E'en in the man of his own heart.
All sadly serves to prove our fall
From purity original.
Taught by the wisdom from above,
See PROVERBS, full of truth and love.
To thee, O SOLOMON! belong
The graces of the mystic SONG,
ECCLESIASTES, or the PREACHer,
Displays the powerful moral teacher.
How could'st thou, sapient king, combine
Thy faulty life, and verse divine?
Why were thy PROVERBS still at strife
With thy dishonour'd close of life?
Thou rear'st the Temple-oh, the sin
To quit the God who dwelt within !
Of all, O king, thy books have taught, With holy wisdom richly fraught; Still more thy large experience brings The emptiness of human things. In all thy keen and wide pursuit
Of love, power, pleasure, what the fruit?
Satiety in all we see,
In each enjoyment vanity!
Youth might be spar'd a world of woe,
The truth without the trial know,
Would they with abler hands advise,
And trust king Solomon the wise,
That the vex'd heart and sated mind,
In God alone repose can find.
PART THE SECOND.
THE PROPHETS.
THEE, great ISAIAH, dare I paint,
Prophet, evangelist, and saint?
So just thy strong prospective view,
Tis prophecy and history too.
Rapt in futurity, he saw,
The Gospel supersede the law.
Prophet! in thy immortal lines,
The fulness of perfection shines;
There, present things the Spirit seals,
There, things that shall be he reveals,
Doctrine and warning, prayer and praise
Alike our admiration raise.
Amaz'd, we see the hand divine
Each thought direct, inspire each line.
Still has the seraph's burning coal
Left its deep impress on the soul;
Still shall the sacred fire survive,
Warm all who read, touch all who live!
'Twere hopeless to attempt the song,
So vast, so deep, so sweet, so strong!
Fain would I tell how Sharon's rose,
In solitary deserts blows;
Fain would I speak of Carmel's hill,
Whose trees the barren waste shall fill;
Of Lebanon's transplanted shade,
To sandy valleys how convey'd;
The noble metaphors we find
To loftiest objects there assign'd.
These splendid scenes before us bring
Th' invisible redeeming King.
In every image, every line,
Messiah! we behold Thee shine.
But who shall dare these charms to tell,
One British bard has sung so well?
His Christian page shall never die,
O si sic omnia! all reply.
Blest Prophet! who a theme could'st find
Congenial to restore thy mind!
Here we behold together brought
Splendour of diction and of thought;
In these bold images we see
Grandeur without hyperbole.
Here all God's attributes unite;
The gracious and the infinite;
Beyond imagination's dream,
Thy true, august, and holy theme.
All that the loftiest mind conceives,
All that the strongest faith believes,
All were too feeble to express
God's love, his pow'r, his holiness!
His length, and breadth, and depth, and
height,
In all their wide extremes unite;
No danger of excess is here;
To sink too low is all thy fear.
To His broad eye, all nations see
Are less than nought, are vanity.
To him all Lebanon could bring
Only a worthless offering;
The waters at his bidding, stand
Within the hollow of his hand;
The mountains in his scales are weigh'd,
The hills are in his balance laid;
Measur'd by his almighty hand,
The globe 's a particle of sand!
Though with tremendous arm he come,
With power which strikes the nations dumb;
Centre and source of light and love,
In whom we are, and live, and move;
Though not confin❜d to time or place,
Not to the vast extent of space;
Objects of his paternal care,
The meanest still his mercies share;
He who in highest heaven resides,
Yet in the contrite heart abides.
Now, shepherd-like, his flock he feeds,
The tender bears, the feeble leads;
Power to the weak, but trusting saints
He gives, and might to him that faints.
The young may fail, the strong be weak,
But all who his salvation seek,
Strong in the Lord, shall be renew'd;
With new-born vigour be endu’d;
On eagles' wings sublimely soar,
To fear, and faint, and sin no more. †
Hear JEREMIAH's plaintive song
Pour its full tide of grief along!
By predisposing grace ordain'd,
The prophet's functions he sustain'd;
By his predicting voice reveal'd,
Thy doom, O Babylon, is seal'd!
On Judah 'twas his fate to see
Accomplish'd his own prophecy.
In what pathetic strains he show'd
Their miseries from their vices flow'd!
The form of goodness they defend,
• See Pope's exquisite poem of "the Messiah.” + Isaiah, chap. xl.
But hate its power and miss its end,
For lying vanities abhorr'd,
They plead the Temple of the Lord;'
The Temple of the Lord are these!'
Their varnish'd falsehoods more displease;
As if the edifice alone
Their practis'd evils could atone.
