UC-NRLF 
 
 SB It 5 TSO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
^LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
THE 
 
 MESSIAH: 
 
 9 Votm, 
 
 IN SIX BOOKS. 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT MONTGOMERY, M.A. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 " THE OMNIPRESENCE OF THE DEITY," " SATAN," " WOMAN," 
 ETC. ETC. 
 
 " Son of the Most High ! Heir of both worlds ! 
 
 Queller of Satan ! on thy glorious work 
 Now enter ; and begin to save mankind." 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 EIGHTH EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 FRANCIS BAISLER, 124, OXFORD STREET; 
 
 HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO., 33, PATERNOSTER ROW; 
 
 TILT AND BOGUE, 86, FLEET STREET. 
 
 MDCCCTXLII. 
 
A11S6 
 
 TO 
 
 THE QUEEN, 
 
 (BY GRACIOUS PKRMISSION,) 
 THE FOLLOWING POEM 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 
 BY 
 
 VERY DUTIFUL AND OBLIGED SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 818 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " Though divine the theme, 
 'Tis not in artful measures, in the chime 
 And idle tinkling of a minstrel's lyre, 
 To charm His ear whose eye is on the heart, 
 Whose frown can disappoint the proudest strain, 
 Whose approbation prosper even mine." 
 
 THE following Poem is submitted to the public 
 with great deference. The sublimity of the theme 
 increases the responsibility of the Author, and ren- 
 ders him anything but sanguine as to the result. 
 
 To those who may accuse him of arrogance, he 
 can only reply, that he has approached his subject 
 with no irreverent thought or careless speed; nor 
 is he aware that any available source, whereby light 
 could be thrown on doctrine, scene, or character, 
 has been left unconsulted. What the delay of years 
 might have effected, to render it more worthy the 
 public attention, he will not venture to suggest. 
 The Horatian advice, though often the critic's pre- 
 cept, has rarely been the poet's example : time and 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 circumstance are to be duly estimated; and, in the 
 present instance, it is hoped that some allowances 
 will be made for the vivid impression produced on 
 the mind from our earliest years, by the awful 
 drama of the Redeemer's life; and also for the im- 
 pulse of feelings accustomed to reflect on sacred 
 themes, which 
 
 - might demand a seraph's tongue, 
 
 Were they not equal to their own support, 
 And therefore no incompetence of mine 
 Could do them wrong." 
 
 WORDSWORTH. 
 
 " To inbreed and cherish in a people the seeds of 
 virtue and public civility, to allay the perturbations 
 of the mind, and set the affections in right tune; to 
 celebrate in glorious and lofty hymns the throne 
 and equipage of God's almightiness, to sing vic- 
 torious agonies of saints and martyrs, the deeds and 
 triumphs of just and pious nations doing valiantly 
 against the enemies of Christ; lastly, whatsoever in 
 religion is holy and sublime, in virtue amiable or 
 grave; whatever hath passion or admiration in all 
 the changes of that which is called fortune from 
 without; or the wily subtleties or refluxes of man's 
 thoughts from within, all these things with a solid 
 and tractable smoothness to paint out and describe/' 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 is the true aim of poetry, as set forth by the 
 loftiest of all poets. To aspire after this can form 
 no man's disgrace : he may not secure fame, but 
 assuredly he partakes a higher reward than reputa- 
 tion can bestow, while he endeavours to promote that 
 elevation of mind, which constitutes the true enjoy- 
 ment of a being whose destiny survives the world. 
 
 " Commenta opinionum delet dies, naturae judicia 
 confirmat."* On attacks, personal or otherwise, 
 the Author has nothing to remark ; nor does he wish 
 to sully, by acrimonious discussion, pages dedi- 
 cated, he fondly hopes, to a better and nobler pur- 
 pose. If his writings and character have been mis- 
 represented by anonymous foes, it is gratifying to 
 remember, that they have neither subdued exertion 
 nor perverted his mind ; much less have they lost 
 him the esteem and friendship of many of the good 
 and great of his country, which, but for his pro- 
 ductions, he had never enjoyed. 
 
 * Cicero. 
 Lincoln College, Oxon, 1832. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THE Author cannot permit a second edition of this 
 work to appear, without offering his unaffected 
 acknowledgments for the manner in which it has 
 been received by an indulgent public. He has 
 only to add, that it has been carefully revised and 
 corrected. 
 
 London, June 8, 1832. 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 " Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia lib ant, 
 Sic nos scripturse depascimur aurea dicta, 
 Aurea, perpetua semper dignissima vita !" 
 
