THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.
Knitting all that world to this, Eden's bloom to glory's bliss: Co- eternal Three in One, Seal the nuptial benison. Three in One, and One in Three, Blessedness is blessing thee; While we pour in chant and hymn Full hearts, flowing o'er the brim ,Water by thy power benign Blushing as celestial wine ,Till within the golden gates, Where the Lamb his bridal waits, We with all the white- robed throngs Sing the heavenly Song of Songs.( 1) The Visitation of the Sick. 457 GOD of my life, to thee I call;
Afflicted at thy feet I fall: When the great water- floods prevail, Leave not my trembling heart to fail. Friend of the friendless and the faint, Where should I lodge my deep complaint?
Sweet to look back, and see my name In life's fair book set down; Sweet to look forward, and behold Eternal joys my own:
Where but with thee, whose open door Invites the helpless and the poor? Did ever mourner plead with thee, And thou refuse that mourner's plea? Does not the word still fix'd remain, That none shall seek thy face in vain? That were a grief I could not bear, Didst thou not hear and answer prayer; But a prayer- hearing, answering God Supports me under every load. Poor though I am, despised, forgot, Yet God, my God, forgets me not; And he is safe, and must succeed, For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead. ( a)
458 LORD, I am thine; but thou
wilt prove
Sweet to reflect how grace divine My sins on Jesus laid; Sweet to remember that his blood My debt of sufferings paid: Sweet in his righteousness to stand, Which saves from second death; Sweet to experience, day by day
His Spirit's quickening breath: Sweet in the confidence of faith
To trust his firm decrees; Sweet to lie passive in his hand, And know no will but his: Sweet to rejoice in lively hope
That, when my change shall come, Angels will hover round my bed,
And waft my spirit home.
My faith, my patience, and my love: I shall behold thy blissful face, And stand complete in righteousness. This life's a dream, an empty show, But the bright world to which I go Hath joys substantial and sincere: When shall I wake, and find me there? O glorious hour! O bless'd abode! I shall be near and like my God; And flesh and sin no more control The sacred pleasures o fthe soul. My flesh shall slumber in the ground Till the last trumpet's joyful sound; Then burst the chains, with sweet surprise,
And in my Saviour's image rise.( t) 459 WHEN languor and disease
This trembling house of clay, ' Tis sweet to look beyond our cage, And long to fly away:
Sweet to look inward and attend The whispers of his love; Sweet to look upward to the place Where Jesus pleads above:,
If such the sweetness of the stream,
What must the fountain be,
460
Where saints and angels draw their bliss Immediately from thee?( c) THOU knowest, Lord, the weariness and sorrow Of the sad heart that comes to thee for rest;
Cares of to- day, and burdens for to
morrow,
Blessings implored, and sins to be confess'd;
We come before thee at thy gracious word,
And lay them at thy feet: thou knowest, Lord.
Thou knowest all the past; how long
and blindly
On the dark mountains the lost wanderer stray'd;
How the good Shepherd follow'd, and how kindly
He bore it home, upon his shoulders laid;
And heal'd the bleeding wounds, and sooth'd the pain,
And brought back life, and hope, and strength again.
Thou knowest all the present; each
temptation,
Each toilsome duty, each foreboding
fear;
All to each one assign'd of tribulation, Or to beloved ones, than self more dear;
All pensive men'ories, as we journey on, in- Longings for vanish'd smiles and voices
gone.
Thou knowest all the future; gleams of gladness
By stormy clouds too quickly over
cast;
Hours of sweet fellowship and parting
sadness,
And the dark river to be cross'd at last.