University of Virginia Library

The great Messiah having told the plan
Of his redeeming love to sinful Man,
And Twelve selected to reveal the word,
To shew Salvation was with mercy stor'd,
With high commission did them now ordain
To heal the Sick, to make the Lepers clean;
And by that pow'r which wond'ring thousands fed,
They cast out Devils, and they rais'd the Dead.

Then as the careful Shepherd will not leave
His flock to others, lest they should deceive,
But watches for its welfare and relieves
The various maladies which oft it grieves,
So Christ commiserates the great distress
Mankind is subject to, and gives redress
To all their many ills; his bounty feeds
The hungry, and th' afflicted sinner leads
To peace, if he with penitence believes
And faithfully this word of truth receives,—
That Jesus dy'd to satisfy that wrath,
Which Adam's disobedience brought on earth.
He that with true repentance thus relies
On his Redeemer, at the great assize
Shall be presented holy, just, and pure,
T' enjoy that bliss which ever shall endure.

Such who believe and love will goodness trace,
Their souls will be adorn'd with ev'ry grace
That can proceed from so sublime a cause,
While firm obedience to God's holy laws
Will surely follow,—purity of mind,
Just, sober, chaste, benevolent and kind,
Forgiving and forgetting, yea they'll know
What e'er from grace, from love, or truth can flow
Shall shine in them;—this is that second birth
Which opens pure delight to Man on earth:
For these he quits the world's delusive charm,
These are the weapons which the Christian arm.
Thus clad, regardless of each scene of strife,
He calmly passes on thro' fleeting life,
Which spent,—the soul ascends th' ethereal skies,
On wings of joy to gain th' immortal prize.
So the deep stream moves on with steady pace
And gliding slow maintains its constant race;
But when the Sun irradiating shines,
The grossy exhalation he refines,
Then by attraction drawn it speedy flies
Leaving its earthy bed to mount the skies.

But now behold the gloomy period's come
Big with the fate of universal doom;
The gath'ring storms appear—lo! death and sin,
Affliction, pain, and guilt converging in
That bitter cup, which must be drank, tho' fill'd
With all the wrath th' eternal justice will'd.
The mighty sword is drawn, upheav'd in ire,
While vengeance rages like a flaming fire,
The passive Lamb immaculate, unstain'd
By sin, is now tumultuously arraign'd,
By those for whom he bleeds. In Isr'el's land
The traitor Judas with a chosen band
Of Soldiers arm'd, pass'd o'er the brook which flows
Along the vale Gethsemane, where rose
A garden like to Paradise adorn'd,
And where the Saviour oft retir'd and mourn'd
For worthless Man, where once he was display'd
To his lov'd friends, in heav'nly light array'd.—
The doleful night was dark—Oh! what ensu'd
To him who felt this grievous solitude;
When all the pow'rs of Death and Hell combin'd
Their terrors to afflict his suff'ring mind.
Retiring from his friends, and prostrate low
On the cold earth, in agonizing woe
With grief intense he calls, O Father, hear,
Let me escape this trial most severe!
The bitter cup, if possible, remove,
If not, thy will be done, Oh God of love!—
Thrice in his woe he from th' Apostles turn'd,
And in an agony of sorrows mourn'd;
In such a storm of grief his soul was tost,
That all his nervous pow'rs their strength had lost;
When sweat like drops of blood (oh! awful stream)
From ev'ry pore bedew'd his sacred frame.

Satan beheld the conflict, gladly saw
Exhausted Nature sink beneath the law;
When lo! from Heav'n an Angel swiftly came
To comfort Christ, who bore the grief and shame
Of sin, a world of sin, he then sustain'd,—
Th' iniquity of all on him remain'd.

Refresh'd by aid divine, he then return'd
To his Apostles, whom he gently warn'd
Of what was near; but sleep had them o'ercame—
Sleep on he said, and rest your weary frame.
But oh! the time is come, the Christ betray'd,
And by his blood Man's ransom shall be paid.—
Scarce had he spoke when Judas with a band
Of Soldier's arm'd, by the High Priest's command
Enter'd the garden, furiously rude,
Attended by the clam'rous multitude,
Who (tho' they'd late ador'd) by malice taught
To scorn the Miracles by Jesus wrought,
With wild mistaken zeal, his life now sought.
So leaps the hungry tyger on his prey,
His foaming jaws and fiery eyes dismay
The spotless victim, who a sacrifice
Falls unrepining, suffers, bleeds, and dies.