Epistle To A Friend, On The Divinity Of Our Saviour. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B CCDDEEFFGGHHIIDDCJFF KKLLMMNNKKOOPPMMDDKK DDQQRRSSTTUUKKVVWWXX OOYYDDZZA2A2DDA2A2GG KKB2B2C2C2DDD2D2KKE2 E2MMLLF2F2MMA2A2G2H2 MMI2I2J2J2K2L2KKM2ZL LN2N2KKO2O2MMP2P2KKK KUUZZKKA2A2NNI2I2L2K 2XXQ2Q2DDR2R2FFRRKKZ ZGGXXMMKKS2S2GGKKDDW WKKDDT2T2KKU2U2UUKKK KV2V2FFDDW2W2DDB2B2X XKKO2O2A2A2GGKKOOKKK KMMKKNNZZDDI2I2MMO2O 2UUNNKKX2X2DDMMB2B2D DKKW2W2MMY2Y2DDKKZ2Z 2XA3MMFFW2W2MMNNKKKK KKGGB3B3UUKK

Inconcussa tenens dubio vestigia mundo	A
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Epistle	B
	-
Dear Disputant whose mind would boldly soar	C
And all theology's domain explore	C
I love the candid fervency of soul	D
That scorns a dogmatist's austere controul	D
Let liberal scholars as they surely ought	E
Claim and allow a latitude of thought	E
As friends I honour with a love benign	F
Many whose creeds may vary far from mine	F
Secure from error I no mortal deem	G
But all who truly seek for truth esteem	G
Yet with a mild regret and kind concern	H
I see temerity's ambition burn	H
When zeal self blinded in a mental mist	I
Denies that hallow'd mysteries exist	I
And deems that reason which no fears appall	D
Has self sufficiency to clear them all	D
Tis reas'ning pride not reason just and sore	C
Which in religion finds no point obscure	J
Which measuring Godhead with an earthly line	F
Would rob the Saviour of his rights divine	F
There are who call Him by their dreams beguil'd	K
Mere man of mortal geniture the child	K
Tho' sanction'd by his Sire's almighty breath	L
His Son a sovereign o'er life and death	L
'Tis not for mortals in their transient hour	M
To pierce the secrets of primordial power	M
Or guess how God on his eternal throne	N
To filial spirit could impart his own	N
But how can earth deny by truth unblam'd	K
Divinity that Heaven itself proclaim'd	K
Reason opposes pride's degrading plan	O
To sink the Saviour to a simple man	O
Were He no more could He so born presume	P
With Heaven to mediate for all nature's doom	P
No for so born Himself must then require	M
A mediator with th' eternal Sire	M
Disclaim his Godhead you at once imply	D
His deeds are doubtful and his word a lie	D
If not a God most guilty of mankind	K
His doctrine tends the human race to blind	K
Surpassing e'en the fiend who caus'd our fall	D
By sharing worship with the Sire of all	D
O ye whose reas'ning pride can so mistake	Q
The truths He meekly spoke for mercy's sake	Q
More humbly grateful learn ye to rejoice	R
In all the dictates of his cheering voice	R
Who to console his grief dejected flock	S
Show'd how their faith is built upon a rock	S
And in the closing of his earthly strife	T
Made manifest Himself as Lord of Life	T
And tho' to death the most disgraceful driven	U
Possessing all the powers of earth and Heaven	U
Pure source of light and safety to the lost	K
Without Thee on a sea of darkness tost	K
Sovereign of grace and kindness so sublime	V
Thou view'st with pity their ungrateful crime	V
Who while they load Thee with degrading praise	W
Would darken in thy crown its heavenly rays	W
And O how truly pitiable are those	X
By nature mild nor truth's intended foes	X
Whose strange illusion yet miscalls Thee man	O
Tho' chosen to fulfil redemption's plan	O
Who of Thy Godhead want that sacred sense	Y
That cordial glow of gratitude intense	Y
Which forms the bliss of their enlighten'd zeal	D
Who all the merits of thy mercy feel	D
Who hail Thee quitting thy bright throne above	Z
Sublime example of celestial love	Z
To clear for them a debt they could not pay	A2
And change their darkness to eternal day	A2
How passing sweet to pure devotion's soul	D
Are proofs of thy unlimited controul	D
While the true Christian's mental eyes survey	A2
Thy heavenly origin and healing sway	A2
Only begotten Son of Sire supreme	G
Whose quickening bounty was thy vital beam	G
Ere nature lived when with thy filial aid	K
The vast foundation of all worlds was laid	K
When the paternal God was pleas'd to see	B2
A blight reflection of Himself in Thee	B2
The splendour of his glory form'd to share	C2
His purest power his providential care	C2
And in consummating his gracious will	D
At length annihilate all cureless ill	D
To faith's pure eyes how ravishingly clear	D2
Signs of her Lord's Divinity appear	D2
While earth and Heaven invite her to behold	K
How the fair series of those signs unfold	K
A blest Redeemer and without a trace	E2
Of man's corruption in his ruin'd race	E2
Announc'd by mercy to our fallen sire	M
