XXXVI. THE INWARD CALL. WHO gives to man sufficiency? and whence The righteous deed, save from the source divine, Thine be the wish with knowledge meet to join God or his Church expects; but the just aim XXXVII. PASTORAL STUDIES. WHO would teach others, first himself must learn High lore, surpassing human wisdom's reach, For grace must beg God's wisdom to discern, Nor fail God's sacred book by day to turn, By night yet think not 'twill God's pow'r impeach, If weapons, meet to pierce the hidden speech, He fetch from learning's armory, nor spurn Aid from well-cultur'd reason. Truth divine Comes not with light intuitive to guide The man of God; tho', duly sought, 'twill shine His polar star. Then may his vessel ride In safety on nor from its course decline Astray, nor founder in the darkling tide. XXXVIII. PASTORAL RECREATIONS. WHAT fitter, man of God, thy thoughts to share, To charm, nor less improve, a vacant hour, Than thy great Master's works?—The wild fieldInsect or bird, that gaily wings the air, [flower, And what earth holds of wonderful and fair, Rich is the volume of his works! At home Be that; be this thy cherish'd search abroad! Like Noah's dove, there see each fine-wrought plume God's love attest: each plant, like Aaron's rod, With signs of might and thought paternal bloom! XXXIX. THE PREACHER. WHO Would not choose the PREACHER'S words sincere, Which truth unmaim'd and unadulterate deal To willing ears and minds? With prudent zeal, Temperate, tho' earnest; grave, but not austere; Strong, without coarseness; without meanness, clear; Firm, to denounce God's wrath; but meek to feel For human frailty; pitiful, to heal The wounded spirit, and the weak to rear Gently with mild endurance! Wouldst thou find Go, elsewhere seek it! His the soberer part, And "draw by cords of man "1 the obedient heart. 1 Hos. xi. 4 XL. PREACHING EVANGELICAL. SAY, what is GOSPEL-PREACHING ?-'Tis to show, How from his Father's love by wilful deed Man fell; and how, for ransom'd man to bleed, The Son of God took in this world of woe Our flesh, and quell'd by death our mortal foe: And what his Spirit's aid; and whither lead His laws; his means of grace; and what the meed Of faith, matur'd by love; and what we owe The THREE in ONE! This knowledge, passing reach Of man's device or angel's, broad and deep, God by his Son deliver'd; this to teach Mankind, he charg'd the shepherds of his sheep: If man or angel other Gospel preach, 1 He "sows the wind, and shall the whirlwind reap." 2 XLI. PREACHING UN-EVANGELICAL. "To shut the gates of mercy on mankind," 3 To sin and endless woe; to hold to view Unjust, unpardoning, pitiless, unkind: IS THIS TO PREACH the GOSPEL ?—In thy word All sinn'd and died. 1 Gal. i. 8. • 1 John iv. 8, 16. XLII. THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. "He was the Poor man's friend! He sought and knew The sick man's wounds he bath'd with oil and wine: Full many a POOR MAN's friend does Britain own Among her pastors; though from public fame Remote they labor, mark'd by God alone, And those they tend; but mid the world's acclaim [known. XLIII. THE PASTOR'S HELP MEET. AND no kind HELP dost thou, my country know, Comfort herself too oft, when left to feel And soothe the heart which none but God can heal! XLIV. THE PASTOR'S WIDOW AND ORPHANS. YES, she must go, and from their place of birth May'st thou watch over them! May'st thou provide Friends, shelter, food, and comfort yet to come, The ORPHAN'S Father, and the WIDOW's Guide! XLV. THE ARK OF CHRIST'S CHURCH. RENT were at once the floodgates of the sky, And burst the great deep's fountains. All was dark, Throng'd with the forms of drowning men and hark, O'er the wide earth one agonising cry! Then mid the swelling surge, careering high, Fraught with the world's remains, the Patriarch's ARK Liv'd in the safeguard of Jehovah's eye, Of sin reigns paramount: still God provides And o'er the waves the life-fraught vessel rides. |