Let supplicating prayer to heaven ascend,
Prayer from the heart, the broken contrite heart,
And let us ask our Father and our friend
For Jesus' sake his blessing to impart.
'Come unto me,' 'tis Jesus speaks the word,
'Ye burdened souls, with conscious guilt opprest.'
Then come ye weary to your loving Lord,
And enter now into his promised rest.
Come as the prodigal, ashamed to come,
And yet constrained to flee from your disgrace,
Come as an outcast, yearning after home
To beg your Father for a servant's place.
Come as a penitent, devout, sincere,
Unveil your heart, your secret sins confess,
Come bold in faith, yet awed by holy fear,
And God your soul abundantly shall bless.
Come from your closet to the house of prayer
And spread your wants before the throne of grace,
And cry 'Oh! Lord thy guilty people spare
And turn their hearts again to seek thy face.'
'Revive thy work, withhold thy vengeful wrath,
And look in mercy on thy wandering sheep,
And lead us in the straight and narrow path,
And give us grace that Royal road to keep.
'O may thy ransom'd church with joy return
And hail the coming of a brighter day,
When thy glad people shall no longer mourn,
For all their sorrows shall have passed away.'