Thomas McElwain's Sermons in Verse

[Poet-Troll]

A Sermon Preached on the Sabbath Day
to the Strict and Particular Sabbatarian Baptists “reunited as the church formerly gathered by Mr. Francis Bampfield” 1676.​

We're saved by sovereign grace, baptized
By the immersion, not capsized,
Repenting of our sins with weeping,
And Bible-singing, Sabbath-keeping:


We own the Lord Jesus Christ to be the One and Only Lord and Lawgiver to our Souls and Consciences. And we own the Holy Scriptures of Truth as ye One and Only Rule of Faith, Worship, and Life, according to which we are to Judge of all our Cases.


Covenant: Exodus 20:1—17; Matthew 5:17—19; Revelation 12:17; 14:12.

Sabbath Reading for the Day: Numbers 19:1-22:1.


Hymn: On John 3:9-21

9 And Nicodemus answering him,
“How can these things be true and trim?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him,
“Are you teacher of Israel,
And yet do not know these things well?
11 “Most certainly, I say to you,
We speak what we know and we do
Give witness of what we have seen,
And you do not receive our mesne.
12 “If I have told you earthly things
And you do not believe, when sings
The heavenly how will you believe?​

13 “No one has ascended the sleeve
Of heaven but he who came down from
Heaven, that is, the Son of Man
Who is in heaven. 14 “And as the thumb
Of Moses lifted up as can
The serpent in the wilderness,
Even so must the Son of Man
Be lifted up and for redress,
15 “That whoever believes in him
Should not perish and become dim
But have eternal life. 16 “For God
So loved the world and the world’s sod,​

He gave His only generated
Son, that whoever unbelated
Believes in him should not perish
But have eternal life’s fair wish.
17 “For God did not send His Son to
The world to condemn the world’s crew,
But that the world through him might be
Saved. 18 “He who believes in him, see,
Is not condemned, but he who does
Not believe is condemned as was,
Because he has not believed in
The name of the only God’s kin​

The generated Son of God,
Which means Messiah, Christ slipshod.
19 “And this is the condemnation,
That the light’s come into the world,
And men loved darkness by the ton
Rather than light, because unfurled
Their deeds were evil ones and done.
20 “For all who practice evil hate
The light and don’t come to the gate
Of light, lest their deeds should be known.
21 “But he who does the truth comes to
The light, that his deeds may accrue
Sight, that they’ve been done by God’s throne.”
(The Beloved and I: New Jubilees Version of Sacred Scripture)​

Prayer response:​

Please note, Beloved, John does not talk
About a cross at all to all the flock.
As Moses held the brazen serpent high
For all to see and thus express their cry
To You alone for help in their distress,
So those who turned, instead of for redress
For what they suffered at the Romans’ hands,
To the one You sent to uphold commands
And be image express that You are king
Of every mite and each created thing,
Should also live. I too, Beloved, would live
Within the glory that Your sent ones give.
I turn away from means and powers to look
Upon the brazen and the slender hook.​

Sermon Part One:​

It is my duty far above my station
In life to come to preach the Gospel ration
For comfort and instruction of the saints,
To call them to petition and to plaints,
To penitance and praise without restraints.
I've wondered why God chose to raise on pole
The brazen serpent to make Israel whole.
The danger of idolatry was great,
And even in the Christian sort of state,
Temptation to kiss cross and crown is there.
What did the Lord intend with these words' share?

The word of Nicodemus shows the truth:
The carnal heart of elder or of youth
Cannot perceive the simple things of God.
The human heart is rivven to the sod,
The soul destroyed, and every thought amiss:
Total depravity is human bliss.
The blissful soul depraved sees not the wrong,
Believes his heart is good, and good his song.
Even an elder in Israel cannot
Perceive the truth that his life too is caught
In total sinfulness and he deserves
The wages of sin, death for all his swerves.
The man had been taught goodness as a child,
He'd always been obedient and mild,
He'd learned by heart the Scriptures and had gained
Respect from all for the good life maintained.
Maybe he kept the ten commandments well
And never disobeyed once in his spell.
No wonder he's surprised to hear the way
That Jesus calls him to repentance' sway.
No man on earth has power to see his sin,
The sinfulness of his goodness to win.
Only the act of divine grace can set
The human need before the eye and get
The human heart to repent in the din.

 

[Poet-Troll]

Sermon 1, Part 2


The first word of Jesus reveals the need,
And Nicodemus stands aghast indeed.
Would that I too today might understand
That things that seem not very wrong command
My very death for their breach on the sand.
Would God give me His spirit like the wind
To make me see what depths I too have sinned,
For in the sight of one's own sinfulness
Is reassurance that Spirit's address
Has called and chosen for salvation's own.
All human hearts are turned to hardened stone,
But grace can break through and reveal the right,
And call and chose the soul out from of night.

No man or woman can go to the skies
To bring down truth and knowledge in the guise
Of true salvation. No one is so wise.
The only saving way is in the word
Of God descended in His Son, who stirred
The hypnotized and sleeping human heart
Up to repentance for its sinful part.
For this the prophet raised the serpent high
Coiled brazen on a staff against the sky,
To mark the difference between the men
Who thought they had the power to live again
Through human acts of goodness and right deed,
From those who recognized their total need.
Of course the medium could have been turned
To idol worship and divine grace spurned,
And so it was, and so shall ever be.
Only divinely chosen ever see.

