{"id":18850,"date":"2023-07-15T04:17:51","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T04:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/?p=18850"},"modified":"2023-07-15T04:17:51","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T04:17:51","slug":"the-poetic-testimony-of-thomas-poock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/2023\/07\/the-poetic-testimony-of-thomas-poock\/","title":{"rendered":"The Poetic Testimony Of Thomas Poock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earthen Vessel 1851:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear friend in the gospel, you ask for a line,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The which I will send you as I can get time;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And this is the subject on which I shall dwell\u2014<\/p>\n

To write of my Jesus, who sav’d me from hell.<\/p>\n

I often am led of my history to think;<\/p>\n

And while I remember, I shudder and shrink.<\/p>\n

My birth was all sin, my nature all foul,<\/p>\n

It makes me oft weep, ofttimes do I howl.<\/p>\n

In childhood I was of my mother bereft;<\/p>\n

Ah! then to the mercy of man was I left;<\/p>\n

But man, he forsook me, regardless of claim,<\/p>\n

A helpless, a friendless outcast I became.<\/p>\n

The workhouse receiv’d me, and there was I found\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By an uncle, who travell’d many miles over ground;<\/p>\n

He took me, he sooth’d me, he clothed me all o’er,<\/p>\n

He fed me most kindly, and doctor\u2019d my sore.<\/p>\n

My dear mother\u2019s sister\u2019s poor heart was most broke,<\/p>\n

The scene was distressing, so sharp was the stroke;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But short was my stay ‘neath this hospital roof,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of different treatment I soon had a proof:<\/p>\n

To London I went, and such treatment receiv’d,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Was I but to relate it, \u2018twould scarce be believ\u2019d:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But that is all past, and the whole I forgive,<\/p>\n

And pray so to die, as well so to live.<\/p>\n

To sea I was sent, to meet rough, hard, and cold,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although, at that time, not eleven years old;<\/p>\n

But there the good Lord did a father provide,<\/p>\n

Who kept me, and taught me, and prov\u2019d a kind guide.<\/p>\n

Thus three years on ship-board, my country did leave,<\/p>\n

And the scenes which I saw, made my heart often grieve.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And though amidst powder and shot I have been,<\/p>\n

I could not be kill’d, as plainly is seen:<\/p>\n

Preserved abroad, I again was brought home,<\/p>\n

To declare to the world what for me He hath done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When sixteen years old, was convinced of sin,<\/p>\n

I saw and I felt what a wretch I had been;<\/p>\n

What to do, where to go, I now could not tell,<\/p>\n

For by day and by night I much feared hell;<\/p>\n

The heavens were black, my conscience opprest,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My soul, day and night, quite a stranger to rest;<\/p>\n

I teared to sleep, was tormented awake,<\/p>\n

And tempted I’ve been a razor to take,<\/p>\n

The Gadarenes got me\u2014to work I did go\u2014<\/p>\n

I pray’d, and on parchment I wrote solemn vow;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My prayers not answer\u2019d\u2014my vows were all broke,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I now must be damned, ’twill be righteous stroke:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each world is against me, because of my sin,<\/p>\n

In wrath and hell-torments I must shortly be in;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My case is most dreadful, O what must I do?<\/p>\n

I could not to any my wretchedness shew,<\/p>\n

My legal class-leader such lessons did give,<\/p>\n

I could not perform them, which made me to grieve;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For I thought very highly of his zealous plan,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Concluding that he was a most holy man.<\/p>\n

Just as I concluded my soul must be lost,<\/p>\n

A bookstall I saw, as a street I had cross’d,<\/p>\n

My eye caught a book, which open did lay,<\/p>\n

I took it to read, though I feared to pray;<\/p>\n

And as I perused, I swallow’d the whole,<\/p>\n

The piece was ‘Hart’s Dialogue with a Poor Soul;\u2019<\/p>\n

To tell what I felt I’m sure I cannot,<\/p>\n

I sang, cried, and prayed, at my happy lot:<\/p>\n

I saw my salvation was full, rich, and free,<\/p>\n

I went not to Jesus, he came thus to me\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cO, poor wretched soul, fear not,” he did say,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Your sins cast you down, I took them away;<\/p>\n

