And when I feel a God immense Familiarly impart, With every proof he can dispense, My native meanness I lament, His purpose and his course he keeps ; When in the dust, its proper place, Thou whom I serve, and whose I am, How wretched is the creature's state Who thwarts thy gracious power; Crush'd under sin's enormous weight, Increasing every hour! The night, when pass'd entire with thee, How luminous and clear! Then sleep has no delights for me, Lest thou shouldst disappear. My Saviour! occupy me still In this secure recess; Let reason slumber if she will, Let reason slumber out the night; My soul the abode of truth and light, THE JOY OF THE CROSS. LONG plunged in sorrow, I resign That hand shall wipe my streaming eyes; Transform the falling tear. My sole possession is thy love; And though with fervent suit I pray, My rapid hours pursue the course And I thy sovereign will, Though still a sufferer from the womb, By thy command, where'er I stray, And if my sufferings may augment It costs me no regret, that she, Adieu! ye vain delights of earth; And Jesus thought so too. The cross! Oh ravishment and blissHow grateful e'en its anguish is; Its bitterness how sweet! There every sense, and all the mind, In all her faculties refined, Tastes happiness complete. Souls once enabled to disdain The fever of desire is pass'd, And love has all its genuine taste, Self-love no grace in sorrow sees, In suffering her repose. Sorrow and love go side by side; Jesus, avenger of our fall, The cross has ever borne ! Thy choice and mine shall be the same, Inspirer of that holy flame Which must for ever blaze! To take the cross and follow thee, JOY IN MARTYRDOM. SWEET tenants of this grove! A song of artless love, In unison with mine: These echoing shades return Full many a note of ours, That wise ones cannot learn, With all their boasted powers. O thou! whose sacred charms This heart, that cannot rest, Shall thine for ever prove; Though bleeding and distress'd, Yet joyful in thy love: 'Tis happy, though it breaks. Beneath thy chastening hand; And speechless, yet it speaks What thou canst understand. |