Poetical fragments heart-employment with God and it selfPoetical fragments heart-imployment with God and it self

Be silent flesh! my God is Wise and Just; Hast thou not sinned? stoop and kiss the dust. If Passion did not blind thee, thou mightest see, Justice is good, even when it falls on thee. It is not causeless, if he pierce the Heart: He doth but choose the foul, the guilty part. Had not the door been opened first to sin, Terror and sorrows could not have got in: If it have room for thoughts of Pride and Just; That trouble should dwell with them, is but just. Where should the tent be put, but in the wound? We cleanse the ulcerous part, and not the sound. Where should Jehovah's battering Cannons play, But at the Fortress where his Enemy lay? ⟨p. 104⟩Thence came the viperous brood; there was the root Of all the bitter, poisonous, deadly fruit. There God should have been entertained in Love. His Will as End & Spring each wheel should move. But how unkindly was he there abused? His tender Love and healing Grace refused? Oft have I shut the door when he hath come; I played, or slept, or would not be at home. Should God be slighted by a stubborn Heart, And not rebuke its folly by its smart? I sinned and laughed; I lightly passed it over: Should God do so, and not his wrath discover?

Be silent flesh! my God is Wise and Just; Hast thou not sinned? stoop and kiss the dust. If Passion did not blind thee, thou might'st see, Justice is good, even when it falls on thee. It is not causless, if he pierce the Heart: He doth but chuse the foul, the guilty part. Had not the door been open'd first to sin, Terrour and sorrows could not have got in: If it have room for thoughts of Pride and Iust; That trouble should dwell with them, is but just. Where should the tent be put, but in the wound? We cleanse the ulcerous part, and not the sound. Where should Jehovah's battering Cannons play, But at the Fortress where his Enemy lay? ⟨p. 104⟩Thence came the viperous brood; there was the root Of all the bitter, poisonous, deadly fruit. There God should have been entertain'd in Love. His Will as End & Spring each wheel should move. But how unkindly was he there abus'd? His tender Love and healing Grace refus'd? Oft have I shut the door when he hath come; I play'd, or slept, or would not be at home. Should God be sleighted by a stubborn Heart, And not rebuke its folly by its smart? I sinn'd and laugh'd; I lightly pass'd it over: Should God do so, and not his wrath discover?