'Tis he that works to will,
"Tis he that works to do; His is the power by which we act, And His the glory too.
Assisted by his grace,
We still pursue our way,
And hope at length to reach the prize,
Secure in endless day.
In all the acts of sovereign grace,
Jehovah can display ;
His grace alone exalted is,
And boasting done away.
Since creature deeds can't gain the crown,
Nor purchase heaven for men ;
Merit must sink for ever down,
And where is boasting then.
'Tis by the cross of Jesus laid,
Where sinners ought to lie;
No more to lift its' hateful head
The grace of God to buy.
From sin to God could sinners turn
And make their natures clean,
Then incense to their shrine should burn,
And Christ have died in vain.
But when the sovereign grace of God,
Shall set the guilty free;
His only hope is Jesu's blood,
The chief of sinners he.
Thus grace triumphant keeps the throne
Without a rival there;
While mercy shines in Christ alone,
With rays divinely clear.
LXXXV.
John vi. 37-44-46.
TO CHRIST, except the Father draws,
No wandering sinner goes;
So saith our Lord himself we know,
But men this truth oppose.
The drawings of the Father's grace,
Work sweetly on the will;
Salvation in his name to place,
Who did the law fulfil.
But should the tempter this suggest, Aright you never came;
Should tenfold sorrow fill the breast, And fear remain the same.
Ten thousand blessings to his name,
Tho' hell the soul pursue;
To Jesus, wrong no sinner came
Whom God the Father drew.
"TILL God the spirit's rising beam,
Breaks on the sinner's eyes;
He hates the glorious gospel scheme,
And Jesus will despise.
Self is the God that he adores
And sin his only food,
He seeks no healing for his sores
In Jesu's precious blood.
Till God the sinner's mind illume,
"Tis dark as night within:
Like Laz'rus in the dreary tomb,
Bound, hand and foot, by sin.
In tenfold shades of night they dwell, Without a lucid ray,
Yet boast of pow'r to leave their cell,
The precept to obey.
Yet tho' in massy fetters bound,
To God's free grace a foe,
The gospel has a joyful sound,
"Loose him, and let him go."
Jesus as thou hast made us free,
We boast not in our shame,
Our every song must tell of thee,
And speak thy gracious name.
Nothing we plead before thy throne,
By nature all depraved;
Yet thro' the Lamb's redeeming blood,
We boast a sinner saved.
How helpless guilty nature lies,
Unconscious of her load!
The heart unchang'd can never rise
To happiness and God.
The will perverse, the passions blind,
In paths of ruin stray;
Reason debas'd can never find
The safe, the narrow way.
Can ought beneath a pow'r divine
The stubborn will subdue?
'Tis thine, eternal Spirit, thine-
To form the heart a-new.
"Tis thine-the passions to recall,
And upward bid them rise-
To make the clouds of error fall
From our benighted 'eyes-
To chase the shades of death away,
And bid a sinner live-
A beam of heav'n-a vital ray-
'Tis thine, 'tis thine, to give.
LXXXVIII.
Exod. xxxii. 1-31.
WHEN Israel heard the fiery law
From Sinai's top proclaim'd
Their hearts seem'd full of holy awe,
Their stubborn spirits tam'd..
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