Soon made that contrite criminal respire	M
Age after age of prophecy the breath	L
Softening the horrors in the doom of death	L
While nature strove with sin's dark woes to cope	F2
Shed thro' her lighten'd heart religious hope	F2
Thro' patriarchal times in vision clear	M
Types of the great Deliverer appear	M
At length when centuries have roll'd away	A2
And faith stands watching for her promis'd day	A2
She sees her Saviour from a virgin sprung	G2
His advent by attending angels song	H2
And wisdom usher'd by the guiding Star	M
Hails Him with gifts of homage from afar	M
The voice of Heaven proclaims his promis'd birth	I2
And conscious nature feels her friend on earth	I2
His uninstructed youth divinely sage	J2
Transcends the knowledge of experienc'd age	J2
The weak receive the strength his will can give	K2
The dead obedient to his mandate live	L2
In power as mighty as in mercy kind	K
He dies the ransom of redeem'd mankind	K
Lord of Existence He expires to prove	M2
His matchless effort of celestial love	Z
And ratify while He resigns his breath	L
His glorious conquest o'er the gates of death	L
A massive tomb receives his sacred corse	N2
And foes would guard it with a watchful force	N2
Vain boast of folly's disbelieving rout	K
Who thus confirm the Deity they doubt	K
The grave beholds the heavenly victor rise	O2
And soar triumphant to his native skies	O2
His troubled servants still to calm and cheer	M
See Him in human tenderness appear	M
And while the slow of faith He mildly blames	P2
My Lord my God his doubt freed saint exclaims	P2
Were He not God and worthy of our trust	K
Could He admit such worship from the just	K
And bless the conscious of his heavenly right	K
Whose faith demands no evidence of sight	K
Yet grace divine full evidence has given	U
Witness Thou earth by his dread sufferings riven	U
Witness Thou speaking firmament above	Z
When God proclaim'd Him offspring of his love	Z
Pleas'd to that blessed offspring to impart	K
Prerogative divine dominion of the heart	K
Exulting angels hail his sovereign sway	A2
Attest his glory his commands obey	A2
And usher Him whom e'en the demons own	N
As Earth's Redeemer to his heavenly throne	N
Thence while mankind receive a second birth	I2
He ratifies the word He spoke on earth	I2
And pleas'd to see his rescued servants live	L2
He gives them what the world had not to give	K2
Internal peace the duteous mind's repose	X
With powers to foil the most malignant foes	X
This vital sunshine of enlighten'd hearts	Q2
This to his firm adherents He imparts	Q2
When duly grateful for his kind controul	D
They bless his empire o'er the willing soul	D
For in his own as in his Father's name	R2
He claims their boundless love a righteous claim	R2
A claim in which the proofs of Godhead shine	F
Celestial attributes and grace divine	F
Hear how beyond the scope of mortal voice	R
He bids his servants in his word rejoice	R
Bids them for every good on Him depend	K
As dearer far than every earthly friend	K
Regard Him parents children far above	Z
And die with transport to secure his love	Z
Were He mere man must not such orders seem	G
Distracted arrogance an impious dream	G
So of men's lives He only might dispose	X
From whose divinity their safety flows	X
Who left the bosom of His heavenly Sire	M
To merit what none other might acquire	M
A sacred right with that dread Sire to plead	K
To change the doom his justice had decreed	K
And save the guilty from perdition's storm	S2
Celestial victim in a human form	S2
Whose mediation soft'ning wrath supreme	G
Taught nature to revive in mercy's beam	G
Gracious Restorer of a race condemn'd	K
Tho' by the thankless tribes revil'd contemn'd	K
Yet gratitude and truth who round Thee fly	D
With all thy menial angels of the sky	D
Viewing thy gifts with rapturous amaze	W
Hail thy beneficence with heavenly praise	W
All bear eternal witness that Thou art	K
Justly a Sovereign in the human heart	K
Man cannot yield too much when at thy call	D
To Thee his grateful zeal resigns his all	D
Whate'er be may resign yet more he gains	T2
While in his heart his blest Redeemer reigns	T2
By thy kind words he is inform'd aright	K
And Thee exulting owns his path his light	K
Whether we ponder with a mind serene	U2
The gracious marvels of thy earthly scene	U2
Or the firm promise to thy servants given	U
Just ere they saw Thee re ascend to Heaven	U
Or the fulfilment of thy grand bequest	K
The promis'd Comforter of man distrest	K
That spirit which as man's unfailing friend	K
'Twas thine from thy celestial throne to send	K
