The Law of the Lord is Perfect.
The heavens declare the glory of God.
Psalm xix. 1.
L. M. 58
The heavens declare thy glory, Lord;
In every star thy wisdom shines;
But when our eyes behold thy word,
We read thy name in fairer lines.
The rolling sun, the changing light,
And nights and days, thy power confess,
But the blest volume thou hast writ,
Reveals thy justice and thy grace.
Sun, moon, and stars, convey thy praise
Round the whole earth, and never stand:
So when thy truth began its race,
It touched and glanced on every land.
Nor shall thy spreading gospel rest,
Till through the world thy truth has run;
Till Christ has all the nations blessed
That see the light, or feel the sun.
Great Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Bless the dark world with heavenly light;
Thy gospel makes the simple wise,
Thy laws are pure, thy judgments right.
I. Watts, 1719, ab.
57 I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.
Great God of truth and righteousness,
Wilt thou on earth thy name record?
And wilt thou come to us and bless
The humble followers of the Lord?
Where in thy name but two or three
Meet to uplift their prayerful hands,
Thou in the midst of them wilt be,
For thus thy sacred promise stands.
O dwell with us thou King of kings,
And may we still abide in thee,
And in the shadow of thy wings,
May we our trust and refuge see.
Here be thy saints' petitions heard;
Here be thy praise devoutly sung;
Here be thy testifying word,
Declared by many a glowing tongue.
And when in glory we appear,
In that eternal, joyful morn,
May it be found that even here
Many for endless life were born.
With bands of love.
Hosea xi. 4.
O Christ, who hast prepared a place
For us around thy throne of grace,
We pray thee, lift our hearts above,
And draw them with the cords of love!
Source of all good, thou, gracious Lord,
Art our exceeding great reward;
How transient is our present pain,
How boundless our eternal gain!
With open face and joyful heart,
We then shall see thee as thou art:
Our love shall never cease to glow,
Our praise shall never cease to flow.
Thy never-failing grace to prove,
A surety of thine endless love,
Send down thy Holy Ghost, to be
The raiser of our souls to thee.
O future Judge, Eternal Lord,
Thy name be hallowed and adored!
To God the Father, King of heaven,
And Holy Ghost, like praise be given.
Latin. J. B. de Santeuil, 1689. Tr. J. Chandler, 1887.
59 Choose you this day whom ye will serve.
Oh, do not let the word depart,
And close thine eyes against the light.
Poor sinner, harden not thy heart;
Thou wouldst be saved,-why not to-night?
To-morrow's sun may never rise
To bless thy long-deluded sight.
This is the time; oh, then, be wise!
Thou wouldst be saved,-why not to-night?
Our God in pity lingers still,
And wilt thou thus his love requite?
Renounce at once thy stubborn will.
Thou wouldst be saved,--why not to-night?
The world has nothing left to give;
It has no new, no pure delight.
Oh, try the life which Christians live!
Thou wouldst be saved,-why not to-night?
Our blessed Lord refuses none
Who would to him their souls unite.
Then be the work of grace begun.
Thou wouldst be saved,-why not to-night?
Elizabeth Holmes Reed, 1842.
With tearful eyes I look around, -Life seems a dark and stormy sea;
Yet 'midst the gloom I hear a sound, A heavenly whisper,-"Come to me?"
2 It tells me of a place of rest;
It tells me where my soul may flee:
Oh! to the weary, faint, oppressed,
How sweet the bidding, "Come to me!"
3 Come, for all else must fail and die;
Earth is no resting-place for thee;
Heavenward direct thy weeping eye,
I am thy portion;-"Come to me!"
4 O voice of mercy! voice of love!
In conflict, grief, and agony,
Support me, cheer me from above!
And gently whisper, "Come to me!"
That day of wrath, that dreadful day, When heaven and earth shall pass away, What power shall be the sinner's stay? How shall he meet that dreadful day? When, shrivelling like a parched scroll, The flaming heavens together roll; When louder yet, and yet more dread, Swells the high trump that wakes the dead; Oh! on that day, that wrathful day, When man to judgment wakes from clay, Be thou, O Christ! the sinner's stay, Though heaven and earth shall pass away.
Lat. Thomas of Celano, 1230. Tr. Walter Scott, 1805.
Jesus, and shall it ever be,
A mortal man ashamed of thee?
Ashamed of thee, whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine through endless days?
Ashamed of Jesus! sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star;
He sheds the beams of light divine
O'er this benighted soul of mine.
Ashamed of Jesus! just as soon
Let midnight be ashamed of noon;
"Tis midnight with my soul, till hc,
Bright Morning Star, bid darkness flec.
Ashamed of Jesus! that dear friend
No; when I blush be this my shame,
On whom my hopes of bliss depend?
That I no more revere his name.
Ashamed of Jesus! yes, I may,
When I've no guilt to wash away,
No tear to wipe, no good to crave,
No fears to quell, no soul to save.
Till then-nor is my boasting vain-
Till then I boast a Saviour slain;
And, oh, may this my glory be,
That Christ is not ashamed of me!
Joseph Grigg, 1764; alt. by Benj. Francis, 1787.
Let us Come Boldly to the Ghrone of Grace.
From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes,
There is a calm, a sure retreat;-
"Tis found beneath the mercy-seat.
There is a place, where Jesus sheds
The oil of gladness on our heads,—
A place, than all besides, more sweet;
It is the blood-bought mercy-seat.
There is a spot where spirits blend,
Where friend holds fellowship with friend,
Though sundered far, by faith they meet
Around one common mercy-seat.
Ah, whither could we flee for aid,
When tempted, desolate, dismayed,—
Or how the hosts of hell defeat-
Had suffering saints no mercy seat?
