5 If I still hold closely to him,
What hath he at last?

"Sorrow vanquished, labour ended,
Jordan past."

6 If I ask him to receive me,
Will he say me nay?

"Not till earth, and not till heaven

10 s.

Pass away."

794

1. WEARY of earth and laden with my sin,

I look at heaven and long to enter in, But there no evil thing may find a home : And yet I hear a voice that bids me

"Come." 2 So vile I am, how dare I hope to stand In the pure glory of that holy land?

Before the whiteness of that throne appear? Yet there are hands stretched out to draw me

near.

3 The while I fain would tread the heavenly way, Evil is ever with me day by day;

Yet on mine ears the gracious tidings fall,

66 Repent, believe, thou shalt be loosed from all." 4 It is the voice of Jesus that I hear,

His are the hands stretched out to draw me near, And his the blood that can for all atone, And set me faultless there before the throne. 5 "Twas he who found me on the deathly wild, And made me heir of heaven, the Father's child, And day by day, whereby my soul may live, Gives me his grace of pardon, and will give. 6 O great Absolver, grant my soul may wear The lowliest garb of penitence and prayer, That in the Father's courts my glorious dress May be the garment of thy righteousness.

7 Yea, thou wilt answer for me, righteous Lord : Thine all the merits, mine the great reward; Thine the sharp thorns, and mine the golden

crown,

Mine the life won, and thine the life laid down.

3 Nought can I bring thee, Lord, for all I owe, Yet let my full heart what it can bestow; Like Mary's gift, let my devotion prove, Forgiven greatly, how I greatly love.

795

1

WITH

7ITH broken heart and contrite sigh,
A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry;
Thy pardoning grace is rich and free;
O God! be merciful to me.

2 I smite upon my troubled breast,
With deep and conscious guilt oppressed;
Christ and his cross my only plea;
O God! be merciful to me.

3 Far off I stand with tearful eyes,
Nor dare uplift them to the skies;
But thou dost all my anguish see;
O God! be merciful to me.

4 Nor alms, nor deeds that I have done,
Can for a single sin atone;

To Calvary alone I flee;

O God! be merciful to me.

5 And when, redeemed from sin and hell,
With all the ransomed throng I dwell,
My raptured song shall ever be,
God has been merciful to me.

1

8886.

JUST

"Just as I am."

as I am, without one plea
But that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou bidd'st me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come!

2 Just as I am, and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

796

To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come!

3 Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fighting and fears, within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come!

4 Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need, in thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come!

5 Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve!
Because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come!

6 Just as I am, (thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down)
Now to be thine, yea, thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come!

7 Just as I am, of that free love

The breadth, length, depth, and height to

prove,

Here for a season, then above,

O Lamb of God, I come!

797

C. M.

LORD, turn not thy face away
From them that lowly lie,
Lamenting sore their sinful life
With tears and bitter cry;
Thy mercy's gates are open wide
To them that mourn their sin ;
O shut them not against us, Lord!
But let us enter in.

2 We need not to confess our fault,
For surely thou canst tell;
What we have done, and what we are,
Thou knowest very well:
Wherefore to beg and to entreat,
With tears we come to thee,
As children that have done amiss
Fall at their father's knee.

3 And need we, then, O Lord, repeat
The blessing which we crave,
When thou dost know before we speak
The thing that we would have?
Mercy, O Lord! mercy we ask,

798

1

This is the total sum:

For mercy, Lord, is all our prayer;
O let thy mercy come!

THER

WHERE is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins ;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

2 The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;

And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

724

3 0 dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved to sin no more.

4 E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

5 Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save;

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

6 Lord, I believe thou hast prepared,
Unworthy though I be,

For me a blood-bought free reward,
A golden harp for me!

7 'Tis strung and tuned for endless years,
And formed by power divine,

. M.

1

To sound in God the Father's ears
No other name but thine.

Hymn after Sermon on Sunday Evening. 799

BLESSED, blessed sounds of grace
Still echoing in my ear,

Glad is the hour, and loved the place-
But whence my sudden fear?

2 What if a sternly righteous doom
Have sealed this call my last!
Before me sickness, death, the tomb:
Behind, the unpardoned past?

3 My Sabbath suns may all have set,
My Sabbath scenes be o'er,

The place, at least, where we are met,
May know my steps no more;