5 My soul shall pray for Zion still
While life or breath remains;
There my best friends, my kindred, dwell
There God, my Savior, reigns.
Going to Church. Ps. 122.
1 How pleased and blest was I
To hear the people cry,
'Come, let us seek our God to-day!'
Yes, with a cheerful zeal,
We haste to Zion's hill,
And there our vows and honors pay.
2 Zion, thrice happy place, Adorned with wondrous grace,
And walls of strength embrace thee round! In thee our tribes appear
To pray, and praise, and hear
The sacred gospel's joyful sound.
3 There David's greater Son
Has fixed his royal throne;
He sits for grace and judgment there:
He bids the saint be glad,
He makes the sinner sad,
And humble souls rejoice with fear.
4 May peace attend thy gate,
And joy within thee wait,
To bless the soul of every guest.
The man that seeks thy peace,
And wishes thine increase,
A thousand blessings on him rest.
5 My tongue repeats her vows-
'Peace to this sacred house,
For here my friends and kindred dwell:
And since my glorious God
Makes thee his blest abode,
My soul shall ever love thee well.
Blessedness of Public Worship. Ps. 84.
1 How pleasant, how divinely fair,
O Lord of hosts, thy dwellings are!
With long desire my spirit faints
To meet th' assemblies of thy saints.
2 My flesh would rest in thine abode
My panting heart cries out for God:
My God! my King! why should I be
So far from all my joys and thee?
3 Blest are the saints who sit on high
Around thy throne of majesty: :
Thy brightest glories shine above,
And all their work is praise and love.
4 Blest are the souls who find a place
Within the temple of thy grace:
There they behold thy gentler rays,
And seek thy face, and learn thy praise.
5 Blest are the men whose hearts are set
To find the way to Zion's gate:
God is their strength, and through the road
They lean upon their helper, God.
6 Cheerful they walk, with growing strength, Till all shall meet in heaven at lengthTill all before thy face appear,
And join in nobler worship there.
Blessedness of Public Worship. Ps. 84.
1 LORD of the worlds above,
How pleasant and how fair
The dwellings of thy love,
Thine earthly temples, are!
To thine abode
My heart aspires, with warm desires
To see my God.
2 The sparrow for her young
With pleasure seeks a nest,
And wandering swallows long
To find their wonted rest:
My spirit faints
With equal zeal to rise and dwell
Among thy saints.
3 To spend one sacred day
Where God and saints abide,
Affords diviner joy
Than thousand days beside.
Where God resorts,
I love it more to keep the door
Than shine in courts.
4 O happy souls that pray
Where God appoints to hear!
O happy men that pay
Their constant service there!
They praise thee still;
And happy they that love the way
To Zion's hill!
5 They go from strength to strength
Through this dark vale of tears,
Till each arrives at length-
Till each in heaven appears.
O glorious seat,
When God, our King, shall thither bring
Our willing feet.
Delight in Public Worship. Ps. 84.
1 GREAT God, attend, while Zion sings
The joy that from thy presence springs.
To spend one day with thee on earth
Exceeds a thousand days of mirth.
2 Might I enjoy the meanest place
Within thy house, O God of grace,
Not tents of ease, nor thrones of power,
Should tempt my feet to leave thy door.
3 God is our sun-he makes our day;
God is our shield-he guards our way
From all th' assaults of hell and sin,,
From foes without and foes within.
4 All needful grace will God bestow,
And crown that grace with glory too.
He gives us all things, and withholds
No real good from upright souls.
5 O God, our King, whose sovereign sway
The glorious host of heaven obey,
Display thy grace, exert thy power,
Till all on earth thy name adore.
Excellence of Public Worship.
1 LORD of hosts, how lovely fair,
E'en on earth, thy temples are!
Here thy waiting people see
Much of heaven, and much of thee.
2 From thy gracious presence flows
Bliss that softens all our woes,
While thy Spirit's holy fire
Warms our hearts with
3 Here we supplicate thy throne;
Here thou mak'st thy glories known;
Here we learn thy righteous ways,
Taste thy love, and sing thy praise.
4 Thus, with festive songs of joy,
We our happy lives employ-
Love, and long to love thee more,
Till from earth to heaven we soar.
The Jewish Temple and Christian Church. Ps. 132.
1 THE Lord in Zion placed his name:
His ark was settled there:
To Zion the whole nation came
To worship thrice a year.
2 But we have no such lengths to go,
Nor wander far abroad:
Where'er thy saints assemble now
There is a house for God.
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