Page:Redemption, a Poem.djvu/17

 REDEMPTION.

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��Live, move, as from the first thou bad'st them live And move, when out of nothing, at thy word, Perfect they rose t' enjoy the bliss of heav'n. Sweet e'en thy justice, when evoked to bless, But terrible, when fierce with vengeance ariu'd; That, they have proved, who ever firmly stood, The rebel angels not less this, who felt The direful force of thy all conqu'ring arm Fall wrathfully upon their guilty heads. Her deep foundations th' einpyr&m shook Through all her wide circumference, when, rising, Thou didst ride upon the Cherubim, and swift On wings of mighty winds didst fly; darkness Beneath thy feet, thick darkness cloth'd thee round, Whilst thundering thy flaming chariot roll'd Full on the prostrate foe, and lightnings fierce Of burning wrath transfix'd them, as they fell Headlong from the high battlements of heav'n, Thus happ'ly purged from sin's first sad embroil. But man, repentant, mercy finds and grace, Who sinn'd not of himself, but thereto drawn By fraud of the arch-fiend; mercy, if he For mercy pleads, forsakes his devious ways, Conforms to right his will perverse, and strives Laborious by good works to demonstrate His faith; nor by good works alone, but rules The inward motions of the heart, controls Its wayward thoughts, impure desires, and lives Perfect the hidden life of thy new law. These shall be saved, and rais'd to heav'nly joys."

Such was the theme of their glad song, the works And ways of God, mercy and truth to man ;

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