My Saviour, my Beloved One,
Is mine and I am His;
Chief of ten thousand He alone,
Pure red and white He is.
Made sin for us that knew no sin,
That so we might be made
The righteousness of God in Him,
By whom the price was paid.
Stronger than death His love is found.
Not to be bought with goods:
Nor quenched with waters, nor be drowned
With whatsoever floods.
O draw me, my dear Saviour,
With these strong cords of love,
And then will we go after Thee
As fast as we can move.[86]
Although the seventeenth century is poor in hymn-writers, we find some
grand and beautiful hymns written by poets and men of letters. There
is, for instance, Sir Thomas Browne’s evening hymn, of which he says,
‘This is the dormitive I take to bedward: I need no other _laudanum_
than this to make me sleep; after which I close mine eyes in security,
content to take my leave of the sun, and sleep unto the
resurrection.’[87]
The night is come, like to the day;
Depart not Thou, great God away.
Let not my sins, black as the night,
Eclipse the lustre of Thy light.
Keep still in my horizon; for to me
The sun makes not the day, but Thee.
Thou whose nature cannot sleep,
On my temples sentry keep;
Guard me ’gainst those watchful foes,
Whose eyes are open while mine close.
Let no dreams my head infest,
But such as Jacob’s temples blest.
While I do rest, my soul advance:
Make my sleep a holy trance;
That I may, my rest being wrought,
Awake into some holy thought,
And with as active vigour run
My course as doth the nimble sun.
Sleep is a death—O make me try
By sleeping, what it is to die!
And as gently lay my head
On my grave, as now my bed.
Howe’er I rest, great God, let me
Awake again at last with Thee.
And thus assured, behold I lie
Securely, or to wake or die.
These are my drowsy days; in vain
I do not wake to sleep again:
O come that hour, when I shall never
Sleep again, but wake for ever!
Another great name is that of John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s, and
friend of James I, who wrote one of the truest and most affecting
hymns of that or any other century. If its form prevents its being
sung in modern congregations, it is at least one of those spiritual
songs which we should preserve for the hour of private devotion.