Not yet, my gracious Lord, Each care on Thee I cast, Nor live on Thy life-giving word, Nor hold each promise fast. Not yet is all Thy will Sweet to this heart of mine; Not yet I hasten to fulfil Each dear command of Thine. Not yet Thy wondrous ways Nor yet upon those glories gaze Not yet I yearn for Thee As Thou for me dost yearn, But shall I not one day, Will not my joy and love T. H. GILL. 274.-Love Divine. EPHESIANS iii. 19. HYMN like this, pre-eminently, should be printed as originally written. It is not too much to say that the alterations introduced have blurred, if they have not effaced, the author's design. His theme is the power of the life of love within the soul to overcome sin, and lead to perfect rest. The line: "Take away our power of sinning," has been felt as overbold. Yet what is it but an expression of the Apostle's words: "He cannot sin, because he is born of God" (1 John iii. 9)? Why, again, is "perfect love," at the end of verse 3, so frequently altered to "precious love"? In the last verse the words "perfectly restored in Thee" (applying to "us," not to "great salvation"), is the key to Wesley's meaning throughout. So in verse 3, line 2, "life" is Wesley's reading, not " grace,' as most editors have it. As it stands, the Hymn is one of the noblest in the language. " The sorrows of the mind Be banished from the place, Religion never was designed To make our pleasures less. Let those refuse to sing That never knew our God, But favourites of the heavenly King May speak their joys abroad. The God that rules on high, And thunders when He please, That rides upon the stormy sky, And manages the seas, This awful God is ours, Our Father and our love; He shall send down His heavenly powers To carry us above. There shall we see His face, There from the rivers of His grace Yes, and before we rise The thoughts of such amazing bliss The men of grace have found Celestial fruits on earthly ground The hill of Zion yields A thousand sacred sweets, Before we reach the heavenly fields, Or walk the golden streets. Then let our songs abound, We're marching through Emmanuel's ground To fairer worlds on high. DR. IVATTS. REJOICE, believer, in the Lord Who makes your cause His own; The hope that's built upon His word Can ne'er be overthrown. Though many foes beset your road, Weak as you are, you shall not faint, Though sometimes unperceived by sense, As surely as He overcame And triumphed once for you, So surely you that love His name Shall triumph in Him too. 280.-Despondency Corrected. ISAIAH lxv. 14. N unequal Hymn; yet highly characteristic of the author. In the original it contains eight double verses. The first two are the best; the remainder of the Hymn was probably intended to set forth the doctrine of "Final Perseverance," as the ground of hope. It contains, however, the deeper truth, that our relation to God does not depend upon our sense of it: "The people of His choice He will not cast away; When we in darkness walk, Soon shall our doubts and fears His loving-kindness shall break through Tarry His leisure then, A moment's intercourse with Him Thy grief will over pay! A. M. TOPLADY. 281. The Daily Christian Life. 2 CORINTHIANS ix. 8. C.M. irregular. `ATHER, I know that all my life FA Is portioned out for me, And the changes that will surely come I do not fear to see; But I ask Thee for a present mind, Intent on pleasing Thee. I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, I would not have the restless will Or secret thing to know; I would be treated as a child, Wherever in the world I am, I have a fellowship with hearts So I ask Thee for the daily strength, And a mind to blend with outward life, While keeping at Thy side; Content to fill a little space, If Thou be glorified. And if some things I do not ask, I would have my spirit filled the more There are briars besetting every path, Which call for patient care; There is a cross in every lot, And an earnest need for prayer; But a lowly heart that leans on Thee Is happy anywhere. |