I hear, but seem to hear in vain, If aught is felt, 'tis only pain I sometimes think myself inclined My best desires are faint and few, Thy saints are comforted, I know, Oh make this heart rejoice or ache; And, if it be not broken, break,- X. THE FUTURE PEACE AND GLORY OF THE CHURCH Isaiah 1x. 15-20 HEAR What God the Lord hath spoken: Fair abodes I build for you. Shall no more perplex your ways: "There, like streams that feed the garden, All his bounty shall bestow; Still in undisturbed possession Peace and righteousness shall reign ; Never shall you feel oppression, Hear the voice of war again. "Ye no more your suns descending, God shall rise, and shining o'er ye, Change to day the gloom of night ; He, the Lord, shall be your glory, God your everlasting light. XI. JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS My God, how perfect are thy ways! Sin twines itself about my praise, When I would speak what thou hast done I cannot make thy mercies known, Divine desire, that holy flame This heart, a fountain of vile thoughts, While self upon the surface floats, Still bubbling from below! Let others in the gaudy dress The Lord shall be my righteousness, The Lord for ever mine. XII. EPHRAIM REPENTING Jer. xxxi. 18-20 My God, till I received thy stroke, So unaccustomed to the yoke, With grief my just reproach I bear; Thy merciful restraint I scorned, "Is Ephraim banished from my thoughts, No," saith the Lord, "with all his faults, "Is he a dear and pleasant child? "My sharp rebuke has laid him low, My pity kindles at his woe, XIII. THE COVENANT Ezek. xxxvi. 25-28 THE Lord proclaims his grace abroad ! Behold, I change your hearts of stone ; Each shall renounce his idol-god, And serve, henceforth, the Lord alone. "My grace, a flowing stream, proceeds Ye shall abhor your former deeds My truth the great design ensures, You shall be mine, I will be yours, "Yet not unsought, or unimplored, "From the first breath of life divine XIV. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH Ezek. xlviii. 35 "As birds their infant brood protect, And spread their wings to shelter them, (Thus saith the Lord to his elect,) So will I guard Jerusalem." And what then is Jerusalem, This darling object of his care? Where is its worth in God's esteem? Who built it? who inhabits there? Jehovah founded it in blood, The blood of his incarnate Son; There, though besieged on every side, The utmost force of earth and hell. Let earth repent, and hell despair, Her name is called "The Lord is there," XV. PRAISE FOR THE FOUNTAIN OPENED Zech. xiii. I THERE is a fountain filled with blood The dying thief rejoiced to see Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood Till all the ransomed church of God E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream Then in a nobler, sweeter song When this poor lisping, stammering tongue Lord, I believe thou hast prepared For me a blood-bought free reward, 'Tis strung and tuned for endless years, To sound in God the Father's ears XVI. THE SOWER Matt. xiii. 3 YE sons of earth, prepare the plough, The seed that finds a stony soil But ill repays the sower's toil, Soon withered, scorched, and dead. The thorny ground is sure to balk The beaten path and highway side |