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T EI E
[[N]||S| AND THUMPH
DIVINE WISI)0M AND LOWE
IN
PREDESTINATION
BY
ŽOH.W HUJMBE(RGE(R, JM. -4.
F ST. PETER's PARISH, SHIPPENVILLE, CLARION Co., PA
MIDSUMMER, 1884.
f
&LUMBus OHIO :
J. L. TRA UGER, PRINTER.


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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by
JOHN HUMBERGER,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.


AD MEMORIAM.
To the Blessed Memory of our Sainted Professors
of Theology, the two greatest Lights of
Divinity in our Age,
CHARLES P. KRAUTH, D.D. LLD.
a most Revered and Profound Christian Scholar;
AND MY INSTRUCTOR,
WILLIAM FREDERICK LEHMANN,
a Prodigy of Divinity,
and Master of the English Language,
THIS POEM IS AFFECTIONATELY OFFERED,
by his Most Unworthy Student,
THE AUTHOR.


vi - ARGUMENTs.
BOOK IX.
Election According to the Foreknowledge of God,
and Connected with the Means of Grace. Crypto-Calvin-
ism in the Lutheran Church. Expelled by the Form of
Concord. Universal Election Overthrown. Foresight Nec-
cessary to Election, is not its Effective but Occasional
Cause; it is not Synergism, but may be Forced or Lead
to it. *
- BOOK X.
America, the new Battle Ground for the Last Contro-
versy on Predestination. The Appearance of the Enemy.
Endeavors to Smuggle Calvinism into the Lutheran Con-
fessions and into the Expressions and Writings of the
Lutheran Fathers. Their Dotage and Exalted Fanaticism.
BOOK XI.
General Astonishment and Disgust at the First Appear-
ance of the Calvinistic Leaven. The Doctrine Opposed.
The Opposition Feared. The Opponents Umbeset with
Trickery. Meantime the Doctrine is Smuggled into the
church. It brings Dissensions and Divisions in Congrega-
tions and Synods. Its New Champion's claim to Infalli-
tility. The Opponents Excommunicated at Large.
BOOK XII.
The Answer of the New Achilles to his Excommuni-
cation. His Wrath. He Exposes their False Doctrine,
False Accusations and Trickery.
BOOK XIII.
The Practical Demonstration of the Doctrine Results
in nothing but Despair and Death.
BOOK XIV.
The Ode of Triumph.





Aff (ſ) (ſ) iſ iſ,
—edºc-
The Conquest great, the Triumph erst unfurl’d,
Which Love divine and Wisdom gave the world,
In man's Predestination by free grace;
Election to Eternal Life I trace;
The great stupendous thought and deep designs,
Transcending all man's beggarly confines;
That once were framed upon God's throne above,
Decreed and sworn by Wisdom, Grace and Love,
And all the heav'nly Pow’rs, ere Time had sprung
His course, or morning stars His praise had sung,
Or angel touched His golden lyre, or earth’s
Foundations ere were laid in blazen girths,
That fold celestial orbs; sing Master Muse,
That didst inspire the sacred page with news,
With tidings of great joy. Release the mind
Enthralled in darkness, where the heart ’s inclined.
Give faith to trust Thy Word alone, and tune
Thy humble instrument this song to croon,
In bounds of what 's revealed. The causes sing,
Of all that 's good, and how that good takes wing,
And flies along the course of God's decrees,
Which firmly stand like pillars in the seas,
On solid rock, and crowned with light to shine
Amid the darkness, in the soul’s confine,
To light a path throughout the gloom of all
This weary pilgrimage. They ne'er can fall.
The gates of hell cannot prevail in storms
Against them. Bounds they set infernal forms,
To evil, saying: “Here shall thy proud waves
Be stayed.” Thus God His name alone engraves,
On all that 's good, and goodness His reward,
In whom the creature finds a faithful guard.
Then praise Him for His goodness, first decreed,
And executed in creation's deed,
Thou Master of all Muses; teach the song
To write, creation's music to prolong,


2 BOOK I.
To distant hills and vales and sunny vines,
From lands of tow’ring derricks and of pines;
Where nature's harmonies are gushing wild;
There waft thy native transports undefiled:
“O Great First Cause ! from whence creation
Sprung,
The universe; full well Thy praise was sung,
Amid the sphere's, when infant nature, free
From swaddling clothes did wanton in a sea,
In one eternal Summer sea, to grow
In beauty, basking in its sunny glow,
And Thy sweet favor. Then the world's sweet lay
Was happy, merry as the month of May.
'Twas then the day first dawned with rosy light,
From out the east, and chased away the night.
And as it first streamed in upon the world,
In raptures of delight creation whirled;
It danced in jubilee's transporting song,
As bursts of heav'nly music swelled the throng.
The cherubim and seraphim all fly
Adown the avenues of light on high.
The soft green fields of Eden, velvet sleek,
And face of God in man, they smiling seek.
They beat their harps of gold and shout for joy;
In sweet Jerusalem their songs employ.
O hills of bliss O homes not made with hands
Eternal in the heavens ! Happy bands!
Seraphic spirits in Elysium ! | *
Blaze all ye tow’rs of New Jerusalem
All crowned and decked with fiery wings of bright
And heav'nly spirits, clothed in robes of white'
Hail happy day! Let all take up the theme,
Lift up their voice and sing the loud acclaim :
“Glory to God!’. The earth is full of song;
Heav'ns burdened, bend as tº echoing notes prolong.
The birds on every spray carol their lays
Of love to their Almighty Maker's praise. -
Flow’rs bloom like gems of beauty, robed in hues,
Beyond earth's glitt’ring thrones and pageant views.
And dews of morn, with fragrance pregnant, waft
Their odors forth; the honeyed sweets you quafft,


BOOK I. - 3
And kiss the laden breeze. The purling rills
Did laugh, the brooks did sing from tow’ring hills,
That crown'd all, worshiping; past which they slink
Through ev'ry lake, by ev'ry streamlet's brink;
With ocean's wave to join that vast sublime,
The rolling flood, beneath that upper clime;
Where the proud heavens spritely stoop to kiss,
And starlit seas leap up for joy and bliss,
To crown the heighth, the depth, and all the world
Profound; and thus creation's praise unfurled.”
The echoing song went forth from hight to hight,
Ringing its changes on the Morn of light.
Say when, Thou Muse of heav'n, that uidest forth
The singers twelve, to go from South to North,
From East to West, to tell and sing the song
Of Moses and the Lamb; O happy throng!
When ceased that perfect note and native lay
Throughout all nature's works, and chid the day,
Till it threw off its charms, and blushed the work
Of heav'ns High King to own; in darkness lurk?
Since He is good and merciful, from whom
Goodness alone can come; the soul's sweet home.
O Truth’s Recorder undefiled, what cause
Has plunged the world in darkness' thickest jaws?
O, tell us whence this life of sin and guilt,
Despair and woe, on which our hopes are built?
Why best intentions of the human breast
Into disaster fall, and are not blest ?
The heart is wracked and tossed in fiendish sport
By mad-wild winds, that know no safe, sweet port,
Nor rest or peace within this vale of tears,
Where all is striving, toiling through the years;
Yet minds distracted, hearts desponding, souls
Forever lost, enslaved in fate’s dark doles;
The body’ cast away upon these shores
Of time, to rot mid fool's superfl'ous stores,
And there, a prey to rav’nous beast of lust,
Devouring worms and reptiles of the dust?
“Twas Satan, Adversary first of God
And angels; chief and prince in heav'n he trod;
In domains of Almighty Pow'r and light,
Fast by the throne, he held his stately right.


4 BOOK I.
Now he, contriving to usurp begins,
Filch pow'rs and principalities of kings.
Amid the heav'nly potentates he frowns,
With proud and envious heart upon their crowns.
With craft he seeks Omnipotence, invents,
Contriving, ruminating his intents.
With pow'rful genius, judgment, knowledge, list,
In pride assays Almighty Pow'r tº resist.
Disposing all his wicked pow'rs around
In solid ranks; then gives the battle sound.
With unconstrained ambition, envious pride,
His brow knit fast, he wields his scepter wide.
Disdainful now his captains he installs,
Commands to charge against the King. He calls!
From utmost bounds of His dominion run
The wicked foe; in serried ranks begun;
They dash against the throne, from which they fell,
Careering downward to the pit of hell.
And thus Thy first estate didst abdicate,
Thou prince of angels fall'n' Archfiend of hate!
Thou cherished this, whereas Thou once didst love,
For Thou wast made a font of joy above,
A source of peace, a vessel full of bliss,
All which Thou didst o'erthrow, and now dost miss;
By that same pow'r with which Thou heldst it fast;
Enforced to neither; thus Thy die didst cast.
Thy own free will Thou didst abuse. Charge not
This gift to Him as sin, or wicked plot.”
Then Satan thus replied: “Aha, He knew
This when He made me; had this all in view.
He made me to rebel; and hence ’tis fair,
He only has Himself the blame to bear.
He saw fulwell my sins with open eyes;
To this, creates me there above the skies,
That I should sin, that He might cast me down
To endless pain, and at my torment frown.
'Tis His disgrace and shame. He willed it thus,
Himself 's the cause of all this fire and fuss.”
“Stop Satan!” Thus the Muse upbraids the fiend:
Stop, essence of all meanness overweened
Hiss not at me! Glibtongue! my wrath to taunt,
Thou monster of the muddy deep ! Avaunt!


6 BOOK I.
In kindness Great Jehovah did create
This possibility to sin, this state;
And yet forbade the creature's thought to sin.
In spite of this, rebellion you begin.
All perfect stood on basis of this grant.
Your reason 's vile, and hypocritic cant.
Within eternal ages yet to be,
God knows all future things, and acts doth see.
The only source from whence this knowledge flows,
Depends on what will be, which foresight knows,
And so, whatever is or what will be,
Foreknowledge knows, and constitutes the key.
Yet mere cognition 'tis, and pow'r doth lack
To bend God’s will, or force Him to take back,
What He foresees. But Goodness 'tis that bends
The will of God, and all His works attends.
Although He knew thy sin, He yet, in spite
Of this created those that fell from light,
To darkness vile. Thus Goodness is the norm
That moved Him to create and to perform;
For He is good, and Goodness His defense;
Although He knows the universe immense;
Both good and bad; the bad comes not from Him,
Because He saw what you’d abuse and nim ;
Conditions He created, such as fill
Requirements of the freedom of the will.
Satan, there's no excuse, thou didst disgrace
In thee this greatest gift of God, His face.
And still, in hell this is thy chief delight,
From whence on ebon clouds thou tak'st thy flight,
In murd’rous haste to Paradise, and there,
In serpent form thou coil'st within thy lair,
Of cooling shades, close by a murm’ring brook,
With roses fringed, and lillies in a nook,
Where birds did warble forth melodious songs,
To spit thy venom from thy forked tongues;
Tº enslave the fair, and spoil the face of God
In man; to blot out his free-will and rob,
This image of God's glory, which thou lost
Past all redemption; lost at thy own cost,
As by volition free thou tak'st to rule
In hell, rather than serve at His footstool.”


Aff (ſ) (ſ)}{ }(He
—ede–
Thus Satan, he, self-banished from all good,
Became the cause of evil. 'Tis his food.
On this he lives and triumphs o'er the world
With spirits like himself, from heav'n once hurl’d.
In outer darkness, penal fire and chains,
Despair and death, with woe he entertains.
He wields dominion o'er the world and hell,
In galling bonds he drags them down pell-mell.
With jaws of death they tear their living prey,
They feast like roaring lions 'mid their fray.
'Tis thus he seeks his captives to devour,
Rejoicing in their torments ev'ry hour.
O heav'n, is there deliv'rance none, no nook,
To flee for refuge from this galling yoke 2
No pow'r to heal the wounds that eat to kill,
And, damn the soul 'neath fires eternal still ?
“Know this, thou hast deserved no better fate,
By sin to love the tempter, God to hate.
From God the good thou freely turn'st thy face,
To love unrighteousness, and live disgrace.
Yet, hearken to my voice. Before the throne
Of Great Jehovah thou must stand alone,
Arraigned to answer for thy sins. O man;
At awful distance bow and fear the ban.
Possess thy heart with humble, god-like fear;
With rev'rence see the heav'nly pow'rs appear.”
He spoke. I stood in presence of the crowns,
The throned dominions and celestial frowns.
There circling glories flashed their living light,
From sardine stone and sapphire dazzling bright.
The rainbow glowed like em'rald all around,
O'erarched the four and twenty elders crowned;
That sat all clothed in raiment white, and gold
And jeweled brows, whence sounds so fearful rolled;
And rumbling thunders issued forth, where blazed
The seven lamps of God, and sea all glazed,
(7)


8 BOOK II.
Like shining crystal. Brighter far than sun
At noon the beatific vision spun.
A maze of whirling thoughts confused the brain,
And dazed the eye with blinding tears like rain.
I fain would grasp the spots that darkling hung
On mortal sight, and all my senses stung.
Thus left in total darkness, rapt in gloom
And solemn thought, I stood in God’s great home.
And there, in presence of the heav'nly Pow’rs -
O'ercanopied by the angelic bow’rs,
And all beatitudes; I sailed in thought
More swift than lightning through tº ethereal vault.
I mused on the Eternity of God,
Where sin can never come or mortals trod;
His Majesty, and in my airy flight
Encircled all His rolling spheres of light.
I trod the pathless solitudes, the deeps
Of flow'ry vales, or climbed the mountain steeps;
I roamed the verdant hills and trackless space
Illimitable, buoyed with tow’ring grace;
Until my thoughts were ravished regions high
Above the mountain tops, then stooped to fly;
Reposing calmly on the lightning's flash,
Where rolling thunder's fiery billows splash.
Yet no escape the burdened spirit saw ;
That awful presence rapt me all in awe.
It filled the universe; at every bound, -
There loomed"the darkness of that vast profound.
In wonderment thus left all unconfined,
While pond’rous thoughts disturbed the toiling
mind;
I heard the rustling of a Seraph's wing.
Approaching nigh He came from heaven's High
King ; -
And brings the pow'r of living sight, that sight,
By which the eye beholds immortal light;
That I might see the Pow’rs of heav'n contend
About the fate of man; his ills attend.
He raised His hand and touched my eyes
With beams of light, and vision of great size.
I looked, and saw the canopy ablaze,
Where thousands of ten thousand angels gaze


BOOK II. 9
Now flashing crowns and robes of light appear.
Behold, I see the heav'nly pow'rs draw near !
They beam upon the throne with burning rays
Of glory, and defend His righteous ways.
They justify His character divine -
Against the sinner; and all Pow’rs combine.
Life first submits His plea before the throne;
With grave serenity His count'nance shone.
He said: “Where Death sets up his tyrant sway,
There Life is vanquished, spoiled of His array.
I must deny the sinner's right to live
In heav'n, and unto Death his life I give,
To whom he sold it, eating of that fruit
Forbidden; hence my plea: dismiss this suit.
Where's man’s authority for Life to sue 2
The gates of Life he's freely broken through 2
He 's chosen sin, and in transgression Death,
There let him lay and breathe his cursed breath.
I fly from Death that I may live in bliss,
Lest fangs of Death me tear, where serpents hiss.
Should I be caught as subject to his pow'r,
No songs shall ever gladden yonder bow'r;
My voice shall then no more be heard above,
In sweet Jerusalem, the home I love.
No happy fields with fragrant flow’rs be found,
No river flow with Life, nor joys abound;
But Death would reign supremely here in heav'n'
Eternal Pow’rs! shall we to Death be giv'n 2
I plea that we forthwith this suit dismiss.
I'll never deign his putrid lips to kiss,
In welcome to these regions, bless'd abodes;
To brotherhood’s eternal cov’nant codes.”
Benign and gentle Peace in robes of down
And ermine, wearing on His brow a crown
Of brilliants, next arose; stood near the throne
And said: “My name is Peace. To all I’m known.
I rest in quiet stillness in the heart
Of Great Jehovah, free from ev’ry smart.
But now the tug of war has entered there,
Life's calm serenity it did not spare,
Disturbing my repose. For man who fell
To dire rebellion with the hosts of hell;


10 BOOK II.
Arrayed him 'gainst tranquility and rest
That sweetly dwelt in Peace's lovely breast.
And hence, I irrevocably demand
His absolute expulsion from this land
Of my delights. Or else the cruel lash
Of war will scourge these regions with its crash
Of thundering battalions, and a train
Of fiery demons, foisting in their reign
Infernal.” -
Then admid the heav'nly host,
The Law stood forth and thus began to boast:
“No leav'n unclean shall soil my robes. I’m pure;
All my demands are steadfast and most sure.
My statues are eternal; and my due -
Is full obedience, honor bright and true.
But foul dishonor you have raised; my voice
Thou hast despised, and sin’s, alas, thy choice.
And it has filled thy heart with evil lust,
Concupiscence; so now thy heart's unjust ;
From youth up it imagines evil things,
And in my face its vile transgressions flings.
Ye throned compeers! The Law is but a dream,
Without a punishment to enforce its claim.
Inflict no pain, no punishment is there;
The vilest piece of mock’ry 'tis, I swear.
Shall man escape in peace, impunity,
Reduce God's government to mutiny ?
Shall vile contempt, abuse, which man begins,
Thus harden ev'ry rebel in his sins?
Hence I demand the death the Law requires,
Without a grain of mercy hope inspires.”
Next Knowledge, tow'ring forth arose and spoke:
“I knew the wrath of God man would provoke.
From all eternity I saw results
'Gainst God's decrees, where Satan now exults.
The will of God decreed the good alone,
But sin results from spite against God's throne.
For God's decrees embrace the good, with room
For opposition. Pride, here writes its doom.
This opportunity I saw employed,
How soon some creatures thus would be destroyed.


BOOK II. 11
Yet opposition never was decreed,
Nor was its dire results, or evil deed.
All this I did foresee, and made it known
Unto you all. These are the pow'rs I own.
I have no pow'r myself tº assist the good,
Or to prevent the evil if I wou'd;
Although I hate the evil I foresaw,
And much desire obedience to the Law.
Hence I can plead, set bounds to evil pow'rs,
Or else they’ll shrivel all our cherished flow’rs.”
Majestic Truth with gravity arose,
Confirmed the Law's appeal with this depose:
“The soul that sins shall die, and feel the curse,
They had it better, let them take the worse.
For ev'ry one that 'bides not in what 's writ,
By all things in the Law, the curse is fit.
Offend one point, you guilty are of all.
The wicked shall be turned to hell that fall.
For surely thou shalt die within the day
Thou eat'st thereof; 'tis thus the Scriptures say.
These sayings came from Truth who cannot lie,
Hence Truth is pledged to see the sinner die;
Lest man grow bold in sin and turn his ire
To mischief, anarchy in God’s empire.”
Then Justice, grave and tall, with piercing eyes
That glowed like fiery darts in ebon skies;
His tongue was scorching and His words like fire;
He rose to make His plea all hot with ire : .
“My name may grit upon the ear, and sound
Discordant, and with terror doth abound,
For all the guilty. . Yet, what 's just is right.
The least departure thence, is sinful quite.
'Tis wrong; and hence I plead for that that 's just.
The rebel man I will no longer trust.
He sinned with open eyes and knew full well
The penalty. Prepare his doom, O hell! -
Take life and blood. For guilt must stain the dome
Of heav'n, till Vengeance thrusts the traitor home.”
Then Holiness addressed the Judge of heav'n
And earth: “My name can’t bear the least of leav'n;


12 BOOK II.
Can't bear the sinner, here in God's empire;
He's full of wounds, and sores and base desire.
From head to foot unsound, defiled, impure,
He's so depraved in sin, in flesh secure.
Since we can’t walk together, or agree,
Or holiness, or man unclean, must flee;
Must quit these regions.”
Vengeance then arose,
And o'er the stage the lofty Monarch goes.
His eyes were geared-lightning, their flash the train
That drives the thunderbolt through hurricane.
He looked upon the sinner in his woe,
Then rushed in wild deliriums to and fro.
With great contempt and fiercest wrath He burned,
The sinner from the throne indignant spurned.
With faces vailed the angels kneeling crouched,
Their robes upon the ground in sadness slouched.
When Vengeance, filled with indignation, spoke,
The thunders volleyed and the lightnings broke.
I trembled, as they crashed around the world,
Like aspen leaves in raging storms unfurled.
All hell's vile furies quailed before His ire;
The earth did rock uneasy at His fire:
“My name is Vengeance; sprung a child of awe,
From Justice, Holiness, from Truth and Law.
Hence punishment, retribution, send fire
Upon the sinner, is my work, my tire.
Vengeance is mine, I will repay ! I'll burn
To lowest hell, and toss that fiery churn.
In my hot anger I will tread them down,
And trample them in fury as I frown.
I’ll crush their hearts, make fly their blood, and dash
And sprinkle, smear my garments as I splash;
Fill up the wine-press of His fierceness, stain
My raiment, there I'll tread and smash the slain.
I'll come in rage upon a path of fire,
With chariots like a whirlwind in desire;
And laugh at their calamity that sinned,
Nor shall I spare the leprous brood that grinned.
I'll mock them in their misery, the kings
Of earth, great men, rich men, destroy all things;


14 BOOK II.
And lick him up; fire and everlasting death !
Let him not live to draw another breath !
On 1 On 1 Omnipotence Strike at his head'
Let not the traitor live, on treason fed
And let him die the death, and bleed his blood,
And stretch him out upon the fiery flood
In torments evermore his pain bemoan,
Amid hell's furies' On! Omnipotence On l’”


Aff (ſ) (ſ) iſ iſ iſ ſo
—cº-
Behold, now smoke and darkness filled the
throne.
Throughout the temple, fiery flashes shone.
Their voices thundered, as they waved on high
Their brandished swords, and at the sinner fly.
They thirst for blood, while hell in hope grew proud
For prey, and yelled and laughed profanely loud.
The sun was turned to darkness. The black sky,
Convulsed with anger, made its daggers fly.
The tow’ring mountain tops were torn piece-meal,
And ground to atoms in tornado's wheel.
The solid earth was split upon its base,
Its pillars crumbled in the world's disgrace.
Around it spread the white-hot caldron's sheet,
Its elements to melt with fervent heat.
The angels, hov'ring round the blasted bourn
Of a lost world, fold hands and pray for morn.
They trembled as they prayed with awe and fear,
To see the dreadful doom of man so near ;
The great Avenger now had almost hurl’d
The rebel down to hell and burnt the world.
As once they weeping saw their brethren cast
From out the bliss of heav'n, to tortures vast.
In awe they see Omnipotence appear,
Enrobed in awful Majesty and fear;
Equipped in panoply divine, begins
To execute the rebel for his sins. .
Throughout tº ethereal vault the lightnings dart,
And aim their fiery shafts to hit the heart.
Loud thunders rolled before Him. Sinai racked,
The Lord's stronghold and mighty bulwarks cracked.
Hail stones and coals of fire from thickest cloud
And pole of either heav'n thundered loud.
A sharp two-edged sword thus wields His right,
An iron rod His left, with skill and might;
(15)


BOOK III. 17
Who is wise, good and powerful enough
To help him ; so that Law be not too rough,
And Truth and Justice satisfied.”
Then LOVE
Advanced and stood before the throne above.
His heart, in all His winning charms He held,
With hunnan kindness all His bosom swelled.
His beaming eyes awoke the slumb’ring fires
Of hope forlorn, and strengthened my desires.
He spoke. No angel ever spoke so well,
No seraph's tongue a sweeter note can swell:
“My name is Love. No lords in heav'n can claim
A higher rank, or virtue in a name;
For GoD Is LovE. This name it will be seen,
Among the ruling Pow’rs denotes the Queen.
My plea must then be heard before the rest,
Or else what they have cursed, can ne'er be blest.
'Tis true, my Love to man of yore endures,
From everlasting, and the pow'r secures,
That neither death nor life, nor angel throng,
Nor principalities or creature strong,
Nor heighth nor depth, nor pow'r, or present things,
Or things to come, nor pain, bliss, nothing brings
The pow'r to separate my Love from man,
From rebels, hurled in haste beneath the ban,
With all their kindred. Grant this one request,
And let the sinner live our ransomed guest.
Else Love, unto eternal mourning fall,
And all the heav’ns for man in sorrow pall.”
Grace also came to plead with ancient lore:
“Rewards bestowed on works, is Grace no more.
'Tis debt. But favors giv'n without a claim
Upon the donor, this just fits my name.
When guilt is added, and the subject hates
The donor, Grace forgives and reinstates.
This favor thus bestowed 's so wondrous great,
We call it Grace indeed. This is my state.
My name shall through the ages here make known,
And render good for evil from God's throne.
I make my plea therefore in this: Let man
Be pardoned, and delivered from the ban,
2


BOOK III. 21
With pity filled, His face was streamed with tears,
And blood had mingled there eternal years.
All hark | He speaks: “From everlasting hail!
Of old was I set up, the sinner's bail.
With men and sons of men are my delights.
My task is, heav'ns and earth to set to rights.
And lo, to do Thy will, O God, I come,
To reinstate a rebel now in doom.”
The Law in awful righteousness replied:
“Can my demands on man be thus denied ?
I'm holy, just and good, and verily,
The rebel's crimes deserve my penalty.”
The Son declared : “”Tis true indeed. But still
Observe; I’m come the Law but to fulfill;
Not to destroy it. Not a jot shall fall
Or perish. Earth and heav'ns to witness call!
They’ll pass away, but not a tittle past
From all the Law, till all's fulfilled at last.”
The Truth then spoke in haste: “My lips
have said,
That never erred, what we have often read ;
That, into hell the wicked shall be turned.
And my veracity 's in heav'n discerned.
Now, pledged to see this word fulfilled, I am,
Else truthfulness is but a solemn sham.”
“And verily,” the Son replied, “my blood
Shall wash him clean, in an atoning flood.
From all his sins I’ll purify his soul,
If he'll repent and stay in my control.
I have no pleasure in his death, I swear;
O may he turn from death's deceitful snare.”
Then Holiness grew sad, thus to complain :
“In heav'n with sinners, I cannot remain.
I am so pure, that nothing that's unclean,
Or that maketh a lie, or that is mean,
Can ever enter there.”
The Son responds:
“For all his sins and crimes I give my bonds.
My blood doth cleanse from ev’ry stain and blot,
Before the throne he'll stand without a spot.
No wrinkle there shall ever dim his brow,
When he before Jehovah's seat shall bow.”


