[image][img]http://www.cyberhymnal.org/img/m/a/matheson_g.jpg
![[image]](http://www.cyberhymnal.org/img/m/a/matheson_g.jpg){kind=link}
Leonard Ravenhill used to quote this hymn from the pulpit. "Imprison me within Thine arms, and strong shall be my hand." Oh may that be our portion today!
[b]MAKE ME A CAPTIVE, LORD[i]Words: George Matheson, 1890.
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 has 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.