II. 3.

HYMN

WE

246.

EARY of wandering from my God,
And now made willing to return,

I hear, and bow me to the rod :

Yet not in hopeless grief I mourn; I have an Advocate above,

A Friend before the throne of love.

2 O Jesus, full of truth and grace,

More full of grace than I of sin, Yet once again I seek Thy face,

Open Thine arms and take me in! O Lord, my sore backslidings heal, And all Thy quenchless love reveal.

3 Thou know'st my bands of sin to break, My fallen spirit to restore;

O, for Thy truth and mercy's sake,
Forgive, and bid me sin no more:
The ruins of my soul repair,

And make my heart a house of prayer.

HYMN

247.

C. M.

THE winds were howling o'er the deep,
Each wave a watery hill;

T

The Saviour wakened from his sleep:
He spake, and all was still.

2 The madman in a tomb had made
His mansion of despair;

Woe to the traveller who stray'd
With heedless footsteps there.

3 He met that glance so thrilling sweet,
He heard those accents mild;
And melting at Messiah's feet,
Wept like a weaned child.

4 Oh, madder than the raving man!
Oh, deafer than the sea!

How long the time since Christ began
To call in vain to me!

5 Yet could I hear him once again,
As I have heard of old,

Methinks He should not call in vain
His wanderer to the fold.

HYMN

FAITH.

248.

P. M.

-A

MOUNTAIN fastness is our God,
On which our souls are planted :
And though the fierce foe rage abroad
Our hearts are nothing daunted.
What though he beset,
With weapon and net,
Array'd in death-strife?
In God are help and life:
He is our sword and armour.

2 By our own might we nought can do ;
To trust it were sure losing;

For us must fight the Right and True,
The Man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask for His name?

Christ Jesus we claim;
The Lord God of Hosts;

The only God: - vain boasts

Of others fall before Him.

3 What though the troops of Satan fill'd
The world with hostile forces?

E'en then our fears should all be still'd:
In God are our resources.
The world and its king

No terrors can bring:
Their threats are no worth:

Their doom is now gone forth:
A single word can quell them.

4 God's Word through all shall have free sway,
And ask no man's permission:
The Spirit and His gifts convey
Strength to defy perdition.
The body to kill,

Wife, children, at will,
The wicked have power:
Yet lasts it but an hour!

The Kingdom's ours forever!

HYMN

249.

L. M.

W

HO shall the Lord's elect condemn ?
"Tis God that justifies their souls,

And mercy, like a mighty stream,
O'er all their sins divinely rolls.

2 Who shall adjudge His saints to hell?
"Tis Christ that suffer'd in their stead;
And their infernal foes to quell,

Behold Him rising from the dead!

3 He lives! He lives! and sits above,
Forever interceding there,

Who shall divide us from His love?
Or what shall tempt us to despair?

4 Shall persecution, or distress,

Famine, or sword, or nakedness?
He that hath lov'd us, bears us through,
And makes us more than conquerors too.

5 Faith hath an overcoming power,
It triumphs in the dying hour;
Christ is our life, our hope, our joy,
Nor death nor hell can us destroy.

6 Not all that men on earth can do,
Nor powers on high, nor powers below,
Shall cause His mercy to remove,
Or separate us from His love.

HYMN

250.

L. M.

ESUS, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
'Midst flaming worlds in these array'd
With joy shall I lift up my head.

2 When from the dust of death I rise
To take my mansion in the skies,
E'en then shall this be all my plea,
"Jesus hath lived and died for me."

3 This spotless robe the same appears
When ruin'd nature sinks in years;
No age can change its glorious hue;
The robe of Christ is ever new.

4 Oh! let the dead now hear Thy voice; Bid, Lord, Thy banish'd ones rejoice: Our beauty this, our glorious dress, Jesus, the Lord, our Righteousness.

HYMN

251.

L. M.

N°

O more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of Thy Son.

2 Now, for the love I bear His name,
What was my gain, I count my loss;
My former pride I call my shame,
And nail my glory to His cross.

3 Yes; and I must and will esteem All things but loss for Jesus' sake: O may my soul be found in Him,

And of His righteousness partake!

4 The best obedience of my hands

Dares not appear before Thy throne; But faith can answer Thy demands, By pleading what my Lord has done.