REDEMPTION.
May sing; or, fired with blest Isaias' zeal, .
Clear vindicate the providence of God
To man. I wait thy coining, as of old
Th' assembled Galileans sat, when tongues
Of fire descending, kindled every heart,
Inspired each voice, and God Triune reveal' d.
Conduct me up the empyrean vault,
Whilst unannihilate I gaze on thrones,
And hold familiar converse with the Saints,
Catch the rapt measure from harmonious tongues,
And thus inspired, their anthem glad repeat;
Their anthem mine, Eedemption won, the wrath
Of Heav'n appeased, sin blotted out, no more
Imputed to the erring sons of men.
Thence to th' infernal dens, though much I dread,
Conduct me, penal fires, created not
For man, but for th' arch-fiend, who sinning,
Fell from the blest abodes, and third part drew
Of heav'ns angelic hosts, sadly entaii'd
In his dire fault and ruinous defeat,
The end and righteous punishment of sin.
May I, without reproof, his name with thine
Invoke, whose harp refresh'd the son of Cis,
And drove the demon from his guilty breast ?
Benignly thee I call, Isai's fair son,
The anointed shepherd, whose glad voice made
Vocal Bethlehem's fruitful plains, and taught
Its choral rills to sing symphonious
With thy sacred lyre ; or, should the memory
Please thee more, did'st go before, with song and dance,
With harp and lute, and trumpet's glad'ning sound,
The cov'nant ark, resting the while at Geth.
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