Good Jesus says the figure was of him,
Though in that early day perceived but dim,
Who should be lifted up to draw all men
Called and elected to repent again.
The vision of Christ lifted day by day
Among the crowds and in the desert way
Reveals to human heart the better sway,
Awareness of the difference at bay
Between his own life and the life expressed
As model for the poor and the oppressed.
The vision of the Saviour turns the pride
In doing well and at achievement's side
Into the knowledge of the depraved will
Set in rebellion against God's law still.
The sight of Jesus, like the ancient view
Of brazen serpent, still reveals the true.

Belief in Jesus is the way by which
God saves the sinner from the fire and pitch,
And yet a man cannot believe, no more
Than he can repent on the earthly shore.
Repentance comes from God, and so belief.
Faith is no human act after the grief.
Men sorrow for the consequence of sin,
And then are worked upon by singing's din
To come before the altar claiming faith
When all is mere work of the human wraith.
The One who will provide the sight to know
Depravity of human heart and show,
Provides repentance breaking heart also,
And then provides the faith in Christ to go
Into eternal life's eternal glow.
May God give me each day the grace to see
Ever more depths of my depravity,
And with the sight give also penance till
I come within His grace to Sion's hill.

Some think that when it's said God loved the world
He loved all men and women, children curled,
But truth is God loves only whom He chose,
And hates the others in their wicked rows,
As stated in the Scriptures that He loved
Jacob and hated Esau, whom He shoved
Into perdition, though he sought with tears
Salvation from his sinful deeds and fears.
God's sovereignty is ever and His own,
His thoughts and intents can never be known.
But once He chided Ezra since he mourned
For those lost in their sins divinely scorned.
It is no human art of peace to make
A judgement on divine justice's sake.
God sets in hell no man who hopes to gain
Eternal life through penitance in pain.
Those who repent, receive salvation's reign.
God loved the world, the world of those He chose
To life eternal from destruction's throes.
God's not unjust, though He should send all men
Into the fires of hell and Satan's den.
All the more is He just then when He saves
A chosen few from their eternal graves.

For all indeed are caught in death and soil,
Which is the import of the word and toil
Of God to send His only Son to save
Those who are perishing as sinful slave.
All are lost in depravity and so
All perish without God's action below.
He came to save, and not to condemn men.
All were condemned and chained in sinful den.
There is no need for condemnation where
The condemnation is every man's share.
The need is for the condemnation's end,
And for that only Christ became a friend.

The condemnation is in unbelief,
But for that one can never find relief,
No matter what one does. Only descent
Of act of God can stay destruction meant.
But when that light appears, the human heart
And eye seek out the darkness for their part.
Man loves the darkness, since he will not see
The depths of his wicked depravity.
He does not want his wicked actions seen,
And so he flees light's painful knife and keen.

When God plants in the heart the love of truth,
Opens to view the depth of lack of ruth,
Shows sinfulness of sin to old and youth,
Then man turns to the sight of Christ to find
That there's no condemnation left behind.
The acts of God replace the other kind.
God's promises set in the Decalogue
Shine brightly through the deadening of fog.

So why did Moses raise in wilderness
The brazen serpent not to know or guess?
The sanctuary held all things in gold,
But these were left unseen by the eyes bold.
The gold is hidden in the heavens above,
Too bright for human eye to see or love.


But common metal raised against the sky
Is not too bright for any human eye,
And leads the sight away from earthly means
Into the heavenly chambers and its scenes.


Christ too came in a common metal wrought,
A human body like all others frought
With birth and death and aging and decay
To point to humankind the heavenly way.
An angel of a greater brightness could
Just blind the sinner lost here in the wood.
But one of baser metal that held in
His heart the Word of God made flesh to win
Could give the fatal vision through the din.


I see that Word made flesh, and so I know
The condemnation of the law in glow
Extinguishes before the greater light,
Commandments turned to promises of right.
For that the covenant writ on the heart
Brings the eternal law in every part
So that no one can teach the other here
To do right and in righteousness appear,
For God Himself comes down to act and make
Eternity in time for humans' sake.

How can one know whether the call is made
To him or her beneath heaven's parade?
God calls through the awareness of one's sin
Heard clearly through the worldly crash and din.
The one God does not call looks out upon
The world to see how others have been drawn
Away in wickedness, while he remains
A burning, shining light against such stains.
The one God calls to His election sure
Has no need to condemn sinners impure,
But rather turns with awful fear to see
The depths of his own life's depravity.
For that Christ came not to heal righteous folk,
But to the sinner words of life he spoke.
Those who remember they are good today
Have no need of salvation from sin's sway.


Idolatry and human ways and means
Respond to brazen serpent and what preens
As God Almighty in the human face.
May I turn to all such and find God's grace.

 

[Poet-Troll]

A Sermon Preached on the Sabbath Day
to the Strict and Particular Sabbatarian Baptists “reunited as the church formerly gathered by Mr. Francis Bampfield” 1676.

​

We're saved by sovereign grace, baptized
By the immersion, not capsized,
Repenting of our sins with weeping,
And Bible-singing, Sabbath-keeping:


We own the Lord Jesus Christ to be the One and Only Lord and Lawgiver to our Souls and Consciences. And we own the Holy Scriptures of Truth as ye One and Only Rule of Faith, Worship, and Life, according to which we are to Judge of all our Cases.


Covenant: Exodus 20:1—17; Matthew 5:17—19; Revelation 12:17; 14:12.


Sabbath Reading for the Day: Deuteronomy 29:9—31:30.


Hymn and prayer response on Romans 10:6—9.

6 But the righteousness come by faith
Speaks in this way and not like wraith,
“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who’ll go
Up in to heaven at a blow
To bring Messiah down to show?’
7 Or, ‘Who shall descend in the deep
To bring Christ from the dead to peep?’
8 But what does it say? ‘Word is near
To you, in your mouth and your ear,
And in your heart,’” that is the word
Of faith that we preach undeterred,
9 That if you confess with your mouth
The lord Jesus, and with no drouth
Believe in your heart that God raised
Him from among the dead, be praised,
You shall be saved, even if dazed.


