SAINTS, at your heav'nly Father's word,
Give up your comforts to the Lord;
He shall restore what you resign,
Or grant you blessings more divine.
So Abr'am, with obedient hand,
Led forth his son at God's command;
*The wood, the fire, the knife, he took,
His arm prepar'd the dreadful stroke.
Abr'am, forbear,' the angel cry'd,
Thy faith is known, thy love is try'd :
Thy son shall live, and in thy seed
Shall the whole earth be blest indeed.
Just in the last distressing hour
The Lord displays deliv'ring pow'r;
The mount of danger is the place
Where we shall see surprising grace.
Increase my faith, thou mighty God!
And save me thro' life's swelling flood:
I'd cast on thee my ev'ry care;
Thou car'st for me! why should I fear?
Hush, hush, my soul, nor dare repine, Thro' ev'ry cloud thy God will shine; Thy tears he'll sooth with smiles of love; He'll wipe them all away above!
JESUS, where'er thy people meet,
There they behold thy mercy-seat;
Where'er they seek thee, thou art found,
And ev'ry place is hallow'd ground.
Dear Shepherd of thy chosen few! Thy former mercies here renew; Here to our waiting hearts proclaim The sweetness of thy saving name.
Here may we prove the pow'r of prayer,
To strengthen faith, and sweeten care;
To teach our faint desires to rise,
And bring all heav'n before our eyes.
JESUS, my Almighty Saviour,
Prostrate at thy feet I lie;
Humbly I entreat thy favour;
Condescend to hear my cry.
At thy gracious invitation,
I approach thy throne divine;
Visit me with thy salvation,
Let me know that thou art mine.
When I was to thee a stranger,
Wand'ring in forbidden ways,
From the paths of sin and danger,
Thou didst call me by thy grace.
Let not then my foes confound me;
Thou art all my help and hope;
Let thine arms of love surround me,
Let thy mercy hold me up.
Still I need thy gracious keeping,
Sin and hell my faith assail;
Oft my days are spent in weeping,
Lest my foes should yet prevail.
Heal my soul, thou great Physician,
Ease me of my pain and grief:
Bow thine ear to my petition,
Kindly send me some relief.
Grant me thy divine direction
In the way that I should go:
Let thine arm be my protection
From the pow'r of ev'ry foe.
Gracious Saviour, never leave me
While my toils and conflicts last;
To thy kind embrace receive me
When the storms of life are past.
Now may our souls, enraptur'd join With all the hosts above;
May ev'ry heart and voice be tun'd, To sing that God is love.
The gifts of Providence divine,
Which grateful passions move,
And all the judgments of his rod,
Declare that God is love.
The word of truth his grace records While boundless mercies provė, And Jesus comes to bleed and die, To shew that God is love.
His works of grace are carried on
By pow'r from heav'n above;
And all his ways, from first to last,
Proclaim that God is love.
His patience still is lengthen'd out
To those who from him rove,
Till calls effectual win their hearts,
And teach them God is love.
Return, ye wand'rers from the Lord;
(May grace its influence prove!)
Oh! may you taste the gifts divine,
And know that God is love.
Backsliders, who (o'erwhelm'd with fears).
The ways of God approve,
Dismiss your guilty fears, and come,
Believe that God is love.
Thousands, once weak and vile as you,
Surround the throne above;
grace that chang'd has tun'd their hearts, To sing that God is love.
O may we all, while here below,
This best of blessings prove,
Till warmer hearts, in brighter worlds,
Shall shout that God is love.
Now I have found the ground wherein
My soul's sure anchor may remain—
The wounded Saviour, who for sin,
Was mock'd, and buffetted, and slain!
Whose mercies shall unshaken stay
When heav'n and earth shall flee
Jesus, thine everlasting grace
Our scanty thought surpasses far;
Thy heart still melts with tenderness,
Thine arms of love still open are,
Returning sinners to receive,
That mercy they may taste, and live.
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