The Temple is beyond dispute,
A means, but not a substitute:
A fair profession may be found,
With lives unholy, hearts unsound.
No reigning vice he left untold,
Expostulation sad, yet bold,
Lays bare the sins they sought to hide;
Vain boasting, arrogance, and pride :
Reproves alike both age and youth;
Neither is valiant for the truth.
Wisdom, or wealth, or power, or might,
Alone, as rightly us'd, is right.
All glorying is by Heaven abhorr'd,
Save that which glories in the Lord.
Sublimely sad his woes impart
Their LAMENTATIONS to the heart.
Pity and woe his bosom share,
Anger and fondness, grief and prayer.
Fountains of tears could scarce express
His sorrows' and his love's excess.
EZEKIEL Comes in awful state,
His vision mystically great!
The Prophet, see, his watch-tower keep,
The shepherd blame, console the sheep.
When Babylon's imperial lord
Crush'd Judah by his conqu'ring sword;
DANIEL, erect, of noble mind,
With three believing brother's join'd,
Captives among the Jews were brought,
And in the royal palace taught;
Chaldea's learning they acquir'd,
The king the ingenious youths admir'd ;
At dainty tables gave them meat,
Himself ordain'd the plenteous treat.
The tempting cates he bade provide,
The daily bounties he supplied;
The wines, the royal vintage find,
Seduce not Daniel's guarded mind,
Tempt not the self-denying three;
All shun the snares of luxury.
No food, but pulse, before us bring,
No drink but the translucent spring.'
The king an image vast display'd,
Enormous was the statue made;
With impious zeal his laws ordain,
All should repair to Dura's plain.
Princes and counsellors appear,
Rulers of provinces be there!
At sound of sackbut, psalt'ry, flute,
All must attend: who dares dispute
The high behest, who will not own
The idol's godhead, shall be thrown
Deep in the fiery cauldron's blaze,
And burn in that capacious vase.-
See Dura's plain how crowded now!
All make the prostituted vow;
All praise, all honour, all adore ;
The zealous king can ask no more.
VOL. I.
What, all? Is no exception found,
In idol worship all abound?
The holy brotherhood behold,
In God's almighty strength how bold!
Nor flute nor sackbut's sound controuls
The firm, fix'd purpose of their souls.
Their eyes, their hearts are rais'd on high,
The burning cauldron they defy.
Now hear the valiant brother's speak,
See them magnanimously meek.
No arts to soothe the haughty king,
No charge against his idol bring,
No doubts, no fears, no hesitation;
They wait no slow deliberation.
Prepar'd they stand. They scorn to swerve
'Thy gods, O king, we will not serve;
We serve Jehovah; his command
Can save his servants from thy hand,
E'en from the flames his children save,
Snatch from the fearful fiery grave.
If not, obedience is his due,
In life, in death, resolv'd and true,
No image shall our worship see,
No idol, though set up by thee.'
The king with madd'ning fury turns;
With sevenfold heat the cauldron burns;
To such intensity it grew,
The men who cast them in, it slew.
The ardent blaze unaw'd they dare,
They burn not! God's own Son is there!
Sav'd by an all-controlling hand,
Unhurt, amidst the flames they stand.
Triumphant Lord! sav'd by thy power,
Nor floods shall drown, nor flames devour,
The awe-struck king the scene surveys;
Hear him the cry of rapture raise :
They live! come forth! let my command
Be strait proclaim'd throughout the land;
Let Babylon's wide empire know
God reigns above, and rules below.
If any dare my law deny,
Or Azariah's God defy,
On dunghill heaps they shall be trod;
No God delivers like this God.'
Let youthful readers not despise
The hints which from this tale arise;
If base intemperance had possess'd
Its empire o'er the yielding breast:
Or did excess in wine obtain
A conquest o'er the youthful brain,
By these joint enemies subdu'd,
Where might have been their fortitude?
Who rules the appetite, shall find
An easier task to rule the mind.
DANIEL, the statesman, saint, and sage,
Brav'd, yet unhurt, the lion's rage.
How fervently the Prophet spoke!
Warm from his lips the rapture broke:
Our right'ousness we dare not plead,
For we have none in thought or deed :`
Thy oracles neglected lie;
Abus'd, thy dreadful majesty!
Our sins are great, yet greater still
Thy power to pardon, and thy will;
Oh, Lord, forgive! Oh, hear us, Lord!
For thy own sake thy help afford.
So prompt to prayer to grant thine aid,
'Tis heard almost before 'tis made.
