HYMNS

FOR

1.

Morning and Evening.

Morning Hymn.

Now doth the sun ascend the sky,
And wake creation with its ray:
Be present with us, Lord most high,
Through all the actions of the day.

Create in us a heart sincere,
Simplicity of word and will;

And may the morn, so pure, so clear,
Its own sweet calm in us instil.

Keep us, eternal Lord, this day,
From every sinful passion free;
Grant us in all we do and say,

In all our thoughts to honour thee.

For all day long on heaven's high tower There stands thy sentinel, who spies

Our every action hour by hour,

From early dawn till daylight dies.

So when the evening stars appear,
And in their train the darkness bring,
May we, O Lord, with conscience clear,
To Thee our grateful praises sing.

2.

Evening Hymn.

O LORD of perfect purity,

Who dost the world with light adorn,
And paint the fields of azure sky
With lovely hues of eve and morn:

Upon our fainting souls distil

The grace of thy celestial dew;
Let no fresh snare to sin beguile,
No former sin revive anew.

Keep thou our souls from schemes of crime,
No guilt remorseful let them know;
Nor thinking but on things of time,
Into eternal darkness go.

Teach us to knock at heav'n's high door,
Teach us the prize of life to win;
Teach us all evil to abhor,

And purify ourselves within.

Be thou our guide, be thou our goal,
Be thou our pathway to the skies:
Our joy when sorrow fills the soul,
In death our everlasting prize.

CREATOR of the starry frame,
Eternal light of all who live;
Jesu, Redeemer of mankind,

An ear to thy poor suppliants give.

When man, o'erwhelm'd in sin and death,
Was wholly lost in Satan's snare,
Love brought thee down to cure our ills,
By taking of those ills a share.

Thy love for guilty men it was

That caus'd thy sacred blood to flow; When issuing from thy virgin shrine, Thou didst to death a victim go.

Great Judge of all, in that last day

When friends shall fail and foes combine,

Look down in pity then, we pray,

And guard us with thine arm divine.

To God the Father and the Son
All praise and power and glory be,
With thee, O sacred Paraclete,
Both now and through eternity.

4.

Christmas Hymn.

(1.)

SING, my tongue, the Saviour's glory,
Sing with joy and holy mirth;
Tell aloud the famous story

Of his spotless virgin birth:
How he comes, an infant stranger,
Here to dwell with us on earth.

Now the long-expected fulness
Of the sacred time draws nigh;
Now for us the Word eternal
Leaves his Father's throne on high;
From a virgin's womb appearing,
Cloth'd in our mortality.

All within a lowly manger,
Lo, a helpless Babe he lies;
See, his gentle virgin Mother
Lull to sleep his infant cries,
While the limbs of God incarnate
Round with swathing bands she ties.

Blessing, honour everlasting

To th' immortal Deity;

To the Father, Son, and Spirit,

Equal adoration be.

Prais'd be thou through earth and heaven,

Sempiternal Unity.

5.

Christmas Hymn.

(II.)

SEE amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See the tender Lamb appears,
Promis'd from eternal years.

Hail, thou ever-blessed morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn!
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Sing the Babe of Bethlehem!

Lo, within a manger lies

He who built the starry skies;
He who, thron'd in height sublime,
Sits amid the cherubim.

Hail, &c.

"Say, ye holy shepherds, say What your joyful news to-day? Wherefore have ye left your sheep On the lonely mountain steep ?" Hail, &c.

"As we watch'd at dead of night, Lo! we saw a wondrous light; Angels singing, 'Peace on earth,' Told us of the Saviour's birth." Hail, &c.

Sacred Infant! all divine!

What a tender love was thine,
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this!

Hail, &c.