Classic Poem

CHAPTER XXVI.

The judge his innocence confess'd
Yet lo, he at the king's request
 Repeats his righteous plea;
A ready condescension shows,
And pays the just respecThe owes
 To listening majesty.

Himself permitted to defend,
He answers for a nobler end,
 Not for himself alone,
But call'd before the rich and great
Arrests them on the judgment seat,
 And make his Saviour known.

To magistrates of God ordain'd
We bow with reverence unfeign'd,
 Nor wait till Christ they know,
Assured the' almighty Judge supreme,
In love to man, appointed them
 His ministers below.

Exempt a Christian would not be,
But counts it his felicity,
 When privileged to' appear
His own integrity he shows,
And proves against a world of foes
 His life and conscience clear.

H APPY who for his conduct past
 Can to his foes appeal,
Foes that have seen from first to last
 A life unblamable!
Who dares his warm accusers press,
 What have ye found in me?
As touching legal righteousness
 A perfect Pharisee!

Stripp'd of his rags, with double power
 Witness to ChrisThe gives,
The God that all our sorrows bore,
 And sinful men receives.
The promised Peace, Desire, and Hope
 Of all our ransom'd race,
Who lifts despairing sinners up,
 And saves a world by grace.

 M AY not a creating God,
  Who built this house of clay,
 Re-inspire the breathless clod,
  In His appointed day?
 From the dusThe form'd us man,
And shall we circumscribe His power?
 Doubtless the Almighty can
  Our moulder'd dust restore.

 He who breathed into our earth
  The breath of life Divine,
 By a new celestial birth
  Can God and sinners join;
 Will a quickening Spirit become,
Our souls extinct again to raise,
 Call'd out of our nature's tomb,
  To live the life of grace.

 Dead in sins and trespasses,
  Jesus His people saves:
 Lord, by faith we Thee confess,
  The opener of our graves;
 Joyfully the pledge receive
Of blissful immortality,
 Sure our bodies too shall live
  For ever one with Thee.

A BIGOT obstinately wrong,
 Yet certain he is right,
May confident continue long
 'Gainst Jesus Christ to fight;
May persecute the witnesses
 With blind pernicious zeal,
And while he thinks his God to please
 Rejoice the fiends in hell.

The witnesses by Jesus sent
 Have always counted been
As only fit for punishment
 By all the slaves of sin;
And urging them the faith to' abjure,
 With dire malicious joy
They then behold their ruin sure,
 They then their souls destroy.

E RROR , ye Pharisees sincere,
 Ye mean to' exterminate,
Nor know, who hate His members here,
 That Christ Himself ye hate;
Exposing us to pain and shame,
 While in His steps we move,
Ye act against the Saviour's name,
 Ye hate the God of love.

S AVIOUR , whose manifested love
 A persecuting Saul o'ercame,
Appear, illustrious from above,
 To them who now resist Thy name,
With mad despite Thy flock pursue,
For O, they know not what they do.

Send forth a kind convincing ray
 Thou glorious Effluence Divine,
To chase the clouds of sin away
 In nature's deepest darkness shine,
With dreadful light Thy foes surround,
In mercy smite them to the ground.

Give them to feel the irksome pain
 Of men who dare their God oppose,
Who kick against the pricks in vain,
 Pierce themselves through with various woes,
But never can successful be,
Or triumph o'er Thy church and Thee.

Their unsuspected guilt reveal,
 The sudden keen conviction dart,
And show the men in league with hell
 They take Thine ancient murderers' part,
And all who on the members tread
Insult and persecute the Head.

Then, Lord, Thy fallen murderers raise
 After Thyself to ask of Thee:
Saviour of all our prostrate race,
 Open their eyes Thy love to see,
And in their inmost souls make known
Our God and Thee for ever one.

 T HOU who hast cast me down
  By unresisted grace,
 To make Thy mercy known
  A grovelling sinner raise;
And lo, with strength Divine I stand,
And walk and run at Thy command.

 Jesus to me appear
  The Son of God and man,
 Thy chosen minister
  And witness to ordain;
Who cannot testify of Thee,
Unless Thou show Thyself to me.

 No vision of my God
  But that of faith I need,
 Faith in the' atoning blood
  For dying sinners shed;
I want to feel the blood applied,
To see the Lamb as crucified.

 Soon as Thy wounds I see,
  And my Redeemer know,
 Thy death reveal'd in me
  I will to others show,
And every fresh display of grace
Proclaim to all the ransom'd race.

W HERE'ER our Lord is pleased to send,
He doth His messengers defend,
 The faithful God and true;
He leads us oft into distress,
But present with His witnesses
 He always brings us through.

To Jews and Gentiles sent we feel
The fury of self-righteous zeal,
 And violent wickedness;
But feeling our Deliverer nigh,
Our souls, till all the storms pass by,
 Are kept in perfect peace.

