3 0 thou eternal spring of good,
Whence living waters flow,
Let not our thirsty erring souls
To broken cisterns go!

4 Like characters inscrib'd in dust
Are sinners borne away;

And all the treasures they can boast,
The portion of a day.

5 But, Lord, to thee my heart shall turn
To heal it, and to save;

The joys, that from thy favour flow,
Shall bloom beyond the grave.

CXXXII. Christ, the Lord our Righteousness. Jeremiah xxiii. 6. 1 SAVIOUR divine, we know thy name,

And in that name we trust;
Thou art the Lord our righteousness,
Thou art thine Israel's boast.

2 Guilty we plead before thy throne,
And low in dust we lie,

Till Jesus stretch his gracious arm
To bring the guilty nigh.

3 The sins of one most righteous day
Might plunge us in despair;

Yet all the crimes of numerous years
Shall our great surety clear.

4 That spotless robe, which he hath wrought,
Shall deck us all around;

Nor by the piercing eye of God
One blemish shall be found.

5 Pardon, and peace, and lively hope
To sinners now are given;

Israel and Judah soon shall change
Their wilderness for heaven.

6 With joy we taste that manna now,
Thy mercy scatters down;
We seal our humble vows to thee,
And wait the promis'd crown.

CXXXIII. The Efficacy of God's Word. Jeremiah xxiii. 29. 1 WITH reverend awe, tremendous Lord, We hear the thunders of thy word;

The pride of Lebanon it breaks:
Swift the celestial fire descends,
The flinty rock in pieces rends,

And earth to its deep centre shakes.

My heart with secret ardour glows
Its mandates* to fulfil.

6 Let the vain sons of Belial boast
Their tongues and thoughts are free
My noblest liberty I own,

When subject most to thee.

CXXXVII. Asking the Way to Zion, in Order to joining in Covenant with God. Jeremiah 1. 5.

ENQUIRE, ye pilgrims, for the way,

That leads to Zion's hill,

And thither set your steady face
With a determin'd will.

2 Invite the strangers all around
Your pious march to join;
And spread the sentiments you feel
Of faith and love divine.

3 Come, let us to his temple haste,
And seek his favour there,
Before his footstool humbly bow,
And pour out fervent prayer.

4 Come, let us join our souls to God
In everlasting bands,

And seize the blessings he bestows
With eager hearts and hands.
5 Come, let us seal without delay
The covenant of his grace;
Nor shall the years of distant life
Its memory efface +.

6 Thus may our rising offspring haste
To seek their father's God,
Nor e'er forsake the happy path
Their youthful feet have trod,

CXXXVIII. Searching and trying our Ways. Lamentations iii. 40.

1 THY piercing eye, O God, surveys

The various windings of our ways;

Teach us their tendency to know,
And judge the paths in which we go.

2 How wild, how crooked have they been!
A maze of foolishness and sin!

With all the light we vainly boast,
Leaving our guide, our souls are lost.

* Commands,

+ Blot out, destroy.

3 Had not thy mercy been our aid,
So fatally our feet had stray'd,
Stern justice had its prisoners led
Down to the chambers of the dead.
4 O turn us back to thee again,
Or we shall search our ways in vain ;
Shine, and the path of life reveal,
And bear us on to Zion's hill.

5 Roll on, ye swift-revolving years,
And end this round of sins and cares;
No more a wanderer would I roam,
But near my Father fix at home,

CXXXIX. The Breath of our Nostrils taken in the Pits of the Ene my; applied to Christ. Lamentations iv. 20.

1 BLEST Saviour, to my heart more dear
Then balmy gales of vital air

Were thy soul-cheering presence gone,
What use of breath, unless to groan?

