February 26, 2017 (Sunday)
This old hymn dates back to 1819. The composer was a Methodist circuit-rider preacher in the Baltimore area. We sang it in church last Sunday, but the title was changed and so were the lyrics. We sang it as, “We Have Come To Join In Worship.” Granted, the old title probably belongs to a different era, but I still think of it in the old way. It is a serious song with compelling verses that require soul-searching on the part of the worshiper.
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BRETHREN WE HAVE MET TO WORSHIP
George Atkins
1819
Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Brethren, see poor sinners round you slumb’ring on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses’ sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Is there here a trembling jailer, seeking grace, and filled with tears?
Is there here a weeping Mary, pouring forth a flood of tears?
Brethren, join your cries to help them; sisters, let your prayers abound;
Pray, oh, pray that holy manna may be scattered all around.
Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.
Then He’ll call us home to Heaven, at His table we’ll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.
Listen to Bart Millard present this song
with a few different words and a new tempo and style.
Click here.
