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NEW SONGS, ON DIFFERENT SUBJECTS.
COMPOSED BY ISSACHAR BATES.
Speaking to yourselves, in PSALMS, and HYMNS, and SPIRITUAL SONGS; singing and making melody in your heart, to the LORD.
Eph. v. 19.
SALEM: NEW-YORK: PRINTED BY HENRY DODD. MDCCC.
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SONGS, &c.
SONG I. THE AUTHOR's TRIALS.
[To the tune of Major ANDRE.]
1
COME, you redeemed of the Lord,
Give ear to my complaint,
And hear the sorrows of my soul,
Which tongue nor pen can't paint.
You're happy, happy, in the Lord,
Secure from death and hell;
But who can tell, but God alone,
Where my poor soul must dwell?
2
Sometimes my heart is prompt to say,
No sorrows like to mine;
Yet reason whispers, peace, be still,
There's sorrows more sublime.
The Lord of Glory suffer'd more
Than human tongue can tell;
But who can tell, but God alone,
Where my poor soul must dwell?
3
Once I could sin, and tempt the Lord,
And feel no dread within;
I thought I almost was secure,
But now and then a sting.
But O! alas! I found myself
Just on the brink of hell,
And then I thought it was decreed,
Where my poor must dwell.
4
O, the sharp pangs my soul did feel,
For crimes which I had done;
I had provok [...]d a dreadful God,
My sorrows then begun.
[Page 4] To Sinai's fiery mount I flew,
My horrid tale to tell,
But God in thunder there proclaim'd
Where my poor [...] I must dwell.
5
I cried, O Lord, thy law is good,
Thy sentence just and right;
Why have I not been crush'd before,
And doom'd to endless night.
But Lord, I cried, what shall I do?
A victim there I fell,
And left it all with God, to doom
Where my poor soul must dwell.
6
Stern justice stared me in the face,
While I for mercy cried;
At length on Calvary I view'd
A Saviour crucified,
Sweet Jesus whisper'd in my heart,
And this glad news did tell,
Your sins are washed in my blood,
Your soul with me shall dwell.
7
O matchless love! my soul did cry,
How can this all be true;
Which makes me Abba Father cry,
And bid the world adieu.
I mounted up toward the sky,
And left all earth and hell,
And saw the glorious resting place,
Where my poor soul must dwell.
8
I thought I heard my Jesus say
Go, tell the world the news;
My soul with raptures then replied,
Yea, Lord, I'll not refuse.
But O, alas! my pride return'd,
I was ashamed to tell,
And then I was in doubt again,
Where my poor soul should dwell.
9
Thus I went mourning night and day,
To God I sent my cry;
[Page 5] That he would let me know his will,
Wishing that I could die:
But all the answer I receiv'd,
Was, I've reveal'd my will,
That you go forth, and tell the world,
Where their poor souls must dwell.
10
You are a witness, saith the Lord,
My counsels to declare;
Gird up your loins and face the field,
You see the harvest near.
Shake off your doubts, the fields are white,
And thus to sinners tell,
Unless they do repent and turn.
Where their poor souls must dwell.
11
Lord I'm a child, I cannot go,
My counsels they'll despise;
Besides my weakness and my fears,
No learning to suffice.
Thus I refus'd to bear the cross,
Resolving to rebel,
'Till I in darkness cried, who knows
Where my poor soul must dwell?
12
Then I a voyage to Tarshish took,
And thus my Lord denied;
And in a dreadful sleep was found
Along by the ships side;
Where dashing waves or'erwhelm'd my soul,
That I should thus rebel;
Ah! who can tell, was all my cry,
Where my poor soul must dwell.
13
And then like Saul, the son of Kish,
The kingdom I had lost;
Like Esau, I had lost my right,
And many a tear it cost,
Then I resolv'd to bear the cross,
No longer to rebel,
And left it all with God alone,
Where my poor soul must dwell.
[Page 6]
14But here's the greatest trial I find,
The worst of all my fear,
That I should run before I'm sent,
Like Balaam son of Beor:
And shall not profit where I go,
Although the truth I tell;
Which makes me cry, ah! who can tell,
Where my poor soul must dwell.
15
Come tell me, you that love the Lord,
Come make your sorrows known;
Have you such trials in your minds,
Or am I thus alone?
I long to know how Christians feel;
But if you do not tell,
Yet I will seek a resting place,
Where my poor soul must dwell.
16
Thus I will face a frowning world,
And set my face like flint;
Come you that love a Jesus slain,
We'll join in one consent.
We soon shall see that solemn day,
When death shall end the spell,
Where we shall see as we are seen,
Our souls with Christ shall dwell.
17
Glory to God the Father be,
Glory to God the Son,
And to the Spirit equal praise,
The sacred Three in One.
