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The good choice.

Thou art my portion, O Lord; I have promised to keep Thy law.

Ps. cxix. 57.

Gerhard Tersteegen. 1697-1769.

Frances E. Cox. Tr. 1864

Lo! my choice is now decided,

Now, with heart no more divided,

I devote to God my days;

Sin, to thee no more I listen,

World, howe’er thy gauds may glisten,

I on thee no more will gaze.

Toys my heart away have carried,

Here and there I oft have tarried,

Now my purpose shall not swerve;

All my life to God I tender,

To his Will my own surrender,

Him both day and night to serve.

Lord, to Thee I yield sincerely

All that here I prize most dearly,

See, from Thee I nothing keep;

Search my reins and heart all over,

Shouldest Thou there deceit discover,

Root it out, though hidden deep.

No fatigue or pain declining,

All my heart to Thee resigning,

I will go where Thou dost lead;

If my every word and action

In Thy sight give satisfaction,

Nothing more I then can need.

One thing first and only knowing,

Elsewhere not a thought bestowing,

Now I quit the paths I trod;

Stranger now to worldly pleasure,

Here I lay not up my treasure,

Hid my life with Christ in God.

This the lot I would inherit;

Let my heart, and soul, and spirit

In Thy service, Lord, be bowed;

Thine henceforth, O blessed Saviour,

May I, in my whole behaviour,

Practise what my lips have vowed.

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