3 In all the varying scenes of time,
  On thee our hopes depend;
In every age, in every clime,
  Our Father and our Friend.

     John Thompson, 1810

93 God is Love.  P.M.

Praise for God’s Love.

Come, let us all unite to sing,
          God is love;
Let heav’n and earth their praises bring,
          God is love;
Let every soul from sin awake,
Each in his heart sweet music make,
And sing with us for Jesus’ sake,
          For God is love.

Ref.—­God is love,
      God is love. 
      Come, let us all unite to sing
      That God is love.

2 Oh, tell us to earth’s remotest bound,
          God is love;
In Christ we have redemption found,
          God is love;
His blood has washed our sins away,
His Spirit turned our night to day,
And now we can rejoice to say
          That God is love.

3 How happy is our portion here,
          God is love;
His promises our spirits cheer,
          God is love;
He is our sun and shield by day,
Our help, our hope, our strength, and stay;
He will be with us all the way;
          Our God is love.

     Anon.

94 Carol.  C.M.D.

The Angels’ Song. (206)

It came upon the midnight clear,
  That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
  To touch their harps of gold;
“Peace to the earth, good-will to men,
  From heaven’s all gracious King:” 
The earth in solemn stillness lay,
  To hear the angels sing.

2 Still through the cloven skies they come,
  With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still celestial music floats
  O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
  They bend on heavenly wing,
And ever o’er its Babel sounds,
  The blessed angels sing.

3 O ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
  Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way,
  With painful steps and slow;—­
Look up! for glad and golden hours
  Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh, rest beside the weary road,
  And hear the angels sing!

4 For lo! the days are hastening on,
  By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
  Comes round the age of gold! 
When peace shall over all the earth
  Its final splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
  Which now the angels sing!

     E.H.  Sears, 1850.

95 Carol.  C.M.D.

A Light to Lighten the Gentiles. (203)

The race that long in darkness pine
  Have seen a glorious light;
The people dwell in day who dwelt
  In death’s surrounding night. 
To hail thy rise, thou better Sun,
  The gathering nations come,
With joy, as when the reapers bear
  The harvest treasures home.