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Of Lebanon's transplanted shade,
To sandy vallies how convey'd ;
The noblest metaphors we find
To loftiest objects there assign'd.
These splendid scenes before us bring
Th' invisible, redeeming King.
In every image, every line,

Messiah! we behold Thee shine.

But who shall dare these charms to tell,
One British bard has sung so well?
His Christian page shall never die,
O si sic omnia! all reply.

Blest prophet! who a theme could'st find
Congenial to thy mighty mind!

Here we behold together brought
Splendour of diction, force of thought;
In these bold images we see
Grandeur without hyperbole.
Here all God's attributes unite;
The gracious and the infinite:
Beyond imagination's dream
Thy true, august, and holy theme.
All that the loftiest mind conceives,
All that the strongest faith believes,
All were too feeble to express
God's love, his pow'r, his holiness!

His length, and breadth, and depth, and height,

In all their wide extremes unite:

No danger of excess is here;

To sink too low is all thy fear.

* See Pope's exquisite poem of "The Messiah."

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To His broad eye, all nations see
Are less than nought, are vanity.
To Him all Lebanon could bring
Only a worthless offering;

The waters, at His bidding, stand
Within the hollow of his hand;

The mountains in His scales are weigh'd,
The hills are in His balance laid;
Measur'd by His almighty hand,
The globe a particle of sand!

Though with tremendous arm he come,
With pow'r which strikes the nations dumb;
Centre and source of light and love,
In whom we are, and live, and move;
Though not confin'd to time or place,
Not to the vast extent of space;
Objects of his paternal care,

The meanest still his mercies share;
He who in highest heaven resides,
Yet in the contrite heart abides.
Now, shepherd-like, his flock he feeds,
The tender bears, the feeble leads;
Power to the weak, but trusting saints
He gives, and might to him that faints.
The young may fail, the strong be weak,
But all who His salvation seek,
Strong in the Lord, shall be renew'd;
With new-born vigour be endu'd;
On eagles' wings sublimely soar,
To fear, and faint, and sin no more.

* Isaiah, chap. xl.

Hear JEREMIAH's plaintive song
Pour its full tide of grief along!
By predisposing grace ordain'd,
The prophet's function he sustain'd;
By his predicting voice reveal'd,
Thy doom, O Babylon, is seal'd!
On Judah 'twas his fate to see
Accomplish'd his own prophecy.
In what pathetic strains he show'd
Their miseries from their vices flow'd!
The form of goodness they defend,
But hate its power, and miss its end.
For lying vanities abhorr'd,

They plead "the Temple of the Lord;"
"The Temple of the Lord are these!"
Their varnish'd falsehoods more displease;
As if the edifice alone

Their practis'd evils could atone.
The Temple is beyond dispute,
A means, but not a substitute:
A fair profession may be found,
With lives unholy, hearts unsound.
Can fanes, though hallow'd, supersede
The lively faith, the virtuous deed?
Though by himself ordain'd, the Lord
The heartless sacrifice abhorr'd.
No reigning vice he left untold,
Expostulation sad, yet bold,

Lays bare the sins they sought to hide;
Vain boasting, arrogance, and pride:

P 2

Reproves alike both age and youth;
Neither is valiant for the truth.
Wisdom, or wealth, or pow'r, or might,
Alone, as rightly us'd, is right.
All glorying is by heav'n abhorr'd,
Save that which glories in the Lord.

Sublimely sad his woes impart Their LAMENTATIONS to the heart. Pity and woe his bosom share, Anger and fondness, grief and prayer. Fountains of tears could scarce express His sorrows' and his love's excess.

EZEKIEL comes in awful state, His vision mystically great !

The Prophet, see, his watch-tow'r keep, The shepherd blame, console the sheep.

When Babylon's imperial lord Crush'd Judah by his conqu'ring sword; DANIEL, erect, of noble mind,

With three believing brothers join'd,
Captives among the Jews were brought,
And in the royal palace taught;
Chaldea's learning they acquir'd,
The king, the ingenuous youths admir'd;
At dainty tables gave them meat,
Himself ordain'd the plenteous treat.

The tempting cates he bade provide,

The daily bounties he supplied,

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