Yes, she may forgetful be;
Yet will I remember thee.
Mine is an unchanging love,
Higher than the heights above:
Deeper than the depths beneath,
Free and faithful, strong as death.
Thou shalt see my glory soon,
When the work of grace is done;
Partner of my throne shalt be,

Say, poor sinner, lov'st thou me?'
Lord, it is my chief complaint,
That my love is weak and faint;
Yet I love thee and adore,
Oh! for grace to love thee more!

249. Christian Conflict.
"Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought;
Do I love the Lord, or no?
Am I his, or am I not?

If I love, why am I thus?
Why this dull, this lifeless frame?
Hardly, sure, can they be worse,
Who have never heard his name!
Could my heart so hard remain,
Pray'r a task and burden prove,
Ev'ry trifle give me pain,
If I knew a Saviour's love?

When I turn my eyes within,
All is dark, and vain, and wild;

Fill'd with unbelief and sin,
Can I deem myself a child?

If I pray, or hear, or read,
Sin is mix'd with all I do;
You that love the Lord indeed,
Tell me, is it thus with you?

Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
Find my sin a grief and thrall;
Should I grieve for what I feel,
If I did not love at all?

Could I joy his saints to meet,
Choose the ways I once abhorr'd,
Find, at times, the promise sweet,
If I did not love the Lord?

Lord, decide the doubtful case,
Thou who art thy people's sun,
Shine upon thy work of

If it be indeed begun.

grace,

Let me love thee more and more,
If I love at all, I pray;
If I have not lov'd before,
Help me to begin to-day.

250. The Believer's Hope.

He is a God of sov'reign love,
That promis'd heav'n to me:
And taught my thoughts to soar above,
Where happy spirits be.

Prepare me, Lord, for thy right hand,
Then come the joyful day!

Come death and some celestial band,
To bear my soul away.

Then, my beloved, take my soul,
Up to thy blest abode;

That face to face I may behold
My Saviour and my God.

God has laid up in heav'n for me
A crown which cannot fade;
The righteous Judge at the great day
Shall place it on my head.

Nor hath the King of grace decreed
This prize for me alone;

.

But all that love and long to see
Th' appearance of his Son.

251. The Beggar

ENCOURAG'D by thy word
Of promise to the poor,
Behold, a beggar, Lord,

Waits at thy mercy's door!

No hand, no heart, O Lord, but thine,

Can help or pity wants like mine.

The beggar's usual plea,
Relief from men to gain,

If offer'd unto thee,

I know thou would'st disdain;
And pleas which move thy gracious ear,
Are such as men would scorn to hear.

I have no right to say,
That tho' I now am poor,

Yet once there was a day
When I possessed more :

Thou know'st that from my very birth,
I've been the poorest wretch on earth.
Nor can I dare profess,
As beggars often do,

Tho' great is my distress,

My faults have been but few: If thou should'st leave my soul to starve, It would be what I well deserve.

'Twere folly to pretend

I never begg'd before;
Or if thou now befriend,
I'll trouble thee no more:
Thou often hast reliev'd my pain,
And often I must come again.
Tho' crumbs are much too good
For such a dog as I,

No less than children's food
My soul can satisfy:

O do not frown and bid me go,

I must have all thou canst bestow.

Nor can I willing be

Thy bounty to conceal
From others who, like me,
Their wants and hunger feel:
I'll tell them of thy mercy's store,
And try to send a thousand more.

Thy thoughts, thou only wise!
Our thoughts and ways transcend,

Far as the arched skies

Above the earth extend: 1

Such pleas as mine men would not hear, But God receives a beggar's pray'r.

252. Prayer for Constancy. I LONG to love, but ah! how far My thoughts from thee, my Jesus are! My wav'ring heart how wide it roves, And seeks a thousand earthly loves. Look gently down, almighty grace, Surround me by thy kind embrace; Pity the soul that would be thine, And let thy powers my love confine. I would enjoy my Lord alone, And bid all meaner joys be gone; Command my love, and charge my will To bar the door, and guard it still. But still a thousand trifles find, Fresh entrance to pollute my mind: Thus, dearest Lord, with grief I see How feeble is my love to thee.

When shall my heart prove false no more, No other Lord but thee adore?

Say, when shall that bright moment be, When I shall live alone to thee?

253. Christian Conflict.

KINDLE, Saviour, in my heart,
A flame of love divine;

P