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SECTION III.

THE DEEPLY HUMBLED SOUL RELIEVED WITH SOME SAVING

DISCOVERIES OF CHRIST THE REDEEMER.

WHEN thus the wounded bride perceives full well Herself the vilest sinner out of hell,

The blackest monster in the universe;

Pensive if clouds of woe shall e'er disperse.

When in her breast Heav'n's wrath so fiercely glows,
"Twixt fear and guilt her bones have no repose.
When flowing billows of amazing dread
Swell to a deluge o'er her sinking head;
When nothing in her heart is found to dwell,
But horrid Atheism, enmity, and hell;
When endless death and ruin seems at hand,

And yet she cannot for her soul command
A sigh to ease it, or a gracious thought,

Though heav'n could at this petty rate be bought.
When darkness and confusion overcloud.
And unto black despair temptations crowd;
When wholly without strength to move or stir,
And not a star by night appears to her:

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she, while to the brim her troubles flow, Most g trembling on the utmost brink of woe.

Ah! weary case! But, lo! in this sad plight The sun arises with surprising light.

The darkest midnight is his usual time

Of rising and appearing in his prime.

To show the hills from whence salvation springs,
And chase the gloomy shades with golden wings,
The glorious Husband now unveils his face,
And shows his glory full of truth and grace ;*
Presents unto the bride, in that dark hour,
Himsel a Saviour, both by price and pow'r :
A mighty helper to redeem the lost,
Relieve and ransom to the uttermost ;†
To seek the vagrant sheep to deserts driv❜n,
And save from lowest hell to highest heav'n.
Her doleful case he sees, his bowels move,
And make her time of need his time of love;
He shows, to prove himself her mighty shield,
His name is JESUS, by his father seal'd:§
A name with attributes engrav'd within,

To save from every attribute of sin.

With wisdom sin's great folly to expose,

And righteousness its chain of guilt to loose,

* John i. 14.
+ Ezek. xvi. 6, 8.

† Heb. vii. 25.

» Matt. i. 21.

Sanctification to subdue its sway,
Redemption all its woful brood to slay.*
Each golden letter of his glorious name
Bears full deliv'rance both from sin and shame.

Yea, not privation bare from sin and wo,
But thence all positive salvations flow,
To make her wise, just, holy, happy too.
He now appears a match exactly meet
To make her ev'ry way in him complete,
In whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells,t
That she may boast in him, and nothing else.
In gospel lines she now perceives the dawn
Of Jesus' love with bloody pencil drawn;
How God in him is infinitely pleas'd,
And Heav'n's avenging fury whole appeas'd:
Law-precepts magnifi'd by her belov'd,
And ev'ry let to stop the match remov'd.
Now in her view her prison-gates break ope,
Wide to the walls flies up the door of hope;
And now she sees with pleasure unexpress'd
For shatter'd barks a happy shore of rest.

* 1 Cor. i. 30.

+ Col. ii. 9, 10.

SECTION IV.

THE WORKING OF THE SPIRIT OF FAITH IN SEPARATING THE HEART FROM ALL SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND DRAWING OUT ITS CONSENT TO, AND DESIRE AFTER CHRIST ALONE AND WHOLLY.

THE bride at Sinai little understood,

How these law-humblings were design'd for good,
T' enhance the value of her Husband's blood.
The tow'r of tott'ring pride thus batter'd down,
Makes way for Christ alone to wear the crown.
Conviction's arrows pierc'd her heart, that so
The blood from his pierc'd heart, to hers might flow.
The law's sharp plough tears up the fallow ground,
Where not a grain of grace was to be found,

Till straight perhaps behind the plough is sown
The hidden seed of faith, as yet unknown.
Hence now the once reluctant bride's inclin'd
To give the gospel an assenting mind,
Dispos'd to take, would grace the pow'r impart,
Heav'n's offer with a free consenting heart,
His Spirit in the gospel chariot rides,

And shows his loving heart to draw the bride's;
Though oft in clouds his drawing pow'r he hides.

His love in gracious offers to her bears,
In kindly answers to her doubts and fears,
Resolving all objections more or less

From former sins, or present worthlessness.
Persuades her mind of 's conjugal consent,
And then impow'rs her heart to say, Content :
Content to be divorced from the law,

No more the yoke of legal terms to draw:
Content that he dissolve the former match,
And to himself alone her heart attach :
Content to join with Christ at any rate,
And wed him as her everlasting mate:
Content that he should ever wear the bays,
And of her whole salvation have the praise:
Content that he should rise, though she should fall,
And to be nothing, that he may be all.

Content that he, because she nought can do,

Do for her all her work, and in her too.

Here she a peremptory mind displays,

That he do all the work, get all the praise.
And now she is, which ne'er till now took place,
Content entirely to be sav'd by grace,

She owns that her damnation just would be,

And therefore her salvation must be free:

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