James Montgomery

The Waters of Life. -- Numbers xxi.

Spring up, O well! sweet fountain, spring!

And fructify the desert sand;

Sing ye that drink; the waters sing,

They dance along the smiling land;

With flowers adorn, with verdure bless,

The waste and howling wilderness.

Ho, every one that thirsts draw nigh,

With sickness fainting, worn with toil;

Let him that hath no money buy,

Buy milk and honey, wine and oil,

The fourfold streams of Paradise,

Priceless, because above all price.

Come to the pools, ye lame and blind;

Ye lepers, to this Jordan come;

Sight, strength, and healing each may find;

Approach the waves, ye deaf and dumb;

Their joyful sound ye soon shall hear,

And your own voice delight your ear.

In every form the waters run,

Rill, river, torrent, lake, and sea;

Through every clime beneath the sun,

Free as the air, as daylight free,

Till earth's whole face the floods o'erweep,

As ocean's tides the channel'd deep.

As moved with mighty wings outspread,

God's Spirit o'er the formless void,

So be that Spirit's influence shed

To new-create a world destroy'd;

Till all that died through Adam's fall

Revive in Christ, who died for all.