But God has breathed upon a worm, Wings such as clothe an angel's form, The length and breadth of all the plain, How glorious is my privilege! I stand upon a mountain's edge, Though much exalted in the Lord, LII. FOR THE POOR. WHEN Hagar found the bottle spent, A message from the Lord was sent Should not Elijah's cake and cruse + A gracious God will not refuse His saints and servants shall be fed, "Bread shall be given them," he has said. Repasts far richer they shall prove, To Jesus then your trouble bring, LIII. MY SOUL THIRSTETH FOR GOD. I THIRST, but not as once I did, The vain delights of earth to share; It was the sight of thy dear cross First wean'd my soul from earthly things; The mirth of fools and pomp of kings. LIV. LOVE CONSTRAINING TO OBEDIENCE. Then, to abstain from outward sin Now, if I feel its power within, I feel I hate it too. Then, all my servile works were done A righteousness to raise; Now, freely chosen in the Son, I freely choose his ways. "What shall I do," was then the word, "That I may worthier grow?" "What shall I render to the Lord?" Is my inquiry now. To see the law by Christ fulfill'd, LV THE HEART HEALED AND CHANGED BY MERCY. SIN enslaved me many years, "Where," I said, in deep distress, And make the Lord my friend?" Friends and ministers said much But my blindness still was such, I chose a legal course: Much I fasted, watch'd, and strove, Thus afraid to trust his grace, Down at his feet I fell. Then my stubborn heart he broke, And subdued me to his sway; By a simple word he spoke, 66 Thy sins are done away." LVI. HATRED OF SIN. HOLY Lord God! I love thy truth, But, though the poison lurks within, Had I a throne above the rest, Where angels and archangels dwell, One sin, unslain, within my breast, Would make that heaven as dark as hell. The prisoner, sent to breathe fresh air, Would mourn, were he condemn'd to wear But, oh! no foe invades the bliss, When glory crowns the Christian's head; One view of Jesus as he is Will strike all sin for ever dead. No fears he feels, he sees no foes, The strength and peace his soul enjoys. And comforts sinking day by day: What seem'd his own, a self-fed spring, Proves but a brook that glides away. When Gideon arm'd his numerous host, The Lord soon made his numbers less; And said, "Lest Israel vainly boast,* 'My arm procured me this success.' Thus will he bring our spirits down, And draw our ebbing comforts low, That, saved by grace, but not our own, We may not claim the praise we owe. LVIII. TRUE AND FALSE COMFORTS. O GOD, whose favourable eye Intoxicating joys are theirs, Who, while they boast their light, Lull'd in a soft and fatal sleep, Were they indeed the Saviour's sheep, Be mine the comforts that reclaim 'Tis joy enough, my All in All, Thou wilt not let me lower fall, And none can higher fly. LIX. A LIVING AND A DEAD FAITH. THE Lord receives his highest praise From humble minds and hearts sincere; While all the loud professor says * Judges vii. 2. To walk as children of the day, The need of holiness express'd, And call'd for fruit as well as sound. Easy, indeed, it were to reach A mansion in the courts above, LX. ABUSE OF THE GOSPEL. Too many, Lord, abuse thy grace, And while they boast they see thy face, Thy book displays a gracious light The pardon, such presume upon, Was it for this, ye lawless tribe, Ah, Lord, we know thy chosen few But these, the wretched husks they chew The liberty our hearts implore But still to wait at wisdom's door Exodus xxviii. 33. |