Soon may it come, the day all hail;
When God's free Spirit shall prevail :
In full effusion, large and wide,
In ev'ry heart be multiplied:
What must arrive, if God be true,
Why wait for in a distant view?
Why not at once besiege the throne,
Till Heaven the supplication own?
HOSEA, in each indignant line,
Denounc'd on sin the wrath divine.
JOEL directs to fast and pray,
And God's displeasure turn away;
The threat'nings of the Lord he brings,
And then his goodness sweetly sings:
Why will ye perish! turn, O turn,
Before his indignation burn!
Bow down your hearts, his kindness prove;
Not merely loving,-God is love;
Quick to forgive, slow to resent :
* Approach his footstool and repent.
He will your contrite prayers receive,
Perhaps he may a blessing leave:
Corn, wine, and oil, again bestow,
Remove the plague, and heal the woe.
AMOS exhorts, and warns, and strives
That Judah should reform their lives.
His powerful precepts never cease
To warn the rich who live at ease.
You that on downy couches lie,
Or doze on beds of ivory;
You who voluptuously consume
Your wealth, whose meal's a hecatomb;
Who at a single feast exhaust
A vineyard of uncounted cost;
Whose perfumes, floating in the air,
A Sybarite might be proud to share;
Whose festive luxuries must be crown'd
With the soft lute and viol's sound;
Are you the men of grief who melt
At tales of woe by brethren felt?
Ask Amos: he this truth imparts,
That pleasure hardens human hearts;
That selfish feelings most abound
Where ease and luxury are found.
How strange the paradox, yet true,
That what dissolves should harden too!
Brief OBADIAH, full of grace,
Says much, though in a little space.
JONAH! How high thy honours stand,
Who by one sermon rous'd a land!
At the last day how will thy fame,
Oh Nineveh, my country shame!
Jonah! thy honours sunk how low
When wrath deform'd thy sullen brow!
Better a mighty empire fall,
Than Jonah's credit sink at all!
Oh human selfishness how great,
To mourn a gourd and not a state!
The prophet here the pastor teaches
To practice what so well he preaches.
MICAH, admir'd through ev'ry age,
The babe of Bethlehem crowns thy page!
With what precision dost thou trace
The then obscure, now honour'd place!
NAHUM, all hail thy muse of fire,
The glories of thy dying lyre !
"The still small voice" no more is heard,
As when of old the Lord appear'd.
The whirlwind, and the driving storm,
His fearful wonders now perform;
How terrible his thunders sound!
The awe-struck sinner how confound!
No horrors can the guilty move,
Like the fierce wrath of injur'd love.
Blest Prophet! had thy strains been
heard
From the proud lyre of Theban bard,
How would the wrapt enthusiast turn,
"To thoughts that breathe, and words that
burn!"
But tho' not nurs'd on Pindus' mount,
Nor fed from Aganippe's fount;
Thou offerest, at a loftier shrine
Than Delphi own'd, thy ode divine.
Thy muse with nobler claims shall rise :
Her inspirations from the skies;
This the chief glory of thy lays,
Thou hadst a living God to praise.
Though, HABAKKUK, thy name refuse
To bend obedient to the muse,
Yet thy sweet promises impart
Warm comfort to the drooping heart.
In thy fam'd prayer, sublimely sweet,
The saint and muse in concert meet.
God came from Teman; what array
Of confluent glories marks his way!
Brightness above, around was sent ;
The pestilence before him went.
The skies with unknown splendours blaze,
Heaven shows his power, and earth his
praise;
The everlasting mountains fled,
The rivers tremb.ed in their bed;
Bow'd the perpetual hills; the deep
Through its dark caves was heard to sweep.
His arrows fly! Lord, at thy will
Th' astonish'd sun and moon stand still!
The shining of thy glitt'ring spear
Transfix the heathen bands with fear.
One glance of thy pervading eye
Measures the earth; the nations fly
Dissolv'd and scatter'd; Cushan's tents
Burst forth in deep and loud laments.
They tremble at the distant sound,
Sudden thy troops their tents surround.
Yet tho' Chaldea's hostile band
Pour in their hordes, despoil the land;
Yet though the fig-tree may be found
With neither fruit nor blossom crown'd;
The olive and the vine decay,
And flocks and herds be torn away;
My song of praise my God shall hear,
More free, more fervent, more sincere.
"Revive thy work;" tho' all should fail,
Let grace and godliness prevail.
Lord of my strength; my joy, my crown,
Thy boundless mercies let me own!
Thy great salvation sets me free,
I shall have all in having Thee.
