My stores afford those rich supplies

That health and pleasure give ; Incline your ear, and come to Me,

The soul that hears shall live.

With joy and peace shall then be led

The glad converted lands; The lofty mountains then shall sing,

The forests clap their hands.

With you a covenant I will make,

Thatever shall endure; The hope which gladdened David's heart

My mercy hath made sure.

Where briers grew 'midst barren wilds,

Shall firs and myrtles spring ; And nature, through its utmost bounds,

Eternal praises sing.

ANONYMOUS.

Behold He comes ! your Leader comes,

With might and honour crowned ; A Witness, who shall spread My name

To earth's remotest bound.

See! nations hasten to His call

From every distant shore; Isles yet unknown shall bow to Him,

And Israel's God adore.

Seek ye the Lord, while yet His ear

Is open to your call;
While offered mercy still is near,

Before His footstool fall.

226.--The Gospel Jubilee.

LEVITICUS XXV, 10. HIS spirited Hymn is the third in a little penny tract containing seven "Hymns for New Year's Day," 1750,

printed in Bristol. The tract also contains the fine lyric “Come, let us anew." The present Hymn is introduced without alteration into the Wesleyan Hymn-book, and into most collections. Many editors have altered "all-atoning" in the third verse, to "sin-atoning," so as to have the question of universal redemption at least an open one. Sometimes, also, the order of the verses is unnecessarily transposed ; and the second couplet of the last verse is made to read :

“Ye happy souls draw near,

Behold your Saviour's face." For this last alteration, Dr. Rippon seems to be responsible.

6666.88.
LOW ye the trumpet, blow,

The gladly solemn sound,
Let all the nations know,

To earth's remotest bound;
The year of Jubilee is come !
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.

Let sinners quit their evil ways,

Their evil thoughts forego; And God, when they to Him return,

Returning grace will show.

B

He pardons with o'erflowing love :

For hear the voice divine : “My nature is not like to yours,

Nor like your ways are Mine :

“But far as heaven's resplendent orbs

Beyond earth's spot extend, As far My thoughts, as far My ways,

Your ways and thoughts transcend.

Jesus, our great High-priest,

Hath full atonement made :
Ye weary spirits, rest,

Ye mournful souls, be glad ; The year of Jubilee is come! Return, ye ransomed sinners, home

“And as the rains from heaven distil,

Nor thither mount again, But swell the earth with fruitful juice,

And all its tribes sustain ;

“So not a word that flows from Me

Shall ineffectual fall; But universal nature prove

Obedient to My call.”

Extol the Lamb of God,

The all-atoning Lamb,
Redemption in His blood

Throughout the world proclaim ;
The year of Jubilee is come !
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.

Oh, lovely attitude ! He stands
With melting heart, and laden hands :
Oh, matchless kindness ! and He shows
This matchless kindness to His foes.

229.-“ Behold I stand at the door and knock."

REVELATION iii. 20.
JE have inserted this touching Hymn

where it seems most naturally to
belong, among those which express

the appeal of Christ's love to the lost. It is only fair, however, to the author, to say that in its original form (as in the motto-text from the Epistle to the Church at Laodicea) it is applied to lukewarm Christians; the following being the second stanza, where the ''sign" doubtless intends baptism.

Rise, touched with gratitude divine, Turn out His enemy and thine, That hateful, hell-born monster sin, And let the heavenly Stranger in.

If thou art poor (and poor thou art),
Lo! He has riches to impart;
Not wealth, in which mean avarice rolls ;
O better far, the wealth of souls !

“Shame on us, Christian brothers,

His Name and sign who bear ! Oh shame, thrice shame upon us,

To keep Him standing there !"

'Twas He Who found me on the deathly

wild, And made me heir of heaven, the Father's

child, And day by day, whereby my soul may

live, Gives me His grace of pardon, and will

give.

O great Absolver, grant my soul may wear The lowliest garb of penitence and prayer, That in the Father's courts my glorious

dress May be the garment of Thy righteousness.

230.-Forgiveness.

LUKE vii. 48. HIS beautiful Hymn has as yet appeared

in few of our collections, and when it is given it is often marred by abridg

ment and alteration. It is clearly destined to find a place among the choicest treasures of the Church. The version here given is transcribed with one slight variation from the little volume in which it first appeared, “ Lyra Fidelium : Twelve Hymns on the Twelve Articles of the Apostles' Creed" (S.P.C.K. 1865). The article on which the Hymn is written is of course, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins." The variation is in the third line of the last verse, where for “Mary's gift" the words were originally " that sweet maid !" The author, we believe, approves this alteration.

Yea, Thou wilt answer for me, righteous

Lord : Thine all the merits, mine the great reward; Thine the sharp thorns, and mine the

golden crown, Mine the life won, and Thine the life

laid down.

IOS.

WEARY of earth and laden with my

sin, I look at heaven and long to enter in ; But there no evil thing may find a home : And yet I hear a voice that bids m

Come.”

Nought can I bring, dear Lord, for all I

owe, Yet let my full heart what it can bestow ; Like Mary's gift, let my devotion prove, Greatly forgiven, how I greatly love.

S. 7. STONE.

a

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