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POETRY.

PRAYER IN DEEP WATERS.

"Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me; for my soul trusteth in thee." -Psalm lvii. 1.

CROSSED and perplexed on life's rough sea,
My dearest Lord, I fly to thee;
Thou art my only hope, and still
I look toward thy holy hill:
Oh, let thy goodness now be free,
Dear Lord, be merciful to me.

Cast down and sore oppressed with grief,
Thou, thou alone canst give relief;
All comforts fail on every side,
In Christ oh let me safely hide :
Now let thy faithfulness be free,
Dear Lord, be merciful to me.

I've looked on every side in vain,
No helping hand can I obtain ;
All, all is vanity below,

To me, dear Lord, thy favour shew:
Now let me succour find in thee,
Dear Lord, be merciful to me.

Hast thou not in thy word of grace,
Bid sinking souls to seek thy face?
Thou knowst I've looked, and looked again,
But cannot e'en one smile obtain,
Yet still I'll look alone to thee,
Dear Lord, be merciful to me.

In days gone by, thy helping hand
I saw,
it brought me safe to land;
Oh, let thy power once more appear,
To soothe and banish all my fear:
My hope is fixed alone in thee,
Oh, let me now thy mercy see.

Appear and help me now I
pray,
Thou know'st my cry from day to day,
Stretch forth thy hand, the sea divide,
And turn the current of the tide;
Let sovereign goodness shine on me,
And yet be merciful to me.
Deptford.

SELF-EXAMINATION.

J. H.

AND have we passed' from death to life?
Enquiry this of vast import;

Has there within commenced a strife
Between what grace and nature 's wrought?

Are we to things of earth more dead?
Do they to us unwholesome prove?
Is there within continual dread
Lest we from stedfastness remove.

Is sin to us a bitter thing,
Casting great gloom across the mind;
And in the service of our King
We can true pleasure only find?

Is it great joy to tread the court
Which Jesus frequents here below;
To hear the wonders he hath wrought,
His will and promises to know?

And do we oft God's word peruse,
With earnest love and humble fear;
Anxious to share its joyful news,
And see our way to heaven more clear?

Is it to us employment sweet
To fall before the throne of grace;
And have we at the mercy-seat
Beheld Immanuel's smiling face?

Great God, thy word we will believe,
And ever cast our anchor there,
Which only will our souls relieve
From dismal thought and gloomy care.

Send down thy Spirit from on high
To cheer us through this wilderness;
We then the powers of hell defy,
And Father, Son and Spirit bless.

But if we are deceived in heart,
And nothing know of life divine;
Spirit of God that life impart,
And all the glory shall be thine.

E. REYNOLDS.

DESIRES ON A SABBATH MORNING.

GREAT Comforter, descend this day,
And from my mind remove away

All earthly, sensual things;
Let me in spirit praise and pray,
And worship in th' appointed way
Our glorious King of kings.

Assist thy minister to preach,
And to my heart direct his speech
By thy almighty power;
Bid unbelief, that foe, begone,
Let me by faith approach thy throne,
Be this the appointed hour.

Oh, may I feast upon thy grace,
See my Redeemer's smiling face,

Talk with him as a friend;
His secrets to my soul make known,
And bid me claim him as my own,
My life, my way, my end.

Oh, let me feel the cleansing blood,
Of Jesus, our incarnate God,

The balm for every wound;
May I but sit at his dear feet,
I'll listen to his accents sweet,
And hail the joyful sound.

Dear Jesus, come, upon me shine,
And this polluted heart of mine

From wandering thoughts set free;
Tell me, oh, tell me thou art mine,
And. clothed with righteousness divine,
I stand complete in thee.

MARY.

If humbled at the Saviour's feet,
Lost in ourselves, in Christ complete,
Our loss, eternal gain.

That precious blood on Calvary spilt
Will cleanse the soul from all her guilt,
Wash all her stain away;
From leprosy aud every stain
This sanctifying blood makes clean,
Defilement cannot stay.

