The Church Coming from the Wilderness. Song 8. 5
J. Kent 8s
1
Behold, from the desert of sin,
The world, and the curse of the law,
A fair one, whose garments are clean,
Does with her Beloved withdraw;
Retiring from thence, she appears
Dejected, and often complains,
Surrounded with sorrows and fears,
Yet on her Beloved she leans.
2
Thus up from the desert she goes,
Sustained both in fire and in flood;
Victorious, to vanquish her foes,
And all through the Lamb and his blood.
By faith she’s enabled to view
Fair Canaan’s delectable plains,
And faint, yet her course shall pursue,
When on her Beloved she leans.
3
[When darkness envelops her mind,
By faith she shall hold on her way;
And, in the sweet promise, shall find
Her strength shall suffice for the day;
No fiery afflictions shall burn
Beyond what his wisdom ordains,
But times of refreshing return,
When on her Beloved she leans.]
4
Her woes are permitted of God,
Her faith and her patience to prove;
The kiss, or a stroke of his rod,
Is all from immutable love.
By crosses and losses, at last
From self her affections he weans,
That on him her hopes may stand fast,
While on her Beloved she leans.
5
When foiled by the tempter, she goes
And makes the atonement her plea,
There pardon eternally flows,
And love wipes her sorrows away;
And when with her pardon she’s blessed,
Communion with Jesus she gains,
No longer a sinner distressed,
For on her Beloved she leans.
