39 The devil, who down from heaven fell,
Down to the dark abyss of hell,
Had not a fall so sore,
As he who Christ the Saviour sells, Tho' here in consequence, he dwells 'Midst worldly pomp and store. 40 I will not, Judas, with thee share Thy price of blood, nor thy despair, Thy silver nor thy rope ;
No, rather, Stephen, let my head,
Receive the stone that struck thee dead!
And thus expire in hope.
41 Hail glorious deacon! who first trod
Thy Saviour's bloody path to God,
And pour'd the crimson flood
Of life for him, who from the tree
Discharg'd the blood of God for thee;
In thine was blood for blood.
42 This sacrifice, so great, so good,
To pay thy debt of gratitude,
In thy account too small;
Yet for his righteous cause to die,
Was by the Saviour reckon'd high,
Because it was thy all.
43 To give thee courage in this fight,
And furnish with sufficient might,
The curtains of the sky
Aside are drawn, and lo! the throne,
The empyreal throne is shewn
To thy admiring eye.
44 There sits your Saviour, King of kings! There round him hallelujah rings,
Almost unheeded, while
the stones that o'er thee pour, And, thro' the fierce, the deadly shower, Looks on thee with a smile.
45 That smile converts thy keenest pains
To raptures, and what then remains,
But triumph to thy soul?
He beckons thee above the skies;
He points to thee the glorious prize,
The Christian racer's goal.
46 Now, cruel Jews, go fling your stones,
Go pound the Christian hero's bones;
His Saviour stands above,
Knows, your infernal rage, your noise,
And blows, do but augment his joys,
But sooth and stroke his love.
47 O Marius, Sylla, Cæsar, know
How poor your triumphs, and how low,
With kings and gods in chains,
Compar'd to his who from this war
Leads captive fiends behind his car,
And more than victor reigns.
48 Behold him, from your dark abode
Ascend the bright celestial road,
Triumphant toward the throne;
Then hear his welcome thence proclaim'd,
And see him protomartyr nam'd
Upon the corner stone.
49 To thee, like Stephen, we repair,
Thou source of strength; O hear the prayer
Which dust and ashes raise;
That strength, which we so greatly want,
Do thou, Almighty Goodness, grant
And thine shall be the praise.
50 Of nature feeble and deprav'd,
We wretches never can be sav'd,
Unless by thee alone;
Thy strength by weakness perfect made,
In us so weak, if thus display'd,
Shall prove itself thy own.
51 Thy miracles of mercy shine
Above thy works, howe'er divine,
In thy creation seen;
We there on power and wisdom gaze;
Here mercy, mercy, mercy praise,
Of attributes the queen.
52 Our gratitude the song demands
From us, who pierc'd thy feet and hands,
To sin and death enslav'd
Whom thou hast sav'd from endless woe,
From shame and pain in flames below;
Both sanctify'd and sav'd.
53 High heaven before the Almighty shakes,
This pond'rous globe beneath him quakes,
Hell trembles at his nod;
To man, he says, 'repent and live;
'Behold, for thee my blood I give!'
How great and good is God!
54 O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Whose service we, as Christians, boast,
Eternal Three in One ;
All glory now and ever be
In all our hymns ascrib'd to thee,
Thee, thee, our God alone.
MAN SINKING INTO A DEVIL.
1 O LORD, how hath thy creature fall'n,
Thy creature once a man!
How to a brute in thought and deed,
Then to a demon, ran!
2 He plunges on from crime to crime
And round him forms a gulf
Of filth and blood, and there outdoes
The swine, the fox, the wolf.
3 Then blackens to a fiend as soon
As he acquires the art,
Fiend-like to spoil, and then torment
The desolated heart.
4 He basely tramples o'er the man
Who rais'd him from the dust;
And substituting wrong for right,
Exterminates the just.
5 He and his instruments combine
The poor to fleece and tear;
All round him desolation reigns,
Reign anguish, and despair.
6 The innocent he dooms to death,
His path in blood is seen;
He teaches perjury, and boasts,
The murderer to screen.
7 By no remorse this monster stung,
Nor God, nor mankind fears;
Hears not the beggar'd orphan's cries,
Nor sees the widow's tears.
8 In courts where others justice seek,
He buys or sells the laws;
And from these gross enormities
No little profit draws.
9 Him all the trembling wretches round
Fear, flatter, and implore;
And all attend with sacrifice
This devil to adore.
10 Their substance, liberties, and lives,
At his devotion lie;
Their consciences with his designs,
However black, comply.
11 From him thy weaker creatures save,
And quash his impious power;
Be thou to him a chast'ning God,
To them a rock and tower.
12 Remember he's thy creature still,
Didst thou not for him bleed?
O let not his transgressions, Lord,
Thy tenderness exceed.
13 Almighty Lord restore this wretch,
To thy eternal praise;
From fiend to brute, from brute to man,
From man to angel raise.
14 In falling down so far is lost
All power in him to rise;
His will in hard impenitence
Not less disabl'd lies.
15 Thy power alone this reprobate
Is able to recall,
power and mercy lift him up From this so desp'rate fall.
16 Let him, a second David, Lord,
Thy power and mercy feel;
Let him, like Paul, an heart of flesh
Receive for one of steel.
17 So shall this firebrand snatch'd from hell,
In paradise take root;
And flourish by the tree of life,
In leaves, in flowers, in fruit.
18 Then disappointed hell shall rage;
Then joyful seraphs sing
The wondrous power and mercy
By their all-gracious king.
19 What angel then, in all thy host, So loudly shall proclaim
Thy wisdom, power, and mercy, Lord?
So glorify thy name?
MAN RISING INTO AN ANGEL.
1 A better sacrifice he brings,
Than these too languid lays;
O Lord, who in his actions sings
Thy mind to thy own praise;
2 Who to the widow life prolongs,
And to her starving brood,
Whose kind heart dances to her songs
For clothing and for food.
3 Her song, O Lord, to thee resounds,
Let boundless goodness hear;
His dance of love to thee rebounds,
And trembles in his tear.
4 The song and dance, in David's days,
We read, thou didst approve
As acts of worship; here to please
They sing, they dance, they love.
5 Here piety and love are felt
In acts of sweet relief;
Here more than Saba's odours smelt
In joy, succeeding grief.
6 Here sense of tenderness and joy
Hath taught the tears to flow;
These too the heart-felt dance employ,
And lend it all their glow,
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