This Is My Father’s World ~ Hymn

This is My Father’s World

This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world,
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong
Seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
The battle is not done:
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is my Father’s world,
Dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise
Cry, The Lord is in this place.
This is my Father’s world,
From the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world,
Should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring.
God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world.
Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world.
I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze
God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world,
A wanderer I may roam;
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

O Father, We Would Thank Thee ~ Hymn

“Go forth today, by the help of God’s Spirit, vowing and declaring that in life—-come poverty, come wealth, in death—come pain or come what may, you are and ever must be the Lord’s.  For this is written on your heart, ‘We love Him because He first loved us.”

~ Charles Spurgeon

O Father, We Would Thank Thee

O Father, we would thank Thee
For all Thy love has given,
Our present joy of sonship,
Our future joy in Heaven;
The life which sin had blighted
So wondrously restored
By our mysterious union
With Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rich gifts of life and gladness—
A new and heav’nly birth,
Baptismal waters flowing
To cleanse the sons of earth;
The strength in which to follow
The steps that Jesus trod;
And love beyond all knowledge
Which calls us sons of God.

O mercy all abundant
Bestowed on us today!
O hope of future glory
Which fadeth not away!
By God’s great love begotten
To living hope and sure,
May we at Christ’s appearing
Be pure as He is pure.

For all Thy gifts, O Father,
Our hymns of praise arise—
The love which calls us children,
The hope which purifies;
The grace by which we offer
A service glad and free;
The earnest of perfection,
Of fuller life with Thee.

Words: Ada R. Green­a­way, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1904.

Come, Let Us Sing the Song of Songs ~ Hymn

Come, Let Us Sing the Song of Songs

Come, let us sing the song of songs—
The an­gels first be­gan the strain—
The hom­age which to Christ belongs;
Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain!

Slain to re­deem us by His blood,
To cleanse from ev­ery sin­ful stain,
And make us kings and priests to God:
Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain!

To Him who suf­fered on the tree,
Our souls, at His soul’s price, to gain,
Blessing, and praise, and glo­ry be:
Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain!

To Him, en­throned by fi­li­al right,
All pow­er in Heav’n and earth pro­claim,
Honor, and ma­jes­ty, and might:
Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain!

Long as we live, and when we die,
And while in Heav’n with Him we reign,
This song our song of songs shall be:
Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain!

Words: James Montgomery, 1841

Stand by the Bible ~ Hymn

Stand by the Bible

We’ll stand by the Bi­ble,
God’s mes­sage to man,
Revealing His love in
Redemption’s great plan;
It tells how death en­tered
With sin and the fall,
Of life free­ly of­fered
Through Je­sus to all.

Refrain

Stand by the Bi­ble,
Walk by the Bi­ble,
Teach by the Bi­ble,
Revealing God’s plan;
Stand by the Bi­ble,
Study the Bi­ble,
Live by the Bi­ble,
God’s mes­sage to man.

No book so abound­ing
In won­der­ful truth,
No guide so un­err­ing
For child­hood and youth,
No coun­sel so need­ed
By man in his bloom,
No com­fort so sweet
On the verge of the tomb.

Refrain

Through ag­es when faith spurned
The fet­ters of might,
It shone like a star on
The bo­som of night;
Its word was the rule of
The mill­ions who bled,
Its hope was their stay when
The last pray­er was said.

Refrain

We’ll fol­low thy teach­ings,
Blest word from above,
We’ll live by thy pat­tern
Of in­fi­nite love,
Believing, ob­ey­ing,
And watch­ing with pray­er,
Till grace shall for Hea­ven
Our spir­its pre­pare.

Refrain

Words: Franklin E. Belden, 1894.

Bless, O My Soul! The Living God ~ Hymn

Bless, O My Soul! The Living God

Bless, O my soul, the liv­ing God.
Call home thy thoughts that rove abroad,
Let all the pow­ers with­in me join
In work and wor­ship so di­vine.

Bless, O my soul, the God of grace;
His fa­vors claim thy high­est praise:
Why should the won­ders He hath wrought
Be lost in si­lence and forgot?

’Tis He, my soul, that sent His Son
To die for crimes which thou hast done;
He owns the ran­som and for­gives
The hour­ly fol­lies of our lives.

The vic­es of the mind He heals,
And cures the pains that na­ture feels;
Redeems the soul from hell, and saves
Our wast­ing life from threat­en­ing graves.

Our youth de­cayed, His pow­er re­pairs;
His mer­cy crowns our grow­ing years:
He sa­tis­fies our mouth with good,
And fills our hopes with heav’n­ly food.

