who hast every blessing given,
Which sends the dreams of earth away,
And yields a glimpse of opening heaven.
2 Lord, in this day of holy rest,
We would improve the calm repose;
And, in thy service truly blest,
Forget the world, its joys and woes.
3 Lord! may thy truth, upon the heart,
Now fall and dwell as heavenly dew,
And flowers of grace in freshness start
Where once the weeds of error grew.
4 We would our prayers with fervor bring,
And lay them at thy sacred throne;
And render praise, O heavenly King,
To thee, whom praise can claim alone.
7s. M. 61. SUN. SCHOOL H. B.
Sabbath Morning.
1 SAFELY through another week,
God has brought us on our way;
Let us now a blessing seek,
Waiting in his courts to-day.
Day of all the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest!
2 Mercies, multiplied each hour,
Through our lives, our praise demand;
Guarded by thy mighty power,
Fed and guided by thy hand.
Yet ungrateful we have been,
Paying back these gifts with sin.
3 Lord, we pray for pardoning grace,
In our dear Redeemer's name:
Sin remove, and in its place
Give us virtue's purest flame;
Thus, from all our sins set free,
May we rest at last with thee.
1 WELCOME, Sweet day of rest,
That saw the Lord arise;
Welcome to this reviving breast,
And these rejoicing eyes. -
2 The King himself comes near,
And feasts his saints to-day;
Here we may sit and see him here,
And love, and praise, and pray.
3 One day amidst the place
Where my dear God hath been,
Is sweeter than ten thousand days
Of pleasurable sin.
4 My willing soul would stay
In such a frame as this,
And sit and sing herself away
To everlasting bliss.
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 churches rise.
2 Thine earthly sabbaths, Lord, we love;
But there's a nobler rest above;
To that our longing souls aspire,
With earnest hope and strong desire.
3 No more fatigue, no more distress;
Nor sin nor death shall reach the place;
No groans to mingle with the songs
Which warble from immortal tongues.
4 No rude alarms of raging 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 woe and sin;
Fain would we leave this weary road,
And sleep in death, to rest with God.
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