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Of tophet's flames; O horrible! to know,
When knowledge sinks them deeper in despair.

If heav'nly hosts unite to raise on high
The lofty honors of the Saviour-God;
If in the world beneath, he reigns in wrath,
And all its millions feel his deity;

'Tis here alone exists the man who dares
Boldly deny his sov'reign dignity.

And is it thou, Lothario? Come, thou man
Of reason and philosophy, come bring
Thy pow'rful reasons, potent arguments,
Summon thy depth of thought, for thou art wise,
More wise than angels, yet more ignorant

(O shame to thee) than devils. Come and bring Thy strong objections; come Goliah-like,

In tenfold armour clad....I come to thee

In the great name and strength of him whom thou
Defiest; Jesus my God!....Say'st thou that I
Blaspheme, and with presumptuous boldness rob
'Th' eternal Father of his sacred right,

In paying to the Son honors divine?

The charge is false and groundless; I adore
A triune deity with equal praise.

When low before the lamb who died, I bow,
And hail him as Jehovah, God of hosts,

'Tis in obedience to the Father's will;

'Tis in obedience to the Father's voice.

Hear the great mandate, hear and tremble thou,
Who dar'st rebel against the grand decree !
"Let all the angels of God worship him."
What

does th' eternal Father call his hosts,

Celestial spirits that surround his throne,
Before a creature's footstool to fall down,
And pay their adorations to a man?
Has he not said, he'll not divide his praise,
Nor give his glory to another?....Say,
Thou learned in the scriptures, hast he not
In thunders made his sov'reign pleasure known,
That no created thing in heav'n or earth

Shall stand his rival, or his honors share?

And has he chang'd his mind ?....Can the great God Say and unsay! forbid idolatry

In terms direct, command idolatry

In terms direct, and bid his winged saints,

The holy ministers that round him wait,
Worship an idol and adore a man?
Ono! he is of one eternal mind,
And changeth not; yet such the deity
Lothario worships; one who bids to-day
What he unbids to-morrow; who could trust
A soul with such a fluctuating God?

If the Redeemer be no more than man,
Or if he lives and shines a demi-god,

The first of creatures, he's a creature still;
If to another he his being owe
Derivative, he cannot be supreme;
If not supreme, no adoration due.
But if ador'd an idol, yet saith God
"Confounded be all they that idols serve.'
"But bow my angels at Immanuel's feet,"t
And worship HIм as ME, with equal zeal.
He, whose devouring breath, like streams of fire,

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Idols and idol-makers shall consume,
Bids us adore the Son, and kiss his feet
In low prostration, Why? Because in him
Two natures join, a human and divine.
A man, a son he is, and yet a God.
The self-existing and eternal JAH!

One essence with the Father; we may bow,
And safely worship at Immanuel's feet;
For he is God with us: we may draw near
And pay our humble adoration there,
Upon the high authority of heav'n;

A warrant sign'd by God the Father's hand;
And seal'd with the great signet of the skies.
Unto the Son he saith, "Thy throne, O God,
Forever must endure, thy sceptre still,

Shall rule o'er heav'n and earth with bouudless sway.
They are the work of thine almighty hand;

They shall expire; but thou shalt yet remain

Triumphant in thine own eternity."

Hearst thou, Lothario, what the voice divine
Testifies of the Saviour's dignity?

Behold the starry glories of the skies;

The splendid king of day, and that bright moon,
Whose milder beams illuminate the night:
Behold the earth, clad in the gay attire

Of roseate summer, when the grove-crown'd hills
Rejoice, and humbler vallies laugh and sing.
Exalt thy view above th' etherial sky,
Behold the wing'd inhabitants who dwell
In happy fields, beyond the sons of morn;
Grand intellectual essences....from thence,

Look downward, thro' the vast, the various tribes

Of beings numberless, that float in air,

That walk the earth, and wash their scaly coats
In limpid streams, and ocean's briny wave:
All these, the creatures of Immanuel's hand,
To being by his mighty fiat call'd,

Live on his bounty; own him Lord of all!
And, with a solemn, glorious voice proclaim
The mighty builder of an universe

Se grand, so good, so eminently fair,
Can be no less a being than a God;
The uncreated, self-existent God.

Do the whole race of creatures owe their birth
To the Redeemer's pow'r, and on his will
Depends their being? then Lothario breathes
The breath he gave him, that immortal soul,
With all its reas'ning, pow'rs, thy boast, thy pride;
The wond'rous casket where that jewel dwells,
Form'd by his great creating band, upheld
By constant emanations of his pow'r;
Witness th' important truth, that he to whom
Creation owes her being, must himself

Be uncreate, eternal and supreme.

Who's then the thief, Lothario, thou or I?
Say, who's the wretch who robs his God of praise !
I bow before my Maker's awful throne;

Ascribe to him essential deity,

And join angelic hosts to worship him,
In due obedience to the high command
Of the eternal Father. Thou more bold,
Dar'st to stand forth, and in the face of heav'n,
Undeify thy Maker, spurn the law

To angels given by th' eternal king,

C

Charge the immutable and changeless God
With mutability; the God whose heart
Abhors idolatry, with setting up
Of idol worship....I the charge return
Of blasphemy and treason on thyself;
I am a loyal subject to the king
Invisible, immortal, ever blest,

But thou'rt a traitor of the blackest kind,
A rebel of the deepest, darkest dye;

A vile ingrate, who breathes his Maker's air,
Who lives upon the bounties of his hand;.
And tells him he is not a deity!

If to rebel against the great decree
Of heaven's Almighty, be to honor him,
To contradict his sov'reign voice, and mar
His bright perfections, be to glorify

The God you worship, then Lothario gives
Abundant glory to his deity.

When disobedience for obedience stands ;
And contumacy proves our loyalty,

Then will th' eternal Father's smile approve
Lothario's worship, and accept his zeal.
Till then, his frown the rebel must pursue,
And his strong arm avenge the bold affront.*

• Compare Exod. xx. 3, 4, with Psalm xcvii. 7, and Heb. i. 6. Here we find the infinite Jehovah claiming to himself the honors of divine worship as his own peculiar right, and forbidding the adoration of any creature whatever, in heaven or earth, in the most direct terms, and yet laying as direct and positive an injunction upon the most exalted of his crea tures, to pay that very worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. "Worship HIM, all ye gods," saith the eternal Father: the apostle Paul informs us, this glorious KIM, is no other per

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