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

268

Inward Religion.

S. M.

METHODIST COL.

Prayer.

1 THE praying spirit breathe,
The watching power impart;
From all entanglements beneath
Call off my peaceful heart:
My feeble mind sustain,

By worldly thoughts opprest;
Appear, and bid me turn again
To my eternal rest.

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

C. M.

What is Prayer?

MONTGOMERY.

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.

270

70 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!

C. M.

H. H. MILMAN.

Praying for Divine Welp.

10 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.

271

C. M.

MONTGOMERY.

Preparation of the Heart.

1 LORD, teach us how to pray aright,
With reverence and with fear:

Though dust and ashes in thy sight,
We may, we must draw near.

2 Burdened with guilt, convinced of sin,
In weakness, want, and wo,
Fightings without, and fears within,
Lord, whither shall we go?

3 God of all grace, we come to thee,
With broken, contrite hearts;
Give what thine eye delights to see,
Truth in the inward parts.

4 Give deep humility; the sense
Of godly sorrow give;
A strong desiring confidence,

To hear thy voice and live;

5 Patience, to watch, and wait, and weep,
Though mercy long delay;
Courage, our fainting souls to keep,
And trust thee, though thou slay.

6 Give these, and then thy will be done;

Thus strengthened with all might,

We, by thy Spirit and thy Son,
Shall pray, and pray aright.