Commemorative Hymn, Part 1

Merciful God, what hast Thou done,
What hast Thou borne, for me.
For me. Thy most rebellious son,
From earliest infancy?
The patience of Thy richest grace
Throughout my life I prove,
And measure back the endless maze
With wonder, grief, and love.

S(3on as my power of acting came,
I spake and acted sin,
But felt at once in fear and shame
The Spirit's check within:
I felt the point of anger's thorn.
With daily guilt defiled,
By passion and by conscience torn,
A wretch while yet a child.

Bolder I with my fellows grew,
Nor yet to evil ran,
But envied those who dared break through,
And copy lawless man:
From parents' eye far off removed,
I still was under Thine,
And found, for secret sin reproved,
The government Divine.

Thou wouldst not suffer me to rest,
When deviating from right,
But visitedst my childish breast
With trouble or delight:
Hymns and Poems. 3il
So often grieved, Thy Spirit strove,
And kept my soul in awe,
Or drew me, with the cords of love,
Without the fiery law.

Without the law I lived awhile,
Till the commandment came,
And stirr'd me up, by virtuous toil,
To hide my vicious shame;
To' establish my own righteousness,
"Controller of the skies,"
And make with Thee my labour'd peace,

Thine eye beneath the fig-tree saw
My self-disguising strife.
And sent the thunders of Thy law
To slay my righteous life:
The sin-convincing Spirit blew
My leafy veil aside,
My vain self-confidence o'erthrcw.
And blasted all my pride.

O what a cruel war ensued,
What grief, and shame, and pain!
I only fought to be subdued.
And rose — to fall again:
A thousand vows I fondly made,
A thousand vows I broke,
O'erpower'd by sin, and captive led.
Yet not of Thee forsook.

S Thy mercy bade my strugglings cease,
And, bursting then the snare,
Sent forth out of the dark abyss
The prisoner of despair:
I thank'd my God, with pardon bless'd,
Through Jesu's blood apphed,
So instantaneously released,
So freely justified!