161. 7s. Humphreys.
Privileges of Adoption....1 John, iii. 1, 2.
1 LESSED are the sons of God
They are bought with Jesu's blood;
They are ransom'd from the grave-
Life eternal they shall have.
2 God did love them in his son,
Long before the world begun;
They the seal of this receive,
When on Jesus they believe.
3 They are justify'd by grace;
They enjoy a solid peace-
All their sins are wash'd away;
They shall stand in God's great day.
[4 They produce the fruits of grace
In the works of righteousness;
They are harmless, meek, and mild....
Holy, humble, undefil'd.]
5 They are lights upon the earth....
Children of an heav'nly birth;
Born of God, they hate all sin;
God's pure seed remains within.
6 They have fellowship with God,
Thro' the Mediator's blood;
One with God....with Jesus one......
Glory is in them begun.
7 Tho' they suffer much on earth,
Strangers to the worldling's mirth,
Yet they have an inward joy....
Pleasures that can never cloy.
8 They alone are truly blest
Heirs of God-joint-heirs with Christ:
With them number'd may I be,
Here and in eternity.
162. L. M. Steele. Affliction....Psalm lxxxviii.
LORD, my life, my Saviour God,
Hear, while I spread my woes abroad-
While day and night my mournful cries
Before thy throne incessant rise.
2 Let thy indulgent, pitying ear
Incline to my distressful pray'r;
With pain and grief my heart o'erflows,
And o'er me soon the grave will close.
3 My strength is lost....my life resign'd;
Among the dead my place assign'd;
Cut off from life....from hope I lie ;
Scarce are the slain more lost than I.
4 Low in the grave my hopes are laid,
And darkness spreads its deepest shade;
Thy dreadful wrath afflicts my soul;
Like whelming waves thy terrors roll.
[5 Far from these wretched eyes remov'd;
Are all the friends whom once I lov'd;
They fly my sorrows, while I moan,
Confin'd, unpity'd, and alone.]
6 In vain to ease my hopeless woe,
The streaming tears incessant flow;
To thee, O Lord, I breathe my cries,
And stretch my hands, and lift my eyes.
163. C. M. Stennett.
Pleading with God under Affliction....Lam. iii. 39.
HY should a living man complain
W of deep distress within,
Since ev'ry sigh and ev'ry pain
Is but the fruit of sin?
2 Lord, to thy dealings I'll submit,
Nor would I dare rebel ;
Yet sure I may, here at thy feet,
My painful feelings tell,
3 Thou seest what floods of sorrow rise,
soul;
Deep calls to deep-O hear my cries,
While stormy billows roll.
4 From fear to hope, and hope to fear,
My ship-wreck'd soul is toss'd;
'Till I am tempted in despair
To give up all for lost.
5 Yet thro' the stormy clouds I'll look
Once more to thee, my God;
O fix my feet on Christ, the rock
Who bought me with his blood.
6 One look of mercy from thy face,
Will set my heart at ease;
One all-commanding word of grace
Will make the tempest cease.
Afliction, or Meditation on God's Love....Ps. civ. 34.
WHEN languor and disease invade
This trembling house of clay,
'Tis sweet to look beyond my pains,
And long to fly away.
2 Sweet to look inward, and attend
The whispers of his love;
Sweet to look upward to the place
Where Jesus pleads above.
3 Sweet to look back, and see my name
In life's fair book set down ;
Sweet to look forward, and behold
Eternal joys my own.
- 4 Sweet to reflect how grace divine
My sins on Jesus laid;
Sweet to remember that his blood
My debt of suff'ring paid.
5 Sweet in his righteousness to stand,
Which saves from second death;
Sweet to experience, day by day,
His Spirit's quick'ning breath.
6 Sweet on his faithfulness to rest,
Whose love can never end;
Sweet on his covenant of grace
For all things to depend.
7 Sweet, in the confidence of faith,
To trust his firm decrees;
Sweet to lie passive in his hand,
And know no will but his.
8 If such the sweetness of the streams,
What must the fountain be,
Where saints and angels draw their bliss
Immediately from thee!
WEET to rejoice in lively hope,
That when my change shall come,
Angels will hover round my bed,
And waft my spirit home.
2 There shall my dis-embodied soul
View Jesus, and adore;
Be with his likeness satisfy'd,
And grieve and sin no more-
3. Shall see him wear that very flesh
On which my guilt was lain;
His love intense, his merit fresh,
As tho' but newly slain.
4 Soon, too, my slumb'ring dust shall hear
The trumpet's quick'ning sound;
And, by my Saviour's pow'r rebuilt,
At his right hand be found.
[5 These eyes shall see him in that day,
The God that dy'd for me;
And all my rising bones shall say
Lord, who is like to thee?]
If such the views which grace unfolds, Weak as it is below,
What raptures must the church above In Jesu's presence know!
7 O may the unction of these truths Forever with me stay;
"Till, from her sinful cage dismiss'd, My spirit flies away.
166. 8.7.4. Pearce.
Sweet Affliction....2 Chron. xxxiii. 11-13
1 the floods of tribulation,
While the billows o'er me roll,
Jesus whispers consolation,
And supports my fainting soul:
Sweet affliction,
That brings Jesus to my soul.
2 Thus the lion yields me honey;
From the eater food is giv'n;
Strengthen'd thus, I still press forward,
Singing as I wade to heav'n:
Sweet affliction,
And my sins are all forgiv❜n.
[3 'Mid the gloom the vivid lightnings With increasing brightness play; 'Mid the thorn-brake sweetest flow'rets Look more beautiful and gay:
That brings Jesus to my soul.
4 So, in darkest dispensations,
Doth my faithful Lord appear,
With his richest consolations,
To re-animate and cheer:
Sweet affliction,
Thus to bring my Saviour near.] 5 Floods of tribulation heighten, Billows still around me roar,
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