Page:Redemption, a Poem.djvu/107

 REDEMPTION. 101

Consistent with that vow, hath yet design'd

To make me Mother of the King of kings.

Nor on me only doth his mercy fall;

Soft as the fleecy snows cap Carmel's hills,

Wide as their roral mists diffuse the plains,

His mercy rests, from age to age, on all

Who fear his name, and in his goodness trust.

On these his mercy, but with mighty arm,

The proud in their conceit he drives away;

Their wisdom he as foolishness accounts,

And what they despicable deem, exalts;

Hurls from his lofty seat, the strong man arm'd,

And in his place the humble lifts on high,

Raises the needy contrite from the dust,

And 'midst the princes he enthrones the poor,

The hungry feeds, but sends the rich away.

So he his servant Israel received,

Mindful of mercy and his promise, giv'n

To Abraham and his remotest seed,

Rescued from bondage, through the desert led,

To land of promise, whence the proud were cast,

And Israel exalted in their stead.

Exalted then, but more exalted now;

By Moses then from temp'ral bondage freed,

By greater than was Moses now conduct

From earthly to celestial Canaan's shores."

So she her grateful thoughts aloud entoned, Till sounds seraphic rang through all the air, Symphonious with the theme that tuned her tongue, Whilst gladden'd Nature joy'd through all her realms, That one at length was found of worthy mold, The earth from Adamitic curse to free.

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