And God in Christ is all my trust,
Because he's merciful and just. i

CONCLUSION.

HERE is the riddle, where 's the man
Of judgment to expound?

For masters fam'd that cannot scan,
In Israel may be found. a

We justly those in wisdom's list
Establish'd saints may call,

Whose bitter-sweet experience blest,
Can clearly grasp it all. b

My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

i Heb. ii. 17. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren: that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 1 John i. 7-9. If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

a John iii. 10. Jesus answered and said unto Nicodemus, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Some babes in grace may mint* and mar,
Yet aiming right succeed: c

b Matt. xi. 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. And xiii. 11. Jesus answered and said unto his disciples, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

c 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. Heb. v. 12-14. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who, by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. And vi. 1. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection: not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, &c. 1 John ii. 12, 13. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

* Essay.

But strangers they in Isr'el are,
Who not at all can read. d

d 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

PART IV.

THE BELIEVER'S LODGING AND INN WHILE ON EARTH;

OR, A

POEM AND PARAPHRASE UPON PSALM LXXXIV.

VERSE 1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts.

JEHOVAH, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

Sole Monarch of the universal host,

Whom the attendant armies still revere,

Which in bright robes surround the higher sphere;
Whose sov'reign empire sways the hellish band
Of ranked legions in th' infernal land;

Who hold'st the earth at thy unrivall'd beck,
And stay'st proud forces with a humbling check;
Ev'n thou whose name commands an awful dread,
Yet deigns to dwell with man in very deed:
O what refreshment fills the dwelling place
Of thine exuberant, unbounded grace!

Which with sweet pow'r does joy and praise extort,
In Zion's tents, thine ever lov'd resort:

Where gladd'ning streams of mercy from above
Make souls brim-full of warm seraphic love.
Of sweetest odors all thy garment smells;
Thy dismal absence proves a thousand hells,
But heav'ns of joy are where thine honor dwells.

VERSE 2. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

Therefore on thee I centre my desire,

Which veh❜mently bursts out in ardent fire.
Deprived, ah! I languish in my plaint,
My bones are feeble, and my spirit's faint.
My longing soul pants to behold again
Thy temple fill'd with thy majestic train ;
Those palaces with heav'nly odor strew'd,
And regal courts, where Zion's King is view'd:
To see the beauty of the highest One,
Upon his holy mount, his lofty throne:
Whence virtue, running from the living Head,
Restores the dying, and revives the dead.
For him my heart with cries repeated sounds,
To which my flesh with echoes loud rebounds;