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3 O may thy own celestial fire
The incense still inflame;

While my warm vows to thee aspire,
Through my Redeemer's name.

4 So shall the visits of thy love
My soul in secret bless;

So shalt thou deign in worlds above
Thy suppliant to confess.

CLXXVIII. Seeking first the Kingdom of God, &c. Matthew vi. 33.
1 NOW let a true ambition rise,
And ardour fire our breast,
To reign in worlds above the skies,
In heavenly glories drest.

2 Behold Jehovah's royal hand
A radiant crown display,

Whose gems with vivid lustre shine,
While stars and suns decay.

3 Away, each groveling anxious care,
Beneath a christian's thought;
I spring to seize immortal joys,
Which my Redeemer bought.

4 Ye hearts with youthful vigour warm,
The glorious prize pursue;

Nor shall ye want the goods of earth,
While heaven is kept in view.

"CLXXIX. Pardon spoken by Christ. Matthew ix. 2.

1 MY Saviour, let me hear thy voice,
Pronounce these words of peace;
And all my warmest powers shall join
To celebrate the grace.

2 With gentle smiles call me thy child,
And speak my sins forgiven;

The accents mild shall charm mine ear,
All like the harps of heaven.

3 Cheerful, where'er thy hand shall lead,
The darkest path I'll tread;
Cheerful I'll quit these mortal shores,
And mingle with the dead.

4 When dreadful guilt is done away,
No other fears we know ;

That hand, which scatters pardons down,
Shall crowns of life bestow.

CLXXX. The relapsing Demoniac. Matthew xii. 43-45.
1 SOVEREIGN of heaven, thine empire spreads
O'er all the worlds on high:

And at thy frown the infernal powers
In wild confusion fly.

2 Like lightning from his glittering throne
The great arch-traitor fell,

Driven with enormous ruin down
To infamy and hell.

3 Permitted now to range at large,
And traverse earth and air;
O'er captive human souls he reigns,
And boasts his kingdom there.

4 Yet thence thy grace can drive him out
With one Almighty word;
O send thy potent sceptre forth,
And reign victorious, Lord.

5 Let wretched prisoners be releas'd
The smiling light to view;
Nor let the vanquish'd foe return
Their bondage to renew.

6 May grace complete that wondrous work,
Which thy own power begun,

And fill, from Satan's gloomy realms,
The kingdom of thy Son.

CLXXXI. The Faith of the Syrophænician Woman recommended.
Matthew xv. 26, 27.

ALL conquering faith, how high it rose,
When heaven itself might seem t' oppose!
All-gracious Lord, who didst appear

Most merciful, when most severe !

2 Thus at thy feet our souls would fall,
And loudly thus for mercy call;
"Thou Son of David, pity show,
"And save us from the infernal foe."
3 Though viler than the brutes we be,
Our longing eyes would wait on thee,
Who dost to dogs this grace afford,
To taste the crumbs beneath thy board.

*Wander through.

4 But thou the humble soul wilt raise,
And all its sorrows turn to praise:
Each self-abasing broken heart

Shall with thy children share a part.

CLXXXII. The Church built on a Rock, and secured against the Gates of Hell. Matthew xvi. 18.

1 NOW let the gates of Zion sing,
And challenge all her spiteful foes:
She triumphs in her Saviour-king,
In him, who from the dead arose.
2 He is the rock, on whom we rest,
And firm on that foundation stand;
Divine compassion fills his breast,
His word is sure, and strong his hand.
3 Hell and its hosts may rage in vain;
Vain are their counsels, and their power;
Grim death may marshal all his train,
And boast the conquest of an hour.
4 Breathless and pale his servants lie,
And know their former place no more
Their children raise his praises high,
And o'er their fathers' dust adore.

5 Their fathers' dust the Lord shall raise,
And burst the barriers of the grave;
Parents and children join his praise,
Who through eternity can save.

CLXXXIII. Christ's Transfiguration. Matthew xvii. 4.

1 WHEN at this distance, Lord, we trace
The various glories of thy face,

What transport pours o'er all our breast,
And charms our cares and woes to rest!

2 With thee in the obscurest cell

On some bleak mountain would I dwell,
Rather than pompous courts behold,
And share their grandeur and their gold.
3 Away, ye dreams of mortal joy!
Raptures divine my thoughts employ:
I see the king of glory shine;
And feel his love, and call him mine.
4 On Tabor* thus his servants view'd
His lustre, when transform'd he stood;

*The mountain on which Christ was transfigured.

And, bidding earthly scenes farewell,
Cried, "Lord, 'tis pleasant here to dwell."
5 Yet still our elevated eyes

To nobler visions long to rise;

That grand assembly would we join,
Where all thy saints around thee shine.

That mount how bright! those forms how fair!
'Tis good to dwell for ever there:

Come, death, dear envoy* of my God,

And bear me to that blest abode.

CLXXXIV. The Grace of Christ in ministering to Men, and dying for them. Matthew xx. 28.

1 SAVIOUR of men, and Lord of love,
How sweet thy gracious name!
With joy that errand we review,
On which thy mercy came.

2 While all thy own angelic bands
Stood waiting on the wing,
Charm'd with the honour to obey
The word of such a king;

3 For us mean wretched sinful men
Thou laid'st that glory by,
First in our mortal flesh to serve,
Then in that flesh to die.

4 Bought with thy service and thy blood,
We doubly, Lord, are thine;
To thee our lives we would devote,
To thee our death resign.

5 Blest man, who in thy cause consumes
His vigorous days with zeal!
Then with the last slow ebb of blood
Is call'd thy truth to seal!

CLXXXV. Christ's compassionate Readiness to gather Souls.

1

SEE

Matthew xxiii. 37, 38.

EE how the Lord of mercy spreads
His gentle hands abroad;

And warns us of the circling foes,

That thirst to drink our blood!

2" Fly to the shelter of mine arms,
"And dwell secure from fear;

"Nor earth nor hell shall pluck you thence,
"Or reach, and wound you there."

* Messenger or ambassador.

3 With anxious heart the parent-bird
Thus calls her offspring round,
When horrid vultures beat the air,
And slaughter stains the ground.
4 The trembling brood, by nature taught,
Fly to the known retreat;
Beneath her downy wings are safe,
And find the shelter sweet.

5 But men, alas! more thoughtless men,
Refuse to lend an ear;
Their only refuge madly fly

And rather die, than hear.

6 They spurn the Saviour's offer'd grace,
Till they his wrath inflame;

Then desolation lays them low
In agony and shame.

CLXXXVI. The Abounding of Iniquity, and Coldness of Christian
Love. Matthew xxiv. 12.

1 A

FOR A FAST-DAY.

LAS for Britain, and her sons!

What hath she not to fear?
The sins, that ruin'd Salem once,
O how triumphant here!

2 Alas the strong o'erflowing tide!
How fiercely doth it rage!

And each foreboding symptom joins
In terrible presage.

3 Yet who hath eyes that can discern,
Or who an ear to hear?

Whose heart is trembling for the ark,
Or for his country dear?

4 Cold is the love of christian breasts,
If christian breasts remain ;

And dying the last sparks of zeal,
Or its last efforts vain.

5 Of Britain, oft chastis'd and sav'd,
What shall the end be found?
Shall not the sword, that waves so long,
Inflict the deeper wound?

6 O stay thine arm, all-gracious God;
Thy Spirit largely pour!

He can the streams of guilt restrain,
And dying love restore.

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