Vertical and Laying Waste

New-sprung verses oxygen to taste

[layingwaste]

Crown-Off

See here for explanation and to participate. ******* 1. Crown Him the Lord of Heaven! All men your hearts employ! His sight the faith of the forgiven, His nearness all their joy! A Sabbath rest remains for those who will endure to hymn the King in holy strains of praise forevermore! 2. Crown Him the Lord of War, Who trains His children’s hands, To wield in prayer His Holy Pow’r, And set immortal bands. The army of His claimed, Eyes closed on bended knee. Marches forward in His Name, To certain victory! 3. Crown Him the Bridegroom, fair, whose promised virgin bride once purchased, gently now prepared, will evermore abide to grace her Husband's head with all her charms, endowed by Him who for her virtue bled with sacred mantle bowed. 4. Crown Him the Living Word by whom all worlds are wrought; dividing as a naked sword, divining heart and thought. That great Amen shall shake, shall split the lab'ring Earth, bend every knee for His Name's sake to rule by sovereign worth. 5. Crown Him the Lord of Beasts, that Lion once foretold to spring from Judah’s loins, the least and greatest to enfold: Leviathan He made to sport upon the sea; the sparrow He His Father’s aid doth give, and cares for me. 6. Crown Him the Lord of Earth established from of old, whose massive rocks and rolling girth His Word does yet uphold! He sends the sun and rain, He man and beast doth feed, the elements doth wisely train to serve them in their need. 7. Crown Him the Lord of Wrath, His justice rebels' doom. Vainglorious idols raisèd hath aroused Him to consume false flesh and fallen lights in zeal for His own Name with everlasting empty night and never-failing flame. 8. Crown Him the corner-stone whose covenant endures. Whose oath relies on Him alone, and promise reassures those sons of faith, preserved 'til proved of more than gold; Salvation, full and undeserved, His vow from ages old. 9. Crown Him the Lord of Men: their tribes and peoples all, who friend or foe shall see Him then and at His feet shall fall, when comes He to redress to all men what is due, to sit in glorious righteousness and judge with justice true! 10. Crown Him the Lord of Rest, Our calm amidst the storm, The Living Fire inside the breast, To keep the saint’s heart warm. The world’s tempest rage, Cannot prevail our Shield, A Refuge firm for every Age, To which all furies yield. 11. Crown Him the Lord of heav'n, which throne befits His rule; whence all dominion e'er is giv'n below, on Earth His stool. Bless Him, ye priestly race! His all-authority ordains the mystery of grace that crowns His majesty. 12. Crown Him the Righteous Judge! His justice swift and true. From those whose hearts grace could not budge, A recompense is due. The Cross our hope alone, We join to Him Who died, For our sin did our Lord atone, We rise His justified. 13. Crown Him the Lord of Floods whose limits He did write, and quiets them that tenderest buds may grow to glory bright, and by the mightiest storms drives men to mind His will; He cleanses who humbly reforms; who thirsts, will more than fill. 14. Crown Him the Lord of Joy, who rules our Sabbath rest. All blessings toil in His employ whose saints, unceasing blest, lay down their striving vain, take up the yoke of praise, ere they by alms of grace attain delight of endless days. 15. Crown Him the Lord of heaven, His hands built Creation, And sustain ‘til the Day is given, When matter is undone, Creation sings and yearns, Deeper than words construe, Hast’ning the Day that He returns, And all things are made new. 16. Crown Him the Lord of Truth, Who knows all that could be, Omniscient of both all that is, And all potentially. His words transcend all time, Forever resolute, Sacred, clear, pure, and sublime, Not subject to refute. 17. Crown Him the Holy King, Let Israel exult, Bearing high holy praise to sing, And two-edged swords to cull. His vengeance on nations, The judgment writ made right, An honor for the godly ones, Those holy in His sight. 18. Crown Him the Lord of Fire and Winds, His servants fleet: they to and fro in gust and gyre His orders all complete: to warm the faithful heart, to stir upon the way, to prove the hopeful builder’s art against the coming Day. ~

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Door

8 6 8 6 (CM) Wide-open Door, beneath Your bow I lean; Your crossèd frame all tremor, torrent, tempest's blow abjures, true-speaks Your claim. Deep-stainèd Portal, hyssop-kissed and drenched in knife-drawn life, by You souls flee the tombs and twists of sin and guilt and grief. And through You, Gate, must any flee who prize what cannot stain; who grasp at immortality, Yourself thereby to gain. Beneath Your lintel, blessèd Door I lean, and never fall. Add my own sanguine drops to Yours; see, here, I bring Your awl. ~ 08/21/2016 AMDG

