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What line of praise can fathom such a love,
Which reach'd the lowest bottom from above?
The royal prophet *, that extended grace

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From heav'n to earth, measur'd but half that space.
The law was regnant, and confin'd his thought; II
Hell was not conquer'd when that poet wrote:
Heav'n was scarce heard of until He came down,
To make the region where love triumphs known.
That early love of creatures yet unmade,
To frame the world th' Almighty did perfuade;
For love it was that first created light,
Mov'd on the waters, chas'd away the night
From the rude Chaos, and bestow'd new grace
On things difpos'd of to their proper place:
Some to reft here, and fome to fhine above,
Earth, fea, and heav'n, were all th' effects of love.
And love would be return'd: but there was none
That to themselves or others yet were known:
The world a palace was without a guest,

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Till one appears that must excel the rest:

One! like the Author, whofe capacious mind
Might by the glorious work, the Maker find;
Might measure heav'n, and give each star a name;
With art and courage the rough ocean tame; 30
Over the globe with fwelling fails might go,
And that 't is round by his experience know;
Make strongest beasts obedient to his will,
And ferve his use the fertile earth to till.

* David.

When by his Word God had accomplish'd all,
Man to create he did a council call:
Employ'd his hand, to give the dust he took
A graceful figure and majestick look;
With his own breath convey'd into his breast
Life, and a foul fit to command the rest,
Worthy alone to celebrate his name

For fuch a gift, and tell from whence it came.
Birds fing his praises in a wilder note,

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But not with lafting numbers and with thought,
Man's great prerogative! but above all

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His grace abounds in his new fav'rite's fall.

If he create, it is a world he makes;

If he be angry, the creation shakes:
From his just wrath our guilty parents fled;

He curs'd the earth, but bruis'd the ferpent's head.

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Amidst the storm his bounty did exceed,

In the rich promise of the Virgin's feed:
Tho' juftice death, as fatisfaction, craves,
Love finds a way to pluck us from our graves.

CANTO III.

NOT willing terrour fhould his image move;
He gives a pattern of eternal love;

His Son defcends to treat a peace with those
Which were, and must have ever been, his foes.
Poor he became, and left his glorious feat
To make us humble, and to make us great;

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His bus nefs here was happiness to give
To those whofe malice could not let him live.
Legions of angels, which he might have us'd,
(For us refolv'd to perish) he refus'd:
While they flood ready to prevent his lofs,
Love took him up, and nail'd him to the crofs.
Immortal love! which in his bowels reign'd,
That we might be by such great love constrain'd
To make return of love. Upon this pole
Our duty does, and our religion, roll.
To love is to believe, to hope, to know;
'Tis an effay, a taste of heav'n below!

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He to proud potentates would not be known; Of thofe that lov'd him he was hid from none. Till love appear we live in anxious doubt; But smoke will vanish when that flame breaks out: This is the fire that would confume our drofs, Refine, and make us richer by the lofs.

Could we forbear difpute, and practise love, 15 We should agree as angels do above.

Where love prefides, not vice alone does find
No entrance there, but virtues stay behind:
Both faith, and hope, and all the meaner train
Of mortal virtues, at the door remain.

Love only enters as a native there,
For born in heav'n, it does but fojourn here.
He that alone would wife and mighty be,
Commands that others love as well as he.

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Love as he lov'd!-How can we foar fo high?-35
He can add wings when he commands to fly.
Nor should we be with this command dismay'd;
He that examples gives will give his aid,
For he took flesh, that where his precepts fail,
His practice, as a pattern, may prevail.

His love at once, and dread, instruct our thought;
As man he fuffer'd and as God he taught,
Will for the deed he takes: we may with ease
Obedient be, for if we love we please.

Weak tho' we are, to love is no hard task,

And love for love is all that Heav'n does afk.

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Love! that would all men just and temp'rate make, Kind to themselves and others for his fake.

"Tis with our minds as with a fertile ground, Wanting this love they must with weeds abound, jo (Unruly paffions) whofe effects are worfe Than thorns and thiftles fpringing from the curfe.5

CANTO IV.

To glory man, or misery, is born,

Of his proud foe the envy, or the scorn:
Wretched he is, or happy, in extreme;
Base in himself, but great in Heav'n's-esteem;
With love, of all created things the best;
Without it, more pernicious than the rest:
For greedy wolves unguarded sheep devour
But while their hunger lafts, and then give o'er:
Volume II.

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