Category Archives: Hymns

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms ~ Hymn

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

What a fel­low­ship, what a joy di­vine,
Leaning on the ev­er­last­ing arms;
What a bless­ed­ness,
What a peace is mine,
Leaning on the ev­er­last­ing arms.

Refrain

Leaning, lean­ing,
Safe and se­cure from all alarms;
Leaning, lean­ing,
Leaning on the ev­er­last­ing arms.

O how sweet to walk in this pil­grim way,
Leaning on the ev­er­last­ing arms;
O how bright the path
Grows from day to day,
Leaning on the ev­er­last­ing arms.

Refrain

What have I to dread? What have I to fear?
Leaning on the ev­er­last­ing arms;
I have bless­èd peace
With my Lord so near,
Leaning on the ev­er­last­ing arms.

Refrain

Words: Elisha A. Hoffman, 1887.

Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne ~ Hymn

Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne

Before Je­ho­vah’s aw­ful throne,
Ye na­tions, bow with sac­red joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can cre­ate, and He de­stroy,
He can cre­ate, and He de­stroy.

His so­ver­eign pow­er, with­out our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
And when like wan­der­ing sheep we strayed,
He brought us to His fold again,
He brought us to His fold again.

We are His peo­ple, we His care,
Our souls, and all our mor­tal frame;
What last­ing hon­ors shall we rear,
Almighty Mak­er, to Thy name,
Almighty Mak­er, to Thy name?

We’ll crowd Thy gates with thank­ful songs,
High as the heav­ens our voic­es raise;
And earth, with her ten thou­sand tongues,
Shall fill Thy courts with sound­ing praise,
Shall fill Thy courts with sound­ing praise.

Wide as the world is Thy com­mand,
Vast as eter­ni­ty Thy love;
Firm as a rock Thy truth must stand,
When roll­ing years shall cease to move,
When roll­ing years shall cease to move.

Words: Isaac Watts, 1719

 

The Law Commands and Makes Us Know ~ Hymn

The Law Commands and Makes Us Know

The Law com­mands and makes us know
What du­ties to our God we owe;
But ’tis the Gos­pel must re­veal
Where lies our strength to do His will.

The Law dis­co­vers guilt and sin
And shows how vile our hearts have been;
The Gos­pel on­ly can ex­press
Forgiving love and cleans­ing grace.

What curs­es doth the Law de­nounce
Against the man that fails but once!
But in the Gos­pel Christ ap­pears,
Pardoning the guilt of nu­mer­ous years.

My soul, no more at­tempt to draw
Thy life and com­fort from the Law.
Fly to the hope the Gos­pel gives;
The man that trusts the pro­mise lives.

Words: Isaac Watts, 1709.

The Only Son from Heaven ~ Hymn

The Only Son from Heaven

The on­ly Son from Heav­en,
Foretold by an­cient seers,
By God, the Fa­ther, giv­en,
In hu­man shape ap­pears;
No sphere His light con­fin­ing,
No star so bright­ly shin­ing
As He, our morn­ing star.

O time of God ap­point­ed,
O bright and ho­ly morn!
He comes, the King anoint­ed,
The Christ, the vir­gin born;
His home on earth He mak­eth,
And man of Heav­en par­tak­eth,
Of life again an heir.

O Lord, our hearts awak­en
To know and love Thee more,
In faith to stand un­shak­en,
In spir­it to adore,
That we still heav­en­ward hast­ing,
Yet here Thy joy fore­tast­ing,
May reap its full­ness there.

Words: Elizabeth Cruciger, 1524.

Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing ~ Hymn

Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing

Lord, dis­miss us with Thy bless­ing,
Thanks for mer­cies past re­ceive;
Pardon all, their faults con­fess­ing;
Time that’s lost may all re­trieve;
May Thy child­ren
Ne’er again Thy Spir­it grieve.

Bless Thou all our days of lei­sure;
Help us self­ish lures to flee;
Sanctify our ev­ery plea­sure;
Pure and blame­less may it be;
May our glad­ness
Draw us ev­er­more to Thee.

By Thy kind­ly in­flu­ence cher­ish
All the good we here have gained;
May all taint of ev­il per­ish
By Thy migh­ti­er pow­er re­strained;
Seek we ev­er
Knowledge pure and love un­feigned.

Let Thy fa­ther-hand be shield­ing
All who here shall meet no more;
May their seed-time past be yield­ing
Year by year a rich­er store;
Those re­turn­ing,
Make more faith­ful than be­fore.

Words: Henry J. Buckoll, 1850.

Certainly I Will Be With Thee ~ Hymn

 

Certainly I Will Be With Thee

Certainly I will be with thee!
Father, I have found it true;
To Thy faith­ful­ness and mer­cy,
I would set my seal anew.
All the year Thy grace hath kept me,
Thou my help in­deed hast been,
Marvelous the lov­ing­kind­ness
Every day and hour hath seen.

Certainly I will be with thee!
Let me feel it, Sav­ior dear,
Let me know that Thou art with me,
Very pre­cious, ve­ry near.
On this day of so­lemn paus­ing
With Thy­self all long­ing still,
Let Thy par­don, let Thy pre­sence,
Let Thy peace my spir­it fill.

Certainly I will be with thee!
Blessèd Spir­it, come to me,
Rest up­on me, dwell with­in me,
Let my heart Thy tem­ple be;
Thro’ the track­less year be­fore me,
Holy One, with me abide!
Teach me, com­fort me, and calm me,
Be my ev­er pre­sent guide.