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Be Jealous

Revelation 12:17 8 7 8 7 D Thy jealousy befits Thee, Groom, and zeal for Thine intended. She is Thy glory, meant to bloom as faithfully attended. Her raiment is Thine arete imputed for her cover, and she adorns the chaste array of her one Lord and Lover. The swarming locust would devour, consume, with naught remaining; would strip immodest in fell hour, then over-heap with shaming. The covenant upon Thy breath grants to Thy bride assurance - Thy Word condemns their horde to death, securing her endurance. The roving lion tears and rends; he roars and, birthing terror, seeks shadowed souls to apprehend by piercing doubt and error. O! tender Shepherd seize his beard - smite, shatter teeth asunder! Draw forth from carcass once-afear'd a sweet eye-brightening plunder. The scarlet dragon stalks Thy bride, her scion son to swallow. He vomits forth a mighty tide and crowns the beasts which follow. Descend his chain from Heaven's vault, stoke high his due infernal. Shield us against his wroth assault, enfold our souls eternal. Be jealous for our sake and Thine, Thou long-anticipated, until we drink the wedding wine, in ardor consummated. Stay tyrant, rogue, and fiend without in hungry night and hollow - Just, bitter tears to slake their drought, naught save their tongues to swallow. ~ 01/31/2016 AMDG

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No Half-Heart Love

Do not regard great Sodom so, my friend; no half­heart love will 'scape the angel's rain. The double­minded soul cleaves not in twain; drags all to bitter dust in bitter end. My brother, do not grasp at ash and salt; set full your eye on Zoar as you flee. No half­heart love will enter rest, nor be accounted on the Lord's day free of fault. Do not, dear soul, disdain the warning word, nor so esteem your grave­goods laid in lust: God's vengeance, much as grace, deserves full trust; no half­heart love glad hails the holy Lord. My son, flee the destruction coming, pent longsuffering against a loveless rule. A half­heart love possesses every fool who, hearing, yet refuses to repent. Do not, belov'd, mistake Gomorrah's lights for aught but conflagration, ruin, death. The half­heart love is chaff before the breath of Him who calls whole hearts to mountain heights. ~ 01/31/2016 AMDG

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Sonnet

Attend, ye gods! How wise, how wise are we! to read “shall not” and hear, unsaid, “except.” We have divined such grace as may accept what elders, weak of conscience, could but flee. Sit at our feet, ye wise! For tyranny is born of certitude! Ought tales of Hell not breed a fruitful doubt, or judgment quell when truth of circumstance shall set you free? Give praise, ye saints! Who grasp the mystery to overcome that last persistent sin of loving not one's truest self within. Choose blessings worthy of your jubilee! In nomine God's liberality, tolerant Christ, and Spirit's bonhomie. ~ 04/12/2015 AMDG

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Life Triumphant

Thou death of man, where now is found thy sting? Foul-smelling grave, thy hollow victory? Was all thy power broken on the tree, and vanquished by the resurrected King? What terror, now, can thy deception bring, when empty lies the tomb for all to see, and broken is the curse’s hold on me? Thy menace is a shattered, worthless thing. So rage in impotence and dark despair. Your realm retreats each day before my Lord Who stands arisen from your dwindling night, Whose resurrection every saint shall share. His triumph is His Word, His Word His sword. You rage in vain against the whelming light. ~ AMDG

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On Your Stone I Will Stand

On Your stone I will stand, where the strangling swell and the bellows of care break upon Your good word -- raised to life by Your death, by Your scorning of Hell, having stood, made to stand by the worth of the Lord. On Your law I will dwell lest, mendacious, my urge should prove ignorant, unto my loss, of Your good ere Your grace in the mien of my will should emerge to redeem what I do, transmutate what I would. On Your Son I will gaze, though the umbrage of night fills my sight with distractions, illusions of dread. Yet the shade must dissolve, touched by fulminant light dove-descending, reflecting unveiled from my head. On Your mount I will reign, where no Baal has been raised, in the Name of the Firstborn enthroned; and my rod shall point nations and kings to the dwelling of praise where the merciful Christ sits as sovereign and God. ~ 09/09/2014 AMDG

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O God! By Thy Name Save!

