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 |
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| II. |
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| IV. |
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| VII. |
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| IX. |
| X. |
 | The Life of Our Blessed Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ |  |
183
I.
Loe! th' Eternal Word I sing,Whose great Spirit my Breast inspire!
Whilst I touch the sounding string,
Tune, some Angel! Tune my Lyre!
Rise, my Eagle-Soul! arise!
Mount and mean thy Native Skies,
And view th' eternal Sun with thy ambitious Eyes!
(If once direct his Glories on me shin'd,
How gladly wou'd I be for ever Blind?)
Let thy first bold Essay be,
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To sing the Father of the World and Thee:
—In the beginning of his endless now,
Before this beauteous World was made,
Before the Earths Foundations laid,
Before th' officious Angels round his Throne did bow;
He was, he ever is, we know not how.
No mean Succession his Duration knows,
That Spring of Being neither ebbs nor flows:
No Point can mortal Thought assign,
In his interminable Line,
Nor our short Compass meet the Circle All-divine.
II.
Whatever was, was God, e'er Time or Place;Endless Duration he, and boundless Space:
Fill'd with himself, whereever Thought can pierce
He fill'd, himself alone the Universe.
One undissolv'd, nor ceases to be One,
Tho' with him ever reigns th' eternal Son.
In his eternal Mind conceiv'd,
Not to be argu'd, but believ'd.
Down goes my Reason, if it dares Rebel,
As the ambitious Angels sunk to Hell.
Ineffable the way, for who
Th' Almighty to Perfection ever knew?
But he himself has said it, and it must be true.
The Fathers Image he, as great, as bright,
Cloth'd in the same unsufferable Light;
More closely joyn'd, more intimately one
With his great Father, than the Light and Sun.
Equal in Goodness, and in Might,
True God of God, and Light of Light:
Him, with the Father we adore;
There is no After, or Before.
Equal in their Existence have they been,
Nor ever did the Son begin;
No room for one short Moment, or bold Thought between.
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III.
The Father lov'd the Son, the Spirit cameFrom their conspiring mutual Flame,
From both proceeding, yet with both the same.
Equal to th' Father and th' eternal Word,
The eternal God, th' eternal Lord,
With equal Reverence his Great Name ador'd.
One God, for what's supreme can be but one:
Three more then Names, the Father, Spirit and Son.
Triad and Monad both, where Faith may find
What strikes Philosophy and Nature blind,
Three Great self-conscious Persons, One self-conscious Mind.
Who made the World is God, and he
Who made all Time must needs Eternal be.
This by the Spirit did the Son,
The Fathers Will by both was done,
As was resolv'd i'th' Consult of the great Three-One;
High on his Throne with dazling Glory crown'd
Sate the Algood, Alwise,
And with his piercing Eyes
Surveys wide fields of nothing round,
Privations airy Realms, and Wast profound.
To his lov'd Son ay-reigning by his side
With equal Glory dignify'd,
Let's make a World he cry'd!
Those fair Idea's be express'd
Retain'd in our Almighty Breast.
This, mild, no sooner said
His ready Son, his lov'd Commands obey'd.
IV.
And first the Heav'ns he builtNot those above we see
So gaily deckt in glitt'ring Bravery,
With Luna's silver Waves and Sol's fierce beauties gilt.
Far more refin'd, far more remov'd than they,
Their Light wou'd soon put out Sol's twinkling Ray,
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The Angels next he made
In Love and Flame array'd
The new-born Angels, chearfully adore
Their Maker and their Lord unseen before:
Their new-born Voice and Lyre they try
In sweet Celestial Poessy,
In lofty Hymns, and Heav'nly Harmony.
The Refuse of their World did ours compose
Which yet's so beautiful and bright
Each scatter'd spark of Heav'nly Light
Falling from thence some Sun or Planet grows.
But first on the dark Void the gentle Spirit descends,
First, Matter wills, then Form to Matter lends,
First different Somethings makes, then makes those Somethings Friends.
No longer with wild Ferment now they strove,
O'er Matters Waves the gentle Spirit did move,
And all around was Light, and all around was Love.
V.
After the glorious Orbs above were madeAnd Earth and Sea and Air were fram'd,
The Alhigh with Pleasure all his Works survey'd,
And Man the King of all his Works he nam'd:
But ah! how short his reign!
How soon by God who plac'd him on the Throne
When Lawless he and Arbitrary grown,
By God who had the Pow'r alone
Dethron'd again.
Ill Councellors his Fall, he did receive
Into his Cabinet the Devil and Eve.
Th' Alhigh as much as what's Divine can grieve
Resents his Fate, and fain wou'd save
Both him and that fair World he for his Palace gave,
But first he must his Justice show
Before he Mercy cou'd bestow.
If any, asks, wou'd satisfie
His Wrath, that Adam might not dye?