22 BOOK III.
Now Justice, cold and stern and hardest won,
Cried out : “Strike!” “Not the sinner,” cried the
Son,
“But strike the Surety.” Justice brow did low'r,
He plead : “Can heav'n admit vicarious pow'r?
Make one to suffer punishment and pa
Another's debts? The just for unjust iy º
The Son replied: “'Tis done, what man to man
Will not, should not admit; the glorious plan,
Which will astonish all the hosts of †.
And those on earth enthralled in darkest night.
For they shall profit by the old decree
That man in Satan’s thralldom, must be free.
In fulness of the time I must be born
Of woman, made under the Law forlorn,
And yield a full obedience unto it,
And thus the Law’s demands on man acquit;
The penalty for sinners and their clan
In excommunication's wretched ban,
Expelled from out the bliss of heav'nly ports,
For which Justice contends in all His courts,
I then shall suffer, thoroughly remove,
Which God will sure accept, Justice approve,
And angel’s adore. I shall die ; surprise
The pow'rs of death, and bear away the prize
Of victory o'er it. I shall descend
To hell, and preach till Gospel triumphs rend
The ebon vault of darkness, rise again
From death, for forty days will prove this plain,
With wond’rous words and deeds before the world;
Ascend to heav'n where glory is unfurl’d,
All enemies beneath my feet I’ll tread,
The day of days will come, that day of dread;
That awful day for which all days were made,
When in their quiet beds, the dead once laid
In peaceful rest, shall then be raised to life,
And they that live on earth for judgment rife,
Shall all be changed; and thus before the throne
Of judgment to be judged each stand alone,
For all their sins. Those goats among the sheep,
Unclean and vile, among the saints they sleep,


BOOK III. 23
And love darkness much more than light because
Their deeds are evil, sunk to vile applause,
Who wantoned with atoning blood, opposed
His Spirit, to whose grace their heart foreclosed,
And flung God's Word away in hateful scorn,
Will banished be the kingdom, all forlorn,
And cast in outer darkness, and like straw
And stubble be consumed, and they shall gnaw
Their galling bonds forever. Those who die
Believing shall ascend above the sky,
In beams of light, and walk the golden streets
Of new Jerusalem, that home of sweets;
My loved disciples there shall e'er enjoy
My own right hand, and crowns without alloy,
wº, fullest joy and pleasure evermore,
To drink the bliss that seraph hands shall pour.
Hence, this the plan, by which I undertake
Deliverance for the captive; peace to make,
An everlasting peace, and reconcile
The things in heav'n and things on earth mean-
- - while.”
Law, Truth and Justice cried with voices strong:
“That's all we want, just so what's right 's not
wrong.”
And now the heav'ns with hallelujahs thrilled,
With notes of glee by flaming seraphs trilled.
Love, Grace and Mercy cried with shouts of joy:
“Thou didst not come the creature to destroy,
That man might live. The blessed theme admire,
The minds' delight, and all our hearts' desire,
The pleasure of our souls.”
Wisdom the plan
Resolved : “'Tis finished 1 O ! deliver man,
Deliver him from going neath the ground,
Into the pit, A RANSOM HAS BEEN Fou ND !”
The throng of gold in sorrow long withdrawn,
In deep concern did wait this wished for dawn;
The dawn of this glad day. Now all the choirs
Of heav'n did sing and sweep their golden lyres:


24 BOOK III.
“To God be highest glory, peace on earth,
Good will to man | We'll sound Thy glories forth !
O Son of Man, Thou worthy art the wreath
Of glory, honors, riches, pow’er, beneath,
Above, forever and forever. Man,
In nature little lower once began, .
With us the paths of life and bliss to tread;
Exalted now, to higher spheres he's led,
To sit on thrones, being like the Son of God,
While we on blissful plains adore the rod
Of Love that once confirmed our peaceful state,
Where man shall now extol Thy riches great,
Redeeming blood, enjoy Thy Love alone,
The boundless freeness of Thy grace and throne.”
God’s court, eternal in the heav’ns, was filled
With sparkling light, whose dazzling brightness
- thrilled
The heav'nly hosts with joy. From which now
poured
The Father's voice, who spoke unto the Word,
The GREAT I AM. “As Thou hast promised this,
To reconcile all things to heav'nly bliss,
The things in heav'n and those on earth, that all
The Pow’rs agreed, before my throne shall fall,
And Truth and Mercy there in concord meet,
And Love and Justice kiss each other's feet,
Cause Wisdom. Life and Peace surround my throne;
All this I know Thou wilt fulfill alone.
In time appointed, by Thy precious blood;
Behold, I hence, who ride upon the flood
Will give to Thee a name, that is above
All other names, JESUs, my gift of Love.
The Dove shall wave Thy olive-branch of Peace
O'er all the earth, Thy kingdom to increase.
And ev'ry knee shall bow before Thy seat,
And ev'ry tongue confess Thy judgment's meet;
And all acknowledge Thee, Thou art the Lord,
On my right hand my own great throne to ward.
Thou shalt dominion have from sea to sea;
O'er all the earth, Thy gath'ring triumphs see.


BOOK IV, 27
With ravishment, enlarged with boundless
pow’rs,
Buoyed up on eminence of highest tow’rs,
That crown the loftiest temple's dome and perch,
I grasped at once within my tireless search,
The vision of all time, and there beheld
The lordly Adam as the prince of eld,
While lovely Eve did frolic o'er the lawn
Or opered lips to drink the dews of dawn.
Saw both in sweet caresses yoke their arms,
Then Eve from Adam stray through Satan's charms.
To evil tempted, now I saw them driv'n
From Eden, where sin the earth had riv'n,
And cursed the ground that smoked and burned
with wrath
Before them 1 saw the angel guard the path,
That led into the lovely-sweet, lone bower's
Of Eden's long-lost home and god-like pow’rs.
Saw infinitely clear the smallest grain
And atom in the universal main.
For all created things my mind would scan,
In my enraptured vision all things span ;
All distances reach, draw them near, imbue
All matter with transparency to view.
The past unlocked its graves, and coming time
Unlocked its womb. I saw the world rise grim
Against its Maker; saw the flood o'erflow
The earth and all the wicked melt like snow,
Before the Lord. Saw earth rise forth again,
Heard waters roar through dale and mountain glen.
I saw the tow’r of Babel rear and bore
Through azure skies its proud defiant door,
To reach the stars; then crumble down and stove
Mankind asunder babbling as they strove.
Saw Nineveh and Babylon unfurl’d,
In oriental splendor o'er the world.
Their dazzling glories glittered to the gaze
Of wanton multitudes entranced with praise.
The stars did kindle up their hidden fires
And plucked up day-light from their golden spires.
They rose to fall, into their beds to creep, -
On banks of proud Euphrates' stream to sleep.


28 BOOK IV.
There sigh their willows still for Judah's girls
Who learned to weep where yonder river twirls
Still on ward to the sea, as when of yore
Victorious Darius filled its tide with gore.
I saw old Thebes a building, ancient Troy
And sweet Jerusalem, our life and joy.
I saw old Greece and Rome their empires raise,
With all the huge proportions of their blaze;
Their cities, spread like met’ors on the sky,
And then, 'mid their triumphal pageants die.
I looked about the fane on which I stood,
And saw the homes of all the blest and good;
Spread out beneath, on high, and quite around
The golden city to its utmost bound;
Jerusalem the lovely, all ablaze
With tow’rs of brilliants set in golden stays. |
Their beams would blind the sight of mortal eye;
To me, all was transparent as the sky;
The streets, the walls, the tow’rs, which did not raise
Obstruction 'gainst the passage or the ways l
Of bright and glitt'ring trains of seraphs sweet
And lovely cherubs, or the saints that meet
Within that city of eternal day;
For there no shadows pass upon the way.
No night or sleep, no heat of welt’ring sun,
No cold or storm their bounding coursers run.
No seasons, days, weeks, months or rolling years;
No seed or harvest time, or gloomy fears;
But one eternal round of pleasures sweet,
Those blessed spirits here forever greet.
A self-productive, inexhaust’ble shore,
Where everlasting joy 's laid up in store.
Grove nods to grove with gold and purple fruits,
With vines in clusters loaded to the roots.
Delicious fragrance here the air perfumes,
Consummate bliss its royal grace assumes.
Here spouting fountains laugh at fountains still,
Where little cherubs sport and bathe at will.
Down to the waters edge the slopes among,
The rills of milk and honey flow along.
Here see the river flow with life; serene
And living waters, like a lovely queen,
*~


BOOK IV. 29
With graceful flow moves down its bed of gold
Through new Jerusalem with ships untold.
All noble vessels, built from hull to mast
And stem to stern with living, angels fast.
With angels piled on angels vessels rise,
Till fleets flow onward ladened with their prize
Of precious saints, all steered by valiant guides,
Archangels to the helm, pursue the tides,
Through rich luxuriant groves and shady bow’rs,
Along voluptuous banks that swell with flow’rs.
Now there I see, steered up the living flood;
Some old familiar face, or kindred blood;
A riding there on yonder tow'ring ship,
Whose angels fold their hands with steadfast grip,
And circle 'round till smaller grows their own,
Built one on t'other upward to the crown,
While each successive circle turn their wings
Without. All stand erect like tow'ring kings.
Now close along the flow'ry shores they glide,
And saints with eager hands across the tide,
Pluck off the blooming sprays and weave them
plumes,
Until the vessel like a flower blooms.
And yet the banks their blooming sprays retained,
Though plucked, in all their blooming grace re-
mained. -
That one descends, and bears his bloomy spray
Amid the saints of heav’n in bright array. '
A sister once, or is it brother, say ?
Or father then 2 And dost thou still delay ?
Perchance a mother's voice I did admire,
A singing there in yon celestial choir”
The just made perfect waved his bloomy spray
And friendly smiled and said: “This is the way;
Still further on, where yonder river glides
Through velvet lawns, and yonder chariot slides
Along those tow’rs that rise above that sheen
Of tufted trees and weeping willows green,
My vessel waits.” -
But now, as we approach,
Tell this: Who rides in yonder gliding coach 2


30 BOOK IV.
Once sister, brother, father, mother dear?
“No. They are these no more. None such are here.
For all the blessed dead that leave earth’s shores
Are one in Jesus here, whom heav'n adores.”
O blessed news! Beyond compare! They're here!
All here ! We lose them not that die in fear,
Believing. But, pray tell, that we be sure;
Who'll die in faith and to the end endure ?
“The Book of Life contains the person's names,
To open it, but one the pow'r reclaims.
'Tis He who wrote them there and blots them out,
Walk they in faith, or go some other route.
No creature knows until the act 's complete,
If he shall win, or suffer in defeat.
That you’re elect, you simply must believe,
And trust His promise, who will not deceive.
'Tis not the certainty that reason gives;
The Christian walks by faith, by faith he lives.
This knowledge grows in certainty in time,
Ne'er absolute, until you reach this clime,
Where all perfections reign, election’s goal,
The home and habitation of the soul.
For what you know, 'tis true, you know as well
As mortal tongue or sweeter strains can tell.
So here you know, that Wisdom made the plan,
On which God built, to save us from the ban,
All His decrees, and made them center here,
Outside which, there are no decrees to fear.
This plan was eler the chief essential part,
Embraced in His election from the start.”
Then o'er the bright enameled lawn he hies,
Down where the river fringed with lilies lies.
Where amaranth and milk-white roses blow,
That neither toil nor spin, yet brilliant grow.
No royal garments e'er were known so fair,
No regal throne on earth e'er dressed so rare.
Here daffodils in bloom and harebells hide,
And nod in sport to kiss the dancing tide;
Whose flow'ry banks swell out embroidered fine,
With hyacinths, whose tossing tresses shine,


32 BOOK IV.
“The Lamb is worthy that was slain, the pow'r,
And riches, wisdom, strength, and honor pure,
And glory, blessing to receive.”
And all
In heav'n, on earth, in sea, aloud did call:
“To Him, the Lamb, that sits upon the throne,
All blessing, honor, glory, pow'r we own.”
And those arrayed in robes of white are they,
Come out of tribulations great; sin’s way.
And they have washed their robes * them
white
In Jesus' blood, the Lamb who gives them light,
And hence in glitt’ring sheen arrayed they stand,
And serve Him day and night with worship grand,
And praise Him in His temple, who shall dwell
Always among them, all their fears to quell.
They shall not hunger more, nor sun, nor heat,
Oppress them more, in this most hallowed seat.
For here the Lamb amidst the throne shall keep
And feed them, like a shepherd guards his sheep.
He'll let them lie in pastures green that grow
On yonder hills, whence living fountains flow;
Or lead them by still waters through that vale,
Where floods of fragrant odors there exhale.
'Tis here that God will wipe away all tears,
And His elect triumphant guard from fears.
And these are they who once did live on earth,
Were children of the world with sinful birth.
Elect they were, as Christ the Son was slain,
Ere earth's foundations lay, He groaned in pain.
God knew them then, and by His fixed resolves,
Made them. His children His decree involves.
For His decrees are based on Christ, and fixed
In faith on His dear name, with mercy mixed.
And are not absolute, for then why claim, .
The Gospel should be preached in Jesus' name?
Believe unto the end and thou shalt wear
A crown of life, the Gospel doth declare.
But by the other rule it matters not,
A Christian true, or unbelieving 'sot.


BOOK IV. 33
The Christian lost, the unbeliever gained,
Then heav'n not Christ, but infidels has rained.
Then turn, decrees fulfilled within the church,
The true predestination there to search.
The church of Christ we'll seek, and bide that high
And lofty wonder world above the sky.
Since now the seraph Muse with rustling wing
Directs our flight where other muses sing.
3 -


BOOK V. • 35
Though softly breathes the calm and quiet air,
Nor infant's cry or mother's wail is there.
The turf that once was washed with crimson stains,
Its laughing green with childhood sports regains.
The merry bird sings there its liquid note,
The waters babble in the brook afloat.
But judgments terrible awaits that ground,
When infant dust shall hear the trumpet’s sound.
The Pandemonian furies burn and quake,
To bring the Child of Promise to the stake.
The Jews are thirsting-hot His blood to shed;
By Judas and his rabble crew He's led.
They hunt Him down to death, and crucify
The Lord of glory, mocking as they cry :
“Hail King! who smit Thee, guess, if Thou be King?
Come tell us, where's the kingdom Thou dost bring?”
Delivered by God's counsel which He made
Determinate, and in foreknowledge laid.
Predestinated ere the world began,
Thus God in Him predestinated man.
And hence on His predestination rests
Election of God's children, His bequests.
A man of sorrow and acquaint with grief,
And such the church that stands for our relief.
Relief in death from death, in pain from pain,
And thus o'er ev'ry foe the vict'ry gain.
For years, long years of sorrow, Rome with death
Pursued the infant flock with panting breath.
Until in surfeit of their blood it grew
Aweary; fainting at the hosts it slew.
And then at length was won to praise His name,
To cast its crown before His throne in shame
But fickle Rome soon changed; while Christians
slept,
The voice of Promise strangled where it crept.
For Antichrist, the chief of wicked men,
The Lion of Judah bearded in his den.
With hell's vile heroes, Pope, who 's Satan's wife,
In lust and pride did march upon their life.
They crush their hearts and wade through blood
to thrones,
With fire and sword they waste their very bones.


