3 Then, dearest Lord, in thine embrace
Let me refign my fleeting breath;
And, with a smile upon my face,
Pass the important hour of death.
The Priesthood of Christ.
a voice to pierce the skies;
Revenge! the blood of Abel cries; But the dear stream, when Christ was slain, Speaks peace as loud from ev'ry vein.
2 Pardon and peace from God on high;
Behold, he lays his vengeance by !
And rebels, that deserve his sword,
Become the fav'rites of the Lord.
3 To Jesus let our praises rife,
Who gave his life a sacrifice :
Now he appears before his God,
And for our pardon pleads his blood.
I LADEN with guilt, and full of fears,
I fly to thee, my Lord;
And not a glimpse of hope appears,
But in thy written word.
2 The volume of my Father's grace
Does all my grief affuage;
Here I behold my Saviour's face
Almost in ev'ry page.
3 [This is the field where hidden lies
The pearl of price unknown;
That merchant is divinely wife,
Who makes this pearl his own.
4 Here confecrated water flows,
To quench my thirst of fin;
Here the fair tree of knowledge grows;
No danger dwells therein.]
5 This is the Judge who ends the strife, Where wit and reason fail;
My guide to everlasting life,
Through all this gloomy vale.
6 Oh, may thy counsels, mighty God,
My roving feet command;
Nor I forfake the happy road
That leads to thy right hand !
HYMN CXX. Short Metre.
The Law and Gospel joined in Scripture.
THE Lord declares his will,
And keeps the world in awe;
Amidst the smoke on Sinai's hill
Breaks out his fiery law.
The Lord reveals his face;
And, smiling from above,
Sends down the gospel of his grace,
Th' epistles of his love.
3 These sacred words impart
Our Maker's just commands,
The pity of his melting heart,
And vengeance of his hands.
4 [Hence we awake our fear,
We draw our comfort hence;
The arms of grace are treafur'd here,
And armour of defence.
5 We learn Chrift crucify'd,
And here behold his blood;
All arts and knowledges befide
Will do us little good.]
6 We read the heav'nly word,
We take the offer'd grace,
Obey the statutes of the Lord,
And trust his promises.
7 In vain shall Satan rage
Against a book divine,
Where wrath and lightning guard the page, Where beams of mercy shine.
The Law and Gospel distinguished.
I THE law commands, and makes us know
What duties to our God we owe;
But 'tis the gospel must reveal
Where lies our strength to do his will.
2 The law discovers guilt and fin,
And shews how vile our hearts have been:
Only the gospel can express
Forgiving love, and cleanfing grace.
3 What curses doth the law denounce
Against the man that fails but once!
But, in the gospel, Christ appears
Pard'ning the guilt of num'rous years.
4 My foul, no more attempt to draw
Thy life and comfort from the law;
Fly to the hope the gospel gives:
The man that trufsts the promise, lives.
Retirement and Meditation.
Y GOD, permit me not to be
A stranger to myself and thee;
Amidst a thousand thoughts I rove,
Forgetful of my highest Love.
2 Why should my passions mix with earth,
And thus debase my heav'nly birth !
Why should I cleave to things below,
And let my God, my Saviour, go!
3 Call me away from flesh and fenfe;
One sov'reign word can draw me thence;
I would obey the voice divine,
And all inferior joys refign.
4 Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn ;
Let noise and vanity be gone :
In fecret filence of the mind,
My heav'n, and there my God, I find.
HYMN CXXIII. Long Metre,
The Benefit of Public Ordinances.
I AWAY from every mortal care,
Away from earth, our fouls retreat;
We leave this worthless world afar,
And wait and worship near thy feat.
2 Lord, in the temple of thy grace
We fee thy feet, and we adore ;
We gaze upon thy lovely face,
And learn the wonders of thy pow'r.
3 While here, our various wants we mourn;
United groans afcend on high;
And pray'rs produce a quick return
Of bleffings in variety.
4 [If Satan rage, and fin grow strong,
Here we receive some cheering word;
We gird the gofpel armour on,
To fight the battles of the Lord.
5 Or if our fpirit faints and dies,
(Our confcience gall'd with inward stings)
Here doth the righteous fun arise,
With healing beams beneath his wings.)
6 Father! my foul would still abide
Within thy temple, near thy fide;
But if my feet must hence depart,
Still keep thy dwelling in my heart.
HYMN CXXIV. Common Metre.
Mofes, Aaron, and Joshua.
I'TIS not the law of ten commands,
On holy Sinai giv'n,
Or sent to men by Mofes' hands,
Can bring us safe to heav'n.
2 'Tis not the blood that Aaron spilt,
Nor fmoke, of sweetest smell,
Can buy a pardon for our guilt,
Or fave our fouls from hell.
3 Aaron, the prieft, resigns his breath
At God's immediate will;
And, in the defart, yields to death
Upon the appointed hill,
4 And thus, on Jordan's yonder fide,
The tribes of Ifrael stand,
While Mofes bow'd his head and dy'd
Short of the promis'd land.
5 Ifrael, rejoice, now Joshua* leads!
He'll bring your tribes to rest ;
So far the Saviour's name exceeds
The ruler and the priest.
HYMN CXXV. Long Metre. Faith and Repentance, Unbelief and Impenitence. IFE and immortal joys are giv'n To fouls that mourn the fins they've done; Children of wrath made heirs of heav'n, By faith in God's eternal Son.
2 Wo to the wretch that never felt
The inward pangs of pious grief,
But adds to all his crying guilt
The stubborn fin of unbelief.
3 The law condemns the rebel dead,
Under the wrath of God he lies:
He feals the curse on his own head,
And with a double vengeance dies.
HYMN CXXVI. Common Metre.
God glorified in the Gospel.
THE Lord, defcending from above,
Invites his children near;
Joshua the fame with Jesus, and fignifies a Saviour.
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