Rev. W.W.  Walford, 1846.

388 Brown.  C.M.

Secret Prayer. (776)

I love to steal awhile away
  From ev’ry cumb’ring care,
And spend the hours of setting day
  In humble, grateful prayer.

2 I love in solitude to shed
  The penitential tear,
And all his promises to plead,
  Where none but God can hear.

3 I love to think on mercies past,
  And future good implore,
And all my cares and sorrows cast
  On him whom I adore.

4 I love by faith to take a view
  Of brighter scenes in heaven;
The prospect doth my strength renew,
  While here by tempests driven.

5 Thus, when life’s toilsome day is o’er,
  May its departing ray
Be calm as this impressive hour,
  And lead to endless day!

     Mrs. Phoebe H. Brown, 1825.

389 Brown.  C.M.

Graces Sought in Prayer. (786)

Lord! teach us how to pray aright,
  With reverence and with fear;
Though dust and ashes in thy sight,
  We may, we must draw near.

2 God of all grace, we come to thee,
  With broken, contrite hearts,
Give, what thine eye delights to see,
  Truth in the inward parts;

3 Patience, to watch, and wait, and weep,
  Though mercy long delay;
Courage, our fainting souls to keep,
  And trust thee though thou slay.

4 Give these, and then—­thy will be done—­
  Thus strengthened with all might,
We by the Spirit and thy Son,
  Shall pray, and pray aright.

     James Montgomery, 1819.

390 Brown.  C.M.

Mark 13:33. (784)

The Savior bids thee watch and pray
  Through life’s momentous hour;
And grants the Spirit’s quickening ray
  To those who seek his power.

2 The Savior bids thee watch and pray,
  Maintain a warrior’s strife;
Oh, Christian! hear his voice to-day;
  Obedience is thy life.

3 The Savior bids thee watch and pray,
  For soon the hour will come
That calls thee from the earth away
  To thy eternal home.

4 The Savior bids thee watch and pray
  Oh, hearken to his voice,
And follow where he leads the way,
  To heaven’s eternal joys.

     T. Hastings.

391 Devizes.  C.M.

Prayer. (781)

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
  Uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire,
  That trembles in the breast.

2 Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
  The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye,
  When none but God is near.

3 Prayer is the simplest form of speech,
  That infant lips can try;
Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach
  The Majesty on high.

4 Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
  The Christian’s native air: 
His watchword at the gates of death;
  He enters heaven with prayer.