W ITH Thy commission Lord, we go,
And wake the dead that sleep below
 In nature's dark estate:
Alarm'd they lift their guilty eyes,
And see with terror and surprise
 The light which sinners hate.

Poor trembling sinners we incline
(But oh the work is wholly Thine)
 With all their sins to part;
From Satan's power to Thee they turn,
And conscious unbelievers mourn
 For purity of heart.

Thy SpiriThelps them to believe,
And then forgiveness they receive
 Seal'd in Thy precious blood,
And cleansed from every sinful stain,
Faithful to death, a lot they gain
 With all the saints of God.

Through faith their pardon'd sin they know,
Through faith to full perfection go,
 (That depth of humblest love!)
Through faith they put Thine image on,
And win, through faith in Thee alone,
 Angelic thrones above.

O BEDIENT to the heavenly call,
 Thy mercy's meanest instrument,
Saviour I preach Thy grace to all,
 And cry in every place, Repent,
Return, ye wandering souls, to God,
 The fruits of true repentance show,
And wash'd with sanctifying blood
 In Jesu's steps to glory go.

F OR this let fiery zealots seize,
 (If Thou the ruffians' hands unbind;)
Me in the courts of holiness,
 The temple's foe, they still may find:
Assured that Thou art always near,
 I come to suffer all Thy will,
By love Divine forbid to fear
 The men who can this body kill.

Y ET till Thy sovereign grace permit
 They cannot touch one sacred hair:
And hence, my Lord, I labour yet
 Escaped, unhurt, from every snare;
Rescued by military bands
 Or whomsoe'er Thy love employs,
I rest in Thy almighty hands,
 And underneath Thy wings rejoice.

Thy servanThere I still remain,
 And testify to great and small
Whate'er Thine oracles contain;
 The sum, the end, the truth of all,
Thee, Jesus, Thee I love to show,
 Who hast the prophecies fulfill'd;
And in Thy blood we all may know
 The promises for ever seal'd.

The law and prophets all foretold
 That Christ should die, and leave the grave;
Gather the world into His fold,
 The church of Jews and Gentiles save
The First-begotten from the dead,
 Thou hast into our darkness shone,
In sinners' hearts Thy Spirit shed;
 And all our loving souls are one.

Yet, by the prince of darkness bound,
 The nations still are wrapp'd in night;
They never heard the joyful sound,
 They never saw the gospel light
Light of the world, again appear
 In mildest majesty of grace,
And bring the great salvation near,
 And claim our whole apostate race.

 M ORE of this madness, more
 Of this true learning give,
Jesus, whom I confess before
 The world that disbelieve!
 My faith let men mistake
 For mere insanity,
Beside myself for Thy dear sake,
 I live and die to Thee.

T RUTH , not ourselves, to justify
We should with bold respect reply,
Nor silently the world permit
To tread the pearl beneath their feet,
Whene'er their ignorance reprove
The language pure of faith and love.

Freedom the cause of God requires
And wisdom meek His Spirit inspires;
Divinely taught we then express
His power, and truth, and soberness,
And that eternal Reason show
Our God in Christ reveal'd below.

 W HO believes the prophets true
  Will he not Paul believe?
 Will he not his Saviour too
  Into his heart receive?
 Faith which leads us to the skies
In faith historical begins;
 Faith Divine the blood applies
  That blots out all our sins.

 J ESUS ' messenger at last
  Brings home the pointed word,
 Seizes, holds the sinner fast
  A captive for his Lord:
 See, the vanquish'd monarch see!
He bows to a superior power,
 Sinks as one who must agree,
  And can resist no more.

 P OOR Agrippa! but almost
  Persuaded to embrace
 Him who saves the sinner lost,
  And offers all His grace!
 Grace and Christ almost to gain.
Is quite to miss the deathless prize;
 Take another step—and then
  Thy soul's in paradise.

 Partner of the heavenly hope,
  In the good work begun
 Do not with Agrippa stop,
  But now with Paul go on:
 Full consent to Jesus yield,
With all thy heart to Jesus given,
 His, entirely His, and fill'd
  With the pure life of heaven.

C ONSCIOUS of my happiness,
Peace, unutterable peace
Would I not to all impart,
Peace which now o'erflows my heart,
Makes it tenderly inclined,
Draws it out to all mankind!

Bless'd with my felicity
O that every soul might be,
Feel what real Christians feel,
Joy incomprehensible,
Live the life of those above,
Swallow'd up and lost in love!

A SUFFERER for his Saviour's cause
 Cannot for sufferings pray,
Nor would the' anticipated cross
 On weak beginners lay:
He wishes them to rest unknown,
 Conceal'd from grief and shame,
Till Jesus calls them forth to own,
 And triumph through His name.

 W HO that moment's price can tell
  On which his all depends,
 Heavenly bliss unchangeable,
  Or woe, which never ends?
 Did the king his time improve,
Or cast the' important point away?
 All before the throne above
  Shall know, in that great day.