Two strands of revelation do appear
In the Old Testament of wrath and fear
As some say it must be who raise a cheer.
Two strands of light rise to wake up a tear.
The word made flesh in the Messiah dear,
The word made audible for all to hear
In Sinai’s law: these are the two in spear.
Never was a salvation once made clear
Beside that of these two for hope and gear.
The ten commandments and appointed man
Have always been the centre of your plan.
Let righteousness flood into me and mine,
Into the land I live in to be fine,
And cover all with Your Word and its brine.

​

A Sermon on Deuteronomy 30:14.


Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


Ci means for and qarov is near,
Elecha is to you, my dear,
Haddavar is the word indeed,
M'odh is very much for greed,
B'phicha is in your mouth and
Uvilvavcha in your heart's stand,
La'asotho means that you may
Do it in every way and day.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


The good St. Paul must have loved every word
He read from Deuteronomy or heard
To quote so much from the week's Torah lesson,
Or maybe I am wrong or only guessing.
He claims perhaps to be a man caught up
Into the third of heavens like a tup,
And by that word affirms that Enoch's book
Is one in which he always loved to look.
So he could not bring down the Christ or Word
From heaven above to feed the awful herd.
St. Peter said that Christ himself went down
Into the depths to preach there to the town,
But even he did not bring up from there
The word he gave to save his folk with care.
It's like the fools who say that they must find
Themselves or ever stay among the blind.
The self is never lost behind the door,
Is never walking on a distant shore,
But always stays as close as shadow can.
Read A Child's Garden of Verses by plan.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


It seems that Moses gave the folk a choice,
The evil way or walking to rejoice
In goodness and obedience to find
The good life comes to those who are resigned.
No doubt the good men do comes back to them,
And casting bread on waters wets the hem.
But even Deuteronomy could not
Make good works the salvation of men's lot.
Do good and prosper in the town and field,
Do evil and see wickedness revealed,
But doing cannot hide a farthing paid
To bring up life beyond the grave waylaid.
Salvation is not promised to the one
Who does good on the earth for weal or fun,
But only to the one elect and called
By sovereign grace eternally installed.
Indeed the one who does confess the Lord
Jesus the Christ eternally has scored,
But fact is, as Paul tries to say aloud,
No one can choose Christ from the wicked crowd
But by the Holy Ghost, so it comes back
To the divine election on the track. 1Cor 12:13
The Word is at the heart and tongue because
God Himself put it there, not human laws.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


(to be continued)

 

[Poet-Troll]

If a thing seems too good to be true, it
Is usually somewhat less than fit.
When Paul tells Romans all they have to do
Is let the tongue say Jesus is in view
As Lord and Christ and in the heart be sure
That he was raised up from the grave in cure,
And then the soul shall be turned from the tomb
Into eternal life, eternal room,
He does not note that human hearts cannot
Acknowledge such a thing in human spot,
And the tongue that is glib to make a show
Fails to make Jesus Lord now here below.
The thing is humanly impossible.
No rabbit's in the hat, the hat is full.
It's only act of God, of sovereign grace
That can produce a tongue and heart to race
Into that great salvation from the grave.
Depravity makes every man a slave.
And yet Moses too makes the promise clear
To the elect with tongue and heart too near:
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


What has the man to do, the woman brave,
Before the word so near the tongue of slave,
The hope in heart that may escape the grave?
It's merely to recite the Torah's song,
Acknowledge Christ as Lord and come along
To find the empty tomb not to go wrong.
And so I come on Sabbath day to sing
The Torah and the Psalm and so take wing
Upon eternal shores of silver sand
Where none come but by the divine command,
And see the glory pierce the scraggling stand
Of Hebrew letters black against the page
Of centuries extending to the age.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


Though Israel may be called to every work
And blamed in every age they came to shirk,
I'm only called to cantillate and hear
The Torah ringing on the Sabbath ear.
And from that cantillation in due course
The hand divine divides in quick divorce
The husk from corn, the life from death, and I
Stand clothed in light before a darkened sky.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


The effort to do well that life may come
Beyond the grave is karmic too in sum,
A heathen sort of bill for every bum
To work out his salvation with a tum.
My hand is free to do the good around
My hillside and the frigid, cobbled ground,
Since I need never think that it is found
To credit and to glory in the bound.
My life and death are in the hands of God
And not dependent on agreeing nod
In approbation of the way I plod.
And so the tongue and heart create the tune,
But hand and foot are quiet at the noon.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


My hand is free to do the good at last
Since Holy Ghost like wind has travelled past
And set the tongue on fire and heart as well
In praise of Alohim of Israel.
In order that you may do it, he quotes,
And writes it down on parchment or in notes.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


(to be continued)

 

[Poet-Troll]

The tongue and heart must know the Spirit's call
And come with the elect into the stall
Before the hand can lift the dazed life pall
And do according to the law at all.
The doing may be joy or hopeless bind
When done in view of living with the kind
Upon the golden shore unpalestined.
But it's an empty doing undivined.
Only the called and the repentant may
Enjoy the doing of a brighter day,
Without the sweaty hope it is enough
Fulfilling the requirements of the tough.
Obedience fulfils no expectations
Or quota in divinely set of rations,
But is a song sung by the saved who know
The working of the Spirit is not slow
To bring repentance to the end of row.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


