681 L. M. Serve the Lord with gladness. Psalm 100:2.
Ye nations round the earth, rejoice, Before the Lord, your sovereign King; Serve him with cheerful heart and voice; With all your tongues his glory sing.
2 The Lord is God: ’tis he alone Doth life, and breath, and being give; We are his work, and not our own; The sheep that on his pastures live.
3 Enter his gates with songs of joy; With praises to his courts repair; And make it your divine employ To pay your thanks and honors there.
4 The Lord is good, the Lord is kind; Great is his grace, his mercy sure: And the whole race of men shall find His truth from age to age endure.
682 L. M. Let us worship and bow down. Psalm 95:6.
O come, loud anthems let us sing, Loud thanks to our almighty King! For we our voices high should raise, When our salvation’s Rock we praise.
2 Into his presence let us haste, To thank him for his favors past; To him address in joyful songs The praise that to his name belongs.
3 O, let us to his courts repair, And bow with adoration there! Down on our knees, devoutly, all Before the Lord, our Maker, fall.
683 L. M. Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. 1 Sam. 3:10.
While now thy throne of grace we seek, O God! within our spirits speak; For we will hear thy voice to-day, Nor turn our hardened hearts away.
2 Speak in thy gentlest tones of love, Till all our best affections move; We long to hear thy gentle call, And feel that thou art all in all.
3 To conscience speak thy quickening word, Till all its sense of sin is stirred; For we would leave no stain of guile, To cloud the radiance of thy smile.
4 Speak, Father, to the anxious heart, Till every fear and doubt depart; For we can find no home or rest, Till with thy Spirit’s whispers blest.
5 Speak to convince, forgive, console: Childlike we yield to thy control; These hearts, too often closed before, Would grieve thy patient love no more.
684 L. M. God is here.
Be still! be still! for all around, On either hand, is holy ground: Here in his house, the Lord to-day Will listen, while his people pray.
2 Thou, tossed upon the waves of care Ready to sink with deep despair, Here ask relief, with heart sincere, And thou shalt find that God is here.
3 Thou who hast laid within the grave Those whom thou hadst no power to save, Now to the mercy-seat draw near, With all thy woes, for God is here.
4 Thou who hast dear ones far away, In foreign lands, ’mid ocean’s spray, Pray for them now, and dry the tear, And trust the God who listens here.
5 Thou who art mourning o’er thy sin, Deploring guilt that reigns within, The God of peace is ever near; The troubled spirit meets him here.
685 L. M. I will come in. Rev. 3:20.
O blest the souls, for ever blest, Where God as sovereign is confest; O happy hearts, the blesséd homes To which the King in glory comes!
2 Fling wide thy portals, O my heart! Be thou a temple set apart; So shall thy Sovereign enter in, And new and nobler life begin.
3 Deliverer, come! we open wide Our hearts to thee; here, Lord, abide! Let all thy glorious presence feel; Thou—King of saints! thyself reveal.
686 L. M. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. Psalm 84:4.
How pleasant, how divinely fair, Lord of hosts, thy dwellings are! With long desire my spirit faints To meet the assemblies of thy saints.
2 My soul would rest in thine abode, My panting heart cries out for God; My God! my King! why should I be So far from all my joys and thee!
3 Blest are the souls who 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.
687 L. M. The living temple.
O Father! with protecting care, Meet us in this, our house of prayer; Assembled in thy sacred name, Thy promised blessing here we claim.
2 But chiefest in the cleanséd breast, For ever let thy Spirit rest, And make the contrite heart to be A temple pure and worthy thee.
688 L. M. My soul longeth for the courts of the Lord. Psalm 84:2.
Look from on high, great God, and see Thy saints lamenting after thee: We sigh, we languish, and complain; Revive thy gracious work again.
2 To-day thy cheering grace impart, Bind up and heal the broken heart; Our sins subdue, our souls restore, And let our foes prevail no more.