Classic Poem

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Who boast their form of godliness,
Most cruel enmity express
 To them that Jesus know;
Idolaters assistance give,
With hospitable love receive,
 And kindest pity show.

Mercy from savages we find,
(When Jesus hath their hearts inclined,)
 In the distressing hour,
While Christians civilised in vain,
As sheep appointed to be slain,
 The saints of God devour.

H IS loving labour he repeats,
 With kind industrious care,
To meanest offices submits
 The common minister;
Ye friends of God, ye humble saints,
 From His example know,
To serve the soul's or body's wants,
 Ye cannot stoop too low.

E SCAPED from the tempestuous sea
 Who dared in God confide,
By dangers new his faith must be
 By fresh temptations tried;
The viper fasten'd on his hand
 And shook into the flame
Shall show that both by sea and land
 His Saviour is the same.

 P ARTIALLY by nature taught,
  Though barbarous and rude,
 Murder's crying crime they thought
  By wrath Divine pursued:
 “God His own decree fulfils,
And always acts as Judge below,
 Blessings to the righteous deals,
  And to the wicked woe.”

 God (as yet they did not see)
  Who doth His children grieve,
 Spares the sons of cruelty,
  And lets a murderer live:
 Oft on earth His blood is shed;
But vengeance, if it here delay,
 Falls the heavier on his head
  In that tremendous day.

To opposite extremes so prone,
 The giddy multitude
Judge in an hour, the saint unknown
 A murderer, and a god!

 K NOW all who help bestow
 On Jesus in His poor,
Good to the saints ye cannot show,
 Without receiving more;
 Expect your kindness here
 An hundred-fold restored,
And when His glory shall appear,
 Your infinite reward.

 But first your present need
 Of a Physician know,
And virtue shall from Him proceed
 Who bore your griefs below;
 His help if sinners claim
 As quite incurable,
The prayer of faith, in Jesu's name,
 Doth soul and body heal.

  PAUL for his companions pays
  At Jesus's expense,
 In the Heathen's eyes displays
  His Lord's omnipotence;
 Makes it on their bodies known,
That then their languid souls may prove
 Health restored through Christ alone,
  And bless His pardoning love.

 Debtor both to Greek and Jew ,
  Did he not Christ proclaim?
 Debtor to Barbarians too,
  He preach'd where'er he came;
 (Conscious of his Master's mind
When to remotest countries driven)
 Preach'd the Saviour of mankind,
  The Peace of earth and heaven.

U NSPEAKABLY bless'd
In a stranger distress'd,
Who Paul entertain,
Unawares they receive an angelical man.
Enrich'd by a wreck,
For his ministry's sake
They esteem and caress
The physician of souls, and the vessel of grace!

Go, sacred ship, from stormy seas
 Secure, thy heavenly treasure bear,
Not left to Pagan deities
 But safe in Providence's care;
Protected by a nobler sign
 Through Jesus' worshipper thou art,
The Saviour's cross and blood Divine,
 His God he carries in his heart!

Who can tell the consolation,
 When the suffering sons of grace,
Heirs and partners of salvation,
 In their Saviour's name embrace?
Peace of Jesus's bestowing,
 Joy that swells to be express'd,
Love from the pure Fountain flowing,
 Streams through every faithful breast.

 T HE prisoner of the Lord,
  But His apostle too,
 He own'd the pardoning word
  Was every sinner's due,
Nor could, wherever sent, delay
His evangelic debt to pay.

 Employ in every place
  With precious souls he found,
 And made their hearts confess
  The word could not be bound,
Which captive leads captivity
And bids a sinful world be free.

C HRISTIANS he exults to meet,
Christians come from Satan's seat,
Where the idols are enthroned
There he sees his Saviour own'd:
Jesus he delights to bless,
Fill'd with joy and thankfulness,
Comfort streaming from above
All the confidence of love.

A CAPTIVE , poor, despised, and bound,
 His entry into Rome he makes,
Yet greater far than victors crown'd
 Whom Jesus for His servant takes!
The plagues and scourges of mankind
 They forced the slaves their yoke to feel,
But Paul is come the world to' unbind,
 And triumph o'er the hosts of hell.

 L ED into captivity
  Thy servants favour find;
 Is it not a look from Thee
  That makes their keepers kind?
 Human hearts are in Thy hands,
Thy hand in all events we own,
 Free, or bound at Thy command,
  And kept by Thee alone.

I NTREATED as a criminal,
 The Saviour's messenger
Doth meekly, in the sight of all,
 His innocency clear:
Whose character is not his own,
 Whom all unjustly blame,
He keeps, for Jesu's sake alone,
 A pure unspotted name.

W E never can recriminate
 Who to the Lamb belong,
Nor dare our fiercest haters hate,
 Or render wrong for wrong;
When charged with crimes they cannot prove,
 The truth to justify
We speak constrain'd; but tenderest love
 Prevents a sharp reply.

B OUND he is, yet truly free,
 Bound for his Redeemer's sake,
Him who suffering on the tree
 Did for all atonement make;
Doth to every sinner bring
 Pardon in His sprinkled blood,
Christ the Prophet, Priest, and King,
  Israel's Hope, and Israel's God.