I bore them entire\u2014not one is behind,<\/p>\n

You’ll find me a Saviour exceedingly kind;<\/p>\n

Come out as my sheep, and hear my sweet voice,<\/p>\n

I make them all free, I make them rejoice:<\/p>\n

Your doing and vowing will not make you good!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most clean you shall be, through my shedding blood;<\/p>\n

My doing has satisfied all in thy stead,<\/p>\n

Believe and receive me, the law-fulfilling Head;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My righteousness take\u2014this freely I give,<\/p>\n

I lov’d thee, I bought thee, I now bid thee live;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My love everlasting was fix’d on thy soul,<\/p>\n

In kindness I drew thee, thou now art made whole.”<\/p>\n

Such love, life, and light now filled my heart,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I gladly from all my old rubbish did part;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And wonder’d to find redemption’s great plan,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Was all of God’s grace to vile filthy man,<\/p>\n

But O what a foe did I find in that man,<\/p>\n

Whose name I receiv’d, when bound by his plan!<\/p>\n

He call’d me a sinner of wonderful kind,<\/p>\n

And said I was stubborn, rebellious, and blind;<\/p>\n

And left me, at last, where he saw I did stand,<\/p>\n

And of my foul blood he wash’d clean his hand.<\/p>\n

How dreadful the pride of a pharisee’s soul\u2014<\/p>\n

For they never feel sick, but always seem whole!<\/p>\n

But thanks to the Spirit, who gives me to feel<\/p>\n

The need of my Jesus, who only can heal;<\/p>\n

I love to speak of him, and to him likewise,<\/p>\n

For him above all things I surely must prize:<\/p>\n

But though of his children of all I am worst,<\/p>\n

I still on his merits am helped to trust;<\/p>\n

In him all the glories of Godhead I see,<\/p>\n

The love of Jehovah to poor sinful me!<\/p>\n

And though, for my follies, I oft catch the rod,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet still, still he is my unchangeable God!<\/p>\n

Of His mercy in life and in death I will tell\u2014<\/p>\n

How he sav’d even me from sin and from hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Believe me ever to remain\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your’s in the Lord,<\/p>\n

Thomas Poock<\/p>\n

May 7th, 1851<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friend in the gospel, you ask for a line,\u00a0<\/p>\n

The which I will send you as I can get time;\u00a0<\/p>\n

And this is the subject on which I shall dwell\u2014<\/p>\n

To write of my Jesus, who sav’d me from hell.<\/p>\n

I often am led of my history to think;<\/p>\n

And while I remember, I shudder and shrink.<\/p>\n

My birth was all sin, my nature all foul,<\/p>\n

It makes me oft weep, ofttimes do I howl.<\/p>\n

In childhood I was of my mother bereft;<\/p>\n

Ah! then to the mercy of man was I left;<\/p>\n

But man, he forsook me, regardless of claim,<\/p>\n

A helpless, a friendless outcast I became.<\/p>\n

The workhouse receiv’d me, and there was I found\u00a0<\/p>\n

By an uncle, who travell’d many miles over ground;<\/p>\n

He took me, he sooth’d me, he clothed me all o’er,<\/p>\n

He fed me most kindly, and doctor\u2019d my sore.<\/p>\n

My dear mother\u2019s sister\u2019s poor heart was most broke,<\/p>\n

The scene was distressing, so sharp was the stroke;\u00a0<\/p>\n

But short was my stay ‘neath this hospital roof,\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of different treatment I soon had a proof:<\/p>\n

To London I went, and such treatment receiv’d,\u00a0<\/p>\n

Was I but to relate it, \u2018twould scarce be believ\u2019d:\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":18806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1431],"tags":[1232,1226],"class_list":["post-18850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thomas-poock","tag-baptist-history","tag-gospel-preachers"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18852,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18850\/revisions\/18852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}