II. "There, like streams that feed the garden, "Ye no more your suns descending, God shall rise, and shining o'er ye, JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. My God, how perfect are thy ways! Sin twines itself about my praise, And slides into my prayer. Jer. xxiii. 6. When I would speak what thou hast done I cannot make thy mercies known, Divine desire, that holy flame When it returns to thee. This heart, a fountain of vile thoughts, How does it overflow, While self upon the surface floats, Still bubbling from below. Let others in the gaudy dress Of fancied merit shine; The Lord shall be my righteousness, XII. EPHRAIM REPENTING. Jer. xxxi. 18--20. My God, till I received thy stroke, So unaccustom❜d to the yoke, With grief my just reproach I bear; Thy merciful restraint I scorn'd, "Is Ephraim banish'd from my thoughts, No," saith the Lord, "with all his faults, "Is he a dear and pleasant child? Yes, dear and pleasant still; My sharp rebuke has laid him low, My pity kindles at his woe, XIII. THE COVENANT. Ezek. xxxvi. 25-28. THE Lord proclaims his grace 66 abroad! Behold, I change your hearts of stone; And serve, henceforth, the Lord alone. My grace, a flowing stream, proceeds S. C.-5. E My truth the great design ensures, Yet not unsought, or unimplored, From the first breath of life divine, XIV. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH. Exek. xlviii. 35. As birds their infant brood protect", So will I guard Jerusalem. And what then is Jerusalem, Where is its worth in God's esteem? Jehovah founded it in blood, The blood of his incarnate Son; There dwell the saints, once foes to God, There, though besieged on every side, Let earth repent, and hell despair, "The Lord is there," And who has power to drive him thence? • Verse 37. 7 Isaiah, xxxi. 5. XV. PRAISE FOR THE FOUNTAIN OPENED. Zech. xiii. 1. THERE is a fountain fill'd with blood The dying thief rejoiced to see Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream Then in a nobler, sweeter song, When this poor lisping stammering tongue Lord, I believe thou hast prepared For me a blood-bought free reward, 'Tis strung and tuned for endless years, And form'd by power divine, To sound in God the Father's ears No other name but thine. XVI. THE SOWER. Matt. xiii. 3. YE sons of earth, prepare the plough, Soon wither'd, scorch'd, and dead, The thorny ground is sure to baulk The beaten path and highway side power But where the Lord of grace and Father of mercies, we have need Let the same hand that gives the seed XVII. THE HOUSE OF PRAYER. Mark, xi. 17. THY mansion is the Christian's heart, O Lord, thy dwelling-place secure! Bid the unruly throng depart, And leave the consecrated door. Devoted as it is to thee, A thievish swarm frequents the place ; |