Psalm 54 8 8 8 8 (LM) For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, "Is not David hiding himself among us?" 1 O God! By Thy Name save! In pow'r my name uphold as Thine and true. 2 Prayers Thee implore; Thine ear unto my voice attend in needful hour. 3 They know me not, yet rise averse - these violent men, arrayed in strife, who would pour out my crimson life, who deem Thy countenance a curse. Selah. 4 God is my help! Through stricken woes He has sustained my feeble soul, 5 will recompense vile villains whole, annihilate my faithless foes! 6 I sacrifice in joy, and bend to Thy great Name, in thanks, my knee! 7 Delivered from my enemy, delights my eye to see his end! ~ 05/31/2014 AMDG

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Vindicate Me, God Almighty

Psalm 43 12 10 10 12 1 Vindicate me, God Almighty, deliver me - there is a nation that honors You not, there is a man of deceit, and false-wrought. Plead for my soul against all their calamity! 2 You are the God of my Strength! Tell me, why have You cast out, rejected your servant made low? Why must I mourn, and know intimate woe under the yoke of my enemy bound anew? 3 Send out Your light and Your truth; I will guided be up to the hill You have hallowed and held, into the tent where Your presence has dwelled. Draw me in Truth, by Your light only may I see. 4 I will draw near to the altar of God Most High: He is the joy overflowing my cup! Play on the lyre, and in praise lift Him up! You, my God! Only God! O, my God! Hear my cry! 5 Why do you groan in despair in my innermost? What has disturbed you, my soul? Give Him praise whom you have trusted, again, who has raised light to your countenance, God of all heaven's host! ~ 05/21/2014 AMDG

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Burning Eyes

Micah 7:7-10 8 8 8 8 (LM) 7 I have ordained my burning eyes to watch; the Lord must soon arise and bear salvation forth. He comes and, faithful, hears my yearning cries! 8 Take no delight, mine enemy. Though I should fall, these eyes yet see what deep'ning shadows cannot veil: I mount, alight eternally! 9 For sin I bear His wrath, and right, yet He will draw me into Light, will plead for me His righteousness, and render justice in His sight! 10 Lay low your eyes, fool foe, in shame, and still that tongue which mocks my claim. These eyes will see you trampled down as filth beneath His promised Name! ~ 05/13/2014 AMDG

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Radiant

John 1:5 8 6 8 6 D (CM D) O! hallowed Light, and radiant, in You no darkness found, what hope upholds Your penitent, whom Your great wings surround! In Your embrace no arrogant, no scoffer, rude his sound, finds portion. Yet Your testament in us sees light abound. Perdition has enveloped some (such vessels thrown to break); while thrones and powers argue from the foot of their mistake. Vain vie they with imperium: Your breath sets them a-quake! The darkness has not overcome, will never light o'ertake. Those called to Christ from ages old are sealed unto Your Name as lambs of one bespeckled fold, nor lone, nor lost, nor lame. Burns, bright against the bitter cold of Death, Your altar-flame. The darkness has not taken hold, it has no worthy claim. We flock beneath the stainèd rood and, by indwelling Light, see purchased for us every good, inherit princely right. What burning myst'ry that we should in grace know Your delight! The darkness has not understood, abjured to outer night. In radiance at temple-throne Your saints, arrayed, will stand, grand pillars hewn of marble-stone engraved by Your right hand with God's, the City's, and Your own new Name - our living brand in halls where night is never known; and we shall understand! ~ 05/05/2014 AMDG

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The Armies of the Lord

9 10 6 8 10 See! The LORD conscripts His armies' might, assembles His sworn banner-men to fight! All earthly force His due, all heav'nly ranks to war! Unto His purposes they march, as just His right. Swarming fleas and flies to choke and blind - He flooded foes, and none could respite find. His locusts stripped the land, and frogs enveiled at His command, consuming all whereof He had the mind. Wroth, He summoned forth a black-flamed ghost, and left no aping sorcerer his boast. Each firstborn life cut down from utter calf to princely crown; unstoppable, one hand His vengeful host. Raised, great Pharaoh's chariot and horse were sent to set the Tribes their promised course. God purposed not to slay His own but, that remembered day, to feast His fish with such a mighty force. See! the armies of the LORD are raised against the hardened heart withholding praise! No power may refuse but is expent as He may choose - life, e'en in death, exalts Him endless days. ~ 04/10/2014 AMDG