The righteousness of faith is faithfulness
To the time and the place and the address
Where God speaks to the soul and to confess
Eternal providence no more to guess.
It does not seek the heights of pagan show,
The spiritual ascent beyond the glow
If meditations thirsting for the sky.
It does not sink into the depths to spy
The murky obligations of the heart.
It merely stays to grasp the divine part
That from eternity stands for the start.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


Let's start at the begining once again
And see what Paul says of righteousness' men.
He says that righteousness that's come to bear
On men in faith is not the work to share,
Nor any work at all, not act or deed,
Nor anything a man can find in seed.
That righteousness by faith is what speaks in
The heart and tongue, not leading into sin
Of trying to go up to heaven's bin
Or trying to descend into earth's sin,
But righteousness by faith is that which cries
In tongue and ear and heart with joyful sighs:
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


Righteousness come by faith is listening to
The word of Moses cantillated true.
It's not the building of a temple fine
To offer pigs in sacrifice and wine,
Which is the hope and trust of Christian where
I see the spires uprising on the fair.
It's not the doing of great charity,
It's not the hidden action of the free
To do the good to neighbour on the hill.
It is no payment at all on the bill.
Righteousness come by faith is hearing sung
The word of Moses sweetly on the tongue:
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


Not that the righteousness is finished, done
As righteousness before the man's begun
To act at all: it's near, in mouth, and heart
And that itself is all the righteous part.
When righteousness has echoed on the halls
Of universe with all its starry walls,
Then only does the hand come into play
To do the fair commands in roundelay.
Righteousness is the Word and Act of God
That stirrs the universe before the prod.
The doing of the sacred will is brought
Forth from the womb of righteousness unsought,
Created by Creator and not bought.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


I pray that if God raises me from grave
Or carries me alive, kicking and brave,
Into the skies and into Paradise,
That He will still let me hear all the nice
Words that are righteousness and echo now
From Moses' tongue and pen and pensive brow.
Let heaven itself be parchment left outspread
And covered with the black markings I tread
Today in Torah's square Hebrew well-fed.
Let me through all eternity come kiss
On Sabbath mornings the Torahs I miss
As I do the good deeds on earth below
With shovel and with garden rake and how.
Let my ears made immortal hear the voice
Of Deuteronomy, the book of choice,
Resound among the starry arches where
The angels in their thousands still repair
To echo B're****hs upon the air
Untainted by a wicked sound or share.
Let righteousness indeed like raging sea
Roar through God's heaven and for eternity,
The slender voice that cantillates the sound
Of Torah sung upon a dried up ground.
Ci qarov elecha haddavar m'odh:
B'phicha uvilvavcha la'asotho.
But the word is right near to you,
In your mouth and in your heart too,
That you may hear and do it too.


Thomas McElwain

 

[Poet-Troll]

A Sermon Preached on the Sabbath Day
to the Strict and Particular Sabbatarian Baptists “reunited as the church formerly gathered by Mr. Francis Bampfield” 1676.


Baptist because immersion is the way,
Sabbatarian because Sabbath day
Is when I come to proclaim and to say
I'm saved by sovereign grace come down in sway
And so particular, and strict I stay
Within the congregation's work and play.


We own the Lord Jesus Christ to be the One and Only Lord and Lawgiver to our Souls and Consciences. And we own the Holy Scriptures of Truth as ye One and Only Rule of Faith, Worship, and Life, according to which we are to Judge of all our Cases.


Covenant: Exodus 20:1—17; Matthew 5:17—19; Revelation 12:17; 14:12.


Sabbath Reading for the Day: Deuteronomy 32:1—52.


Hymn and prayer response on Deuteronomy 32:1—4.


1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
And hear, O earth, my mouth's words meek.
2 Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distil as dew for gain,
As raindrops on the tender herb,
As showers on the grassy curb.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.




Prayer response to the hymn:


I cry out Huu to end this proclamation.
Yes, just and right is Huu in every nation.
So my Beloved, You are both just and right,
A rock of refuge in the heathen's sight,
Truth is Your name and everything You do
Is justice, so I cry out once more Huu.
If I proclaim Your name as I recite
The Hebrew words wrote here in dark and light,
It is because the Prophet Moses cried
To end his sentence Huu and then he died.
The skies and earth lend ear to hear the sound,
The dew and tender rain fall to the ground
And make prostration on the slender grass.
I too bow down to You before I pass.


A Sermon on Deuteronomy 32:1—4.


Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


If ci means for and shem the name,
Then eqra means I shall proclaim.
Havu means that you shall ascribe,
Ghodel means greatness to imbibe,
And lelohenu's to our God.
Hats-tsur is the Rock on the sod,
Tamin means perfect, pa'alo
Refers to His works here below,
And chol is all, and d'rachaw
Means His ways, and we must allow
Mishpot means judgement, El is God,
Emuna is truth for a prod,
W'en is without, awel's guile,
Tsaddiq is righteous to a mile,
W'yashar means both right and straight,
While hu means he, last word not late.
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


On many times Muhammad spoke
In gracious words and so awoke
The heart to hear the witness of
The earth and sky which speak in love
The praises of Creator's hand
And all that He's made in the land.
It started with the song that Moses
Wrote when the Lord God came and chose us
Among the nations of the earth:
First Israel the folk of worth
And last the Gentile here and there
Elect and called to heavenly share.
The heaven and earth bore witness then
And so they still declare to men
And women of God's faithfulness
To save depraved and rise and bless.
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


Thomas McElwain

 

[Poet-Troll]

If Ahmed copied Moses' song,
It was not a thing counted wrong
That David too speak loud and strong
Appealing to the heavens along. Psalm 50:4
King David knows the judgement sound,
And so he calls from sky to ground,
And that is why Muhammad too
Requires the witness that is due
To judgement seat before which all
Men and women come at the call
Of their Creator and their friend
To get the punishment or end
Or their reward according to
The sovereign grace of God in view.
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


