Page:Redemption, a Poem.djvu/343

 REDEMPTION. 337

Awaiting the behest of Him who call'd, A voice from the Invisible was heard, Louder than voice of tube, with niter charged, As touch'd with fire, or engin'ry of heav'n, When gluinmy clouds encount'ring, fierce explode; Louder, yet soft as whisp'ring breeze, serene And mild, to all the list'ning hosts thus spake : " Celestial virtues, spirits, sons of heav'o, Behold the day that I, who am, have made ; Day fix'd in my immutable decrees, For honor of my sole begotten, best Beloved Son ; day from eternity Defined, in the eternal volume writ, When every knee shall bow, each tongue confess, Of all that dwell in highest heav'n, on earth, Or in th' unfathom'd depths profound of hell; To him shall bow, who bears that holy Name, Which saves who utters, from the wrath to come. For this cause took he up a servant's form, Veiling the Godhead neath the flesh of man, Assumed his likeness, in his habit found, Humbled himself obedient unto death, E'en to most shameful death upon the cross. Mystery, on which you have desired to look, Desire now crown'd, a part of which you were, My minist'ring spirits, down the course of time Unfolding, what my high decree vouchsafed, Till fullness of the promised epoch dawn'd, And horn of my Anointed was exalt. Whom oft, from your lips taught, my saints have sung, And now in every phase complete unvolved, Though each seem contra, all divinely clear,

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