Classic Poem

CHAPTER VII.

 I N every time and place
 Who serve the Lord Most-High,
Are call'd His sovereign will to' embrace,
 And still their own deny;
 To follow His command,
 On earth as pilgrims rove,
And seek an undiscover'd land,
 And house and friends above.

 Father, the narrow path
 To that far country show;
And in the steps of Abraham's faith
 Enable me to go;
 A cheerful sojourner
 Where'er Thou bidd'st me roam,
Till, guided by Thy Spirit here,
 I reach my heavenly home.

 W HO Jesu's word esteem
 And own Him for our Head,
The world to us and we to them
 Are crucified, and dead:
 Renouncing our first birth
 With the desires of men,
We pass from all the things of earth:
 And then our Canaan gain.

This earth on which awhile we stay,
 We cannot call our own,
So suddenly we pass away
 Into that land unknown:
That land unknown, our promised place,
 Not yet to us is given;
But heirs through hope, we shall possess
 The' inheritance of heaven.

I F God to man a promise make
 Our hearts may well be still,
His truth and justice are at stake
 And musThis word fulfil;
With humble faith's simplicity
 The means to God we leave,
Deceived Himself He cannot be,
 He cannot us deceive.

 I N sin I long have dwelt
  The wretched slave of man,
 My guilty burden felt,
  With Satan's galling chain;
By cruel taskmasters oppress'd,
Far from the land of gospel rest.

 Estranged alas from God,
  The God of pardoning grace,
 I tremble at the rod,
  Yet serve the' Egyptian race;
Repeat my melancholy moan,
And in the iron furnace groan.

 J ESUS at last arise
  To' avenge me of my foe,
 Thy justice exercise,
  Thy righteous anger show;
These sins that hold my soul in thrall,
These tyrant sins, destroy them all.

 With patience I attend
  For that redeeming word,
 Which makes my troubles end,
  Which bids me serve my Lord,
And brings me forth with joy and peace
Into the land of righteousness.

I N Abraham our God we find
Father of Christ and all mankind,
Whose love deliver'd up His Son
The Victim dear in Isaac shown;
Jacob presents in figure true
The Third proceeding from the Two,
Jacob whose wrestling spirit of grace
Gives birth to all the chosen race.

J ESUS the Father's darling Son
 In Joseph we behold,
The Man with God for ever one
 By envious brethren sold;
To Gentile hands deliver'd o'er
 Whom God did soon release,
Whom every knee shall bow before,
 And every tongue confess.

Redeem'd from all His sufferings here
 All power to Him is given,
Advanced in His own right to' appear
 Before the King of heaven;
The Spirit He hath received above
 Of wisdom and of grace,
The fulness of His Father's love
 For Jacob's favour'd race.

The church His house and kingdom stands,
 And subjected to Him,
Acknowledges the mild commands
 Of its great Head supreme;
Not of a servant but a Son
 Jesus the power maintains,
With full authority alone
 O'er earth and heaven He reigns.

W HERE the true Joseph is not seen
 To show His providential care,
Pining distress and famine lean
 And want of every good is there;
For Jesus is the real Bread
Who gives Himself our souls to feed.

Saviour, Thou know'st the things of earth
 For hungry souls cannot suffice:
Remove this universal dearth,
 Thyself descending from the skies;
Thyself revive our famish'd race,
And fill the world with pardoning grace.

T HE grain of wheat, the quicken'd grain,
 Which life and strength to man imparts,
Which doth immortal souls sustain
 And cheers and glads our drooping hearts,
We find in Jesus Christ alone,
To all that seek by faith made known.

We hear the word which faith conveys,
 That corn is still in Egypt found,
That mercy rich and gospel grace
 Doth for the worst of men abound,
And sinners taste their Lord reveal'd,
And Heathens with His love are fill'd.

I N Abraham's sepulchre they rest,
 Who once did in his footsteps go,
Pilgrims, like him, themselves confess'd,
 Strangers and sojourners below
By faith embraced the promise given,
And sought their settlement in heaven.

Who faith's sincere obedience show'd
 Their Isaacs here by offering up
Are gather'd to the friends of God;
 Their bodies too repose in hope,
Their souls in Abraham's bosom lie
Safe with their Father in the sky.

W HO is so great a God as ours!
 He can His church sustain,
Without the help of earthly powers
 The countenance of man:
Let worldly potentates disown,
 We rest beneath His wings,
And know we are to Jesus known,
 The sovereign King of kings.

