His saving arm to such a sinful wretch.
All who within salvation-rolls have place,
Are sav'd by a prerogative of grace:
But vessels all that shall with wrath be cramm'd,
Are by an act of holy justice damn'd.
Take then, dear soul, as from a friendly heart,
The counsel which the following lines impart.
An Advice to Sinners to apply to the sovereign Mercy of God, as it is discovered through Christ, to the highest honour of Justice and other divine attributes in order to further their Faith in him unto salvation.
Go, friend, and at JEHOVAH's footstool bow:
Thou know'st not what a sov'reign God may do.
Confess, if he commiserate thy case,
"Twill be an act of pow'rful sov'reign grace.
Sequestrate carefully some solemn hours,
To sue thy grand concern in secret bow'rs.
Then in th' ensuing strain to God impart,
And pour into his bosom all thy heart.
"O glorious, gracious, pow'rful, sov'reign Lord,
Thy help into a sinful worm afford;
Who from my wretched birth to this sad hour,
Have still been destitute of will and pow'r
To close with glorious Christ; yea fill'd with spite
At thy fair darling, and thy saints' delight,
Resisting all his grace with all my might.
Come, Lord, and sap my emnity's strong tow'r;
O haste the marriage-day, the day of pow'r;
That sweetly, by resistless grace inclin'd,
My once reluctant be a willing mind.
Thou spak'st to being ev'ry thing we see,
When thy almighty will said, Let it be,
Nothings to being in a moment pass :
Let there be light, thou saidst; and so it was'.'
A pow'rful word like this, a mighty call,
Must say, Let there be faith, and then it shall.
Thou seek'st my faith and light from sin and guilt:
Give what thou seek'st, Lord; then seek what thou wilt.
What good can issue from a root so ill?
This heart of mine's a wicked lump of hell;
"Twill all thy common motions still resist,
Unless with special drawing virtue blest.
Thou calls, but with the call thy pow'r convey;
Command me to believe, and I'll obey,
Nor any more thy gracious call gainsay.
Command, O Lord: effectually command,
And grant I be not able to withstand :
Then pow'rless I will stretch the wither'd hand.
I to thy favour can pretend no claim,
But what is borrow'd from thy glorious name;
Which though most justly thou may'st glorifie.
In damning such a guilty wretch as me,
A faggot fitted for the burning fire
Of thine incensed everlasting ire:
Yet, Lord, since now I hear thy glorious Son,
In favour of a race that was undone,
Did in thy name, by thy authority,
Once to the full stern justice satisfy;
And paid more glorious tribute thereunto
Than hell and all his torments e'er can do.
Since my salvation through his blood can rise,
A revenue to justice' highest praise,
Higher than rents which hell for ever pays;
These to tremendous justice never bring
A satisfaction equal and condign.
But Jesus, our once dying God, performs
What never could by ever dying worms:
Since thus thy threat'ning law is honour'd more
Than e'er my sins affronted it before :
Since justice stern may greater glory won,
By justifying in thy darling Son,
Than by condemning ev'n the rebel me;
To this device of wisdom, lo! I flee.
Let justice, Lord, according to thy will,
Be glorified with glory great and full;
Not now in hell, where justice' petty pay
Is but extorted parcels minc'd for ay:
But glorifi'd in Christ, who down has told
The total sum at once in liquid gold.
In lowest hell low praise is only won,
But justice has the highest in thy Son,
The Sun of righteousness that set in red,
To shew the glorious morning would succeed.
In him then save thou me from sin and shame,
And to the highest glorify thy name.
Since this bright scene thy glories all express, And grace as empress reigns through righteousness: Since mercy fair runs in a crimson flood;
And vents through justice satisfying blood:
Not only then for mercy's sake, I sue,
But for the glory of thy justice too.
And since each letter of thy name divine
Has in fair Jesus' face the brightest shine,
This glorious husband be for ever mine.
On this strong argument so sweet, so blest,
With thy allowance, Lord, I must insist.
Great God, since thou allow'st unworthy me
To make thy glorious name my humble plea;
No glory worthy of it wilt thou gain
By casting me into the burning main.
My feeble back can never suit the load,
That speaks thy name a sin-revenging God.
Scarce would that name seem a consuming fire
Upon a worm unworthy of thine ire.
But see the worthy Lamb, thy chosen Priest,
With justice' burning-glass against his breast,
Contracting all the beams of 'venging wrath,
As in their centre, 'till he burnt to death.
Vengeance can never be so much proclaim'd
By scatter'd beams among the millions damn'd.
Then, Lord in him me to the utmost save,
And thou shalt glory to the highest have:
Glory to Wisdom, that cont iv'd so well!
Glory to Pow'r, that bore and bury'd hell!
Glory to Holiness, which sin defac'd,
With sinless service now divinely grac'd!
Glory to Justice' sword, that flaming stood,
Now drink to pleasure with atoning blood!
