Behold us, Lord, a little space

Behold us, Lord, a little space. John Ellerton* (1826-1893). Written in 1870 for a weekday service ‘in a city church’, and published in Church Hymns (1871), of which Ellerton was one of the editors, in three 8-line stanzas: Behold us, Lord, a little space  From daily tasks set free,And met within Thy Holy Place  To rest awhile with Thee.Around us rolls the ceaseless tide  Of business, toil, and care;And scarcely can we turn aside  For one brief hour of prayer. Yet these are not the only walls  Wherein Thou may’st be sought;On homeliest work Thy blessing falls,  In truth and patience wrought.Thine is the loom, the forge, the mart,  The wealth of land and sea;The worlds of science and of...