Behold the grace that sets us free,
And to that grace submit.
2 The tidings of deliverance hear,
Confess the covenant good,
And bless the ransom God hath found
In our Emanuel's blood.
3 Justice no more asserts its claim
Your forfeit lives to take;
But smiling mercy quick descends
Your heavy chains to break.
4 We walk at large, and sing the hand,
To which we freedom owe;
And drink those rivers with delight,
Which through this desart flow.
5 He, that hath liberty bestow'd,
Will give a kingdom too;
He, that hath loos'd the bonds of death,
The path of life will show.
CLXX. The Fountain of Life. Zechariah xiii. 1.
1 HAIL, everlasting spring!
Celestial fountain, hail!
Thy streams salvation bring,
The waters never fail :
Still they endure,
And still they flow
For all our woe
A sovereign cure,
2 Blest be his wounded side,
And blest his bleeding heart,
Who all in anguish died
Such favours to impart.
His sacred blood
Shall make us clean
From every sin,
And fit for God.
3 To that dear source of love
Our souls this day would come;
And thither from above,
Lord, call the nations home;
That Jew and Greek
With rapturous songs
On all their tongus
Thy praise may speak.
CLXXI. God's Name profaned, when his Table is treated with Contempt. Malachi i. 12.
APPLIED TO THE LORD'S-SUPPER.
MY God, and is thy table spread?
And does thy cup with love o'erflow?
Thither be all thy children led,
And let them all its sweetness know.
2 Hail sacred feast, which Jesus makes!
Rich banquet of his flesh and blood!
Thrice happy he, who here partakes
That sacred stream, that heavenly food!
3 Why are its dainties all in vain
Before unwilling hearts display'd?
Was not for you the victim slain?
Are you forbid the children's bread?
4 O let thy table honour'd be,
And furnish'd well with joyful guests;
And may each soul salvation see,
That here its sacred pledges tastes.
5 Let crouds approach with hearts prepar'd;
With hearts inflam'd let all attend;
Nor, when we leave our Father's board,
The pleasure, or the profit end.
6 Revive thy dying churches, Lord,
And bid our drooping graces live
And more that energy afford,
A Saviour's blood alone can give.
CLXXII. God's gracious Regard to active Attempts to revive Religion,
Malachi iii. 16, 17,
1 THE Lord on mortal worms looks down,
From his celestial throne;
And, when the wicked swarm around,
He well discerns his own.
2 He sees the tender hearts, that mourn
The scandals of the times;
And join their efforts to oppose
The wide-prevailing crimes.
3 Low to the social band he bows
His still-attentive ear;
And, while his angels sing around,
Delights their voice to hear.
4 The chronicles of heaven shall keep
Their words in transcript fair;
In the Redeemer's book of life
Their names recorded are.
5 "Yes", saith the Lord, "the world shall know "These humble souls are mine: "These, when my jewels I produce, "Shall in full lustre shine.
6 "When deluges of fiery wrath "My foes away shall bear,
"That hand, which strikes the wicked through, "Shall all my children spare."
CLXXIII. Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. Malachi iv. 2. 1 TO thee, O God, we homage pay,
Source of the light that rules the day;
Who, while he gilds all nature's frame,
Reflects thy rays, and speaks thy name.
2 In louder strains we sing that grace,
Which gives the sun of righteousness;
Whose nobler light salvation brings,
And scatters healing from his wings.
3 Still on our hearts may Jesus shine
With beams of light and love divine;
Quicken'd by him our souls shall live,
And cheer'd by him shall grow and thrive.
4 O may his glories stand confess'd
From north to south, from east to west :
Successful may his gospel run
Wide as the circuit of the sun.
5 When shall that radiant scene arise,
When, fix'd on high in purer skies,
Christ all his lustre shall display
On all his saints through endless day?
FOUNDED ON VARIOUS TEXTS IN THE
The Axe laid to the Root of unfruitful Trees. Matthew iii. 10.
'HE Lord into his vineyard comes
Our various fruit to see;
His eye, more piercing than the light,
Examines every tree.
2 Tremble, ye sinners, at his frown,
If barren still ye stand;
And fear that keenly-wounding axe,
Which arms his awful hand.
3 Close to the root behold it laid,
To make destruction sure:
Who can resist the mighty stroke?
Or who the fire endure?
4 Lord, we adore thy sparing love,
Thy long-expecting grace:
Else had we low in ruin fall'n,
And known no more our place.
5 Succeeding years thy patience waits;
Nor let it wait in vain;
But form in us abundant fruit,
And still this fruit maintain.
CLXXV. The Light of good Examples, the most effectual Way to glorify
God. Matthew v. 16.
1 GREAT Teacher of thy church, we own
Thy precepts all divinely wise:
O may thy mighty power be shown
To fix them still before our eyes.
2 Deep on our hearts thy law engrave,
And fill our breasts with heavenly zeal,
That, while we trust thy power to save,
We may that sacred law fulfil.
3 Adorn'd with every heavenly grace,
May our examples brightly shine,
And the sweet lustre of thy face
Reflected, beam from each of thine.
4 These lineaments*, divinely fair,
Our heavenly Father shall proclaim;
And men, that view his image there,
Shall join to glorify his name.
CLXXVI. Providential Bounties surveyed and improved. Matthew v. 45.
1 FATHER of lights, we sing thy name,
Who kindledst up the lamp of day †;
Wide as he spreads his golden flame,
His beams thy power and love display.
2 Fountain of good, from thee proceed
The copious drops of genial rain;
Which through the hills, and through the meads
Revive the grass and swell the grain.
3 Through the wide world thy bounties spread;
Yet millions of our guilty race,
Though by thy daily bounty fed,
Affront thy law, and spurn thy grace.
4 Not so may our forgetful hearts,
O'erlook the tokens of thy care;
But, what thy liberal hand imparts,
Still own in praise, still ask in prayer.
5 So shall our suns more grateful shine,
And showers in sweeter drops shall fall,
When all our hearts and lives are thine,
And thou, our God, enjoy'd in all.
6 Jesus, our brighter sun, arise;
In plenteous showers thy Spirit send;
Earth then shall grow a paradise,
And in the heavenly Eden end.
CLXXVII. Secret Prayer. Matthew vi. 6.
I FATHER divine, thy piercing eye
Shouts through the darkest night;
In deep retirement thou art nigh,
With heart-discerning sight.
2 There shall that piercing eye survey
My duteous homage paid,
With every morning's dawning ray,
And every evening's shade.
|