Isaiah too called heaven and earth
To testify of human dearth,
And of rebellion in their berth. Isaiah 1:2
By morning light, by the night too,
The dome above my temple's view,
The earth beneath my feet give due
Witness to all the things I do.
Wherever humankind may turn
To east or west, the candles burn
And nothing's hidden from the sight
Of God above who sees aright.
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


Hosea too spoke of the rain
And of the dew upon the plain,
And promised that its grace should be
Early and late and faithfully. Hosea 6:3,4
Who knows if Paul with sprinkling can
Remembered these words and by plan
So wrote to the cantankerous bunch
In Corinth who would eat their lunch
In the church pews and chew and crunch? 1Cor 3:6-8
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.

What is the good news of this verse
Come from Moses lips not to curse?
He only comes to say again
The name of God among his men.
Jehovah's Witnesses are true
When they repeat it as it grew,
And those of sacred name groups met
To make it as exact as set
Do not lie when they choose a pet.
But all of this is just a form,
Result of churches still kept warm
Without the Hebrew text to sing,
And that's why they're apostate ring.
The name of God is not a sound
To run in English speech and ground
And argue for and speak about.
It is embedded in the stout
Book of the Hebrew Bible clear,
And should be read when it is near,
Not made a heresy to hear
Dividing the flock with wolf tooth
Instead of hearing of the truth.
The truth is Torah read aloud
In Hebrew before all the crowd.
The Sabbath service that has failed
To read the Hebrew Torah wailed
Is not improved by any kind
Of sacred names spoke by the blind.
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.



Thomas McElwain

 

[Poet-Troll]

I turn to verses three and four
And find the Gospel's open door.
God is the Rock, His word is great
And perfectly complete in state.
The word that came here to create
Remains to elect every saint
And call again and without taint
Into salvation by degree
And so at last regenerate.
His ways are judgement, so He makes
The works of the saints for their sakes.
It's not our ways that come to show,
But God's ways that for justice know
That every man depraved and slow
That He creates again must glow
Not in the human works and deeds,
But in the ways of God for speeds.
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


God's true and without guile and just
To raise up humankind from dust,
From dust in His creating him,
From dust depraved when he was dim.
And God is right in what He wills
Upon the earth as on the hills
Of heaven above where He holds sway
On all things both by night and day.
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


The name of God is to be sung,
Not to be argued on the rung,
It's to be known for greatness due,
For sovereign grace come into view.
God's greatness is seen in the way
He calls the sinner from sin's sway
And grants salvation, life eternal,
And saves the soul from death infernal.
His work in saving humankind
Is perfect and restores the blind.
He leaves nothing to be desired
But lifts the weight from weak and tired.
And so I join in Moses' song
And praise the One who's never wrong:
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


I see myself come day by day
And try to walk the narrow way.
Before I take a step, I fall,
As I see that heart above all
Remains a wicked thing in call
No matter what my hand may do,
The spirit drinks the cup of rue.
But grace comes with the morning light
And turns away the human spite
And brings to earth the divine right.
I lay my blemished offering on
The altar of the flaming dawn
And in its fire let all my wrong
Be burned up in the divine song:
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


I pray to rise to heaven one day
And in that rising learn to pray
With Moses' words and hear them say:
Ci shem Adhonai eqra:
Havu ghodhel lelohenu.
Hats-tsur tamin pa'alo ci chol d'rachaw mishpot:
El emuna w'en awel, tsaddiq w'yashar hu.
3 For I shall cantillate the name
Of YHWH and publish and proclaim
The greatness of our Alohim.
4 He is the rock, and His works seem
Perfection, for His ways all just
Show Him a God of truth who must
Be without guile, righteous is He
And upright through eternity.


Thomas McElwain

 

[Snowber]

Though I haven't read it all I respect your research and ability to think of matching verses that rhyme (poems have never been my forte though beautiful)

 

[Poet-Troll]

Though I haven't read it all I respect your research and ability to think of matching verses that rhyme (poems have never been my forte though beautiful)

Thank you for reading some! Sermons are notoriously too long to do them all.

 

[Poet-Troll]

A Sermon Preached on the Sabbath Day
to the Strict and Particular Sabbatarian Baptists “reunited as the church formerly gathered by Mr. Francis Bampfield” 1676.


Baptist because immersion is the way,
Sabbatarian because Sabbath day
Is when I come to proclaim and to say
I'm saved by sovereign grace come down in sway
And so particular, and strict I stay
Within the congregation's work and play.


We own the Lord Jesus Christ to be the One and Only Lord and Lawgiver to our Souls and Consciences. And we own the Holy Scriptures of Truth as ye One and Only Rule of Faith, Worship, and Life, according to which we are to Judge of all our Cases.


Covenant: Exodus 20:1—17; Matthew 5:17—19; Revelation 12:17; 14:12.


Sabbath Reading for the Day: Deuteronomy 33:1—34:12.


Hymns and prayer responses on 2 Kings 5:1—19.


2 Kings 5
1 Now Naaman who was army chief
For the king of Syria’s relief
Was a great man before the king,
And honourable as anything,
Because by him YHWH had allowed
Syria great victories in crowd,
A mighty man and surely brave,
But because of leprosy grave.
2 The Syrians gone out in band
Had brought as captive from the land
Of Israel a little lass
Who served Naaman’s wife plate and glass.
3 And she said to her mistress, “If
Only my master for a sniff
Were by prophet of Alohim,
He’d cure him of leprosy’s scream.”
4 And someone went and told his lord,
Saying “So said the maid here floored
That’s here from Israel’s land by sword.”
5 And Syria’s king said, “Go then, go,
And I’ll send a letter with bow
To Israel’s king.” And so he left
And took along ten talents cleft
Of silver and six thousand bits
Of gold, and ten changes of fits.


