Hymns and Spiritual Songs Part 18

1 [Lord, we confess our numerous faults, How great our guilt has been!

Foolish and vain were all our thoughts, And all our lives were sin.

2 But O, my soul, for ever praise, For ever love his Name, Who turns thy feet from dangerous ways Of folly, sin, and shame.]

3 ['Tis not by works of righteousness Which our own hands have done; But we are sav'd by sovereign grace Abounding thro' his Son.]

4 'Tis from the mercy of our G.o.d That all our hopes begin; 'Tis by the water and the blood Our souls are wash'd from sin.

5 'Tis thro' the purchase of his death, Who hung upon the tree, The Spirit is sent down to breathe On such dry bones as we.

6 Rais'd from the dead we live anew; And justify'd by grace We shall appear in glory too, And see our Father's face.

Hymn 1:112.

The brazen serpent; or, Looking to Jesus, John 3. 14 15 16.

1 So did the Hebrew prophet raise The brazen serpent high, The wounded felt immediate ease, The camp forbore to die.

2 "Look upward in the dying hour, And live," the prophet cries; But Christ performs a n.o.bler cure, When Faith lifts up her eyes.

3 High on the cross the Saviour hung, High in the heavens he reigns: Here sinners by th' old serpent stung Look, and forget their pains.

4 When G.o.d's own Son is lifted up, A dying world revives, The Jew beholds the glorious hope, Th' expiring Gentile lives.

Hymn 1:113.

Abraham's blessings on the Gentiles, Gen. 17. 7.

Rom. 15. 8. Mark 10. 14.

1 How large the promise! how divine, To Abra'am and his seed!

"I'll be a G.o.d to thee and thine, "Supplying all their need."

2 The words of his extensive love From age to age endure; The angel of the covenant proves, And seals the blessing sure.

3 Jesus the ancient faith confirms To our great fathers given; He takes young children to his arms, And calls them heirs of heaven.

4 Our G.o.d, how faithful are his ways!

His love endures the same; Nor from the promise of his grace Blots out the children's name.

Hymn 1:114.

The same, Rom. 11. 16 17.

1 Gentiles by nature we belong To the wild olive wood; Grace took us from the barren tree, And grafts us in the good.

2 With the same blessings grace endows The Gentile and the Jew; If pure and holy be the root, Such are the branches too.

3 Then let the children of the saints Be dedicate to G.o.d; Pour out thy Spirit on them, Lord, And wash them in thy blood.

4 Thus to the parents and their seed Shall thy salvation come, And numerous households meet at last In one eternal home.

Hymn 1:115.

Conviction of sin by the law, Rom. 7. 8 9 14 24.

1 Lord, how secure my conscience was, And felt no inward dread!

I was alive without the law, And thought my sins were dead.

2 My hopes of heaven were firm and bright, But since the precept came With a convincing power and light, I find how vile I am.

3 [My guilt appear'd but small before, Till terribly I saw How perfect, holy, just, and pure, Was thine eternal law.

4 Then felt my soul the heavy load, My sins reviv'd again, I had provok'd a dreadful G.o.d, And all my hopes were slain.]

5 I'm like a helpless captive sold Under the power of sin; I cannot do the good I would, Nor keep my conscience clean.

6 My G.o.d, I cry with every breath For some kind power to save, To break the yoke of sin and death, And thus redeem the slave.

Hymn 1:116.

Love to G.o.d and our neighbour, Matt. 22. 37-40.

1 Thus saith the first, the great command, "Let all thy inward powers unite "To love thy Maker and thy G.o.d, "With utmost vigour and delight.

2 "Then shall thy neighbour next in place "Share thine affections and esteem, "And let thy kindness to thyself "Measure and rule thy love to him."

3 This is the sense that Moses spoke, This did the prophets preach and prove, For want of this the law is broke, And the whole law's fulfill'd by love.

4 But O! how base our pa.s.sions are!

How cold our charity and zeal!

Lord, fill our souls with heavenly fire, Or we shall ne'er perform thy will.

Hymn 1:117.

Election sovereign and free, Rom. 9. 21 22 23 20.

1 Behold the potter and the clay, He forms his vessels as he please: Such is our G.o.d, and such are we, The subjects of his high decrees.

2 [Doth not the workman's power extend O'er all the ma.s.s, which part to choose, And mould it for a n.o.bler end, And which to leave for viler use?]

3 May not the sovereign Lord on high Dispense his favours as he will, Choose some to life while others die, And yet be just and gracious still?

4 [What if to make his terror known He lets his patience long endure, Suffering vile rebels to go on And seal their own destruction sure!

5 What if he means to shew his grace, And his electing love employs To mark out some of mortal race, And form them fit for heavenly joys!]

6 Shall man reply against the Lord, And call his Maker's ways unjust, The thunder of whose dreadful word Can crush a thousand worlds to dust?