"Kept by the power of grace divine, I have the faith maintain'd:" The apostles of my Lord, To whom it first was given, They could not speak a greater word, Nor all the saints in heaven. "CAN THESE DRY BONES LIVE?" CAUGHT by the Almighty hand, That Spirit of the Lord, Carried beyond myself I stand, A witness of His word; I see the book unseal'd, Least of the prophets' sons, I mark Ezekiel's valley fill'd With visionary bones! Many they are and dry, Spread through the open vale, Millions of lifeless souls they lie Within the Christian pale: I pass the churches through, Can these dry bones perceive The quickening power of grace, Or Christian infidels retrieve The life of righteousness? All-good, Almighty Lord, Thou know'st Thine own design, The virtue of Thine own great word, The energy divine. Now for Thy mercy's sake Let Thy great word proceed, Dispensed by whom Thou wilt, to wake The spiritually dead: Send forth to prophesy Thy chosen messenger, And Thou the gospel word apply, 'Hear, ye dry bones, and feel, Jehovah speaks the word! Lord, while at Thy command O let it spread through every land, The dead professors shake, And with Thy quickening breath, Dispose their senseless souls to wake Out of the sleep of death. "WHOM THE LORD LOVETH, HE CHASTENETH." GOD of my life, how good, how wise, How different now Thy ways appear,― Since first the maze of life I trod, Hast Thou not hedged about my way; My worldly, vain designs withstood, And robbed my passions of their prey, Withheld the fuel from the fire, And crossed each foolish, fond desire? How oft didst Thou my soul withhold, And baffle my pursuit of fame, And mortify my lust of gold, And blast me in my surest aim; Withdraw my animal delight, And starve my grovelling appetite! H |