Should I give ear to rotten duft,
Or to the tombs confine my truft;
No refurrection can I fee,
For duft that flies into mine eye.
What! Thomas, can't thou truft fo much
To me as to thy fight and touch?
Won't thou believe till fenfe be guide,
And thruft its hand into my fide?
Where is thy faith, if it depends
On nothing but thy finger-ends?
But blefs'd are they who truth do feal
By faith, yet neither fee nor feel.
Faith and Senfe Spiritual, compared and diftinguished. Where alfo the Difference between the Affurance of Faith, and the Affurance of Senje.
'HE certainty of faith and fenfe
Wide differ in experience:
Faith builds upon, Thus faith the Lord;
Senfe views his work, and not his word.
God's word without is faith's refort;
His work within doth fenfe fupport.
By faith we truft him without pawns;
By fense we handle with our hands.
By faith the word of truth's receiv'd;
By fense we know we have believ'd.
Faith's certain by fiducial acts;
Senfe by its evidential facts.
Faith credits the divine report;
Senfe to his breathings make refort:
That on his word of grace will hing;
This on his Spirit witneffing.
By faith I take the Lord for mine;
By fenfe I feel his love divine :
By that I touch his garment's hem;
By this find virtue thence to ftream.
By faith I have mine all on band;
By fenfe I have fome ftock in hand:
By that fome vifion is begun;
By this I fome fruition win.
My faith can fend ev'n in exile ;
Senfe cannot live without a fmile.
By faith I to his promife fly;
By fenfe I in his bofom lie.
Faith builds upon the truth of God,
That lies within the promise broad;
But fenfe upon the truth of grace
His hand within my heart did place.
Thus Chrift's the object faith will eye;
And faith's the object fenfe may fee;
Faith keeps the truth of God in view,
While fense the truth of faith may fhew.
Hence faith's affurance firm can ftand,
When fenfe's in the deep may ftrand;
And faith's perfuafion full prevail,
When comfortable fenfe may fail.
I am affur'd when faith's in act,
Though fenfe and feeling both I lack:
And thus myfterious is my lot,
I'm oft affur'd when I am not;
Oft pierc'd with racking doubts and fears;
Yet faith thefe brambles never bears;
But unbelief, that cuts my breath,
And stops the language of my faith.
Clamours of unbelieving fears:
So frequently disturb my ears
I cannot hear what faith would say,
Till once the noify clamours stay.
And then will fresh experience find,
When faith gets leave to speak its mind,
The native language thereof is,
My Lord is mine, and I am his.
Sad doubtings compafs me about,
Yet faith itself could never doubt;
For, as the facred volume faith,
Much doubting argues little faith.
The doubts and fears that work my grief,
Flow net from faith, but unbelief;
For faith, whene'er it acteth, cures
The plague of doubts, and me affures.
But when mine eye of faith's afleep,
I dream of drowning in the deep:
But, as befals the fleeping eye,
Though fight remain, it cannot fee;
The feeing faculty abides,
Though fleep from active feeing hides;
So faith's affuring pow'rs endure
Ev'n when it ceafes to affure.
There's fill perfuafion in my faith,
Ev'n when I'm fill'd with fears of wrath
The trufting habit ftill remains,
Though flumbers hold the act in chains.
Th' affuring faculty it keeps,
Ev'n when its eye in darkness fleeps,
Wrapp'd up in doubts; but when it wakes,
It roules up affuring acts.
The Harmony and Difcord between Faith and Senfe; bow
they help, and how they mar each other.
THOUGH gallant faith can keep the field
When cow'rdly fenfe will fly or yield;
Yet while I view their ufual path,
Senfe often ftands and falls with faith.
Faith ufhers in fweet peace and joy,
Which further heartens faith's employ;
Faith like the head, and fenfe the heart,
Do mutual vigour freth impart.
When lively faith and feeling fweet
Like deareft darlings kindly meet,
They ftraight each other help and hug
In loving friendship clofe and fnug.
Faith gives to fenfe both life and breath,
And fenfe gives joy and ftrength to faith;
"O now, fays faith, how fond do I
"In fenfe's glowing bofom lie!"
Their mutual kindnefs then is fuch,
That oft they doting too too much,
Embrace each other out of breath;
As fop hugg'd his child to death.
Faith leaping into fenfe's arms,
Allur'd with her bewitching charms,
In hugging thefe, let rafhly flip
The proper obje&t of its grip.
Which being loft, behold the thrall!
Anon faith lofes fenfe and all.;
Thus unawars cuts fenfe's breath,
While fenfe trips up the heels of faith.
Her charms affuming Jefus" place,
While faith's lull'd in her foft embrace;
Lo! foon in dying pleafure s wrapt,
Its living joy away is fapt:
The Valour and Victories of Faith.
BY faith I unfeen Being fee
Forth lower beings call,
And fay to nothing, Let it be;
And nothing hatches all.
By faith I know the worlds were made
By God's great word of might;
How foon Let there be light, he said,
That moment there was light.
By faith I foar and force my flight
Through all the clouds of fense;
I fee the glories out of fight,
With brighter evidence.
By faith I mount the az ure sky,
And from the lofty sphere,
The earth a little more efpy,
Unworthy of my care.
By faith I fee the unfee n things,
Hid from all mortal's eyes;
Proud reafon ftretching all its wings,
Beneath me flutt'ring lies.
By faith I build my lafting hope
On righteousness divine;
Nor can I fink with fuch a prop,
Whatever ftorms combine.
By faith my works, my righteousness, And duties all I own
But lofs and dung; and lay my stress
On what my Lord has done.
By faith I overcome the world,
And all its hurtful charms;
I'm in the heav'nly chariot hurl'd
Through all oppofing harms;
By faith I have a conq'ring pow'r
To tread upon my foes,
To triumph in a dying hour,
And banifh all my woes.
By faith in midst of wrongs
In fad decays I thrive;
In weakness I am ftrong in might,
In death I am alive..
By faith I stand when deep I fall,
In darkness I have light;
Nor dare I doubt and question all
When all is out of fight.
By faith I trust a pardon free,
Which puzzles flesh and blood;
To think that God can justify,
Where yet he fees no good.
By faith I keep my Lord's commands,
To verify my trust;
I purify my heart and hands,
And mortify my luft.
By faith my melting foul repents,
When pierced Christ appears;
My heart in grateful praises vents,
Mine eyes in joyful tears.
By faith I can the mountains vast
Of fin and guilt remove;
And them into the ocean caft,
The fea of blood and love.
By faith I fee JEHOVAH high
Upon a throne of grace;
I fee him lay his vengeance by,
And fmile in Jefus' face.
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