And God in Chrift is all my trust,

Because he's merciful and juft. 1

CONCLUSION.

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

For mafters fain'd that cannot fcan,
In Ifrael may be found. 2

We juftly thofe in wifdom's lift
Etablish'd faints may call,
Whofe bitter-fweet experience bleft
Can clearly grafp it all. 3

Some babes in grace may mint and mar,
Yet aiming right fucceed: 4
But ftrangers they in ìfr'el are,

Who not at all can read. 5

(viz David my fervant): and in my name fhall his horn be exalted. Ver. 28: My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant fhall stand faft with him.

1 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 fins 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 Jefus Chrift, his Son, cleanfeth us from all fin. If we say that we have no fin, we deceive ourfelves, and the truth is not in us. If we confefs our fins, he is faithful and jult to forgive us our fins, and to cleante us from all unrighteousness.

2 John iii. 10. Jefus anfwered and faid unto Nicodemus, Art thou a master of Ifrael, and knoweft not these things?

3 Mat. xi 25. At that time Jefus aufwered and faid, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wife and prudent, and haft revealed them unto babes. Chap. xiii. 11. Jefus anfwered and faid unto his difciples, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

4 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 Chrift. 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 fuch as have need of milk, and not of ftrong meat. For every one that ufeth milk, is unfkilful in the word of righ teousness: for he is a babe. But ftrong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who, by reason of ufe, have their fenfes exercifed to dif cern both good and evil. Chap. vi. 1. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Chrift, 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 fins are forgiven you for his name's fake.-I write unto you, little children, becaufe ye have known the Father.

5 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are loft; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, left the light of the glorious gospel of Chrift, who is the image of God, fhould fhine unto them,

PART IV.

The BELIEVER'S LODGING and INN, While on Earth: or,

A POEM AND PARAPHRASE ON PSALM lxxxiv.

Ver. 1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of bosts!
EHOVAH, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft,
Sole Monarch of the univerfal hoft,
Whom the attendant armies ftill revere,
Which in bright robes furround the higher sphere;
Whofe fov'reign empire fways the hellish band
Of ranked legions in th' infernal land;

Who hold'st the earth at thy unrivall'd beck,
And stay't proud forces with a humble check;
Ev'n thou whofe 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 refort:
Where glad'ning ftreams of mercy from above
Make fouls brim-full of warm feraphic love.
Of fweeteft odours all thy garments fmells;
Thy difmal abfence proves a thousand hells,
But heav'ns of joy are where thine honour dwells.

}

Ver. 2. My foul 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 defire,

Which veh'mently bursts out in ardent fire,
Deprived, ah! I languifh in my plaint,
My bones are feeble, and my fpirits faint.

My longing foul pants to behold again

Thy temple fill'd with thy majenic train;
Those palaces with heav'nly odour ftrew'd,
And regal courts, where Zion's King is view'd:
To fee the beauty of the highest One,
Upon his holy mount, his lofty throne:
Whence virtue running from the living Head
Reftores the dying, and revives the dead.
For him my heart with cries repeated founds,
To which my flesh with echoes loud rebounds;
For him, for him, who life in death can give,
For him, for him, whofe fole prorogative
Is from and to eternity to live.

}

Ver. 3. Yea, the Sparrow bath found an boufe, and the
fwallow a neft for herself, where she may lay her young,
even thine altars, O Lord of bofts, my King and my God.
Alas! how from thy lovely dwellings I,
Long banish'd, do the happy birds envy ;
Which, chufing thy high altars for their neft,
On rafters of thy tabernacle refi!

Here dwells the fparrow of a chirping tongue,
And here the fwallow lays her tender young:
Faint facrilege! they feize the facred fpot,
And feem to glory o'er my abfent lot.
Yet fure I have more fpecial right to thee
Than all the brutal hotts of earth and fea;
That Sov'reign, at whofe government they bow,
Is wholly mine by his eternal vow;

My King to rule my heart, and quell my foes,
My God t' extract my well from prefent woes,
And crown with endless glory at the clofe.

