150 REDEMPTION.
And manifest to all our Shiloh come,
Immanuel, Messias, God with us.
Attend my words ; let penance bear its fruits :
For lo, the axe is laid to every tree
That doth not yield good fruit, to be cut down,
And burn'd in flames of everlasting fire."
So shone the Baptist's milder beams before The Sun of Righteousness, to greet his dawn, Forerun his coming, and prepare the way; As when Aurora, blushing, tints the sky, And o'er the ocean spreads her rosy veil, But hides her glories when the eye of morn Peers from the Orient in full blaze of day. Whom absent, he had taught, present he owns, Then from his office finish'd, meek withdraws; Though not till Jordan's consecrated stream, Pour'd by his hand, enlaves the Saviour's form. To which end coming, Jesus now drew near, Submissive to the law he had enjoin'd ; To whom deferring, humbly John withheld :
" Lord, what is this thou of thy servant would'st ? I rather ought to be baptized by thee, And comest thou to me ? Refrain thee, Lord ; Why should the greater of the lesser ask ? Or how th' unclean essay to wash the Pure ? Thou, in thyself, all goodness dost contain, And can'st not, asking, but receive thine own, Nor dost thou need that we should thine bestow."
To whom th' Obedient for obedience sake :
" Who makes the law, himself should law obey, And I, who this enjoin, but crown my work, Who come the law and prophets to fulfill.
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