The Spirit of thy Sire of truth and peace	V2
By whose blest influence base passions cease	V2
And Christians worthy of their Lord combine	F
In the pure bond of charity divine	F
Conscious from whom their new sensations flow	D
To whom their renovated hearts they owe	D
And conscious while their heavenly guide they bless	W2
Their gratitude is safe from all excess	W2
In sentient beings if their love and zeal	D
Should rise proportion'd to the aid they feel	D
Unbounded as thy benefits should be	B2
The thankful homage of our hearts to Thee	B2
Divine Deliverer whose grace bestows	X
Exemption from unutterable woes	X
Such gifts on men as they can ne'er requite	K
Made from the slaves of darkness sons of light	K
Thou filial Deity whose merits rise	O2
To such amazing height in human eyes	O2
A justly humble mind that feels their sway	A2
Too great for earthly language to display	A2
Conceives e'en seraphs tho' in glory's beam	G
May find their voice unequal to the theme	G
And seems to view them in their heavenly seat	K
Mute from pure adoration at thy feet	K
Thou blest Restorer of corrupted man	O
From all the snares of Satan's dark divan	O
Thou who with true compassion hast survey'd	K
Lost wanderers perishing without thy aid	K
To whose pure eyes all wonders are reveal'd	K
That live in mortals from themselves conceal'd	K
Who view'st with favor when they most aspire	M
Their narrow faculties and vast desire	M
O prosper and sustain my anxious thought	K
Pondering thy attributes as mortals ought	K
That while I strive to make thy nature known	N
My zeal may tend to purify my own	N
Pardon the daring aim of grateful love	Z
If in research man's intellect above	Z
I vainly seek such heavenly things to know	D
As Thou to mortals hast not deign'd to show	D
Veiling the mode of thy celestial birth	I2
From beings blind to mysteries of earth	I2
Thy geniture and thy redeeming power	M
Transcend the known extent of nature's dower	M
But pity weak mortality that tries	O2
To reach what may elude all human eyes	O2
The knowledge man desires is found by none	U
The Eternal Sire He only knows the Son	U
Taught by this truth be it our wish alone	N
To know Him only as he would be known	N
By grace divine his bounty's blest effect	K
On those who hail Him with devout respect	K
Thou filial Deity in manly shape	X2
Whose eye no deeds no thoughts of man escape	X2
Thy servants have no wound Thou dost not feel	D
No sorrow that thy aid can fail to heal	D
In all the trials I was born to bear	M
Many and sharp have fallen to my share	M
I bless them leading me to feel and see	B2
Our sweetest comfort is our trust in Thee	B2
Calm acquiescence in thy sacred will	D
Becomes an antidote to every ill	D
As tasks ensuring favour in thy sight	K
Grief turns to joy and anguish to delight	K
Till all the chasten'd heart exults to bless	W2
A Martyr's triumph o'er subdued distress	W2
Saviour whose image pure maternal prayer	M
Fix'd in my heart with just dominion there	M
Thou never banish'd thence tho' in my youth	Y2
I heard rash sceptics scoffing at thy truth	Y2
Deride thy Gospel and thy deeds revile	D
As the false tales of an impostor's guile	D
Blest that no impious wit had power to blind	K
Thy dawn of favour in my opening mind	K
There in maturer seasons grief and pain	Z2
As heavenly agents have confirmed thy reign	Z2
My spirit's guardian soother of my woes	X
Still of my chequer'd days illume the close	A3
All mortals feel their trespasses require	M
An Intercessor with th' eternal Sire	M
And on their minds thy cheering favours shine	F
Who feel thou art an arbiter divine	F
Who thy dominion o'er the soul confess	W2
And as their final Judge thy Godhead bless	W2
Deign to befriend me in my dying hour	M
Thou clear Vicegerent of thy Father's power	M
And while within a grateful heart I own	N
My hopes to view Thee on thy heavenly throne	N
With all thy merits on my soul imprest	K
May faith's firm wings convey me to thy breast	K
Such friendly disputant of studious mind	K
Ever to good in active life inclind	K
Such are my thoughts my views my hopes my creed	K
Adverse I own to those for which you plead	K
And which to speak without reserve I deem	G
A rash surmise a dark Socinian dream	G
Tho' tenets diversely our fancy strike	B3
May both in purity of heart alike	B3
Still trust the hope to that endowment given	U
To reach the glorious certainty of Heaven	U
Where when the pardon'd round their Lord unite	K
Their errors will be lost in beatific light	K

William Hayley

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