Hail, holy love! ethereal essence, hail!
Heaven’s earliest offspring, earliest visitant
From thence to earth, here latest found to soothe
Man’s burdened heart, with pains and griefs oppressed,
(Sad fruit of disobedience,) thou, ere time
His race had yet begun, the glorious plan
Of mercy didst devise, the day of grace,
That with mild lustre dawned in Eden’s shades,
What time primeval sinners strove to hide
(Vain subterfuge!) from God’s all-piercing eye