}

Ver. 4. Bleffed are they that dwell in thy boufe: they will be ftill praising thee.

O happy they that haunt thy house below,

And to thy royal fanctuary flow;

Not for itfelf, but for the glorious One,

Who there inhabits his erected throne!

Others pafs by, but here their dwelling is;
O happy people, crown'd with bays of blifs!

Biefs'd with the fplendid luftre of his face,
Blefs'd with the high melodious found of grace,
That wakens fouls into a fweet amaze,
And turns their fpirits to a harp of praise;
Which loudly makes the lower temple ring
With Hallelujahs to the mighty King:
And thus they antedate the nobler fong
Of that celeftial and triumphant throng
Who warble notes of praife eternity along.

Ver. 5. Bleffed is the man whofe ftrength is in thee:-
What weights of blifs their happy fhoulders load,
Whofe ftrength lies treafur'd in a potent God?
Self-drained fouls, yet flowing to the brim,
Becaufe void in themfelves, but full in him.
Adam the firft difcufs'd their flock of ftrength,
The fecond well retriev'd the fum at length;
Who keeps 't himself, a furer hand indeed,
To give not as they lift, but as they need.
When raging furies threaten fudden harms,
He then extends his everlafting arms;
When Satan drives his pointed fiery darts,
He gives them courage and undaunted hearts,
To quell his deadly force with divine skill,
And adds new strength to do their Sov'reign's will:
When fore barafs'd by fome outragious luft,
He levelling its pow'r unto the dust,

Makes faints to own him worthy of their truft.

}

Ver. 6. In whofe hearts are the ways of them. Wha paffing through the valley of Baca, make it a well: the rain alfo filleth the pools.

Such heav'n born fouls are not to earth confin'd,

Truth's high-way fills their elevated mind:
They bound for Zion, prefs with forward aim,
As Ifr'el's males to old Jerufalem.

Their holy path lies through a parched land,
Through oppofitions numerous and grand.
Traverfing fcorched defarts, ragged rocks,
And Baca's wither'd vale, like thirty flocks;
Yet with unfhaken vigour homeward go,
Not mov'd by all oppofing harms below,

They digging wells on this Gilboa top,
The vale of Achor yields a door of hope:
For heav'n in plenty does their labour crown,
By making filver fhow'rs to trickle down;
Till empty pools imbibe a pleasant fill,
And weary fouls are heart'ned up the hill,
By maffy drops of joy which down diftill.

}

Ver. 7. They go from Strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

Thus they, refreshed by fuperior aid,
Are not defatigated nor difmay'd;
Because they are, O truth of awful dread!
As potent as JEHOVAH in their Head.
Hence they hall travel with triumphant minds,
In fpite of ragged paths and boift'rous winds.
The rougheft ways their vigour ne'er abates,
Each new affault their ftrength redintegrates.
When they through mortal blows feem to give o'er,
Their ftrength by intermitting gathers more.
And thus they, with unweary'd zeal endu'd,
Still as they journey have their ftrength renew'd.
So glorious is the race, that once begun,
Each one contends his fellow to out-run;
Till at uniting in a glorious band,

Before the Lamb's high throne adoring ftand,
And harp his lofty praife in Zion-land.

}

Ver. 8. O Lord God of bofts, bear my prayer: give ear, O God of facob.

Great God of num'rous hofts, who reigns alone

The fole poffeffor of th' imperial throne;

Since mental taftes of thy delicious grace

So fweetly relifh in thy holy place,
This is the fubject of my tabled pray'r,
To have the vifion of thy glory there.
O let my cry pierce the etherial frame,
And mercy's echo follow down the fame,
Omnifcient Being, favour my defire,
Hide not thy goodness in paternal ire:
Why, thou haft giv'n in an eternal band
To Jacob and his feed thy royal hand,