But, O unutterable grace!
Th' Eternal Son takes Adam's place:
Down to our world the Saviour flies,
Stretches his naked arms, and dies.
Juftice was pleas'd to bruise the God,
And pay its wrongs with heavenly blood;
What unknown racks and pangs he bore!
Then rofe: The law could afk no more.
Amazing work! look down, ye kies,
gaze with all your eyes;
Ye heavenly thrones, ftoop from above,
And bow to this mysterious love.
See, how they bend! See, how they look!
Long they had read th' eternal book,
And ftudied dark decrees in vain,
The crofs and Calvary makes them plain.
Now they are ftruck with deep amaze,
Each with his wings conceals his face :
Now clap their founding plumes, and cry,
"The wisdom of a Deity !"
Low they adore th' Incarnate Son,
And fing the glories he hath won ;
Sing how he broke our iron chains,
How deep he funk, how high he reigns.
Triumph and reign, victorious Lord,
By all thy flaming hosts ador'd:
And fay, dear Conqueror, fay, how long,
Ere we shall rife to join their fong.
Lo, from afar the promis'd day
Shines with a well-distinguish'd ray ;
But my wing'd paffion hardly bears
Thefe lengths of flow delaying years.
Send down a chariot from above,
With fiery wheels, and pav'd with love;
Raise me beyond th' ethereal blue,
To fing and love as angels do.
HE heavens invite mine eye,
The ftars falute me round;
Father, I blush, I mourn to lie
Thus groveling on the ground.
My warmer fpirits move,
And make attempts to fly;
I wish aloud for wings of love
To raife me fwift and high.
Beyond thofe 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 fhort adieu,
Impatient to be there.
I feel my powe's releas'd
From their old fleshy clod;
Fair guardian, bear me up in hafte,
And fet me near my God.
CHRIST Dying, Rifing, and Reigning.
dies! the heavenly lover dies!
The tidings strike a doleful sound
On my poor heart-ftrings: deep he lies
In the cold caverns of the ground.
Come, faints, and drop a tear or two,
On the dear bofom 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 fudden joys I fee!
Jefus the dead revives again.
The rifing God forfakes the tomb,
Up to his father's court he flies;
Cherubic legions guard him home,
And fhout him welcome to the skies.
Break off your tears, ye faints, 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 fave!
Then ask the monster, Where's his fting?
And where's thy victory, boafting grave?
THE immenfe, th' amazing height,
The boundless grandeur of our God,
Who treads the worlds beneath his feet,
And sways the nations with his nod!
He fpeaks; and lo, all nature shakes,
Heaven's everlasting pillars bow;
He rends the clouds with hideous cracks,
And fhoots his fiery arrows through.
Well, let the nations start and fly
At the blue lightning's horrid glare,
Atheists and emperors fhrink and die,
When flame and noife torment the air.
Let noife and flame confound the fkies,
And drown the spacious realms below,
Yet will we fing the Thunderer's praife,
And fend our loud Hofannas through.
Celeftial King, thy blazing power
Kindles our hearts to flaming joys,
We fhout to hear thy thunders roar,
And echo to our Father's voice.
Thus fhall the God our Saviour come,
And lightnings round his chariot play :
Ye lightnings, fly to make him room,
Ye glorious ftorms, prepare his way!
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.
An ODE.
Attempted in English Sapphick.
WHEN the fierce North wind with his airy forces
Rears up the Baltick to a foaming fury;
And the red lightning, with a ftorm of hail comes
How the poor
failors ftand amaz'd and tremble!
While the hoarfe thunder, like a bloody trumpet,
Roars a loud onfet to the gaping waters
Such fhall the noife be, and the wild disorder, (If things eternal may be like these earthly) Such the dire terror when the great Archangel
Tears the ftrong pillars of the vault of heaven,
Breaks up old marble, the repofe of princes;
See the graves open, and the bones arifing,
Hark, the fhrill outcries of the guilty wretches!
Lively bright horror, and amazing anguish,
Stare through their eye-lids, while the living worm lies
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