Thou, ZEPHANIAH, dost record
Boldly, the terrors of the Lord!
HAGGAI the slothful Jews exhorts
To build the temple's hallow'd courts:
They, while their splendid mansions shine,
Neglect JEHOVAH's sacred shrine,
Thy visions, ZECHARIAH, stand
As beacons to a guilty land;
Tho' awfully obscure, yet 'true,
They teach the Briton as the Jew.
Known to the Lord, the day will come
Reversing Salem's awful doom!
Where nought was seen but waste and woe,
There shall the living waters flow;
Destruction's direful work be past,
And Christ the King be crown'd at last.
Her courts, by those who long have fought
Against her, eagerly he sought :
One Lord, one God, shall reign alone,
His name, long prophesied, be ONE.
On every vessel, every breast,
One grand inscription be imprest;
And HOLINESS TO GOD be found
Within, without, above, around!
Thou, MALACHI, though last not least,
Prepar'st for us the Gospel-feast.
Yet e'er the ancient books you leave,
This truth in all your hearts receive,-
That all the saints unite with care
To prove the omnipotence of prayer.
Search thro' the annals of mankind,
One solitary instance find;
Prove that you know one prayer preferr'd
In faith by man, by God not heard;
Then boldly venture, if you dare,
No more to lift your heart in prayer.
Till then, pray on; 'twill clear your way:
Chiefly for God's own Spirit pray :
There we shall find, if there we seek,
Wealth for the poor, strength for the weak;
Soundness for sickness, life for death,
Deriv'd from this inspiring breath;
Till every nation, tongue, and tribe,
The healing influence shall imbibe;
Distil like genial drops of rain,
Or dews upon the tender grain :
This in the secret of the soul
Each strong temptation shall controul :
And some faint image, lost before,
Of its bright origin restore.
THE NEW TESTAMENT. FART THE THIRD.
THIS dispensation, clear and bright, Brings immortality to light; Proclaims the rebel Man restor'd, Th' Apostate brought to know the Lord. Within this consecrated ground Discrepencies are never found; The writers vary just to prove That not in concert do they move; While Jesus' glory stands reveal'd,
The author's faults are not conceal'd;
No selfish arts, no private ends,
But all to one grand centre tends;
No fact disguis'd, however wrong,
No truth kept back, however strong.
One sure criterion leaves no doubt,
Consistency prevails throughout :
The doctrine who shall dare disprove,
Of genuine faith which works by love?
MATTHEW and MARK divinely treat
Those truths which LUKE and JOHN repeat:
Tho' all concur in one grand scheme,
Each throws fresh light upon the theme.
MATTHEW by no vain hope enticed,
Left all he had to follow Christ;
Behold him faithfully record
The matchless Sermon of his Lord.
Here, every want its refuge seeks,
Here, every grace its nature speaks;
Each in its own appropriate place,
The blessing suited to the case.
Each gift to its own want confin'd;
Mercy the merciful shall find.
How cheering to the poor in spirit,
Promis'd a kingdom to inherit!
Told e'en on earth, the meek man knows
The best enjoyments Heaven bestows;
Lovers of peace shall peace possess,
Comfort the comfortless shall bless;
That he who feels the oppressor's rod
Feels more the mercies of his God;
Proclaims, the pure in heart shall see,
In God, Essential Purity.
MARK, next among the historic saints,
The Baptist of the desert paints.
Herod the prophet gladly heard,
In many things obey'd his word.
But mark the rapid race of sin!
They fast advance who once begin.
Long train'd in vice, the tempter now
Ensnares him to a sinful vow:
Her graceful movements with his heart,
He will with half his kingdom part :
Sudden he cries, by passion driven,
"Make thy demand it shall be given."
Fearless she ask'd the Baptist's head,
The king was griev'd, the king obey'd:
O fruitless sorrow, vainly spent,
To mourn the crime he might prevent;
If sinful such a vow to make,
More sin to keep it than to break,
To death he doom'd the saint he lov'd;
Condemn'd the preacher he approv'd;
And she, whose softness charm'd before,
Herself the bleeding victim bore.
What wonder if the king, amaz'd,
Should dread in Christ that John was rais'd
See LUKE the glorious scene record,
The scene of his transfigur'd Lord!
This sight of wonder and of love
Confirms the glorious state above :
How blest the three* to whom 'twas given
To view threef witnesses from heaven!
The representatives they saw
Of Gospel, Prophecy, and Law.
Peter, James, and John. † Jesus, Moses, and Elias.
