CHRIST THE ONLY REFUGE.

THE Lord he is God, and besides there's no other,

Oh here is a refuge indeed for the poor; Here all who are bankrupt and ruined and wretched,

May have all they want if they mercy implore.

So boundless his love, 't is beyond all description,

That no soul e'er failed of success at his throne;

When he drives the sinner to make true confession,

He turns into flesh the heart once hard as stone.

WHEN towering on Moriah's hill

The glittering temple stood,
Priests, incense, altars, offerings lined
The sole approach to God.

How vain, the shadowy vista closed,
The countless myriads slain;
The splendid pomp of sacrifice,

And numerous forms, how vain.
Creation's Lord could never need
A tribute of his own,
Nor love to see unconscious blood
Sprinkling his mercy throne.

But, listening to the voice of types,
All eloquent proclaim
The wealth, the worth, the purity
Of Calvary's spotless Lamb.

'T was Him alone, when incense rose,
When hecatombs were killed,
His mental vision cleared by faith,
The enlightened Jew beheld,

And thus, though at a costly shrine,
And gorgeous domes beneath,
With splendid pomp of sacrifice,
Salvation was by faith.

STANZAS.

DELTA.

MEASURE not Jesus, suffering saints,
In the chalice of your care;
Nor think he loves to hear complaints,
Or witness our despair.

Nor measure by each various frame
Your changing breasts may feel;
Immutable, is Jesus' name,
Compassionate, as well.

Be sure your path no thorn contains
But what is needful there;
Be sure your bosom ne'er complains
Beneath superfluous care.

Measure Him by his Scripture book,
The promises it tells,
Are stable as the moveless rock,
And as the throne he fills.

There you will read, that though below
His saints the cross must bear,
He will sustain in every woe,
And sanctify each care.

Hath he ere broke his plighted word,
You cannot trust him still?
He hath been thy sufficient Lord,
And thus he always will.

DELTA.

My dearest Lord, I cannot can,

Flesh chains me down so fast.

Wilt thou not rise, my love? I rose
When dead to make thee rise.
My Lord, I cannot will, this flesh
So hard upon me lies.

'T is night, 't is dark, my coat is off, How can I put it on?

My feet are washed, and should I rise 'T would make them foul anon.

Thus Eve her fig-leaves stitched to hide, The bidden made excuse,

While Jesus mild and gentle still,

Puts up with this abuse.

How could I say 't was night, when He,
The day, was at my door;

Or dark, when He who is the light
Doth darkness overpower.

Had I put off my coat, as soon I might have put it on: Affronted thus, my Jesus cried, Farewell, my love, I'm gone.

VERSES IN THE PROSPECT OF TRIAL.

Ar this dread hour, Almighty God,
When every hope hath died,

Oh may the pillar of the cloud
Be present at our side.

Be near to mark th' appointed way
Where thou wouldst have us go;
What is thy will this fearful day,
We pray thee, Lord, to show.
Helpless we bow before thy throne,
Lord, hear our ardent cries;
For help to thee, to thee alone
We raise our tearful eyes.

Or if thou hast ordained that now

Our bark shall shipwrecked be, While the rough waves of sorrow flow,

Our souls would look to thee.

Do not desert us, dearest Lord,

Be thou our portion still;

We trust not now the withering gourd,
Our refuge is thy will.

E.

STANZAS ON SOLOMON'S SONG, BY AN OLD AUTHOR.

I.

"I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?"-CHAP. v. 3.

CANST thou not rise, my love? I ran

To help thee when outcast.

II.

"A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon."CHAP. iv. 15.

IF I a garden am, thou art

O Christ, the living spring; If I have any sprouting plants, The water thou dost bring.

No water, then no fruit, no growth, No spire can pierce the clods; The fruit I bear, if it be rare

It is not mine, but God's.

My heart was dead the other day.
Unasked sweet mercy drew,
And washed it in a spring of blood,
And life divine it knew.

