Christ My Song - 844
My tempted soul, arise and fight! - Toward the mark
(Horatius Bonar/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
Toward the mark.
1. My tempted soul, arise and fight!
Round thee are perils of the night.
Sleep not, but rouse thee for the war
nor shrink from pain, and wound, and scar. (PDF - Midi)
2. Do snares lie all thy path along?
And are these spells for thee too strong?
Up then, and grasp the hand divine,
take that almighty hand in thine.
3. Does conscious weakness cast thee down?
What! dost thou think thyself alone?
Know'st thou not One who by thy side
doth ever stand, whate'er betide?
4. Know'st thou not him who saith to thee,
Be strong, weak soul, be strong in me, –
who gives thee his almighty power,
to strengthen thee in peril's hour?
5. His is an arm that cannot fail,
whatever foe may thee assail:
his is a love that changes not;
trust him, thou shalt not be forgot.
6. O weary feet! the day of rest
is coming, when, no more oppressed
with storm or toil or smiting sun,
we shall take rest, all labour done.
7. O heavy eyes! look up, look up;
see far above thee the bright hope!
Look through the mist, and see beyond
the fairest day that ever dawned.
8. Be still, be still, my throbbing heart,
the strong One will his strength impart;
firm clasp his hand who claspeth thine,
no power shall e'er that clasp untwine.
9. In calmest day or roughest night,
still lean upon his loving might;
he knows alike thy joy and woe,
and will he let his loved one go?
Horatius Bonar, The Song of the New Creation, 1872, 133-135.