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    SWEETLY our praise awakes,
   Borne on the morning air;
Before the day’s full clamour breaks
    We meet to offer prayer.
 
2      On the lone mountainside,
    Before the morning’s light,
The Man of Sorrows wept and cried,
    And rose refreshed with might.
 
3      While flowers are wet with dews,
    Dew of our souls descend:
Before the sun the day renews;
    O Lord, Thy Spirit send.
 
4      Upon the battlefield
    Before the fight begins,
We seek, O Lord, Thy sheltering shield
    To guard us from our sins.
 
5      Ere yet our vessel sails
    Upon the stream of day,
We plead, O Lord, for heavenly gales
    To speed us on our way.
 
6      O hear us then, for we
    Are very weak and frail;
We make the Saviour’s name our plea,
    And surely must prevail.
 
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1834-92‡