Altogether lovely!
("Solitude Sweetened" by James Meikle, 1730-1799)
This is my Beloved, and this
is my Friend!" Song of Solomon 5:16
Why does the world reject
the wondrous SAVIOR?
Why do they abhor HIM
who is altogether lovely,
and hate HIM who is the best
Friend of sinners?
O men of the world!
what good can you desire
which is not in CHRIST?
The excellencies of earth
are but HIS footstool;
the excellencies of Heaven
are but HIS throne!
How excellent, then,
must HE HIMSELF be!
HIS treasures are infinite--
and open for you!
In JESUS are . . .
riches--if you are poor;
honor--if you are despised;
friendship--if you are forsaken;
help--if you are injured;
mercy--if you are miserable;
joy--if you are disconsolate;
protection--if you are in danger;
deliverance--if you are a captive;
life--if you are mortal; and
all things--if you have nothing at all.
Time and eternity are HIS--
and HE can give you all
the glorious things of eternity!
Moreover, HE can deliver you . . .
from all your fears;
from sin--the worst of all evils;
from self--the most hurtful of all companions;
from death--the most dreadful of all changes;
from satan--the most subtle of all enemies;
from Hell--the most horrible of all prisons; and
from wrath--the most horrifying doom of all sinners!
Now, where will you find such a one as JESUS?
Why, then, refuse life, and seek
after death and damnation?
All Heaven is enamored with HIS beauty!
The longer we look on 'created gaieties',
the leaner and less lovely they grow;
so that, by the time we have viewed
them forty, fifty, or sixty years--
we see nothing but vanity
in the creature!
But when ten thousand ages are
employed in beholding the perfection
and beauty of JESUS--
HE still appears more
and more lovely--
even altogether lovely!
Alas!
I can say nothing of HIS true excellencies!
They overwhelm my laboring thought,
and are too vast for my feeble
conception to bring forth!
~ ~ ~ ~
GraceGems has published John Newton's insightful and challenging two page article,
"More than a Calvinist!"
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