Scripture Verse

The acceptable year of the Lord. Isaiah 61:2

Introduction

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Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns for New Year’s Day (Lon­don: R. Hawes, 1750), num­ber 2, alt.

Music: Ac­cra James Mc­Gra­na­han, 1904 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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James McGranahan (1840–1907)
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Lyrics

Ye worms of earth, arise,
Ye crea­tures of a day,
Redeem the time, be bold, be wise,
And cast your bonds away;
Shake off the chains of sin,
Like us as­sem­bled here,
With hymns of praise to ush­er in
This new, ac­cept­ed year.

The year of Gos­pel grace
Like us re­joice to see,
And thank­ful­ly in Christ em­brace
Your prof­fered li­ber­ty.
See, par­don, peace are nigh,
Which ev­ery soul may prove;
The Lord, who now is pass­ing by,
Makes this the time of love.

O Sav­ior, Lord of all,
Thy prof­fer we re­ceive,
Obedient to Thy Gos­pel call
That bids us turn, and live;
Our for­mer years mis­spent,
Though late, we deep­ly mourn,
And soft­ened by Thy grace re­pent,
And to Thy arms re­turn.

With fear, and grief, and shame,
Our fol­ly we be­moan,
But won­der at the pa­tient Lamb,
Who lets us still alone:
Thy pa­tience lifts us up,
Thy free un­bound­ed grace,
And all our fear is lost in hope,
And all our grief in praise.

To Thee, by whom we live,
Our praise and lives we pay,
Praise, ar­dent, cor­di­al, con­stant give,
And shout to see the day:
The day of sav­ing grace,
Thy con­se­crat­ed year,
When Thou, bright sun of right­eous­ness,
Doth to our world ap­pear.

Risen, we know Thou art,
With heal­ing in Thy wings,
We feel, we feel it in our heart
The life Thy pr­esence brings!
The seal and ear­nest this,
Our par­don we re­ceive,
And look with Thee in glo­ri­ous bliss,
Eternally to live.