James Montgomery

For the Centenary Anniversaries of the Brethren's Eldership, and the beginning of the Society for the furtherance of the Gospel in the Moravian Church, November 13 and 19, 1841.

PART I.

PART II.

PART III.

All hail! our Church's Elder dear,

Jesus, her glorious head!

To Thy disciples now appear,

As risen from the dead;

Let our rejoicing souls in Thee,

The tokens of Thy Passion see,

And hear Thy gentle voice anew,

Say "Peace be unto you."

Remembering what our fathers told,

Thou didst in their young day,

This solemn Jubilee we hold,

That we, as then did they,

Ourselves in covenant may bind,

With soul and strength, and heart and mind,

Through life and death, on land, o'er sea,

Meekly to follow Thee.

Revive Thy work amidst the years,

Our brethren still employ,

O'er heathen soils to sow in tears,

With hope to reap in joy:

Though wide the fields, the labourers few,

If Thou our failing faith renew,

The weakest of Thy servants, we

Can all things do through Thee.

Through Thee, from Greenland's sterile rocks,

Rich harvests have been led;

In Indian forests wandering flocks,

With heavenly knowledge fed;

In island-prisons o'er the sea,

Bond-slaves have been made gospel-free;

Midst lion-haunts, on Afric sands,

Strange tribes lift holy hands.

To-day, one world-neglected race,

We fervently commend

To Thee, and to Thy Word of grace;

Lord, visit and befriend

People scatter'd, peel'd, and rude,

By land and ocean-solitude,

Cut off from ev'ry social shore,

In dreary Labrador.

Thither, while to and fro she steers,

Still guide our annual bark [13] ,

By night and day, through hopes and fears,

While, lonely as the ark,

Along her single track she braves,

Gulphs, whirlpools, ice-fields, winds, and waves,

To waft glad tidings to the shore

Of longing Labrador.

How welcome to the watching eye,

From morn till evening fix'd,

The first faint speck that shews her nigh,

Where surge and sky are miss'd;

Till looming large, and larger yet,

With bounding prow, and sails full set,

She speeds to anchor on the shore

Of joyful Labrador.

Then hearts with hearts, and souls with souls,

In thrilling transport meet,

Though dark and broad the Atlantic rolls,

Between their parted feet:

For written words, with boundless range,

Thoughts, feelings, prayers, can interchange,

And once a year join Britain's shore

To kindred Labrador.

Then at the vessel's glad return,

The absent meet again;

At home our hearts within us burn,

To trace the cunning pen,

Whose strokes, like rays from star to star,

Bring happy messages from far,

And once a year to Britain's shore

Join Christian Labrador.

O Thou, in whom we all are one,

If faithful found and true,

Thy will on earth by each be done,

As each in heaven would do:

To Thee ourselves we first would give,

Live to Thy glory while we live;

From step to step on Thee rely,

Then in Thy service die.

[13] For particulars of the missionary ship, and the providence which has preserved her through so many perilous annual voyages, vide periodical accounts of the Missions of the United Brethren.