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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2.
“If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Steep'd in the murder'd Baptist's holy blood
Sits the incestuous and adulterous chief,
Well pleased to view the Saviour in His grief,
Hoping to see some miracle of good.
Oh, strange infatuation which withstood
The strivings of the Spirit! Oh, how brief
The day of our salvation and relief,
Ere tenfold night doth on the senses brood,
Close up the eye and ear, and case the heart
In thick-ribbed iron! Pharaoh-like, to see
Signs to the Almighty Presence which belong,
As of some sportive juggler at his art.
And yet himself unscathed to sit among
The lightnings of Incarnate Deity!
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