REDEMPTION. 175
Appropriated to himself, from Him Estranged, who made it, and pronounced it good. Longer, the Son of God waits not, to hlast, With indignation just, th' obdurate fiend, And thus disrobes him of ill-gotten power :
" Whence hast thou, Satan, gain'd this boasted right To sway earth's goods ? to give them, or retain ? Whence came they? Not from thee. Where wast thou then, When earth's foundations, deep and strong were laid ? Did'st thou behold, when morning stars first sang, When Pleiades first join'd, or Arcturus On fiery axis, ruddy light diffused ? Or canst thou move, with thy united pow'rs, The smallest planet, that it bring the day, Or cause to stand at will, to lengthen night ? Thy bold usurping of His rights, who made, No right confers on thee, who artful, stole. But grant thy boasting, yield earth's goods are thine ; How small thy patrimony ! vain thy boast ! Compared with these vast orbs, which he who made, Roll'd at a word with ease through boundless space, Earth's meager point, invisible to those, Is but a mote, that flits unseen through air; Which, if destroy'd, would not the more be iniss'd, Than smallest speck from out this clod of earth. And canst thou, vain, with such an atom, hope To buy, what in no case becomes thy state, When He, who made all these exhaustless worlds, And to whom sole allegiance is due, Can, whom he will, reward with countless worlds ? Judge then, (if thou material goods wilt boast,) If it were best to kneel and worship thee;
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