Not in Word, but in Power

I

How soon the Saviour’s gracious call
Disarm’d the rage of bloody Saul.
Jesus, the knowledge of thy name
Changes the lion to a lamb.

II

Zaccheus, when he knew the Lord,
What he had gain’d by wrong restored;
And of the wealth he prized before,
He gave the half to feed the poor.

III

The woman who so vile had been,
When brought to weep o’er pardon’d sin,
Was from her evil ways estranged,
And show’d that grace her heart had changed.

IV

And can we think the power of grace
Is lost by change of time and place?
Then it was mighty, all allow,
And is it but a notion now?

V

Can they whom pride and passion sway,
Who mammon and the world obey,
In envy or contention live,
Presume that they indeed believe?

VI

True faith unites to Christ the root,
By him producing holy fruit;
And they who no such fruit can show,
Still on the stock of nature grow.

VII

Lord, let thy word effectual prove
To work in us obedient love!
And may each one who hears it, dread
A name to live, and yet be dead.