And when thou didst thy face conceal,
Thy absence I refused to feel.

3 I knew not that the Lord was gone;
In my own froward will went on:
I lived-to the desires of men,
And thou hast all my wanderings seen.
4 Yet, O the riches of thy grace!
Thou who hast seen my evil ways,
Wilt freely my backslidings heal,
And pardon on my conscience seal.
5 For this I at thy footstool wait,
Till thou my peace again create:
Fruit of thy gracious lips, restore
My peace, and bid me sin no more.

464.

[L. B. 94.]

S. M.

AND wilt thou yet be found?
And may I still draw near?

Then listen to the plaintive sound
Of a poor sinner's prayer.
Jesus, thy aid afford,

If still the same thou art:
To thee I look, to thee, my Lord;
Lift up my helpless heart.

2 Thou seest my troubled breast,
The struggles of my will,

3

The foes that interrupt my rest,
The agonies I feel:

The daily death I prove,

Saviour, to thee is known:

'Tis worse than death my God to love,

And not my God alone.

O my offended Lord,

Restore my inward peace:

I know thou canst pronounce the word,

And bid the tempest cease.

I long to see thy face;
Thy Spirit I implore,

The living water of thy grace,
That I may thirst no more.

465. [L. B. 103.]

JESUS, let thy pitying eye

8 lines 7 & 6.

Call back a wandering sheep;
False to thee, like Peter, I

Would fain, like Peter, weep;
Let me be by grace restored;
On me be all long-suffering shown:
Turn, and look upon me, Lord,
And break my heart of stone.

2 Saviour, Prince, enthroned above,
Repentance to impart,

3

Give me, through thy dying love,
The humble, contrite heart:
Give what I have long implored,
A portion of thy grief unknown:
Turn, and look upon me, Lord,
And break my heart of stone.

See me, Saviour, from above,
Nor suffer me to die;
Life, and happiness, and love,
Drop from thy gracious eye:
Speak the reconciling word,
And let thy mercy melt me down:
Turn, and look upon me, Lord,
And break my heart of stone.

466. [L. B. 106.]

8 lines 7 & 6.

JESUS, Friend of sinners, hear,
Yet once again, I pray:
From debt of sin set clear,
my

For I have nought to pay:
Speak, O speak the kind release;

A poor backsliding soul restore:

2

3

4

5

Love me freely, seal my peace,
And bid me sin no more.

For my selfishness and pride,
Thou hast withdrawn thy grace;
Left me long to wander wide,
An outcast from thy face;
But I now my sins confess,
And mercy, mercy, I implore;
Love me freely, seal my peace,
And bid me sin no more.

Though my sins as mountains rise,
And swell and reach to heaven,
Mercy is above the skies,

I still may be forgiven:
Infinite my sins' increase,
But greater is thy mercy's store:
Love me freely, seal my peace,
And bid me sin no more.

Sin's deceitfulness has spread
A hardness o'er my heart;
But if thou thy Spirit shed,
The stony shall depart:
Shed thy love, thy tenderness,
And let me feel thy softening power:
Love me freely, seal my peace,
And bid me sin no more.

For this only thing I pray,
And this will I require,
Take the power of sin away,
Fill me with chaste desire:
Perfect me in holiness;

Thy image to my soul restore;

Love me freely, seal my peace,
And bid me sin no more.

JESUS, in whom the weary find
Their late but permanent repose:

6 lines 8.

Physician of the sin-sick mind,
Relieve my wants, assuage my woes;
And let my soul on thee be cast,
Till life's fierce tyranny be past.

2 Loosed from my God, and far removed,
Long have I wander'd to and fro;
O'er earth in endless circles roved,
Nor found whereon to rest below;
Back to my God at last I fly,
For O, the waters, still are high.

3 Selfish pursuits, and nature's maze,
The things of earth for thee I leave;
Put forth thy hand, thy hand of grace;
Into the ark of love receive:

Take this poor fluttering soul to rest,
And lodge it, Saviour, in thy breast.

4 Fill with inviolable peace;

'Stablish and keep my settled heart:
In thee may all my wandering cease,
From thee no more may I depart:
Thy utmost goodness call'd to prove;
Loved with an everlasting love.

468.

[L. B. 155.]

L. M.

STAY, thou insulted Spirit, stay, Though I have done thee such despite; Nor cast the sinner quite away,

Nor take thy everlasting flight.

2 Though I have steel'd my stubborn heart,
And long shook off my guilty fears;
And vex'd, and urged thee to depart,
For many long rebellious years.

3 Though I have most unfaithful been
Of all whoe'er thy grace received;
Ten thousand times thy goodness seen,
Ten thousand times thy goodness grieved.

4 Yet O! the chief of sinners spare,
In honour of my great High Priest;
Nor in thy righteous anger swear
To exclude me from thy people's rest.

5 This only woe I deprecate;
This only plague I pray remove;
Nor leave me in my lost estate;
Nor curse me with this want of love.

6 Now, Lord, my weary soul release;
Upraise me with thy gracious hand;
And guide into thy perfect peace,
And bring me to thy promised land.

469.

[L. B. 159.]

8 lines 8.

COME, holy, celestial Dove,
To visit a sorrowful breast;
My burden of guilt to remove,
And bring me assurance and rest:
Thou only hast power to relieve -
A sinner, o'erwhelm'd with his load;
The sense of acceptance to give,
And purge him from guilt with thy blood.

2 With me if of old thou hast strove,
And strangely withheld from my sin;
And tried, by the power of thy love,
My worthless affections to win;
The work of thy mercy revive;
Thy uttermost mercy exert:
And kindly continue to strive,
And hold, till I yield thee my heart.

3 Thy call if I ever have known,
And sigh'd from myself to get free,
And groan'd the unspeakable groan,
And long'd to be happy in thee:
Fulfil the imperfect desire;

Thy peace to my conscience reveal;