Archangels trembl'd, no bright Warriors there
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Rather all Earth and Heav'n they'd chuse to bear
Than the Creator's Wrath, sad Notes they sing;
Each Cherub seems to flag his beauteous Wing;
Those gentle Spirits soft signs of pity gave,
And mourn'd the loss of man they cou'd not save.
VI.
When forth th' Eternal Son undaunted stood;(How vast, how infinite his Love?
How deeply him did our sad Ruins move?)
The dang'rous Enterprize to prove,
To God to reconcile us by his Blood.
A Body he did for himself prepare,
To save the World by suffering there.
Nor like an Angels, form'd of air
Which when their Work on Earth is done
Is the next moment into Atoms flown,
But true and solid like our own,
In all but Sin, like man—With goodness mild
On his lov'd Son the Father smil'd,
Accepts his offer and declares
For him the guilty World he spares.
Whilst th' accursed Spirits below
Trembling fear a greater Blow:
While the gentle Spirits above,
Who Mankind protect and love,
The Great Redeemer's Glory raise
In lofty Notes of Godlike praise.
VII.
'Twas he who oft in humane Form attir'dStoop'd to our VVorld below.
As he our State wou'd better know,
Or Company desir'd.
Now shorter he, now longer Visits made,
And once in Royal Robes array'd,
At sacred Salem stay'd.
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At once a wondrous Prophet, Priest and King.
He, frequent, with the Holy Patriarchs walkt,
With him they eat, with him they talkt?
At hospitable Father Abraham's Feast
He, with two menial Angels, once a Guest,
Where the old Sire his kindness did requite
When coming faint and weary from the Fight,
He him t'his frugal Board did call:
There Abraham saw his Day and did rejoyce,
To Heav'n he rais'd his grateful Eye and Voyce,
And gave him Tithes of All.
VIII.
'Twas he who did the wand'ring Jacob guide;'Twas he, who met by Jabbock's side
That valiant Shepherd try'd;
His more than holy boldness did dislike,
And him with gentle Lameness strike.
'Twas he to whom the expiring Father pray'd,
When on his Grandsons head his Hands he laid,
And begs he them as well as him wou'd aid.
This uncreated Angel he
Whom Moses in the Bush did see
When it with Lambent Lightning flam'd,
What Angel else those Titles durst have claim'd,
In every sacred Page Adonai nam'd.
Him Royal Esay saw, whose lofty Vein
Excels bold Pindar's Dithyrambic strain,
Him saw and lov'd, and learnt his Will
Whose Glory did the Temple fill,
Officious Seraphs waited round
And Holy! Holy! Holy! sound.
And when with Sacred Fire they touch'd his Tongue
Almost as loud as them he thus their Master sung.
IX.
“Sad Israel! Weep no more!“Dry those vain Tears, those Sighs give o'r!
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“He comes, he comes! Welcome as the sweet Morn
“That follows tedious Night, the lovely Boy is born,
“The lovely Boy, in whose auspicious Face
“Already opens each Majestic Grace.
“With Virtues equal to so vast a care
“Unmov'd the Frame of Heav'n and Earth he'll bear.
“But who, alas! who can proclaim
“All his high-Titles, and his awful Name?
“Proclaim his Titles far abroad?
“Stupendous Wisdom! O all-pow'rful God!
“Eternal Father! for he's one
“With his Eternal Son.
“O Salems Prince! with speed thy Empire gain,
“And o'r the peaceful Nations ever reign!
X.
—Tho' us, who from the Word a difference boastHe with more large effusions do's inspire,
Not the poor Gentiles are entirely lost,
Their Reason is a spark of his Celestial Fire:
His Beams, than Sol himself more strong and fair
Enlight'ning all, and every where.
They Life and Light at once impart,
Thro' Error's scattering mists like Thunder dart
Direct the Head, and warm the Heart;
Altho' alas! to most they useless be,
Who, stupid, close their Eyes, and will not see;
Useless to those who in the Twilight stay
When Revelation brings the Day,
Too short, too dim to show to Heav'n the VVay
Yet still there were a wiser few
Improv'd and practis'd what they knew,
Devout and pious, chast and just,
And did in their unknown Creator trust;
These shall acceptance find where e'er they live;
Who well improve their narrow store,
Kind Heaven will soon indulge 'em more,
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That faint, that glimm'ring Light
Which pierces thro' the Clowds, and shines in spight
Of Errors and of Vices Night,
If follow'd close will to such Beams convey
Such orient Lustre, so Divine a Ray
As shall encrease to perfect, and eternal Day,
That this is God, the Argument stands fair.
It can do all things, and is every where,
Or God himself, or at the least must be
Some Emanation of the Deity.
The VVord Divine, tho' not b'his own receiv'd
Expected by the Fathers and believ'd.
In the Messia this must center'd be,
And if conjoyn'd the Baptist, Heav'n, and we
Can ought of Faith deserve, our Lord is He.
| The Life of Our Blessed Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ | |