Father of mercies, bow thine ear,

Attentive to our earnest prayer:

We plead for those who plead for thee;

Successful pleaders may they be.

2 How great their work! how vast their charge!

Do thou their anxious souls enlarge:

Their best endowments are our gain;

We share the blessings they obtain.

3 O, clothe with energy divine

Their words; and let those words be thine;

To them thy sacred truth reveal;

Suppress their fears, inflame their zeal.

4 Teach them to sow the precious seed;

Teach them thy chosen flock to feed;

Teach them immortal souls to gain—

And thus reward their toil and pain.

5 Let thronging multitudes around,

Hear from their lips the joyful sound,

In humble strains thy grace implore,

And feel thy Spirit’s living power.