Scripture Verse

I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me. Proverbs 8:17

Introduction

portrait
John B. Dykes (1823–1876)

Words: Vin­cent S. S. Coles, 1871. Coles, Cur­ate at Wan­tage, used to have large con­fir­ma­tion class­es for young peo­ple, and it was for them that he wrote this hymn.

Music: Di­es Do­mi­ni­ca John B. Dykes, in the Ang­li­can Hymn Book, 1871 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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

Lyrics

We pray Thee, hea­ven­ly Fa­ther,
To hear us in Thy love,
And pour up­on Thy child­ren
The unc­tion from above;
That so in love abid­ing,
From all de­file­ment free,
We may in pure­ness of­fer
Our Euc­ha­rist to Thee.

Be Thou our guide and help­er,
O Je­su Christ, we pray;
So may we well ap­proach Thee,
If Thou wilt be the way:
Thou, ve­ry truth, hast pro­mised
To help us in our strife,
Food of the wea­ry pil­grim,
Eternal source of life.

And Thou, Cre­at­or Spir­it,
Look on us, we are Thine;
Renew us in Thy grac­es,
Upon our dark­ness shine;
That, with Thy be­ne­dic­tion,
Upon our souls out­poured,
We may re­ceive in glad­ness
The bo­dy of the Lord.

O Tri­ni­ty of Per­sons!
O Uni­ty most high!
On Thee alone re­ly­ing
Thy ser­vants would draw nigh;
Unworthy in our weak­ness,
On Thee our hope is stayed,
And blest by Thy for­giv­eness
We will not be afraid.