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Unseen before in Heaven, proclaims him come;
And guides the eastern sages, who inquire
His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold:
His place of birth a solemn Angel tells

To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;
They gladly thither haste, and by a choir
Of squadron'd Angel hear his carol sung.
A virgin in his mother, but his sire

The power of the Most High: he shall ascend
The throne hereditary, and bounds, his reign

With Earth's wide bounds his glory with the Heavens. He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy Surcharged, as had like grief been dew'd in tears, Without the vent ofwords; which these he breahed; "O prophet of glad tidings, finisher

of utmost hope! now clear I understand

What oft my steadiest thoughts have search'd in vain ;
Why our great expecation should be call'd

The seed of women: Virgin mother, hail,
High in the love of Heaven; yet from my loins
Thou shalt proceed, and from thy womb the Son
Of God Most High: so God with man unites !
Need must the serpent now his capital bruise
Expect with mortal pain: say where and when
Their fight, what stroke shall bruse the victor's heel."
To whom thus Michael: "Dream not of their fight
As of a duel, or the local wounds

Of head or heel: not therefore joins the Son
Manhood to God head, with more strength to foil
Thy enemy; nor so is overcome

Satan, whose fall from Heaven, a deadlier bruised,
Disabled, not to give thee thy death's wound:
Which he, who comes thy Saviour, shall rescue.
Not by destroying Satan, but his works

In thee and thy seed: nor can this be,
But by fulfiling that which thou didst want
Obedience to the law of God, imposed

On penalty of death, and suffering death;
The penalty to thy transgression due,
And due to theirs which out of thine will grow
So only can high justice rest appaid.

The law of God exact he shall fulfil
Both by obedience and love, though love
Alone fulfil the law; thy punishment
He shall endure, by coming in the flesh
To a reproachful life and cursed death;
Proclaiming life to all who shall believe
In his redemption; and that his obedience,
Imputed, becoms theirs by faith; his merits
To save them, not their own, though legal, works,
For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,
Seized on by force, judged. and to death condemn'd
A shameful and accursed, nail'd to the cross
By his own nation; slain for bringing life :
But to the cross he nails thy enemies,
The law that is against thee, and the sins
Of all mankind, with him there crucified,
Never to hurt them more who rightly trust
In this satisfaction; so he dies,

But soon revives: Death over him no power
Shall long usurp; ere the third dawning light,
Return.the stars of morn shall see him rise
Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light

Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems;
His death for man as any offer'd life

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Neglect not, and the benefit embrace

By faith not void of works: this godlike act

Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldst have died:
In sin for ever lost from life; this act

Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength,
Defeating sin and death, his two main arms;
And fix far deeper in his head their stings
Than temporal death shall bruise the victor's heel,
Of theirs whom he redeems; a death, like sleep,

A gentle wafting to immortal life.

Nor after resurrection shall he stay

Longer on Earth than certain times to appear
To his disciples, men who in his life

Still follow'd him; to them shall leave in charge
To teach all nations what of him they learn'd
And his salvation; them who shall believe
Baptizing in the profluent stream, the sign
Of washing them from guilt of sin to life
Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befal,
For Death, like that which the Redeemer died
All nations they shall teach; for from that day
Not only to the sons of Abraham's loins
Salvation shall be preach'd but to the sons
Of Abraham's faith wherever through the world,
So in his seed all nations shall be bless'd,
Then to the Heaven of Heavens he shall ascend
With victory, triumphing through the air
Over his foes and thine, there shall surprise
The Serpent, prince of air, and drag in chains
Through all his realm. and there confounded leave;
Then enter into glory, and resume

His seat at God's right hand, exalted high

Above all, names in Heaven: and thence shall come, When this world's dessolution shall be ripe.

With glory and power to judge both quick and dead
To judge the unfaithful dead, but to reward

His faithful, and receive them into bliss,
Whether in Heaven or Earth; for then the Earth,
Shall all be Paradise, far happier place
Than this of Eden, and far happier days."

So spake the Arch-Angel Michael; then paused, As at the world's great period; and our sire, Replete with joy and wonder, thus replied:

"O Goodness infinite, Goodness immense! That all this good of evil shall produce, And evil turn to good; more wonderful

Than that which by creation first brought forth
Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,
Whether I should repent me now of sin

By me done and occasion'd; or rejoice

Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring
To God more glory, more good-will to men

From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.
But say, if our Deliverer up to Heaven
Must reascend, what will betide the few
His faithful, left among the unfaithful herd,
The enemies of truth? Who then shall guide
His people, who defend? Will they not deal
Worse with his followers than with him they dealt?',
"Be sure they will, said the Angel; but from
He to his own a Comforter will send,

[Heaven

The promise of the Father, who shall dwell

His Spirit within them; and the law of faith,
Working through love, upon their hearts shall write
To guide them in all truth: and also arm
With spiritual armour, able to resist
Satan's assaults, and quench his fiery darts;
What man can do against them, not afraid,
Though to the death: against such cruelties
With inward consolations recompensed
And oft supported so as shall amaze
Their proudest persecutors; for the spirit,
Pour'd first on his apostles, whom he sends
To evangelize the natious, then on all
Baptized, shall them with wonderous gifts endue
To speak all tongues, and do all miracles,
As did their Lord before them. Thus they win
Great numbers of each nation to receive

With joy the tidings brought from Heaven: at length
Their ministry perform'd and race well run,
Their doctrine and their story written left,
They die but in their room as they forewarn,
Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves

Who all the sacred mysteries of Heaven
To their own vile advantages shall turn
Of lucre and ambition; and the truth
With superstition and traditions taint,
Left only in those written records pure.
Though not but by the spirit understood.

Then they shall seek to avail themselves of names,
Places, and titles, and with these to join
Secular power: though feigning still to act
By spiritual, to themselves appropriating
The Spirit of God, promised alike and given
To all believers and from that pretence,

:

Spiritual laws by carnal power shall force
On every conscience: laws which none shall find
Left them inroll'd, or what the spirit within
Shall on the heart engrave. What will they then
But force the spirit of grace itself, and bind
His consort liberty? What, but unbuild
His living temples, built by faith to stand,
Their own faith not another's? For on Earth,
Who against faith and conscience can be heard
Infallible? yet many will presume:
Whence heavy persecution shall arise
On all, who in the worship persevere

Of spirit and truth: the rest, far greater part,
Will deem in outward rites and specious forms
Religion satisfied: truth shall retire

Bestuck with slanderous darts, and works of faith
Rarely be found so shall the world go on,
To good malignant, to bad men benign :
Under her own weight groaning: till the day
Appear of respiration to the just,

And vengeance to the wicked, at return
Of him so lately promised to thy aid

The womans seed: obscurely then foretold,
Now ampler known thy Saviour and thy Lord

2C*

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