Types and prophecies of Christ. Behold the woman’s promis’d seed!Behold the great Messiah come!Behold the prophets all agreedTo give him the superior room! Abrah’m the saint rejoic’d of oldWhen visions of the Lord he saw;Moses the man of God foretoldThis great fulfiller of his law. The types bore witness to his Name,Obtain’d their chief design, […]

Circumcision abolished. The promise was divinely free,Extensive was the grace;“I will the God of Abrah’m be,“And of his numerous race.” He said; and with a bloody sealConfirm’d the words he spoke;Long did the Sons of Abrah’m feelThe sharp and painful yoke. Till God’s own Son, descending low,Gave his own flesh to bleed;And Gentiles taste the […]

The operations of the Holy Spirit. Eternal Spirit! we confessAnd sing the wonders of thy grace;Thy power conveys our blessings downFrom God the Father and the Son. Enlighten’d by thine heavenly rayOur shades and darkness turn to day;Thine inward teachings make us knowOur danger and our refuge too. Thy power and glory works within,And breaks […]

The offices of Christ. We bless the Prophet of the Lord,That comes with truth and grace;Jesus, thy Spirit and thy wordShall lead us in thy ways. We reverence our High Priest above,Who offer’d up his blood,And lives to carry on his love,By pleading with our God. We honour our exalted King,How sweet are his commands!He […]

Faith assisted by sense; or, Preaching,baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. My Saviour-God, my Sovereign-PrinceReigns far above the skies;But brings his graces down to sense,And helps my faith to rise. My eyes and ears shall bless his Name,They read and hear his word;My touch and taste shall do the sameWhen they receive the Lord. Baptismal water […]

The example: of Christ and the saints. Give me the wings of faith to riseWithin the veil, and seeThe saints above, how great their joys,How bright their glories be. Once they were mourning here below,And wet their couch with tears;They wrestled hard, as we do now,With sins, and doubts, and fears. I ask them whence […]

The example of Christ. My dear Redeemer and my Lord,I read my duty in thy word;But in thy life the law appearsDrawn out in living characters. Such was thy truth, and such thy zeal,Such deference to thy Father’s will,Such love, and meekness so divine,I would transcribe, and make them mine. Cold mountains and the midnight […]

The power of the gospel. This is the word of truth and love,Sent to the nations from above;Jehovah here resolves to shewWhat his almighty grace can do. This remedy did wisdom findTo heal diseases of the mind:This sovereign balm, whose virtues canRestore the ruin’d creature, man. The gospel bids the dead revive,Sinners obey the voice, […]

Miracles in the life, death,and resurrection of Christ. Behold the blind their sight receive;Behold the dead awake and live;The dumb speak wonders, and the lameLeap like the hart, and bless his Name. Thus doth th’ eternal Spirit ownAnd seal the mission of the Son;The Father vindicates his cause,While he hangs bleeding on the cross. He […]

The effusion of the Spirit; or,The success of the gospel. Great was the day, the joy was great,When the divine disciples met;Whilst on their heads the Spirit came,And sat like tongues of cloven flame. What gifts, what miracles he gave!And power to kill, and power to save!Furnish’d their tongues with wondrous words,Instead of shields, and […]

Flesh and spirit. What different powers of grace and sinAttend our mortal state!I hate the thoughts that work within,And do the works I hate. Now I complain, and groan, and die,While sin and Satan reign:Now raise my songs of triumph high,For grace prevails again. So darkness struggles with the lightTill perfect day arise;Water and fire […]

Faith in Christ our sacrifice. Not all the blood of beastsOn Jewish altars slainCould give the guilty conscience peace,Or wash away the stain. But Christ the heavenly LambTakes all our sins away;A sacrifice of nobler nameAnd richer blood than they. My faith would lay her handOn that dear head of thine,While like a penitent I […]

Honour to Magistrates; or,Government from God. Eternal Sovereign of the sky,And Lord of all below,We mortals to thy majestyOur first obedience owe. Our souls adore thy throne supreme,And bless thy providenceFor magistrates of meaner name,Our glory and defence. [The crowns of British princes shineWith rays above the rest,Where laws and liberties combineTo make the nation […]

God reconciled in Christ. Dearest of all the names aboveMy Jesus, and my God,Who can resist thy heavenly love,Or trifle with thy blood? ‘Tis by the merits of thy deathThe Father smiles again;‘Tis by thine interceding breathThe Spirit dwells with men. Till God in human flesh I see,My thoughts no comfort find;The holy, just, and […]

The creation of the world, Gen. 1. “Now let a spacious world arise,”Said the Creator-Lord:At once the obedient earth and skiesRose at his sovereign word. [Dark was the deep; the waters layConfus’d and drown’d the land:He call’d the light; the new-born dayAttends on his command. He bids the clouds ascend on high;The clouds ascend and […]

The vanity of creatures;or, No rest on earth. Man has a soul of vast desires,He burns within with restless fires;Tost to and fro, his passions flyFrom vanity to vanity. In vain on earth we hope to findSome solid good to fill the mind,We try new pleasures, but we feelThe inward thirst and torment still. So […]

Sight through a glass, and face to face. I love the windows of thy graceThro’ which my Lord is seen,And long to meet my Saviour’s faceWithout a glass between. O, that the happy hour were comeTo change my faith to sight!I shall behold my Lord at homeIn a diviner light. Haste, my beloved, and removeThese […]

The distemper, folly, and madness of sin. Sin like a venomous diseaseInfects our vital blood;The only balm is sovereign grace,And the physician, God. Our beauty and our strength are fled,And we draw near to death;But Christ the Lord recalls the deadWith his almighty breath. Madness by nature reigns within,The passions burn and rage;Till God’s own […]

Sinai and Sion, Heb. 12. 18 etc. Not to the terrors of the Lord,The tempest, fire, and smoke,Not to the thunder of that wordWhich God on Sinai spoke; But we are come to Sion’s hill,The city of our God,Where milder words declare his willAnd spread his love abroad. Behold th’ innumerable hostOf angels cloth’d in […]

Prophesy and inspiration. ‘Twas by an order from the LordThe ancient prophets spoke his word;His Spirit did their tongues inspire,And warm’d their hearts with heavenly fire. The works and wonders which they wroughtConfirm’d the messages they brought;The prophet’s pen succeeds his breathTo save the holy words from death. Great God, mine eyes with pleasure lookOn […]