Let angels praise the triune God,
And saints his wonders tell,
That there is found a resting place.
Where our poor souls shall dwell.
SONG II. THE HUNTER's MIDNIGHT PRAYER.
1
THOU great immortal sovereign God,
Whose wakeful eyes no slumbers crave;
[Page 7] All nature's fix'd upon thy word,
No darkness thou canst ever have.
2
But mighty God, my mortal eyes,
Are darken'd with the midnight shade;
Without reflections from the sky,
By sparkling lights which thou hast made.
3
So Lord, 'tis midnight with my soul,
'Till Jesus comes, with light divine,
And on the shore a fire of coals
He kindles, saying, Come and dine.
4
Though I am in this desert land,*
Where beasts of prey can claim a right,
Yet I am safe beneath thine hand,
In darkest shades of lonesome night.
5
My ebenezer here I'll raise,
Thou hitherto hast kept me safe;
Through tedious nights and blust'ring days,
Thou art my rock, my hiding place.
6
Since by thy providence, my God,
My lot is here a little space,
Here I will spread my hands abroad,
And supplicate the Throne of Grace.
7
My God receive my midnight cry,
Thou wilt bow down a gracious ear;
It is for Sion I do sigh,
Though absent from connections dear.
8
O Sion, 'tis a happy place,
Her children still are my delight;
My God, behold my watery face,
Dispi [...]e not all my tears this night.
9
Build up thy Sion, O my God.
Get to thyself a mighty name,
And I'll rejoice to feel thy rod,
And all thy wond'rous works proclaim.
[Page 8]
10To my companion, Lord, be kind,
Grant her the smilings of thy face;
To thee my children I resign,
Make them the children of thy grace.
11
And Father, if it be thy will,
That I once more on earth should meet
Thy children, I will praise thee still,
And my devotion shall be sweet.
11
But, Father, let thy will be done,
I nothing ask in my own name,
But for the sake of Christ, thy son,
And all the glory's thine—AMEN.
SONG III. A PROSPECT OF LAKE SCHROON, Composed on its banks.
1
COME, Lake Schroon, break forth and sing,
Let every wave her tribute bring;
Let God, your Maker, be ador'd,
For ev'ry good which you afford.
Chorus—
This work is God's,
Let nature sing,
And human souls
Their tribute bring.
2
Your watery bowels glide with fish,
The lusty salmon neat and fresh;
Your face is clad with ducks and geese,
Your shore is trampled with wild beasts.
This work is God's, &c.
3
Your head is crown'd with beauteous green,
Sweet intervale as e'er was seen;
Nature's wild fruit trees yielding food,
And lofty pines which crown the wood.
This work is Gods, &c.
[Page 9]
4A beauteous plain on your west side,
Where gentle streams perpetual glide;
Like Lebanon, there cedars stand,
A pleasant road laid through this land.
This work is God's, &c.
5
The God of Nature has supplied
Thousands of acres on this side,
With fertile soil, and streams complete,
For mills and meadows, corn and wheat.
This work is God's, &c.
6
On your east bank the mountains foot,
Where blood-hounds daily roar and hoot—
The cunning hunter joys to hear
The blood-hound hoot and chase the deer.
This work is God's, &c.
7
Men on your waves in ambush lie,
While round the hills the wild deer fly:
He to your waves for covert flies,
The huntsmen meet him, there he dies.
This work is God's, &c.
8
Your ourlet is a crystal stream,
Here flats receive your ri [...]lest cream;
Trees in sweet order on your banks,
Wild orchards blooming all in ranks.
This work is God's, &c.
9
By your rich treasures men are fed,
With fish and f [...]th, with fruit and bread,
With sons and skins of various kinds,
To crown their heads and clothe the loins.
This work is God's, &c.
10
Wild beasts, likewise, rejoice and praise,
Then maker in then different ways,
When of your bounties they partake,
They joy that you was sorn'd alake.
This work is God's, &c.
11
Burden'd with summer heat they rove,
Down from the mountains to your cove;
[Page 10] You are their covert, when surp [...],
By savage wolves or swarms of flies.
This work is God's, &c.
12
Come, O my soul, with nature join,
And praise your maker all divine,
Break forth in singing, O lake Schroon,
With all your train, geese, ducks and loon.
This work is God's, &c.
SONG IV. The HARVEST.
1
THE fields they are ripe, the harvesters here,
The reapers all with their sharp sickles appear;
They reap down the wheat, and gather it in barns,
But the wild plants of nature are left for to burn.
2
Come then, O my soul, meditate on the day,
When all things in nature shall cease and decay;
When the trumpet shall sound, the angels appear.
To reap down the earth, the wheat and the tares.
