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 REDEMPTION. 125

Since then thou hast so high exalted me,

So intimately join'd me to thyself,

Let all that in me is be perfect thine;

My will conform, my thoughts, and my desires,

That as in body we are one, not less

We may be one in mind, will, heart, and soul."

Her words the shepherds hear with rev'rent awe, And lowly fall before their infant Lord; Him worship thus with vows, and humble gifts, (Such as poor shepherds may,) bestow; then take Their joyful way, to talk these marvels o'er, And spread the fame of Israel's new-born King.

Th' almighty Hand, which out of chaos drew Vast masses, inert, moulded into worlds, Bowl'd mighty suns o'erheav'n's azure plains, Bade meteors shine, and vagrant comets blaze, Now decks the ebon vault with a new gem, Whose glorious rays eclipse day's ruby beams. High in the Orient gleams that radiant star, The Father's finger pointing to his Son. The zodiac glistens with its hallow'd light, And elder stars withdraw their feebler rays. Ethiop saw and raised her hands to God, Saba and Egypt their atonement made, Araby own'd, and Araby was bless'd. But chief its beams, enubilous, impress'd Seleucia's royal fountains, near the place Where Eden once outspread her spacious walls, Whence flow'd the Phison round the land of gold, Gihon and Tigris, with the river famed, That haughty Babylon bore : streams, which erst

The flowr'y banks of Paradise enlaved,

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