There, there, on eagle wings we soar,
And time and sense seem all no more;
And heaven comes down our souls to greet,
And glory crowns the mercy-seat!
Oh! may my hand forget her skill,
My tongue be silent, cold, and still,
This bounding heart forget to beat,
If I forget the mercy-seat!
Woe is me, for I am undone. Isa. vi. 1-6.
64.
Jesus, whose glory's streaming rays,
Though duteous to thy high command,
Not seraphs view with open face,
But veiled before thy presence stand!
How shall weak eyes of flesh, weighed down
With sin, and dim with error's night,
Dare to behold thy awful throne,
Or view thy unapproached light?
Thy golden sceptre from above
Reach forth; lo! my whole heart I bow;
Say to my soul, "Thou art my love;
My chosen midst ten thousand, thou."
O Jesus, full of grace! the sighs
Of a sick heart with pity view!
Hark! how my silence speaks, and cries,
"Mercy, thou God of mercy, show!"
W. C. Dessler, 1660-1722. Tr. J. Wesley, ab. 1739.
God be merciful to me. Luke xviii. 13.
With broken heart and contrite sigh,
A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry;
Thy pardoning grace is rich and free:
O God! be merciful to me!
I smite upon my troubled breast,
With deep and conscious guilt oppressed;
Christ and his cross my only plea:
O God! be merciful to me!
Far off I stand, with tearful eyes,
Nor dare uplift them to the skies;
But thou dost all my anguish see:
O God! be merciful to me!
Nor alms nor deeds that I have done
Can for a single sin atone;
To Calvary alone I flee:
O God! be merciful to me!
And when redeemed from sin and hell,
With all the ransomed throng I dwell,
My raptured song shall ever be,
God has been merciful to me!
God forbid that I should Glory, save in the Gross.
shameful cross! on thee was hung The bleeding One who died for me;
The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. vi. 14.
68 2 O cross of anguish and of shame! Thou didst a Saviour's grace declare: Thou dost to all the world proclaim The love that did my sorrows bear. 3 Cross of the Lord! no radiant gem, No glistening pearls of lustre rare, No monarch's blazing diadem With thy pale splendors can compare. 4 Cross of the Lord! while others boast Of titles, names, and marks of pride, My heart shall ever glory most In that rough tree where Jesus died. 5 O cross! thou badge of love divine, Rend my hard heart, subdue my soul; Oh, crush each lust and slay each sin, And all my life by love control.
From all that dwell below the skies,
Let the Creator's praise arise;
Let the Redeemer's name be sung,
Through every land, by every tongue.
Eternal are thy mercies, Lord;
Eternal truth attends thy word;
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise and set no more.
L. Watts, 1719.
Who bare our Sins in His own Body.
Lord, remember me when thou comest. Luke xxiii. 42.
Thou Man of griefs, remember me,
Who never canst thyself forget
Thy last mysterious agony,
Thy fainting pangs, and bloody sweat:
When, wrestling in the strength of prayer,
Thy spirit sunk beneath its load!
Thy feeble flesh abhorred to bear
The wrath of an Almighty God!
Father, if I may call thee so,
Regard my fearful heart's desire;
Remove this load of guilty woe,
Nor let me in my sins expire!
To thee my last distress I bring;
The heightened fear of death I find:
The tyrant, brandishing his sting,
Appears, and hell is close behind!
I deprecate that death alone,
That endless banishment from thee!
O save, and give me to thy Son,
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Psalm li. 11.
Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay,
Though I have done thee such despite;
Nor cast the sinner quite away,
Nor take thine everlasting flight.
Though I have steeled my stubborn heart,
And shaken off my guilty fears;
And vexed, and urged thee to depart,
For many long rebellious years:
Though I have most unfaithful been,
Of all who e'er thy grace received;
Ten thousand times thy goodness seen,
Ten thousand times thy goodness grieved:
Yet, O, the chief of sinners spare,
In honor of my great High Priest;
Nor in thy righteous anger swear
To exclude me from thy people's rest.
C. Wesley, ab.
He maketh the deaf to hear.
Mark vii. 37.
Lord, I was blind! I could not see
In thy marred visage any grace;
Who trembled, wept, and bled for me! But now the beauty of thy face
This do in remembrance of me.
Luke xxii. 19.
72
L. M.
'Twas on that dark, that doleful night,
When powers of hell and earth arose
Against the Son of God's delight,
And friends betrayed him to his foes:
Before the mournful scene began,
He took the bread, and blessed, and brake:
What love through all his actions ran!
What wondrous words of grace he spake!
"This is my body, broke for sin;
Receive and eat the living food: ”—
Then took the cup and blessed the wine,
'Tis the new covenant in my blood."
"Do this," he cried, "till time shall end,
In memory of your dying Friend;
Meet at my table, and record
The love of your departed Lord.”
Jesus! thy love we celebrate;
We show thy death, we sing thy name,
Till thou return, and we shall eat
The marriage supper of the Lamb.
In radiant vision dawns on me.
Lord, I was deaf! I could not hear
But now I hear thee and rejoice,
The thrilling music of thy voice;
And all thy uttered words are dear.
Lord, I was dumb! I could not speak
The grace and glory of thy name;
But now, as touched with living flame,
My lips thine eager praises wake.
Lord, I was dead! I could not stir
My lifeless soul to come to thee;
But now, since thou hast quickened me,
I rise from sin's dark sepulchre.
For Thou hast made the blind to see,
The deaf to hear, the dumb to speak,
The dead to live, and lo, I break
The chains of my captivity.
Wm. Tidd Matson, 1866.
75 To Him be glory, both now and forever.
Praise to his blessed Son be given:-
Glory and thanks to God in heaven!
Thee, Holy Spirit, we implore,
Be with us now and evermore.
|