4 But when the mind its kindred claims,
With that illustrious list of names,

Which stand about thy throne;
How soon the sun and starry host
Are to its mental eyesight lost,
As beings quite unknown!

5 Ten thousand suns in one conjoin'd,
Escape the inattentive mind,

When Michael shews his face;

To virtue what is solar light,
Which sheds a beam, by far less bright,
If virtue comes in place?

6 If, rising on a bolder wing,
Attempting thee, O Lord, to sing,
Thy face I faintly see;
Archangels then must stand aside,
And all their faded glories hide,
Absorb'd and lost in thee.

7 So far as we can understand
The works of thy almighty hand,
Our wonder they excite;

Yet all we ever saw or heard,

To nothing sink, with thee compar'd,
O thou sole infinite!

8 The waters saw thee, Lord, and fled,
And open left their sandy bed,

A dry way thro' the sea;

Thy touch the hills and mountains feel,
And at thy look they start, they reel,
They smoke and melt away.

9 The earth, and all that it contains,
The heavens, with all their azure plains,
Fly from before thy face;

And if thy looks but gently chide,
In ancient nothing seek to hide :

But trembling find no place.

10 For who or what can hide from thee, In heaven, or hell, or earth, or sea,

Since thou art every where?

All hell lies open to thy sight,

Thou see'st throughout its darkest night,
Its bones, or fiends, lie bare.

11 Thy power, thy wisdom, both have been
In this thy grand creation seen

And both unbounded prov'd;
Thy mercy in redemption too,
Is not less ample, nor less true,

Nor thou more fear'd than lov'd.

12 Thou art not God in power alone,
Nor wisdom only; no, we own
Thee God, in mercy too;
That only boundless mercy can,
With patience bear the rebel man,
All mankind feel it true.

13 Man finds it true indeed full well,
Who is not yet compell'd to dwell
In everlasting flame;

Tho' he, provoking wretch! proceeds
To brave thee with atrocious deeds,
Too foul to bear a name.

14 Repentance, even yet propos'd,
Keeps pity's folding door unclos'd,
For this abandon'd wretch;
'He is but dust,' his Saviour cries;
I'll spare him yet,' his God replies.
Of mercy what a stretch !

15 Now let thy power creation boast,
And tell thy wisdom to the host
Of hymning sprites above;

A louder lay may mankind raise,
To sing thy patience, and to praise

Thy mercy and thy love.

16 From heaven's high throne the Saviour comes, Secures of all our debts the sums.

By boundless mercy drawn ;

He pledges for us his own blood,
To make our cause in justice good;
How infinite the pawn!

17 Christ all the prophecies fulfils,
And executes whate'er he wills;-
Nature it's God obeys.

The chains of darkness he unbinds,

And pours true daylight on our minds,
In a full tide of rays.

18 The angels saw him quit the throne, And make our nature all his own,

But doubted to what end;

And when they saw his vital breath
Forsake him in the throes of death,
Beheld us slay our friend;

19 Beheld us in his blood imbru'd,
And Satan by that blood subdu'd,
And all our sins aton'd;

They then the mystery understood,
Saw life eternal in his blood,
And his salvation owned.

20 Triumphant in the bloody strife,
They saw him rise again to life,
And take his kingly crown;

The crown that decks the King of kings,
And with it sole dominion brings,

And hymns of loud renown.

21 But when they saw us take the field,
Arm'd with his conquering sword and shield,
And by his Spirit fir'd;

Then were their golden harps new strung,
Then heaven with their hosannas rung,
With songs anew inspir'd.

22 Christ is to God the upward way,
The truth, the life, the perfect day,
The beauteous path of peace;

If faith unshaken in the soul,
If virtue steadfast as the pole,

Thro' him their course shall trace.

23 Behold an open road to heaven!
And if repented, sin forgiven

Thro' Christ's atoning blood!
Arise thou drooping heart, with tears
Of joy cry out, adieu my fears,

Adieu to all, but good,

24 True good alone I hence shall know,

Altho' in penitential woe

The harbinger of bliss;

My soul dissolves in gratitude,

While I receive the heavenly food,

And while the Son I kiss.

25 To hope of heaven from deep despair, My soaring spirits now repair,

In strong distaste of vice;

The blood of Christ hath bought my soul, (In that red laver let me roll),

My God, at what a price!

26 My soul, devoted to thy praise,
O Lord, in these my feeble lays
Attempts a weak return,

But, O cherubic choir above,
What love shall I return for love!
My heart, how should it burn!

27 O for your raptur'd soul of fire!
The loud acclaim of such a choir!
That I like you might sing;
Yet, tho' I could, my song sublime
Would only stammer out, in rhyme
The tribute I should bring.

28 Had I a voice, so loud and shrill
That it could space unbounded fill,
And make all nature hear;
Too far I could not make it fly,
Nor sound the praise of Christ too high,
Who died my debt to clear.

29 From sin to sin I headlong fell,
And trembled on the brink of hell,
When Christ to save me ran;
From joy to death the Saviour came
To snatch me from th' infernal flame,
Adjudg'd to sinful man.

30 When the last trumpet shall resound,
And call the universe around

The tribunitial throne;

Canst thou, O man, in judgment stand,
And glory of thy God demand

On righteousness thy own?

31 If not, a saviour thou must find
Of wealth sufficient, and so kind,
To make up thy account;
To spunge thy debtor side away,
Of his own funds thy fines to pay,
And clear the full amount.

32 But all the creatures, high and low, The arduous office must forego,

And let this work alone.

Thro' none, but God, the soul can live,
The creature hath not ought to give,
Hath nothing of his own.

33 When God in Jesus once is felt,
The heart with gratitude must melt
Before his fire of love.

Thus is the Saviour born in man;
This lengthens out our little span
To endless life above.

34 Thus love for love, now flaming high,
From us to him shall upward fly,
Expelling sins and fears;

Away with guilt! away its chain
Of boding horrors! and its train
Of anxious doubts and tears!

35 Lo now the dancing spirits rise!
We breathe not air, but purer skies,
And heaven is felt within!

The soul now sees its smiling God!
And now no longer dreads his rod;
Now endless joys begin!

36 With what an horror would it damp,
With what a mark infernal stamp
The soul, that Christ should sell
For wealth, and on that blood should tread
(Which for this very wretch was shed),
And league again with hell!

37 Can we be led by fiends or flesh
To crucify our Lord afresh,
Expos'd to open shame?

Again, like Judas, Christ betray,
On a new cross, like Pilot, slay,

still his name?

38 A Judas surely is that wretch,

Who with a conscience on the stretch,

Can Christ's religion kiss;

And yet renounce it in his deeds,

And at its principles and creeds

With scorn affected hiss.