PARAPHRASE.

ISAIAH XL.

Rejoice O my people! Jehovah hath spoken!

The dark chain of sin and oppression is broken;

Thy warfare is over, thy bondage is past,

The Lord hath looked down on his chosen at last.

A voice from the wilderness breaks on mine ear—

O Israel, rejoice! thy redemption is near:

A path for our God the wild desert shall yield;

He comes in the light of salvation revealed;

His word hath declared, who speaks not in vain;

He bends the high mountain, exalts the low plain;

All flesh shall behold him, far nations shall bring

Their glad songs of triumph to welcome their King!

[Pg 60]

As the grass of the field in the morning is green,

So man, in his beauty and vigour, is seen

A perishing glory, the beam of a day,

A flower that will fade with the evening away:

The breath of the Lord o'er its verdure shall pass;

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