A servant girl perhaps with just a word
Changed the course of earth’s history. It occurred
That kings moved and removed because she spoke
A whispered sigh between her labour’s stroke.
If that seems strange as cog in fortune’s wheel,
Think of the master who would make appeal.
He was one who could say a word to kings
And risk the wrath of prophets in ravings,
And yet he was one that inspired the love
Of a slave maiden whose heart’s sighings of
Hopefulness thought of him and wished him well.
How many servants now are there to tell
Who might remember their masters that way?
I’ve seen even good masters’ anger’s sway.


6 And he brought the note to the king
Of Israel, and said a thing,
“Now when you get this letter see,
I’ve sent Naaman with leprosy,
My servant so you’ll set him free.”
7 It happened when Israel’s king read
The letter, that he tore his spread
Of clothing and at last he said
“Am I Alohim that I kill
And make alive as by my will,
That this man sends someone to me
To cure him of his leprosy?
Consider please what he’s about
Seeking a quarrel and a rout.”


Contrast the concern of the king with that
Of the slave maiden on her working mat.
The one is filled with fear and quarrelling
And ready to combat the other king
If only arms enough provide the sting.
The other bowed with labour and with care,
Too tired to sleep sometimes is there to share
The feelings and the sorrows of the wife
And master that oppress her little life.
Her thoughts are for her mother living still
Perhaps somewhere upon Samarian hill,
The comfort of the woman that she serves,
The health and happiness of others’ nerves.
Tell me which of the two’s a better thrill?


8 When Elisha the man of God
Heard that Israel’s king at the prod
Had torn his clothes, he sent the king
Saying “Why do you do this thing?
Let him now come to me to know
A prophet stands in Israel’s show.”
9 Naaman went with chariot and horse,
And he stood at the door in course
Of Elisha’s house. 10 And he sent,
Elisha did, a messenger
To him, saying what should occur,
“Go wash in Jordan seven times,
And your flesh shall be from its crimes
Restored to you, and you’ll be clean.”


The only example in Hebrew text
Of proselyte’s baptism is perplexed
By the number of times to make the show.
The Chosen Vessels mission’s only glow
Was seven dips, and in that they were right
Despite the fact they are not now in sight.
Three dips are found in Judaism now,
And so the German Baptists dip a frau,
And Eastern Orthodox still know the way
To baptize with three dips instead of spray.
I wonder if those slobbered on or held
Beneath the water are clean from the spelled.
The Decalogue knows no dips, and Qur’an
Says You’re the best of baptizers of spawn.

 

[Poet-Troll]

11 But Naaman was mad, on the scene,
In anger went away and said
“I truly told myself instead,
‘He will surely come out to me,
And stand and call upon the name
Of YHWH his Alohim, and aim
His hand upon the place, and he
Will heal me of my leprosy.’
12 “Are not Abana and Pharpar,
Rivers of Damascus now far
Better than all of Israel’s streams?
May I not wash in them, it seems,
And be clean?” He left in a rage.
13 And came near him servant and page
And spoke to him and said “My father,
If the prophet had told you bother
To do some great thing, would you not
Have done the great thing on the spot?
How much more rather then when he
Says to you ‘Wash for purity?’”
14 Then he went down and dipped himself
Seven times in the Jordan shelf,
As he was told by man of God,
And his flesh came alive in pod
Like the flesh of a little child,
And was well from the illness wild.


The rage of men and women in this place
Of shadows and fears is to run a race
Out of the water as fast as they can
And keep their leprosy down to a man.
How many stay to dip themselves that way,
Slowly and seven times and rise to pray?
At most three times the faithful want to come,
And that is why their sin remains. The hum
Of flight from faith is not because You take
Only those who have been washed in the wake
Of seven waves, but because those who start
Up from the pool do so because their heart
Is not wholly given to You. Your grace
Though infinite, requires repentance’ trace.


15 He went back to the man of God,
He and all his company’s bod,
And came and stood before him and
Said “See, I know in all the land
There is no God, but Israel’s God,
So now then please take from the hand
Of your servant a blessing’s nod.”
16 And he said “As YHWH lives before
Whom I stand, I shall take no store.”
And he urged him to take it then
But he refused it once again.


This is the one criterion to hold
To know whether a prophet’s in the cold
Or one of Your’s. Of course You gave the heel
To those who defied Sinai’s law’s appeal,
And those whose prophecies were made in vain
So nothing that they spoke happened to rain.
But prophets of Your love and word today
Who recite all Your Scriptures the right way
Are known because they do not take reward,
But rely on Your keeping and Your sword.
Beloved, I cantillate each Sabbath morn
Your Scriptures without pay, and as forlorn
Look out upon the wilderness of food
Enough to keep alive a hungry brood.


17 And Naaman said “Shall not your man
Servant I beg you have two span
Of mules’ load of earth? For your man
Servant from now on will not make
Burnt offering nor sacrifice stake
To any other gods but to
The Alohim of Israel YHWH.
18 In this one thing may YHWH forgive
Your servant, that when my lord live
To go into Rimmon’s house and
To worship there, leaned on my hand,
I bowed myself in Rimmon’s room,
When I bowed down myself for doom
In Rimmon’s house, let YHWH forgive
Your servant for this thing and live.”
19 And he told him, “Go in Islam.”
So he went a way singing Psalm.


