To Moses in the Mount sweet intuition,
Entrancing there the meekest of mankind,
In colloquy divine and dream elysian.
--The Glory! oh, the Glory! All the Mind
Of all the Earth in vain thereon would gaze,
Wherein Messiah is in Mercy shrined,
But that his Mercy tempers the full blaze
Of godlike Majesty, from whose far stream
Recoil the Nations, with immense amaze,
And prostrate fall, adoring the Supreme.
There sate the God-like on his sapphire Throne,
Exalted o'er the sky-crowned Cherubim,
And there-within the ambient Amber shone,
And gloriously the Bow of Promise wove,
About the Son of Man, its blended zone,
Arching the Filial Deity of Love;
Upon the obedient firmanent he trod,
Stretched forth crystalline o'er the heads above
Of fulminating Cherubim, and awed
The People with his Power, whenas they viewed
The perfect Man, the Coeternal God.
Beneath his Coming were the Heavens subdued,
Borne on the wings of Angels, folded now;
The Chariot of their Maker. So they stood.
So also stood the involved Wheels below,
Great fourfold orbs irradiate all with eyes,
And elevated high, terrifick show,
Up to the dreadful cope that canopies
The Almighty, populous and hovered o'er,
With Seraphim, on flaming ministries.
-But, on the footstool of his Throne before,
With humble heart a contrite Sinner lay,
Adoring him whose blood he witnessed pour,
And from his cross, upon this selfsame day,
His fellow Sufferer for his Saviour owned,
And in that blood washed all his sins away,
And his unrighteousness with faith atoned.
Swathed in the penal robes of sunken shame,
Silent he prayed to Him who sate enthroned-
He pleaded nothing, nor could plead; no claim
Had he for pardon; and the Arch-Enemy
Summed his transgressions and denounced the same.
There, in the Presence of the Lord Most High,
The Adversary stood, and urged his plea,
Disputing yet for Death 'gainst Victory.
-"The Soul that sinneth, it shall die," said he~ Thus glozed the Tempter and Accuser, lies Founding on Truth, pronounced maliciously.
His tongue was cunning mischief to devise,
And keen of edge for guile's infernal deed,
Satanick craft of vain logomachies.
"He stood on Sinai, and the chosen seed Admonished of his Law, in thunder spoken, And the loud trumpet bade His people heed;
And Him the lightning-terrours girt, in token
Both Curse and Death should swift pursue and smite
The Man by whom their prescript should be broken.
Is not the Sentence just; and mine, by right,
The power of Death? What hindereth then that I
Resume my own? if Reason rule, not Might.
The violated Laws for Vengeance cry!
If one-then all. Adoring what he stole,
He sacrificed, in fond idolatry,
Thereto his sacred and immortal soul,
Dishonouring his Father in the act,
Slaying the Tree that bore him, branch and bole,
Remorseless Matricide, and with the fact
Charging her cold remains—false witness, worse
Than he who from his Neighbour would detract,
His Mother's teaching who did thus rehearse!
What need of more? all these his crime includes-
His Maker's name who doubts he oft would curse,
His Sabbaths break, and have his lustful moods?
Bring me the Thief who can these faults forego
"Tis clear he coveted another's goods-
What! was the smoking Mountain but a show?
I stand for Moses, and his written law,
And plead it to the letter. Judge thou so!"
-While Satan pled, in penitential awe,
The Thief breathed fervently his silent prayer,
Heard by his ear whose eye his spirit saw.
-"Satan"-replied the Judge-"Why art thou here? What Sinai claimed did Golgotha fulfil,
And Death even died with the Incarnate there.
For Moses' body why disputest still?
God's word hath double edge, destroys to save,
And makes alive even while it seems to kill."
Whereat th' Archfiend exclaimed-" Laws then but
But by the Form can we the Spirit know,
But by the Letter they expression have―
If that uncertain be, must be even so
The truth it represents; . . for who can see,
The Spirit formless, wordless?.. who can show ?"
-“Yet,” said the Word eternal, "Truth shall be
Known by the Spirit only, although read
By the dishonest most dishonestly—
The Spirit of the thing interpreted
Is that which doth interpret, they accord-
If that be faithful, error none need dread-
Get thee behind me, Satan! Thus the Lord
Rebukes thee!"-At these words, the Accuser fell,
As lightning flashed from heaven; the Heaven abhorred,
From God's right hand, evanished into Hell.
Then to that Brand thus plucked from out the fire,
The Lord spake--" Stand upon thy feet!"-and lo,
The entering Spirit did with life inspire,
And set him on his feet, and, standing so,
The penal swathings of his shame fell down
From off his limbs, which now with glory glow,
Invested with new raiment and a crown,
A mitre fair, on his anointed head;
Angelick garb, and he an angel grown.
-Nor heard they not, those Armies of the Dead, Who vailed o'erpowered, before that glorious Throne, Their prostrate brows with reverential dread;
Nor, by the Spirit reanimate, alone
He rose, but the same spirit pervaded wide,
The adoring Nations; thus they arose, as one,
As one man they arose, and magnified
The triumph of redemption. There might be
Patriarch and Prophet, King and Priest descried-
And thee, who saw a World expire, even thee,
Oh Noah, I beheld-encouraged so,
With thine innumerable Company,
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