36 . BOOK V.
No one dare preach the Gospel's blessed news,
Its voice they smothered in their filthy stews.
When lust, and crime raised up against the voice,
The Pope did temporize and make his choice,
In ceremonies cherished long and dear,
He clothed his new made lords with holy fear.
The world obeys the voice and will of Rome,
To practice Antichrist's decrees they come.
Wrapped up in bundles of their old traditions,
It feeds them on its heathen superstitions;
Idolatry and ignorance, instead
Of Christ the Word, the true and living bread. \
That man of sin, the Pope thus came to light,
The son of all perdition, devil's wight.
Opposing and exalting himself 'bove
All that is God or worshiped, like a Jove.
As God he sits within His temple bold,
Pretending he is God, but Satan's hold.
In works of Satan comes, with pow'r and signs
And lying wonders, hatched in darkest mines,
With all deceivableness of his square
Unrighteousness in them that perish there.
He leads them down to pits eternal, cause
They will not love the truth, obey its laws,
- And thus be saved; and hence delusions strong
God sends them, to believe a lie, do wrong;
That all who'll not believe the truth proclaimed,
But pleasure in unrighteousness, be damned.
Aloof upon his papal throne he sate,
A human fiend, all crowned in royal state ;
His triple crown 's the emblematic tow’r
Of stolen royalty usurped with pow'r,
O'er kingdoms of this world he raised his chair,
And stifled conscience ’s voice with Satan's snare.
His councils he entrapped by his decree,
Enslaved the nations 'neath his papal see.
His vassal kings and potentates now fawned.
While cringing priests and bishops honor pawned.
They servilely adored and kissed his feet,
And bowed before the tyrant's haughty seat.
Thrones trembled, kings and monarchs stood in awe,
His nod was empire and his footfall law.


BOOK V. 37
The mouth-piece of the Lord of hosts he claimed,
And yet the Word of Lord of hosts defamed.
He sent forth legates, set up thrones, dethroned
Kings, queens, till all the world in travail groaned.
Empow'red his votaries by hook and crook,
To root out friends of that detested Book.
His legate ruled all councils like a sire,
At Constance, sent a Huss into the fire.
Behold, a pompous train of murd’rers vile,
Cut-throats in white linen, marched forth in file !
With crimson cross and streamers red, with torch
And crackling fagots. Now his flesh they scorch.
Now burn and roast hin, in ferocity,
Bloodthirstiness, all grinning brutishly.
Depraved they strode, with papal badges girt,
In morals quite putrescent, steeped in dirt.
The crowd that feast on Huss his blood to drain,
Consists in priests of swagg ring, ign’rant brain ;
Effrontry, bluster, blist'ring words of gall,
Intol’rant in religion, cowards all;
Of cross-breeds, bastards, hybreds, and a row
Of mental malformations, sluggish, slow,
Of uninventive, unprogressive brain,
Of cold unpity'ng villains, ruthless, yain.
But soon the Word came forth to life and light,
God sent forth servants battling for the right.
Though fire and sword their wretched lives con-
sumed,
#. more the Word its former pow'er resumed.
The Pope and papists then were sore distrest,
Because our Luther sang his Lord's behest.
Now all were choked with wrath and latent fires
Of envious pride. Impatience cracked like briers.
They snarled and snapped and foamed, and grum-
bling growled,
No brute in madness thus e'er raved or howled.
The church, o'erhung with low'ring clouds did
wait;
It sat in ashes in a dreadful state.
Still thicker grew the clouds o'er Zion's hill,
With pent-up lightnings all their bowels fill.


38 BOOK V.
Around their sable corner's bursting cheek,
The little fire-darts play at hide and seek.
Still higher scowls the darkness bristling fire;
Trees fall; earth breathless, waits the tempest's ier.
A cry of lamentation in the air
Was heard, presaging desolation there.
But onward, upward loomed the lurid blast,
And shoves its sulph’rous burden skyward fast.
The thunder growled impatient of its fire,
To hurl cloud-bussing turrets in the mire;
And havoc in their stony cities free,
In madness, riot there in liberty.
Thus rumbled noises, and the temple shook,
The panic-stricken crowd the blast o'ertook.
Disorder reigned, in volumes rolled the smoke,
Its way in living, seething fire it broke.
While cloud on cloud was hurled aloft like sheaves;
The fiery billows roll, the temple heaves;
The crowd is tossed; destruction's flinders fly;
And friends and foes in common ruins lie.
As when the earth in dire convulsions torn,
Vesuvius vomits forth in vengeful scorn,
His fiery entrails o'er the woful land,
Then thieves and robbers rush with murd’rous hand,
From out their mountain caves, to take their spoils
From suffring victims, struggling in their coils;
The traps of villains. Cruelty is bold,
It enters homes and villages for gold.
Remorseless in its greed, it thirsts for blood
And plunder, riots in the purple flood; tº
Performs the will of demons hot from hell,
In desolations track they bound and yell.
See, spattered with the brains of infants fair
And parent’s blood, the floor, the wall and chair;
And there, on Moloch's fire their kindred bones
Lie roasting side by side upon the stones.
It is the hour of darkness! Satan's fry
Raised up blaspheming tow’rs of vict'ry high.
With doctrine false they prejudice the mind,
To trust in works and leave their faith behind.
“Where money jingles faith may dwindle. Frown,
We'll eat and drink, for Peter wears the crown.”


BOOK V. 41
For our own person's sake that pardoned be,
Though sinners still remain, His favor see.
This leaven of the Pharisees subverts
The truth of Christ, and all our souls perverts.
O wretched man that I am, who shall here
Deliver me from this vile body-gear?
O child of God disturbed, think not 'tis strange,
That you are called these joys of earth to change,
All human boasting and the pride of life,
Change worldly wealth and grandeur for the strife,
To enter in the narrow gate and live :
For thee, this strength and courage He will give.
But not to thee as man in all his sin
And wild desire, but as His child to win.
To domineer is Antichrist's great feat;
Sends forth his orders from his papal seat.
Commanding all his dupes to seek and slay,
To kill and burn at stake, alive to flay,
And massacre them all who hold the Word,
Not owning him for voice of God ador'd.
Thus Antichrist, the Pope and Satan's spouse,
Here get their timber for to build their house.
With their escutcheon raised on high unfurl’d,
Combine against the truth; enlist the world.
But Judah's Lion now is wide awake,
The Pope bewails his dismal beggar's sake.
With woes innumerable now he groans,
And stalks amid Rome's sepulchres and bones.
He fears the Lion's tread that shakes the ground,
Who holds the Pope and hell in thralldom bound.
In secret hall the darkest schemes they plot,
To stain all virtue and the truth to blot.
There, couns’ling war’iors meet with dark designs,
And swear alleg'ance to the Pope's confines.
They sow the wind, the whirlwind they shall reap,
And scattered lie within the sulph’rous deep.


A p OR VII.
Thus slowly grind the mills of God but sure;
Their fire and flood no elements endure.
They crush to finest earth and smould'ring dust,
The proudest boast of human pride and lust.
For proud Capern'an tow’rs must kiss the earth,
Until these throes renew the temple's birth.
It rises like the phenix from her nest,
And folds immortal garments 'round the blest.
It stands the wonder of all wonders grand,
The miracle of time that ne'er can strand.
Because her builder and her Maker's God;
The Lord did build the house in which they trod.
They labor all in vain that build it here, -
Except the Lord shall keep the city dear.
The watchman waketh but in vain, in vain
You rise up early, sit up late in pain.
And thus you fain may eat the bread of tears
And sorrows, and to weep through all the years.
For so He giveth His beloved sleep,
Where angels their untiring vigils keep.
Once more they gathered, gathered from the main,
They gathered from the hills and rolling plain
That loved her—Zion. Long their harps were hung
Upon the willows; golden strings were strung
To mournful odes as they remembered days
So lovely, harvest homes and heav'nly ways.
Once they were happy, happy as the Spring
With birds and flow’rs, when heart’s old love did sing.
That Spring that once had smiled in ether blue,
And friends that Spring had brought, were sleeping
t
OO.
The bird whose warbling note had cheered the grove, .
Had ceased sweet music in its little cove.
The flow’rs that once had bloomed with rosy hues,
No more shed forth their fragrance to the dews.
(42)


44 B()()K VI.
When caves disgorged, they, covered by the night,
Then journeyed, travºling in the moon's pale light.
The false there joined the fair, like thorns the rose.
Or vipers in the bosom oft repose.
This life on earth with all its sweetest cups,
Has bitter draughts for ev'ry lip that sups.
Amid the gath'ring hosts thus Absolute
Came forth, his poisoned arrows there to shoot.
The Muses, gathered in the temple, raise
Their voice to heav’n in songs and hymns of praise.
Their words of praise harmonious strains adorn,
And waft it forth on silent breeze of morn:
“As hart doth pant for water brooks, so pants
My soul for Thee, O God! Thy little plants
Which Thou hast planted, love Thee, thirst for Thee,
The living God! To Thee our Rock we flee.
Thy water-spouts were calling, deep to deep,
And yet amidst the noise Thy children sleep.
O'er us Thy waves and billows rolled ; our tears
Have been our meat by day and night for years.
When all the live-long day they said: where's God?
One thing have I desired of Thee, my rod,
My staff; that I might dwell within Thy house
The days of all my life, with Thee, my Spouse.
That I might see Thy beauty, hear Thy Word,
Where Thou Thy love to me didst once record.
When trouble, terrors rise, in time of woe, -
In Thy pavilion hide me from the foe.
Hide me from them that seek to do me hurt,
Within the secret places of Thy court.
In Thy great tabernacle hide me safe,
My God, from the great fiend, secure this waif.
I shall not fear when me Thou 'llt hide above,
Around, beneath, and cover me with love;
Where neither fears shall start, nor hinds or roes
Of tº field shall e'er awake me from repose.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,
Within the city of our God, high raised.
In all the mountain of His holiness,
How beautiful is Zion ; her we bless.
Let all be glad, let Zion now rejoice,
Let Judah’s daughter sing with a loud voice.


46 BOOK VI.
Through Satan's coils and fiery pillars bold,
Like smelting fires that purify the gold.
They ride equipped like soldiers to the fight,
From death to life in struggling for the right.
Eternal vigilance their firm stronghold,
Against false prophets in pious and bold.
The girdle truth, that firmly binds their loins,
Their breasts, the plate of righteousness adorns.
Their feet are shod, prepared with Gospel peace,
The shield of faith defending pow'rs increase.
They quench his fiery darts, make Satan bow.
The helmet of salvation crowns the brow.
The Spirit's sword, which is the Word of life,
They wield with pray’r, triumphant in the strife.
This armor of the Lord secures His might,
To stand against the devil's wiles and fight;
To wrestle gainst the rulers and the pow’rs
Of darkness in this world, built up like tow’rs;
'Gainst principalities, and thus withstand
All spiritu’l wickedness, high-places grand.
Thus stand, enrobed in panoply divine,
Fresh from the armory of heav'n's great shrine.
'Twas thus brave Luther stood, discharging blow
On blow, till Europe rocked annidst the throe
Of Reformation, till the Pope fell down
From off his throne, and lost his triple crown.
For God raised Luther up to lay him low,
Proud Antichrist, four hundred years ago.
He fought through thick and thin, and well he might,
For God did aim the blow, direct the sight.
He led him through the conflict by the Son
Of Righteousness, by whom the vict'ry 's won.
And safely still preserved him to the end,
In steadfastness of faith his course to wend.
As loving friend to friend will ever cling,
Through good and bad report His carols sing.
Hail! Master Muse! that brought'st from
heav'n's high court
Good news once more, the old and glad report |
All pow'r to Thee be giv'n, all glory, praise,
To Father, Spirit, Son, we humbly raise.


BOOK VI. 47
Thou brought'st these news to man, who blind in
S111S
And darkness total, with his idols grins.
He, void of knowledge spir’t'al, hugs his chain,
And seeks in prison-walls his peace to gain.
Nor yet knows he the things that make for peace,
For in his evil thoughts he'll never cease.
As sparks fly upward, prone to sin he lies,
Assays with them to mount into the skies.
His troubled spirit to reclaim he springs,
Like flies in paste would mount upon their wings.
The human spirit thus oppressed and bound,
A thrall in filthy duds he skulks aground.
With gorgeous beauties oft adorns his mind,
But builds mere castles of the airy kind.
For fancy gilds these mansions of the clay
With tinsel wealth, like dreams that fly away.
Within this mold of clay the mind is stamped
With only earthly forms, and left thus cramped;
Abandoned of his God, cut off and toss'd
Away from His communion, man is lost.
That food can ne'er give life unto the soul,
Wrapped up within the sphere of mental scroll.
Here too, the heathen idol-altars raise,
Where many slaughtered human victims blaze.
Here see the man of nature and his gods,
How meanly all his idol worship plods.
The darkened mind entombed within this cell,
But crawls the ruts of sin to death and hell.
Beyond the sphere of worldly objects' brink,
The mind of man can neither move nor think.
To transitory forms of thought the Lord
Descends, to offer us His rich reward.
All forms of thought on creature objects based,
Though they shall perish once and be erased,
Are still the means He chose to grant us grace,
To wash us from our filth and see His face.
He clothed His thoughts and will in human words,
And makes them chime in tune with heav'nly
chords.
Though human languages, man’s works and fame,
Philosophy, and greatness of his name,


48 BOOK WI.
Pride, wisdom, learning, creature things and all,
Rites, faith and hope, the Scriptures too must fall,
All tumble in common combustion down
In fire and smoke, when scowls that wrathful frown.
Yet God's essential Word, His thoughts and will,
His soul-sown seed, His promise to fulfill,
Clothed in these vile habiliments of earth,
Substantial virtue and enduring worth,
Escape unscathed the wreck of worlds and clash
Of elements, God's mill-wheel's grinding crash.
The letters of the Word, the sound of voice,
The bread and wine, our dying Savior's choice,
And water used in Baptism, all these three,
Selected in eternity's decree,
Were fixed the only proper means of grace,
The only plan for all the human race,
Through which He'd offer them His heav'nly gifts;
All else are human subterfuges, shifts.
Through these the Spirit makes repentant hearts,
Converts the sinner and His love imparts.
External proper use of means of grace,
'Tis true, the unbeliever can embrace.
That the external proper use can screen
A dev’l as well as saint, is easy seen.
To exercise this use of means of grace
Within the sphere of human pow'r we trace.
Man goes to church, he reads and hears the Word,
He eats and drinks, he sings and prays abhorr'd ;
Because from faith the work does not proceed,
For what is not of faith is sin indeed. .
And hence it is not pleasing to the Lord,
Who once complained of those whose lips ador'd;
And yet their hearts and minds were far away,
In fields of earthly vanities astray:
“Away from me with all thy noise and songs,
Your lifeless viols grate to tell your wrongs.
I hate your melodies and your feast-days,
Your sol’mn assemblies and your wicked ways.”
'Tis not all gold that glitters, we confess,
Yet pride would always wear a golden dress.
And where does master wolf his coat obtain 2
This woolly coat the wolves all love to gain.


