Of Moses, servant of the Lord, 2 As a mere man, what man can hold, 4 And how did David strike the lyre, And others blest with heav'nly grace. 7 Moses foretold a Prophet great, 8 Think how the holy city lies, Waste and by Heathens trampled down, The sons of Zion they despise, And mock at David's prostrate crown. 9 Think how for many a painful year,` The world's resentment ye have borne, What insults known and griefs severe, From joy and from your country torn. 10 The Prophet Moses has foretold, Is the Great Ruler Micah said In Bethle'm should be born of old, 11 He is the Ruler of the world, On God's right hand who holds his throne, HYMN XV. ISRAEL BLIND. We grope for the wall like the blind, we grope as if we had no eyes. 1 LIKE a poor lunatic distrest, By giddy hooting boys pursu'd, He is the rabble's sport unkind, 3 Yet Isr❜el shall again arise, And keep his splendid state and throne, 4 Like Samson he shall overthrow, Isaiah. It is declared in the sacred prophecies that the Jews were to be "a proverb, a by-word, a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach;" but the wicked, and not the good, were chiefly to be the instruments of this wrath. The following prophecy seems to relate to the Jews and Great Britain. "Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee." Isaiah, lx. 9, 10. POETICAL PARAPHRASE ON OUR SAVIOUR'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. PREFACE. Matthew, ii. 28, &c. THIS discourse of our Saviour may be esteemed a summary of the doctrines of Christianity. It appears to be vain to attempt to recommend it by any eloquence. Unbounded admiration, one would suppose, must be the general consequence of its being known. We may urge, however, among innumerable arguments for the truth of Christianity, that the person who delivered such wise and good precepts could not have been an impostor, but that he came from God. I was induced to give this paraphrase on it, from conceiving that it contained, as well as the soundest truths, the most poetical imagery. And I shall be happy, if I can invite any one by a love of verse (the ୮ influence of which is often astonishing) to attend to its incomparable excellence, who might have otherwise neglected it. It is necessary that we consult the spirit, and not the letter, of this as well as every other part of Scripture; which is the office of reason in regard to all laws human or divine. We shall by this avoid many ridiculous and many destructive principles. We should continually reflect, when we read the Gospel, what St. Paul says of it, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Which observation alone is an answer to the laboured but ignorant declamations of some modern Deists. Our Saviour says, My spirit is Truth." Whatsoever, therefore, is true and reasonable in itself, though it may not comport with the outward letter of some passages of Scripture, contains the genuine principles of Christianity. Dr. Clarke in his "Paraphrase on the Four Gospels," Dr. Doddridge in that excellent work his "Family Expositor," and Dr. Zachary Pearce in his "Commentary with Notes on the Four Evangelists, and on the Acts of the Apostles," have given some admirable comments upon this discourse. I would recommend the reader to the works of these authors, not only for these their comments, but that they were happy also in being particularly serviceable to mankind by writing most learned and able defences of Christianity. Their comments, however, upon this discourse, though in many respects good, are not altogether without exception. There is one point, for instance, in which I think they are all mistaken, the maintaining that our Saviour did not forbid swearing in all cases. I have explained my reasons for differ ing from them, in a note. A POETICAL PARAPHRASE, &c. IN Galilee of yore, our sacred Lord, |