Praise for Church-Providence

Lord, though thy church in this dark world Do but begin and learn thy praise;

Accept both it and us through Christ, Till it and us thy glory raise.

Here troubling sin resists thy grace;

Of [joy and ] sorrow we partake:
Our broken hearts and broken peace,

[Can none] but broken music make.

But enemies make thy power known;
Occasion [thy great] victories;

-”Wk BAXTER’S POEMS.

Sin s conquei ‘d; satan s overthrown

[Our] weakness [thy] strength magnifies.

Winter and summer nights and days,

[All’s] chequer’d [here] with black and white. Thy Son shines; but sin clouds his rays;

Sin makes it dark, grace [makes it] light.

We are alive, but never well:

Grace and sin make our [ague] fits;

In all our powers sin doth dwell,
And never [wholly] intermits.

We are too hot, or else too cold,

Our strong [and long] fits dangerous are.

Mercies seem still too new or old: They are too near [us] or [too] far.

Health makes us wanton; sickness sad;

In [greatest] wealth we neglect God; His fullest diet makes us bad;

We [need, yet] cannot bear the rod.

Thy flock oft from their pasture stray, They [wander] straggle, strive, and fight;

Thy dogs make them together run, And all [at home] do meet at night.

Thy ways to us seem often dark,
Thou crossest human [wit and] will:

We murmur; but thou dost thy work, That’s [wise and] good, which we thought ilL

rhou mak’st good use of every state, A med’cine of [the worst] disease;

BAXTER’S POEMS. *t$l

Whether help come betime, or late,

That’s [good for] health, which crosseth ease.

Sometime thy work is done in peace,

Help’d on by [godly] magistrates; And then thy church doth much increase,

And far [and near] itself dilates.

Then worldly hypocrites creep in,

Much vermin [the warm] sunshine breeds;

And these corrupt the church by sin, Till [it a] reformation needs.

Rich men their wealth to God devote: [Princes] Christ’s ministers advance;

This proves for pride and flesh a bait; These cherish [sin and] ignorance.

The worst men most love wealth and pride, The strongest love [will] seek [them] most

These seekers do the prey divide, And so the donor ’s [will is] cross ‘d.

Thus Satan by this after-game

Wins [often] more than by his first, And doth his work in Christ s own name:

[He] chooseth church guides [of] the worst.

Then ravening wolves sheep’s clothing wear, [Hurtful] black souls appear in white:

Christ’s flocks none more than shepherds fear, [Who are] call’d angels of the light.

When lust on things devoted feeds,

And sin corrupts God ’s [church and] word:

The church a purgatory needs,

And sacrilege [wisheaths] God’s sword. K 2

This lire men’s faith tries and refines, It separates the [gold and] dross,

These winds shake down false hypocrites: The church grows [better] by the cross.

Praise him who gives the church her peace, Yet [makes it] to the cross a debtor;

By one the number doth increase, The other makes it [pure and] better.

And though Christ ’s ark be thus long tost With [pirates,] frightful storms, and waves.

None of his chosen shall be lost:

[Praise Christ] for he the faithful saves.

Though Satan’s numbers, and Christ’s few, Do now our reason [pose and] stall;

The vast and glorious worlds above Help faith [and hope] to answer all.