Jerusalem.
11
Did ye not then with bursts of transport raise
The loud hosannah of exulting praise?
With trembling homage round his cradle bend,
Watch every look, and every smile attend;
And all Creation's noblest gifts combine
To form an off'ring for the Babe divine?
Or, when, his mortal part matured to man,
His earthly ministry at length began,
Did ye not crowd his heav'nly words to hear,
And drink instruction with delighted ear?
No—harden'd still your stubborn souls remain,
As sterile rocks resist the softening rain.
Tho' to the blind unwonted day returns,
And pale Disease with health's new ardor burns;
Tho', deaf to other voice, th' obedient tomb
For him revers'd her universal doom;
More fell than sickness, colder than the grave,
Ye shar'd his gifts, yet spurn'd at him who gave.
Driv'n[1] thro' the world, unknowing where to lie,
Despis'd, rejected, and condemn'd to die,
Before his foes behold Messiah stand,
Meek[2] as a lamb beneath the shearer's hand.
O turn on yonder faded form your eyes,
Oppress'd with sorrow, and consumed in sighs!
The loud hosannah of exulting praise?
With trembling homage round his cradle bend,
Watch every look, and every smile attend;
And all Creation's noblest gifts combine
To form an off'ring for the Babe divine?
Or, when, his mortal part matured to man,
His earthly ministry at length began,
Did ye not crowd his heav'nly words to hear,
And drink instruction with delighted ear?
No—harden'd still your stubborn souls remain,
As sterile rocks resist the softening rain.
Tho' to the blind unwonted day returns,
And pale Disease with health's new ardor burns;
Tho', deaf to other voice, th' obedient tomb
For him revers'd her universal doom;
More fell than sickness, colder than the grave,
Ye shar'd his gifts, yet spurn'd at him who gave.
Driv'n[1] thro' the world, unknowing where to lie,
Despis'd, rejected, and condemn'd to die,
Before his foes behold Messiah stand,
Meek[2] as a lamb beneath the shearer's hand.
O turn on yonder faded form your eyes,
Oppress'd with sorrow, and consumed in sighs!
