230 OUR HYMNS :
" 4. In sins and trespasses
When more than dead I lay, Drew near my tomb the Prince of Peace
And rolled the stone away ; With me His spirit strove,
Almighty to retrieve, He saw me in a time of love
And said unto me, live."
And one of his later pieces, " written in illness," begins
"When languor and disease invade
This trembling house of clay, "Tis sweet to look beyond the cage And long to fly away."
And after several verses descriptive of his sources of spiritual joy, he says, in verse 14
" If such the sweetness of the stream
What must the fountain be, Where saints and angels draw their bliss Immediately from thee ?"
" Holy Ghost ! dispel our sadness." No. 439.
This is a short extract from Toplady s piece beginning with these words. It was taken from a piece, translated by J. C. Jacobi, in the " Psalmodia Germanica," 1725
" thou sweetest source of gladness."
Toplady altered it, and inserted it in the " Gospel Magazine " for 1776. The original is believed to be a piece by Paul Gerhard.
" Bowed with a sense of sin, I faint." No. 526.
This is part of a piece of twenty-two verses, entitled " The Prayer of King Manasses, paraphrased," and beginning
" Author of all in earth or sky." " Rock of ages, cleft for me." No. 549.
This hymn, so justly prized by the Christian Church, was in serted in the " Gospel Magazine " for March, 1776, with the title, "A Living and Dying Prayer for the holiest Believer in the World."
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