D ECEII and force are still employ'd
Against the church and truth of God
 And its defenders here:
The Lord permits it so to be,
That in our last extremity
 He may Himself appear.

T HE type in Moses we confess
Born in a time of great distress,
 And born divinely fair:
But who of all the sons of men,
When once the Antitype is seen
 With Jesus can compare?

Born to fulfil the promises,
His captive people to release,
 In a strange land He lives;
And persecuted from His birth,
The lot of all His saints on earth
 With meekest love receives.

S HALL I in desperate straits despair,
Or doubThis providential care?
Forsook, I still retain my hope
The Lord Himself will take me up,
Adopt, and nourish for His son,
And raise the outcast to a throne.

 L EARNING secular, profane,
  To use if God intends,
 Pestilent no more, or vain,
  It serves the noblest ends;
 Wrests the weapons from their hands
Who learnedly the truth oppose,
 Puts to flight the' Egyptian bands,
  And quells the church's foes.

 Lord, the figure we look through,
  The truth substantial see,
 All the stores of wisdom true
  Are treasured up in Thee:
 Powerful all Thy doctrines are,
Thy Spirit speaks in every word,
 All Thy works the hand declare
  Of an Almighty Lord.

 How should Israel's sons commend
  His kind humility,
 Who so greatly did descend
  His brethren poor to see?
 O with what stupendous love
Did ChrisThis heavenly bliss forsake,
 Leave His Father's throne above,
  Our nature to partake!

 Only love Thy heart inclined,
  In majesty supreme,
 Brought Thee, Saviour of mankind,
  Thine Israel to redeem;
 Gall'd by sin and Satan's chain
For us once more the heavens bow,
 Jesus, visit us again,
  And save Thy people now.

 L ORD appear, the wrongs redress
  Unto Thy people done,
 Let the world no more oppress
  Whom Thou hast call'd Thine own;
 Set Thine injured brethren free
From Satan's dire despotic sway,
 Now destroy his tyranny,
  And sin for ever slay.

 J ESUS coming to Thine own
  Thine own receive Thee not,
 All the wonders Thou hast done
  Are slighted and forgot:
 O that I may understand
Thy gracious mind, and plainly see
 That Divine Almighty Hand
  Stretch'd out to rescue me!

 W AS it not Thy kind design
  To make our discord cease,
 God with man to' unite, and join
  Thy church in lasting peace?
 Answering Thy benign intent
Come in Thy Spirit from above;
 All Thy people, Lord, cement
  In pure fraternal love.

How gross our nature's blindness is
 Who spurn what Christ would fain bestow!
Diseased, we cherish the disease,
 Nor will our kind Physician know;
The subject will not own his Prince,
 The criminal his Judge implore,
The slave Who frees him from his sins,
 Or I a pardoning God adore.

But ah suffice the season pass'd,
 I now to my dread Lord submit;
My Judge I recognise at last,
 And groan for mercy at Thy feet:
Placed by Thy Father's arm Thou art,
 A Prince, a Saviour, on the throne,
To certify my trembling heart
 My Judge and Advocate are One.

How different Christ from Moses here!
 He came not to destroy but save,
Not death but life to minister
 And ransom sinners from the grave;
He came, our sins, not us to kill,
 Our souls and God again to join,
With life and larger life to fill,
 With life, and sanctity Divine.

But slighted and repulsed by men
 The people whom He loved so well,
He bids His servants count the gain
 Of all their ministerial zeal:
Lord, we expect the same return
 If sharers of Thy charity,
Objects of universal scorn,
 And hated by the world, like Thee.

I N the lonely desert place
 God doth oft to man appear,
Shows the counsels of His grace
 To His chosen minister:
Christ, that Angel of the Lord,
 Still instructs us from the sky,
Then we preach the gospel-word,
 Joyful news of Jesus nigh.

I THE miracle admire,
 Daily I behold the same
Unconsumed amidst the fire,
 Tempted, yet preserved, I am!
In the flaming furnace whole
 I the sevenfold test endure,
Till the Lord bring forth my soul,
 Pure, in Him entirely pure.

MOSES when Abraham's God is near,
 Will not presume his eyes to raise,
With reverence struck at Isaac's Fear
 On Jacob's Lord he dares not gaze:
But all who know the sprinkled blood
 With humble confidence draw nigh,
With awe approach a pardoning God,
 Yet still they Abba Father cry.

