Don’t forget the Sabbath,
The Lord our God hath blest,
Of all the week the brightest,
Of all the week the best;
It brings repose from labor,
It tells of joy divine,
Its beams of light descending,
With heav’nly beauty shine.

Refrain

Welcome, welcome, ever welcome,
Blessèd Sabbath day,
Welcome, welcome, ever welcome,
Blessèd Sabbath day.

Keep the Sabbath holy,
And worship Him today,
Who said to His disciples,
“I am the living Way”;
And if we meekly follow
Our Savior here below,
He’ll give us of the fountain
Whose streams eternal flow.

Refrain

Day of sacred pleasure!
Its golden hours we’ll spend
In thankful hymns to Jesus,
The children’s dearest Friend;
O gentle, loving, Savior,
How good and kind Thou art,
How precious is Thy promise
To dwell in every heart!

Refrain

In God’s most holy presence we meet with one accord,
To grasp the hand of friendship and learn of Christ, our Lord.
We leave the week behind us, with all its toil and strain,
With grateful hearts to welcome the Sabbath once again.

Our worship will be fruitless and all our prayers in vain,
If, holding this day sacred, we make the week profane.
In every daily duty, high purpose we must show,
And as we hope for Heaven, make earth a heav’n below.

If we but love Thee truly, our love is not confined
To Thee, but grows expansive, embracing all mankind.
Help us in mutual service for all, abroad, at home,
To share the conquering travail that makes Thy kingdom come.

Sabbath day of rest and cheer!
Day divine, to me so dear!
Come, O come to old and young,
Gath’ring all for prayer and song.

Now the week of toil is o’er,
And in peace we sit once more
At our Father’s ample board,
Listening to His gracious Word.

Lord, our God, we seek Thy face,
Bless us with Thy saving grace;
May Thy heralds everywhere
Clear Thy Gospel truth declare.

Let Thy mighty Word hold sway
Over men on earth today;
Our poor souls, good Shepherd, feed,
Into pastures green us lead.

May, O Lord, the day be near,
When we pass from trials here
Into Thine eternal rest,
In the mansions of the blest.

Beautiful Sabbath, how peaceful the light,
Wafted from Eden so tranquil and bright;
Drawing us nearer to Jesus our King,
While in His temple we gather and sing.

Refrain

Beautiful Sabbath of rest, sweet rest,
Beautiful Sabbath, divinely blest,
Youthful and happy the hearts we bring,
Praising our gracious Redeemer and King.

Beautiful Sabbath, we hallow the hours,
Silently bearing the odor of flowers;
Planted in gardens that never decay,
Blooming in sunshine that fades not away.

Refrain

Beautiful Sabbath, when Jesus our Lord
Bids us devoutly remember His Word;
Opens its treasures of wisdom so dear,
Treasures that sparkle our young hearts to cheer.

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Beautiful Sabbath, when labor and care
Yield to the rapture of song and of prayer;
Precious the moments that now from above,
Tenderly whisper a message of love.

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Blest day of God, most calm, most bright,
The first, the best of days;
The laborer’s rest, the saint’s delight,
The day of prayer and praise.

My Savior’s face made thee to shine;
His rising thee did raise;
And made thee heavenly and divine
Beyond all other days.

The first-fruits oft a blessing prove
To all the sheaves behind;
And they the day of Christ who love,
A happy week shall find.

This day I must with God appear;
For, Lord, the day is Thine;
Help me to spend it in Thy fear,
And thus to make it mine.

Come, let us all with one accord
Adore and magnify the Lord,
And festive service pay.

On this the day that God hath blest,
The day of peace and heavenly rest,
The Lord’s own holy day.

That saw primeval darkness break,
And that more glorious life awake
That lasteth evermore.

That saw hell’s legions prostrate fall,
And Christ, triumphant over all,
His own to heaven restore.

This day the peace that flows from heaven
Was unto the Apostles given,
When doors were closed at night.

This day the Holy Spirit’s flame
Upon the Church’s teachers came,
And filled their souls with light.

Still on this day with trumpet sound
The Gospel notes were ringing round,
To call the world to pray.

Then on this day let us adore
Our God and supplication pour,
That, when worlds pass away,

Through Christ’s dear grace our souls may rest
In peace and joy, forever blest,
Till the great Judgment Day.

Hark, hark the song, gliding along,
Borne on the summer breeze, far, far away;
Dear Sabbath home, once more we come,
Hailing with glad delight this happy day;
Eyes beaming brightly, hearts bounding lightly,
Now we sing our merry, merry lay.

