Classic Poem

CHAPTER XXII.

 S ALVATION'S of the Jews:
 And these must first proclaim
To twice dead souls the joyful news
 Of life through Jesus' name:
 A Jew must testify
 The legal types fulfill'd,
The ceremonial veil cast by
 The truth in Jesus seal'd.

 Lord we with thanks adore
 Thy providence Divine,
Which fits Thy vessels long before
 To answer Thy design;
 Zealots to zealots still
 Thou sendest to remove
Our stubborn prejudice of will,
 And teach Thy pardoning love.

 L EARNING unsanctified
 Takes the Deceiver's part,
Puffs up with self-sufficient pride
 And blinds the faithless heart;
 It makes our fetters strong,
 Supplies with arms to' assail,
And dearly prove that right is wrong,
 And truth a dotard's tale.
 But when the letter'd man
 Is by his Lord subdued,
Gamaliel's humbled pupil can
 Advance the cause of God;
 A fitter instrument
 With gifts and graces join'd
To spread the peace in Jesus sent,
 To all our ransom'd kind.

H E who furious inquisition
 After the disciples made,
Happier was in his condition
 Bound, yet not of death afraid;
Saul a tool of persecution,
 Now the persecuted Paul ,
Fills the zealots with confusion,
 Owns and preaches Christ to all.

Happy the man redeem'd at last
 From blind misjudging zeal,
Who dares for all his actions past
 To zealous foes appeal:
Able they are to testify
 Of him they hate and fear,
They cannot in their hearts deny
 The madman was sincere.

A MAN of God, like holy Paul ,
 Doth still his pardon'd sins confess,
In season due proclaims to all
 The wondrous works of heavenly grace;
Not studious of his own applause,
But zealous for his Master's cause.

What Jesus for his soul hath done
 In wisdom meek he testifies,
Makes his dear Lord to sinners known
 That they like Him may wake and rise,
And in the heart-felt gospel prove
The power Divine of saving love.

  T HE full meridian blaze
  Of evangelic grace
Doth at first the soul confound,
 Dazzling with a flood of light,
Strikes the sinner to the ground,
 Blinds and then restores his sight.

  Jesus for him employs
  His light, His hand, His voice,
First his unbelief reproves,
 Casts him down again to raise,
Speaks upbraiding whom He loves,
 Then declares His righteousness.

  O that like Saul I might
  Behold the heavenly light,
Sink beneath Thy mighty hand,
 Call'd my righteous Lord to see,
Lifted up by Thy command,
 Wash'd from all my sins in Thee!

B ORN of the flesh, I mock'd the men
Renew'd in love and born again,
 My carnal enmity
Against Thy members, Lord, was show'd,
And hating all the sons of God
 I persecuted Thee.

While obstinate I disbelieved,
Thy Spirit, Lord, I daily grieved,
 Denied Thy saving name,
By each transgression of Thy laws,
Again I nail'd Thee to the cross
 And put to open shame.

T HE heavenly light to all appear'd,
The sound, but not the voice they heard
 With unavailing fright,
Sounds indistinct cannot convert,
And stubborn unbelief of heart
 Resists an outward light.

To save an infidel from sin,
Eternal Light, appear within
 My heart's obscurity;
Display Thy Father in Thy face,
And by the Spirit of Thy grace
 Apply Thy word to me.

D ARKEN'D by the excess of light,
My Guide unseen shall lead aright
 A soul that nothing sees;
Thy Spirit shall reach out His hand,
And bring me forth into the land
 Of rest and righteousness.

G OD , my father's gracious God,
 If Thou hast made choice of me,
Meant to spread Thy name abroad
 Through my prosperous ministry;
Thy whole mind in me reveal,
 Life, eternal life impart,
Give the gift unspeakable,
 Christ discover to my heart.

O Thou just and holy One
 Sighs my broken heart for Thee,
Thee the everlasting Son
 Grant me eyes of faith to see;
In Thy bleeding form confess'd
 All my unbelief remove,
Speak into this troubled breast
 Faith and peace and purest love.

 W HY should I longer stay
 And not my Lord receive?
To-day while it is call'd to-day
 He would the pardon give;
 Convinced I all things need,
Wretched and blind and poor,
I nothing have to pay or plead,
 And mercy asks no more.

 C ALL'D from above, I rise
 And wash away my sin,
The stream, to which my spirit flies,
 Can make the foulest clean:
 It runs divinely clear,
 A fountain deep and wide;
'T was open'd by the soldier's spear
 In my Redeemer's side!

A PREACHER full of faith and zeal,
 Warn'd from above their snares to shun,
Will leave the souls he loves so well
 And swiftly from the danger run;
Not struck with unbelieving fear,
 But trusted with the gospel word,
He others seeks who gladly hear
 And joyfully embrace their Lord.

W E think by truth Divine impress'd
 When its full evidence we feel,
It must be soon by all confess'd
 The gospel incontestable,
But nothing can the souls convert
 Who Jesus Christ will not receive,
Subdue a stubborn bigot's heart,
 Or force a Deist to believe.

A CONVERT purged of all his stains
Of his old cancell'd sins retains
 The mournful memory;
My God, he cries, hath mercy shown,
And saved, for Jesus' sake alone,
 The chief of sinners, me.

Superior grace he cannot boast;
But self-abhorr'd, as in the dust,
 Doth still his sins confess;
Less than the least in his own eyes,
Weeping at Jesus' feet he lies,
 And humbled all his days.

 C ALM he hears their furious cry
  Who clamour for his blood,
 Knows his life above the sky
  Is hid with Christ in God,
 Knows he must fulfil his race,
And suffer out his time below;
 Fittest for that heavenly place
  He then to God shall go.

 Ye that now the news proclaim
  Of a redeeming Lord,
 Witnessing with Paul the same,
  Expect the same reward;
 Judged unfit while here ye rove
To tread the earth or breathe the air,
 Lift your hearts to things above
  And seek your mansions there.

 I MPOTENT their rage and vain
  The sons of violence show,
 Bound, beyond their secret chain
  The murderers cannot go:
 Let them storm and tear the ground,
And rave, and mingle earth and skies,
  Paul in Christ as safe is found
  As Paul in paradise.

 S HALL we in time of need
 To human justice fly?
We lean upon a broken reed
 Whoe'er on men rely:
 They then deceive our hope
 When we their help require,
And those that should the torrent stop
 Assist to raise it higher.

 Blameworthy they suppose
 Whom all conspire to blame,
And used as guilty by our foes
 As guilty they condemn;
 Rulers in proof receive
 The crowd's tumultuous cry,
For whom they count unfit to live,
 We must deserve to die

A STRONGER reason to take heed
 May to his hasty foes be show'd,
This man a Christian is indeed,
 A servant of the living God!

L OOSED from his bands, awhile restored
 To partial liberty,
He stands, the servant of the Lord,
 Whose soul is always free:
To face his foes he cannot fear,
 Who knows the day is nigh
When he and they shall both appear
 Before the Lord Most-High.