Our family stumbled across this hymn recently while singing out of a hymnbook and I wanted to share it with y’all.
Make me a captive, Lord,
and then I shall be free;
force me to render up my sword,
and I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life’s alarms
when by myself I stand;
imprison me within thine arms,
and strong shall be my hand.
My heart is weak and poor
until it master find;
it has no spring of action sure,
it varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move
till thou hast wrought its chain;
enslave it with thy matchless love,
and deathless it shall reign.
My power is faint and low
till I have learned to serve;
it lacks the needed fire to glow,
it lacks the breeze to nerve;
it cannot drive the world
until itself be driven;
its flag can only be unfurled
when thou shalt breathe from heaven.
My will is not my own till thou hast made it thine; if it would reach a monarch’s throne, it must its crown resign; it only stands unbent amid the clashing strife, when on thy bosom it has leant, and found in thee its life.
-- George Matheson
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