7
L. M.
Hold fast the form of sound words.
2 Tim. 1:13.
God’s law demands one living faith,
Not a gaunt crowd of lifeless creeds;
Its warrant is a firm “God saith;”
Its claim, not words, but living deeds.
2 Yet, Lord, forgive; thy simple law
Grows tarnished in our earthly grasp;
Pure in itself, without a flaw,
It dims in our too-worldly clasp.
3 We handle it with unwashed hands;
We stain it with unhallowed breath;
We gloss it with device of man’s,
And hide thine image underneath.
4 Forgive the sacrilege, and take
From off our souls th’ unworthy stain;
And show us, for thy Son’s dear sake
Thy pure and perfect law again.
Briggs.