Luke more Christ's miracles records,
John more preserves his gracious words;
Records for Christian consolation,
His Saviour's heavenly conversation,
Though John for ever stands approv'd
The blest disciple Jesus lov'd;
Yet all one path devoutly trod,
And follow'd their redeeming God.
In HIM the wond'rous union view,
Atonement and example too!
His death sole means lost man to save;
His life our lives a pattern gave.
Explore the mystery as we can,
The perfect God was perfect man :
As man he felt affliction's rod,
As man he suffer'd, rose as God.
This union all his actions prove,
As God, as man, he show'd his love;
As man to man in every state
Something he left to imitate.
Divine Philanthropist ! to Thee
We lift the heart, and bow the knee.
As man, man's sympathies he felt;
In tears of tenderness could melt;
Weep o'er the fated city's doom;
Weep, Lazarus, o'er thy honour'd tomb!
The hidden heart of man he knew;
Felt for his wants and weakness too.
The bruised reed he never broke,
His burden easy, light his yoke;
From heaven to earth his mercies reach,
Alike to save us, or to teach.
When call'd on, error to reprove,
Reproof was kindness, censure love:
A cure his ready hand applies
For blindness, or of heart, or eyes.
Tho' with a look, a touch, a word,
The long-lost vision he restor'd;
A casual hint may pastors seize
For those who yet see men as trees:
Jesus watch'd c'er th' imperfect sight,
And blest the blind with gradual light.
His saints no vain display relate,
No miracles for pomp or state;
No artful show for private ends,
But all to use and mercy tends.
His life a constant lecture reads
For minor as for greater deeds;
Not that his hunger might be fed,
He multiplies the scanty bread:
The famish'd troops in order plac'd,
He ne'er forgot to bless the feast :
Though endless stores he could produce,
He sav'd the fragments for their use.
We pass each suffering, glorious scene,
The manger and the Cross between;
All he began to do, and teach'
We pass, till Calvary we reach.
The attempt almost too bold we deem,
And trembling touch the awful theme.
All eloquence, all power of speech,
Imagination's loftiest reach,
Fall short, and could but faintly prove
Th' incarnate God's last scene of love.
Abandon'd, none his woes partake;
One friend denies him, all forsake.
Yet tho' the sacred blood was shed,
Captivity was captive led.'
The annals of mankind explore,
Did ever conqueror before
Make palpable to human eyes,
Achieve, such glorious victories?
Besides the triumphs of his grace
Which only faith's purg'd eye can trace;
Marvels applied to sight and sense,
Exhibit his omnipotence.
Shrouded Divinity confest,
What prodigies the Lord attest!
Things contrary, opposing creatures
Struck at the sight, forget their natures;
The human voice is mute; the dumb
And senseless eloquent become.
Things breathless, things inanimate
Renounce, nay contradict their fate.
Things never meant to sympathise
Astonish unbelieving eyes.
The firm earth trembled at the view;
Th' indignant sun his light withdrew;
No natural cause eclips'd his face,
He would not witness man's disgrace.
Asunder torn, the rocks proclaim
Their sympathies with loud acclaim.
The yawning sepulchres unclose;
To life their sleeping tenants rose;
The Temple's vail is seen to rend,
And with it all distinctions end!
All various nature takes a part,
All, save the obdurate human heart.
The soldier, and th' expiring thief
Alone, proclaim their firm belief.
Lord, IT IS FINISHED:' here we meet
Promise and prophecy complete.
Then come the APOSTLES' wond'rous
facts,
Their travels, miracles, and ACTS.
The Holy Spirit from above,
Given as the Messenger of Love.
The various languages once sest,
To Babel as its punishment,
Here take a diff'rent nature quite,
Not meant to scatter but unite;
That every nation here below,
In its own tongue God's word might know.
Ye, who to idols long confin'd,
Are blind in heart, and dark in mind;
Half quench'd the intellectual ray,
While man withheld the moral day;
To the strong hold, ye prisoners, turn,
Prisoners of hope! no longer mourn.
See Christ extended empire gains,
See mountains sinking into plains!
The Builders on the CORNER-STONE,
Cease not like Babel's-they work on,
Till Saba and Arabia bring
Due tribute to th' Eternal King;
The living WORD shall life impart
Unseal the eye, and change the heart;
Till Jew and Gentile truth shall see,
Greek and Barbarian, bond and free;
Not by man's might, nor deed, nor word,
But by the Spirit of the Lord.
Hear martyr'd Stephen, as he dies,
Pray for his murd'rous enemies!
Then bring from Greek or Roman story
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