977. L. M. Anonymous.
Remonstrance with the Jews.
1Why on the bending willows hung,
Israel! still sleeps thy tuneful string?--
Still mute remains thy sullen tongue,
And Zion's song denies to sing?
2Awake! thy sweetest raptures raise;
Let harp and voice unite their strains
Thy promised King his sceptre sways;
Jesus, thine own Messiah, reigns!
3No taunting foes the song require:
No strangers mock thy captive chain:
But friends provoke the silent lyre,
And brethren ask the holy strain.
4Nor fear thy Salem's hills to wrong,
If other lands thy triumph share:
A heavenly city claims thy song;
A brighter Salem rises there.
5By foreign streams no longer roam;
Nor, weeping, think of Jordan's flood:
In every clime behold a home,
In every temple see thy God.
978. 8s. & 7s. M. Cowper.
The Glory of the Redeemed.
1Hear what God the Lord hath spoken,
"O my people, faint and few,
Comfortless, afflicted, broken,
Fair abodes I build for you;
Thorns of heart-felt tribulation
Shall no more perplex your ways;
Ye shall name your walls, Salvation,
And your gates shall all be praise.
2"There, like streams that feed the garden,
Pleasures without end shall flow;
For the Lord, your faith rewarding,
All his bounty shall bestow;
Still, in undisturbed possession,
Peace and righteousness shall reign:
Never shall you feel oppression,
Hear the voice of war again.
3"Ye no more your suns descending,
Waning moons no more shall see;
But, your griefs forever ending,
Find eternal noon in me;
God shall rise, and shining o'er you,
Change to day the gloom of night;
He, the Lord, shall be your glory,
God, your everlasting light."