W OULD we attend the voice Divine,
 Jehovah's gracious counsels know,
We must the things of earth resign,
 Put off the thoughts of all below
With deep humility draw near,
 Call'd by His Spirit from above
The great redeeming God to hear,
 Who turns our terror into love.

A LMIGHTY Redeemer of men,
 All pity and love as Thou art,
Thou hear'st the expressions of pain,
 The groans of a sorrowful heart:
The sorrow Thou seest in my breast,
 The daily affliction I feel
By guilt above measure oppress'd,
 And bruised by the tyrant of hell.

Enslaved to the world I have been,
 And struggle in vain to get free;
Detain'd in the furnace of sin,
 No end of oppression I see:
My burden of trouble and grief
 Thou know'st, I no longer can bear;
Come down to a sinner's relief,
 And ransom a soul from despair.

Thy Spirit of faith from above
 He only has power to release,
The yoke and the scourge to remove,
 And bring me the freedom and peace;
Come Lord, to a prisoner of hope,
 Appear as a crucified God,
And out of my sins I go up,
 And pardon I have in Thy blood

 W HAT tongue can express
 The great actions of grace,
 The miracles done
By the Lover of souls, in behalf of His own;
 His exploits to set free
 Such a sinner as me,
 To redeem a poor slave,
From the bondage of sin and of Satan to save!

 By His wonderful name
 Out of Egypt I came,
 Through the sea of His blood
He hath brought me a justified sinner to God:
 In the wilderness led,
 By miracles fed,
 And upheld by His hand,
I at last shall arrive at the heavenly land.

T O each sinful inclination
 Lord, no longer we give ear,
Thee, the God of our salvation,
 Only Thee, we now would hear;
Prophet, to Thy brethren given
 We to Thy commands submit:
Speak; and make it all our heaven
 Still to listen at Thy feet.

MOSES with the church abode
 Travelling o'er the wilderness,
Heard the awful Angel-God
 Uttering laws for all our race;
Christ the Father's Messenger,
 God Himself with us abides,
Leads us by His Spirit here,
 To the heavenly Canaan guides.

B UT the Antitype much more
 Did the living words receive,
Words of energy and power,
 Words which cause the dead to live:
Jesus, God's supreme Delight,
 Thou hast heard His words above;
On the fleshly tables write,
 Teach our hearts the law of love.

H ORRIBLE apostasy!
Sinful souls how can it be?
Sinful souls so dearly bought,
From the house of bondage brought;
Wash'd in your Redeemer's blood,
Tasting once that God is good,
Can ye your good God forsake,
Can ye to the world draw back?

Yes; I own the crime abhorr'd,
Weary of my gracious Lord,
Him I have repulsed and scorn'd,
Back again to Egypt turn'd;
That I may revolt no more
Jesus come with all Thy power,
All Thy purity impart,
Fix by reigning in my heart.

W HO to some brutish lust submit
 And seek therein your happiness,
The ancient sin ye still repeat,
 The creature for your God confess;
Prostrate before the idol fall,
 Vile worshippers of sordid vice,
Your goods, your health, your time, your all,
 Your souls to self ye sacrifice.

 I HAVE other gods adored
  With vile idolatry,
 Oft provoked my injured Lord
  To turn His eyes from me;
 Yet Thou dost my soul reprieve,
Unpunish'd after my desert,
 Dost not give me up, or leave
  To my own evil heart.
 Hadst Thou left me, Lord, alone,
  And quite withdrawn Thy grace,
 Every act I should have done
  Of desperate wickedness:
 But Thou hast my manners borne
That, saved from all idolatry,
 All my soul to God may turn,
  And worship none but Thee.

  DAVID the man of war
 The alien hosts o'erthrows,
Type of that mighty Conqueror
 Who trod down all His foes,
 Who in His mortal days,
 By having all subdued
Heap'd exhaustless stores of grace
 To build the house of God

  David's immortal Son
 Magnificent in power,
Sublime on His celestial throne
 He reigns for evermore;
 The real Prince of Peace,
 The Solomon from on high,
He rears the house of holiness,
 And bids it reach the sky.

 Before His Father's face
 Our Advocate with God
Favour He finds for us, and grace
 Through His prevailing blood;
 His meritorious death,
 Which now He pleads above
Doth peace to all His church bequeath
 And pure confirming love.