On this only ground relies
 Every soul that faith receives,
Jesus my Redeemer dies,
 Jesus my Redeemer lives;
Lives, that I and all mankind
 May, to liberty restored,
Fulness of salvation find,
 Live for ever with our Lord.

W HERE are the venerable men,
 The eloquent Tertullus , where?
Could Jews their bitter wrath refrain?
 Or did their consciences declare
That Pagans were more just than them,
And would not without proof condemn?

While God their baffled rage averts,
 They counteract their own design,
Spite of their own malicious hearts,
 In Paul's defence the zealots join,
Absent, they on his side appear,
And silent, his uprightness clear.

R ELIGION undefiled and true
 Was always by the world decried;
The wisdom, which they never knew,
 They still as foolishness deride,
God's children scornfully reject,
And brand them as an impious sect.

But followers of the Nazarene ,
 Our Lord's reproach we gladly share,
Rejected, and despised of men,
 Till bold appearing at His bar,
His confessors with smiles He owns,
Commends, and seats us on our thrones.

W HENE'ER we preach our pardoning Lord,
Some disbelieve the faithful word,
 And some confess its power;
Savour of life or death it proves,
The stony from their hearts removes,
 Or hardens them the more.

The poor and blind receive their sight,
With faith's unspeakable delight
 A precious Christ esteem;

But stubborn Pharisees disdain
Salvation through a Saviour slain,
 And infidels blaspheme.

T HE Holy Ghost, the' eternal Lord,
Jehovah spake the awful word,
 Divinely just and true;
Denounced against your fathers first
The threat, ye reprobates accursed,
 Shall be fulfill'd on you.

The cause is in yourselves unknown,
Their damning sin ye make your own,
 Their incredulity;
The light of truth ye cannot find,
Dead in your sins, and doubly blind,
 Because ye will not see.

Your eyes through obstinate despite,
Ye close against the irksome light,
 Afraid in this your day
To see what would secure your peace,
The Lamb, whose blood and righteousness
 Bore all your sins away.

Your ears ye stop, afraid to hear
Of fiery indignation near,
 Of wrath reveal'd from heaven,
Of means the Judge's wrath to shun,
And all His will to man made known,
 With news of sin forgiven.

Ye dare not turn to God and live,
Lest when He doth the sin forgive
 From which ye would not part,
His Spirit of purity and love
Should all its dire remains remove,
 And dwell within your heart.

But you who thus refuse to see,
Shut up in unbelief shall be,
 And hard be harder still;
Your names erased out of His book,
Your stubborn souls of God forsook,
 And left to your own will.

The gospel then ye hear in vain,
The heavenly way direct and plain
 Ye see, but not perceive;
And if the Spirit is quench'd at last,
And if your gracious day is past,
 Ye never can believe.

In sad judicial blindness left,
Of Jesus totally bereft,
 Your hearts insensible,
Your conscience sear'd no longer cries,
And self-destroy'd ye close your eyes
 To lift them up in hell.

J UST in your own eyes, Who Jesus reject,
And proudly despise His vilified sect,
The Jews of our nation Ye will not believe
Or know the salvation Which sinners receive.

The outcasts of men, The reprobate race,
As Heathens profane Their Saviour embrace;
Your hearts if ye harden, They thankfully hear
The news of a pardon And paradise near.

That kingdom of His Which Jesus imparts,
That rapturous peace Is sent to their hearts,
To Heathens is given Through faith in His blood
Forgiveness from heaven, Salvation from God.

The publicans hear His peace-giving word,
And sinners sincere Acknowledge their Lord,
His blessing inherit, His image retrieve,
And fill'd with His Spirit In paradise live.

B LIND infidels, ye must contend,
And fight, and cavil without end,
Who hate the Truth, the Life, the Way,
Ye must in deadly error stray;
Faith only can your doubts remove
By the pure energy of love,
Make all your vain disputings cease,
And fill your hearts with lasting peace.

 G IFTS to the saints at Rome
  He long had wish'd to' impart;
 And now the time is come
  For uttering all his heart,
For publishing to rich and poor
 The kingdom from above,
The joy that always shall endure,
 The power of Jesu's love.

 Jesus and Him alone
  The Saviour he proclaims,
 The God and man makes known,
  His offices and names.
His doctrine, life, and wonders here,
 His suffering and His rise,
His mission of the Comforter,
 And reign above the skies.

 The door which Christ displays,
  Nor men, nor fiends can close,
 Or stop the course of grace
  That through this vessel flows;
The chosen vessel of his Lord
 Must His whole counsel show,
And bold dispense that royal word
 Which builds His church below.

 Not in a lower sphere
  Of narrower good he moves,
 Ordain'd to minister
  To all whom Jesus loves,
Apostle of the ransom'd race
 He preaches unconfined,
In every age, in every place,
 He writes to all mankind.

 J ESUS , Thy servants bless,
 Who sent by Thee proclaim
The peace, and joy, and righteousness,
 Experienced in Thy name;
 The kingdom of our God
 Which Thy great Spirit imparts,
The power of Thy victorious blood
 Which reigns in faithful hearts.

 Our souls with faith supply,
 With life and liberty;
And lo, we preach and testify
 The things concerning Thee;
 We live for this alone,
 Thy grace to minister,
And all Thou hast for sinners done
 In life and death declare.