May thus speak forth the wisdom of the just!

Mr. M'Cheyne was peculiarly subject to attacks of fever, and by one of
these was he laid down on a sick-bed on November 15th. However, this
attack was of short duration. On the 21st he writes: "Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Learned more and more of
the value of _Jehovah Tzidkenu_." He had, three days before, written
his well-known hymn, "_I once was a stranger_," etc., entitled
_Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Watchword of the Reformers_. It was the fruit
of a slight illness which had tried his soul, by setting it more
immediately in view of the judgment-seat of Christ; and the hymn which
he so sweetly sung reveals the sure and solid confidence of his soul.
In reference to that same illness, he seems to have penned the
following lines. November 24th:--

He tenderly binds up the broken in heart,
The soul bowed down He will raise:
For mourning, the ointment of joy will impart:
For heaviness, garments of praise.

Ah, come, then, and sing to the praise of our God,
Who giveth and taketh away;
Who first by his kindness, and then by his rod,
Would teach us, poor sinners, to pray.

For in the assembly of Jesus' first-born,
Who anthems of gratitude raise,
Each heart has by great tribulation been torn,
Each voice turned from wailing to praise.