3
But hear the kind judge in that dread alarm,
First gather my saints and bring them to my arms;
That the seven last plagues may be pour'd out on those
Who have blasphem'd my name, and the saints have oppos'd.
4
Then hear the said cries, which ascend to the skies,
Of souls in distress who have no where to fly;
They shall pray to the rocks and mountains to fall
Upon their naked souls, for to hide them withal.
5
But 'twill all be in vain, for the mountains must flee,
The rocks fly like had stones and shall no more be;
The earth reshall quake, the sea shall retire,
And this solid world shall then all be on fire.
6
Then O, wretched mortals, look up and espy,
The glorious Rede [...]mer, marching thro' the sky,
On a charlot of fire, to the earth he is bound,
With a glard of bright angels attending him down.
7
Come gather, ve nations, your sentence receive,
My spirit no longer shall strive and be griev'd;
[Page 11] My judgments are ripe, the sentence is just,
Come hither, ye bless'd, but depart all ye curs'd.
8
Come siuners, take warning, and seek ye the Lord,
I have not been jesting, it is Christ's own word,
That those who have done good, in glory small stand,
But those who have done evil shall surely be damn'd.
9
So farewell, I leave you to ponder your way,
May the Lord seal instruction to what I now say,
That our souls to God's throne may be pour'd out in prayer,
That we may be prepar'd to meet Christ in the air.
SONG V. THE AUTHOR's SOLILOQUY, Composed on a Sabbath day morning, being on a journey.
1
O Lord, I am lonesome, I mourn like a dove,
Being absent from those, whom my soul cuce did love,
With a heart fill'd with guilt, no comfort I find,
But like Peter go musing and groveling behind
2
I'm journeying with those who I love in the fl [...],
They are kind to my wants and my body [...]
But my soul they can't cherish, they hear not its [...],
Yet I pray to kind heaven to open their eyes.
3
Now the glorious sun has [...]ated the skies,
O my soul do not languish but lock with surprise,
Stret [...] out your sweet pinions, and rise from the dead,
This is the bless'd morning that Jesus has made.
4
This is the bless'd morn, the first day of the week;
In which weeping Mary her Saviour did seek;
[...]e was not with the dead, tho' she sought him with care,
He's risen, he's risen, the angels declare.
5
O he lives! O he lives! intereeding above,
O, my soul, do not doubt, but believe in his love;
Romember his words, because that I live—
Ye also shall live if ye only believe.
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6O Lord, I believe, and my soul finds relief,
But dear Jesus be kind, and help my unbelief;
That I no more like Mary, who stoop'd down her head,
And sought for the living in tombs of the dead.
7
Come, dear Lord of the Sabbath, and keep me, I pray,
That I may not deny thee on this holy day;
May my mind be above, where my Jesus is gone,
Though a distance from home, may I not be alone.
SONG VI.
Composed on the death of Mr. ISAAC ORCUTT, who was kil [...]ed by the fall of a tree, [...]n Hartford, state of New-York.
1
COME, all you n [...]ighboring people wait,
Wailst I a doleful scene relate,
Of a bright youth as e'er you see,
Who was kill'd in Hartford by a tree.
2
One Isacc Orcutt was his name,
Who lat [...]ly into Hartford came,
R [...]s [...]d [...] with his brother James,
Last Thursday noon, w [...]nt, as it seems,
3
To cu [...] some timber for a sl [...]d.
The s [...]w b [...]ing d [...]p, he h [...]d to wade
Near f [...]rty rod [...], to [...]n ash tree—
The t [...]p was d [...]y, as you may see.
4
H [...] [...] the tree [...] from the stump.
The top being lodg'd, [...]w back a chunk,
Which flew and struck him on [...]is head,
And crush'd him— y [...]t he was [...]ot [...]d.
5
There the poor suff [...]er sens [...]l [...]ss lay,
All the remainder of that day;
His charming face plung'd in the snow.
While from his head the blood did sl [...]w.
6
His friends and neighbors being gone,
Not know [...]ng that he had withdrawn,
No search was made by any one,
Until the setting of the sun—
[Page 13]
7Till Mr. Danly and his son,
Alarm'd, sat out upon the run,
They soon beheld him with surprise,
And gaz'd on him with stedfast eyes.
8
They then suppos'd him to be dead,
Till by a motion of his head
They found that in him life was left—
He stirr'd his head, drawing his breath.
9
One of his hands was stifflly froze,
Part of his arms, some of his toes;
The blood had issued from his wound,
And thaw'd a passage to the ground.
10
O! 'twas an awful sight to see
So fair and sprightly a youth as he,
All crush'd and crippled in a heap—
'Twould make the stoutest heart to weep.
