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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 | The Altar |  |
1.
“The Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits, of
Whom we said, Under His shadow we shall live.”
When kings are by their subjects doom'd to die,
All Christian hearts strange horror doth appal,
And boding expectations on them fall
Of some unwonted and dire tragedy,—
Embodied evil seems itself so nigh.
And when the martyrs in man's judgment-hall
Under decree of death are given in thrall,
Our souls are touched by a strange sympathy,
Beyond expression of the outer sense;
Though these be heirs of sin and death, yet thence
In these emotions of man's heart is shown
Something more deep than to himself is known,
Which witness bears to God's Anointed One,—
A King condemn'd in perfect innocence.
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