294 REDEMPTION.
Which stands against you from the primal fall,
And now sure fastens to th' atoning cross.
Behold, and witness, that no love like this,
E'er pierced the gelid mists of thy dark sphere,
Or warm'd the frozen heart of callous man.
Th' afflicted Victim suffers for his foes;
The Friend of sinners dies for those who hate.
Oh ! wonder, wonderous the most, of all
The mysteries, Redemption comprehends ;
The one grand mystery which redemption wrought
Himself to death God gives, through love's excess,
That the death doom'd might by his dying live.
Three doleful hours the writhing Victim hangs,
In agony of blood, and sweat, and tears ;
Whilst gloomy dark, more dense than Egypt felt,
O'erspreads the earth, and heaven shrouds from view.
Behold the man ! and what return his foes,
Obdure, insensate, give not love fox love,
Not penitential tears; but, vinegar and gall;
Divide his garments, for his vest cast lots,
Him crueify, reproachfully contemn,
Their railing accusations o'er him place,
And passing by, with wagging heads blaspheme :
" Vah ! thou that dost the temple' of God destroy, And build it in three days, now save thyself; If thou be Son of God, descend the cross. Who saved others, canst not save thyself. If thou be Israel's King, come from the cross, And we will then believe thee as thou say'st."
Now Satan, who, mauger his late defeat, Had mingled with the base ignoble throng, And urged his partisans to slay the Just,
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