Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness

Deck thy­self

my soul

with glad­ness

Leave the gloomy haunts of sad­ness;

Come in­to the day­light’s splen­dor

There with joy thy prais­es ren­der

Unto Christ whose grace un­bound­ed

Hath this won­drous ban­quet found­ed.

Higher o’er all the heav’ns He reign­eth

Yet to dwell with thee He deign­eth.

Hasten as a bride to meet Him

And with lov­ing rev­er­ence greet Him;

For with words of life im­mor­tal

Now He knock­eth at thy por­tal.

Haste to ope the gates be­fore Him

Saying

while thou dost ad­ore Him

Suffer

Lord

that I re­ceive Thee

And I nev­er­more will leave Thee.

He who craves a pre­cious trea­sure

Neither cost nor pain will mea­sure;

But the price­less gifts of Heav­en

God to us hath free­ly giv­en.

Though the wealth of earth were prof­fered

Naught would buy the gifts here of­fered:

Christ’s true bo­dy

for thee riv­en

And His blood

for thee once giv­en.

Ah

how hun­gers all my spir­it

For the love I do not mer­it!

Oft have I

with sighs fast throng­ing

Thought up­on this food with long­ing

In the bat­tle well nigh worst­ed

For this cup of life have thirst­ed

For the friend who here in­vites us

And to God Him­self unites us.

In my heart I find as­cend­ing

Holy awe

with rap­ture blend­ing

As this mys­te­ry I pon­der

Filling all my soul with won­der

Bearing wit­ness at this hour

Of the great­ness of God’s pow­er;

Far be­yond all hu­man tell­ing

Is the pow­er with­in Him dwell­ing.

Human rea­son

though it pon­der

Cannot fa­thom this great won­der

That Christ’s bo­dy e’er re­main­eth

Though it count­less souls sus­tain­eth

And that He His blood is giv­ing

With the wine we are re­ceiv­ing.

These great mys­ter­ies un­sound­ed

Are by God alone ex­pound­ed.

Sun

who all my life dost bright­en

Light

who dost my soul en­light­en;

Joy the best that any know­eth;

Fount

whence all my be­ing flow­eth;

At Thy feet I cry

my mak­er

Let me be a fit par­tak­er

Of this bless­èd food from Heav­en

For our good

Thy glo­ry

giv­en.

Lord

by love and mer­cy driv­en

Thou hast left Thy throne in Heav­en

On the cross for me to lang­uish

And to die in bit­ter ang­uish

To fore­go all joy and glad­ness

And to shed Thy blood in sad­ness.

By this blood re­deemed and liv­ing

Lord

I praise Thee with thanks­giv­ing.

Jesus

Bread of Life

I pray Thee

Let me glad­ly here ob­ey Thee.

By Thy love I am in­vit­ed

Be Thy love with love re­quit­ed;

From this sup­per let me mea­sure

Lord

how vast and deep love’s trea­sure.

Through the gifts Thou here dost give me

As Thy guest in Heav­en re­ceive me.