I hear, but seem to hear in vain,
Insensible as steel

If aught is felt, 'tis only pain
To find I cannot feel.

I sometimes think myself inclined
To love thee, if I could;
But often feel another mind
Averse to all that's good.

My best desires are faint and few,
I fain would strive for more;
But when I cry, "My strength renew
Seem weaker than before.

Thy saints are comforted, I know,
And love thy house of prayer;
I therefore go where others go,
But find no comfort there.

Oh make this heart rejoice or ache;
Decide this doubt for me;

And, if it be not broken, break,-
And heal it, if it be.

X. THE FUTURE PEACE AND GLORY OF THE CHURCH

Isaiah 1x. 15-20

HEAR What God the Lord hath spoken:
"O my people, faint and few,
Comfortless, afflicted, broken,

Fair abodes I build for you.
Thorns of heartfelt tribulation

Shall no more perplex your ways:
You shall name your walls Salvation,
And your gates shall all be Praise.

"There, like streams that feed the garden,
Pleasures without end shall flow;
For the Lord, your faith rewarding,

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,
Waning moons no more shall see;
But, your griefs for ever ending,
Find eternal noon in me:

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
Fer. xxiii. 6

My God, how perfect are thy ways!
But mine polluted are;

Sin twines itself about my praise,
And slides into my prayer.

When I would speak what thou hast done
To save me from my sin,

I cannot make thy mercies known,
But self-applause creeps in.

Divine desire, that holy flame
Thy grace creates in me ;
Alas! impatience is its name,
When it returns to thee.

This heart, a fountain of vile thoughts,
How does it overflow,

While self upon the surface floats,

Still bubbling from below!

Let others in the gaudy dress
Of fancied merit shine;

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,
How like a beast was I!

So unaccustomed to the yoke,
So backward to comply.

With grief my just reproach I bear;
Shame fills me at the thought,
How frequent my rebellions were,
What wickedness I wrought.

Thy merciful restraint I scorned,
And left the pleasant road;
Yet turn me, and I shall be turned !
Thou art the Lord my God.

"Is Ephraim banished from my thoughts,
Or vile in my esteem?

No," saith the Lord, "with all his faults,
I still remember him."

"Is he a dear and pleasant child?
Yes, dear and pleasant still;
Though sin his foolish heart beguiled,
And he withstood my will.

"My sharp rebuke has laid him low,
He seeks my face again ;

My pity kindles at his woe,
He shall not seek in vain."

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
To wash your filthiness away;

Ye shall abhor your former deeds
And learn my statutes to obey.

My truth the great design ensures,
I give myself away to you;

You shall be mine, I will be yours,
Your God unalterably true.

"Yet not unsought, or unimplored,
The plenteous grace shall I confer;
No-your whole hearts shall seek the Lord,
I'll put a praying spirit there.

"From the first breath of life divine
Down to the last expiring hour,
The gracious work shall all be mine,
Begun and ended in my power."

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 dwell the saints, once foes to God,
The sinners whom he calls his own.

There, though besieged on every side,
Yet much beloved, and guarded well,
From age to age they have defied

The utmost force of earth and hell.

Let earth repent, and hell despair,
This city has a sure defence;

Her name is called "The Lord is there,"
And who has power to drive him thence?

XV. PRAISE FOR THE FOUNTAIN OPENED

Zech. xiii. I

THERE is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins ;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, as vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.

E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing thy power to save;

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe thou hast prepared
(Unworthy though I be)

For me a blood-bought free reward,
A golden harp for me!

'Tis strung and tuned for endless years,
And formed by power divine,

To sound in God the Father's ears
No other name but thine.

XVI. THE SOWER

Matt. xiii. 3

YE sons of earth, prepare the plough,
Break up your fallow-ground;
The sower is gone forth to sow
And scatter blessing round.

The seed that finds a stony soil
Shoots forth a hasty blade;

But ill repays the sower's toil,

Soon withered, scorched, and dead.

The thorny ground is sure to balk
All hopes of harvest there;
We find a tall and sickly stalk,
But not the fruitful ear.

The beaten path and highway side
Receive the trust in vain ;
The watchful birds the spoil divide,
And pick up all the grain.