SOLILOQUY ON THE MOON.

Written on a serene Moonlight Evening.

AGAIN most lovely silver orb,

Pale empress of the night,
Thou 'rt decked in thy refulgent robe,

With rays of placid light;
To cheer this gloomy vale of tears,
With thy soft smile of love,
And gild our lonely silent hours
With glories from above.

The weary hours of toil are o'er,

And nature's hushed to rest, The sun his golden beams withdraw, And sinks beneath the west; The flow'rets have their eyelids closed, Ambrosial is their breath,

The feathered songsters' notes are mute, The zephyrs still as death.

The rippling stream alone is heard
Soft murmuring at our feet,
The evening dews their gems distil,
Whilst thou thy vigils keep;
What hand suspends thy beauteous globe
Fair queen, who rules the night?
From whence didst thou those glories bring
That fill us with delight?

Didst thou thine own bright orbit fix
In the ethereal sky,

Or did some spirit place thee there,
With heavenly hosts to vie?
Who teaches thee the vesper hours,
Thou glory of the night?

From whence didst thou thy knowledge gain

To tread thy steps aright?

Does aught but God thy wisdom give,
To guide thee safe along,

Or do the wonders of thy reign
To seraphim belong?

Did Gabriel's wondrous powerful arm
Thy radiant sphere create,
And by his high commanding voice
Thee out of nothing speak?

Dost thou to chance thy splendour owe?
As some men vainly say;
Could his poor, weak and feeble hand
Such beauty ere display?
Did he the arch of space erect,
Or vault the azure sky?
Did he the starry region spread

Through which thou rov'st on high?

Oh, no, methinks I hear thee say,
My origin's divine;

"T was power more excellent than these,
The power, great God, was thine :
No fabled or angelic hand,

Could e'er such power display,
No human or contingent power
Gave thine imperial sway.

No, 't was the great I AM alone
Wrought thy resplendent robe,
And by his own almighty breath
From chaos spoke thy globe.
His voice thou didst with joy obey,
And into being sprang,
While all the glittering sons of morn
With shouts of rapture sang.

And by his will and power alone
Thou dost revolve and shine
And when he issues the command
Thou must thy light resign!
One day thou wilt the summons hear,
And into gore will change,

Thy silvery vest thou must lay by

For robes of crimson stain.

At that dread voice the starry globes
Will from their orbits fall,
The sun his gorgeous fire resign

And blackness make his pall.
The heavens in mighty thunder peals
Like scrolls will pass away,
The earth in conflagration rise

To meet the judgment-day.

The seas in wild convulsions roll,
Their dead they 'll then restore,
And death and hell, in fetters bound,
When time shall be no more.

AFFLICTION's path is dark and drear,
And makes the spirit faint;
But Jesus is for ever near

To cheer his drooping saint.
Affliction's furnace, sanctified,

Doth but the dross remove;
It makes the christian's faith abide,
And stablishes in love.
Affliction's rod is oft applied

To scourge, but not to kill;
For though our heavenly Father chide,
He is our Father still.

Affliction, though it causeth grief,
Yields a celestial fruit ;

And though it seem to blight the leaf,
It cannot hurt the root.

Then let me, Lord, no more repine,
But on thy grace rely;
And let the happiness be mine,
For thee, to live and die.

STANZAS.

CEPHAS.

WHEN clouds of anxious doubt arise,
And storm and tempest veil the skies;
When bitter foes thy faith assail,
And flesh o'er spirit would prevail;
Then to thy Saviour's arms repair,
And seek and find deliverance there.
When retrospectively you view
The varied scene you're passing through,
And choicest blessings oft renewed
Demand thy praise and gratitude;
Then to thy Saviour's cross repair,
And raise thine Ebenezer there.
And oh, when in the border land
Thy spirit takes its final stand;
When faith, beyond the narrow sea,
Beholds the rest prepared for thee;
Then to thy Saviour's throne repair,
And find eternal refuge there.

CEPHAS.

66

THE GOSPEL PULPIT.

THE MOURNING SOUL ENCOURAGED. A SERMON,

Preached at the Baptist Chapel, Bedworth, Warwickshire.

BY MR. COLLINGE.

any here this morning that think well of their religion, if they did not get what they have by real soul trouble, when trouble comes it will disappear, die away, and not stand the storm. We have a description of such a character as this given by the Saviour himself, when speaking of those that receive the word in stony places; they endured

FIRST. Let us notice the designation, they that mourn.

Secondly. The blessedness of these characters.

persecution began to arise, for the word's sake, these having no root, they withered and died away, and came to nothing. Now in order, therefore, that a poor soul blessed of God may be found to be a real

In the first place I would observe, to be found one of these mourners, a spiritual mourner in Zion, is an unspeakable mercy and favour, for where this mourning is, the poor soul knows and feels what he has to mourn for and over: there is something takes place with them, that the world knows nothing of, as it is written, "The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy." Mark the words, my friends, "that the heart knoweth his own bitterness." I tell you without hesitation this morning, that the religion of the Son of God does not begin in sunshine, joy, peace, comfort, or consolation, but the reverse; if there are April, 1852.]

life, whatever men may say in opposition to this work of regeneration; for my own part, with the word of God on my side, I need take very little notice of what men say in opposition, that when once a poor sinner, beloved of God-on this ground God does it, because he loved him-when once he is regenerated, or born again, and made alive by divine grace, he is sure to be brought into soul trouble; and, my friends, as I was going to observe, this life is immortal: it can never die.

