With vegetable gold! From pole to pole
Rude and unpolish'd nations shall imbibe,
With ready mind thy saving truth; and bow
Obedient to thy sceptre. Circling years,
With peace and concord crown'd, shall, undisturb❜d
Glide gently on, through ages blest; and grace
Thy universal empire; till the world,
And time, disease, and death shall cease for ever.
Say, grateful muse, what wondrous meekness veil'd
Essential glories infinite! What toils
Incessant, nature's lord, her wounds to heal,
Sustain'd, compassionate! What thorny paths
In life's rough maze, to mortal race unknown,
Their great exemplar, not reluctant, trod!
He-whom the brightest of celestial pow'rs
Revere; by whom all earthly rulers sway
Their awful sceptres! What amazing choice,
. Spontaneous, mov'd the source of might t' appear
Less than the least of men! What grace divine
Dwelt on his sacred lips; diffusing truth,
Peace, God-like charity, through list'ning crowds,
Immortal virtues, and blest rules of life!
What heavenly ardour glow'd within his breast,
Wholly intent to close the vast design
Stupendous, ere the birth of nature, form'd
In the tri-une eternal mind; and raise
To bliss immutable, the ruin'd world,
Deep sunk in guilt and curse! So sweetly sang
In strain sublime, the great enlightened bard,
To Albion's sons, with deathless fame, bereft
Of light external; whilst the mental rays
O happy gainful loss! more brightly shone.
Unpractis'd themes his lofty muse presum❜d,
Disdaining coupled sounds. In wond'rous thought
High-rais'd, and soaring with unclouded light,
She boldly shook the cramping fetters off;
And, sovereign, built a model unconfin'd,
Immortal as his name. Through realms of night
Unsearch'd before, and fields of heav'nly war,
Where seraphs fell, she trac'd a glorious path
To bliss supreme! In ev'ry shining page
Still wonders new, and beauties infinite
Dart through the enamour'd sense, and charm the soul!
With matchless graces his skill'd fingers mov'd
Across the sounding lyre, and from each note
Sprung pure devotion, harmony, and love!
From manger vile, where eastern sages paid
Their early homage to the eternal king,
And long obscure sojourn in Jewry's coasts
High-favour'd, in proud Salem, glory chief
Of Palestine, and of the Asian world,
Widely dispersing beams of light and joy
And healing virtue, trace with weeping eye
Messiah's wondrous steps; the last and best,
And greatest gift of heav'n. The doleful steep
Of Calvary, that formidable mount,
See him ascend hard-burden'd, panting, tir'd;
Whilst, as a votive off'ring, he sustains
The massy cumb'rous load. And having reach'd,
With patience equal to his boundless love,
The wish'd-for summit, where unburied sculls-
Sad spectacle! the dismal surface pave;
He climbs the fatal tree, with mind deep-fix'd
On the paternal will. Hence crimson streams,
Of virtue infinite, from previous wounds
Wide-stretch'd, and tendons shiver'd, plenteous glide.
Forgiving pity his last breath proclaims,
And happy TETELESTAI to the ransom'd world.
Whole nature felt the stroke. Convulsive pangs
From caverns deep, earth's centre shook. The sun,
Great eye
and soul of the terrestrial orb
His cheering face, and energetic rays,
With sable curtain veil'd. Hard ponderous rocks
Immensely great, unlike the Jewish hearts
Relentless, sunk from their contexture firm.
Death's hopeful captives in their dark retreats,
Rous'd by the joyous sound, enlivening took
An earlier flight, and gain'd their blest abodes.
Despair and rage with sullen gloom o'erspread
The infernal regions: where the rebel chief,
Once hurl'd from bliss celestial, now subdu'd
A second ruin felt, and heighten'd pain,
Portentous of his final doom; when wrath
Vindictive, from the dreaded victor's brow,
Shall plunge him with his fetter'd legions down
To endless death, and unextinguish'd fire.
Ye dazzling cherubs blest! whose godlike minds,
Capacious, at the exhaustless fount imbibe
Pure wisdom! With reflection deep look down
From your exalted thrones! and wondering bow
To this mysterious love: whilst native fire
Flames up in heavenly rays. From guilty doom
Emerging see the beauteous face of nature;
Creation rising from its early ruin;
And heav'ns vicegerent man, from gloomy clouds,
And penal threats terrific, rais'd to hope
Immortal! What inferior mind can form
Ideas equal to th' unbounded worth
Of his ennobling part, divine resemblance !
For whose glad rescue, such amazing price,
Of value infinite, was paid! The soul
Claims kindred with the stars; not form'd of fire,
Or earth, or air; tho' join'd to mould'ring clay.
Unlike the brittle shell she wears, her frame,
Divinely perfect, from the stinted laws
Of matter, stands eternally exempt.
Self-conscious, as an agent free, endu'd
With thought, reflection, choice, and aids divine,
And lively pow'rs discerning, she awaits
That awful day momentous, which shall fix
Her final state immutable; consign'd
To endless joys, or everlasting pain.
Bright effluence from the eternal mind! Whose flame
Celestial, rises thro' the mists of earth,
And upward mounts; to reach the crowning bliss
Consummate! With admiring wish we trace
Thy tow'ring flight stupendous: whilst upborne
Aloft, thou soar'st above the feeble stretch
Of mortal sight; and though immur'd awhile
In darkening cell, canst form terrestrial heav'n.
The rising glories of that wondrous dawn,
Quick'ning the languid world, sing raptured muse;
When crown'd with joy, the destin'd victim slain
For Adam's laps'd descendants, loos'd the bands
Of vanquish'd death; and clad with trophies, rais'd
Himself omnipotent; who first gave life
To all created beings, happiest pledge
Of life immortal!-then, the cheering sound
Of grace divine, sweet liberty and peace
Proclaim'd, with front serenely calm, to those
Of credence firm, whose grateful minds should bow Obsequious to his mild commands. The dear
Associates of his spotless life, inspir'd
With holy fervor, and supernal gifts
Descending unallay'd, the sacred charge
Important, with pure minds, like his, obey'd.
Then, tell the drowsy and unthinking race
Of mortals indolent, with joy serene,
-And awful rev'rence, how the Lord of Might,
The blest Immanuel, cloath'd with human form,
And the deep prints of glorious wounds, led on
His banner'd worthies, first and liveliest draught
Of his great body mystic, to that mount,
Emblem of peace, and seat of sweet recess !
Oft to devotion sacred; honor'd now
With his ascent ethereal: having shown
Endearing proofs of sympathetic care
Incessant, and his sure return, with awe
Majestic; till their eyes beheld him soar
In beams of light, to that eternal source
Of pristine glory, infinite; enjoy'd
Before the worlds were form'd, or bounded space
Of time began. Cherubic legions haste
To meet, with joyful shouts, their head supreme,
Shining with conquests new. Triumphant there,
His church, from warfare freed, in hymns sublime
Harmonious laud their victor God and King.
Now peace, heaven's fairest off-spring, clad with robes Of bright effulgence, pure, on beamy wings. Descending, sounds her silver trump; rejoic'd
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