Another

I

’Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought⁠—
Do I love the Lord, or no?
Am I his, or am I not?

II

If I love, why am I thus?
Why this dull, this lifeless frame?
Hardly sure can they be worse
Who have never heard his name!

III

Could my heart so hard remain,
Pray’r a task and burden prove,
Every trifle give me pain,
If I knew a Saviour’s love?

IV

When I turn my eyes within,
All is dark and vain and wild:
Fill’d with unbelief and sin,
Can I deem myself a child?

V

If I pray or hear or read,
Sin is mix’d with all I do;
You that love the Lord indeed,
Tell me, is it thus with you?

VI

Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
Find my sin a grief and thrall:
Should I grieve for what I feel,
If I did not love at all?

VII

Could I joy his saints to meet,
Choose the ways I once abhorr’d,
Find, at times, the promise sweet,
If I did not love the Lord?

VIII

Lord, decide the doubtful case!
Thou who art thy people’s sun,
Shine upon thy work of grace,
If it be indeed begun.

IX

Let me love thee more and more,
If I love at all, I pray;
If I have not loved before,
Help me to begin to-day.