University of Virginia Library

2633.

[Herod mounts the gorgeous throne]

Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon, &c. —xii. 21.

Herod mounts the gorgeous throne
The scaffold he ascends,
Means to' exalt himself alone,
Nor knows what God intends,
Means in the triumphant day
In brightest majesty to shine,
All his majesty display,
And stately pomp divine.
But the King of kings decrees
E'en now His power to show,
Blast the monarch's loftiness,
And lay the tyrant low:
Now the' oppressor's doom to seal,
Who Jesu's saints to death pursued,
Smite His foe implacable
And blood require for blood.
God doth thus to kings declare
His Deity supreme;
Nothing but by Him they are,
And only reign for Him;
Men they die, if kings they live,
And must with all to judgment come,
Quickly at His bar receive
Their everlasting doom.