Your tribes of disciples may boast of their head,

And the flock of the Saviour deride: Jehovah hath told us their leader is dead, Though he speaks to accuse them of pride.

I thought to have rais'd your demand from my trade,
Till you brought in your fatal account:
But, when I perceiv'd you arrested the dead,
O what enmity rose at the mount!

A second discharge of a bill that is past
Is a payment that never can end:

The sum for the which you arrested me last
Has been fully discharg'd by a friend.

Why so many preachers, I cannot devise;
How from death can your legions revive?
All trust in a servant I hope to despise,
As Jehovah the master's alive.

Of help from the law I for ever despair'd,
When conscience and creditor met:

What mortal can think he (with truth) can be clear'd,
When sued for an infinite debt?

Vain rebels can sport with the bounds of the mount,

Till by thundering threat'nings they're aw'd; And wantonly dream of a balanc'd account, Till they see the commandment so broad.

In open defiance, they daringly peep,
Till a terrible clap from the cloud
Instructs the presumptuous his distance to keep,
That Jehovah resisteth the proud.

They boast of escaping the deluge of wrath,
By obedience that felons perform;

And hope to get life from the sentence of death,
From the earthquake, the wind, and the storm.

They seek for a portion with glorify'd saints,
Where all must be silent in dust;

And call out for mercy, and urge their complaints,
In a way that all mortals are curs'd.

What wretches! to play at the fiery throne,
With the buckler of God at their heart!

Where beasts that approach must be slain with a stone,
Or must die by the thrust of a dart!

The glorify'd Judge shall assemble the lost,
And their towering Babel shall crack;

And builders and buildings shall find, to their cost,
Their foundation disclos'd to the neck.

The archangel's trump, and the sentence, shall blast;
Yea, the fabric of nature be crash'd;

And mortals deluded convinc'd at the last,
When in infinite ruins abash'd.

END OF THE FIRST PART.

THE

SECOND PART.

How

ow sweet are the joys of a Spiritual Birth,

How delightful the comforts within,

When weeping and mourning are silenc'd by mirth, And the conscience disburden'd of sin!

All doubtings and fearings are made to subside,
And submit to the triumphs of Love;

The fetters are broke, and the bondage untied,
And exchang'd for the wings of a dove.

Stern Justice refuses to carry the suit,
When Jesus, the ransom, appears:

The debtor's amaz'd when the creditor's mute;
The insolvent is drowned in tears.

All torments and terrors take flight, and are gone, And divine consolations succeed;

Believers and Jesus how happy alone,

When Elias and Moses are fled!

Regardless he seem'd when he wrote on the ground;

But, as soon as he lift up his head,

The Law, Sin, nor Satan, could neither be found, For all mine accusers were filed.

Hath no man condemn'd thee," he cry'd withcondole,

Though guilty by every plea?

"Nor will I condemn thee, thou penitent soul, "Nor permit them to pluck thee from me.

"Peace be unto thee, and an end to the strife, "For I am the First and the Last:

"I pardon thee freely, and raise thee to life; "Nor upbraid thee for aught that is past."

Thus wounded with sorrow, and melted with love, A victim to mercy I fell;

Amaz'd he should come from the regions above, With the keys both of death and of hell!

My clouds of transgressions were chas'd from the skies
By the radiant beams of the Sun;

By faith in the Saviour from death we arise,
Then is life everlasting begun!