2 He would have left them, but that they
With prayers His love assailed;
Depart not yet! a little stay!"
They pressed Him, and prevailed.
And Jesus was revealed, as there
He blessed and brake the bread :
But, while they marked His heavenly air
The matchless Guest had fled.
3 And thus at times, as Christians talk Of Jesus and His word,
He joins two friends amidst their walk, And makes, unseen, a third.
And oh how sweet their converse flows,
Their holy theme how clear,
How warm with love each bosom glows
If Jesus be but near!
4 And they that woo His visits sweet,
And will not let Him go,
Oit, while His broken bread they eat,
His soul-felt presence know;
His gathered friends He loves to meet
And fill with joy their faith,
When they with melting hearts repeat
The memory of His death.
5 But such sweet visits here are brief;
Dispensed from stage to stage,
A cheering and a prized relief
Of faith's hard pilgrimage.
There is a scene where Jesus ne'er,
Ne'er leaves His happy guests;
He spreads a ceaseless banquet there,
And love still fires their breasts.
1 HERE'S not a grief, however light,
Too light for sympathy!
There's not a care, however slight,
Too slight to bring to Thee!
2 Thou, who hast trod the thorny road,
Wilt share each small distress:
For He who bore the greater load
Will not refuse the less.
3 There's not a secret sigh we breathe
But meets the ear divine;
And every cross grows light beneath
The shadow, Lord, of Thine.
4 Life's woes without, sin's strife within,
The heart would overflow
But for that love which died for sin-
That love which wept with woe.
5 All human sympathy but cheers
When it is learned from Thee:
Alas for grief!-but for those tears
Which fell at Bethany!
WHEN saints most need His helping hand
The Lord is always near;
With heaven and earth at His command
He waits to answer prayer.
2 His love no bound nor measure knows,
Time cannot turn its course,
Unchangeably the same, it flows
From its eternal source.
3 When darkness veils His shining face,
And clouds surround His throne,
He hides the purpose of His grace
To make it better known.
4 And when their dearest comforts fall
Before His sovereign will,
He is for ever all in all,
Their God and Saviour still.
ITH joy we meditate the grace
of our High Priest above;
Of
His heart is made of tenderness,
His bowels melt with love.
2 Touched with a sympathy within,
He knows our feeble frame;
He knows what sore temptations mean,
For He has felt the same.
3 But holy, innocent and pure,
The great Redeemer stood,
While Satan's fiery darts He bore,
And did resist to blood.
4 He in the days of feeble flesh
Poured out His cries and tears;
And now He knows, and feels afresh
What every member bears.
5 He'll never quench the smoking flax,
But raise it to a flame;
The bruised reed will never break,
Nor scorn the meanest name.
6 Then let our humble faith address
His mercy and His power;
We shall obtain delivering grace
In the distressing hour.
E wept whence flowed that mortal tear?
He is the Lord of joy and light,
The Soother of each grief and fear,
The Day-star of the Christian's night;
And yet He weeps! O wherefore flow
Those tears of mortal grief and woe?
2 The mourner knows why Jesus wept;
He knows that tear-drop's holy well;
Knows why the chords of grief were swept,
And why such sighs His bosom swell:
Joy, stead of sorrow! light for gloom!
Since Jesus wept by Lazarus' tomb.
3 Behold how Jesus loves! His heart
Hath shared our sorrow and our strife;
His sympathy hath taken part
In all the burden of our life:
We thank Thee, Saviour, for the sigh
And tender tear of sympathy.
4 The sinner knows why Jesus wept;
When, one by one, in dark array,
From hiding places where they slept,
Remembered not till washed away,
His sins, in all their hateful light,
Are brought before his spirit's sight.
5 He loves each bitter tear to count
Which fell from Christ the Man of Grief,
O'er Zion, His beloved mount,
For mortal sin and unbelief!
He loves such tear-drops, for they prove
The shoreless depths of Jesus' love.
6 Because He wept,-the oil of joy,
Instead of tears, shall overflow;
And praise shall be our sweet employ,
And robes of light, instead of woe,
Shall be our dress! and chords be swept
In thankful strains,-since Jesus wept.
See in His face what wonders meet!
Earth is too narrow to express
His worth, His glory, or His grace.
2 The whole creation can afford
But some faint shadows of my
Lord;
Nature, to make His beauties known,
Must mingle colours not her own.
3 Is He compared to wine or bread?
Dear Lord, our souls would thus be fed ;
That flesh, that dying blood of Thine,
Is bread of life, is heavenly wine.
4 Is He a tree? The world receives
Salvation from His healing leaves;
That righteous branch, that fruitful bough,
Is David's root and offspring too.
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