2 Preserve it from the passing feet, 3 Though buried deep, or thinly strewn, 204. C. M. EXETER COL. Supplication for a Blessing on the Word. 1 THY gracious aid, great God, impart, 2 O speed our progress in the way Where knowledge grows without decay, CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY. 205. C. M. WATTS. Message of John the Baptist. 1 JOHN was the prophet of the Lord, The herald which the Prince of Peace 2 He makes the great salvation known, While grace divine, and heavenly love, 3 Behold the Lamb of God,' he cries, That takes our guilt away: I saw the Spirit o'er his head On his baptizing day. 4 'Be every vale exalted high, Sink every mountain low; The proud must stoop, and humble souls 5 The heathen realms with Israel's land 6 'Behold the Morning Star arise, He marks the path that leads to peace, 206. 11s M. DRUMMOND. Prepare ye the Way of the Lord. 1 A VOICE from the desert comes awful and shrill; The Lord is advancing! prepare ye the way! The word of Jehovah he comes to fulfil, And o'er the dark world pour the splendour of day. 2 Bring down the proud mountain, though towering to heaven, And be the low valley exalted on high: The rough path and crooked be made smooth and even, For, Zion! your King, your Redeemer is nigh. 3 The beams of salvation his progress illume; The lone dreary wilderness sings of her Lord; The rose and the myrtle there suddenly bloom, And the olive of peace spreads its branches abroad. 207. C. M. CHRISTIAN PSALMIST. Christ's Coming foretold. 1 BEHOLD my servant; see him rise Him have I chosen, and in him 2 On him, in rich effusion poured, My truths and judgment he shall show 3 Gentle and still shall be his voice; The smoking flax shall he not quench, 4 The feeble spark to flames he 'll raise; Judgment he shall bring forth to truth, power 5 The progress of his zeal and 208. C. M. SPIRIT OF THE PSALMS. The Day-Spring from on High. Ps. 130. 1 GREAT God, wert thou extreme to mark The deeds we do amiss, Before thy presence who could stand, But oh! all merciful and just, Thy love surpasseth thought; 2 Thy servants in the temple watched Impatient with its earliest beams And chosen saints far off beheld That great and glorious morn, When the glad day-spring from on high 3 On us the Sun of Righteousness Its brightest beams hath poured; Before whose brightness, sin and death, L 209. C. M. DODDRIDGE. Christ's Message. 1 HARK the glad sound! the Saviour comes! 2 On him the Spirit, largely poured, Wisdom and might, and zeal and love, 3 He comes, from thickest films of vice 4 He comes, the broken heart to bind, 5 Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace, |