I too go in Islam, having made peace
With You, Beloved, and for my sins’ release
Look to Your grace alone, not sacrifice
Beyond the small death in baptism’s slice
In seven dips in Jordan’s heavy flood.
I do not drink or eat or sprinkle blood
From Your sent one upon my bread and wine.
I do not sacrifice oxen and kine.
Instead I flee to that submission dressed
From Abraham that Elisha confessed
Upon Naaman, and bow upon the sod
That he sent with the captain and his rod.
Two mules’ load of earth from the promised land
Give me place for prayerful forehead and hand.

 

[Poet-Troll]

Sermon: A Load of Earth


Chorus:
Wayyashav el-ish ha-elohim hu w'chol makhanehu
Wayyavo wayya'amodh l'phanaw
Wayyomer hinne na yadha'ti
Ci en elohim b'chol ha-arets ci im b'yisra-el:
W'atta qakh na b'racha me-eth 'avdekha.
15 He went back to the man of God,
He and all his company’s bod,
And came and stood before him and
Said “See, I know in all the land
There is no God, but Israel’s God,
So now then please take from the hand
Of your servant a blessing’s nod.”


Wayyashav means he did return
El-ish ha-elohim in stern
To the great man or man of God
Hu “he”, w'chol and all in prod
Makhanehu his company,
Wayyavo he came there to be
Wayya'amodh and stood you see
L'phanaw there before his face
Wayyomer and spoke for his grace
Hinne na so behold now this
Yadha'ti I know and don't miss
Ci en elohim, there's no god
B'chol ha-arets on the sod
Of all the earth (nor in the sea),
Ci im b'yisra-el to be
Except in Israel's degree.
W'atta and so then qakh na
Take now, b'racha a blessing draw
From your slave, me-eth 'avdekha. (Chorus)


In eyes of kings some men are great,
But even those must meet their fate,
Total depravity, the state
Of leprosy no one can cure
By taking thought or faith as sure.
Achievement may bring honor here,
But the head and heart still appear
Caught in the soul's depravity,
Though all the world may never see.
So Naaman was a man respected
By kings, so too by God elected. [FONT=Georgia, serif](Chorus)
[/FONT]

The small ones of the earth may bring
The word of truth in what they sing
Beside the mill, table or yet
In every humble place they're met.
A maid of Israel, captive
Brought in a stranger's land to live
Spoke out in love and faith to give
Hope to the hopeless, help to get.
She spoke to her mistress, would God:
The first words of truth on the sod.
God is the start and finish here
Of everything that must appear.
His sovereign grace saves those He will,
His name is sung by brook and rill
And by the bosky tongues on hill.
Would God, she says, and I too sing
Would God and before anything. [FONT=Georgia, serif](Chorus)[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Though God is source of every hope,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]There is a prophet (not a pope)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of which the meagre witness speaks,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The one the chosen saved one seeks.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That prophet is in Israel,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Perhaps not in the halls that tell[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The kings in Jerusalem’s spell[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Or those who sit beside the well[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Samaria reveals in peeks:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]One God, His prophet, and the grace[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That He may heal of every trace[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of sin and sickness in this place. [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif](Chorus)[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Like Naaman of old, I too go[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In search of the one God I know,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And to His prophet who will show[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The way to life beyond the glow[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of certain death that is not slow.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]But first Naaman must try the king[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]With his epistle and the ring[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of Syrian monarch set to play[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]With wealth and riches on the way.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The world is certain that the hall[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of palace and the temple wall[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Is where salvation's found from gall.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That misconception thrust aside[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Along with every human pride[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Opens the way up to the door[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of the true prophet and his store. (Chorus)[/FONT]

 

[Poet-Troll]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]So Naaman stands at the door waiting[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]For what the prophet comes debating,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To let him in to eat and drink[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Beside the glories not to blink[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]At truth unfolded by the hour[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Under the shade of heavenly bower.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He hopes the man may strike the place[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Wherein the sickness lurks in trace[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And with command raised up to God[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Perform the miracle with rod.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Again the expectations must[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Be cast down in the humble dust. (Chorus)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The rites and rituals today[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That flock the wearied in the way [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Are vain though they're required in sway[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of those who follow guru's pay[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And flash on teevee screen in spe.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The churches and their priests who raise[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]An educated word of praise,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The rich who're bent on more to graze,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The hopeful who choose every craze[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That is in fashion, these shall find[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Themselves outside celestial dined. (Chorus)[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]God chose the man before he knew,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He saved him by the retinue[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of sovereign grace while he still slept,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]So all remained in all he kept[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Was to be baptized where he wept.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He needed not the healing hand,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The crozier nor the sword to stand,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He needed not the mass or yet[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The bowing in the prayers as set.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He needed nothing more since God[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Had saved him as soon as he shod[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Departed in search of the king[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And prophet where he came to sing.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]I too come to the king who posed[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Beside Samarian well and closed[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]All ways of hope that life might spring[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Eternally for anything[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Except God Himself intervene[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]With grace to recreate the scene. (Chorus)
[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]God saves without the prophet's hand,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]God saves in any sort of land,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]But once He's saved, He does command [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The sinner that shall be restored[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Be baptized in name of his Lord,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And so by that obedience taught[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Come in the church and temple lot,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The gathering of two or three,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The smaller minyan in degree[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of Gentile chosen of the wee.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]How many who have heard the call[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Like Naaman are too proud in stall[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To stoop to such a lowly church[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Through muddy waters. They're in search[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of better rivers, finer streams,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Abana and Pharpar of dreams[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In grandeur, steepled towers and gleams[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of marble and of golden seams.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]But Christ calls those of God's elect [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To leave the glories they expect [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And merely bow beneath the flood[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And step into the earthly mud.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The human heart asks of the fast,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The alms, the charities that last,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The pilgrimages and the ways[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of temple floors and human praise.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Instead I meet the Sabbath day[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]As it draws on in fading ray[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]With heart repentant and downcast[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Beneath the cleansing waters' blast[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And so obedient to the word[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of Scriptures and with new heart stirred[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]I meet the singing Sabbath night[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Blessed by the recitation's light.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]My heart of stone is changed by grace[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And not by anything I trace,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And turned into a heart of flesh[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Like that of a young child and fresh. (Chorus)[/FONT]

