Devotional Verses Founded on and Illustrative of select Texts of Scripture [by Bernard Barton] |
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ASPIRATIONS AFTER FAITH. |
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ASPIRATIONS AFTER FAITH.
“Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
—Mark, ix. 24.
What prayer can conscious weakness frame,
God more delights to bless,
Than that which, making faith its aim,
Yet mourns its faithlessness?
God more delights to bless,
Than that which, making faith its aim,
Yet mourns its faithlessness?
Are there not, Lord, who would believe
The power thy word imparts,
Who often would that power receive,
With joyful, grateful hearts;
The power thy word imparts,
Who often would that power receive,
With joyful, grateful hearts;
But unbelief comes in to blight
Thy harvest in the soul,
And o'er thy holy, heavenly light
The clouds of doubt to roll?
Thy harvest in the soul,
And o'er thy holy, heavenly light
The clouds of doubt to roll?
Nor is it strange it should be thus;
Inscrutable thy ways,
Which he whose reason would discuss,
But finds an endless maze.
Inscrutable thy ways,
Which he whose reason would discuss,
But finds an endless maze.
168
To such what prayer can thought accord
More simple, humble, brief?
Than crying—“I believe, O Lord!
Help thou mine unbelief.”
More simple, humble, brief?
Than crying—“I believe, O Lord!
Help thou mine unbelief.”
This is that lowly frame of mind,
To which thy gracious will
The blessed promise once assign'd,
Thy power would yet fulfil:
To which thy gracious will
The blessed promise once assign'd,
Thy power would yet fulfil:
That all is possible to him
Who full belief can own;
Whose eye, through faith, no longer dim,
Is fix'd on Thee alone.
Who full belief can own;
Whose eye, through faith, no longer dim,
Is fix'd on Thee alone.
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