My heart was hard as any stone,
With hardness yet unfelt;
Love bathed it in a crystal spring,
And taught it how to melt.

My heart was cold, as cold as ice,
Some warmth it did require;

I found the living waters had
In them a living fire.

Still let this dying, living blood,
Stream as from Lebanon;
Water my wants, and wash my plants,
And shed thy dew thereon.

66

Tim. iii. 6.

THE GOSPEL PULPIT.

THE POOR MAN'S CRY AND HIS SALVATION FROM TROUBLE.

A Sermon Preached at Hull, on Lord's-day Morning, June 9, 1844.

BY JOHN GREEN.

"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles."-Psalm x、xiv. 6.

THE book of Psalms contains promises of wisdom and direction for the ignorant, riches for the spiritually poor and needy, pardon for the penitent, blessings for the humble, comfort for the dejected, support for the weak, encouragement for the weary, salvation for the lost, consolation for the afflicted, yea promises of every good thing to the living christian and heaven for the dying christian. In fact there is no christian, I mean a regenerated child of God, whether in prosperity or in adversity, in health or in sickness, at home or abroad, on land or on water, in darkness or in light, living or dying, but what may find a suitable word of promise or encouragement in the book of Psalms. He may be tempted by Satan, persecuted by the world, tormented by his own October, 1844.]

evil heart, and deserted by his acquaintances, relatives, and pretended friends; but it matters not how many and great his trials, troubles and dif ficulties, either temporal or spiritual, he has only to open the book of Psalms promiscuously, and he will be sure to meet with language adapted to his present state and circumstances. And this is no doubt one, if not the chief reason why our reformers appointed a portion of the Psalms to be read daily in the Church service, for they cannot be read too often or too carefully.

Now David is the writer of most of the Psalms, and he is undoubtedly so of the one out of which I have taken my text. It is said that he wrote it when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, or Achish, an account of which you may read at your leisure in 1 Sam. xxi. David begins this Psalm with a holy resolution to praise the Lord for his great goodness, and a suitable exhortation for others to do likewise; and then endeavours to encourage them in so good a work, by reciting his own experience, and by narrating the goodness of God, not only to himself, but all his people; hence in the language of the text, he saith, "This poor man cried, and the

FF

46

Thirdly, What the Lord did for him : The Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his trouble."

First, I am to describe to you this poor man." By this poor man, is meant, in the first instance, David himself; the history of whose life proves that he had many enemies, and various troubles. and that the Lord to whom he cried and in whom he trusted, saved him from all his enemies, and delivered him out of all his troubles. Hence it is more than once particularly said of David, that the "Lord preserved him whithersoever he went," 2 Sam. viii. But methinks you will be ready to ask, Why did David call himself a poor man, when he was the king of Israel, and of whom it is said, that "he died in a good old age, full of days, riches and honour," 1 Chron. xxix. 28? I answer, David, though a king, was yet so humble, being made so by the Spirit and grace of God, that he considered nothing he possessed was his own, but that all was the Lord's; hence he saith, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein," Psalm xxiv. 1. But there are, also, other reasons why David called himwhich I shall have self a poor man, occasion to state before I have done, and therefore shall not notice just at present.

་་་

Again, This " " refers to poor man Jesus Christ, who "though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, that we tbrough his poverty might be made rich," 2 Cor. viii. 9. And so great was his poverty, that he himself declares, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air bave nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head," Matt. viii. 20. And when required to pay tribute to Cæsar,

he was necessitated to perform a miracle in order that he might lawfully obtain that to pay the same. But our beloved Jesus was not only a poor man, but he was also a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," for he had many enemies and severe trials, so that he cried unto the Lord, yea, repeatedly and fervently, and we are expressly told, that "he was heard in that he feared. He himself, also, declares, in his prayer to the Father at the grave-side of his beloved Lazarus, "I know that thou hearest me always," John xi. 42.

