Or you by chance may shoot a horse;—
The other’s bad,—this would be worse:
Yet such a thing was lately done,
And by a badly managed gun!
The thorns or thistles, stones or whins,
May prick your legs, or break your shins;
Yet those who’d buy instruction cheap,
Should always “look before they leap!”
If still my counsel you disdain,
I may hereafter write again;
And should you not mind what you do,
I may inform of some of you!
A SINNER SAVED BY GRACE.
Come, fellow sinner, lend an ear,
And listen while I now declare
What God hath done for me;
His word hath broke my stony heart,
My soul hath felt the piercing smart,
Of guilt and misery!
Long time I went about distress’d,
Nor day nor night could I find rest,
Till I his voice did hear,
Till I beheld Him on the Cross;—
My soul did then her burden lose,
And all its slavish fear!
To Him who doth my foes controul,
I look’d and He hath heal’d my soul,
And all my sins forgiven:
Hence may I turn my feeble sight
To yonder realms of peace and light,
And live and die for Heaven!
Oh hasten, sinners, to be wise;
While Jesu’s mercy loudly cries,
Do you salvation take;—
But if you’re stubborn to the last,
Then be assur’d you will be cast,
Into the burning lake!
Say you, “Where shall we find the Lord,
According to his Holy Word,
To heal our wounded mind?
While some say here, and others there,
We long to see the temple where
We may salvation find!”
Wherever two or three are met,
Whose faces Zion ward are set,
He’s promis’d there to be;
O seek the Lord without delay,
And cry for mercy night and day,
Till you’re from sin set free!