FROM AN UNPUBLISHED TRANSLATION OF
O FIRST BORN of creation, glad wert thou,
O heaven, when, from the night of ages down
Descending, God first chose thee for his home,
And built thee in his glory, while his voice
Spoke in the first swell of thy crystal sea!
Worlds rose on worlds, but mortal or immortal
Were not! and thou sat'st, Father, all alone
On thy eternal throne, shrouding thyself
In silent majesty of thought! O shout,
Shout with a mighty voice, unto your God,
Ye seraphs, and ye hosts of heaven, for then
Men did he first create you, and instill
Thought into you, and majesty, and praise. O shout
Glory to God, and to him halleluia!
Thee will we praise, Creator, thee alone
Triumphant glorify, whose voice proclaimed,
Be thou no more chaotic night, and,
Created beings, waken into life!'
While through the heavens the halleluia rose,
Alighted now the messenger of Christ,
Bright glistering, on a neighbouring sun, and now
The song was still, and silence fell on all,
While to reward the choir, the Almighty shone
Benignant, pleased to hear the holy strain!
Now from the sun approached the seraph bright; God saw him, and all heaven. He knelt, and prayed;
And for a space in which a cherub's tongue
Might twice Jehovah name, God on him smiled!
Then rose a spirit to lead him to the throne,
Eloa, Him had God his chosen named,
Eloa, first create of all, and all
Excelling in glory, next alone to God;
Pregnant with Godhead are his heavenly thoughts,
Such as when, freed from earth, the rapt soul feels
On the first dawn of her immortal life!
Fairer his face than morning hour of spring,
More lovely than the stars, when, young in bloom
And clothed in light, with all their days, they first
Sprung from the throne of God. Of all, him first
Did God create; resplendent from a beam
rosy morn, his body etherial formed!
A heaven of clouds rolled round him; from the clouds
God raised him in his arms, and blessing spoke,
Seraph, behold thy God! Eloa saw
His God enraptured, and in conscious bliss
Sank all entranced before the eternal face!
Then spoke, and first declared the new-born thoughts That swelled his angel breast. But worlds shall fade, Dissolved in dust, and new ones rise to light,
ages in eternity be lost,
Ere mortal hearts may taste such heavenly joy!
Elca now descended from his seat,
Fresh glories beaming in his path, to meet
The ambassador of Christ, and him to guide
To the Redeemer's altar, and few steps
Had passed, ere he the approaching seraph knew!
High throbbed his heart in rapture, as he saw
The immortal, erst his heavenly comrade, when
In aëry voyage, new worlds they visited,
Blessing the inhabitants with God-like deeds.
Glorified in their love, with open arms
Swift each embraced the other, that with joy
The seraphs trembled. So two brothers meet,
Fresh from the battle-field, in bloom of youth,
Embracing underneath their father's eye,
While their bright wounds attest their glorious deeds
And conquering country. God the seraphs saw
From far, and blessed them! So passed they both,
In friendship locked, forth to the heavenly throne.
Thus came they to the sanctuary of God
But o'er the mount celestial, where dwells
The glory of God, thrice hallowed night presides,
A beam of increate light at distance plays,
But sacred darkness hides the sanctuary
From angel's eyes, save when the Almighty hand
In thunder draws the veil, and Heaven adores!
HE cometh! he cometh! the death dealing king;
His pale steed is fleet as the hurricane's wing:
Around him are ravening the monsters of hell,
Earth shrinks from their aspect, and shakes with thei
yell.
He cometh he cometh! with sword dripping gore:
Desolation behind him, and terror before:
His banner of darkness above him is spread,
With pestilent vapour earth smokes at his tread.
Her kings and her captains oppose him in vain;
Her mantle no longer can cover her slain;
The great are down-trampled, the mighty ones fail,
And their armies are scattered like leaves on the gale.
The beasts of the forest exult o'er their prey,
Grim Slaughter mows onward his merciless way,
Gaunt Famine, and livid Disease, at his side,
O'er monarchs and nations triumphantly ride.
And now from their slumber the tempests awaken :
They rage, and the stars from their orbits are shaken;
The sun gathers blackness, the moon turns to blood,
The heavens pass away; and the isles from the flood,
And the mountains from earth, at the tumult retreat :
The prince and the peasant-the abject, the great-
The youthful, the aged-the fearful, the brave-
The strong man, the feeble-the freeman, the slave,
To caverns and dens for a hiding-place run;
But who the keen eye of Jehovah can shun?
From his face to conceal them, despairing they call
To the rocks and the mountains upon them to fall:
In vain; for the day of decision at last
Has dawned, and the season of mercy is past:
He cometh from heaven, with the sword and the rod, Who shall tread in his fury the wine press of God.
His angel the fowls is inviting aloud
To the carnage of steeds and their riders to crowd, Whose flesh shall be mangled, whose blood shall be spilled,
That the vultures and ravens may eat and be filled.
He cometh! he cometh! how glorious the sight!
His horse as the snow newly fallen is white;
On his head are the crowns that betoken his power,
From his eyes flash red lightnings his foes to devour.
In blood has the vesture been dipped that he wears,
And a name on his thigh and his vesture he bears;
The Sovereign of sovereigus, that loftiest of names,
And Lord of all lords, its nossessor proclaims.
And white are the horses, as snow without stain,
Of the thousands of thousands who ride in his train;
And white and unspotted the robes he has given
To be worn on this day by the armies of heaven.
The bow in his hand, lo! unerring he bends,
With the sword from his mouth every spirit he rendɛ,
By his rod are down-smitten all they that oppose,
And from conquering to conquer resistless he goes.
The beast, the false prophet, and Satan, and death,
He thrusts to the pit that is yawning beneath;
Where tortures unceasing their vitals shall rend,
And the smoke of their torment for ever ascend.
But see, where his presence the darkness illumes,
How lovely the aspect creation assumes!
New heavens, a new earth, a new ocean arise
That fill every heart with a welcome surprise.
A city majestic and spacious appears,
Which sin cannot enter, where dried are all tears.
With beauty resplendent, from dangers secure;
Where fruits as perennial, and waters as pure
As He who erects it, the blessed await :
With shoutings of triumph they enter the gate,
With God, their Redeemer, for ever to reign,
And it closes on all but the Lamb and his train.
ADAM AND EVE'S MORNING HYMN
THESE are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty! thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair! thyself how wondrous then?
Unspeakable, who sittest above these Heavens
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