But man, vile man, forsook his bliss,
And mercy lifts him to a crown!
2 Amazing works of sovereign grace,
That could distinguish rebels so!
Our guilty treasons call'd aloud
For everlasting fetters too.
8 To thee, to thee, Almighty Love,
Our souls, ourselves, our all we pay:
Millions of tongues shall sound thy praise
On the bright hills of heavenly day.
HYMN 98. C. M.
Hardness of heart complained of.
1 MY heart, how dreadful hard it is!
How heavy here it lies;
Heavy and cold within my breast,
Just like a rock of ice!
2 Sin, like a raging tyrant, sits
Upon his flinty throne;
And every grace lies bury'd deep,
Beneath this heart of stone.
S How seldom do I rise to God,
Or taste the joys above!
This mountain presses down my faith,
And chills my flaming love.
4 When smiling mercy courts my soul
With all its heavenly charms,
This stubborn, this relentless thing,
Would thrust it from mine arms.
5 Against the thunders of thy word
Rebellious I have stood;
My heart, it shakes not at the wrath
And terrors of a God
6 Dear Saviour, steep this rock of mine
In thine own crimson sea!
None but a bath of blood divine
Can melt the flint away.
HYMN 99. C. M.
The book of God's decrees.
ET the whole race of creatures lie
Abas'd before their God;
Whate'er his sovereign voice has form'd
He governs with a nod.
2 [Ten thousand ages ere the skies
Were into motion brought,
All the long years and worlds to come
Stood present to his thought.
3 There's not a sparrow, or a worm,
But's found in his decrees;
He raises monarchs to their thrones,
And sinks them as he please.]
If light attend the course I run,
'Tis he provides those rays;
And tis his hand that hides my sun,
If darkness cloud my days.
5 Yet I would not be much concern'd,
Nor vainly long to see,
In volumes of his deep decrees,
What months are writ for me.
6 When he reveals the book of life,
Oh, may I read my name
Amongst the chosen of his love,
The fol'wers of the Lamb!
The presence of Christ is the life of my soul.
1HO OW full of anguish is the thought,
How it distracts and tears my heart,
If God, at last, my sovereign Judge, Should frown, and bid my soul depart! 2 Lord, when I quit this earthly stage, Where shall I fly but to thy breast, For I have sought no other home, For I have learn'd no other rest. 3 I cannot live contented here,
Without some glimpses of thy face;
And heaven, without thy presence there,
Would be a dark and tiresome piace."
4 When earthly cares engross the day,
And hold my thoughts aside from thee,
The shining hours of cheerful light
Are long and tedious years to me.
5 And if no evening visit's paid
Between my Saviour and my soul,
How dull the night! how sad the shade!
How mournfully the minutes roll!
6 This flesh of mine might learn as soon
To live, yet part with all my blood;
'To breathe, when vital air is gone,
Or thrive and grow without my food.
[Christ is my light, my life, my care,
My blessed hope, my heavenly prize;
Dearer than all my passions are,
My limbs, my bowels, or mine eyes.
8 The strings that twine about my heart,
Tortures and racks may tear them off;
But they can never, never part,
With their dear hold of Christ, my love } 9 [My God! and can a humble child, That loves thee with a flame so high, Be ever from thy face exil'd, Without the pity of thine eye? 10 Impossible! for thine own hands Have ty'd my heart so fast to thee! And in thy book the promise stands, That where thou art, thy friends must be.]
HYMN 101. C. M.
The world's three chief temptations.
Wwe look on things below,
HEN, in the light of faith divine,
Honour, and gold, and sensual joy,
How vain and dang'rous too!
2 [Honour's a puff of noisy breath;
Yet meu expose their blood,
And venture everlasting death,
To gain that airy good.
S Whilst others starve the nobler mind,
And feed on shining dust,
They rob the serpent of his food,
T' indulge a sordid lust.]
The pleasures that allure our sense,
Are dang'rous snares to souls;
There's but a drop of flat'ring sweet,
And dash'd with bitter bowls.
5 God is mine all-sufficient good,
My portion and my choice;
In him my vast desires are fill'd,
And all my powers rejoice.
6 In vain the world accosts mine ear,
And tempts my heart anew;
I cannot buy your bliss so dear,
Nor part with heaven for you.
HYMN 102. L. M.
A happy resurrection.
I'll repine at death no more,
But with a cheerful gasp, resign
To the cold dungeon of the grave
These dying, with'ring limbs of mine.
2 Let worms devour my wasting flesh,
And crumble all my bones to dust,
My God shall raise my frame anew,
At the revival of the just.
3 Break, sacred morning, through the skies,
Bring that delightful, dreadful day;
Cut short the hours, dear Lord, and come!
Thy ling'ring wheels, how long they stay.
[Our weary spirits faint to see
The light of thy returning face;
And hear the language of those lips
Where God has shed his richest grace.
5 Haste, then, upon the wings of love,
Rouse all the pious sleeping clay;
That we may join in heavenly joys,
And sing the triumph of the day.]
HYMN 103. C. M.
Christ's commission. John iii. 16, 17.
COME, happy souls, approach your God
With new melodious songs;
Come, tender to almighty grace
The tribute of your tongues.
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