But by each word which doth proceed
From God’s own mouth”; these we must eat
And let them be our life indeed.
But body, soul, and spirit too;
The inmost part the spirit is
To contact God and Him pursue.
Our body’s need to satisfy,
We need the food for spirit too—
Thyself, Thy Word, its true supply.
Thy very Self expressed doth make;
Thus, it is Spirit as Thyself,
Which by our spirit we must take.
To read it only with our eyes
And understand it in our mind,
But ’tis the spirit’s exercise.
And to our inmost part receive;
’Tis by our spirit’s exercise
To pray with what our minds perceive.
Is only knowledge burdensome,
But when it to the spirit goes
Then life and spirit it becomes.
To take Thy Word and contact Thee,
We truly feed upon Thy Word
And touch Thyself most inwardly.
Our spirit when Thy Word we read;
Then will our spirit nourished be
As thus upon Thyself we feed.