 Who laid the ground alone,
 The temple of the Lord
He by His Spirit carries on
 And by His hallowing word.
 And when the Finisher
 Of faith Himself reveals,
The rising church He perfects here
 The house with glory fills.

 W HO can compass or contain
  The glorious Infinite?
 Ask that heaven-descended Man
  In whom He takes delight;
 Only one immortal Shrine
Jehovah's self is pleased to own
 Worthy of the Sire Divine—
  The body of His Son!

 One the body mystical
  Is with its heavenly Head,
 Therefore God vouchsafes to dwell
  In all the faithful seed;
 In the hearts of men to' abide,
When throughly cleansed by Jesu's blood,
 By the Spirit sanctified
  And all resign'd to God.

O F bliss essentially possess'd
Out of Himself He cannot rest,
The all-sufficient God we own
His proper End Himself alone:
But whom the heavens cannot contain
Reveals Himself the End of man;
We find Him in our hearts, and prove
The all-sufficient God is LOVE !

W HO act the persecutor's part
 A stubborn stiff-neck'd Jewish race,
Uncircumcised in ears and heart
 Ye still resist the Spirit of grace,
Harden your heart, and stop your ears,
 When God commands you to repent,
And run upon the messengers,
 And stone the Sender in the sent.

H APPY saint, so quickly driven
 From the flesh by violent pain,
Here enjoy the sight of heaven,
 Here behold the Son of Man,
  Jesus waiting
 To receive thy soul again!

Lo, He stands with arms extended,
 (Risen from His dazzling throne,)
Sees His servant's warfare ended,
 Sends His flaming chariot down,
  Smiles triumphant,
 Reaches out the palm and crown!

Every confessor and servant
 Who of Jesus testifies,
Faithful unto death and fervent,
 Shall obtain the victor's prize;
  See his Saviour
 Grasp Him through the opening skies.

If Thou call even us to' inherit
 Joys for martyr'd saints prepared,
Thou wilt fill us with Thy Spirit
 Pledge of that supreme reward;
  Sinking, dying,
 We shall view our heavenly Lord.

Thou wilt set Thyself before us,
 Standing in the holiest place,
God omnipotently glorious
 We shall on Thy brightness gaze,
  Gaze triumphant
 On Thy beatific face.

Jesus, to our supplication
 In that final hour attend,
To the God of our salvation
 While our spirits we commend;
  Then receive us,
 Crown'd with bliss which ne'er shall end!

 C ANST thou, O Saul , believe
 While wet with Stephen's blood
Thou shalt thyself his lot receive,
 A confessor of God?
 Stoned for thy Saviour's sake,
 Whom now thou dost blaspheme
Shalt thou at lasThis death partake
 And yield thy soul to Him?

 Now are ye join'd in love,
 In bonds of lasting peace:
Stephen and Saul are friends above,
 Where pain and sorrow cease;
 Rank'd with the saints in light
 Who death by death subdued,
Who wash'd their robes, and made them white
 Through the Redeemer's blood.

O FFERING up his soul in prayer
  Stephen on his God relies
Call'd the Saviour's death to share,
 Join'd to Jesu's sacrifice;
“Trusting in Thy only merit,
 Thee my Lord and God I own,
O receive my ransom'd spirit
 Take a sinner to Thy throne.”

R IVAL meek of Jesu's passion,
 Lo, the lamblike victim bleeds,
Breathes the final supplication,
 For his murderers intercedes,
Loudly in His Spirit crying
 Through whose only death we live,
Echoes the Redeemer dying,
 Bows his head, and gasps “Forgive!”

S EE the first expiring witness
 Qualified for glorious rest,
Meet with love's celestial meetness
 Sinks on his Redeemer's breast.
Safe his soul in Jesu's keeping,
 Dust to dusThis body borne
Lies reposed, and sweetly sleeping
 Till his heavenly Lord return.

O how infinite the price is
 Of a slaughter'd Christian's prayer!
O how vast a harvest rises
 From the seed that's buried there!
Sinful souls by grace forgiven
 Rise, a countless multitude
Spread, and fill both earth and heaven
 From a single martyr's blood!

Saul , the furious Saul , confesses
 First the power of Stephen's cries,
Jesu's witnesses increases
 For his Saviour lives and dies!
Myriads since have vied with Stephen ,
 Raised the martyrs' noble host,
Died, and in the highest heaven
 Found the life on earth they lost.