BOOK WI. 51
And thus the work of grace proceeds in all,
Where wilful man does not resist the call.
For God's decree is fixed, which He'll fulfill,
By force to save no one against his will.
The call of grace imparts the pow'r of choice,
And freedom of the will, for which rejoice.
In spir’tu’l things now free, while yet the pow'r
T’ resist remains in man as Satan's dow’r.
Now why so many lost and few are saved,
Because the many have the Spirit braved.
He works the willingness tº accept the light
In all; some cast this gift away for spite.
They will not yield their willingness to sin
For willingness to live, their life to win.
The reason why not all believe is man,
His vile resistance leaves him in the ban.
Election comes to sinners who 're contrite,
And places all on equal footing quite.
Henceforth, whoever will, can freely will
To come and drink; life's water 's flowing still.
Thus, as the hoary deep the brine doth shake
From his gray locks, when rousing storms awake,
The church puissant, roused from sleep, now shook
Her locks invinc'ble, washed in martyr's brook;
As eagles mew their mighty youth, and dye
Their pinions golden in a sunny sky,
And kindle their undazzled eyes in blaze
Of noon-day suns, and scale away their haze,
Where golden-haired Day-king shakes off his beams,
Into the font, where morning's radiance streams.


BOOK VII. 53
By grace decreed alone to save the few,
Whom He elected from the rebel crew,
In justice He decreed the rest to spurn,
And tramp beneath His feet, in hell to burn.
This is His will, good pleasure He revealed,
And hence the fate of ev'ry man is sealed.
He calls them all to grace, that they repent,
For those He chose, this grace is truly meant.
'Tis irresistible to His elect,
As sure as God is God, those He'll protect.
Decrees He fixed in an eternal state,
On His good-pleasure stand inviolate.
His firm resolves must absolutely stride
Untrammeled, and all order override.
For they ’re supreme, have no regard to all
Your faith or unbelief. Like fate they fall.
Thus you ’re predestinated unto life,
Or death eternal and unending strife.”
While speaking, misty clouds, like chilly fog
And dampness rose about him, like some bog
Of putrid, rotten matter, croaking frogs
And hissing reptiles, which exhales its fogs
Unto the humid air amid the clang
Of piping trumpeters and squeaking gang;
Fit music, mixed with incense to his god;
Where deep-mouthed mighty monºwing
- plod.
His foggy thoughts sent chillness through their
bones;
Some yawned in stupor and some hummed like
drones.
Like icicles, their thoughts stood still in space,
Their minds left vacant, robbed of hope and grace.
And downward now the soul did bate her wings,
With pinions broke and flagging; wounded, swings;
Her dull and droiling carcass in the fumes.
A drudging trade and hobbling gate assumes.
Them rose a Counselor, puissant muse,
Of quick discernment in detecting news.
He trode across the hall with earnest look.
His firm and giant tread the temple shook.


54 - BOOK VII.
He spoke: “This ground recedes; some treach’rous
dearth
Or cavern pit conceals this shaky earth.
Who comes encompassed with these clouds of mist,
Where doubt and dullness all our hopes resist 2
Where night's dread empire and its host of prey,
Are girt with proud despair and flout dismay ?
The Prince of darkness with impet’ous flight,
Veers round these regions here to proselyte;
With ratt'ling gewgaws varnished he belies
His perjured rascals and the truth denies.
And all the tim’rous birds of twilight flock,
And flutter round his head his pride to rock;
Whose envious gabble doth prognosticate
A world of sects and schisms interminate.
Impaled by fate, whose iron bars inclose
A diff'rent god from ours, and bitter foes;
This vilest monster only could conceive
The harr'wing thought our hopeful souls to grieve,
That from our cradles some of us were made
Hell-brands; who, with eternal serenade,
In fiery caldron's smoky incense beat
And batter heaven's gates, its King a treat;
Whose chief delight are these our painful woes,
And hence the gates shall ne'er to us disclose.
The soul, stretched out and wound upon this rack,
Recoils on self; its creaking tensions crack,
And leave behind extremely poignant pangs,
Foretastes of crushings, 'tween those jaws and fangs.
Hence, leave him there in all his wanton pride,
Tº enjoy his music, and his incense guide.”
Around the vault the ech'ing plaudits soared,
And now enraged his monsters growled and roared.
He lives within the miry bog of doubt,
Where clouds of night and dullness rove about.
His foll’wers to this day delight to view
His movements, watching still for something new.
Afraid to tread his ground they gather near
His iron bars with sympathetic fear.
So Absolute in pride his mind did fix,
And swore that black is white, and would commix;


56 BOOK VII.
As if ideas, plans and thoughts... through
His mind in one successive order too.
Yet mark: He's not composed of parts, or change,
But as He were, appears to man thus strange.
For, for man's weakness, God is pleased to choose
These human modes of thought and words to use;
Applies them to His Majesty and state,
As though He were a man affectionate,
With eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, with face
- and head,
As moved, then pacified, as being led,
As jealous, horrified, to turn His face
Away, be reconciled again to grace.
He says that thus His glories. He unfurl’d,
As if He first decreed to build the world,
To make and then to save, else how could man
Conceive His nature or His actions span 2
Thus, man's predestination He declares
Consists, as 't were, in parts which He prepares.
Each part in fixed relation to the rest,
Complete election, all the parts attest.
The narrow sense is meant the parts to treat,
The wide, embraces all the parts complete.
The one partic'lar, and this gen'ral hold,
But the particular we first unfold.
God first decreed, we say, though "t is not true,
For all is first with Him and ever new ;
But for investigation we must see
The parts successively, that form the tree.
We say God first decreed the human race
Should be redeemed and reconciled by grace,
Through Jesus' blood decreed that * should
- lve,
To all the world this offer He would give;
Decreed the Spirit should this grace apply,
Redemption, through the Word He should supply,
And seal it with the Sacraments in blood
Of holy innocence and servitude;
Decreed, believers all to justify,
To sanctify and then to glorify.
These are the parts election comprehends,
Take one away, and all election ends.


BOOK VII. 57
These parts unite to constitute a chain,
Faith wreathes the links, to which they all pertain.
The link of glory too as promised bliss,
Like all the other links that promise this,
A living faith enwreathes; for faith is quite
Pursuit, on promise built and not on sight.
We're done with means when death our journey
- ends;
Hence glory comes when faith no more commends.
But faith 's the reel on which this chain is wound,
Connecting all the links securely bound.
And glory's end, ineffible and sweet,
The crowning link that makes our faith complete.
The faith that wreathes these links about the brow,
Our souls with sparkling jewels doth endow.
Thus faith 's a lamp unto our feet, a link
Connecting all the rest unto the brink,
Where life's dim taper flickers at its close,
Where faith 's absorbed in glory's sweet repose.
Election by its promises and grace
Procures and brings us faith to run the race,
And causes, works, promotes, facilitates
Salvation, and its parts accommodates.
On this foundation sure and firm God built
Our hopes for heav'n, and takes away our guilt
The gates of hell must here exhaust their pow'rs,
And turn away their triumphs from our doors.
And hence, complete election doth pertain,
Alone unto God’s children who shall reign,
Where trials come not, nor the burning tears,
Where crosses press no more through endless years.
Be diligent in love, and seek to grow
In strength of faith, the seeds of knowledge sow;
Thus make thy calling and election sure,
Hold to the Word and keep its promise pure.
The certainty of faith is nothing more,
Than certainty which your election bore.
For as by fruits of faith you know the tree,
In faith the fruit of your election see.
And there's no other tree this fruit can yield,
Except the tree within that lovely field,


58 BO()K VII.
Where grow the rose of Sharon and the vine
Of Eschol, strung with goodly clusters fine,
Where blooms the virgin lily of the vale;
And trees of life their fragrance here exhale;
Where milk and honey flow through verdant meads,
And charming scenes, with cooling springs and
- shades,
Through gentle homes of peacefulness and rest
Where brethren dwell together and are blest,
And sing their cheerful chorus ech'ing loud;
With songs of freedom, love and home e'erflow’d.
Reclining oft beneath the tree of life,
They now forget their toil and weary strife,
O'ershadowed by those leaves of evergreen,
That yield a balm in ev’ry nation seen.
A balm for ev'ry wound sits on the tree
That God has chos'n, elected thus for thee,
That here thou should'st behold with faithful eye,
Where thy election and salvation lie.
In Christ's the wreath of love election binds
That can't be broke, but firmly holds our minds.
Election thus remains forever whole,
Though man may change to hate his envious soul.
The unbelief of men can not make void
The truth of God, which men thus misemployed.
This wilful, base resistance thus takes place
In light of Gospel knowledge and of grace,
Which overcomes orig'nal sin, of birth
Impure, unclean, in children brought to earth.
They can’t resist, and hence the Gospel light
Expels their darkness and their ign’rance right.
The Gospel thus unfurled approaches all,
And round the rattling world is heard its call.
It enters minds with pow'r and grace to save;
But Pharisees against the truth did rave;
As well as Scribes, who had and knew the light;
But now is added base resistance's might,
And wilful enmity against the Word,
Because they loved their sins, the truth abhorr'd.
The Word affords occasion, doth devise
Conditions, where resistance can arise,


BOOK VII. 59
Yet does not cause resistance's willful fire,
Which man developes from his coarse desire.
For God has spiced election with resolves,
To draw by grace, His Word alone involves;
To drown the flesh, the world and Satan’s pow'r,
To flee for refuge in salvation's tow’r;
To give man freedom of the will, to choose
Eternal life, which he again can lose;
For self-consistency and wisdom too
Allows no force this freedom to pursue.
As liberty implies the pow'r tº resist, ...
Or from resistance 'gainst His grace desist.
Infallible decrees within their range
And proper sphere, this freedom cannot change.
And hence, election is not absolute,
Nor pending on relations of repute;
But brings its own conditions with it, frought
With faith, in faith, eternal life in-wrought. I
And hence it is that it depends on faith,
Its state, its tire; elsewhere it meets with death,
Cannot exist but in its proper soil,
As seeds are sown where farmers sweat and toil.
For thus it was infallibly decreed,
The Word that 's sown, contains election’s seed.


Aff {ſ}{ſ})}{ Viſiſ (,
—-4–
For thus the Master of the learned tongue,
In saddest words with heart so sorely wrung,
Himself complained, that scarce the one in four,
The fruits of hearing or election bore.
Because their hearts are filled with sin, all sorts
Of superstition, vain desires and sports,
Their erring minds stand open night and day,
Prepared for something strange from far away.
The practice quite a second nature grows:
The hardened heart with sin and vice o'erflows.
They triumph in their shame; to church they stray,
To hear the Word in their peculiar way;
To hide their folly or to boast their train;
They hear without their wits and nothing gain.
To hearken to the Word, and ply their mind
To learn, they think is worthless to mankind.
They loathe it too, because the Word restrains
Their carnal hearts, their stubborn will arraigns.
So vile their thoughts, accursed they leave the place
As they came in, and hold it in disgrace.
Those are humane refinements, of those days
Of modern fashions and bombastic ways.
They hate the Word, with all their thoughts
immersed
In fleshly lusts, and drowned in bowls accursed.
They laugh insane and crack their jokes in sport,
They spew and tramp the Word into the dirt,
Like swine beneath their feet the costly pearl;
In pools of their own filth they roll and whirl.
With great delight they plunge along their course,
Jests, jokes and old wives' fables, swear and curse.
They grin and gaze like fiends deranged and wild;
The Word they lose, in low contempt revil’d.
By hearing, they receive with outward ear,
Which is in them path-trodden, hard and bare;
(60)


62 BOOK VIII.
And grows so smiling sweet by early rains,
Like weeping queens bedecked with pearly chains;
It boasts of nothing else but promise high,
Of harvests mountain almost to the sky.
As boulders rear their haughty tops in air,
The little moisture 's soon exhausted there.
So when the latter rains are falling fast
On gold’ning grain with heat and with’ring blast,
They long since shriveled Rocky’s laughing cheeks.
Now solemn, sore and sad he pines and peaks!
The pelting, pitiless rain, gushing pours
His torrents down upon his head in show’rs.
From darkling clouds the lurid brows do frown,
From thunder's black and rumbling chariot down.
He once did quake with joy, and gladly hear
The promised bliss of heav'n with many a tear.
He was the first to hear and sing the news
And joyful tidings; now his lot he rues;
Because the law is preached, affliction's cross,
And trials sore and sad with many a loss,
To purge his darling sins, desires of earth
Away, for true desires of heav'nly birth,
In broken hearts and contrite spirits fair,
To guide them on through faith to glory there.
These on the rock expect in Christ to find
Good days, sweet-dallying, time out of mind;
Expect to live on sugar ev'ry day,
And honey dew, on banks of posies lay,
Whose dew-drenched petals vernal blooms bedeck,
And quaff their fragrance at the laughing beck.
'Tis then with greedy ears they gladly hear,
When words reprove their neighbors sad career.
They love to hear the news when preached in words
Of human wisdom by their mocking birds;
Their preachers cater to the public taste,
And sweeten o'er their words with sticking paste;
'Tis human eloquence they love to hear,
All salted down with love and murder gear;
The murd’ress bold a heroine becomes,
The murd’rer a notorious hero booms.
And hereby hang a tale to kill the hours;
Such truck the poor erratic moonling dures.


