LESS, O Lord, this opening year
To the souls assembled here;
Clothe thy word with power divine,
Make all willing to be thine
2 Where thou hast thy work begun,
Give new strength the race to run;
Scatter darkness, doubts, and fears,
Wipe away the mourner's tears.
3 Bless us all both old and young,
Call forth praise from every tongue ;
Let our whole assembly prove
All thy power and all thy love.
1 BLESS, O our souls, the living God,
Call home the thoughts that rove abroad;
Let all the powers within us join
In work and worship so divine.
2 Bless, O our souls, the God of grace,
His favors claim our highest praise;
Why should the wonders he hath wrought
Be lost in silence and forgot!
3 'Twas he who sent his only Son
To die for crimes which we have done;
He owns the ransom, and forgives
The hourly follies of our lives.
4 High as Almighty power hath spread
The starry heavens above our head,
So far his love exceeds our praise,
Exceeds the highest hopes we raise.
5 And far as the same hand hath placed
The rising morning from the west,
So far his pardoning grace removes
The many sins of those he loves.
6 Then let us speak in grateful songs
The praise to which his name belongs;
Let not the wonders he has wrought
Be lost in silence and forgot.
LEST are the humble souls that see
Their emptiness and poverty;
Treasures of grace to them are given,
And crowns of joy laid up in heaven.
2 Blest are the men of broken heart,
Who mourn for sin with inward smart;
The blood of Christ divinely flows,
A healing balm for all their woes.
3 Blest are the meek who stand afar
From rage and passion noise and war;
God will secure their happy state,
And in his kingdom make them great.
4 Blest are the souls that thirst for grace,
Hunger and long for righteousness;
They shall be well supplied and fed,
With living streams and living bread.
5 Blest are the men whose actions prove,
Their pity sympathy and love;
From Christ the Lord shall they obtain
Like sympathy and love again.
6 Blest are the pure whose hearts are clean,
Hate what God hates, and conquer sin;
With endless pleasure they shall see,
A God of spotless purity.
7 Blest are the men of peaceful life,
Who quench the coals of growing strife;
They shall be called the heirs of bliss,
The sons of God, the God of peace.
8 Blest are the sufferers who partake
Of pain and shame for Jesus' sake;
Their soul shall truimph in the Lord,
Glory and joy are their reward.
LEST are the saints who dwell in light, And walk with Jesus clothed in white, Safe landed on that peaceful shore,
Where sin and death are known no more.
2 They are released from sin, and grief,
Death was their gate to endless life;
And now they do for ever prove
The greatness of their Saviour's love.
3 They do his will, his image bear,
Share in his bliss, his glory share
And filled with rapture, here unknown, They cast their crowns before his throne. 4 Ah! Lord with tardy steps we creep, And often through our sins we weep; Yet sanctify us day by day,
And take us to be blessed as they.
1 BLEST are the souls that hear and know The gospel's joyful sound;
Peace shall attend the path they go,
And light their steps surround.
2 Their joy shall bear their spirits up,
Through their Redeemer's name;
His righteouness exalts their hope,
Nor Satan dares condemn.
3 The Lord, our glory and defence,
Strength and salvation gives;
Israel, thy King for ever reigns,
Thy God for ever lives.
LESS'D be the everlasting God,
The Father of our Lord;
Be his abounding mercy praised,
His majesty adored.
2 When from the dead he raised his Son,
And called him to the sky,
He gave our souls a lively hope,
That they should never die.
3 What though our sinfulness will bring,
Our bodies to the dust;
Yet as the Lord our Saviour rose,
So all his followers must.
4 There's an inheritance divine,
Reserved against that day;
'Tis uncorrupted, undefiled,
And cannot fade away.
5 Saints by the power of God are kept "Till the salvation come;
We walk by faith as strangers here, "Till Christ shall call us home.
1 BLESSED be the father for his love,
which celestial source we owe
Rivers of endless joy above,
And rills of comfort here below
2 Glory to thee, Incarnate Lord,
The blood thou didst so freely shed,
Thy mighty grace, thy sacred word,
Restore to life and joy the dead.
3 We give thee, sacred Spirit, praise,
Who in our hearts of sin and woe,
Mak'st living springs of grace arise,
And into boundless glory flow.
4 Thus God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, we adore;
That sea of life and love unknown,
Unfathomed and without a shore.
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