NEW YEAR.

Father, let me dedicate All this year to Thee, In whatever earthly state Thou wilt have me be. Not from sorrow, pain, or care, Freedom dare I claim; This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Thy name. 2. Can a child presume to choose Where or how to live? Can a Father’s love refuse All the best to give? More Thou givest every day Than the best can claim, Nor withholdest aught that may Glorify Thy name. 3. If in mercy Thou wilt spare Joys that yet are mine; If on life, serene and fair, Brighter rays may shine, Let my glad heart, while it sings, Thee in all proclaim, And, whate’er the future brings, Glorify Thy name. 4. If Thou callest to the cross And its shadow come, Turning all my gain to loss, Shrouding heart and home, Let me think how Thy dear Son To His glory came And in deepest woe pray on: “Glorify Thy name.”

Great God, we sing that mighty Hand By which supported still we stand; The opening year Thy mercy shows; Let mercy crown it till it close. 2. By day, by night, at home, abroad, Still we are guarded by our God, By His incessant bounty fed, By His unerring counsel led. 3. With grateful hearts the past we own; The future, all to us unknown, We to Thy guardian care commit And, peaceful, leave before Thy feet. 4. In scenes exalted or depressed Be Thou our Joy and Thou our Rest; Thy goodness all our hopes shall raise, Adored through all our changing days. 5. When death shall interrupt our songs And seal in silence mortal tongues, Our Helper, God, in whom we trust, In better worlds our soul shall boast.

For Thy mercy and Thy grace, Constant through another year, Hear our song of thankfulness; Jesus, our Redeemer, hear! 2. Lo! our sins on Thee we cast, Thee, our perfect Sacrifice, And, forgetting all the past, Press unto our glorious prize. 3. Dark the future; let Thy light Guide us, bright and Morning Star: Fierce our foes and hard the fight; Arm us, Savior, for the war. 4. In our weakness and distress, Rock of strength, be Thou our Stay; In the pathless wilderness Be our true and living Way. 5. Who of us death’s awful road In the coming year shall tread? With Thy rod and staff, O God, Comfort Thou his dying bed. 6. Keep us faithful, keep us pure, Keep us evermore Thine own; Help, O help us to endure; Fit us for the promised crown. 7. So within Thy palace gate We shall praise, on golden strings, Thee the only Potentate, Lord of lords and King of kings.

The new-born Child this early morn, The dear Christ-child, of virgin born, Again brings from His heavenly home A new year to all Christendom. 2. This causes joy to angels fair, Who love to keep us in their care; They sing that in this wondrous Child God now with man is reconciled. 3. Since God is reconciled with men, What harm can Satan do us, then? O’er Satan and the gates of hell This Christ-child shall for us prevail. 4. He brings the year of jubilee! Why doubt we yet despondently? Rejoice! This is a happy day; The Christ-child drives all care away.

O Lord, our Father, thanks to Thee In this new year we render, For Thou hast been from misery And dangers our Defender; Through all the year that now has fled Hast given us life and daily bread And peace within our borders. 2. Lord Jesus Christ, our thanks to Thee In this new year we render, For Thou still rulest zealously Thy fold, with mercy tender; Thou hast redeemed us with Thy blood, Thou art our only Trust and Good, In life and death our Savior. 3. Lord Holy Ghost, our thanks to Thee In this new year we render, For by Thy grace it is that we Enjoy Thy Word’s pure splendor; Thus Thou hast kindled from above Within our hearts true faith and love And other Christian virtues. 4. Our faithful God, we cry to Thee: Still bless us with Thy favor, Blot out all our iniquity, And hide our sins forever; Grant us a happy, good New Year And, when the hour of death draws near, A blest departure. Amen.

Help me, O Lord! Behold, I enter Upon another year to-day; In Thee my hopes and thoughts now center, Renew my courage for the way: New life, new strength, new happiness I ask of Thee, O hear and bless! 2. May every plan and undertaking This year be all begun with Thee; When I am sleeping or am waking, Still let me know Thou art with me; Abroad do Thou my footsteps guide, At home be ever at my side. 3. Be this a time of grace and pardon; Thy rod I take with willing mind, But suffer naught my heart to harden; O let me now Thy mercy find; In Thee alone, my God, I live, Thou only canst my sins forgive. 4. And may this year to me be holy; Thy grace so fill my every thought That all my life be pure and lowly And truthful as a Christian’s ought; So make me, while yet dwelling here, Pious and blest from year to year. 5. And grant, Lord, when the year is over, That it for me in peace may close; In all things care for me and cover My head in time of fear and woes; So may I, when my years are gone, Appear with joy before Thy throne.

O God, our Help in ages past, Our Hope for years to come, Our Shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal Home! 2. Under the shadow of Thy throne Thy saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defense is sure. 3. Before the hills in order stood Or earth received her frame, From everlasting Thou art God, To endless years the same. 4. A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun. 5. Thy word commands our flesh to dust: “Return, ye sons of men!” All nations rose from earth at first And turn to earth again. 6. Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day. 7. Like flowery fields the nations stand, Pleased with the morning light; The flowers beneath the mower’s hand Lie withering ere ’tis night. 8. O God, our Help in ages past, Our Hope for years to come, Be Thou our Guard while troubles last And our eternal Home.

The old year now hath passed away, We thank Thee, Christ, our Lord, to-day That Thou hast kept us through the year When danger and distress were near. 2. We pray Thee, O eternal Son, Who with the Father reign’st as one, To guard and rule Thy Christendom Through all the ages yet to come. 3. Take not Thy saving Word away, Our souls’ true comfort, staff, and stay; Abide with us and keep us free From all false doctrines graciously. 4. O help us to forsake all sin, A new and holier course begin; From last year’s sins, Lord, hide Thy face, In this new year grant us Thy grace, 5. That as true Christians we may live Or die in peace that Thou wilt give, To rise again when Thou shalt come, And enter our eternal home.

Now let us come before Him, With songs and prayers adore Him, Who to our life from heaven All needed strength hath given. 2. The stream of years is flowing, And we are onward going, From old to new surviving, And by His mercy thriving. 3. In woe we often languish And pass through times of anguish, Of wars and trepidation, Alarming every nation. 4. A faithful mother keepeth Guard while her infant sleepeth, Its fear and grief assuaging When angry storms are raging. 5. Thus God His children shieldeth And full protection yieldeth; When need and woe distress them, His loving arms caress them. 6. In vain is all our doing; The labor we’re pursuing In our hands prospers never Unless God watches ever. 7. Our song to Thee ascendeth, Whose mercy never endeth; Our thanks to Thee we render, Who art our strong Defender. 8. O God of mercy, hear us; Our Father, be Thou near us; Mid crosses and in sadness Be Thou our Fount of gladness. 9. To all that bow before Thee And for Thy grace implore Thee, O grant Thy benediction And patience in affliction. 10. With richest blessings crown us. In all our ways, Lord, own us; Give grace, who grace bestowest To all, e’en to the lowest. 11. To all forlorn be Father, Thy erring children gather, And of the poor and needy Be Thou the Helper speedy. 12. Grant help to all afflicted; And to the souls dejected, By melancholy haunted, May cheerful thoughts be granted! 13. O Lord, assistance lend us, Thy Holy Spirit send us That He may make us glorious And lead to Thee victorious. 14. All this Thy hand bestoweth, Thou Life, whence our life floweth; To me and all believers Grant, Lord, these New Year’s favors.