Are not thy mercies large and free?
May not a sinner trust in thee?
2 My crimes are great, but don't surpass
The power and glory of thy grace;
Great God, thy nature hath no bound,
So let thy pard'ning love be found.
3 0, wash my soul from every sin,
And make my guilty conscience clean;
Here, on my heart, the burden lies,
And past offences pain my eyes.
4 My lips, with shame, my sins confess;
Against thy law, against thy grace;
Lord, should thy judgments grow severe,
I am condemn'd, but thou art clear.
5 Should sudden vengeance seize my breath,
I must pronounce thee just in death;
And if my soul were sent to hell,
Thy righteous law approves it well.
6 Yet save a trembling sinner, Lord,
Whose hope still hov'ring round thy word,
Would light on some sweet promise there,
Some sure support against despair.
HYMN 95. L. M. [55]
LIGHT of the Gentile world appear,
Command the blind thy rays to see:
Our darkness chase, our sorrows cheer,
And set the plaintive prisoner free.
2 Me, me, who still in darkness sit,
Shut up in sin and unbelief;
Deliver from this gloomy pit,
This dungeon of despairing grief.
3 Open mine eyes, the Lamb to know,
Who bears the gen'ral sin away;
And to my ransomed spirit show,
The glories of eternal day.
HYMN 96. L. M. [55]
O THOU, whom once they flocked to hear, Thy words to hear, thy power to feel; Suffer the sinners to draw near,
And graciously receive us still.
2 They that be whole, thyself hast said,
No need of a physician have;
But I am sick, and want thine aid,
And wait thine utmost pow'r to save.
3 Thy pow'r and truth, and love divine,
The same from age to age endure:
A word, a gracious word of thine,
The most invet'rate plague can cure.
4 Helpless, howe'er my spirit lies,
And long hath languish'd at the pool;
A word of thine shall make it rise,
And speak me in a moment whole.
5 Eighteen, or eight and thirty years,
Or thousands are alike to thee:
Soon as thy pard'ning grace appears,
My plague is gone; my heart is free.
6 Make this the blest accepted hour!
Come, O my soul's Physician, thou!
Display thy sanctifying power,
And show me thy salvation now.
HYMN 97. S. M. [56]
AH! whither should I go,
Burden'd, and sick, and faint!
To whom should I my troubles show
And pour out my complaint?
My Saviour bids me come,
Ah! why do I delay ?
He calls the weary sinner home,
And yet from him I stay!
2 What is it keeps me back,
From which I cannot part?
Which will not let the Saviour take
Possession of my heart!
Some cursed thing unknown,
Must surely lurk within;
Some idol which I will not own,
Some secret bosom sin.
3 Jesus, the hindrance show,
Which I have fear'd to see;
And let me now consent to know
What keeps me back from thee:
Searcher of hearts in mine
Thy trying pow'r display;
Into its darkest corners shine,
And take the veil away.
4 I now believe in thee
Compassion reigns alone;
According to my faith, to me
O let it, Lord, be done!
In me is all the bar,
Which thou wouldst fain remove; Remove it, and I shall declare
That God is only love.
HYMN 98. L. M. [57]
MY sufferings all to thee are known,
Tempted in every point like me;
Regard my grief, regard thy own;
Jesus, remember Calvary.
2 Oh, call to mind thy earnest prayers! Thy agony and sweat of blood!
Thy strong and bitter cries and tears:
Thy mortal groan, "My God! my God!"
3 Thou wilt not break a bruised reed,
Or quench the smallest spark of grace,
Till thro' the soul thy pow'r is spread,
Thy all victorious righteousness.
4 The day of small and feeble things,
I know thou never wilt despise ;
I know, with healing in his wings,
The Sun of righteousness shall rise.
HYMN 99. L. M. [58]
WHEREWITH, O Lord, shall I draw near,
And bow myself before thy face?
How in thy purer eyes appear?
What shall I bring to gain thy grace?
2 Will gifts delight the Lord Most High?
Will multipli'd oblations please?
Thousands of rams his favor buy;
Or slaughter'd hecatombs appease?
3 Can these avert the wrath of God?
Can these wash out my guilty stain?
Rivers of oil, and seas of blood,
Alas! they all must flow in vain.
4 Whoe'er to thee themselves approve Must take the path thyself hast show'd: Justice pursue, and mercy love,
And humbly walk by faith with God.
5 But though my life henceforth be thine,
Present for past can ne'er atone;
Though I to thee the whole resign,
I only give thee back thine own.
WHAT have I then wherein to trust?
I nothing have, I nothing am;
Excluded is my every boast,
My glory swallow'd up in shame.
2 Guilty I stand before thy face,
On me I feel thy wrath abide;
"Tis just the sentence should take place,
"Tis just,-but, O, thy Son hath died!
3 Jesus, the Lamb of God, hath bled,
He bore our sins upon the tree;
Beneath our curse he bow'd his head,
"Tis finish'd! he hath died for me!
4 See, where before thy throne he stands, And pours the all-prevailing prayer! Points to his side, and lifts his hands, And shows that I am graven there! 5 He ever lives for me to pray;
He prays that I with him may reign: Amen, to what my Lord doth say! Jesus, thou canst not pray in vain.
HYMN 101. L. M. [58]
STAY, thou insulted Spirit, stay,
Though I have done thee such despite;
Nor cast the sinner quite away,
Nor take thine everlasting flight.
2 Though I have steel'd my stubborn heart, And still shook off my guilty fears;
And vex'd, and urged thee to depart,
For many long rebellious years:
|