REDEMPTION. OR Thou wast born of woman! Thou didst come, Oh Holiest to this world of sin and gloom, Not in Thy dread omnipotent array ; And not by thunders strew'd Was Thy tempestuous road; Nor indignation burnt before Thee on Thy way. But Thee, a soft and naked child, Thy mother undefiled, In the rude manger laid to rest From off her virgin breast. The heavens were not commanded to prepare 122 REDEMPTION. Nor stoop'd their lamps th' enthroned fires on high: A single, silent star, Came wandering from afar, Gliding uncheck'd and calm along the liquid sky; The Eastern Sages leading on As at a kingly throne, To lay their gold and odours sweet The earth and ocean were not hush'd to hear And seraphs' burning lyres Pour'd thro' the host of heaven the charmed clouds along. One angel troop the strain began, Of all the race of man, By simple shepherds heard alone, That soft hosanna's tone. And when Thou didst depart, no car of flame To bear Thee hence in lambent radiance came; REDEMPTION. 123 Nor visible angels mourn'd with drooping plumes. Nor didst Thou mount on high From fatal Calvary With all Thine own redeem'd out-bursting from their tombs. For Thou didst bear away from earth But one of human birth, The dying felon by Thy side, to be In paradise with Thee. Nor o'er Thy cross the clouds of vengeance brake ; A little while the conscious earth did shake A few dim hours of day The world in darkness lay, Then bask'd in bright repose beneath the cloudless sun: While Thou didst sleep beneath the tomb, Consenting to Thy doom; Ere yet the white-robed angel shone Upon the sealed stone. And when Thou didst arise, Thou didst not stand With devastation in Thy red right hand, 124 REDEMPTION. Plaguing the guilty city's murtherous crew; But Thou didst haste to meet Thy mother's coming feet, And bear the words of peace unto the faithful few. Then calmly, slowly, didst thou rise Into Thy native skies, Thy human form dissolved on high MILMAN. BORE with thee long weary days and nights, Through many pangs of heart, through many I bore with thee, thy hardness, coldness, slights, For three and thirty years. Who else had dared for thee what I have dared? Give thou Me love for love. For thee I thirsted in the daily drouth, |