St. Andrew's Day

What day in all the year than this
More meet, to bring domestic bliss
In praise before the Lord?
Or, if we have domestic care,
To lay it before God in prayer,
And search His answering Word!

We think of one, this blessed day,
Who followed Christ without delay,
And, full of holy fear,
First his own brother Simon sought,
And him to Jesus meekly brought,
In brotherhood more dear.

The youthful convert, fain to prove
The blessings of his new-found love,
First seeks his own abode;
And the dear brother of his heart
Persuades to choose the better part,
And give himself to God.

No triumphs of maturer years,
Won for the Cross in toil and tears,
Will ever seem so fair,
As that one gain — a brother found!
And doubly, as a brother, bound
His new-born bliss to share.

Are there for us some brethren dear,
Near to our hearts, but not so near
To God, as they should be?
For whom we know no peace, or rest,
Until they choose the thing that's best,
And Christ's salvation see?

Or are there those, whom we have borne
Upon our hearts, till their return
To him, from whom they strayed,
Has been to prayer the best reply,
The Saviour's tenderest sympathy
In mercy could have made!

Then let us come, and one and all
Use this glad Christian festival,
For special prayer and praise;
Prayer for the lost to be restored,
Praise for the loved ones, whom the Lord
Hath brought back to His ways.

And, as the rolling year brings round
The memory of some lost one found,
Some loved one gone astray;
Let each domestic grief, or joy,
Our heart's best Faith and Love employ
On each St. Andrew's Day.