Jehovah bids us serve Him, and rejoice; But Satan utters a discordant voice: Anxious to keep the Lord’s peculiar Day, A boatman found this hindrance in his way; “If Sunday’s work you stubbornly refuse Bread and your raiment you shall quickly lose;” So spake a master with triumphant tone, Deeming the man beneath the scourge would groan. “Better, far better,” was the just reply Of one who fear’d the Ruler of the sky, “That no bread now should cheer my gloomy cell Than to _want water_ in the flames of _hell_!” And other souls have sought their Maker’s face, {6b} Pluck’d from the fire, as brands, by sovereign grace. Who comes to Christ, though sinful and obscure, Takes refuge in a Rock for ever sure; He asks in faith, and every prayer preferr’d In Jesus’ holy name the Lord hath heard. O Thou, whose reign extends o’er earth and sky, Enthron’d between the Cherubim on high, Before Thy face “all nations nothing” {7a} seem, “And less” than nought the universe we deem; At Thy command, O Sovereign Lord of all, A nation rises, or is doom’d to fall; Forsaking Thee, men rue their crimes too late When justice drives them to their bitter fate: Assist Thy servants in this sacred cause, Teaching obedience to Thy holy laws; To sinful tribes Thy heav’nly grace impart, Remove “the stony,” “give” the fleshly “heart:” {7b} Dispose us still to hallow, Lord, Thy days, And zealously promote Thy glorious praise. O Lord, arise, and view a race opprest Compell’d to toil on days of holy rest: In Egypt’s land Thy wonder-working rod Made Pharaoh fear the majesty of God; “That they may serve Me, let My people go;” {7c} “That I am Lord, heav’n, earth, and hell shall know;” {7d} To Egypt’s King this message Moses brought, And ten tremendous plagues by Thee were wrought; At length from Pharaoh’s house of bondage free, Thy people march’d, triumphant, through the sea; The roaring waves o’erwhelm’d th’ Egyptian host, And Israel sung Thy praises on the coast: So now save sinners from their ghostly foe, On captive souls Thy Spirit’s aid bestow; To each benighted wand’rer light convey, Point out “the narrow” heav’n-directed “way;” Each Sabbath free them from their worldly care, And to Thy temple bid them oft repair; Teach them to view, with faith, their Saviour’s cross, Whose death redeems them from eternal loss; Whose blood can cleanse their souls from ev’ry sin, Through whom alone heav’n’s mansions they may win: And when at last th’ Archangel’s trump we hear, And round Thy throne all nations shall appear, O may we rise to Thy Cherubic band, Call’d by our heav’nly Judge to His right hand, To hear His blessing, and His glory see Throughout the ages of eternity; With joy uplifting our victorious palms, Hymning His matchless praise with holy psalms, Thus an eternal Sabbath may we keep,