Lord of the Sabbath, hear us pray,
In this Your house, on this Your day;
And own, as grateful sacrifice,
The songs which from Your temple rise.
Now met to pray and bless Your Name,
Whose mercies flow each day the same;
Whose kind compassions never cease,
We seek instruction, pardon, peace.
Your earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love,
But there’s a nobler rest above;
To that our laboring souls aspire
With ardent hope and strong desire.
In Your blest kingdom we shall be
From every mortal trouble free;
No sighs shall mingle with the songs
Resounding from immortal tongues.
No rude alarms of raging foes;
No cares to break the long repose;
No midnight shade, no waning moon,
But sacred, high, eternal noon.
O long expected day, begin,
Dawn on these realms of woe and sin!
Break, morn of God, upon our eyes;
And let the world’s true Sun arise!