Certainly I will be with thee!
Starry pro­mise in the night!
All un­cer­tain­ties, like sha­dows,
Fade away be­fore its light.
Certainly I will be with thee!
He hath spok­en, I have heard!
True of old, and true this mo­ment,
I will trust Je­ho­vah’s word.

Words: Frances R. Havergal, 1871.

Jesus! ~ Hymn

Jesus!

Who took my bur­dens all away?
Jesus, Je­sus.
Who turned my dark­ness in­to day?
Jesus, Je­sus.

Refrain

Jesus! Je­sus! On­ly Je­sus!
Jesus! Je­sus! On­ly Je­sus!

Who bore my grief up­on the tree?
Jesus, Je­sus.
When sor­rows come, who cares for me?
Jesus, Je­sus.

Refrain

Who bears my sick­ness and my sin?
Jesus, Je­sus.
Who gives me peace and joy with­in?
Jesus, Je­sus.

Refrain

Who pleads for me with ten­der love?
Jesus, Je­sus.
Who’ll take me to His home above?
Jesus, Je­sus.

Refrain

Who’s com­ing back to wel­come me?
Jesus, Je­sus.
Then in whose like­ness shall I be?
Jesus, Je­sus.

Refrain

Words and Music: Lemuel C. Hall.

Singing for Jesus ~ Hymn

Singing for Jesus

Singing for Je­sus, sing­ing for Je­sus,
Trying to serve Him wher­ev­er I go;
Pointing the lost to the way of sal­va­tion—
This be my mis­sion, a pil­grim be­low.
When in the strains of my coun­try I min­gle,
When to ex­alt her my voice I would raise;
’Tis for His glo­ry, whose arm is her re­fuge,
Him would I hon­or, His name would I praise,
His name would I praise.

Singing for Je­sus hymns of de­vo­tion,
Lifting the soul on her pin­ions of love;
Dropping a word or a thought by the way­side,
Telling of rest in the man­sions above.
Music may soft­en where lang­uage would fail us,
Feelings long bur­ied ’twill oft­en re­store.
Tones that were breathed from the lips of de­part­ed,
How we re­vere them when they are no more!
When they are no more!

Singing for Je­sus, bless­èd Re­deem­er,
God of the pil­grims, for Thee I will sing;
When o’er the bil­lows of time I am waft­ed,
Still with Thy praise shall eter­ni­ty ring.
Glory to God for the pros­pect be­fore me,
Soon shall my spir­it trans­port­ed as­cend;
Singing for Je­sus, O bliss­ful em­ploy­ment,
Loud hal­le­lu­jahs that ne­ver will end,
That ne­ver will end.

Words: Fanny Crosby

Scotland Travel Journal ~ Dunfermline 3

On September 21st which was a Saturday and our journey from St. Andrews to Edinburgh we stopped to visit the Dunfermline Abbey and Palace. Although I’ve posted the exterior and interior of the Abbey already we toured the palace grounds first on this day. The kiosk to pay for our visit was located in the palace ruins area. This part of our visit involved going up and down different elevations within and along the ruins of palace.

In the cellars with some great acoustics we had an impromptu moment of worship as Laura began to sing ‘Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow’. We all joined in and it was a sweet time together.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below, praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen.

The Abbey was obliged to offer hospitality to pilgrims and to other travelers whether rich or poor. The guest house was built here in the 1200’s and later became part of the royal palace. 

Not all overnight visitors would stay in this guest house; those of lower social rank would be given beds in nearby hostels. Because Queen Margaret founded the monastery and later monarchs chose to stay here, what you see is frequent alterations and additions to provide comfortable royal apartments. 

After the union of the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, these buildings were abandoned and robbed of stone leaving the spectacular south wall with its windows overlooking the glen.

St. Benedict required the abbot dine with all visitors to the abbey. ‘Let the abbots table always be with guests and travellers’, he directed. However, when nobles knocked on the door, the abbot probably arranged for poorer pilgrims to eat elsewhere, while he enjoyed lavish feasts with his high-ranking guests.

This was such a worthwhile stop on our way back to Stirling to drop off our rental car and take a train to Edinburgh for the last few days of our Scotland Trip. Our sunshiny days were behind us.

Back to the present:

Today, January 20, 2025, in the United States is the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald J. Trump. We will be watching the ceremony. We hope for the best for our country and it’s people and our world. For us as believers, the very best is yet to come and it’s not happening here. In the meantime, we pray, we hope for the best, and we remain good citizens of our country doing our part as citizens. We acknowledge that we are not in control of the world and what is happening around the world but we know the One who is in control and who holds our world together.

As the song resounds, ‘This World is not my home I’m just a passing through, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue, the angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.’

The Head That Once Was Crowned ~ Hymn

The Head That Once Was Crowned

The head that once was crowned with thorns
Is crowned with glo­ry now;
A royal di­adem adorns
The migh­ty vic­tor’s brow.

The high­est place that Heav’n af­fords
Belongs to Him by right;
The King of kings and Lord of lords,
And Hea­ven’s eter­nal Light.

The joy of all who dwell above,
The joy of all be­low,
To whom He ma­ni­fests His love,
And grants His name to know.

To them the cross with all its shame,
With all its grace, is giv’n;
Their name an ev­er­last­ing name,
Their joy the joy of Heav’n.

They suf­fer with their Lord be­low;
They reign with Him above;
Their pro­fit and their joy to know
The mys­te­ry of His love.

The cross He bore is life and health,
Though shame and death to Him,
His peo­ple’s hope, His peo­ple’s wealth,
Their ev­er­last­ing theme.

Words: Thomas Kelly