The progress of the Gospel.
I SEE how great a flame aspires,
Kindled by a spark of grace!
Jesus' love the nations fires,
Sets the kingdoms on a blaze!
To bring fire on earth He came;
Kindled in some hearts it is;
O that all might catch the flame,
All partake the glorious bliss.
2 When He first the work begun,
Small and feeble was his day:
Now the word doth swifty run,
Now it wins its widening way:
More and more it spreads and grows,
Ever mighty to prevail;
Sins strong hold it now o'erthrows,
Shakes the trembling gates of hell.
3 Sons of God, your Saviour praise!
He the door hath open'd wide;
He hath given the word of grace,
Jesus' word is glorify'd;
Jesus, mighty to redeem,
He alone the work hath wrought;
Worthy is the work of Him,
Him who spake a world from nought.
4 Saw ye not the cloud arise,
Little as a human hand?
Now it spreads along the skies,
Hangs o'er all the thirsty land;
Lo! the promise of a shower
Drops already from above;
But the Lord will shortly pour
All the Spirit of his love.
For the outpouring of the Spirit.
1 ON all the earth thy Spirit shower,
The earth in righteousness renew;
Thy kingdom come, and hell o'erpower,
And to thy sceptre all subdue.
2 Like mighty winds or torrents fierce,
Let it the opposers all o'erturn;
And every law of sin reverse,
That faith and love may make all one.
3 Yea, let thy Spirit in every place
Its richer energy declare;
While lovely tempers, fruits of grace,
The kingdom of thy Christ prepare.
Grant this, O holy God, and true;
The ancient seers thou didst inspire;
To us perform the promise due,
Descend, and crown us now with fire!
The light to lighten the Gentiles.
1 O'ER the realms of pagan darkness,
Let the eye of pity gaze;
See the kindreds of the people,
Lost in sin's bewildering maze :
Darkness brooding
On the face of all the earth.
2 Light of them that sit in darkness!
Rise and shine, thy blessings bring:
Light to lighten all the Gentiles !
Rise with healing in thy wing:
To thy brightness
Let all kings and nations come.
3 May the heathen, now adoring Idol-gods of wood and stone, Come, and, worshipping before Him,
Serve the living God alone:
Let thy glory
Fill the earth as floods the sea.
4 Thou to whom all power is given,
Speak the word;-at thy command,
Let the company of preachers
Spread thy name from land to land:
Lord, be with them,
Always to the end of time.
For Christian Missionaries.
1 MARK'D as the purpose of the skies,
This promise meets our anxious eyes,
That heathen worlds the Lord shall know,
And, warm'd with faith, each bosom glow.
2 Even now the hallow'd scenes appear,
Even now unfolds the promised year:
Lo! distant shores thy heralds trace,
And bear the tidings of thy grace.
3 'Midst burning climes, and frozen plains,
Where heathen darkness brooding reigns,
Lord, mark their steps, their fears subdue,
And nerve their arm, and clear their view.
4 When, worn by toil, their spirits fail,
Bid them the glorious future hail ;
Bid them the crown of life survey;
And onward urge their conquering way.
5 So on the Indian's gloomy night
The eastern star shall shed her light,
And Jesus' hallow'd reign control
The stormy passions of the soul.
6 So shall Messiah's influence cheer
His humble cot, which still is dear;
And heavenly hope his soul pervade,
Though life, and time, and worlds shall fade.
Come over and help us."
1 HARK! what mean those lamentations,
Rolling sadly through the sky!
'Tis the cry of heathen nations,
"Come, and help us, or we die!"
2 Hear the heathen's sad complaining,
Christians hear their dying cry;
And, the love of Christ constraining,
Join to help them, ere they die.
Christians debtors to the Gentiles.
1 CHRISTIANS, the glorious hope we know,
Which soothes the heart in every wo,
While heathens, helpless, hopeless lie;
No ray of glory meets their eye:
-O give to their desiring sight
The hope that Jesus brought to light!
2 Christians, ye taste the heavenly grace,
Which cheers believers in their race:
Uncheer'd by grace, through heathen gloom,
See millions hastening to the tomb:
-To heathen lands that grace convey,
Which trains the soul for endless day.
3 Christians, ye prize the Saviour's blood,
In which the soul is cleansed for God:
Millions of souls in darkness dwell,
Uncleansed from sin-exposed to hell:
-O strive that heathens soon may view
That precious blood, which cleanseth you.
Reply to the call of the Heathen for help. I FROM Greenland's icy mountains,
From India's coral strand,
Where Afric's sunny fountains
Roll down their golden sand;
From many an ancient river,
From many a palmy plain,-
They call us to deliver
Their land from error's chain.
2 Shall we, whose souls are lighted
With wisdom from on high,
Shall we to men benighted
The lamp of light deny?
Salvation! O salvation!
The joyful sound proclaim,
'Till each remotest nation
Has learn'd Messiah's name.
3 Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,
And you, ye waters, roll,
'Till, like a sea of glory,
It spreads from pole to pole;
"Till o'er our ransom'd nature
The Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeemer, King, Creator,
In bliss returns to reign.
Praise to the Creator and Redeemer. 1 FROM all that dwell below the skies Let the Creator's praise arise; Let the Redeemer's name be sung Through every land, by every tongue. 2 Eternal are thy mercies, Lord; Eternal truth attends thy word;
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore Till suns shall rise and set no more.
For the Jews.
MESSIAH, full of grace,
Redeem'd by Thee we plead
Thy promise made to Abraham's race,
To souls for ages dead:
Their bones as quite dried up,
Throughout our vale appear,
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