ISAIAH 44:22. "RETURN UNTO ME.
A SCRIPTURE PARAPHRASE BY D. B——
"Return to thee, my God? dost thou
The invitation yet renew?
Return to thee! my chiefest joy,
Till sin did all my peace destroy.
"And yet, to hear thy pardoning voice
Must make my trembling heart rejoice;
Though sin is there, thou well dost know
It is my burden and my foe.
"O let me hear those gracious words:
Be still, my soul, they are the Lord's;
That God, who once on thee did shine,
And filled thee with a hope divine.
"'Thy black transgressions, trembling soul —
Thy sins so heinous and so foul,
Which like a cloud obscure thy day,
I've blotted out, I've washed away.
"'Return to me, thou 'rt mine; I own
Thee for my servant, and my son;
I have redeemed thy precious soul,
And none my purchase shall control.'
"I hear, I come, my covenant God:
Thy love's my life, my raiment, food;
Thy favor, through my Jesus given,
Is to my soul the bliss of heaven.
"I come, my Jesus; hold me fast,
Till, life and Jordan's journey past,
My faith to vision yield her place,
And I shall see thy unveiled face.
"Then, with the loudest of the throng,
Of sins forgiven I'll raise the song —
Of pardon bought with Jesus' blood,
Sinners made kings and priests to God."
PSALM 103. FIFTY YEARS AGO.
"Oh thou, my soul, bless God the Lord,
And all that in me is
Be stirréd up, his holy name
To magnify and bless," etc.
"'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.' John 14; 16:14. 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.' John 17:20, etc. 'All are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.' 1 Cor. 3:22. 'Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.' Col. 3:3. 'For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.' Col. 2:9. 'There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.' Eph. 4:4.
"'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,' Gal. 2: 20.
"'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! And looking upon Jesus as he walked, John saith, Behold the Lamb of God!' John 1:29, 36.
"'Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's,' 1 Cor. 3:21.
"'It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence; he putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope; he giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.' Lam. 3:27.
"'That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord.' Ezek. 16:63. Amen.