Christ's Example and Support in all Trials. 1 WHEN gathering clouds around I view, And days are dark, and friends are few, On him I lean, who not in vain Experienced every human pain; He sees my wants, allays my fears, And counts and treasures up my tears.
2 If aught should tempt my soul to stray
From heavenly virtue's narrow way,-
To fly the good I would pursue,
Or do the sin I would not do, —
Still, he who felt temptation's power
Shall guard me in that dangerous hour.
3 If wounded love my bosom swell,
Deceived by those I prized too well,
He shall his pitying aid bestow,
Who felt on earth severer woe;
At once betrayed, denied, or fled,
By all that shared his daily bread.
4 When sorrowing o'er some stone I bend,
Which covers all that was a friend,
And from his voice, his hand, his smile,
Divides me for a little while, -
Thou, Savior, seest the tears I shed,
For thou didst weep o'er Lazarus dead.
5 And O, when I have safely past
Through every conflict but the last,
Still, still unchanging, watch beside
My dying bed, for thou hast died;
And point to realms of cloudless day,
And wipe the latest tear away.
The Law and the Gospel.
1 THE law by Moses came;
But peace and truth and love
Were brought by Christ, a nobler name,
Descending from above.
2 Amidst the house of God
Their different works were done;
Moses a faithful servant stood,
But Christ a faithful Son.
3 Then, to his new commands
Be strict obedience paid;
O'er all his Father's house he stands
The sovereign and the head.
4 The man that durst despise
The law that Moses brought,
Behold! how terribly he dies
For his presumptuous fault.
5 But sorer vengeance falls
On that rebellious race
Who hate to hear when Jesus calls,
And dare resist his grace.
1 NOT to the terrors of the Lord,
The tempest, fire, and smoke,-
Not to the thunder of that word
Which God on Sinai spoke;
2 But we are come to Sion's hill,
The city of our God,
Where milder words declare his will,
And spread his love abroad.
3 Behold th' innumerable host
Of angels clothed in light!
Behold the spirits of the just
Whose faith is turned to sight!
4 Behold the blest assembly there,
Whose names are writ in heaven;
And God, the judge of all, declares
Their vilest sins forgiven.
5 The saints on earth, and all the dead,
But one communion make;
All join in Christ, their living head,
And of his grace partake.
6 In such society as this
My weary soul would rest,
The man that dwells where Jesus is,
Must be forever blest.
The Voice of Sinai and Zion.
1 THE God who once to Israel spoke
From Sinai's top in fire and smoke,
In gentler strains of gospel grace
Invites us now to seek his face..
He wears no terrors on his brow;
He speaks in love from Zion now:
It is the voice of Jesus' blood
That calls us, wanderers, back to God.
3 His servant Moses quaked and feared,
When Sinai's thundering law he heard;
But gospel grace, with accents mild,
Speaks to the sinner as a child.
4 What other arguments can move
The heart that slights a Savior's love?
0 may that heavenly power be felt,
And cause the stony heart to melt!
Blessedness of the Gospel. Ps. 89.
1 BLEST are the souls that hear and know
The gospel's joyful sound;
Peace shall attend the paths they go,
And light their steps surround.
2 Their joy shall bear their spirits up
Through their Redeemer's name;
His righteousness exalts their hope,
Nor Satan dares condemn.
3 The Lord, our glory and defence,
Strength and salvation gives:
Israel, thy king forever reigns,
Thy God forever lives.
God's surprising Mercies in the Gospel.
1 RISE, every heart and every tongue,
Prepare a sweet angelic song;
Surprising mercies must require
An angel's lay, a seraph's fire.
2 See what the gracious God of heaven
Hath now to his own Israel given!
No heart can feel, no tongue express,
The wonders of his love and grace.
3 In every age the Lord was kind,
And to his church revealed his mind;
But we enjoy a wondrous store
Of mercies never known before.
4 The sun of heaven illumes the soul;
Oceans of mercies sweetly roll;
The heavenly streams of truth and love
Flow freely from the fount above.
5 O happy day! we live to see
How kind to men our God can be ;
His greatest mercies stand confessed,
And Zion is divinely blessed.
6 Thy truth and loving kindness, Lord,
We will with holy songs record;
To us are richest favors given,
And praises shall return to heaven.
1 ON Zion, his most holy mount,
And Israel's sons, and Gentile lands,
Shall in the banquet share.
2 Marrow and fatness are the food
His bounteous hand bestows;
Wine on the lees, and well refined,
In rich abundance flows.
3 See to the vilest of the vile
A free acceptance given!
See rebels, by adopting grace,
Sit with the heirs of heaven!
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