 Lucret. lib. iii. 
 
 Prophecy is of prodigious extent. It commenced from the fall of 
 man, 'and reaches to the consummation of all things. The declared 
 purpose for which the Messiah, prefigured by so long a train of pro- 
 phecy, came into the world, corresponds with all the rest of the repre- 
 sentation, it was to deliver a world from ruin, to abolish sin and death, 
 to purify and immortalize human nature. We have no words to denote 
 greater ideas than these; the mind of man cannot elevate itself to 
 nobler conceptions. Hurd. 
 
ANALYSIS OF BOOK I. 
 
 APOSTROPHE to the Divine Spirit Creation, the offspring of Almighty 
 love Sketch of man's primal state and fall The fathomless mystery 
 of evil The curse, and its attendant awfulness Necessity of atone- 
 mentThe Majesty of Christ's Redemption He is the soul and centre 
 of all Revelation and rites Was present at the delivery of the law from 
 Sinai Picture of the camp of Israel in the wilderness The gloom of 
 death as it must have appeared to our first parents Then- retrospec- 
 tionsBirth of Eve's first child, and her triumphant exclamation 
 Abraham Isaac The offering of the latter, a type of that Heavenly 
 Sacrifice hereafter to be offered up for the whole world Beauty and 
 simplicity of the patriarchal state Balak Prophecy Grandeur of the 
 prophetical character The announcement of Messiah, a leading cha- 
 racteristic of the sacred predictions Job, the doctrine derived from his 
 sufferings His sublime expression of faith in a Redeemer David, his 
 magnificent character as poet and prophet Prophecies relative to 
 Christ Isaiah, his style, and predictions Ezekiel, Daniel, and Malachi 
 Each considered as prophetical announcers of Christ and His king- 
 domReflections on the Saviour, as they may arise to a contemplative 
 mind in solitude The glory and felicity of spirits who worship, love, 
 and obey him. 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE great REDEEMER and the glorious Cross, 
 
 I sing: O Thou! by whom the worlds were made, 
 
 Be with me in this high attempt, and theme 
 
 August of all-surpassing love divine; 
 
 That with no daring eye, or step profane, 
 
 The Muse may wander where the Saviour trod: 
 
 If e'er at morning, noon, or solemn night, 
 
 Thy shadow on my soul hath been, or prayer 
 
 Or praise, before Thy hymned throne prevailed, 
 
 Almighty! sanction, and my song inspire. 
 
 Ere matter was, or Time his race began, 
 Himself was All ! the unapparent God. 
 But Life the symbol of His Love became ; 
 He will'd a universe, and, lo! IT WAS! 
 
 With Nature in her young excess of bloom 
 Array 'd, and with a living sense of joy 
 B 
 
2 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 Abroad upon the verdant face of things, 
 How exquisite must Earth's primeval state 
 Have been, how tinted with the hues of heaven! 
 And when amid it, from unbreathing dust, 
 A living shape of godlike beauty rose, 
 Alas! that e'er on such transcendent scene 
 A shade of guilt could fall ! that clouds advanced 
 In wrath and darkness o'er offending Earth, 
 No longer bright with angel steps, but sad 
 And stricken, trembling at her God ! 
 
 When Man, as monarch of the globe, was placed 
 Where lavish Eden waved and smiled, sublime 
 He stood, but to his Maker homage due 
 By test of one supreme command was tried : 
 " Of every tree which in the garden grows 
 All freely eat, save THAT, wherein of Good 
 And Evil the forbidden knowledge lies; 
 Whereof the day thou eatest, thou shalt die !" 1 
 A Tempter came, the interdicted fruit 
 Man dared to eat, and from his high estate 
 Of glory, into disobedience fell ! 
 
 In this dark hour when evil doom prevails, 
 Shall finite teach the INFINITE His ways, 
 Or shape the path Omnipotence should tread ? 
 Shall man, in dreams of wild presumption, dare 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 3 
 
 The universe condemn, or blindly call 
 
 His fate unjust? Shall fancy, in her flight 
 
 Insane, beyond the empyrean soar, 
 
 The God unthrone, His attributes affect, 
 
 And fashion worlds to prove his wisdom wrong? 
 
 Let Nature hope, and while her blessings thrive, 
 
 To secret Heaven resign the vast unknown. 2 
 
 The Mind was grander than the universe, 
 And, when corrupted, changed a world ! Then face 
 To face the creature and Creator met, 
 And Man, with sinking brow and shuddering frame, 
 Till reel'd the ground whereon the trembler trod, 
 Heard the deep judgment, wither, toil, and die! 
 
