On Opening A Place For Social Prayer.

A poem by William Cowper

Jesus! where’er thy people meet,
There they behold thy mercy seat;
Where’er thy seek thee, thou art found,
And every place is hallow’d ground.


For thou, within no walls confined,
Inhabitest the humble mind;
Such ever bring thee where they come,
And going, take thee to their home.


Dear Shepherd of thy chosen few!
Thy former mercies here renew;
Here to our waiting hearts proclaim
The sweetness of thy saving name.


Here may we prove the power of prayer,
To strengthen faith and sweeten care;
To teach our faint desires to rise,
And bring all heaven before our eyes.


Behold, at thy commanding word
We stretch the curtain and the cord;[1]
Come thou and fill this wider space,
And bless us with a large increase.


Lord, we are few, but thou art near;
Nor short thine arm, nor deaf thine ear;
Oh rend the heavens, come quickly down,
And make a thousand hearts thine own!