60. A LIVING AND A DEAD FAITH.

HE Lord receives his highest praise From humble minds and hearts fincere; While all the loud profeffor fays Offends the righteous Judge's ear.

To walk as children of the day,
To mark the precepts' holy light,
To wage the warfare, watch, and pray,
Show who are pleafing in his fight.
Not words alone it coft the Lord,
To purchase pardon for his own;
Nor will a foul by grace restored
Return the Saviour words alone.

With golden bells, the priestly veft,

And rich pomegranates border'd round,*

The need of holiness expreff'd,

And call'd for fruit as well as found.

Easy indeed it were to reach

A mansion in the courts above,
If fwelling words and fluent fpeech
Might ferve inftead of faith and love.

But none shall gain the blissful place,
Or God's unclouded glory fee,
Who talks of free and fovereign grace,
Unless that grace has made him free!

Exodus xxviii. 33.

61. ABUSE OF THE GOSPEL.

OO many, Lord, abuse thy grace
In this licentious day;

And while they boaft they fee thy face,
They turn their own away.

Thy book displays a gracious light

That can the blind restore;
But these are dazzled by the fight,
And blinded ftill the more.

The pardon fuch presume upon,
They do not beg, but steal;
And when they plead it at thy throne,
Oh! where's the Spirit's feal?

Was it for this, ye lawless tribe,
The dear Redeemer bled?
Is this the grace the faints imbibe
From Chrift the living head?

Ah, Lord, we know thy chofen few
Are fed with heavenly fare;

But these, the wretched husks they chew
Proclaim them what they are.

The liberty our hearts implore

Is not to live in fin;

But ftill to wait at Wisdom's door,
Till Mercy calls us in.

62. THE NARROW WAY.

HAT thoufands never knew the road!
What thousands hate it when 'tis
known!

None but the chofen tribes of God
Will feek or choose it for their own.

A thousand ways in ruin end,
One only leads to joys on high;
By that my willing fteps afcend,
Pleased with a journey to the fky.

No more I ask or hope to find
Delight or happiness below;

Sorrow may well poffefs the mind

That feeds where thorns and thistles

grow.

The joy that fades is not for me,

I feek immortal joys above;
There glory without end fhall be
The bright reward of faith and love.

Cleave to the world, ye fordid worms,
Contented lick your native duft;
But God fhall fight, with all his storms,
Against the idol of your trust.

63. DEPENDENCE.

O keep the lamp alive,

With oil we fill the bowl;

'Tis water makes the willow thrive, And grace that feeds the foul.

The Lord's unfparing hand
Supplies the living stream;

It is not at our own command,
But ftill derived from him.

Beware of Peter's word,*
Nor confidently say,

"I never will deny thee, Lord,"
But," Grant I never may."

Man's wisdom is to feek

His ftrength in God alone;
And e'en an angel would be weak,
Who trusted in his own.

Retreat beneath his wings,

And in his grace confide;

This more exalts the King of kingst
Than all your works befide.

In Jefus is our store,

Grace iffues from his throne ;

Whoever fays, "I want no more,'
Confeffes he has none.

* Matthew xxvi. 33.

+ John vi. 29.

64. NOT OF WORKS.

RACE, triumphant in the throne,
Scorns a rival, reigns alone;

Come and bow beneath her fway, Caft your idol works away.

Works of man, when made his plea,
Never shall accepted be;

Fruits of pride (vain-glorious worm!)
Are the best he can perform.

Self, the God his foul adores,
Influences all his powers;
Jefus is a flighted name,
Self-advancement all his aim:

But when God the Judge fhall come,
To pronounce the final doom,

Then for rocks and hills to hide
All his works and all his pride!

Still the boasting heart replies,
What! the worthy and the wise,
Friends to temperance and peace,
Have not these a righteousness?
Banish every vain pretence
Built on human excellence;
Perish every thing in man,

But the grace that never can.