1 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 Clothe, then, with energy divine,
Their words, and let those words be Thine:
To them Thy sacred truth reveal,
Suppress their fear, inflame their zeal.

4 Teach them to sow the precious seed;
Teach them Thy chosen flock to feed;
Teach them immortal souls to gain--
Souls that will well reward their pain.