Now in the first stage of experience of a subject of God's grace, he cannot be persuaded by all the men in the world that such a thing has taken place; you may converse with him, but you will

M

not persuade him he is blessed with the life of God in his soul; because when solemnly arrested, and brought in the court of his conscience, in his feelings to stand before that God, against whom he has sinned, the feelings of his soul are, that his sins are so great, that he trembles, fearing he must for ever sink in the frowns and disapprobation of that God, whose laws he has broken, on whose authority he has trampled, against whom he hath sinned with an high hand, and outstretched arm; but in the midst of this, although the poor soul feels he has to do with that God that declares the man to be accursed that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them; the poor soul begins to fear him, that peradventure God may have mercy on him, at least, I speak for myself, I began to try, I thought and felt my case to be bad, then I thought the Lord might have mercy, if he did not, he had an undisputed right to dispose of me as was consistent with his solemn will and pleasure; therefore I began praying, reading, and going to the house of God, so I then thought by professing the religion of God's people, I should be well off if I got safe to heaven; that was where I wanted to go, but feared I never should; in this way I went on day after day, week after week, and month after month, with all my striving to keep straight in all my attempts to please God, I never could live twenty four hours together to please myself. I know I went on in this way, till I worked myself completely fast, that I was brought to a stand before God in my feelings, although as far as health was concerned there was nothing the matter, yet I expected every day to be my last, that I should be cut down, and I must sink for ever beneath his avenging frown. I often thought, my friends, of the circumstances spoken of by

the evangelist, relative to the poor woman who had got the running issue of blood she was confident she had it because she was an eye witness thereof; but in the first place did she apply to the good Physician of souls? No, this is never done till the last always omitted till the last. I have sometimes been overwhelmed and broken down when contemplating the sovereign grace, the rich and abundant mercy of God, after the poor soul has wasted all, is a complete bankrupt, not a farthing, to speak in a spiritual sense, the Lord invites them to come to that place, the last retreat; the poor soul, conscious of this, feels it is all over with him for ever and ever. My friend, there is a solemnity, a glory and beauty in that saying of the Lord himself through Isaiah the prophet, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." You have been trying, and instead of bettering your case and circumstances, you have got to the far end, and there the Lord makes his children to be living witnesses for him. I know not a soul here this morning, but how can you from your heart thank God for saving you, if you are not feelingly lost? how thank him for finding you, if not sensibly lost? how thank him for his unparalleled love, his discriminating grace, his compassion and tender mercy? This is a soul-supporting truth, and if you are not brought into these straits and difficulties you are awfully undone for ever. Here are the riches of free and sovereign grace displayed; here the acts of God's unparalleled love are made known; for every poor soul really blessed with his love is brought to know as Jonah said, being in the whale's belly, with the weeds of destruction wrapped about his head; when he was brought forth on dry land, he could then say from soul experi

ence, with his whole heart, "salvation is of the Lord." From first to last, "salvation is of the Lord," all through the free, discriminating grace of God; but at first the poor soul does not know there is a principle of love in all this. The wise man saith, "I know that whatever God doeth, it shall be for ever;" nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it, and God doeth it that men should fear before him. I dare say you have professors of religion in this neighbourhood; there are plenty in the district whence I came; they tell the people it is possible to be regenerated, become changed characters, children of God, "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," and through their own negligence, fall away and die eternally in their sins. I do not find this in the word of God; it is not to be found in the scriptures of eternal truth: therefore what men may say without a "thus saith the Lord," is not worth having. I tell you what, my friends, God's people do not embrace this doctrine, and live a loose licentious life live in sin that grace may abound; no, no, they cordially receive it, and it is solemnly acceptable to them: they prize it as a high privilege of the Most High.

Now to the law and the testimony for a "thus saith the Lord." You recollect what is said about the love of God being eternal. Peter says, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." I understand this word of the Lord, to be the Lord Jesus Christ. If we look at the last verse we find the apostle says, "But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the

word which by the gospel is preached unto you." It is evidently the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul, in his Epistle to the Colossians, says, "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." It is Christ, the life of a poor sinner in him; "when Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Now Paul loved this truth in his very heart, though once he opposed it, and stood out against it; he destroyed the faith he afterwards was constrained to preach. It changed him, as it changes us; and if we are the subjects of God's electing love, we shall believe this doctrine, and we shall pray to God to enable us to be consistent in our character and deportment. The apostle, after he has said, Christ is the life of his people, he tells them to " mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;" "shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin," by divine grace, "live any longer therein ?" in the habitual use and practice of sin. It is impossible for a living soul to love it, if blessed with this divine principle, with the love of God in the soul, surely they must feel sin bitter. My friends, such characters as these, really regenerated by divine grace, need not fall into outward acts of sin in order to know and feel that they are sinners; they feel they are sinners, if not externally to the extent of others, they feel they are sinners internally. I know for myself, when labouring here under sentence of death, I did not know whether I should be reprieved, and share his mercy, or as a mark of his displeasure, for ever sink under his inviolable justice. I was among a people that had not been led into