11
They took him up and bore him home,
Put him to bed in a warm room;
They rubb'd his limbs and dress'd his wound,
And strove to force a cordial down.
12
But all in vain, the passage chok'd,
His blood was chill'd, his skull was broke;
All useful medicines were applied,
Yet he on that same evening died.
13
The heavy news did soon arrive
To his dear friends and relatives,
Which fill'd their hearts with bitter grief,
But he was past all their relief.
14
When all his friends had gather'd round,
A sermon preach'd by Elder Brown,
His corps with care was borne away,
To mingle with its native clay.
15
He was but twenty years of age,
And some odd months, as we alledge;
He was both sprightly, fair and kind,
Belov'd by every civil mind.
16
Think on his virtue, weeping friends.
Mourn not from him, but for your sins:
[Page 14] For sin is the procuring cause,
That brings God's judgment unawares.
17
Let this a warning be to all,
It is our great Creater's call;
Methinks I hear his word abroad.
Saying, Prepare to meet your GOD.
SONG VII. THE NEWLIGHT's HYMN.
1
COME, we that are New-Lights indeed,
Who are from Satan's bondage freed;
From Egypt's land we've took our flight,
For Gol hath given us a new Light.
2
Though long we with the wicked strow'd,
And madly run the sinful road;
Against the gospel we did fight,
Sear'd at the name of a New-Light.
3
At length the Lord in mercy cail'd,
He gave as strength to give up all;
He gave us grace to choose aright,
A portion with despi [...]'d New-Lights.
4
[...] of men—approv'd of God,
Well triumph on the heavenly road;
Loud [...] we will sing,
To J [...]sus Christ, the New-Light's King.
5
What though the world do us disdain.
And we've our names cast out by men—
Chri [...]t is our Captain, for us fights,
Nor death nor hell can hurt New-Lights.
6
Come sinners, with us New-Lights join,
And seek [...]se joys that are divine,
Bid earthl [...] pleasure, all adieu,
O come and be a New-Light too.
7
All carnal mirth you'll count a toy,
When once you taste this heavenly joy;
[Page 15] No solid joys are known below,
But what the New-Lights feel and know.
8
I do not mean no [...] nor parts,
But such as are New-Lights in heart;
I'm sure that your profession's right,
If but your heart is a New-Light.
9
Thus guarded by the Lord, we'll stand
Safe in the hollow of his hand;
Nor do we scorn the New-Light's name,
All Christians are New-Lights the same.
10
Farewel, vain world, we soon shall fly
To our High Priest above the sky,
And spend eternal day with them,
Whom God hath made New-Lights—
AMEN.
SONG VIII.
Composed on the late sickness in Hartford, state of New-York.
1
O Come, my dear neighbors, we'll sit down and mourn,
The husband apart, his companion alone:
The Lord has come out and his wrath has display'd
See what desolation his anger has made.
2
He has sent down the pestilence, noisome and keen,
It has walk'd in the dark, and a [...] noon day is seen
Our neighbors are falling on every side,
No age from its fury is able to hide.
3
The husband cries, pity m [...]. O ye my friends,
My companion is gone, how my heart it doth twinge;
My children cry, when will my mama return?
O never, O never, a pit [...]ful mourn.
4
The widow is grieving, my husband is dead,
How lonesome my chamber, how empty my bed;
My fatherless children, to heighten my grief,
Cry, where is my dada, I want some relief,
5
Both fathers and mothers lament their said lot.
And mourn for their children because they are not;
[Page 16] What sore desolation this neighborhood sees,
O who can endure such chastisements as these.
6
But st [...]y here our fancy, no mourning from us,
The [...]ord has been righteous but we are unjust;
Our s [...]s like a cloud have ascended on high,
And the Lord God of Heaven has heard the outcry.
7
[...]flect you that live without God in the world,
What blasphemous oaths from your lips have been hurl'd;
Our streets how they've rung with your riotous yell,
Repent, O repent, or your portion is heli.
8
But O be astonished, ye children of light,
Have you been partakers and walk'd in the night;
O banish all tho't of the dead from the mind,
And mourn for the living surviving behind.
9
Look back on the days when the Lord was so kind,
He sent down his love and enlighten'd your mind;
When the sw [...]et songs of converts in praising their king,
Made the d [...]s [...]rts and desolate places to ring.
10
[...] how thou art changed, O daughter of light;
L [...]ke the gold turn'd to dimness that once shin'd so bright.
Remember from whence thou art fallen and turn,
That the Lord may instruct us and teach us to mourn.
11
A solemn ass [...]bly we'll call for this day,
P [...]ocl [...]im ye a f [...]st in each soul by [...]he way;
Repent, O repent, and return to our God;
That his anger may cease and he call home his rod.
END.