1 Rise up, and bless your God,
Early his praise declare;
Make haste, attend upon his word,
And breathe your midnight prayer.
2 Let your first thoughts ascend,
And reach the Holy One;
Your earliest wishes ever tend
To his celestial throne.
3 Let not the world, nor care,
Nor sense, nor self have place;
Midnight be given to praise and prayer,
Through the Redeemer's grace.
4 Lord, in this solemn hour,
All thoughts be thoughts of thee;
Into my soul thy fullness pour--
Be all in all to me.
5 Keep, ever keep my heart,
Leaving no room for sin;
Wisdom, and strength, and love impart,
Making a heaven within.
6 Oh, may I live to love,
And fear, and honor thee;
Then sing with ransomed hosts above,
In blest eternity.
Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #736
Rev. Ancel Henry Bassett was born on July 1, 1809 in Sandwich, Massachusetts. He was the youngest child of Elisha and Abigail (Dillingham) Bassett. The Bassetts moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1810, and Ancel’s father died there in 1814. He became a Christian at age twelve and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, but left that denomination because he sympathized with the Methodist Protestant cause. In 1830, he received his license to preach, and in 1840 he was elected as President of the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church. Ancel married Priscilla White, the daughter of Rev. Robert and Mary (Johnson) White, on August 24, 1837 in Greenbush, Ohio.
In 1845 Ancel became the editor of the Western Recorder, a Methodist Pro… Go to person page >
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