TITUS.
3252.
[Fill'd with the blessedness of hope]
Looking for that blessed hope.
—ii. 13.
Fill'd with the blessedness of hope,
And love which casts out fear,
Divinely taught our souls look up,
To see their Lord appear:
Jesus, the one great God supreme,
Our Saviour shall come down,
And find us gazing after Him,
And with His glory crown.
3253.
['Tis this must banish my complaints]
Who gave Himself for us, that He might, &c.
—ii. 14.
'Tis this must banish my complaints,
Must make an end of sin in me,
I grant it the faint-hearted saints,
That only death can set me free:
But whose shall purge my inbred stain?
The death of God, and not of man.
Believing the pure fountain flow'd,
To make my life and nature clean,
I seek redemption in Thy blood
From outward and from inward sin,
Whoe'er expect it from their own,
Jesus, I trust Thy death alone.
3254.
[When that philanthropy Divine]
The kindness and philanthropy [Gr.] of God, &c.
—iii. 4–7.
When that philanthropy Divine
Into a sinner's heart doth shine,
It shows the wondrous plan,
The wisdom in a mystery
Employ'd by the great One and Three,
To save His favourite, man.
Not for our works or righteousness,
Did God our souls from sin release,
Its guilt and power remove:
He saved us by His grace alone,
The cause, the only cause we own,
His free spontaneous love.
Love, causeless love, our God inclined
To send the Saviour of mankind,
In mortal flesh reveal'd,
Our pardon with His blood to buy,
And then our conscience certify
Of our salvation seal'd.
Absolved from all which we have done,
Accepted in His dearest Son,
For Jesu's sake forgiven;
Not for our own deserts, but His,
We gain'd the reconciling kiss,
The pledge, and taste of heaven.
Our Father, moved by Jesu's prayer,
Hath sent the' indwelling Comforter,
The Spirit of holiness,
To cleanse in the baptismal flood,
Renew our spirits after God,
And perfect us in grace.
Thy Spirit which wholly sanctifies,
Shall ascertain the heavenly prize,
Before we hence remove,
Seal us the heirs of glorious bliss,
And plunge in the Divine abyss
Of pure eternal Love.
