On the Death of Lady Hotham, June 30, 1756, Part 7

"He's come, He's come, in peace and power,
The agony," he cries, " is past!
Call'd at my Hfe's eleventh hour,
But call'd I surely am, at last:
I now in Christ redemption have,
I feel it through the sprinkled blood,
And testify His power to save,
And claim Him for my Lord, my God!

"My God to me His grace hath given.
Hath with the sense of pardon bless'd;
I taste anticipated heaven,
And happy in His favour rest.
No evil now but pride I fear,
For God in Christ is reconciled:
My heart is fix'd, I find Him here.
The witness that I am His child.

"What is redemption unpossess'd?
Poor reasoning soul, to Jesus bow;
Thy pardon seek, like me, distress'd,
And find it, a mere sinner, now!
Ah, who the blessing will embrace,
The tidings of great joy believe?
Or, urged, accept the profifer'd grace
As freely as my Lord would give?

To-day, while it is call'd to-day,
Ye all my happiness may prove:
Discharged when I had nought to pay,
I go to thank my Lord above:
Through the dark vale of death I go,
Whom Jesus to Himself doth bring,
And triumph o'er my vanquish'd foe,
A feeble foe without a sting."

Twas thus the dying Christian spoke,
Conqueror of death, and hell, and sin,
While every accent, every look,
Confess'd the heavenly change within.
How patient now, and meek, and mild,
That spirit which man could never tame;
As loving as a little child,
As gentle as a harmless lamb!

That all might Jesu's witness hear.
Might own his Lord in him reveal'd,
His reason, as his conscience, clear,
Its office to the last fulfiU'd:
"But what are nature's gifts," he cried,
"If Jesus was not pleased to' impart,
To a poor sinner justified.
The comfort of a praying heart?"

Yet, ready to depart in peace.
He must a further test sustain.
The last good fight of great distress,
And suff"er more with Christ to reign.
Roused by his spirit's new-born cry,
Satan and all his hosts assail:
In vain to shake his faith they try;
The Rock 'tis built on cannot fail.

Mercy prolong'd his dying hours,
That, wresthng with the hellish foe.
With principalities and powers,
He might his utmost Saviour know;
Might act his faith in Jesu's blood,
Hold fast his adamantine shield,
And see the' accusing fiend subdued,
With all his fiery darts repell'd.

The tempter ask'd and urged in vain,
"Hath God indeed thy sins forgiven?"
"He hath! He hath! in mortal pain
I cleave to Christ, my life, my heaven!
Jesus, Thou seest my sprinkled heart;
My faith in power almighty stands;
Thou wilt not let the' accuser part,
Or pluck my soul out of Thy hands.

"The purchase of Thy death I am;
On this, my only hope, depend;
Look on Thy hands, and read my name.
And keep me faithful to the end.
I do, I do beheve in Thee,
Thou know'st the grace by Thee bestow'd;
I plunge me in the purple sea,
I bathe me in my Saviour's blood.

n "I will, I will on Jesus trust,
I cannot doubt His changeless love;
The fiend hath made his parting thrust.
But could not from my Rock remove.
My Saviour would not quit His own,
And, lo, in death I hold Him fast;
Having my latest foe o'erthrown,
I stand, — and all is well at last."

One only task is yet behind.
To bless us with his parting breath.
With love unutterably kind.
With love surviving time and death:
Ready to quit the house of clay,
He leans on a beloved breast,
And sinks in friendship's arms away.
And finds his everlasting rest.