The guide and the strength of our days;
Has brought us together, tonight,
A new Ebenezer to raise:
The year, we have now passed through,
His goodness with blessings has crowned;
Each morning his mercies were new,
Then let our thanksgivings abound.
Encompassed with dangers and snares,
Temptations, and fears, and complaints;
His ear he inclined to our prayers,
His hand opened wide to our wants:
We never besought him in vain,
When burdened with sorrow or sin,
He helped us again and again,
Or where, before now, had we been?
His gospel, throughout the long year,
From Sabbath to Sabbath he gave;
How oft has he met with us here,
And shown himself mighty to save?
His candlestick has been removed
From churches once privileged thus;
But, though we unworthy have proved,
It still is continued to us.
For so many mercies received,
Alas! what returns have we made?
His Spirit we often have grieved,
And evil, for good, have repaid:
How well it becomes us to cry,
“O, who is a God like to thee?
Who passest iniquities by,
And plungest them deep in the sea!”
To Jesus, who sits on the throne,
Our best hallelujahs we bring;
To thee it is owing alone,
That we are permitted to sing:
Assist us, we pray, to lament
The sins of the year that is past;
And grant that the next may be spent
Far more to thy praise than the last.
John Newton and William Cowper
(18th century).
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