Thou and all Angels conversant on earth With man or men's affairs, how I begin To verify that folemn message late, On which I fent thee to the Virgin pure In Galilee, that she should bear a fon
Great in renown, and call'd the Son of God; Then toldst her doubting how these things could be To her a virgin, that on her should come
The Holy Ghost, and the pow'r of the Higheft
O'er-shadow her: this man born and now up-grown, To shew him worthy of his birth divine
And high prediction, henceforth I expose To Satan; let him tempt and now afsay His utmost subtlety, because he boasts
And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng 145
Of his apoftafy; he might have learnt
Less overweening since he fail'd in Job,
Whose constant perfeverance overcame
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent.
He now shall know I can produce a man Of female feed, far abler to refift
All his folicitations, and at length
All his vast force, and drive him back to Hell,
Winning by conquest what the first man loft By fallacy furpris'd. But first I mean To exercise him in the wilderness,
There he shall first lay down the rudiments Of his great warfare, ere I fend him forth
To conquer Sin and Death, the two grand foes, By humiliation and strong sufferance: His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength, And all the world, and mass of finful flesh; That all the Angels and ethereal Powers, They now, and men hereafter may difcern, From what confummate virtue I have chose This perfect man, by merit call'd my Son, To earn falvation for the fons of men.
So spake th' eternal Father, and all Heaven Admiring stood a space, then into hymns Burst forth, and in celestial measures mov'd, Circling the throne and finging, while the hand Sung with the voice, and this the argument.
Victory' and triumph to the Son of God Now entring his great duel, not of arms, But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles. The Father knows the Son; therefore fecure Ventures his filial virtue, though untry'd, Against whate'er may tempt, whate'er feduce,
Allure, or terrify, or undermine. Be frustrate all ye stratagems of Hell, And devilish machinations come to nought.
So they in Heav'n their odes and vigils tun'd: Mean while the Son of God, who yet some days Lodg'd in Bethabara where John baptiz'd, Musing and much revolving in his breast,
How best the mighty work he might begin
Of Saviour to mankind, and which way first Publish his God-like office now mature, One day forth walk'd alone, the Spirit leading, And his deep thoughts, the better to converse 190 With folitude, till far from track of men, Thought following thought, and step by step led on, He enter'd now the bord'ring defert wild, And with dark shades and rocks environ'd round, His holy meditations thus purfu'd.
O what a multitude of thoughts at once Awaken'd in me fwarm, while I confider What from within I feel myself, and hear What from without comes often to my ears, Ill forting with my present state compar'd! When I was yet a child, no childish play To me was pleasing; all my mind was fet Serious to learn and know, and thence to do What might be public good; myself I thought Born to that end, born to promote all truth, All righteous things: therefore above my years, The law of God I read, and found it sweet, Made it my whole delight, and in it grew To such perfection, that ere yet my age
Had measur'd twice fix years, at our great feaft 210
I went into the temple, there to hear
The teachers of our law, and to propose
What might improve my knowledge or their own;
And was admir'd by all: yet this not all
To which my Spirit aspir'd; victorious deeds Flam'd in my heart, heroic acts, one while To rescue Ifrael from the Roman yoke, Then to fubdue and quell o'er all the earth Brute violence and proud tyrannic power, Till truth were freed, and equity restor'd: Yet held it more humane, more heav'nly first By winning words to conquer willing hearts, And make perfuafion do the work of fear; At least to try, and teach the erring foul Not wilfully mif-doing, but unware Misled; the ftubborn only to fubdue. These growing thoughts my mother foon perceiving By words at times cast forth inly rejoic'd, And faid to me apart, High are thy thoughts O Son, but nourish them and let them foar To what highth facred virtue and true worth Can raise them, though above example high; By matchless deeds express thy matchless Sire. For know, thou art no son of mortal man;
Though men efteem thee low of parentage, Thy Father is th' eternal King who rules All Heav'n and Earth, Angels and Sons of men; A messenger from God foretold thy birth
Conceiv'd in me a virgin, he foretold
Thou should'st be great and fit on David's throne,
And of thy Kingdom there should be no end.
At thy nativity a glorious quire
Of Angels in the fields of Bethlehem sung To shepherds watching at their folds by night, And told them the Meffiah now was born Where they might fee him, and to thee they came, Directed to the manger where thou lay'st, For in the inn was left no better room:
A ftar, not seen before, in Heav'n appearing Guided the wife men thither from the east, To honor thee with incenfe, myrrh, and gold, By whose bright course led on they found the place, Affirming it thy star new grav'n in Heaven,
By which they knew the king of Ifrael born.
Just Simeon and prophetic Anna, warn'd
By vision, found thee in the temple', and spake
Before the altar and the vested prieft,
Like things of thee to all that present stood.
This having heard, strait I again revolv'd The law and prophets, searching what was writ 260 Concerning the Meffiah, to our fcribes
Known partly, and foon found of whom they spake I am; this chiefly, that my way must lie Through many a hard assay ev'n to the death, Ere I the promis'd kingdom can attain, Or work redemption for mankind, whose sins Full weight must be transferr'd upon my head.
Yet neither thus dishearten'd or dismay'd,
The time prefix'd I waited, when behold
The Baptift (of whose birth I oft had heard,
« السابقةمتابعة » |