“Exalt, exalt, the Heavenly Gates,

Ye chiefs of mighty name!

The Lord and King of all things waits,

Enrobed in earthly frame.”

So to the higher seats they cry,

The humbler legions of the sky.

For Adam’s sake, by Serpent-guile

Distressed, deceived, o’erthrown,

Thou left’st Thy native Home awhile,

Thou left’st the FATHER’s Throne:

Now he is decked afresh with grace,

Thou seek’st once more the Heavenly place.

Glad festal keeps the earth today,

Glad festal Heav’n is keeping;

The Ascension-pomp, in bright array,

Goes proudly sky-ward sweeping:

The LORD the mighty deed hath done,

And joined the severed into one.

Her fetters of the barren womb it rent,

It crushed the malice of the insolent,

The cry of her—the prophetess, who brought

A contrite spirit, and a humble thought

To Him, Who bids His Throne by earnest prayer be sought.