2 Who publishes the joyful sound,

Proclaims a peace 'twixt earth and heaven, A ransom for the sinner found,

God reconciled and man forgiven.

3 That says to Israel's mournful race,— Awake, arise, shake off thy chains, Believe the word of Gospel grace,

Thy God, thy great Redeemer, reigns.

4 Thy watchmen shall the voice lift up,
Shall sing with gladsome melody,

Object of all their joy and hope,
When eye to eye their Lord they see.

5 Him eye to eye shall they behold,

Shall shout to see the Saviour come, To save a world redeem'd of old,

To bring the weary captives home.

6 Break forth into joy, Your Comforter sing;
Ye sinners, employ Your all for your King;
Rejoice, ye waste places, Your Saviour proclaim,
Bestow all your praises And lives on His name.

7 For Jesus the Lord Hath comforted man,
The sinner restored, Nor suffer'd in vain;
To bring us to heaven When raised from our fall,
His life He hath given A ransom for all.

8 His arm He hath bared, His mercy and grace
Hath pardon prepared For all the lost race;
His absolute merit, Display'd in our sight,
We all may inherit And claim as our right.

The Fifty-second Chapter of Isaiah.

9 The Gentiles shall hear The life-giving call,
His
grace shall appear And visit them all;
The common salvation To all doth belong,
To every nation, And people, and tongue.*

PART III.

I DEPART, ye ransom'd souls, depart,

The house of bondage quit; be clean :
Call'd to be saints, be pure in heart,

Abhor the loathsome touch of sin.

2 Vessels of mercy, sons of

grace,

Be purged from every sinful stain;
Be like your Lord; His word embrace,
Nor bear His hallow'd name in vain.

3 For not as fugitives that try

By hasty flight to' escape the foe,
Ye from the power of sin shall fly,
But calmly in full triumph go.

4 The Lord shall in your front appear,
And lead the pompous triumph on;
His glory shall bring up the rear,
And perfect what His grace begun.

5 Behold the Servant of My grace,

My Son shall heavenly wisdom show,
Deal gently with the sin-sick race,

And minister My life below.

171

* The four last verses were first published as one of the first series of "Hymns on God's Everlasting Love," and are omitted from that collection that they may stand in their proper place here. The effect of the skilful change of metre is as beautiful as it is obvious.

6 His mighty arm, His high right-hand,
Still the pre-eminence shall have,
Shall bow the world to His command,
And magnify His power to save.

7 Vilest of all the sons of men

Him in His days of flesh they view'd,
His body mangled, torn with pain,

His visage marr'd with tears and blood.

8 The world on Him they doom'd to die With fresh astonishment shall gaze, Amazed their Saviour to descry, O'erpower'd with His stupendous grace.

9 The suffering, sin-atoning God

Shall kindly raise them from their fall, Sprinkle the nations with His blood,

And tell them He hath died for all.

10 The nations shall receive His word,

And kings to His command submit;
The lords of earth shall call Him Lord,
And lay their crowns before His feet.

11 Fountain of power, when He is near

The gods of earth are gods no more;
Poor guilty worms, they bow, they fear,
And fall, and silently adore.

12 Children of wrath and slaves of sin,

They now shall see their lost estate; Shall see the blood that makes them clean,

The power that makes them truly great.

Wrestling Facob.

13 Shall now, in Jesus taught to trust,
Accept the grace on all bestow'd,
This their best title and their boast,
Servants of Christ, and sons of God.

173

WRESTLING JACOB.*

I COME, O Thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see,
My company before is gone,

And I am left alone with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

2 I need not tell Thee who I am,
My misery or sin declare,

Thyself hast call'd me by my name,

Look on Thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?

Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

* Genesis xxxii. 24, &c. In the obituary of Charles Wesley, inserted in the "Minutes of Conference," for 1788, his brother states that Dr. Watts did not scruple to say that "that single poem, Wrestling Jacob, was worth all the verses he himself had written." Montgomery reckons the poem among the author's "highest achievements; in which, with consummate art, he has carried on the action of a lyrical drama; every turn in the conflict with the mysterious Being against whom Jacob wrestles all night being marked with precision by the varying language of the speaker, accompanied by intense, increasing interest, till the rapturous moment of discovery, when he prevails, and exclaims, 'I know Thee, Saviour, who Thou art,' v. II."-Christian Psalmist : Introductory Essay, p. xxiv., ed. 1828.

3 In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold;

Art thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of Thy love unfold;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

4 Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable name?
Tell me, I still beseech Thee, tell;

To know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

5 'Tis all in vain to hold Thy tongue,
Or touch the hollow of my thigh;
Though every sinew be unstrung,

Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

6 What though my shrinking flesh complain, And murmur to contend so long,

I rise superior to my pain,

When I am weak then I am strong;
And when my all of strength shall fail,
I shall with the God-man prevail.

7 My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;

I fall, and yet by faith I stand,

I stand, and will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.