2 CORINTHIANS.

CXXIX. My Grace is sufficient for thee.
Chap. xii. 9.

1 OPPRESS'D with unbelief and sin,

Fightings without, and fears within;
While earth and hell, with force combin'd,
Assault and terrify my mind:

2 What strength have I against such foes,
Such hosts and legions to oppose?
Alas! I tremble, faint, and fall;
Lord, save me, or I give up all.

3 Thus sorely prest, I sought the Lord,
To give me some sweet cheering word;
Again I sought, and yet again;

I waited long, but not in vain.

4 Oh! 'twas a cheering word indeed!
Exactly suited to my need;
"Sufficient for thee is my grace,
Thy weakness my great power displays."

5 Now I despond and mourn no more,
I welcome all I fear'd before:

Though weak, I'm strong; though troubled,

blest;

For Christ's own power shall on me rest.

6 My grace would soon exhausted be,
But his is boundless as the sea;
Then let me boast with holy Paul,
That I am nothing, Christ is all.

GALATIANS.

CXXX. The Inward Warfare. Chap. v. 17.
1 STRANGE and mysterious is my life,
What opposites I feel within!

A stable peace, a constant strife;
The rule of grace, the power of sin :
Too often I am captive led,

Yet daily triumph in my Head.

2 I prize the privilege of prayer,
But oh what backwardness to pray!
Though on the Lord I cast my care,
I feel its burden every day;

I seek his will in all I do,

Yet find my own is working too.

3 I call the promises my own,

And prize them more than mines of gold;
Yet though their sweetness I have known,
They leave me unimpress'd and cold:
One hour upon the truth I feed,
The next, I know not what I read.

4 I love the holy day of rest,

When Jesus meets his gather'd saints;
Sweet day, of all the week the best!
For its return my spirit pants:

Yet often, through my unbelief,
It proves a day of guilt and grief.

5 While on my Saviour I rely,
I know my foes shall lose their aim;
And therefore dare their power defy,
Assur'd of conquest through his name:
But soon my confidence is slain,
And all my fears return again.

6 Thus different powers within me strive,
And grace and sin by turns prevail;
I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,
And vict'ry hangs in doubtful scale :
But Jesus has his promise past,
That grace shall overcome at last.

CXXXI.

PHILIPPIANS.

Contentment.*

Chap. iv. 11.

1 FIERCE passions discompose the mind,
As tempests vex the sea;

But calm content and peace we find,
When, Lord, we turn to thee.

2 In vain by reason and by rule
We try to bend the will;

For none but in the Saviour's school
Can learn the heavenly skill.

5 Since at his feet my soul has sat,
His gracious words to hear;
Contented with my present state,
I cast on him my care.

4"Art thou a sinner, soul? (he said)
Then how canst thou complain?
How light thy troubles here, if weigh'd
With everlasting pain!

5 If thou of murm'ring wouldst be cur'd,
Compare thy griefs with mine;
Think what my love for thee endur'd,
And thou wilt not repine.

6 'Tis I appoint thy daily lot,
And I do all things well:

* Book iii. hymn 55.

Thou soon shalt leave this wretched spot,

And rise with me to dwell.

7 In life, my grace shall strength supply, 1 Proportion'd to thy day;

At death, thou still shalt find me nigh,
To wipe thy tears away."

8 Thus I, who once my wretched days
In vain repinings spent,

Taught in my Saviour's school of grace,
Have learn'd to be content.

1

2

3

HEBREWS.

CXXXII. C. Old Testament Gospel.
Chap. iv. 2.

ISRAEL, in ancient days,

Not only had a view

Of Sinai in a blaze,

But learn'd the gospel too :
The types and figures were a glass
In which they saw a Saviour's face.

The paschal sacrifice,

And blood-besprinkled door,*
Seen with enlighten'd eyes,

And once applied with power,

Would teach the need of other blood

To reconcile an angry God.

The Lamb, the Dove, set forth

His perfect innocence,†

Whose blood of matchless worth
Should be the soul's defence:
For he who can for sin atone
Must have no failings of his own.

*Exod. xii. 13.

† Lev. xii. 6.

1

4

2

3

5

6

The scape-goat on his head *
The people's trespass bore,
And to the desert led,

Was to be seen no more:
In him our surety seem'd to say,
"Behold I bear your sins away."

Dipt in his fellow's blood,
The living bird went free; †
The type, well understood,
Express'd the sinner's plea ;
Describ'd a guilty soul enlarg'd,
And by a Saviour's death discharg'd.

Jesus, I love to trace

Throughout the sacred page
The footsteps of thy grace,
The same in every age!
O grant that I may faithful be

To clearer light vouchsaf'd to me.

CXXXIII. The Word quick and powerful.
Chap. iv. 12, 13.

The word of Christ, our Lord,
With whom we have to do,

Is sharper than a two-edg'd sword,
To pierce the sinner through!

Swift as the lightning's blaze
When awful thunders roll,

It fills the conscience with amaze,

And penetrates the soul.

No heart can be conceal'd

From his all-piercing eyes;

Each thought and purpose stands reveal'd, Naked without disguise.

*Lev. xvi. 21.

+ Lev. xiv. 51-53.