WE praise and bless Thee, gracious Lord, Our Saviour, kind and true, For all the old things passed away, For all Thou hast made new.
New hopes, new purposes, desires, And joys Thy grace has given; Old ties are broken from the earth, New ties attach to Heaven.
But yet, how much must be destroyed, How much renewed must be, Ere we can fully stand complete In likeness, Lord, to Thee!
Thou, only Thou, must carry on The work Thou hast begun; Of Thine own strength Thou must impart In Thine own ways to run.
O leave us not; from day to day Revive, restore again; Our feeble steps do Thou direct, Our enemies restrain.
So shall we faultless stand at last Before Thy Father’s throne; The blessedness for ever ours, The glory all Thine own!
Carl Johann Philipp Spitta, 1801-59, tr Jane Laurie Borthwick, 1813-97