But again, the poor man mentioned in our text, not only refers to David and David's Lord, but also, and perhaps so more especially, to every regenerated child of God, whether man or woman, young or old, black or white, Jew or gentile. The children of God are in general literally poor, for the apostle James saith, chap. ii. 5, God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom." But thanks be unto God, his people are not all literally poor, for there are some rich christians as well as many poor, nevertheless be it remembered, that whether like Lazarus they have to beg their bread, or like king David be possessed of great riches, they are all, when regenerated, made poor in spirit. Therefore the 'poor man in our text refers to any man and every man, whether a king or a peasant, who is poor in spirit: Blessed (saith our dear Lord) are the poor in spirit, for their's is the kingdom of heaven," Matt. v. 3.

66

Now to be poor literally you all know is to be destitute, to be in want, and to be helpless; and so it is to be poor in spirit; it is to feel that we are destitute by nature of all spiritual good, to feel our want of spiritual blessings, and to feel and experience our own inability to perform any thing that is good and acceptable in the sight of God. But to be more particular, I would observe, that to be poor in spirit is to see our own vile

ness and unworthiness. Before a man is regenerated by the grace of God, he is spiritually blind, for he cannot see, neither can he be persuaded to believe that there is no good thing in him, and that all his thoughts and works, in a state of unregeneracy and estrangement, are an abomination in the sight of God: but when grace takes possession of his soul, he then sees and in truth confesses. that in his flesh dwelleth no good thing, but that from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, there is nothing in him but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores, and the cry of his soul immediately is, "God be merciful to me a sinner :" 66 Lord save or I perish." Before he was rich in his own eyes, but now he is poor, being fully convinced, by the teachings of the Spirit of God, that he is wholly destitute by nature of all that is holy and good. Rev. iii. 17. And this is the man to whom God hath promised he will look, yea, to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at his word. Isa. Ixvi. 2. And therefore saith the psalmist," But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord think eth upon me.

Poor soul, thou art ever in his thoughts, and canst never be forgotten by him. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, (which is the church of God, composed of all who have been, are, and shall be made poor in spirit,) let my right-hand forget its cunning."

But again, to be poor in spirit is to' feel our want of spiritual blessings. When a man is convinced by God the Spirit, that he is a sinner both by nature and practice, he sees at once that he has merited the curse of a broken law, and eternal perdition. And therefore he feels a want of pardon, of justification, of sanctification and glorification; and this he is taught by the blessed Spirit, through' the application of the word. These blessings can only be obtained, by and through the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ, the only Sa

viour of sinners. Therefore the desire and prayer of such an one is, that such a measure of faith may be given to him, as shall enable him to believe that through Jesus Christ his sins are forgiven, and that by Christ alone he is also justified from all things, from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. And having obtained a personal knowledge of his justification in the person and righteousness of our altogether-lovely Jesus, by faith he has peace with God through the same Lord Jesus Christ, and can say with the apostle," Having nothing, and yet possessing all things."

Again, to be poor in spirit, is to feel our inability to perform any thing that is good and acceptable in the sight of God. And this made Paul say, We are not sufficient of ourselves, to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." They who boast of what they do or can do, are rich in their own eyes, and not poor in spirit. The poor in spirit feel they are so weak and helpless, that they cannot of themselves do any thing which is commanded, nor avoid any thing which is forbidden; for which reason they pray constantly and fervently for the assistance of God's Spirit and grace, to enable them continually and wholly to rely on the merits of Christ for their salvation, and to adorn his doctrine by a holy life and a godly conversation.

Thus you see the poor man in our text, is a man of grace, a man of faith, a man of humility, and a man of prayer; and therefore he is one whom God has not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ; being a vessel of mercy which God hath afore prepared unto glory; and whose name is recorded in the Lamb's book of life. He is also one of the all " whom God hath given to Christ, and who shall at the appointed time and place, and by the appointed means,