He sees th’op­press­or and th’op­pressed,
And oft­en gives the suf­fer­ers rest;
But will His jus­tice more dis­play
In the last great re­ward­ing day.

His pow­er He showed by Mos­es’ hands,
And gave to Is­ra­el His com­mands;
But sent His truth and mer­cy down
To all the na­tions by His Son.

Let the whole earth His pow­er con­fess.
Let the whole earth adore His grace;
The Gen­tile with the Jew shall join
In work and wor­ship so di­vine.

Words: Isaac Watts, 1719.

Come,Thou Almighty King

Come, Thou Almighty King

Come, Thou almighty King,
Help us Thy Name to sing, help us to praise!
Father all glorious, o’er all victorious,
Come and reign over us, Ancient of Days!

Jesus, our Lord, arise,
Scatter our enemies, and make them fall;
Let Thine almighty aid our sure defense be made,
Souls on Thee be stayed; Lord, hear our call.

Come, Thou incarnate Word,
Gird on Thy mighty sword, our prayer attend!
Come, and Thy people bless, and give Thy Word success,
Spirit of holiness, on us descend!

Come, holy Comforter,
Thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour.
Thou Who almighty art, now rule in every heart,
And ne’er from us depart, Spirit of power!

To Thee, great One in Three,
Eternal praises be, hence, evermore.
Thy sovereign majesty may we in glory see,
And to eternity love and adore!

Words: Some sources show the au­thor as “anon­y­mous.” Others cre­dit Charles Wes­ley, 1757. The words ap­peared in George White­field’s Col­lect­ion of Hymns for So­cial Wor­ship, 1757.

Music: Ital­i­an Hymn, Fe­lice de Gi­ar­di­ni, in The Col­lect­ion of Psalm and Hymn Tunes Sung at the Cha­pel of the Lock Hos­pi­tal, 1769. De Gi­ar­di­ni wrote the music spe­ci­fic­al­ly for this hymn. Al­ter­nate tune: Amer­i­caThe­saur­us Mu­si­cus, 1744

In the days of the Amer­i­can Re­vo­lu­tion a con­gre­ga­tion of pa­tri­o­tic col­o­nists were wor­ship­ing in their church on Long Is­land when the ser­vice was in­ter­rupt­ed by the ar­riv­al of a com­pa­ny of Hess­ian troops. The cap­tain stalked up the aisle and com­mand­ed the people to sing “God Save the King.” The or­gan­ist start­ed the tune that we call “Amer­i­ca”; but the peo­ple, true to the cause of the Amer­i­can col­o­nies and to their God, sang this hymn.

ht: Cyberhymnal

Like A River Glorious ~ Hymn

I was introduced back in 2007 to Francis Ridley Havergal by Abigail. I was so excited to find out that she is the hymnwriter of a favorite of mine from Russian Baptist Days. Like a River Glorious is so beautiful when sung with soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. It takes me back to the times when we sang these beautiful hymns in four part harmony.

Like a River Glorious ~ Francis Ridley Havergal (1836 – 1879)

Like a river glorious, is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the sun of love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do.
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Blest Is the Man Who Makes the Word ~ Hymn

Blest Is the Man Who Makes the Word

Blest is the man who makes the word
Of God his con­stant guide;
There learns the path his Sav­ior trod,
Nor turns his step aside,
But shuns the broad and flow­ery way
Where vice and fol­ly love to stray.

He, like a tree whose spread­ing root
Refreshing wa­ters lave,
Whose bend­ing boughs with gold­en fruit
In rich lu­xu­ri­ance wave,
Shall firm­ly stand when storms in­vade—
No leaf shall fall, no blos­som fade.

And when, his life’s brief sum­mer o’er,
He shares the ge­ne­ral doom,
Though earth shall know his place no more,
In Hea­ven he still shall bloom;
And there, with end­less glo­ry crowned,
In fruits of right­eous­ness abound.

Words: Harriett Auber, 1829

The Cross of My Redeemer ~ Hymn

The Cross of My Redeemer

On Calvary’s distant mountain
The cross of faith I see,
Where once the Lord of glo­ry
Was cru­ci­fied for me.

Refrain

The cross of my Re­deem­er,
O may I still defend,
And through the grace He giveth
Be faithful to the end.

As on that cross extended,
He suffered, bled and died,
To sinful thoughts and pleasures
May I be cru­ci­fied.

Refrain

He bore that cross with patience;
Through sorrow dark and sin,
He bids me now, be­liev­ing,
Take up my cross for Him.

Refrain

Had I no foes to conquer
No cross on earth to bear,
A victor’s crown of triumph,
I could not hope to wear.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby, (1820-1915)