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Wisdom Calls

Proverbs 8 8 7 8 7 D Wisdom, over din and clamor, calls her suitors, "Turn aside! Come! I will requite your ardor as you will with me abide. In my bower lie the words, which jealous kings and augurs lust, full of increase, fearfully rich, for my lover held in trust." "Fear the Lord and you will find me. Find me, other treasures pale. Gold will rust, fresh wells draw bloody ere the righteous foot should fail. Are you simple? Are you senseless? My words are the faultless path. Surfeit Folly reaps in violence - flee, ere she be stuft with wrath." "Heed no more the songs of Folly - perfumed words dig open graves. Blood, her milk, and dust her honey, all her appetites enslave. Better crust of bread and water than the wine of Folly's press. Better still the yearling slaughter humbly offered, meet to bless." "Turn aside! My feast is ready if you would be satisfied, filled with Truth, of Prudence heady, in fair Counsel edified. Ere the dawn of all creation I have dwelt as God's delight! Heed my gracious invitation - seize on Life and dwell in Light." Wisdom whispers, still and secret, "Lean not on your own device. Christ will keep your pilgrim spirit - let no brazen claim entice. This is faith: He is your treasure. Glorify your joyous prize, chase His steps, fill up His measure, know Him and be counted wise." ~ 04/04/2014 AMDG

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O King, Through Faith Perceived

8 6 8 6 D (CM D) To Thee, O King through faith perceived, I lift my hands in praise; O Christ, in whom I have believed, my soul to Thee is raised. Let all the earth with joyous voice exalt Your holy Name, and all Your children now rejoice inspired by holy flame. Your glory in its fullest pow’r no mortal eye may see, but anxiously I wait the hour when all shall bend the knee. Salvation then shall be revealed and I shall see Your face; the saints will be forever sealed, redeemed by perfect grace. So let me ever persevere to make Your glories known! With Hallelujahs I revere Thee, Lamb upon the throne, Who purchased with Your sinless blood what nothing else could save: my stains are scoured beneath the flood; You raised me from the grave. Your mercies every day are new, and yet You stay the same. Your promises are good and true, and life is in Your Name. Your outstretched Arm is strength and might, Your Word restores me whole, the darkness flees before Your Light, Your love delights my soul. ~ AMDG

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Of Flame and Flood

A living death embraces me, and in that death a life so free, renascent springs from depths divine, spring-fed from heaven's majesty. My willing hands have built the pyre on which I lie and wait the fire that falls, consuming filthy dross and every flaw and evil gyre. A new creation breathes today: ablution washed the old away. As infant lungs first scream for air my soul does for Your breath assay. From flame and flood comes gold of worth, the worthless given second birth. Renewed, the dust and shapeless clay are raised as precious sons of earth. The new has come, the old is lost. The dead death can no more accost. In death springs life to overwhelm, from blood poured out to pay the cost. ~ AMDG

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Soli Deo Gloria

14 14 14 14 My God, no pleasure have I known of greater joy than Thee, and no enticement of this world that shows itself to me, though pleasing to the eye, can ever captivate my sight, for no such hollow shell compares to Thee for Man’s delight. With vision fixed upon Thy Face I run to seize the prize: the higher goal, the glory whereon I have set my eyes. Not turning to the right nor left nor straying from my course, for Thou who are my strength to run are both my end and source. And though this jar of clay will soon be chipped and worn and old, still yet Thou may enforce it 'round with bands of ornate gold, bejeweled not for its own sake or value it may bring, but only that it may be better fit to serve my King. My God, no angel heaven-bound has words enough to say, nor time enough, though full ten thousand years pass every day, to represent what praise is due or full describe Thy Name, though every tree and rock would leap to aid him in that aim. But pressing on, I give to Thee what Thou hast given me, and praise Thee now as soon I will through all eternity. I pray that Thou would carry me to reach the final Crown, and grasp it tight 'till, at Thy feet, I gladly cast it down. ~ AMDG

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Surely the Rocks

10 10 10 10 D Thou rushing river lift your voice in praise of Him whose steps went forth before your flood. The Word by which the Ancient of all days brought forth the earth where He would shed His blood, the hand that carved the bed your waters know, itself is living water to the dead. Through many lands and nations you may flow, but living springs refresh the heart instead. Thou mighty trees cry forth and clap your hands. Though tall and strong you are, from Jesse's tree grows forth a branch to rule the many lands, before whom even you will bend the knee. From David's line has come a mighty King, the Holy grafted into Judah's stem. Eternal, He will reign o'er everything, Who was ere Abraham the great I AM. Thou mountaintops attaining to the sky, the same who once ascended on a cloud will soon ascend in view of every eye. Before Him every knee will then be bowed. Jerusalem, which rests upon your heights, when earth is recreated will reside upon the highest mountain, strong in might, and there on Zion's hill we will abide. Thou stars of heaven shower forth your light, and Sun, in imitation of the Son, in glory and in brilliance shine bright as surely as the firstborn one has done. You rise each night to crown the evening sky, the morning star arises in our hearts. Once crucified, now risen, lifted high the Savior from before creation's start. ~ AMDG