318

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Hardness of heart lamented.

THAT I could repent!
O that I could believe!

Thou, by thy voice, the marble rend,
The rock in sunder cleave:
Thou, by thy two-edged sword,
My soul and spirit part;
Strike, with the hammer of thy word,
And break my stubborn heart.

2 Saviour, and Prince of peace!
The double grace bestow;
Unloose the bands of wickedness,
And let the captive go:
Grant me my sins to feel,

S. M.

And then the load remove:
Wound, and pour in, my wounds to heal,
The balm of pard'ning love.

319

L. M.

The Physician needed.

0

THOU, whom once they flock'd to hear,Thy words to hear, thy power to feel,— Suffer a sinner to draw near, And graciously receive me still.

2 They that be whole, thyself hast said,
No need of a physician have;
But I am sick, and want thine aid,

And wait thine utmost power to save.
3 Thy power, and truth, and love divine,
The same from age to age endure:
A word, a gracious word of thine,

The most invet'rate plague can cure. 4 Helpless howe'er my spirit lies,

And long hath languish'd at the pool: A word of thine shall make it rise,

And speak me in a moment whole.

320

1st P. M. 6 lines 8s.

Desiring conviction.

Whate'er thy every creature needs;
Whose goodness, providently nigh,
Feeds the young ravens when they cry;
To thee I look; my heart prepare;
Suggest, and hearken to my prayer.
2 Since by thy light myself I see
Naked, and poor, and void of thee,
Thine eyes must all my thoughts survey,
Preventing what my lips would say:
Thou seest my wants; for help they call;
And, ere I speak, thou know'st them all.
3 Fain would I know, as known by thee,
And feel the indigence I see;
Fain would I all my vileness own,
And deep beneath the burden groan;
Abhor the pride that lurks within,
Detest and loathe myself and sin.
4 Ah, give me, Lord, myself to feel;
My total misery reveal:
Ah, give me, Lord, I still would say,
A heart to mourn, a heart to pray:
My business this, my only care,—
My life, my every breath be prayer.

321

Christ, the good Physician.

JESUS, thy far-extended fame

My drooping soul exults to hear; Thy Name, thy all-restoring Name,

Is music in a sinner's ear.

L. M.

2 Sinners of old thou didst receive
With comfortable words, and kind;
Their sorrows cheer, their wants relieve,
Heal the diseased, and cure the blind.

3 And art thou not the Saviour still,
In every place and age the same?
Hast thou forgot thy gracious skill,
Or lost the virtue of thy name?
4 Faith in thy changeless name I have:
The good, the kind Physician, thou
Art able now our souls to save,
Art willing to restore them now.

322

L. M.

hundred are past

The healing power of Christ.

Since Christ did in the flesh appear, His tender mercies ever last,

And still his healing power is here. 2 Would he the body's health restore, And not regard the sin-sick soul? The sin-sick soul he loves much more, And surely he will make it whole. 3 All my disease, my every sin,

To thee, O Jesus, I confess :
In pardon, Lord, my cure begin,
And perfect it in holiness.

4 That token of thine utmost good,
Now, Saviour, now, on me bestow;
And purge my conscience with thy blood,
And wash my nature white as snow.
323

Lord, help my unbelief.

HOW sad our state by nature is;

Our sin, how deep it stains; And Satan binds our captive souls Fast in his slavish chains.

C. M.

2 But there's a voice of sov'reign grace Sounds from the sacred word:

Ho! ye despairing sinners, come,
And trust a faithful Lord.

3 My soul obeys the gracious call, And runs to this relief;

I would believe thy promise, Lord;
O help my unbelief!

4 To the blest fountain of thy blood,
Incarnate God, I fly;

Here let me wash my guilty soul
From crimes of deepest dye.

5 A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, Into thine arms I fall;

Be thou my strength and righteousness,My Jesus, and my all.

324

The Day-star from on high.

My former hopes are fled;

terror now begins: I feel, alas! that I am dead In trespasses and sins.

2 Ah, whither shall I fly?
I hear the thunder roar ;-
The law proclaims destruction nigh,
And vengeance at the door.

3 When I review my ways,
I dread impending doom:
But, hark! a friendly whisper says,-
Flee from the wrath to come.

4 With trembling hope, I see
A glimm'ring from afar;
A beam of day that shines for me,
To save me from despair.

5 Forerunner of the sun,
It marks the pilgrim's way;
I'll gaze upon it while I run,
And watch the rising day.

S. M.

325

L. M.

The struggling captive.

ORD, with a grieved and aching heart,

Supply my wants; thy grace impart
O hear an humble prisoner's sigh!

2 On my sad heart the burden lies;
No human power can ease the load;
My num'rous sins against me rise,
And far remove me from my God.

3 Break, break, O Lord, these tyrant chains, And set the struggling captive free; Redeem'd from everlasting pains,

And bring me safe to heaven and thee.

326

L. M.

Balm in Gilead, and a good Physician there.
EEP are the wounds which sin has made;

a

In vain, alas! is nature's aid;

The work exceeds her utmost power.

2 But can no sov'reign balm be found,
And is no kind physician nigh,
To ease the pain, and heal the wound,
Ere life and hope forever fly?

3 There is a great Physician near; Look up, O fainting soul, and live: See, in his heavenly smiles, appear

Such help as nature cannot give.

4 See, in the Saviour's dying blood,
Life, health, and bliss, abundant flow;
And in that sacrificial flood

A balm for all thy grief and wo.