Hymn
For New Year's Day
The Lord of earth and sky,
The God of ages praise!
Who reigns enthroned on high,
Ancient of endless days;
Who lengthens out our trial here,
And spares us yet another year.
Barren and withered trees,
We cumbered long the ground;
No fruit of holiness
On our dead souls was found;
Yet doth He us in mercy spare
Another and another year.
When justice gave the word
To cut the fig-tree down,
The pity of our Lord
Cried, "Let is still alone:"
The Father mild inclines His ear,
And spares us yet another year.
Jesus, Thy speaking blood
From God obtained the grace,
who therefore hath bestowed
On us a longer space:
Thou didst in our behalf appear,
And lo, we see another year!
Then dig about our root,
Break up our fallow ground,
And let our gracious fruit
To Thy great praise abound;
Oh let us all Thy praise declare,
And fruit unto perfection bear.
For New Year's Day — Text from The Book of Worship, 1867. Public domain. https://yeshuanow.com/hymns/for-new-years-day-2
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Questions about this hymn
Who wrote For New Year's Day?
The words of For New Year's Day were written by Charles Wesley; the version here was published in 1867. The library holds 105 more hymns by Charles Wesley, including And am I born to die? and O For a Heart to Praise My God.
Is For New Year's Day public domain?
Yes. The words here are taken from The Book of Worship, published in 1867. Works published before 1931 are out of copyright in the United States, so you can print, project, perform and record this hymn freely. How we source and check every hymn.
What is the metre of For New Year's Day?
For New Year's Day is in 6.6.6.6.8.8. Hymns in the same metre can usually be sung to the same tunes — for example, Pleading the Promise, Welcome, Delightful Morn and Awake our drowsy souls.