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A Sermon at the Ordination of the Rev. Abraham Booth.

A Sermon preached at a Monthly Exercise.

A Sermon preached before the Corresponding Board in London, of the So-
ciety in Scotland, for propagating Christian knowledge in the Highlands, &c.

3 JOHN, ver. 8.—We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fel-

low-helpers to the truth,

A Sermon on the General Fast, February 21st, 1781.

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Well thou may'st claim that heart of me,
Which owes so much to thine.

Yes! thou shalt surely have my heart,
My soul, my strength, my all:
With life itself I'll freely part,
My JESUS! at thy call.

Early piety, Matt. xii. 20.

How soft the words my Saviour speaks!
How kind the promises he makes!
A bruised reed he never breaks,
Nor will he quench the smoking flax.
The humble poor he won't despise,
Nor on the contrite sinner frown:
His ear is open to their cries,
He quickly sends salvation down.

When piety in early minds,

Like tender buds, begins to shoot,

He guards the plants from threatening winds,

And ripens blossoms into fruit.

With humble souls he bears a part
In all the sorrows they endure:
Tender and gracious is his heart,
His promise is for ever sure.
He sees the struggles that prevail
Between the powers of grace and sin;
He kindly listens while they tell
The bitter pangs they feel within.
Tho' press'd with fears on every side,
They know not how the strife may end;
Yet he will soon the cause decide,

And judgment unto vict'ry send.

Divine Mercies in constant Succession, Lam. iii. 22, 23.

How various and how new

Are thy compassions, Lord!

Each morning shall thy mercies shew,—
Each night thy truth record.

Thy goodness, like the sun,
Dawn'd on our early days,
Ere infant reason had begun
To form our lips to praise.
Each object we beheld
Gave pleasure to our eyes;
And nature all our senses held
In bands of sweet surprise,
But pleasures more refin'd
Awaited that bless'd day,
When light arose upon our mind,
And chas'd our sins away.
How new thy mercies, then!
How sovereign, and how free!
Our souls that had been dead in sin
Were made alive to thee.

Now we expect a day

Still brighter far than this,
When death shall bear our souls away
To realms of light and bliss.
There rapt'rous scenes of joy
Shall burst upon our sight;
And every pain, and tear, and sigh,
Be drown'd in endless light.
Beneath thy balmy wing,
O Sun of Righteousness!
Our happy souls shall sit and sing
The wonders of thy grace.

Nor shall that radiant day,
So joyfully begun,

In evening shadows die away,
Beneath the setting sun.

How various and how new
Are thy compassions, LORD!
Eternity thy love shall shew,
And all thy truth record.

Children dying in their Infancy, in the Arms of Jesus, Matt. xix. 14.

THY life I read, my dearest Lord,

With transport all divine;
Thine image trace in every
Thy love in every line.

word,

Methinks I see a thousand charms
Spread o'er thy lovely face,
While infants in thy tender arms
Receive the smiling grace.

I take these little lambs, said he,
And lay them in
my breast:

Protection they shall find in me,—
In me be ever blest.

Death may the bands of life unloose,
But can't dissolve my love;
Millions of infant-souls compose
The family above.

Their feeble frames my pow'r shall raise,
And mould with heavenly skill:

I'll give them tongues to sing my praise,
And hands to do my will.

His words the happy parents hear,

And shout with joys divine,

Dear SAVIOUR! all we have and are

Shall be for ever thine.

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The Last Judgment.

HE comes! he comes! to judge the world,
Aloud th' archangel cries!
While thunders roll from pole to pole,
And lightnings cleave the skies.

Th' affrighted nations hear the sound,
And upward lift their eyes:

The slumb'ring tenants of the ground
In living armies rise.

Amid the shouts of numerous friends,
Of hosts divinely bright,

The Judge in solemn pomp descends,
Array'd in robes of light.

His head and hairs are white as snow,"
His eyes a fiery flame,

A radiant crown adorns his brow,
And JESUS is his name.

Writ on his thigh his name appears,
And scars his vict'ries tell:
Lo-in his hand the conqu'ror bears
The keys of death and hell.

So he ascends the judgment-seat,
And at his dread command,
Myriads of creatures round his feet
In solemn silence stand.

Princes and peasants here expect
Their last, their righteous doom;
The men who dar'd his grace reject,
And they who dar'd presume.
Depart, ye sons of vice and sin,
The injur'd JESUS cries!
While the long-kindling wrath within
Flashes from both his eyes.

And now in words divinely sweet,

With rapture in his face,

Aloud his sacred lips repeat

The sentence of his grace:

Well done, my good and faithful sons,
The children of my love!

Receive the sceptres, crowns, and thrones,
Prepar'd for you above.

The promised Land.

ON Jordan's stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye

To Canaan's fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

O the transporting rapt'rous scene
That rises to my sight!

Sweet fields, array'd in living green,

And rivers of delight!

There generous fruits, that never fail,
On trees immortal grow:

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