2 In me thy Spirit dwell!
In me thy mercy move!
So shall the fervor of my zeal
Be the pure flame of love.

266

7s. M.

ANCIENT HYMNS.

Rejoicing in Christ.

1 SWEET thy memory, Saviour blest,
In the true believer's breast:
Musing on thy precious name,
Purest joys his heart inflame.

2 By the ear or tuneful tongue
Nought so sweet is heard or sung;
Nought the mind can dwell upon
Sweet as God's beloved Son.

3 Thou the contrite sinner's stay,
Who thy goodness can display?
How to those who seek thee kind!
What, ah, what to those who find?

4 Tongue can speak not their delight,
Nor can pen of man indite;
None can know, but they who prove,
What it is their Lord to love.

BOWRING.

267

L. M.

Progress of Gospel Truth.

1 UPON the gospel's sacred page

The gathered beams of ages shine;

And, as it hastens, every age

But makes its brightness more divine.

2 Truth, strengthened by the strength of thought, Pours inexhaustible supplies,

Whence sagest teachers may be taught,
And Wisdom's self become more wise.

3 More glorious still as centuries roll,
New regions blessed, new powers unfurled,
Expanding with the expanding soul,
Its waters shall o'erflow the world;

4 Flow to restore, but not destroy;
As when the cloudless lamp of day
Pours out its floods of light and joy,
And
sweeps each lingering mist away.

16

2 Swift to my rescue come,

Thy own this moment seize;
Gather my wand'ring spirit home,
And keep in perfect peace:
Suffered no more to rove

O'er all the earth abroad,

Arrest the prisoner of thy love,
And shut me up in God.

269

MONTGOMERY.

C. M.

What is Prayer?

1 PRAYER is the soul's sincere desire,

Uttered or unexpressed,

The motion of a hidden fire,

That trembles in the breast.

2 Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,

The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.

3 Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try,

Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high.

4 Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,

The watchword at the gates of death;
He enters heaven with prayer.

5 Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice,
Returning from his ways;

While angels in their songs rejoice,
And cry, "Behold, he prays!"

6 In prayer, on earth, the saints are one;
They're one in word and mind;

When with the Father and the Son

Sweet fellowship they find.

7 0 thou, by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer thyself hast trod;
Lord, teach us how to pray!

270

C. M.

H. H. MILMAN.

Praying for Divine Help.

1 O HELP US, Lord! each hour of need
Thy heavenly succour give;

Help us in thought, and word, and deed,
Each hour on earth we live.

2 O help us, when our spirits bleed,
With contrite anguish sore,

And when our hearts are cold and dead,
O help us, Lord, the more.

3 O help us, through the prayer of faith
More firmly to believe;

For still the more the servant hath,
The more shall he receive.

4 O help us, Father! from on high;
We know no help but thee;

O! help us so to live and die,

As thine in heaven to be.