2 Thy Father's royal hand hath shed,
In rich profusion on thy head,
Ten thousand graces; Thou alone
Canst share, and canst adorn his throne.
3 But see the Sovereign captive led,
Snar'd in the pit, which traitors made,
Fetter'd with ignominious bands,
And murder'd by rebellious hands,
4 Ye saints, to your expiring King,
Your tributary sorrows bring:
In loyal crouds assemble round,
And bathe in tears each precious wound.
5 But from the caverns of the grave
He springs, omnipotent to save;
The Captive-King ascends and reigns,
And drags his conquered foes in chains.
6 Beneath his shade our souls shall live,
In all the rapture heaven can give ;
Where Zion never shall deplore,
And heathens vex his church no more.

CXL. Of lamenting national Sins. Ezekiel ix. 4-6.

FOR A FAST-DAY.

1 Righteous God, thou Judge supreme,
We tremble at thy dreadful name,

And all our crying guilt we own
In dust and tears before thy throne.

2 So manifold our crimes have been,
Such crimson tincture dyes our sin,
That, could we all its horrors know,
Our streaming eyes with blood might flow.
3 Britain, the land thine arm hath sav'd,
That arm most impiously hath brav'd;
Britain, the Isle its God hath lov'd,
A rebel to that love hath prov'd.

4 Estrang'd from reverential awe,
We trample on thy sacred law;

And, though such wonders grace hath done,
Anew we crucify thy Son.

5 Justly might this polluted land

Prove all the vengeance of thy hand;

And, bath'd in heaven*, thy sword might come
To drink our blood, and seal our doom.

6 Yet hast thou not a remnant here,
Whose souls are fill'd with pious fear?
O bring thy wonted mercy nigh,
While prostrate at thy feet they lie.
7 Behold their tears, attend their moan,
Nor turn away their secret groan :
With these we join our humble prayer;
Our nation shield, our country spare.

8 But if the sentence be decreed,
And our dear native land must bleed,

By thy sure mark may we be known,
And safe in life or death thy own.

CXLI. The Iniquity of sacrificing God's Children; or, The Evil of a bad or neglected Education. Ezekiel xvi. 20, 21 †.

1 BEHOLD, O Israel's God,

From thine exalted throne,
And view the desolate abode,
Thou once hast call'd thy own.

2 The children of thy flock,
By early covenant thine,

See how they pour their bleeding souls

On every idol's shrine!

Alluding to the cruel custom among some heathens of sacrificing their children to their Gods, to which there are frequent references in scripture.

3 Had not thy mercy been our aid,
So fatally our feet had stray'd,
Stern justice had its prisoners led
Down to the chambers of the dead.
4 O turn us back to thee again,

Or we shall search our ways in vain ;
Shine, and the path of life reveal,
And bear us on to Zion's hill.
5 Roll on, ye swift-revolving years,
And end this round of sins and cares;
No more a wanderer would I roam,
But near my Father fix at home,

CXXXIX. The Breath of our Nostrils taken in the Pits of the Enc my; applied to Christ. Lamentations iv. 20.

LEST Saviour, to my heart more dear

1 BL

Then balmy gales of vital air;

Were thy soul-cheering presence gone,
What use of breath, unless to groan?

2 Thy Father's royal hand hath shed,
In rich profusion on thy head,
Ten thousand graces; Thou alone
Canst share, and canst adorn his throne.
3 But see the Sovereign captive led,
Snar'd in the pit, which traitors made,
Fetter'd with ignominious bands,
And murder'd by rebellious hands,
4 Ye saints, to your expiring King,
Your tributary sorrows bring:
In loyal crouds assemble round,
And bathe in tears each precious wound.
5 But from the caverns of the grave
He springs, omnipotent to save;
The Captive-King ascends and reigns,
And drags his conquered foes in chains.
6 Beneath his shade our souls shall live,
In all the rapture heaven can give ;
Where Zion never shall deplore,
And heathens vex his church no more.

CXL. Of lamenting national Sins.

FOR A FAST-DAY.

Ezekiel ix. 4-6.

Righteous God, thou Judge supreme,
We tremble at thy dreadful name,

And all our crying guilt we own
In dust and tears before thy throne.