Now let us come be­fore Him,
With song and pray­er adore Him,
Who to our life hath giv­en
All needed strength from Hea­ven.

The stream of years is flow­ing,
And we are on­ward go­ing,
From old to new sur­viv­ing
And by His mer­cy thriv­ing.

In woe we oft­en lang­uish
And pass through times of ang­uish
Of wars and tre­pi­da­tion
Alarming ev­ery na­tion.

As mo­thers watch are keep­ing
O’er child­ren who are sleep­ing,
Their fear and grief as­suag­ing
When an­gry storms are wag­ing.

So God His own is shield­ing
And help to them is yield­ing.
When need and woe dis­tress them,
His lov­ing arms ca­ress them.

O Thou who dost not slum­ber,
Remove what would en­cum­ber
Our work, which pros­pers ne­ver
Unless Thou bless it ev­er.

O God of mer­cy, hear us;
Our Fa­ther, be Thou near us;
Mid cross­es and in sad­ness
Be Thou our fount of glad­ness.

To all who bow be­fore Thee
And for Thy grace im­plore Thee,
Oh, grant Thy be­ne­dict­ion
And pa­tience in af­flict­ion.

Be Thou a help­er spee­dy
To all the poor and nee­dy,
To all for­lorn a Fa­ther;
Thine err­ing child­ren ga­ther.

Be with the sick and ail­ing,
Their com­fort­er un­fail­ing;
Dispelling grief and sad­ness,
Oh, give them joy and glad­ness!

Above all else, Lord, send us
Thy Spi­rit to at­tend us,
Within our hearts abid­ing,
To Heav’n our foot­steps guid­ing.

All this Thy hand be­stow­eth,
Thou Life, whence our life flow­eth.
To all Thy name con­fess­ing
Grant, Lord, Thy new year’s bless­ing!