Captivity

Angels, happy spirits, say,
When you trace the airy way,
Sent on messages of love,
From the radiant courts above,
Down to these abodes of night,
Far from empyrean light;
Say, can blest immortals know
Sympathy from human woe,
While you view the scenes of pain,
Captives struggling with their chain?
Hated chain, that binds to earth
Spirits of etherial birth;
Birth at first to yours akin,
Now enslav'd, alas! by sin;
Cursed sin, the source of woe,
All the miseries below
From the hateful tyrant flow!
Yet we bear the cruel chain,
Only now and then complain;
Now and then, with mournful eye,
Raise a wish, and breathe a sigh,
Upward to our native sky.
But how soon to liberty,
Cold and negligent are we,
Sink supine, and dream of ease!
How, alas! can fetters please?
Can we hope for crowns on high,
Yet content in bondage lie,
Exiles from the blest abode,
Far from glory, far from God?
Surely if the sons of bliss
Feel a grief, it must be this.

O for one celestial ray
From the shining seats of day!
Sun of righteousness, arise,
Chase the slumbers from our eyes,
Melt the chains with heavenly fire:
Fervent love and strong desire
From thy love alone begin;
Thou canst break the power of sin;
Thou canst bid our spirits rise
Free and joyful to the skies;
Liberty and joy divine,
Sun of righteousness, are thine.