It is mine own Infirmity.

IT IS MINE OWN INFIRMITY.

Psalm lxxvii. 10. [P. B. V.]

I HAVE mercy, Lord, Thy wrath remove,
Nor let Thy judgments weigh me down :
I cannot live without Thy love,

I cannot stand beneath Thy frown.

2 Wilt Thou not once Thy face display, And dart a ray of heavenly light? Still must I urge my cheerless way,

And mourn throughout my long-lived night?

3 Lo! in my prayer I ever mourn,

Vext with the sad remains of sin,
Broken, and bruised, and rack'd and torn,
How shall I bear this hell within?

4 This unbelief, these cruel fears,

Distracting doubts, and torturing pain? While Thou art silent at my tears;

Thou seest them ever flow in vain.

5 And must I yield to black despair?
In vain on Thee for mercy call,
Tempted above what I can bear?
And wilt Thou suffer me to fall?

6 Never again disclose Thy face,

Or show me the atoning blood? Have I exhausted all Thy grace ? Hath God forgotten to be good?

7 For ever is Thy mercy gone,

Thy truth, and faithfulness, and love? Doth angry Justice rule alone?

Have I no Advocate above?

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8 Then pour Thy vengeance on my head, And quench the smoking flax in me; Break (if Thou canst) a bruised reed,

And cast me out who come to Thee.

9 Jesu, I come my doom to meet,

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A sinner whom Thou wilt not spare:
But I will perish at Thy feet,
The first that ever perish'd there.

GENESIS III. 15.

I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed," &c.*

I GOD of Truth, and Power and Love,
Father, Friend of all mankind,
Let on me Thy Spirit move,
Influence my feeble mind;
"Twixt the serpent's seed and me
Prevalently interpose,

Break the fatal amity,

Make us everlasting foes.
2 Sin hath poison'd all my soul,
Sin, the serpent's cursed seed:
No one part in me is whole;
Yet will I the promise plead,-
Promise of all-saving grace,
Promise of an inward power,

Able to redeem the race,

Me, and all men, to restore.

Most of the thoughts in this poem are borrowed from a sermon in Dr. Gell's "Essay toward the Amendment of the last English Translation of the Bible." 1659, pp. 9-25.

Genesis iii. 15.

3 Breathe the breath of simple life,
O! be Abel born in me,

(Previous to the legal strife,)
Innocent simplicity:

Give me childishness to' oppose
To the subtle serpent's art;
Childishness no evil knows,

Give me, Lord, a simple heart!
4 Or, if pride hath this destroy'd,
Turn'd into self-righteousness,
Let the law supply the void,

*

Seth succeed in Aber's place.
Deeply root Thy law within,
Parent of the wretched man:†
Check my forwardness to sin,
Forcibly by fear restrain.
5 Bind in me the strong man, bind
With the fetters of the law;

Curb and thwart the carnal mind,

Keep the Man of Sin in awe :
Enemy to all that 's good,

Never will he quite give place;
He can only be subdued

By the sense of pardoning grace.

6 Tell me, Jesus died for me;

Show some token of His love:

Love and sin can ne'er agree,

Love shall still the stronger prove.

Love in the first measure give,
Sin shall then no longer sway;

Flesh may for a season strive,

I the Spirit shall obey.

* A positive law.

+ Enos, i.e., miserable.

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7 Patiently I then shall wait

For the woman's noblest Seed,
JESUS CHRIST the MIGHTY HATE,
Bruiser of the serpent's head:
O, reveal Thy Son in me,

Bring the perfect nature in,
Now destroy the enmity,

Now consume the Man of Sin.

8 Adam, flesh, and self, and pride, Antichrist, Perdition's son,

Let him not in me abide,

Cast him out, and reign alone;
Slay the dragon in the sea;
Make my soul Thy pure abode,
Fill'd with all the Deity,

Swallow'd up and lost in God.

MORIAR UT TE VIDEAM!

Let me die that I may see Thee!

I O THOU, Who know'st what is in man, Who searchest out the reins and heart, Me, Jesu, to myself explain,

A ray of heavenly light impart ;
Impart Thyself, Thou real Light,
And manifest my nature's night.

2 Cause me, O God, myself to know,
The depth of wickedness within;
Show me, my inmost substance show,
The' exceeding sinfulness of sin:

3

Moriar ut Te videam!

Such power belongs to Thee alone;
Show me, that sin and I are one.

Senseless alike of sin and Thee

My unawaken'd soul remains; Fast bound in sin and misery,

I slumber on, nor feel my chains, Nor taste nor see how good Thou art, For still the veil is on my heart.

4 O, might my heart at least relent,

And feel the guilty mountain-load!
O, that Thy powerful word might rent
The veil, and let me into God;
The glories of Thy face display,
The brightness of eternal day!

5 I know the terms: I cannot see
Thy blissful face, and live- -in sin :
A flaming sword preserves the tree
Of life, lest self should enter in ;
It keeps out self, and every way
It turns, the Man of Sin to slay.
6 Be it according to Thy word,

Ready to meet my doom I am.
O, let me rush upon that sword,
And feel the sin-consuming flame!
Live only Christ in me, not I;
O, let me see Thy face and die!
7 Die all of self to live no more,

Die the old man no more to rise;
Me to Thine image here restore,
Receive me to Thy paradise,
(Whence I may never more remove,)
The paradise of perfect love.

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