3 O God mine inmost soul convert!
And deeply on my thoughtful heart
Eternal things impress:
Give me to feel their solemn weight,
And tremble on the brink of fate,
And wake to righteousness.
4 Before me place in dread array
The pomp of that tremendous day,
When thou with clouds shalt come,
To judge the nations at thy bar;
And tell me, Lord, shall I be there
To meet a joyful doom?
5 Be this my one great business here,
With serious industry and fear
Eternal bliss t' insure:
Thine utmost counsel to fulfil,
And suffer all thy righteous will,
And to the end endure.
6 Then, Saviour, then, my soul receive,
Transported from this vale to live,
And reign with thee above;
Where faith is sweetly lost in sight,
And hope in full supreme delight,
And everlasting love.
For true repentance.
10 THAT I could repent!
With all my idols part;
And to thy gracious eye present
An humble contrite heart!
A heart with grief opprest,
For having griev'd my God;
A troubled heart that cannot rest
Till sprinkled with thy blood!
Jesus on me bestow,
The penitent desire;
With true sincerity of wo
My aching breast inspire;
With softening pity look,
And melt my hardness down;
Strike with thy love's résistless stroke,
And break this heart of stone!
For true Repentance. 2 Kings xxii. 19. 20. FOR that tenderness of heart
Which bows before the Lord,
Acknowledges how just thou art,
And trembles at thy word!
20 for those humble contrite tears
Which from repentance flow,
That consciousness of guilt, which fears
The long suspended blow!
3 Saviour, to me in pity give
The sensible distress,
The pledge thou wilt at last receive,
And bid me die in peace!
Wilt from the dreadful day remove
Before the evil come,
My spirit hide with saints above
My body in the tomb.
Hardness of Heart .amented.
1 LORD! shed a beam of heavenly day
To melt this stubborn stone away:
Now thaw, with rays of love divine,
This heart-this frozen heart of mine.
2 The rocks can rend; the earth can quake.
The seas can roar; the mountains shake;
Of feeling all things show some sign,
But this unfeeling heart of mine.
3 To hear the sorrows thou hast felt,
What but an adamant would melt?
Goodness and wrath, in vain combine
To move this stupid heart of mine.
4 But One can yet perform the deed;
That One in all his grace I need;
Thy Spirit can from dross refine,
And melt this stubborn heart of mine.
5 Oh, Breath of Life, breathe on my soul! On me let streams of mercy roll:
Now thaw with rays of love divine
This heart, this frozen heart of mine.
THAT I could repent!
O that I could believe!
Thou, by thy voice the marble rent,
The rock in sunder cleave!
Thou, by thy two-edg'd 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,
And then the load remove:-
Wound, and pour in, my wounds to heal,
The balm of pard'ning love.
3 For thine own mercy's sake,
The hindrance now remove,
And into thy protection take
The pris'ner of thy love;
In every trying hour,
Stand by my feeble soul,
And screen me from my nature's power,
Till thou hast made me whole,
4 This is thy will, I know,
That I should holy be;
Should let my sins this moment go,
This moment turn to thee:
O might I now embrace
Thine all-sufficient power!
And never more to sin give place,
And never grieve thee more.
253. And I will take away the stony heart, and will give you a heart of flesh. Ezek. xxxvi. 26. FOR a glance of heav'nly day,
To take this stubborn heart away;
And thaw with beams of love divine
This heart, this frozen heart of mine!
2 The rocks can rend; the earth can quake;
The seas can roar; the mountains shake;
Of feeling all things show some sign,
But this unfeeling heart of mine.
3 To hear the sorrows thou hast felt,
O Lord, an adamant would melt;
But I can read each moving line,
And nothing moves this heart of mine.
Thy judgments too, unmov'd I hear,
(Amazing thought!) which devils fear,
Goodness and wrath in vain combine,
To stir this stupid heart of mine.
5 Eternal Spirit! mighty God!
Apply to me the Saviour's blood
"Tis his rich blood and his alone,
Can move and melt this heart of stone.
254. Original and actual Sin confessed. 1 LORD, I am vile, conceiv'd in sin; And born unholy and unclean;
Sprung from the man whose guilty fall
Corrupts the race, and taints us all.
2 Soon as we draw our infant breath,
The seeds of sin grow up
for death;
Thy law demands a perfect heart,
But we're defil'd in every part.
3 [Great God, create my heart anew,
And form my spirit pure and true:
O make me wise betimes to spy
My danger and my remedy.]
4 Behold I fail before thy face;
My only refuge is thy grace:
No outward forms can make me clean;
The leprosy lies deep within.
5 No bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast,
Nor hyssop branch, nor sprinkling priest,
Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea,
Can wash the dismal stain away.
6 Jesus, my God, thy blood alone
Hath power sufficient to atone;
Thy blood can make me white as snow;
No Jewish types could cleanse me so.
7 While guilt disturbs and breaks my peace,
Nor flesh, nor soul hath rest or ease;
Lord, let me hear thy pardoning voice,
And make my broken bones rejoice.
The contrite Heart. Isa. lvii. 15.
THE Lord will happiness divine
On contrite hearts bestow;
Then tell me, gracious God! is mine
A contrite heart or no?
2 I hear, but seem to hear in vain,
Insensible as steel;
If aught is felt, 'tis only pain
To find I cannot feel.
|