Glory to Truth, that now, in scarlet clad,
Has seal'd both threats and promises with red!
Glory to Mercy, now in purple streams,
So sweetly gliding through the divine flames.
Of other once offended, now exalted names!
Each attribute conspires with joint embrace,
To shew its sparkling rays in Jesus' face;
And thus to deck the crown of matchless grace.
But to thy name in hell ne'er can accure
The thousandth part of this great revenue.
O ravishing contrivance! light that blinds
Cherubic gazers, and seraphic minds.
They pry into the deep, and love to learn
What yet should vastly more be my concern.
Lord, once my hope most reasonless could dream,
Of heav'n without regard to thy great name;
But here is laid, my lasting hope to found,
A highly rational, a lasting ground.
'Tis reasonable, I expect thou'lt take
The way that most will for thine honour make.
Is this the plan? Lord, let me build my claim
To life, on this high glory of thy name.
Nor let my faithless heart or think, or say,
That all this glory shall be thrown away
In my perdition; which will never raise
To thy great name so vast a rent of praise.
O then a rebel into favour take;
Lord, shield and save me for thy glory's sake.
My endless ruin is not worth the cost,
That so much glory be for ever lost.
I'll of the greatest sinner bear the shame,
To bring the greatest honour to thy name.
Small loss, though I should perish endless days,
But thousand pities grace should lose the praise.
O hear, JEHOVAH, get the glory then,
And to my supplication say, AMEN."
The terrible Doom of Unbelievers, and Rejecters of Christ, or Despisers of the
Gospel.
THUS, sinner, into Jesus' bosom flee,
Then there is hope in Isra'l sure for thee.
Slight not the call, as running by in rhime,
Lest thon repent for ay, if not in time.
'Tis most unlawful to contemn and shun
All wholesome counsels that in metre run;
Since the prime fountains of the sacred writ
Much heav'nly truth in holy rhimes transmit.
If this don't please, yet hence it is no crime
To versify the word, and preach in rhime;
But in whatever mould the doctrine lies,
Some erring minds will gospel-truth despise
Without remedy, till heav'n anoint their eyes.
These lines pretend no conqu'ring art nor skill,
But shew in weak attempts a strong good-will
To mortify all native legal pride,
And court the Lamb of God a virgin bride.
If he thy conjunct match be never giv'n,
Thou'rt doom'd to hell, as sure as God's in heav'n.
If gospel-grace and goodness don't thee draw,
Thou art condemn'd already by the law.
Yea, hence damnation deep will doubly brace,
If still thy heart contemn redeeming grace.
No argument for fear or hope will move,
Nor draw thy heart, if not the bond of love :
Nor flowing joys, nor flaming terrors chase
To Christ the hav'n, without the gales of grace.
O slighter then of grace's joyful sound,
Thou'rt over to the wrathful ocean bound.
Anon thou'lt sink into the gulf of woes,
Whene'er thy wasting hours are at a close;
Thy false old legal hope will then be lost,
And with thy wretched soul give up the ghost.
Then farewell God and Christ, and grace and glore !
Undone thou art, undone for evermore,
For ever sinking underneath the load
And pressure of a sin-revenging God.
The sacred awful text asserts, "To fall
Into his living hands, is fearful thrall:
When no more sacrifice for sin remains1,"
But ever living wrath, and lasting chains;
Heav'n still upholding life in dreadful death,
Still throwing down hot thunderbolts of wrath,
As full of terror, and as manifold,
As finite vessels of his wrath can hold.
Then, then we may suppose the wretch to cry, "Oh! if this damning God would let me die, And not torment me to eternity!
Why from the silent womb of stupid earth
Did Heav'n awake, and push me into birth?
Curs'd be the day that ever gave me life;
Curs'd be the cruel parents, man and wife,
Means of my being, instruments of woe;
For now I'm damn'd, I'm damn'd, and always so!
Curs'd be the day that ever made me hear
The gospel-call, which brought salvation near.
The endless sound of slighted mercy's bell,
Has in mine ears the most tormenting knell.
Of offered grace I vain repent the loss,
The joyful sound with horror recognosce.
The hollow vault reverberates the sound,
This killing echo strikes the deepest wound.
And with too late remorse does now confound,
Into the dungeon of despair I'm lock'd,
Th' once open door of hope for ever block'd;
Hopeless I sink into the dark abyss,
Banished for ever from eternal bliss.
In boiling waves of vengeance must I lie?
O could I curse this dreadful God, and die!
Infinite years in torment shall I spend,
And never, never, never at an end !
Ah! must I live in torturing despair
As many years as atoms in the air?
When these are spent, as many thousands more
As grains of sand that crowd the ebbing shore?
When these are done, as many yet behind
As leaves of forest shaken with the wind?
When these are gone, as many to ensue
As stems of grass on hills and dales that grew?
When these run out, as many on the march
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