Jesus, Where'er Thy People Meet

William Cowper · 1779

Catalog grade guidance: 3–5 — Classic Olney hymn; Christian school memory staple.

29 content lines · 173 words · Est. recitation about 2 min 4 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (Olney Hymns, 1779).Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

Hymn 44

William Cowper

8,8,8,8

On opening a place for social prayer.

Jesus, where'er thy people meet,

There they behold thy mercy-seat;

Where'er they seek thee thou art found,

And every place is hallowed ground.

For thou, within no walls confined,

Inhabitest the humble mind;

Such ever bring thee, where they come,

And going, take thee to their home.

Dear Shepherd of thy chosen few

Thy former mercies here renew;

Here, to our waiting hearts, proclaim

The sweetness of thy saving name.

Here may we prove the pow'r of prayer,

To strengthen faith, and sweeten care;

To teach our faint desires to rise

And bring all heav'n before our eyes.

Behold at thy commanding word,

We stretch the curtain and the cord;
Isa 54:2

Come thou, and fill this wider space,

And bless us with a large increase.

LORD, we are few, but thou art near;

Nor short thine arm, nor deaf thine ear;

Oh rend the heav'ns, come quickly down,

And make a thousand hearts thine own!