2 Our minds in perfect peace
Our Father's care shall keep,
We yield to gentle slumber now,
For thou canst never sleep.
3 How blessed, Lord, are they
On thee securely stayed!
Nor shall they be in life alarmed,
Nor be in death dismayed.
1 THE day is past and gone;
The evening shades appear;
O, may we all remember well
The night of death draws near!
2 We lay our garments by,
Upon our beds to rest;
So death shall soon disrobe us all
Of what is here possessed.
3 Lord, keep us safe this night,
Secure from all our fears;
May angels guard us, while we sleep,
Till morning light appears!
8s. & 7s. M. (Peculiar.)
An Evening Offering.
1 THROUGH the day thy love hath spared us,
Now we lay us down to rest;
Through the silent watches guard us,
Let no foe our peace molest;
Father, thou our guardian be,
Sweet it is to trust in thee.
3 Pilgrims here on earth and strangers,
Dwelling in the midst of foes,-
Us and ours preserve from dangers,
In thine arms let us repose,
And, when life's short day is past,
Rest with thee in heaven at last.
1 LORD of glory! King of power!
In this lone and silent hour,
While the shades of darkness rise
And the eve is on the skies,
By thy blessing, as the dews,
Which
yon shaded skies diffuse,
Bid our feverish passions cease;
Calm us with thy promised peace.
2 Wheresoe'er the brow of pain
Seeks oblivion's balm in vain,
Or the form of watchful grief
Knows not of the night's relief,
There thy pity, softening power,
There the spirit's calm restore;
Till each tongue, from murmuring free,
Wakes the hymn of praise to thee.
GOD, that madest earth and heaven,
Darkness and light,-
Who the day for toil hast given,
For rest the night,-
May thine angel guards defend us,
Slumber sweet thy mercy send us,
Holy dreams and hopes attend us,
This livelong night.
Evening Hymn. Ps. 141: 2.
1 SOFTLY now the light of day
Fades upon my sight away;
Free from care, from labor free,
Lord, I will commune with thee.
2 Thou, whose all-pervading eye
Nought escapes, without, within:
Pardon each infirmity,
Open fault and secret sin.
3 Soon, for me, the light of day
Shall forever pass away;
Then from sin and sorrow free,
Take me, Lord, to dwell with thee.
1 MY GOD, I now from sleep awake;
The sole possession of me take;
From midnight terrors me secure,
And guard my heart from thoughts impure.
2 Blest angels, while we silent lie,
You hallelujahs sing on high;
You joyful hymn the Ever-blest,
Before the throne, and never rest.
3 I with your choir celestial join,
In offering up a hymn divine;
With you in heaven I hope to dwell,
And bid the night and world farewell.
4 Blest Jesus, thou, on heaven intent,
Whole nights hast in devotion spent;
But I, frail creature, soon am tired,
And all my zeal is soon expired.
5 Shine on me, Lord, new life impart,
Fresh ardors kindle in my heart:
One ray of thy all-quickening light
Dispels the sloth and clouds of night.
1 THE hours of evening close;
Its lengthened shadows, drawn
O'er scenes of earth, invite repose,
And wait the Sabbath dawn.
2 So let its calm prevail
O'er forms of outward care;
Nor thought for "many things" assail
The still retreat of prayer.
3 Our guardian Shepherd near
His watchful eye will keep;
And, safe from violence and fear,
Will fold his flock to sleep.
4 So may a holier light
Than earth's our spirits rouse,
And call us, strengthened by his might,
Το pay the Lord our vows.
1 SWEET to the soul the parting ray,
That ushers placid evening in,
When with the still, expiring day,
The Sabbath's peaceful hours begin
How grateful to the anxious breast,
The sacred hours of holy rest.
2 Hushed is the tumult of this day,
And worldly cares and business ceasc;
While soft the vesper breezes play,
To hymn the glad return of peace.
O season blest! O moment given
To turn the vagrant thoughts to heaven.
3 Oft as this hallowed hour shall come,
O raise my thoughts from earthly things,
And bear them to my heavenly home,
On living faith's immortal wings-
Till the last gleam of life decay,
In one eternal Sabbath day.
1 DEAR is the hallowed morn to me,
When Sabbath bells awake the day,
And, by their sacred minstrelsy,
Call me from earthly cares away.
2 And dear to me the wingéd hour,
Spent in thy hallowed courts, O Lord!
To feel devotion's soothing power,
And catch the mauna of thy word.
3 And dear to me the loud Amen,
Which echoes through the blest abode,
Which swells and sinks, and swells again,
Dies on the walls, but lives to God.
4 Oft when the world, with iron hands,
Has bound me in its six days' chain,
This bursts them, like the strong man's bands,
And lets my spirit loose again.
5 Go, man of pleasure, strike thy lyre,
Of broken Sabbaths sing the charms;
Ours be the prophet's car of fire
That bears us to a Father's arms.
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