But ah! the feebleness of man!
Have I not vowed and wept in vain ?

2 Return, O Lord of Hosts, return!
Behold thy servant in distress;
My faithlessness again I mourn;
Again forgive my faithlessness;
And to thine arms my spirit take,
And bless me for the Saviour's sake.

3 In pity of the soul thou lov'st,

Now bid the sin thou hat'st expire;
Let me desire what thou approv'st,
Thou dost approve what I desire;
And thou wilt deign to call me thine,
And I will dare to call thee mine.

4 This day the covenant I sign,

The bond of sure and promised peace; Nor can I doubt its power divine,

Since sealed with Jesu's blood it is: That blood I trust, that blood alone, And make the covenant peace mine own.

5 But, that my faith no more may know Or change, or interval, or end, Help me in all thy paths to go,

And now, as e'er, my voice attend, And gladden me with answers mild, And commune, Father, with thy child!

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1

YOD of truth and power and grace,

GOD Drawn by thee to seek thy face,

Lo! I in thy courts appear,

Humbly come to meet thee here;

1

2 Trembling at thine altar stand,
Lift to heaven my heart and hand,
Of thy promised strength secure,
All my sins I now abjure.
3 All my promises renew,
All my wickedness eschew,
Chiefly that I called my own,
Now I hate, renounce, disown.
4 Never more will I commit,
Follow, or be led by it;

Only grant the grace I claim,
Arm my soul with Jesu's name.
5 Sure I am it is thy will,
I should never yield to ill,
Never lose thy gracious power,
Never sin or grieve thee more.
6 What doth then my hopes prevent?
Lord, thou stay'st for my consent;
My consent through grace I give,
Promise in thy fear to live.

7 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Present with thy angel host,
While I at thy altar bow,
Witness to the solemn vow,

8 Now admit my bold appeal,
Now affix thy Spirit's seal,

8 s.

Now the power from high be given,
Register the oath in heaven.

After the Renewal of the Covenant.

HOW shall a sinner perform

a

911

The vows he hath vowed to the Lord?

A sinful and impotent worm,

How can I be true to my word?

CHRISTIAN ORDINANCES AND INSTITUTIONS.

I tremble at what I have done :

O send me thy help from above;
The power of thy Spirit make known,
The virtue of Jesus's love!

2 My solemn engagements are vain,
My promises empty as air;
My vows, I shall break them again,
And plunge in eternal despair;
Unless my omnipotent God

The sense of his goodness impart,
And shed by his Spirit abroad

The love of himself in my heart.

3 0 Lover of sinners, extend

To me thy compassionate grace;
Appear my affliction to end,
Afford me a glimpse of thy face!
That light shall enkindle in me
A flame of reciprocal love;
And then I shall cleave unto thee,
And then I shall never remove.

4 0 come to a mourner in pain,

Thy peace in my conscience reveal!
And then I shall love thee again,
And sing of the goodness I feel:
Constrained by the grace of my Lord,
My soul shall in all things obey,
And wait to be fully restored,
And long to be summoned away.

912

10

L. M.

.: Renewal of Self-Dedication.
HAPPY day that fixed my choice
On thee, my Saviour and my God!
Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell its raptures all abroad.

2 O happy bond, that seals my vows
To him who merits all my love!
Let cheerful anthems fill his house,
While to that sacred shrine I move.
3 'Tis done, the great transaction's done,
I am my Lord's, and he is mine;
He drew me, and I followed on,

1. Charmed to confess the voice divine. 4 Now rest, my long-divided heart; Fixed on this blissful centre, rest: Nor ever from thy Lord depart,

With him of every good possest.

5 High Heaven, that heard the solemn vow, That vow renewed shall daily hear,

2. M.

Till in life's latest hour I bow,

And bless in death a bond so dear.

SECTION VIII.

DEATH AND THE FUTURE LIFE.

"It is appointed unto men once to die."

TREB

Hebrews ix. 27.

913

1 TREMENDOUS God, with humble fear, Prostrate before thy awful throne,

The irrevocable word we hear,

The sovereign righteousness we own.

2 'Tis fit we should to dust return,

Since such the will of the Most High;
In sin conceived, to trouble born,
Born only to lament and die.

3 Submissive to thy just decree,

We all shall soon from earth remove;
But when thou sendest, Lord, for me,
O let the messenger be love!

4 Whispering thy love into my heart, Warn me of my approaching end; And then I joyfully depart,

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1

And then I to thy arms ascend.

FAT

ATHER, Lord of earth and heaven, Spare, or take what thou hast given; Sole disposer of thine own,

Let thy sovereign will be done.

2 When thou didst our Isaac give,
Him we trembled to receive,
Him we called not ours, but thine,
Him we promised to resign.

3 Lo! we to our promise stand,
Lo! we answer thy demand,
Will not murmur or complain,
If thou claim thine own again.
4 Life or death depend on thee,
Just and good is thy decree,
Safe in thy decree we rest,
Sure whatever is, is best.

5 Meekly we our vow repeat,
Nature shall to grace submit,
Let him on the altar lie,
Let the victim live, or die.

6 Yet thou know'st what pangs of love
In a father's bosom move,
What the agony to part,
Struggling in a mother's heart.
7 Sorely tempted and distressed,
Can we make the fond request?
Dare we pray for a reprieve?
Need we ask that he may live?