 Pale in the gloom of that departed cloud,* 
 Whose shadow, like a lightning track, had scathed 
 The bowers of Paradise, when Adam stood 
 With eyes aghast, and view'd the blighted world, 
 Grow dark around him, while his fancy heard 
 The curse still rolling on the awe -struck wind ? 
 The dimness and the agony of doubt 
 How terribly his fallen soul endured ! 
 For what forbade, but in the hour he sinn'd, 
 By one annihilating word consumed, 
 
 * The cloud of glory, which betokened the Divine Presence. 
 
4 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 That earth should perish in the pangs of hell ! 
 Oh! ye, who in the choir of Cherubim 
 Divinely shaped, upon your sapphire thrones, 
 That in the palace of Jehovah blaze, 
 One anthem of seraphic bliss prolong ; 
 Attune my lyre, triumphantly to sing, 
 Who, sun-like, dawn'd upon the gloom of death, 
 The majesty of dreadful Justice saved, 
 And.roll'd away God's thunders from the world ! 
 
 But say, hath ever hymn by angel sung, 
 Hath thought divined, or human voice express'd, 
 This miracle of miracles profound, 
 A world redeem'd, and Christ redemption's Lord? 
 I've seen the sun, creation's paramount, 
 Rise o'er the waves, arid lead the march of day; 
 Alone have mused, when tempest roof 'd the heavens 
 With blackness, and the tragic main revered 
 Till every wave drew worship from my soul; 
 The dark sublimity of deepest night 
 Hath girdled, and the glories of her sky 
 O'erwhelm'd me : in humbleness and awe 
 Before the majesty of human worth 
 I've bow'd, and felt how lovely virtue is;* 
 But poor and pow'rless, dim and undefined, 
 
 * How awful goodness is. Milton. 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 5 
 
 The adoration born of scenes or hours 
 Below, to that which o'er the spirit comes, 
 When silent, LORD ! it thinks alone of Thee. 
 
 In Christ all revelation lives! His voice 
 With man in Eden dread communion held, 3 
 To teach him morning vow, or evening prayer, 
 Or sacrifice divine; the shadowy type, 
 The mystic law, and ceremonious powers, 
 To Him relate: and when thy desert rang, 
 O Sinai! with the battle-hymns of old, 
 While Judah's banners in victorious play 
 Spread glory on the wind ! the Lord o'erhung 
 The travell'd wilderness ; the signal cloud 
 By day and night His awful guidance led : 
 And Horeb heard Him! when, in lightning veil'd, 
 Her giant form beneath His thunders bow'd, 
 As high o'er all the dreadful trumpet clang'd 
 With heaven -toned music till the Desert shook ! 
 
 That wilderness ! oh ! when hath mind conceived 
 Magnificence beyond a midnight there, 
 When Israel camp'd, and o'er her tented host 
 The moonlight lay? =On yonder palmy mount, 
 Lo! sleeping myriads in the dewy hush 
 Of night repose; around, in squared' array, 
 The camps are set; and in the midst, apart, 
 B 2 
 
6 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 The curtain'd shrine, where mystically dwells 
 
 Jehovah's presence! through the soundless air 
 
 A cloudy pillar, robed in burning light, 
 
 Appears: concentred as one mighty heart, 
 
 A million* lie, in mutest slumber bound, 
 
 Or, panting like the Ocean, when a dream 
 
 Of storm awakes her; Heaven and Earth are still; 
 
 In radiant loveliness the stars pursue 
 
 Their pilgrimage, while moonlight's wizard hand 
 
 Throws beauty, like a spectre-light, on all. 
 
 At Judah's tent the lion-banner stands 
 
 Upfolded, and the pacing sentinels, 
 
 What awe pervades them, when the dusky groves, 
 
 The rocks Titanian, by the moonshine made 
 
 Unearthly, on yon mountains vast,! they view ! 
 
 But soon as morning bids the sky exult, 
 
 As earth from nothing, so that countless host 
 
 From slumber and from silence will awake 
 
 To mighty being ! while the forest-birds 
 
 Rush into song, the matin breezes play, 
 
 And streamlets flash where prying sunbeams fall: 
 
 Like clouds in lustre, banners will unroll, 
 
 The trumpet shout, the warlike tramp resound, 
 
 And hymns of valour from the marching tribes 
 
 Ascend, to gratulate the risen morn. 
 
