The path that Christians tread

The path that Christians tread
To reason's eye is strange;
Through regions of the dead,
They frequently must range;
Ten thousand monstrous beasts of prey
Beset the soul by night and day.

We must not learn God's truth
As school-boys learn their task;
Such knowledge is not proof
Against delusion's blast.
An empty knowledge bloats with air,
But dies when dreadful storms appear.

Christians oft pray for faith;
To trace God's beauties more;
To triumph over death;
And Jesus' name adore.
God hears and answers their desire;
But 'tis through scenes of floods and fire.

Sin, armed with all the spleen
Of enmity to God,
Oft rises up within,
And scorns the Saviour's blood;
A world of filth, too base to name,
Beset and plunge the soul in shame.

To pray, he thinks too bold;
While he in silence moans,
His bones keep waxing old,
By reason of his groans;
And by such means, though strange to tell,
The Lord will teach him Jesus well.

When self and nature die,
And all our beauty's gone,
The Saviour brings us nigh,
To trust in him alone;
'Tis then we trust his righteousness,
And rest alone on sovereign grace.

Thus Jesus wears the crown;
We gladly trace the power
That brings all nature down,
And leads us to adore
Jesus, the Lord our Righteousness,
Who saves in every deep distress.