Worship

Let us mark, lastly, in these verses, what a rare thing is thankfulness. We are told that of all the ten lepers whom Christ healed, there was only one who turned back and gave Him thanks. The words that fell from our Lord’s lips upon this occasion are very solemn: “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” The lesson before us is humbling, heart-searching, and deeply instructive. The best of us are far too like the nine lepers. We are more ready to pray than to praise, and more disposed to ask God for what we have not, than to thank Him for what we have. Murmurings, and complainings, and discontent abound on every side of us. Few indeed are to be found who are not continually hiding their mercies under a bushel, and setting their wants and trials on a hill. These things ought not so to be. But all who know the church and the world must confess that they are true. The wide-spread thanklessness of Christians is the disgrace of our day. It is a plain proof of our little humility. Let us pray for a daily thankful spirit. It is the spirit which God loves and delights to honor. David and St. Paul were eminently thankful men.—It is the spirit which has marked all the brightest saints in every age of the church. M’Cheyne, and Bickersteth, and Haldane Stewart, were always full of praise.—It is the spirit which is the very atmosphere of heaven. Angels and “just men made perfect” are always blessing God.—It is the spirit which is the source of happiness on earth. If we would be careful for nothing, we must make our requests known to God not only with prayer and supplication, but with thanksgiving.

Verse 1

Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!

Verse 2

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word,
But as thou dwell’st with thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free,
Come, not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Verse 3

I need thy presence every passing hour;
What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?
Thro’ cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me!

Verse 4

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away:
Change and decay in all around I see;
O thou, who changest not, abide with me!

Verse 1

Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!

Verse 2

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word,
But as thou dwell’st with thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free,
Come, not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Verse 3

I need thy presence every passing hour;
What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?
Thro’ cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me!

Verse 4

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away:
Change and decay in all around I see;
O thou, who changest not, abide with me!

Verse 1

A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify;
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky:—

Verse 2

To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfil,—
Oh! may it all my powers engage—
To do my Master’s will.

Verse 3

Arm me with jealous care,
As in thy sight to live;
And, oh! thy servant, Lord! prepare
A strict account to give.

Verse 4

Help me to watch and pray,
And on thyself rely;
Assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall forever die.

Verse 1

Again our earthly cares we leave,
And in thy courts appear;
Again, with joyful feet, we come
To meet our Savior here.

Verse 2

Within those walls let holy peace.
And love, and concord dwell;
Here give the troubled conscience ease--
The wounded spirit heal.

Verse 3

The feeling heart, the melting eye.
The humble mind bestow;
And shine upon us from on high,
To make our graces grow.

Verse 4

May we in faith receive thy word,
In faith present our prayers;
And in the presence of our Lord,
Unbosom all our cares.

Verse 5

Shew us some token of thy love,
Our fainting hope to raise;
And pour thy blessing from above,
That we may render praise.

Verse 1

Ask ye what great thing I know
That delights and stirs me so?
What the high reward I win?
Whose the name I glory in?
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Verse 2

What is faith’s foundation strong?
What awakes my lips to song?
He who bore my sinful load,
Purchased for me peace with God;
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Verse 3

Who is life in life to me?
Who the death of death will be?
Who will place me on his right
With the countless hosts of light?
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Verse 4

This is that great thing I know;
This delights and stirs me so;
Faith in him who died to save,
Him who triumphed o’er the grave,
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Verse 1

Ask ye what great thing I know
That delights and stirs me so?
What the high reward I win?
Whose the name I glory in?
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Verse 2

What is faith’s foundation strong?
What awakes my lips to song?
He who bore my sinful load,
Purchased for me peace with God;
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Verse 3

Who is life in life to me?
Who the death of death will be?
Who will place me on his right
With the countless hosts of light?
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Verse 4

This is that great thing I know;
This delights and stirs me so;
Faith in him who died to save,
Him who triumphed o’er the grave,
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Verse 1

Awake, and sing the song
Of Moses and the Lamb;
Wake, every heart, and every tongue!
To praise the Savior’s name.

Verse 2

Sing of his dying love;
Sing of his rising power;
Sing how he intercedes above
For those whose sins he bore.

Verse 3

Sing on your heavenly way,
Ye ransomed sinners! sing;
Sing on, rejoicing, every day,
In Christ, th’ eternal King.

Verse 4

Soon shall ye hear him say,
“Ye blessed children! come;”
Soon will he call you hence away,
And take his wanderers home.

Verse 1

Awake, awake, the sacred song,
To our incarnate Lord;
Let every heart and every tongue
Adore th’ eternal Word.

Verse 2

That awful Word, that sovereign Power,
By whom the worlds were made;
Oh, happy morn--illustrious hour--
Was once in flesh arrayed.

Verse 3

To dwell with misery here below,
The Savior left the skies,
And sunk to wretchedness and woe,
That worthless man might rise.

Verse 4

Adoring angels tuned their songs,
To hail the joyful day;
With rapture, then, let human tongues
Their grateful worship pay.

O Lord, our gracious and glorious Lord, who dwellest in the light inaccessible, and inhabitest the praises of Eternity, we would worship before Thee with the reverence and godly fear becoming us. Thou art holy, separated from all the limitations of Thy creatures, and far above our thoughts. But we bless Thee that Thou hast come near us, near us in Thy daily gracious providences, near us in the voice in our own hearts, near us best of all in Thy Son. And we thank Thee that, impassable for us as is the gulf between us and Thee, Thou hast bridged it over; and there is for us now a way into the Holiest of all, by which thoughts and love and trust and obedience can pass into Thy presence, and be united to Thee.

O Lord our God, from Whom cometh every good and perfect gift, give us, we pray Thee, the consciousness of Thy presence in this hour of worship, and grant that whatever we may each of us most need for our inward life we may find here and now. Draw our hearts to Thyself, we beseech Thee; prepare us for better service; help each of us to pass beyond the outward forms of worship; and to come, in the silence of our minds, into the secret place of the Most High. Flash Thy truth upon all our hearts and minds, help us in hearing and in speaking, bless us each as we severally require, receive our thanks for the individual and private blessings which we each possess, and for the universal gift which we each may have—the unspeakable gift of God in Jesus Christ. Hear us, we pray Thee, and grant us Thy presence and help now, for our Saviour Christ’s sake.

We pray Thee to help us in our worship, to guide our thoughts when we meditate upon Thy truth, to keep us from wandering away in mind and imagination and fancy into the ordinary affairs of life with all its trivialities and its trials. Help us as we draw near to Thee in worship, and as we open our minds and hearts to the teaching of Thy truth. Grant that our meeting may be full of blessing and of lasting good for every one of us. We would come to Thee with humble thanksgiving for all Thy great mercies to us, and for Him Who is the sun of them all, and in Whom all the sweets of Thy giving lie compacted, even Jesus Christ our Saviour.

We beseech Thee to bless us in our worship of this morning, and with like blessings draw near to all our brethren of every communion and tongue who on this day may be bowing their hearts before Thee. We beseech Thee that large blessings may come down upon praying souls. We beseech Thee that they may treasure the blessings which Thou dost bestow, and since Heaven’s gates are open may our gates not be shut.