See, how they bend! See, how they look!
Long they had read the eternal book,
And studied dark decrees in vain,
The cross and Calvary makes them plain.
Now they are struck with deep amaze, Each with his wings conceals his face; Now clap their sounding plumes, and cry, "The wisdom of a Deity!"
Lo! they adore the Incarnate Son,
And sing the glories he hath won;
Sing how he broke our iron chains,
How deep he sunk, how high he reigns.
Triumph and reign, victorious Lord,
By all thy flaming hosts ador'd:
And say, dear Conqueror, say, how long,
Ere we shall rise to join their song.
Lo, from afar the promis'd day
Shines with a well distinguish'd ray;
But my wing'd passion hardly bears
These lengths of slow delaying years.
Send down a chariot from above,
With fiery wheels, and pav'd with love;
Raise me beyond the ethereal blue,
To sing and love as angels do.
THE heavens invite mine eye, The stars salute me round; Father, I blush, I mourn to lie Thus grovelling on the ground.
My warmer spirits move,
And make attempts to fly;
I wish aloud for wings of love
To raise me swift and high,
Beyond those crystal vaults, And all their sparkling balls; They're but the porches to thy courts, And paintings on thy walls..
Vain world, farewell to you;
Heaven is my native air:
I bid my friends a short adieu,
Impatient to be there.
I feel my powers releas'd
From their old fleshly clod;
Fair guardian, bear me up in haste,
And set me near my God.
CHRIST DYING, RISING, AND REIGNING.
HE dies! the heavenly lover dies!
The tidings strike a doleful sound
On my poor heart-strings: deep he lies
In the cold caverns of the ground.
Come, saints, and drop a tear or two,
On the dear bosom of your God,
He shed a thousand drops for you,
A thousand drops of richer blood.
Here's love and grief beyond degree,
The Lord of glory dies for men!
But, lo! what sudden joys I see!
Jesus the dead revives again.
The rising God forsakes the tomb,
Up to his Father's court he flies;
Cherubic legions, guard him home,
And shout him welcome to the skies.
Break off your tears, ye saints, and tell
How high our great Deliverer reigns;
Sing how he spoil'd the hosts of hell,
And led the monster, death, in chains.
Say, "Live for ever, wondrous King!
Born to redeem, and strong to save!"
Then ask the monster, "Where's his sting?
And where's thy victory, boasting grave?"
O the immense, the amazing height,
The boundless grandeur of our God,
Who treads the worlds beneath his feet,
And sways the nations with his nod!
He speaks; and lo, all nature shakes,
Heaven's everlasting pillars bow;
He rends the clouds with hideous cracks,
And shoots his fiery arrows through.
Well, let the nations start and fly
At the blue lightning's horrid glare,
Atheists and emperors shrink and die,
When flame and noise torment the air.
Let noise and flame confound the skies,
And drown the spacious realms below,
Yet will we sing the Thunderer's praise,
And send our loud hosannas through.
Celestial King, thy blazing power
Kindles our hearts to flaming joys,
We shout to hear thy thunders roar,
And echo to our Father's voice.
Thus shall the God our Saviour come,
And lightnings round his chariot play;
Ye lightnings, fly to make him room;
Ye glorious storms, prepare his way!
ATTEMPTED IN ENGLISH SAPPHIC.
WHEN the fierce north wind with his airy forces,
Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury,
And the red lightning, with a storm of hail, comes
Rushing amain down,
How the poor sailors stand amaz'd, and tremble! While the hoarse thunder, like a bloody trumpet, Roars a loud onset to the gaping waters
Such shall the noise be, and the wild disorder,
(If things eternal may be like these earthly)
Such the dire terror when the great archangel
Shakes the creation;
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