Ebenezer

I

The Lord, our salvation and light,
The guide and the strength of our days,
Has brought us together to-night,
A new Ebenezer to raise.
The year we have now passed through
His goodness with blessings has crown’d;
Each morning his mercies were new;
Then let our thanksgivings abound.

II

Encompass’d with dangers and snares,
Temptations and fears and complaints,
His ear he inclined to our prayers,
His hand open’d wide to our wants,
We never besought him in vain;
When burden’d with sorrow or sin,
He help’d us again and again,
Or where before now had we been?

III

His gospel throughout the long year,
From Sabbath to Sabbath he gave.
How oft has he met with us here,
And shown himself mighty to save!
His candlestick has been removed
From churches once privileged thus;
But though we unworthy have proved,
It still is continued to us.

IV

For so many mercies received,
Alas! what returns have we made?
His Spirit we often have grieved,
And evil for good have repaid.
How well it becomes us to cry⁠—
“Oh! who is a God like to thee?
Who passest iniquities by,
And plungest them deep in the sea!”

V

To Jesus, who sits on the throne,
Our best hallelujahs we bring.
To thee it is owing alone
That we are permitted to sing.
Assist us, we pray, to lament
The sins of the year that is past;
And grant that the next may be spent
Far more to thy praise than the last.