"Which of you loves our wretch'd race, " Or dares to venture in our place ?”
In vain we ask: For all around
Stands Silence through the heav'nly ground:
There's not a glorious mind above
Has half the strength, or half the love.
But, O unutterable grace;
Th' eternal Son takes Adam's place;
Down to our world the Saviour flies,
Stretches his naked arms, and dies!
Justice was pleas'd to bruise the GOD,
And pay its wrongs with heav'nly blood;
What unknown racks and pangs he bore!
Then rose: The law could ask no more.
Amazing work! look down, ye skies,
Wonder and gaze with all your eyes;
Ye heav'nly thrones, stoop from above,
And bow to this mysterious love,
See, how they bend! See how they look!
Long they had read th' eternal book,
And studied dark decrees in vain,
The Cross and Calv'ry makes th emplain.
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 DEIŤŸ!
Low they adore th' 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 th' ethereal blue,
To sing and love as angels do.
HYMN XLIX. C. M.
Looking upward.
HE heavens invite mine eye,.
The stars salute me round;
Father, I blush, I mourn to lie
Thus grov'ling on the ground.
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 pow'rs releas'd
From their old fleshy clod;
Fair guardian, bear me up in haste
And set me near my God.
HYMN L. L. M.
Christ Dying, Rising and Reigning.
E dies! the heav'nly Lover dies!
H 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, wond'rous King!
Born to redeem, and strong to save!
Then ask the Monster, Where's thy sting?
And where's thy victory, boasting Grave?
HYMN LI. L. M.
The God of Thunder.
THE immense, th' amazing height, The boundless grandeur of our GoD, Who treads the world beneath his feet, And sways the nations with his nod!
He speaks; and lo, all Nature shakes,
Heav'n'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,
HYMN LII.
The Day of Judgment.
A Sapphic Ode.
HEN the fierce north wind with his airy forces
Rears, up the Baltic to a foaming fury;
And the red lightning with a storm of
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