20 may the gracious words divine,
Subject of all my converse be;
So will the Lord his foll'wer join,

And walk and talk himself with me:
So shall my heart his presence prove,
And burn with everlasting love.
3 Oft as I lay me down to rest,
O may the reconciling word
Sweetly compose my weary breast;
While on the bosom of my Lord
I sink in blissful dreams away,
And visions of eternal day.

4 Rising to sing my Saviour's praise,
Thee may I publish all day long;
And let thy precious word of grace
Flow from my heart, and fill my tongue:
Fill all my life with purest love,
And join me to the church above.

688

The Saviour seen in the Scriptures.

No thee its grateful tribute bring;
let my soul, eternal King,

My knee, with humble homage, bow;
My tongue perform its solemn vow.
2 All nature sings thy boundless love,
In worlds below, and worlds above;
But in thy blessed word I trace
Diviner wonders of thy grace.

L. M.

3 There, what delightful truths I read !
There, I behold the Saviour bleed:
His name salutes my list'ning ear,
Revives my heart, and checks my fear.
4 There Jesus bids my sorrows cease,
And gives my lab'ring conscience peace;
Raises my grateful thoughts on high,
And points to mansions in the sky.

5 For love like this, O let my song, Through endless years, thy praise prolong Let distant climes thy Name adore,

Till time and nature are no more.

689

Their universal diffusion.

ESUS, the word bestow,

JESUS,

Thy gospel then shall greatly grow,
And all our land o'erspread;
Through earth extended wide
Shall mightily prevail,-

Destroy the works of self and pride,
And shake the gates of hell."
2 Its energy exert

In the believing soul;

S. M.

Diffuse thy grace through every part,
And sanctify the whole;

Its utmost virtue show

In pure consummate love, And fill with all thy life below, And give us thrones above.

690

C. M.

Revelation welcomed and disseminated.

HAD, at truth! whose p

TAIL, sacred truth! whose piercing rays

Diffusing o'er a ruin'd world

The healing beams of light.

2 Thy word, O Lord, with friendly aid,
Restores our wand'ring feet;

Converts the sorrows of the mind
To joys divinely sweet.

3 O send thy light and truth abroad,
In all their radiant blaze;

And bid the' admiring world adore
The glories of thy grace.

691

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP.

THE

COMMUNION OF SAINTS.

The universal bond of love.

C. M.

HE glorious universe around,
The heavens with all their train,
Sun, moon, and stars, are firmly bound
In one mysterious chain.

2 The earth, the ocean, and the sky,
To form one world agree;

Where all that walk, or swim, or fly,
Compose one family.

3 God in creation thus displays
His wisdom and his might,

While all his works with all his ways
Harmoniously unite.

4 In one fraternal bond of love,
One fellowship of mind,

The saints below and saints above
Their bliss and glory find.

5 Here, in their house of pilgrimage,
Thy statutes are their song;
There, through one bright, eternal age,
Thy praises they prolong.

6 Lord, may our union form a part
Of that thrice happy whole;

Derive its pulse from thee, the heart,
Its life from thee, the soul.

692

One in Christ Jesus.

no

LET party names world o'erspread;

Gentile and Jew, and bond and free,
Are one in Christ their Head.

S. M.

2 Among the saints on earth
Let mutual love be found;
Heirs of the same inheritance,
With mutual blessings crown'd.
3 Thus will the church below
Resemble that above;

Where streams of bliss forever flow,
And every heart is love.

693

Love the test of discipleship.

C. M.

OUR God is love; and all his saints

His image bear below:

The heart with love to God inspired,
With love to man will glow.

2 None who are truly born of God
Can live in enmity;

Then may we love each other, Lord,
As we are loved by thee.

3 Heirs of the same immortal bliss,
Our hopes and fears the same,
With bonds of love our hearts unite,
With mutual love inflame.

4 So may the unbelieving world
See how true Christians love;
And glorify our Saviour's grace,
And seek that grace to prove.

694

Sweet communion.

BLEST are the sons of peace,

S. M.

Whose hearts and hopes are one; Whose kind designs to serve and please Through all their actions run.

2 Blest is the pious house

Where zeal and friendship meet; Their songs of praise, their mingled vows, Make their communion sweet.

695

3 Thus on the heavenly hills

The saints are blest above,
Where joy like morning dew distils,
And all the air is love.

The bond of perfectness.

sacred bond of perfectness

Is spotless charity:

O let us, Lord, we pray, possess
The mind that was in thee.

2 Grant this, and then from all below
Insensibly remove:

C. M.

Our souls the change shall scarcely know,

Made perfect first in love.

3 With ease our souls through death shall glide Into their paradise ;

And thence on wings of angels ride
Triumphant through the skies.

Yet when the fullest joy is given,
The same delight we prove;

In earth, in paradise, in heaven,
Our all in all is love.

696

7th P. M. 8 lines 7s.

Sweet counsel.

LORY be to God above,

U God, from whom all blessings flow;
Make we mention of his love;
Publish we his praise below:
Call'd together by his grace,
We are met in Jesus' name;
See with joy each other's face,

Foll'wers of the bleeding Lamb.
2 Let us then sweet counsel take,
How to make our calling sure;
Our election how to make,

Past the reach of hell, secure :