Hymn 308. Hymn for the Lord’s Day Morning

         Great God, this sacred day of thine,

         Demands our souls collected powers:

         May we employ in work divine,

         These solemn, these devoted hours!

         O may our souls adoring own,                                                  

         The grace which calls us to thy throne!

         Hence, ye vain cares and trifles fly,

         Where God resides appear no more,

         Omniscient God, thy piercing eye,

         Can every secret thought explore.                                            

         O may thy grace our hearts refine,

         And fix our thoughts on things divine.

         The word of life dispens’d to day,

         Invites us to a heavenly feast;

         May every ear the call obey,                                                                              

         Be every heart a humble guest!

         O bid the wretched sons of need,

         On soul-reviving dainties feed!

         Thy spirit’s powerful aid impart,

         O may thy word with life divine,                                                           

         Engage the ear, and warm the heart;

         Then shall the day indeed be thine:

         Then shall our souls adoring own,

         The grace which calls us to thy throne.

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 2, p. 90; Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship, no. 308 (all stanzas); Poems, 1780, vol. 3, pp. 138-39; no MS copy, Angus Library, Regents Park College,  Oxford,