New Year

1035
Grateful Recollections 1 COME, Thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace, Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above:

Praise the mount—oh fix me on it, Mount of God's unchanging love.

2 Here I raise my Ebenezer;

Hither by Thine help I'm come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.

3 Oh to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrain'd to be!

Let that grace, now, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;

Prone to leave the God I love—

Here's my heart, oh take and seal it, Seal it from Thy courts above.

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, 1760

1036

Ebenezer 1 LET hearts and tongues unite, And loud thanksgivings raise;

'Tis duty, mingled with delight, To slug the Saviour's praise.

2 When in our blood we lay, He would not let us die, Because His love had fix'd a day To bring salvation nigh.

3 In childhood and in youth His eye was on us still;

Though strangers to His love and truth, And prone to cross His will.

4 And since His name we knew, How gracious has He been!

What dangers has He led us through, What mercies have we seen!

5 Now through another year, Supported by His care, We raise our Ebenezer here, "The Lord has help'd thus far."

6 Our lot in future years, Unable to foresee, He kindly to prevent our fears, Says, "Leave it all to Me."

7 Yea, Lord, we wish to cast Our cares upon Thy breast, Help us to praise Thee for the past, And trust Thee for the rest.

John Newton, 1779

1037

Another Year 1 FATHER of mercies! God of love! Whose kind compassion still we prove, Our praise accept, and bless us here, As brought to this—another year.

2 We sing Thy goodness all divine, Whose radiant beams around us shine;

'Tis through Thy goodness we appear Preserved to this—another year.

3 Our souls, our all we here resign;

Make us, and keep us ever Thine; And grant that in Thy love and fear We may begin—another year.

4 Be this our sweet experience still, To know and do Thine holy will;

Then shall our souls, with joy sincere, Bless Thee for this—another year.

5 Still, Lord, through life Thy love display, And then in death's approaching day, We'll joyful part with all that's here, Nor wish on earth—another year.

Samuel Medley, 1789.

1038
Goodness sought 1 GREAT GOD, we sing that mighty hand, By which supported still we stand: The opening year Thy mercy shows;

Let mercy crown it, till it close.

2 By day, by night, at home, abroad, Still are we guarded by our God: By His incessant bounty fed, By His unerring counsel led.

3 With grateful hearts the past we own; The future, all to us unknown, We to Thy guardian care commit, And peaceful leave before Thy feet.

4 In scenes exalted or depress'd, Thou art our joy, and Thou our rest;

Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise, Adored through all our changing days.

5 When death shall interrupt these songs, And seal in silence mortal tongues, Our helper, God, in whom we trust, In better worlds our souls shall boast.

Philip Doddridge, 1755

1039
God's Help reviewed 1 MY helper God! I bless His name: The same His power, His grace the same; The tokens of His friendly care Open, and crown, and close the year.

2 I, 'midst ten thousand dangers, stand, Supported by His guardian hand; And see, when I survey my ways, Ten thousand monuments of praise.

3 Thus far His arm hath led me on;

Thus far I make His mercy known;

And, while I tread this desert land, New mercies shall new songs demand.

4 My grateful soul, on Jordan's shore, Shall raise one sacred pillar more:

Then bear, in His bright courts above, Inscriptions of immortal love.

Philip Doddridge, 1755

. 1040
A Birth-day Hymn 1 I MY Ebenezer raise To my kind Redeemer's praise; With a grateful heart I own Hitherto Thy help I've known.

2 What may be my future lot Well I know concerns me not; This should set my heart at rest, What Thy will ordains is best.

3 I my all to Thee resign;

Father, let Thy will be mine: May but all Thy dealings prove Fruits of Thy paternal love.

4 Guard me, Saviour, by Thy power, Guard me in the trying hour:

Let Thy unremitted care Save me from the lurking snare.

5 Let my few remaining days Be directed to Thy praise;

Bo the last, the closing scene, Shall be tranquil and serene.

6 To Thy will I leave the rest, Grant me but this one request, Both in life and death to prove Tokens of Thy special love.

John Fawcett, 1782

1041 Shortness and Uncertainty of Life.

1 WHILE with ceaseless course the sun Rolls along the passing year, Many souls their race have run, Never more to meet us here.

2 Fix'd in an eternal state, They have done with all below;

We a little longer wait, But how little—none can know.

3 Swiftly thus our fleeting days Bear us down life's rapid stream!

Upwards, Lord, our spirits raise;

All below is but a dream.

4 Bless Thy word to young and old;

Fill us with a Saviour's love; And when life's short tale is told, May we dwell with Thee above.

John Newton, 1779

1042 Prospect of another Year

1 FOR Thy mercy and Thy grace, Constant through another year, Hear our song of thankfulness;

Jesu, our Redeemer, hear.

2 In our weakness and distress, Rock of Strength, be Thou our stay: In the pathless wilderness Be our true and living way.

3 Who of us death's awful road In the coming year shall tread, With Thy rod and staff, O God, Comfort Thou his dying bed.

4 Make us faithful, make us pure, Keep us evermore Thine own, Help Thy servants to endure, Fit us for the promised crown.

5 So within Thy palace gate We shall praise, on golden strings, Thee the only Potentate, Lord of lords, and King of kings.

Henry Downton, 1843.

1043

Watchnight

1 YE virgin souls, arise, With all the dead awake!

Unto salvation wise, Oil in your vessels take:

Upstarting at the midnight cry, "Behold your heavenly Bridegroom nigh!"

2 He comes, He comes, to call The nations to His bar, And raise to glory all Who fit for glory are:

Make ready for your full reward;

Go forth with joy to meet your Lord.

3 Go, meet Him in the sky; Your everlasting Friend: Your Head to glorify, With all His saints ascend:

Ye pure in heart, obtain the grace To see, without a veil, His face.

4 The everlasting doors Shall soon the saints receive, Above yon angel-powers In glorious joy to live!

Far from a world of grief and sin, With God eternally shut in.

5 Then let us wait to hear The trumpet's welcome sound; To see our Lord appear, Let us be watching found, When Jesus doth the heavens bow, Be found—as, Lord, Thou find'st us now!

Charles Wesley, 1749