 

[Poet-Troll]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Returning from baptismal stream[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The chosen man as in a dream[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Acknowledges the creed to last,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]There is no God for the outcast[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]But One, the God of Israel,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Creator and Sovereign to tell.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Let that be the one word I speak[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In faith before both strong and weak,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Like Namaan the Gentile I seek[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In Gentile faith proclaiming clear[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That YHWH is God alone and near. (Chorus)[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]If my heart's stirred to give the Jew[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]A blessing and a gift for rue,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He must refrain, take naught as due.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He turns me away from the door[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And never comes to see me more.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]It is enough he's done his job[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Preserving oracles in cob,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]It's not his place to nourish me,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He has his own troubles and tree.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The Messianic is amiss,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Secretly trying with a kiss[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To convert those whom God long since[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Chose and elected without wince.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The Gentile is set out alone[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To make his congregation known[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In the obedience that's grown[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]From the command to be baptized[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And have no God that's recognized[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Except that One of heaven and earth,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The only God of any worth. (Chorus)
[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]But Naaman here without command [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Invents an offering on the sand:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He will not pray or offer to[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Any god anything but YHWH.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He asks for earth of Palestine[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To lay his offering and his wine.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]As soon as men are brought to church,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]They try to improve on the perch.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]They need and want an offering[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Like Cain and Abel at the spring[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of time, so that they may compare[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Their offerings and fail to bear[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The difference and so create[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The sects that threaten man and state.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]They need to bow down on the earth[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The prophet touched as though of worth.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Division too here must be made[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]On the baptism in parade,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Whether immersion or the sprayed[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In sprinkling, or whether in rite[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Upon the infant child for spite,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Or whether with the words in sight[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of Father, Son and Ghostly might,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Or whether three times or just once.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Religion is made by the dunce. (Chorus)[/FONT]

 

[Poet-Troll]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The true faith is that those who're called,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Elect by sovereign grace installed,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Should bow beneath the Jordan's flood[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And kneel there only in the mud[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Without a sacrifice to bring,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Without a prayer or hymn to sing,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Without an organ there to ring,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Without a building or the sting[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of budget or of wealth to cling,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]But only with the joy to know[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That God is sovereign and not slow. (Chorus)[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The reader thinks the prophet gave[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Exemption to Naaman as slave[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of the king of the Syrian wave,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]So he could kneel before the face[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of idols in Rimmon's house place.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The think is not so. But the text[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Is nothing to doubt as perplexed.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]It refers to the thing that he[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Repented of after the spree.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]I too come to baptismal flow[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Repenting of one thing in glow,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Repenting of idolatry.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]All sin is reduced to degree[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of taking other gods in fee.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The ten commandments do begin[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]With knowing just One God for sin.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]All others follow in their place[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]From the first great command of grace[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That God shall be One God for all,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The Sovereign Saviour at the call.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The Gentile church is not set free[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To make its own rules in decree,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Exempt and winked at for the way [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That idols are raised up in sway.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The church that so departs from that[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]True faith that Naaman on the mat [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of prophet found commanded sat [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Departs from their obedience[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And do not represent the sense[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of sovereign grace in their pretence.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Though in each idol temple's found [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The saved and elect on the ground,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]That does not mean the temple creed[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Is true of accepted indeed.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The pardon Naaman once received[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Was for the bowing unreprieved[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]He'd done before he met the word[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of Israel's prophet and was stirred. (Chorus)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT]

 

[Poet-Troll]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Elisha sent the man away[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]From Israel's faith and Israel's way [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Into Islam, that's peace with God[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]After repentance on the sod,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And not a rival faith set up[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]By Arab tribe raised up like tup.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]It is the humble way that meets[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]God in submission in the treats[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of Sabbath day where oracle[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of Israel's prophets is made full[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In recitation sung and spoken,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The Scriptures read for faith and token. (Chorus)[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And so we sing the Scriptures here[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And pray responding with a tear,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Exhorting by the word once heard[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To follow in the way we're spurred.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The prophets rise and fall in line[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In Israel since Elisha's sign.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The Christ rose also in the sight[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Of palace and temple for right,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And spoke the Torah word to those[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Who came to hear him and who chose[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The prophet instead of the king.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Since that day the Gentiles may sing[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Command of God and Jesus' faith [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Instead of worshiping the wraith. Rev 14:10. (Chorus)[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]I leave the creeds set out by men [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Opposing the prophet and then[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Forgetting Scripture's power again,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And hold to Christ whose only law[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Is mine to hear, as in his awe[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Naaman once heard the prophet's ten;[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And hold the Scriptures clear and bold[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To be my liturgy of gold,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Recited now with few below[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]And in a humble sort of glow,[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]But in eternity to sound[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In syllables sublime to bound[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The courts of heaven come down to earth[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]To find eternal rest and berth. (Chorus)[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Scripture references taken from The Beloved and I: The New Jubilees Version of Sacred Scripture in Verse with Verse Commentary by Thomas McElwain[/FONT]