Then hearken to my voice!
Give ear to my complaint!
Thou bidst the mourning soul rejoice,
Thou comfortest the faint.
I cast my hope on Thee :
Thou canst, Thou wilt forgive :
Wert Thou to mark iniquity,
Who in Thy sight could live!
Humbly on Thee I wait,
Confessing all my sin;
Lord! I am knocking at Thy gate;
Open, and take me in.
Glory to God above!
The waters soon will cease;
For lo! the swift-returning dove
Brings home the sign of Peace.
Though storms His face obscure,
And dangers threaten loud,
Jehovah's covenant is sure;
His bow is in the cloud!
1 When I can trust my all with God,
In trial's fearful hour,
Bow all-resigned beneath His rod,
And trust His sparing power;
A joy springs up amid distress,
A fountain in the wilderness.
2 To fall before the mercy-seat,
Though sorrows fix me there,
A precious right is still: for sweet
The energies of prayer,-
Though sighs and tears its language be,-
Since God is near, and smiles on me.
3 O blessed is the Hand that gave, Still blessed when it takes!
Blessed is He who smites to save;
Who heals the heart He breaks! Perfect and true are all His ways, Whom Heaven adores, and Death obeys.
1 Lord! when we seek Thy throne of grace, To crave a blessing there,
Oh let not earthly things have place,
Unduly, in our prayer.
2 But teach us in the solemn hour
Of supplication, still
Simply to ask of Thee the power
To do Thy holy will:
3 To feel Thy kingdom, here on earth,
Within our hearts increase,
prove the all-surpassing worth
Of Thy pure gift of Peace:-
4 Be such our prayers! for all beside
Thy word a pledge shall be;
For Thou hast promised to provide
For all who follow Thee.
Lord! it is not life to live,
If Thy presence Thou deny :
Lord! if Thou Thy presence give,
'T is no longer death to die.
Source and giver of repose!
Singly from Thy smile it flows:
Thee to see and Thee to love,
Perfects bliss below, above!
1 Far from the world, O Lord, I flee;
From strife and tumult far;
From scenes where Sin is waging still
His most successful war.
2 The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree;
And seem by Thy sweet bounty made
For those who follow Thee.
3 There, if Thy spirit touch the soul,
And grace her mean abode,
O with what peace, and joy, and love,
She communes with her God!
4 There, like the nightingale, she pours
Her solitary lays;
Nor asks a witness of her song,
Nor thirsts for human praise.
5 Author and guardian of my life!
Sweet source of life divine!
And, all harmonious names in one,
MY FATHER-Thou art mine!
6 What thanks I owe Thee, and what love,
A boundless, endless store,
Shall echo through the realms above,
When Time shall be no more.
1 O Lord, my best desire fulfil,
And help me to resign
Life, health, and comfort to Thy will,
And make Thy pleasure mine.
2 Why should I shrink at Thy command, Whose love forbids my fears;
Or tremble at the gracious hand
That wipes away my tears?
3 No; let me rather freely yield
What most I prize to Thee,-
Who never hast a good withheld,
Or wilt withhold, from me.
4 Wisdom and mercy guide my way; Shall I resist them both?
Short sighted creature of a day,
And crushed before the moth!
5 But ah! my inward spirit cries,
Still bind me to Thy sway;
Else the next cloud that veils my skies
Drives all these thoughts away.
1 T is my happiness below
Not to live without the Cross,
But the Saviour's power to know,
Sanctifying every loss:
Trials must and will befall;
But with humble faith to see
Love inscribed upon them all,-
This is happiness to me.
2 God in Israel sows the seeds
Of affliction, pain, and toil;
These spring up and choke the weeds
Which would else o'erspread the soil;
Trials make the promise sweet,
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to His feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.
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