64 BOOK VIII.
It hears the shepherd's voice a calling, home !
The cloud-hung bastions burst the day of doom
They sleep. Bound fast in sleep, whom nothing
wakes
Until eternity their slumber breaks.
All these impatient listen to the Word ;
Nor watch nor pray; their giddy minds are bor'd.
They toss to ev'ry wind, to which they spread
Their careless sails, till ev'ry vice is bread;
The good grain killed; then vice will frolic there,
Where once were hopes of golden harvests fair.
Some hear the Word oppressed with worldly care,
Complaining what to eat, to drink and wear.
Their cares like thorns prevent the growing seed,
They take away the moisture where they feed;
Or with their shade, shut out the sun's bright ray,
Complaining what to eat and drink to-day,
Or wear to-morrow, driving cares on cares
Into the heart till sorrow deeper wears;
As drives the strokes on cruel nail afresh,
The nail imbedded in the healing flesh;
Till wounds like worms that gnaw into the sore;
Where death now riots was a scratch before.
Thus men will rush for wealth and dream of days,
Of rosy days to come and heav'nly ways;
Of worldly pleasures, fleshly lusts that burn,
In self-consuming fires that wildly churn,
And grind desires and hopes of worldly joys,
To ashes and to dust with all their toys;
Their lovely playthings and their earthly trust,
Like roses withered, mould’ring into dust.
Deceit of riches, hurtful lust thus drowns
Men in perdition, covetous for crowns,
And earthly honors with extreme desires,
Inordinate endeavors, passion's fires,
The pride of life, its pleasures, lust of eye,
The lust of flesh, are thorns that grow quite high ;
So tall they choke the grain and sap its root;
These cares through hearts like poisoned arrows
- shoot.
To love the world is but a thorn of care,
Its riches bring deceit and fickle ware,


BOOK VIII. 65
Deceitful riches like a rusty nail
Devour themselves, their sickly treasures fail.
Yet money, gold and wealth are treasures fair,
Themselves are gracious blessings like the air.
Alone, they ne'er prevent the growing grain,
But rather serve to spread it to the main.
Deceit of riches is the thorn, the knife,
That cuts away the infant heav'nly life.
For he that rests on worldly wealth and lays
Foundations, reaps but tares for future days.
Unrighteous Mammon, falsehood's hoary head,
Stands up to mock him on his dying bed.
Deceit of riches is to seek for wealth,
By right and wrong, by honest labor, stealth;
Their presence charms, in absence they’re a spell,
Unrighteous treasures never prosper well.
For piles of glittºring gold they strive to gain,
And find deceitful riches, foolish, vain,
And hurtful lusts with all temptation's snares,
That drown men in destruction 'neath such tares,
The love of money is all evil's roof,
To which, deceit of riches we impute.
Deceitful riches pierce the Word like thorns,
Instead of hope, it crowns the head with horns.
The pleasures of the flesh and world will choke
The Word, like thorns they'll make the heart to
smoke;
They'll burn it up in lust and flesh's desires,
And leave no sleep or rest amid these fires.
Thus worldly cares urge men to seek for wealth,
Deceitful riches at the price of health.
And though they gain the world from pole to pole,
The price which they exchange ’s tº immortal soul.
These cares are thieves that check and hold us back,
On ev'ry side surround the heav'nly track.
Like chains around our feet, they bind us fast,
Prevent the hearing of the Word at last.
The magnet with its pow'r the iron draws,
And love of wealth the heart into its jaws.
And when they go to church the Word to hear,
They leave their hearts at home 'mid treasures dear;
5


66 BOOK VIII.
Or send them forth to wander on the tide,
Of human vanities and passion's pride.
To follow Christ that youth indeed desired,
But first to sell his goods the Lord required,
And give them to the poor should be his task;
Too hard for him who loved his coin to cask,
To kiss and hug it, turn it o'er and o'er,
A slave to dust and ashes evermore.
The thorns entice the wanderer to rest,
'Neath their cool shades and boughs to bare his
breast;
To cool his brow and quaff the fragrant rose,
Where thorns will pierce and deathly ivy grows.
So riches charm the heart, enslave the mind,
Endanger souls enticed and make them blind.
The brows of tyrants brilliant beams enfold,
Of jewels rare and gems of glitt’ring gold.
And yet what gay distress, what splendid woe,
Sits mocking there amid their tinsel show !
They mock the soul. There evil conscience dwells,
Whose torments blow in ev'ry sail that swells.
It rides on ev’ry breeze that bears the light -
And frailest gossamer's wee, tiny weight.
The walls have ears, and airy voices talk,
And darkness seems to stand, to sit and walk;
And bear about ill-gotten gain and wealth,
Like thieves at night that get their gold by
stealth.
Thorns deeply wound and oft with many wounds,
So wordly care in wounds full sore abounds.
The love of gold that urges on by force,
The root of evil is, its very source;
The foster-mother of all sins and crimes,
Which tempted Judas to disgrace his times,
Deny his Master and despairing fall
To drink the dregs of bitterness and gall.
Such are the homes of thorny avarice,
Where pois'nous worms and reptiles live in vice.
They strutt in lewd profanity and pride,
Despising God, His Word, exalted ride.
For wealth gives courage, courage insolence,
The tyrant's club of haughty arrogance.


BOOK VIII. 67
In purple and fine linen, kings attire,
To sit on thrones and rule the world aspire.
Fare sumpt'ously, and roll in fat like worms,
And steal from passers-by all beauty's forms.
With their long fangs they steal the woolly fleece,
From tender lambs; disturb the trav’ler's peace.
They suck their neighbor’s strength and life away,
Treat them unkindly, cheat them ev’ry day.
They drag the poor unto the judgment seat,
Oppress them toiling in the noontide heat.
The least subsistance to the poor deny,
And cheat them of their wages on the sly.
Impet’ous gulls whose wealth their pride adorns,
Will rush to seize the prize of cares and thorns.
Approach the rich with prudence, not too near,
Their pride will naught endure without a sneer.
Their confidence and promises to trust
Will yield abuse. Here reputations rust.
Good names are lost; possessions fly away,
And blessings with contentment will not stay.
Deal gently with the young man Absalom,
And touch him nicely that is troublesome.
The thorns will bloom awhile, but soon they die,
Then blaze in curling serpent-flames on high.
The rich like roses bloom in burnished gold,
They toss their plumes and wide they robes en-
old.
How long? When death shall blow his with’ring
.' - blast,
Eternal fire shall hold these fagots fast.
On beds of thorns are pillowed worldly cares,
Tormenting thoughts and difficult affairs;
Where nature's soft and quiet rest and sleep,
Is eler disturbed by Mammon's clawing creep.
Then some torment themselves like silly queens,
Enticed by fancies of their golden dreams.
They pester those about them with their cares,
And ask how they may flee old Mammon's snares;
And yet may serve him good with all their lust,
And fatten in their flesh and blood accursed.
In them the Word no perfect fruit can find,
They seek to fill their lusts and not their mind.


AB Ö) {ſ} { }(X,
—ede—
To all these came the Word with prospects fair,
With mercy full and providential care;
With pow'r and willingness to save; that same
Election full of grace and mercy came ;
Took hold of men, but not by force which man
Could not resist, or thoughts he could not span.
But by its state, condition, faith it stood,
To faith it offered all its treasures good.
The contrite souls, way down within the vale,
Watered with tears of penitence, prevail;
In faith accept election with its trust,
Grow hale and hearty fruit from forth the dust.
In penitence receive the Word and hear,
They cultivate the precious seed in fear,
Display His virtues both in word and deed,
By edifying hearts and souls in need.
Before the erown, the child elect well knows,
The cross with sore afflictions always goes.
“A great and obvious error must obtain,
Election's doctrine blindly thus tº explain :
Its cause is not alone God’s mercy great,
With Christ's most sacred merits animate;
In man there's something too which is a cause,
Effecting man's election and its laws.”
If man before his mighty Maker turn,
No virtues' hath, but sinful fires that burn.
And hence possessed of naught that him commends,
On which election unto life depends.
A Christian though, has something more than man,
Who's dead in sins and in transgression’s ban.
The Christian has in faith, Christ's righteousness,
His conduct pleases God in holiness.
Elect to faith, to faith election holds,
Through faith election all its gifts unfolds.
Election then with faith is ever joined,
In faith election's gifts are all combined.
(69)


70 BOOK IX.
Election brings us faith by saving grace,
Which Baptism and the Word alone embrace.
Infallible election has this sign,
Of saving faith, since its the gift divine,
Which God unerringly doth give to all,
Who 'll not maliciously refuse the call.
Elect to life believers all are found,
Elect to glory final faith is bound.
Infallible election God imparts,
Infallible its faith in human hearts.
This sweet assurance of election then,
Gives this security to faithful men.
But human hearts are fallible entire,
And faith alone will hopes for heav’n inspire.
And hence by faith we make election sure,
Which proves its loss if faith does not endure;
And that election unto glory rests
On final faith, complete election's tests.
Yet man's unfaithfulness cannot make void,
The faithfulness of God he once enjoyed.
What God still offers all while time endures,
He gave from all eternity assures.
A measured portion of eternity
Is time; with God, they both in one agree.
Election's causes we distinguish thus:
First sin, that gives occasion for its use;
Then love, internal motor in God's breast,
With Jesus' merits, outer motor blest;
These two effective are, and operate
By grace through faith, the Spirit's mediate.
And as effective causes have their means,
They work effectu’l 'neath no other screens.
Election’s saving chariot rolls awa
Upon its course, ’tis Christ the Star of day,
Who sheds His beams inviting all to ride,
And on His broad Almighty Wings confide;
And fly to habitations of the blest,
To ports of safety in the heav'nly rest.
Upon this saving car your Savior rides,
The richly laden vessel safely guides.
He ‘ll never cast you out this car of grace;
Saves all who run with Him this glorious race.


72 - BOOK IX.
To His decrees no such defects adhere;
From Goodness only good effects appear;
Which only He decreed, the evil not,
To this prescribed its bounds and certain lot.
Infallibly foreknowledge takes in all,
Counts up thy hairs and sees the sparrow fall.
Election and foreknowledge here agree,
Infallible are both, as God must be,
For both are acts of God, and He is known
To be infallible, and so His throne.
Who'll circumvent foreknowledge then, impart
Some news to foresight, or before it start 2
Outwit election by your unbelief,
You only reap a harvest full of grief.
For God’s not mocked, as He means all things well,
So His election, if we don’t rebel,
Will do its perfect work, bring us to know
God's will, believe His Word, His seed to sow,
And day by day the seeds of knowledge bring
With patience on life's weary way to sing;
Amid afflictions trials all endure,
Preserved within His faithful hand secure.
And hence the myst'ry of election 's found,
Where these peculiar simple means abound.
Not in the bare decree that I or you
Should be elected from the mass untrue.
If He that's good had 'stablished this alone,
As all the essence of election known,
'T would then be easy understood and plain,
No myst'ry to our minds would it contain.
But this is arbitrary, absolute
Election, which is easy to refute.
The blessed Word of life itself 's a proof,
That God ne'er wove such lawless despot's woof,
That doth ascribe to Him the tyrant's deed,
That He such arbitrary things decreed.
The myst'ry 's in the Word, or means employed,
The depth of Wisdom found and man enjoyed,
But could not comprehend, and yet besides
His knowledge, or Foreknowledge here abides;
With Wisdom it points out the persons sure,
Who hold out faithful, to the end endure.


BOOK IX. 75
Does not embrace near all the human race,
The universal world, elect by grace.
Still, Universal made but little strife,
With his predestination unto life;
A little ripple on the sea of peace;
He blowed and fanned his wavelet to increase.
Election universal, wide and free,
Will swiftly join the riffraff of the sea.
For all must know election 's firmly fixed,
That here the good and bad shall not be mixed.
But if through all resistance it would lead,
'Twould then be absolute and need no creed;
'Twould ridicule the Lord, His grace and cross,
His blood and suff'rings all a total loss,
His doctrine false, when He declares that he
Believing not is damned eternally.
With scrapings in perdition be the blot,
Where Universal's ugly claims must rot.
Now as the older lights did sink and fade,
The lesser lights grew bold to shine ahead,
The light of sweet Concordia alone,
With them did not suffice without their own.
So Universal chiefly they did treat,
With their Intuitu Fidei complete.
A foxy light, much like the one we know,
As Will o' the Wisp, or Jack a lantern's glow,
A gass yolept the Ignis Fatul gass,
A sneaking like a spook between the grass,
Or raising 'bove the graves, or from some pool,
From Absolute and his corrupted school.
This light would lead them on, then flicker out,
And leave them in that marsh to wade about,
To sink or swim, to stick, to pull and jerk,
For all their pains they have the same old work.
At length arrived, with toiling all fagged down,
They see the end that doth such journey crown.
Before them lay the lake of boiling pitch,
Illimitable, vast, with monsters rich,
Of myriad multitudes of dragons, snakes,
All kinds of creatures teeming full it quakes,
Where league-long monsters through the surges tear,
Oft looming up a mile their heads in air,


B (ſ) (ſ) iſ X,
—cº-
Time leaped the gulf of years; whose sable bourne
O'erhangs that dark recess and buried urn,
That guards the ling’ring ashes and the dust
Of slumb' ring heroes from the angry gust,
Of raging winds and storms, and wafts the sheen
Of mantling glories o'er their graves in green;
With tufted turf upon the battle ground,
Where waved their banners to the trumpet’s sound.
Thus rest in sweet repose ye wariors all,
And sleep; and wait that awful trumpet’s call;
Then wake and resurrect your sleeping fires,
To burn amid your fathers and your sires,
On holier ground, where battles all are o'er,
In yonder blissful realm and radiant shore.
Ye fought the fight of faith. Your brows are
crowned,
With crowns your heav'nly Hero's valor found.
Then turn where fair Columbia's shores unfold,
Luxuriant plains and beds of glitt’ring gold;
Where mighty rivers flowing o'er the land,
Send down their bounties to the ocean's strand.
Majestic lakes embosomed in her hills,
Fed by her cooling streams and mountain rills;
The nursing cradle of the modern world,
Where first its arts and progress were unfurled;
Where Liberty awoke enrapt in types,
And waved the banner of her stars and stripes.
O land of freedom, liberty's retreatl
Where peace and plenty find a quiet seat'
Invention's nurse! Defense of human rights!
The mother of the arts' Parnassus heights,
Old Greece o’ertopping, here the mind imbues,
Castalian springs and temples of the muse !
O sweet endearing realms, that stoop to please,
Declining age 'mid blandishments and ease!
(80)


