I called Helen to me, and told her to say the hymn which she had repeated to me the last Sabbath evening.
She cleared her voice, leaned against me, and twisted her fingers in my hair behind, and, with her eyes fixed there, she said this hymn:
"Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme, And speak some boundless thing; The mightier works or mightier name Of our eternal King.
"Tell of his wondrous faithfulness, And sound his power abroad; Sing the sweet promise of his grace, And the performing God.
"Proclaim salvation from the Lord For wretched, dying men; His hand has writ the sacred word With an immortal pen.
"Engraved as in eternal brass The mighty promise shines; Nor can the powers of darkness rase Those everlasting lines.
"He who can dash whole worlds to death, And make them when he please, He speaks, and that Almighty breath Fulfils his promises.
"His very word of grace is strong As that which built the skies: The voice that rolls the stars along Speaks all the promises.
"He said, 'Let the wide heavens be spread;' And heaven was stretched abroad. 'Abra'am, I'll be thy God,' he said; And he was Abra'am's God.
"O, might I hear thy heavenly tongue But whisper, 'Thou art mine!' Those gentle words should raise my song To notes almost divine.
"How would my leaping heart rejoice, And think my heaven secure! I trust the all-creating voice, And faith desires no more."
_Pastor._ What a happy man Abraham must have been when the Almighty made this engagement and promise: "I will be a God to thee!" That was the "Abrahamic covenant," in part.
"Why, sir, what you have just said,--engagement, promise?"
"Nothing more," said I. "But what a happy man, I say, Abraham must have been! 'A God to thee!' To have the Almighty say to one, 'I will be a God to thee!' You know that this is everything."
"That is a fact," said Mr. B., wiping his eyes; "for, when I went to my store, the morning after I became a Christian, I went along the street, saying to myself, 'Now I have a God. God is God to me. Thou art my God.'
"Yes," said his wife; "Deacon B., the post-master, heard you, as you went by his side-window, and he made an excuse to bring me up a paper, that forenoon, and asked whether you had not met with a change in your feelings on the subject of religion."