A WORD TO THE "ELECT."
You may rejoice to think YOURSELVES
secure;
You may be grateful for
the gift divine--
That grace unsought, which
made your black hearts pure,
And fits your earth-born
souls in Heaven to shine.
But, is it sweet to look
around, and view
Thousands excluded from
that happiness
Which they deserved, at
least, as much as you.--
Their faults not greater,
nor their virtues less?
And wherefore should you
love your God the more,
Because to you alone his
smiles are given;
Because He chose to pass
the MANY o'er,
And only bring the favoured
FEW to Heaven?
And, wherefore should your
hearts more grateful prove,
Because for ALL the Saviour
did not die?
Is yours the God of justice
and of love?
And are your bosoms warm
with charity?
Say, does your heart expand
to all mankind?
And, would you ever to your
neighbour do--
The weak, the strong, the
enlightened, and the blind--
As you would have your neighbour
do to you?
And when you, looking on
your fellow-men,
Behold them doomed to endless
misery,
How can you talk of joy
and rapture then?--
May God withhold such cruel
joy from me!
That none deserve eternal
bliss I know;
Unmerited the grace in mercy
given:
But, none shall sink to
everlasting woe,
That have not well deserved
the wrath of Heaven.
And, oh! there lives within
my heart
A hope, long nursed by me;
(And should its cheering
ray depart,
How dark my soul would be!)
That as in Adam all have
died,
In Christ shall all men
live;
And ever round his throne
abide,
Eternal praise to give.
That even the wicked shall
at last
Be fitted for the skies;
And when their dreadful
doom is past,
To life and light arise.
I ask not, how remote the
day,
Nor what the sinners' woe,
Before their dross is purged
away;
Enough for me to know--
That when the clip of wrath
is drained,
The metal purified,
They'll cling to what they
once disdained,
And live by Him that died. |