BOOK X. 81
Still through thy shady lawns, O let me stray,
Or in the forest wild and hear the lay,
Where nature's harmonies their transports yield,
And fragrant flow’rs are strewing ev'ry field.
See wand'ring pilgrims leave a foreign shore,
To groan beneath the tyrants yoke no more ;
To build them homes, their altars and their fires,
To worship God as did their father's sires,
According to the wants of souls untold,
Enlighten’d by the Word, their safe strong-hold;
To pour their hearts libations forth in peace,
A. souls from spir’tu’l bondage to release.
Now clans and tribes from ev’ry nation pour
Through raging floods to seek the promised shore.
Dispersed and scattered far throughout the land,
They cultivate the soil with careful hand.
Where soon the desert bloomed and gardens smiled,
Where beasts once roamed the pathless forests wild;
And savage demons thirsting for their blood,
To nip their prosp’ring glories in the bud.
With tomahawk and scalping knife equipped,
The white the red in equal combat whipped.
They drove them deeper still into the woods,
Their secret haunts and tangled solitudes.
The pilgrims soon become a living stream,
Who pant for liberty where harvests teem,
Where brighter suns shall burn with trembling
flame,
And o'er new glories waft their shiv'ring gleam,
Where cities raise their tow’rs of glitt'ring beam,
The Eldorado of the poor man's dream.
The whistling engine plows the briny deeps,
Or whirling o'er his iron track he sweeps
Adown the valleys and around the hills;
He climbs the mountain steep and booming thrills
Along the rocky heights and tow’ring wall,
He plunges down where roaring waters fall,
Till thund'ring gulches howl and mountains rear,
Like some young earthquake out upon a tare.
The courser's headlight glares into the brake,
The rocks are tumbling, hills a rumbling shake.
6


82 BOOK X.
But while the red man groaned his last farewell,
And soft its echoes o'er the bald hills fell;
Ere yet the iron horse on thund'ring rail
Had gall’ped the hills or snorted in the vale,
Or plunged into the deep to swim the tide;
Behold, a noble fleet, old Dresden's pride,
Forsake their native shores without just cause.
Misguided dupes obey their tyrant's laws.
Instead of serving God, they serve his turn,
Who loved to slake his lust, in passions burn.
High beat their hearts while sailing up the tide,
And shouts went up as swelled the pilgrim’s pride,
To press their feet upon the promised shore.
The tribes rejoice that now their wand'ring 's o'er.
Alas poor souls' that seek for rest in vain
Who follow proud and haughty guides for gain
Now soon they reap its bitter fruits, where toil
And pain, disease and death their prospects spoil.
Despair with his tormenting skill disclosed
Their Moses, lying in the flags embossed,
A bull in rushes, daubed with pitch and slime,
In filthy nastiness and stinking crime.
For him they left their fatherland and crossed
The wild resounding sea, all tumble tossed.
Deluded mortals still their guide revere,
Forsake their homes for heavy burdens here.
They cheerfully excuse his grossest crimes,
His life and doctrines false and ugly grimes.
O poor wanchancie, weird and wand'ring tribe;
Give o'er the overcrafty creed-wright scribeſ
When will thy wand'ring cease from error's night?
For still ye traik along mere streaks of light.
The crimes your ancient leader swelled were gross.
But now a spider weaves; your modern boss.
His web so loose and thin, no light contains,
And still in woeful plight the tribe remains.
Your ancient leader unsuccessful quite,
So gross his deeds, his cunning failed to right.
Arraigned and tried, convicted now he stood;
Was envy plaintiff, glad to join the feud 2
Expelled, condemned to exile he must roam.
They tow him o'er the river's tossing foam.


BOOK X. 83
Down where the Devil's Bake-ov’n threat’ning
- stands,
A dang'rous river-pass, with washing sands;
Where boatmen struggle with the treach’rous tide;
Where vessels stranded lie and sailors died.
Now banished from his tribe the leader groaned,
In fires of fiercest scorn he heaved and moaned.
He bade farewell, and sought a stranger's berth,
To lay him down amid the dust and earth.
Thus left without a guide they sought to find
Among the wand'ring tribes a leading mind;
To set to rights distracted souls, and found
The wasting fragments on a surer ground.
A chrysalis was found among old tomes,
Worm-eaten, soiled, imported from their homes.
While now the chiefs in sadness long consult,
In council for a guide without result,
Behold ! the chrysalis gave signs of life!
It moved The Saxons now in plans were rife.
They smote their temples peeping at the charm;
Rejoiced to find within a live book-worm.
They cried ; “Good news! Now hope ’s revived
again
Feed him on royal honey, finest grain
Give him to eat the finest bread of wheat,
Unmixed with cockle or the grains of cheat.”
Thus nourished, soon full-fledged the bird appears,
He spreads his party-colored wings and rears
His crested head as born to rule the tribe.
The wand'ring heroes gape; they look and gibe.
They lout to get acquainted with the bird.
One said with voice suppressed which others heard:
“His beak is bent. A bird of prey ! Beware,
Beware, else he’ll devour us all fair-square.”
Assembled thus, the rest consult to give
The bird a name, a name that long shall live.
They dubbed him RARA Avis. And this name
Was well applied as equal to his fame,
Of bearing truth and light upon his wings,
Dispersing darkness where the light begins;
And shines through truths our fathers taught of old;
He toiled with his untiring zeal to hold.


84 BOOK X.
He kept a steady flight, and waved the wand
Of braves of olden days with pow'rful hand.
In all his church he taught the truth to ply,
In regions of intelligence to fly;
The torch of heav'nly wisdom held with skill,
Rekindling zeal and love in heart and will;
That pastors young can search what fathers wrote;
And now like book-worms all us can quote.
But still, behold a man of flesh and blood;
Too zealous for a name for which he stood.
An oracle he was that would not yield,
In questions dark to him the tribes appealed.
A dang'rous ground, that has been known before,
To yield both popes and tyrants by the score.
Here vipers crawl around, temptations grow
Like weeds, as man on man will here bestow,
The trust he owes to God; and surely think,
This human head is filled with golden chink;
And crammed with so much learning, has the pow'r
To forge an answer ev'ry day and hour,
To all who seek his counsel, whose reply
Is held decisive, and esteemed sky-high.
They search no longer what the Scriptures say,
Or other learned and pious men convey.
Although they err, they risk their being right,
On his reply they cast their die and fight.
They show they're right, although convinced they’re
wrong;
Through thick and thin they’ll follow him with
SOng,
And sing with variations to his list,
With flatt'ry foster pride till he persist.
At length he feeds his itching ear on stuff
The vulgar crowd in nauseous praises rough,
Delight to slobber forth on ev'ry hand,
Received as arguments of native brand.
Thus guides direct too much attention vain
Unto themselves, whom not a blush will stain.
They proudly boast how oft they went to sup
With Wisdom, eaten all His dainties up.
They toss their heads and wear their bellies high,
'T were hard to tell where all their goodies lie.


BOOK X. 87
Whom God elected, they must get to heav'n,
Although like Pharisees they roll in leav'n,
And wantonly contend gainst Gospel grace,
Election predetermines ev'ry case.
It bends the stubborn will, resistance all,
Malicious, wilful, must before it fall.
'Tis quite distinct from what 's the gen'ral way,
Or order of salvation's grand display.
This follows that, subservient to His will,
And thus election's work must all fulfill.
For by election God has willed but few,
But by the gen'ral way. His will is new,
Embracing all the race for whom Christ died.
The first partic'lar is, and so applied.
But this is universal, and the two,
Particular election of the few,
And universal grace, cannot be brought
In harmony by reason or by ought,
The light of grace affords; and e'er remains
The myst'ry, contradict'ry to our brains.
And yet we must believe them both and wait,
Until the light of glory sets them straight.
Thus God Himself 's the cause why few are saved,
And man is lost because he ill behaved. -
This is the form of words that first was giv'n
Election, made confess’nal, void of leav'n.
Then let us anchor to this golden sheet,
And stay where all our Luth’ran fathers meet.
Come now, my darlings all, enjoy the feast
Spread out for you, these tender sweets to taste.
O, glorious myst'ry! Come bow, kiss the rod
Behold ! and see the very face of God!
And thus be sure without the least mistake,
Infallible election has no break;
The crown is yours:
E’en though you walk through sleet
With bleeding feet, .
You'll walk that golden street
Where angels meet;


88
BOOK X.
Preserved by mighty pow'r
Within His hand,
Until you reach that bow'r
And lovely land;
There bliss forever dwells |
Thrice lovely dells!
It seems I hear thy bells,
And golden shells!
Mount! O my soul away!
Unto those shores!
O, why should I yet stay?
My spirit soars!
Then sing the glad refrain,
That yet remain
My chariot soon will gain,
That sumptu'us main l’”


90 BOOK XI.
Achilles like, with firm and earnest look,
Appealing steadfast to that noble Book,
His bold compeer arose, whose words resound
In silver tones that ring in echoes round :
“I am the friend of truth ! Here I'll abide;
And here defend my good old Luth’ran hide.
We have long since revolved the matter o’er;
The doctrine 's false, doubt not upon that score.
The faith of old we hold, and to the world,
We'll prove our banner, as our faith's unfurl’d.”
He spoke, and then unto his tent repaired,
Patroclus at his side, the shrewd fair-haired.
Like Priam now who stood upon his walls,
Old Avis leads his cronies to his halls.
All those of nearest kin he did prefer,
The ship of state into their hands transfer.
Embittered now with hate and passion rife,
With list prepared their long and sullen strife.
They 'gan to build embattlements of mud,
Raked up from stews of pitch, old Calvin's flood.
And yet they say they plucked this fruit from trees
Our father's planted in truth’s pedigrees.
Yet crowd what Calvin wrote right down their
throat,
And force them all to say the same by rote.
Then add : Si duo faciunt idem,
Non est idem we must apply to them
But hold Just hear a motto we propose,
Will serve your turn and fit your very toes.
Read : Si unus ait duo inter se
Opposita sunt, non est idem, say ?
Such contradictions they themselves sent forth,
In words our fathers wrote of sterling worth,
Which words with Argus eyes their points assail,
In bundles thick and strong by ev'ry mail,
And tell them plain that's not the sense they meant.
They still keep on to build their battlement.
Assembled oft to find the best advice,
How they’d bestow their pow'rs in best disguise;
At length resolved, to wit: “That face to face
To stand before the foe they'd lose all grace;


92 BOOK XI.
You say, 'tis an addition to the gift
Of Christ, God's only Son; see where you drift.
Election is the first and highest good;
Christ first in time was man and shed His blood |
Election firmly fixed our destiny
Ere time, determined in eternity.
For Christ as man redeemed us first in time,
And hence election is the most sublime !
O monstrous blasphemy Enormous fraud!
And this the doctrine, this the stuff you laud!
To views like these you'd have us pledged, and steal
Away our hearts from Christ? This is your deal.
'Tis Calvin's nasty Gospel you send out,
To pin us down to hug our chains and doubt.
You parcel out your fortune by the wheel
Of fate, and to your idol god appeal.
An idol void of knowledge, whom you say,
Has no foresight of faith to know the way,
Election finds its persons and its means,
But hidden lies 'neath fate and chance for screens.”
Thus dashed, the Avian heroes fawned and
squirmed,
Their cause with bold assertions, oaths confirmed;
And tried to rally their desponding troops,
To rush beneath their banner, be their dupes:
“Hear us, dear friends ! We teach another form
Of words, our doctrine's simple rule and norm.
The form of sound words Paul requires to hold;
Our church's election has two forms of old.
The doctrine's all the same, for if I say,
In view of faith, or take some other way,
Unto the faith, all 's one, the doctrine true
Our father's taught, which we should never rue.
Say not we're Calvinists. Don’t blot our fame,
And bring us down before the world to shame.
Our name already stinks through all the earth,
Behold ! we stand defending home and hearth.”
Then some perplexed with doubt and fear began
To quell the storm that raged through all the clan.
Its fury drove them to the brink of doubt.
One cried : “Be calm | What’s all this fuss about 2


BOOK XI. 93
Why, know the truth; the diff'rence all can be,
But 'twixt a tweedledum and tweedledee.”
“Cut is the tree that sometime grew so tall,”
The people cried; “the learned may note his fall.
Errores, professores! Thus they rise,
Whose insolence may well exhort the wise,
Not to attempt to grasp unlawful things,
Whose headlong flight to gulfs of ruin brings.
Such high-flown pride decoys these forward wits,
To mount more thrones than heav'nly pow'r permits.
He profits richly in divinity,
In churchly matters of theology;
The tempting gift of votaries, a claim
He shortly got, and dubbed in D. D.'s name.
In controversy and in knowledge rife,
His sweet delight is to excel in strife.
Now swoln full-thick with cunning self-conceit,
He sometimes casts an eye upon God’s seat.
He waxed his wings and soared above his reach;
These melting, heav'n conspired his fall to teach.
For, falling to a dev’lish exercise,
He gluts himself with falsehood's tempting lies.
He surfeits on his Calvinistic whim,
Nothing 's so sweet as Calvin is to him ;
Whom he prefers before his choicest bliss,
Whose reason sweet has ravished him in this.
While still he feigns the name he doth abhor,
He chuckles 'neath his blinding mazes for.”
The Avian darlings gathered to their chief;
Once more they met in councils haste and brief.
“If possible,” said they, “abate a bit,
Or change expressions but retain the wit.
Take back what 's dang'rous, hard to understand,
For many daily now forsake our band;
They join our adversaries, and they send
To them, their counsel in this strife to lend.
And from our hated Synod and its schemes,
Their hearts oppressed do pant for milder streams.
Assembled oft, with elevated hands
The people pray through all our hopeful bands:
“Eternal King! High heav'n's supernal Lord,
On lofty Zion's holy hill ador'd -


