The Altar or, Meditations in Verse On The Great Christian Sacrifice By The Author of "The Cathedral," [i.e. Isaac Williams] |
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4.
“And thorns shall come up in her palaces.”
The King of Martyrs thus, with His own band
Dyed in their blood around His Kingly seat,
And sufferers hallowed by the Paraclete,
Against the evil world hath ta'en His stand.
For man's own sake and benefit, the land
Sends forth its thorns and briers at his feet,
To furnish unto him his chastenings meet:
Therefore Eternal Wisdom so hath plann'd,
That when the Second Man shall ope the door
Of pardon, and mankind with power divine
Through sorrow and atonement shall restore,
He of man's woes shall expiation make,
Shall seize of sin the very scourge and sign,
And for the emblem of His kingdom take.
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