Then fearful, tempted, trembling saint,
Who mourn and make a sad complaint,
With Satan sore annoyed;

Pressed down with sin, and guilt, and shame,
The precious blood will wash you clean:
"Cast down, but not destroyed."

Here poor backsliders, base and foul,
Can find a cleansing for their soul

From sins of blackest die;
The fountain open stands for such
As feel their sin and guilt is much,
Yea, sinners black as I.

CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED.

WHAT Would poor doubting christians do,
When Satan, sin and self pursue,

When unbelief annoyed;
If God could ere unfaithful prove,
Or change his everlasting love?
They must be all destroyed.
Corruptions rise and stir within
Envy, and pride, and every sin,
Which drives us to despair;
Spiritual pride, that awful foe,
And with these many others too,
And free-will, all are there.

Thus foes within and foes without
Cause us to tremble and to doubt,
Lest we should be deceived;
But oft our ever-blessed Lord
Whispers these soul-reviving words—
"Cast down, but not destroyed."

'Tis then we feel, and know, and prove
How faithful is our covenant God,

Though we are faithless still;
His everlasting counsel stands,
And we shall bow when he commands,
Though we resist his will.

How humble then ought we to lay,
And at his footstool weep and pray,
Aud mix with love our prayer;
We weep because with sin defiled,
But love because we 're rcconciled
To God by precious blood.

Though in ourselves we are depraved,
In Jesus Christ we shall be saved
If we are born again;

LINES

COMPOSED BY A YOUNG MAN UPON HIS
DEATH-Bed.

DEAR Jesus, at thy feet
A helpless soul doth lay,
His sin and sorrow is so great,
He knows not how to pray.

Dear Lord, with pity look
Upon his help!ess case,
Oh, do not let him sink to hell,
But save him by thy grace.

Yet, Lord, he is afraid
He has no right to pray,
And if he does attempt to speak
He knows not what to say.

Dear Jesus, thou canst make
The blind their sins to see,
The very dumb thou makest to praise
Thy name, then, Lord, make me.

Dear Lord, I'll try again,
Though dumb, and scarce can see,
Yet in thy strength my heart shall say,
Dear Lord, remember me.

ON THE INSPIRED WRITERS.
Whence but from heaven should men un-
skilled in arts,

In different ages born, in different parts,
Weave such agreeing truths? or how, or why
Could all conspire to cheat us with a lie?
Unasked their pains, unwearied their advice,
Starving their gains, and martyrdom their
price.

INDEX.

A Bruised Reed

A Card to J. R. of Sussex
A few plain thoughts on the Se-
cond Coming of Christ

Affliction Lightened

A Looking-glass for Wolves and
a Honey-comb for True Be-
lievers

A New Preacher's Letter to an
Old Watchman for Advice,
and the Old Watchman's
reply

An Old Watchman's compassi-
onate reply, correction and
counsel to Onesimus, in his
present perplexity and erro-
neous assertions respecting
the Blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost and Wilful Pre-
sumptuous Sins ..
Grateful reply to the Que-
rists, with remarks on their
propounded Queries

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.. 111

by Mr. J. Blomfield

145, 180

by Mr. Corn. Sharp

169, 206

by Rev. Mr. French

193, 225

128

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217

241

A short treatise upon God's
s ever-
lasting Covenant ..
Bentley's (Rev. Wm.) Sermon:
a Spiritual Entertainment

201

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by Mr. W. Westhorp
by Mr. W. Mundy
by Rev. W. Bentley 265, 289
Goodwin (Dr.) Fragment from
Greenfield's (Rev. Edm.) Letter

to a Friend

Gunner's (Rev. Thos.) Letter to
a Friend

70

129

60

35

Hawker's (Rev. Dr.) Spiritual
Reflections on Holy Scrip-
ture, extracts from
Henty (Reuben) Obituary of.. 273
Huntington (Rev. Wm.) extracts
from the Writings of

Justification

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Literary Notices

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