94 BOOK XI.
Whoe'er has plunged us in this mad debate,
Oh lead such author of this strife to wait
And well consider; may dissensions cease,
And joyful brethren join in bonds of peace.’”
Said he: “Soon front to front approaching nigh,
The armies come. Soon hear the battle cry.
The time for peace has gone, and war begun,
To try our faith and prove the crown we’ve won.”
A piping Chippy near the drumly pool
And fatal waters of the Avian school,
Chipped in : “See how this new Achilles works
In sullen gloom against our cause he lurks'
In all forbidden paths to steal away
Our flocks he sneaks, equipped in wolf’s array.”
An Avian Swan, who sings his madrigals,
And swims the stormy surge and boist’rous falls,
Upon the silver lake ('Tis not the Swan
Of Avon though), at bright and early dawn,
Harmonious to the waking bugle call
And clarion note of war begun to brawl :
“He’ll fall into our hands. Against him charge
His wrongs: The stealing of our sheep at large;
With his blasphemous slander of our name.
Thus held at bay, we'll crush and make him tame.”
“My little piping Chippy, damp with fog,
Come let me stroke thee. Set upon this log.
There firmly sit and pipe away. Fear not.
The guns that aim at thee o'erreach their spot.
And thou, sweet sailor 'mid the warlike gale,
Spread forth thy snowy plumage for a sail!
Now arch thy proud defiant neck and guard
Our fleet; our shores against incursions ward.
Come paddler, let me kiss thy charming bill,
And pluck thy downy feathers for a quill.
And my sweet Echo here; fall in my train,
Send forth my words re-echoing o'er the main.
My Favorite there, my minion, pet and dove,
Bear me this olive branch of hope and love.
Let Long bring up the order of our fight,
That all may hold their ground both day and night.
And last, upon our right our Cipher stands,
So large, a thousand-fold enrich our bands.
--
y
2


98 BOOK XI.
There mend your broken faith. This is the way,
The only course left you. Repent and pray.
In vain may you demand I should admit
I might have erred, and errors may have writ.
And then to add to this great impudence,
I should confess you right, without offense."
A nice requirement for a Christian, surel
'Tis an advice no Christian can endure l’”


BOOK XII. 101
Around these Heights doth blow a dreadful sough,
Exposing them like ninnies in a row,
Hark! hark! the doleful news from Heights so great:
“We never yet were loud Missouri's mate!
And now, because of late her doctrine 's false,
Our pastor left her as she went to waltz.”
All this took place before I knew such Heights
Existed. Truth, new unions thus creates.
They all with pastor called me to explain
The doctrine in their church which they maintain.
Now where 's the mut’ny here and villainy,
Where have I done so great enormity ?
The proof and witness you have not produced,
Why you have me with calumny traduced.
You knew you had none, so you cast this net,
This trick, to bring me to disgrace, you set;
By ugly condemnation and the game
Of this mock trial, which you here inflame,
That you might thus the stench somewhat abate,
That hangs upon your deeply rotten state.
Like silly rogues desire to equalize
Your own disgrace, you thought I'd temporize.
Now as to doctrine taught I testify,
A man with truth may be in heresy.
When he believes a thing simply because
His teacher says so, for his own applause.
So then the very truth he holds becomes
His heresy, by which he errs and roams.
The native soil of human hearts incline
Unto this god, devoted to its shrine.
The wealthy merchant who his profit seeks,
Or chases pleasure o'er its lofty peaks,
A traffic holds religion; so confused,
With many piddling things his mind 's abused,
So many myst’ries, rites and laws obtain,
To keep a stock upon the trade is vain.
And so the rest, whate'er their trade may be,
Just so regard religion in this key.
And hence resolve to give all toiling o'er,
To some divine of note and pond’rous lore;
To whom they now submit the management,
The care, the credit and the tenement,


102 BOOK XII.
The warehouse of their soul's affairs in trust;
Give him its locks and keys with all their rust.
Adhere, resign their all to him, and make
His person their religion, is their freak.
With him, their own religion comes and goes;
In him, they entertain it with their shows.
They give it gifts, they feast it, lodge it well,
Comes home at night and helps to pray a spell.
'Tis liberally supp'd, then laid to bed;
In sumptu'us robes it drops its rev'rend head.
Next morning their religion will arise;
Saluting it, they treat it with supplies.
Walks out with them at eight, and drinks some beer;
Then leaves them in their shops their work to steer.
Without their sweet religion have their toils,
From morn till night alone within the coils.
Now take this picture, fit it to your case,
It fadges to you, like sweet lady's dress.
One is our Master, even Christ, we hold :
With you, papistic heresies are bold.
I hurl the vile opprobr'um in your teeth,
The sword of argument I here unsheath !
That you are Crypto-Calvinists is true;
What you in this confess is doctrine new.
'Tis Calvinism, I say, to teach that God
Elected only few His name to laud;
Before He e'er had thought on Christ, to send
Him to our world our broken souls to mend.
That first of all, from all eternity,
Resolved to crush all stubborn enmity;
Their opposition wilful take away,
As sure as God is God to heav'n defray.
This is your doctrine; which takes out but few,
For heavenly predestination true.
This is the ult mate ground, foundation sure,
Of our salvation, oldest good and pure.
Yea, older than the Son of man, and makes
The means of grace effective for their sakes.
And hence elect are drawn by greater force
Than non-elect upon election's course.
You teach that we must have this special grace,
By which we persevere and see God's face.


BOOK XII. 103
By this alone will heav’n its treasures yield;
In Gospel grace alone, we have no bield.
And now we must entirely certain be,
That we're elect by such a dark decree.
'Tis utterly impossible to doubt,
But be entirely sure we're taken out,
From all the mass to have that special grace,
Which gives us final faith to see His face.
Which common Gospel grace alone does not;
'Tis void, without this grace election 's got.
Election rests upon God's purpose sure,
That can’t be overthrown and must endure.
But faith upon the simple Word alone;
Which no assurance gives that I am one,
Your comfort dripping doctrine will commend
To heav'n, preserve me firmly to the end.
Despairl Despair is doubly written there !
For where 's the voice, or face, or favor rarel
Who hears, or feels, or sees it? To this hour
This doctrine is a great tormenting pow’r.
It haunts and troubles Christians everywhere,
And leads them to the gulf of great despair.
There is no comfort there which we must seek,
Beyond the Word and Sacraments to take.
Your leader holds he 's right and I am wrong,
But that's a stick as short as it is long.
He says it is impossible to think
That he could err; in Calvin's bogs to sink.
And hence his judgment o'er my soul he hurl’d
In fiendish glee and sport before the world;
The curse of excommunication o’er
My wounded soul, to hell forevermore
All this he does without a show of proof,
Or hear defense; and still so proud and rough.
Who doubts his great infallibility,
He will reject with great antipathy.
He will incur his hate, who tries to root
Out errors he has planted, with their fruit.
What hangs like fate o'er all your fruitful tents,
Will strike your Synod and reveal its rents.
There error quakes, and threatened long to drive
Your ranks to hostile atoms fugitive.


104 BOOK XII.
While now they sit, contrive to bide the time,
And wrack their patience where it cannot chime.
He knows these facts and said: ‘The aim was right
To have State Synods; but don't suit me quite.
For while the light still glows within my eye,
My life's great work I still shall magnify;
As long as life endures I hope to see,
Missouri still remain but one great tree,
That I have planted ; and while life doth waste,
Beneath her spreading limbs to breathe my last.’
He claims she is the glory of his life,
For whom he toiled and plunged in ev'ry strife.
With him 'tis very plain, except his own,
No other glory eler so glorious shone.
Within his ears let ring in thunder peals
His Savior's voice that all his sins reveals.
The voice cries: “Verily I say to you,
They have all their reward,” repent and rue.
Scorn, laugh, do what you may, these are the wounds,
A faithful friend condemned, in love propounds.
I came not here in my own name to speak,
But have been sent, our Zion's peace to seek.
Who has come here a chosen delegate,
With rights and sealed credentials adequate,
In value estimated 'bove my own 2
Then, whence this arbitrary pow'r and tone?
I ask to represent my Synod here,
With full permission in her name appear?”
. . . . “Officially, I say, aur action stands,
Until you both repent and wash your hands;
We cannot recognize your right to claim
A seat and voice with us in any name.”
Thus umbeset and snared, he kindly rose,
And smiling, nods farewell unto his foes.


Aff{ſ}{ſ})}{ X_i/}(iſe
—-º--
They now proceed unto their labors great,
To fortify their walls and save their state.
While all absorbed in thought upon their theme,
Their comfort-dripping doctrine seemed to stream
In show’rs, till ſ their faces wore a smile,
As pleasant as a marriage bell the while.
Then all at once they heard a cry. One falls'
While others bear him from the sacred halls |
A death-like silence reigned and all was changed.
They stared upon each other quite estranged.
They looked as white as chalk. The heart now
throbs
Against their ribs. They breathed with heavy sobs.
As thunders strike the clouds and hurl their fire
Beneath, and threat to build a fun'ral pyre
Of this big world; as when in reverie,
The wicked, taken in their revelry;
They, seized with fright, now tremble in dismay,
Their conscience preaches of the judgment day.
In groups all huddled up they drew aside,
While each in mute debate discussed and sighed.
Their chief then rose, addressed these words of balm,
To cheer their frightened hearts and fears to calm ;
And now their former comfort-drippings fell,
Like warm rain drops on meads of asphodel:
“Dear brethren | All our hearts in pity melt.
We know how our dear brother’s fate is felt.
There was a dagger pierced my soul, to hear
That dreadful cry, I oft have heard and fear.
It is the cry of some who can't obtain,
The comfort which they seek, and try in vain.
Because this comfort 's only for the few,
Who are elect to faith and glory too.
Our brother, true and faithful, sorely tried,
Has ever been my bosom friend beside.
(105)


BOOK XIII. 107
O, the great inhumanity of man,
Whose sordid hearts with hearts will traffic pain.
Whole fam’lies thus in bondage scattered, driv'n
To lands unknown like dust by winds of heav'n.
Two little heads with golden-curly crowns,
I leave to this rough world and its dark frowns.
Sweet blue-eyed radiance all diffused in tears!
Let rapt and burning Seraphs guard your years!
My little girl! Sweet boy | What pictures here !
Sweet offspring, sprung from out that heav'nly
sphere!
O, royal faces ! Emblems of a King !
Fit images of deity you bring !
By your great Prototype ordained to walk
In paths where destiny's dark terrors stalk.
To travel, whither? One to heav'n 2 To hell
The other? Shall we meet again? Who'll tell!
Where, O, where, shall our sev’ral journeys end?
But cruel destiny doth never lend,
The keys that will unlock her temple's door,
Where her great oracles, laid up in store,
Consign the one to slav’ry's galling chain,
Or both, 'neath hell's despotic tyrant reign.
O fool! With this insatiable desire
Some one has filled me, thus my lot tº enquire;
Foresee, control, what cannot be foreseen,
Controlled—the destinies that will convene,
An hour hence; or to-morrow ; or next day !
O, worthless life, exhausted in this way !
Farewell, my little ones, and trust in God;
The Bible read, whate'er the way you trod. .
Farewell' O, that my eyes were oceans now,
I'd flood the world till mountains overflow.
My heart is torn to shreds. I cannot weep.
'Tis overloaded, buried mountain deep.
And all that 's left me is the tiger-mind,
And Stoic 's resolution to be blind.
By sheer necessity 'tis thus I go,
For all my ardent hope ’s inscribed with woe.”
. . . . “ Cheer up dear brother, cheer! Tº God’s
W111 ||
Why not accept it then, and hope fulfill?”


A3 (ſ) {ſ}} { X_iſſ/,
—cºe—
I.
Mount on thy Phlegon Muse, and soar
To yonder world's celestial shore;
And view the gath’ring hosts above,
All ransomed by redeeming Love.
What scenes arise,
On ravished eyes,
In Sweet Jerusalem
Wisdom and Love,
Triumph above,
And wear the diadem
Where mountains
Of flowers,
And fountains
With showers,
Forever shall gladden that plain,
Where forests of green,
Refulgent are seen,
In rivers that flow through that main ;
And cherubims warble,
The songs of the conquest;
While seraphims' garble,
- The sheaves in the contest,
Whom worldly-wise ninnies rejected as lost,
And left them despairing in sorrows all tossed.
The saints are triumphant; the trumpets all blow;
Michael the arch-angel treads Ön the foe.
8 - (113)


116 BOOK XIV.
Take the stout king from his queen and his throne,
He weeps like a child cast out and alone;
Take the sweet queen from the heart of her king,
In mourning and dust her bosom will wring;
Take the kind soul from the home of her love,
Her Bridegroom she waits from heaven above.
What sound is that invades the ear?
The mighty Conquerors are here! -
Victorious Wisdom comes,
With Love to guard our homes,
Eternal with allodium !
In Christ, the Conquerors appear;
In Christ, their Conquests, Triumphs rear !
Almighty Hero ride!
Lead forth Thy rescued bride,
To ravishing Elysium !
IV.
O, the day when that Hero in battle shall ride,
At the sound of the trump and the dash of the tide!
Then the flash of His sword shall extinguish the
light,
By its greater refulgence then wielded in might.
Then the end of the conflicts of ages shall come,
And the roll of its fires shall benothing their sum.
For the sun and the moon, and the stars in the sky,
From the hoofs of His courser like pebbles shall fly.
Up to the bridle bit,
Wades the white horse;
Downward the Sabers flit,
All in blood course.
Now wreathed in flames
And worlds of smoke,
Creation broke
Its spheres and frames'


118 BOOK XIV.
V.
He was once chased like the fawn,
Once into Egypt had flown,
Was betrayed with a kiss,
'Twas the serpent's foul hiss,
That had coiled in its meshes the Lamb that was
slain;
Who was scourged for the truth,
And was lashed for His youth,
Till His back with the welts and His blood was all
stain.
With His burden way-worn,
And His body all torn,
He was smitten and mocked till His face was all
slashed;
And they spat on the fair,
Then they raised Him in air,
With the crown of His thorns a huge spectacle
gashed;
Pierced then His side 1
He once walked the way weary, all faint and foot-sore,
Now let Him ride' -
Let the white horse of victory on the green shore,
Bearing Him, stride
Sheathe your swords,
The battle 's won.
Wreathe His words
In gold : well dome/
On the green shore,
Uncleft of the grave,
Triumph e'er more,
Plumed troops of the brave!