An Excellent Consolation Poem by Rees Prichard

If thou canst but repent, why shou'dst thou dread
Thy sins, however numberous and foul?
Since Christ for them was crucify'd, 'till dead -
And freely suffer'd to preserve thy soul?

Why wilt thou fear thy Judge's final doom,
Since Christ will as thy advocate appear?
Thy Judge's son has suffer'd in thy room;
Death and damnation, why then shou'dst thou fear?

Not one shall be found guilty in the end,
Who here in Christ a lively faith retains;
But shall on his removal hence ascend
From death to life, and Eden's blissful plains.

Be still then, O my soul! nor silence break,
Thy gracious God from death will set thee free:
For who can the condemning sentence speak,
Since Christ was nail'd unto the cross for thee.

Christ in his blood will wash thy sins away,
And bleach thee whiter than the driven snow -
Though they do now a scarlet hue display,
Yet Christ shall make them white as ermine show.

The sun can penetrate the thickest cloud,
And soap can scour the foulest garments bright -
Christ's merits thy enormous sins can shrowd,
His blood can make thee as the lily white.

God Peter's fears, and David's lusts forgave,
The Prodigal's excess and youthful heat,
And king Manasses', tho' once sin's mere slave:
He thine can pardon, howsoever great.

Take comfort then - thy fainty spirits raise -
The Son of God was fix'd unto the tree
For thy transgressions, and unrighteous ways;
And, for his sake, thou shalt forgiven be.