Without procrastination to the task
Important that you haste! With equal hand
In scales of temperate justice, balance well
The claims of pleading mercy! Unto crimes
Inflictions just and adequate assign;
On reformation or example sole,
And all impartial, constantly intent,
Banish the rage for blood, for tortures, fell,
Savage, reproachful. Study to restore
Its young, its useful members to the state,
Well disciplined, corrected, moralized;
Preserved at once from shame, from death, from Hell,
Men, rationals, immortals,-Sons of God.
Oh prosperous be your labours, crown'd your zeal!
But, ah, why droops my soul? why o'er me thus
Comes a chill cloud? Such triumph well besuits
The faithful Christian! thee had suited well,
If haply persevering in the course,
As first thy race exultingly began.
But thou art fallen, fallen! Oh my heart,
What dire compunction !—sunk in foul offence
A prisoner, and condemn'd: an outcast vile;
Bye-word and scorn of an indignant world,
Who reprobate with horrour thy ill deed:
Turn from thee loath'd, and to damnation just Assign, unpitying, thy devoted head,
Loaded with every infamy!
Of Justice and of Mercy! wilt thou too,
In fearful indignation on my soul,
My anguish'd soul, the door of pity close,
And shut me from thee ever?-Lo! in dust,
Humiliate, prostrate, weeping 'fore thy throne-
Before thy cross, oh dying Friend of man,
Friend of repentant sinners I confess
And mourn my deep transgressions, as the sand
Innumerous, as the glowing crimson red;
With every aggravation, every guilt
Accumulate and burden'd! Against light,
'Gainst love, and clearest knowledge perpetrate!
Stampt with Ingratitude's most odious stain;
Ingratitude to thee; whose favouring love
Had bless'd me, had distinguish'd me with grace,
With goodness far beyond my wish or worth!
Ingratitude to man; whose partial ear
Attended to my doctrine with delight;
And from my zeal conspicuous justly claim'd
Conspicuous example!--Lord, I sink.
O'erwhelm'd with self-conviction, with dismay,
With anguish and confusion past compare !
And could I weep whole seas of briny tears
In painful penitence; could I deplore
From my heart's aching fountain, drop by drop, My crimes and follies; my deep grief and shame For vile dishonour on thy gospel brought;
For vile discredit to my order done ;
For deep offence against my country's laws;
For deep offence to pity and to man,—
A patriarchal age would be too short
To speak my sorrows and lament my sins;
Chief, as I am, of sinners! Guiltier far
Than he who, falling, at the cock's shrill call
Rose, and repented weeping: Guiltier far-
I dare not say, than Judas; for my heart
Hath ever loved,-could never have betray'd,
Oh never, never Thee, dear Lord! to death;
Tho' cruelly, unkindly, and unwise
That heart hath sacrificed its truth and peace,
-For what a shameful, what a paltry price!-
To sin, detested sin; and done thee wrong,
Oh blessed source of all its good, its hope!
For tho' thus sunk, thus sinful, sorrowing thus,
It dare not, cannot Judas' crime commit,
Last crime, and of thy mercy, Lord, despair!
But conscious of its guilt: contrite and plunged
In lowest self-abjection, in the depths
Of sad compunction, of repentance due
And undissembled, to thy cross it cleaves,
And cries for ardent cries for mercy, Lord!
Mercy, its only refuge! Mercy, Christ!
By the red drops that in the garden gush'd
'Midst thy soul's anguish from thee; By the dropa
That down thy precious temples from the crown
Of agony distill'd! By those that flow'd
From thy pierced hands and blessed feet so free;
By all thy blood, thy sufferings, and thy death,
Mercy, oh Mercy, Jesus! Mercy, Thou
Who erst on David, with a clement eye,
When mourning at thy footstool, deign'dst to look.
Thou, who the adulterous Magdalen forgav'st,
When in the winning garb of penitence
Contrite she knelt, and with her flowing tears
Wash'd lowly thy loved feet! Nor thou the thief, forgav'st
Even in the last, the bitterest hour of pain,
Refusedst, gracious! Nor wilt thou refuse
My humble supplication, nor reject
My broken bleeding heart, thus offer'd up
On true contrition's altar; while thro' thee,
Only thro' Thee acceptance do I hope,
Thou bleeding Love! Consummate Advocate,
Prevailing Intercessor! Oh look pitying down!
On thy sufficient merits I depend;
From thy unbounded mercies I implore
The look of pardon, and the voice of grace,—
Grace, Grace!-Victorious Conqueror over sin,
O'er death, o'er Hell, for me, for all mankind;
For grace I plead: repentant at thy feet
I throw myself, unworthy, lost, undone;
Trusting my soul, and all its dear concerns,
With filial resignation to thy will:
Grace, still on grace my whole reliance built :
Glory to grace triumphant!-And to thee,
Dispenser bounteous of that sovereign grace !
Jesus, thou King of glory! at thy call
I come obedient: lo, the future world
Expands its views transporting! Lord, I come ;
And in that world eternal trust to 'plaud,
With all Redemption's sons, thy glorious grace!
Then farewell, oh, my friends! light o'er my grave
The green sod lay, and dew it with the tear
Of memory affectionate! and you,
-The curtain dropt decisive, oh my foes,
Your rancour drop; and, candid, as I am
Speak of me, hapless! Then you'll speak of one
Whose bosom beat at pity's gentlest touch
From earliest infancy; whose boyish mind
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