The Life of Our Blessed Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ An Heroic Poem: Dedicated to Her Most Sacred Majesty. In Ten Books. Attempted by Samuel Wesley ... Each Book illustrated by necessary Notes, explaining all the more difficult Matters in the whole History: Also a Prefatory Discourse concerning Heroic Poetry. With Sixty Copper-Plates |
 |
|
| I. |
 | II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
 | The Life of Our Blessed Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ |  |
Zachary's Song.
Great
God of Israel! how shall we thy Laud express,
“And, never satisfi'd with praises bless?
Unutterable Goodness! how shall we
For all th' unutterable Blessings pay,
Of this triumphant happy day,
And what so largely we receive, restore to thee?
Who hast thy chosen Flock with gracious Eyes survey'd,
And visited with thine Almighty Aid!
A great Redemption for us wrought,
Surpassing our Desert or Thought,
Surpassing those when wand'ring wide
By Nilus and Euphrates side,
You sav'd from Egypt, and from Babel's pride.
Those only Types of this have been,
Those only were from Slavery, this from Sin.
“And, never satisfi'd with praises bless?
Unutterable Goodness! how shall we
For all th' unutterable Blessings pay,
Of this triumphant happy day,
And what so largely we receive, restore to thee?
Who hast thy chosen Flock with gracious Eyes survey'd,
And visited with thine Almighty Aid!
A great Redemption for us wrought,
Surpassing our Desert or Thought,
Surpassing those when wand'ring wide
By Nilus and Euphrates side,
You sav'd from Egypt, and from Babel's pride.
Those only Types of this have been,
Those only were from Slavery, this from Sin.
II.
Thee will we praise, thee will we sing,We'll sing with ardent Love and awful Fear;
Who hast to Sion brought a great Deliverer,
A mighty Saviour, and a mighty King!
That promis'd Branch of Jesse's sacred Stem,
46
Whom many an antient Seer did descry
Thro' the mysterious Glass of Prophecy,
In the vast Heav'n of dark futurity:
They saw his Day, tho' far remov'd.
And seeing smil'd, and smiling lov'd:
They saw great Juda's Kingly Lion, rouse,
And his lov'd Nations Cause espouse;
Vainly whole Troops against him rise,
This vainly fights, and that as vainly flies;
From their stern Jaws he tears away
Th' already half-devoured Prey,
And rends and tramples all our Enemies.
III.
Which of you shall my lofty Numbers grace,Ye great Fore-fathers of the chosen Race?
Thee Father Abraham, first I'll sing,
From whose blest Loins so many Nations spring,
The Favourite, the Friend of Heav'n's Almighty King!
He gave his Oath, and thou thy Son,
When the eternal League begun:
Offensive and Defensive 'tis,
His Enemies are ours, and ours are his:
His sacred Truth he did to witness take
While his strong Words the solid Center shake,
While Heav'n and Earth remain'd, he would not us forsake;
But guide us thro' fair Vertue's Paths, wherein
For ever walk sweet Peace and Innocence,
All mischief ever banish'd thence,
All Guilt and Danger far remov'd,
All that by him is disapprov'd,
And Fear, the Child of Sin.
IV.
Nor thee, thou strange prophetick Boy,By Heav'n inspir'd e'r thou didst come
From forth the Closet of the Womb,
Thy aged Parents Wonder, and their Joy:
Thee, tho' unsung, unheeded yet,
47
Thee who the happy News shalt bring,
The Harbinger of Heav'n's high King;
The Banners of his Grace display,
And scatter Pardons all the Way.
He comes, he comes! I see him swift advance,
He comes to our Deliverance:
I see his Orient Light arise
Scatt'ring ten thousand Suns around the Skies:
It flash'd thro' Chaos, whose wild Surges fell,
As when the first strange Day was made;
The Fiends were all of a new World afraid,
As wide it glar'd thro' all the inmost Caves of Hell.
If there it mov'd their Dread, though not their Love,
What Wonders shall it not perform above?
Sin to th' Abyss shall sink again,
“Death the great Slayer, shall himself be slain,
And Truth and Heav'n-born Peace for ever reign.
| The Life of Our Blessed Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ | |