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PREFACE.

It is with feelings of the greatest diffidence that this attempt to render into English verse the sublimest portion of the most exalted book of prophecies is offered to the public. The great motive which prompted the author thus to pursue it in a continued form, was the assistance afforded by rhyme and metre to the memory in retaining whole chapters in the mind, and which might by these means be recalled more readily than prose, in hours when reading could not be resorted to. In order to convey some idea of the varied sentiments expressed by the prophet, whether of majesty, of command, of tenderness, of anger, of scorn, &c., it was necessary to have recourse to a variety of metre, in which, as far as possible, the method adopted by Bishop Louth has been followed; and as his translation universally takes a high stand for correctness, in the few instances where the received version has been departed from, it has been on his authority.

THE

PROPHET'S MISSION.

ISAIAH, CHAPTER VI.

IN mystic vision I beheld Jehovah on his throne, His gorgeous train the temple filled, and bright resplendent shone:

Above him stood the seraphim, and each six pinions

bore,

Two at his arms, two at his feet, and two his face before. O holy, holy, holy Lord, continually they cry,

The heavens, the earth, all things are full of thy great majesty.

The pillars shook, and rolling clouds were through the temple seen:

Woe, woe, I cried, I am struck dumb, my lips are all unclean,

And I abide midst an impure and an unholy race,

For I have seen the Mighty King, Jehovah, face to face!

A seraph seized a burning coal, he from the altar sped, He bore the ember to my mouth, he touched it, and he

said,

The fire which on thy lips I lay

Hath purged thy heavy sin away.

Then did I hear the Lord Jehovah say,

Who now will go

I cried, Send me.

for us? whom shall I send ?

Thy bidding I attend.

Then said He-Go! to them this word deliver,
Hear ye indeed, but understand ye never;
See ye indeed, but yet perceive no part:
Yea, make this people obdurate of heart;
Deafen their ears, and close thou up their eyes,
Lest sights should strike, or rousing sounds surprise,
Or to their hearts the truth should be revealed,

And should convert them, that they might be healed.-
How long? I cried. Then spake the Lord again—
Till in the wasted cities none remain,

And houses, so that there be none therein,

And utter desolation shall be seen;

Until the country be of men bereft,

And but deserted widows shall be left.

Then, though the land a decimal should show,
This shall renewed destruction undergo.
Yet, as the levelled oak again shoots forth,
So shall a sprout still flourish on the earth.

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