'TIS A POINT I LONG TO KNOW.
By Daniel Herbert
A LADY going through a lodging-house in Malvern, was surprised to observe the following lines hung up in every room in the house. On inquiring the reason, she was told that Lord K—, had come to that house in a very precarious state of health, and even thought himself dying. One day he found in a book the verses—read and reread them; they suited exactly his own state of mind, and made so deep an impression on him, that, with God's blessing, his faith was confirmed. On leaving the lodging-house, Lord K—, asked the landlady to hang up the verses, trusting that they might be made of equal use to other poor sinners: What is the point you long to know?
Methinks I hear you say—'tis this,
I want to know I'm born of God,
An heir of everlasting bliss;
Is this the point you long to know?
The point is settled in my view;
For if you want to love your God,
It proves that God has loved you.
I want to know Christ died for me;
I want to feel the seals within;
I want to know Christ's precious blood
Was shed to wash away my sin.
I want to feel more love to God;
I want more liberty in prayer;
But when I look within my heart,
It almost drives me to despair.
I want a mind more firmly fixed
On it, my everlasting Head;
I want to feel my soul alive,
And not so barren and so dead.
I want more faith—a stronger faith;
I want to feel its power within;
I want to feel more love to God;
I want to feel less love to sin.
I want to live above the world,
And count it all but trash and toys;
I want sweet tokens of God's grace,
Some foretaste of eternal joys.
I want—I know not what I want;
I want that real special good;
Yet all my wants are summ'd up here—
I want—I feel I want my God!
Is this the point you long to know?
The dead can neither feel nor see;
It is the slave that's bound in chains,
Who knows the worth of liberty.
So where a want like yours is found,
I think I may be bold to say,
The Lord has fixed within that heart
What hell can never take away.
However small thy grace appears,
There's plenty in thy gracious Head;
These wants you feel, my Christian friends,
Are never found among the dead.