Refrain

Dear Sabbath home, once more we come,
Hailing with glad delight this happy day.

Green shady bowers, sweet blushing flowers,
Come with the summer time, blooming anew;
Morn’s gentle ray, golden and gay,
Shines on the lily-bells sparkling with dew;
Beauty is calling, music is falling,
Now again earth wakes her joyful lay.

Refrain

Hark, hark the song, floating along,
Borne to the sunny land fadeless and fair;
Savior and King, gladly we bring
Praise for Thy precious love, Thy tender care;
Gathered before Thee, young hearts adore Thee,
Savior, hear, O hear our happy lay.

Refrain

Hail happy morning, hail, holy day,
Calling from earthly labors away,
Sweet words of wisdom, glad songs of joy,
Now be our best employ.

Refrain

Sing once more the happy, happy song,
While the golden moments roll along,
“Come to the temple, come, come away,
Hallow the Sabbath day.”

Emblem of heaven, sweet day of rest,
In thy “remembrance,” may we be blessed.
So may our songs and lives ever say,
“Hallow the Sabbath day.”

Refrain

Rest from our labors, rest from our cares,
Rest in our praises, rest in our prayers,
So the commandment would we obey,
“Hallow the Sabbath day.”

Refrain

Hail, thou bright and sacred morn,
Ris’n with gladness in thy beams!
Light, which not of earth is born,
From thy dawn in glory streams;
Airs of Heav’n are breathed around,
And each place is holy ground.

Sad and weary were our way,
Fainting oft beneath our load,
But for thee, thou blessèd day,
Resting place on life’s rough road;
Here flow forth the streams of grace;
Strengthened hence we run our race.

Great Creator, who this day
From Thy perfect work didst rest,
By the souls that own Thy sway
Hallowed be its hours and blest;
Cares of earth aside be thrown,
This day give to Heav’n alone.

Savior, who this day didst break
The dark prison of the tomb,
Bid my slumbering soul awake;
Shine through all its sin and gloom;
Let me, from my bonds set free,
Rise from sin, and live to Thee.

Blessèd Spirit, Comforter,
Sent this day from Christ on high;
Lord, on me Thy gifts confer,
Cleanse, illumine, sanctify:
All Thine influence shed abroad;
Let me to the truth of God.

Hail to the Sabbath day!
The day divinely given,
When men to God their homage pay,
And earth draws near to Heaven.

Lord, in this sacred hour,
Within Thy courts we bend,
And bless Thy love, and own Thy power,
Our Father and our Friend.

But Thou art not alone
In courts by mortals trod;
Nor only is the day Thine own
When man draws near to God.

Thy temple is the arch
Of yon unmeasured sky;
Thy Sabbath, the stupendous march
Of vast eternity.

Lord, may that holier day
Dawn on Thy servants’ sight;
And purer worship may we pay
In Heaven’s unclouded light.

O day of rest and gladness, O day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness, most beautiful, most bright:
On Thee, the high and lowly, through ages joined in tune,
Sing holy, holy, holy, to the great God Triune.

On Thee, at the creation, the light first had its birth;
On Thee, for our salvation, Christ rose from depths of earth;
On Thee, our Lord, victorious, the Spirit sent from Heaven,
And thus on Thee, most glorious, a triple light was given.

Thou art a port, protected from storms that round us rise;
A garden, intersected with streams of paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain in life’s dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah’s mountain, we view our promised land.

Thou art a holy ladder, where angels go and come;
Each Sunday finds us gladder, nearer to Heaven, our home;
A day of sweet refection, thou art a day of love,
A day of resurrection from earth to things above.

Today on weary nations the heavenly manna falls;
To holy convocations the silver trumpet calls,
Where Gospel light is glowing with pure and radiant beams,
And living water flowing, with soul refreshing streams.

New graces ever gaining from this our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining to spirits of the blessed.
To Holy Ghost be praises, to Father, and to Son;
The church her voice upraises to Thee, blessed Three in One.

This is the day of light:
Let there be light today;
O Dayspring, rise upon our night
And chase its gloom away.

This is the day of rest:
Our failing strength renew;
On weary brain and troubled breast
Shed Thou Thy freshening dew.

This is the day of peace:
Thy peace our spirits fill;
Bid Thou the blasts of discord cease,
The waves of strife be still.

This is the day of prayer:
Let earth to heaven draw near;
Lift up our hearts to seek Thee there,
Come down to meet us here.

This is the first of days;
Send forth Thy quick’ning breath,
And wake dead souls to love and praise,
O Vanquisher of death!