Scripture Verse

Who is he who will devote himself to be close to Me? Jeremiah 30:21

Introduction

Words: Ra­chel El­li­ot, in On Joy­ful Wing, ed­it­ed by John Swe­ney & Will­iam J. Kirk­pat­rick (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1886), num­ber 30.

Music: John R. Swe­ney (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of El­li­ot (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
John Sweney (1837–1899)

Lyrics

We are pray­ing, bless­èd Sav­ior,
For a clos­er walk with Thee;
We are pray­ing that Thy Spir­it
In our hearts may ev­er be.

Refrain

From this hour, O gra­cious Lord,
May each wak­ing heart be­fore Thee
With a per­fect love ad­ore Thee,
Consecrated through Thy Word.

We are pray­ing, bless­èd Sav­ior,
That Thy will in us be done,
We are ask­ing for a un­ion
That in Thee shall make us one.

Refrain

We are pray­ing, bless­èd Sav­ior,
That our lives Thy praise may show,
And Thy gra­cious hand di­rect us
In the way that we should go.

Refrain

And at last, when all is ov­er,
And our lang­uid eyes we close,
May our souls awake re­joic­ing
Where the crys­tal ri­ver flows.

Refrain