"Oh suff'ring Lord! he cried, whose streaming blood
"Was pour'd for man--Earth drank the sacred flood--
"Whose mercy in the mortal pang forgave 105
"The murd'rous band, thy love alone could save;
"Forgive--thy goodness bursts each narrow bound,
"Which feeble thought, and human hope surround;
"Forgive the guilty wretch, whose impious hand
"From thy pure altar flings the flaming brand, 110
"In human blood that hallow'd altar steeps,
"Libation dire! while groaning nature weeps--
"The limits of thy mercy dares to scan,
"The object of thy love, his victim,--Man;
"While yet I linger, lo, the suff'rer dies-- 115
"I see his frame convuls'd--I hear his sighs--
"Whoe'er controuls the purpose of my heart
"First in this breast shall plunge his guilty dart:"
With anxious step he flew, with eager hands
He broke the fetters, burst the cruel bands. 120
As the fall'n angel heard with awful fear
The cherub's grave rebuke, in grace severe,
And fled, while horror plum'd his impious crest[B],
The form of virtue, as she stood confest;
So fierce Valverda sullen mov'd along, 125
Abash'd, and follow'd by the guilty throng.
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