An angry God the law revealed, The gospel shows Him reconciled; By that I know He was displeased, By this I see His wrath appeased… Lo, in the law, Jehovah dwells, But Jesus is concealed; Whereas the gospel’s nothing else But Jesus Christ revealed.
Ralph Erskine | Gospel Sonnets (Glasgow: James Knox, 1760), 293.
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Tony Phelps
Tony grew up in Rhode Island. He was educated at BA (University of Rhode Island) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He worked in the insurance industry for ten years. He planted a PCA church in Wakefield, RI where he served for eleven years. In 2015–18 he pastored Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA) in Colorado Springs. He is currently pastor of Living Hope (OPC). Tony is married to Donna and together they have three children.
More by Tony Phelps ›
Ralph Erskine’s Gospel Sonnets are great. Here’s another beautiful excerpt:
O! unexampled love! so vast, so strong,
So great, so high, so deep, so broad, so long!
Can finite thought this ocean huge explore,
Unconscious of a bottom or a shore?
His love admits no parallel; for why,
At one great draught of love he drank hell dry.
The sword of awful justice pierc’d his side,
That mercy thence might gush upon the bride. -Ralph Erskine, Gospel Sonnets or Spiritual Songs, Part I, Chapter I, Section II