HYMN CLXXIV.
The Are laid to the Root of unfruitful Trees. Matthew ïïi. 10.
I THE Lord into his vineyard comes

Our various fruit to see;
His eye, more piercing than the light,

Examines every tree.
2 Tremble, ye sinners, at his frown,

If barren still ye stand ;
And fear that keenly-wounding axe,

Which arms his awful hand.
3 Close to the root behold it laid,

To make destruction sure:
Who can resist the mighty stroke?

Or who the fire endure?
4 Lord, we adore thy sparing love,

Thy long-expecting grace:
Else had we low in ruin fall'n,

And known no more our place.
5 Succeeding years thy patience waits ;

Nor let it wait in vain;
But form in us abundant fruit,

And still this fruit maintain.

CLXXV. The Light of good Examples, the most effectual Way to glorify

God. Matthew v. 16.
1 GREAT Teacher of thy church, we own

Thy precepts all divinely wise:
() may thy mighty power be shown

To fix them still before our eyes.
2 Deep on our hearts thy law engrave,

And fill our breasts with heavenly zeal,
That, while we trust thy power to save,
We may that sacred law fulfil.

3 Adorn'd with every heavenly grace,
May our examples brightly shine,
And the sweet lustre of thy face

Reflected, beam from each of thine.
4 These lineaments *, divinely fair,

Our heavenly Father shall proclaim;
And men, that view his image there,

Shall join to glorify his name. CLXXVI. Providential Bounties sarveyed and improved. Matthew v. 45. i FATHER of lights, we sing thy name,

Who kindledst up the lamp of day t;
Wide as he spreads his golden flame,

His beams thy power and love display.
2 Fountain of good, from thee proceed

The copious drops of genial I rain;
Which through the hills, and through the meads

Revive the grass and swell the grain.
3 Through the wide world thy bounties spread;

Yet millions of our guilty race,
Though by thy daily bounty fed,

Affront thy law, and spurn thy grace.
4 Not so may our forgetful hearts,

O'erlook the tokens of thy care;
But, what thy liberal hand imparts,

Still own in praise, still ask in prayer.
5 So shall our suns more grateful shine,

And showers in sweeter drops shall fall,
When all our hearts and lives are thine,

And thou, our God, enjoy'd in all.
6 Jesus, our brighter sun, arise;

In plenteous showers thy Spirit send;
Earth then shall grow a paradise,
And in the heavenly Eden enda

CLXXVII. Secret Prayer. Matthew vi 6.
1 CATHER divine, thy piercing eye

Shouts through the darkest night;
In deep retirement thou art nigh,

With heart-discerning sight.
2 There shall that piercing eye survey

My duteous homage paid,
With every morning's dawning ray,

And every evening's shade.

CLXXVIII. Seeking first the Kingdom of God, &c. Matthew vi, 33. i NOW let a true ambition rise,

And ardour fire our breast,
To reign in worlds above the skies,

In heavenly glories drest.
2 Behold Jehovah's royal hand

A radiant crown display,
Whose gems with vivid lustre shine,

While stars and suns decay.
3 Away, each groveling anxious care,

Beneath a christian's thought;
I spring to seize immortal joys,

Which my Redeemer boughi.
4 Ye hearts with youthful vigour warm,

The glorious prize pursue;
Nor shall ye want the goods of earth,

While heaven is kept in view.

"CLXXIX. Pardon spoken by Christ. Matthew ix. 2.
i MY Saviour, let me hear thy voice,

Pronounce these words of peace;
And all my warmest powers shall join

To celebrate the grace.
2 With gentle smiles call me thy child,

And speak my sins forgiven;
The accents mild shall charm mine ear,

All like the harps of heaven.
3 Cheerful, where'er thy hand shall lead,

The darkest path I'll tread;
Cheerful I'll quit these mortal shores,

And mingle with the dead.
4 When dreadful guilt is done away,

No other fears we know;
That hand, which scatters pardons down,

Shall crowns of life bestow.

CLXXX. The relapsing Demoniac. Matthew xii. 43–45.
i SOVEREIGN of heaven, thine empire spreads

O'er all the worlds on high:
And at thy frown the infernal powers

In wild confusion fly.
2 Like lightning from his glittering throne

The great arch-traitor fell,
Driven with enormous ruin down

To infamy and hell.
3 Permitted now to range at large,

And traverse * earth and air ;
O'er captive human souls he reigns,

And boasts his kingdom there.
4 Yet thence thy grace can drive him out

With one Almighty word;
() send thy potent sceptre forth,

And reign victorious, Lord.
5 Let wretched prisoners be releas'd

The smiling light to view ;
Nor let the vanquish'd foe return

Their bondage to renew.
6 May grace complete that wondrous work,

Which thy own power begun,
And fill, from Satan's gloomy realms,

The kingdom of thy Son.

CLXXXI. The Faith of the Syrophænician Woman reconemended.

Matthew xv. 26, 27.
I ALL conquering faith, how high it rose,

When heaven itself might seem t'oppose!
All-gracious Lord, who didst appear
Most merciful, when most severe !
2 Thus at thy feet our souls would fall,

And loudly thus for mercy call;
“ Thou Son of David, pity show,

“ And save us from the infernal foe.”
3 Though viler than the brutes we be,

Our longing eyes would wait on thee,
Who dost to dogs this grace afford,
To taste the crumbs beneath thy board.

4 But thou the humble soul wilt raise,

And all its sorrows turn to praise:
Each self-abasing broken heart
Shall with thy children share a part.

CLXXXII. The Church built on a Roch, and secured against the Gates

of Hell. Matthew xvi. 18.
i NOW let the gates of Zion sing,

And challenge all her spiteful foes:
She triumphs in her Saviour-king,

In him, who from the dead arose.
2 He is the rock, on whom we rest,

And firm on that foundation stand;
Divine compassion fills his breast,

His word is sure, and strong his hand.
3 Hell and its hosts may rage in vain;

Vain are their counsels, and their power;
Grim death may marshal all his train,

And boast the conquest of an hour.
4 Breathless and pale his servants lie,

And know their former place no more
Their children raise his praises high,

And o'er their fathers' dust adore.
5 Their fathers' dust the Lord shall raise,

And burst the barriers of the grave;
Parents and children join his praise,
Who through eternity can save.

CLXXXIII. Christ's Transfiguration. Matthew xvii. 4.'
I W HEN at this distance, Lord, we trace

The various glories of thy face,
What transport pours o'er all our breast,

And charms our cares and woes to rest!
2 With thee in the obscurest cell

On some bleak mountain would I diell,
Rather than pompous courts behold,

And share their grandeur and their gold.
3 Away, ye dreams of mortal joy!

Raptures divine my thoughts employ:
I see the king of glory shine;

And feel his love, and call him mine.
4 On Tabor* thus his servants view'd

His lustre, when transform'd he stood;

* The mountain on which Christ was transfigured.