JOB 23: 8-10.

FORWARD I now in duties go,

But O, my Saviour is not there! Heavy He makes me drive, and slow, Without the chariot-wheels of prayer.

I look to former times, and strain

The footsteps of my God to trace ;
Backward I go (but still in vain)
To find the tokens of His grace.

Surrounded by His power I stand;
His work on other souls I see;

He deals His gifts on either hand,
But still He hides Himself from me.

Groaning, I languish at His stay,

But He regards my every groan : Dark and disconsolate my way,

But still my way to Him is known.

When fully He my faith hath tried,

Like gold I in the fire shall shine, Come forth when seven times purified,

And strongly bear the stamp divine.

PHILIPPIANS 2: 13

It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do.

I.

FATHER, to Thee my soul I lift;
My soul on Thee depends;
Convinced that every perfect gift
From Thee alone descends.
Mercy and grace are Thine alone,
And power and wisdom too:
Without the Spirit of Thy Son
We nothing good can do.

We cannot speak one useful word,

One holy thought conceive, Unless, in answer to our Lord,

Thyself the blessing give.

His Blood demands the purchased grace;

His Blood's availing plea Obtained the help for all our race,

And sends it down to me.

Thou all our works in us hast wrought;
Our good is all divine:

The praise of every virtuous thought
Or righteous work is Thine.

From Thee, through Jesus, we receive
The power on Thee to call,

In Whom we are, and move, and live:
Our God is All in all.

II.

How empty then the former boast,
The impotence of pride,

When in ourselves we put our trust,
And on our works relied:
Strong in our liberty of will,
Our nature's noble powers,
We vowed to scale the heavenly hill,
And seize the crown as ours.

The stress of our salvation we

On human efforts laid :

Or if sometimes we mentioned Thee,
And slightly asked Thine aid,
Our own attempts, we thought, should gain
For us the glorious prize;

Our meritorious toil and pain

Should lift us to the skies.

Our own desires, though weak, sincere,

Our own endeavors stood,

To atone for our transgressions here

In place of Jesu's Blood.

Alas for us! we knew not then

His Blood and Righteousness,

Through which alone the sons of men
May all be saved by grace.

III.

But now, my gracious God, Thy Love
Hath taught me better things:

My all is given me from above,
From Thee salvation springs.
Freely Thy Love delights to save,
And ransoms without price;
Mercy Thou wilt on sinners have,
And not our sacrifice.

Jesus for me the winepress trod;
He paid our debt alone:

He bought our pardon with His Blood,
And did for all atone.

We nothing think, or speak, or do,
Thy favor to procure:

But when my heart believes Thee true,
The grace to me is sure.

"T is not of him that wills or runs,
That labors or desires :

In answer to my Saviour's groans,
Thy love my breast inspires.
The meritorious cause I see,

That precious Blood divine;
And I, since Jesus died for me,

Shall live forever Thine.

1749.

CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

JESU, Thou art my Righteousness,
For all my sins were Thine:

Thy Death hath bought of God my peace,
Thy Life hath made Him mine.

Spotless and just in Thee I am;
I feel my sins forgiven:
I taste salvation in Thy Name,
And antedate my heaven.

Forever here my rest shall be,
Close to Thy bleeding side;
This all my hope and all my plea,
For me the Saviour died.

My dying Saviour and my God,
Fountain for guilt and sin,
Sprinkle me ever with Thy Blood,
And cleanse, and keep me clean.

Wash me, and make me thus Thine own:
Wash me, and mine Thou art;

Wash me, but not my feet alone,
My hands, my head, my heart.

The atonement of Thy Blood apply,

Till faith to sight improve;

Till hope shall in fruition die,
And all my soul be love.

1740.