 * Lamey's Account of the host and camps of Israel. 
 t Horeb and Sinai. 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 7 
 
 Though Mercy, when a malediction fell 
 On life and matter from the lips of God, 
 That Woman's seed should bruise the Serpent's head 
 Predicted, still in ghastly vision came 
 The shadows of thy then unenter'd world, 
 O Death! but time hath half thy gloom unveil'd: 
 Though yet invisible, no more thy realm 
 A desert seems, where nothing human dwells: 
 By ages peopled, 'tis the haunt of Dreams 
 Forsaking earth, to roam and muse awhile 
 With shapes of being, that did once imbibe 
 The vital breath; there prophet-spirits be, 
 Whose words were mightier than thunder-tones 
 When Nature trembles! there the good abide, 
 The glorious, gifted, and immortal are; 
 And who of death would all oblivious be, - 
 When friends are tomb'd, and parents smile no 
 
 more? 
 
 In that eternity where they repose, 
 Our fancy wanders, and our feelings dwell ! 
 
 Yet 'twas not thus when new -created Earth 
 From chaos rose, with sumptuous verdure clad: 
 Flower, fruit, and tree, in primal beauty waved; 
 No tint of death, no touch of sad decay, 
 To mar the freshness of the lovely scene, 
 That dread announcement, " Perish! dust thou art, 
 
8 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 And unto dust shalt thou again return," 
 To Adam sounded like creation's knell ! 
 
 Alone upon the wide and voiceless world, 
 The guilty wand'rers, whom fair Eden once 
 Embower'd, in fond remembrance often mourn'd 
 The bloom of Paradise, and pure estate 
 For ever lost ! The morning rose, and light 
 Around them in its warm luxuriance fell; 
 But ah! it could not through the spirit beam 
 As once, when day and Heaven together rose, 
 While quiring angels on the breezes sang: 
 And evening, with her tenderness of shade, 
 Overcame them, like a cloud of solemn grief; 
 For then of Paradise and dewy calm 
 They thought, as there they watch'd the vesper 
 
 hues 
 
 In beautiful consumption fade and die, 
 All innocently blest: Thus pass'd the day 
 In wo; and dreams of sworded Cherubim 
 Glared on their slumber! still a God was near; 
 And when the pangs which only mothers feel 
 Dejected Eve endured, and lo! a child 
 Was born, th' unclouded spring of hope began. 
 And who can fathom that deep hour of love 
 When first an infant on its mother smiled, 
 As in a burst of preternatural joy 
 
BOOR I.] MESSIAH. 9 
 
 Her babe she clasp'd, and to her Maker cried, 
 " The promised Seed! JEHOVAH! lo, 'tis born!" 
 
 Thus dimly on the world's primeval state 
 Messiah dawn'd; till God himself declared 
 To holy Abraham, as the countless orbs 
 Of midnight glitter'd over Hebron's plain, 
 That, like yon stars, a glorious race should rise 
 Unnumber'd, till the earth's Deliv'rer came, 
 To crown all nations blest. Then Isaac rose, 
 The child of promise, the Redeemer's type, 
 Upon the altar by his parent laid! 
 The son, the only son, whom Abram loved, 
 Yet did not spare, when Heaven commanded " slay !" 
 
 Ere the rich" morning on the mountains flung 
 A robe of beauty, in that primest hour 
 When birds are darting from the dewy ground, 
 And Nature, soft as sleeping life, begins 
 To waken, and the spell of day to wear, 
 Unseen, the patriarch and his cherish'd boy 
 Uprose, the sacrificial wood prepared, 
 .And then, companion'd by his household youths, 
 They onward journey'd with the laden ass. 
 Through piny glens and green acacia vales 
 The pilgrims wound their unreluctant way. 
 Oft as he went, upon his child beloved 
 
10 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 The sire of future nations look'd, and thought; 
 
 And felt the father in his bosom rise, 
 
 As, bound and bloody, on the altar stretch'd, 
 
 He vision'd him! the long -hoped, destin'd son, 
 
 Who fond and dutiful had ever been, 
 
 And guiltless of a parent's tear! But faith 
 
 Triumphant in the power of Mercy proved. 
 
 Twice had the sun around the pilgrims drawn 
 
 His evening veil, when o'er a distant mount, 
 
 Upon Moriah's steep and rocky clime, 
 
 A vision of the Lord reposed, and shone, 
 
 A cloudy signal, shaped for Abram's eye 
 
 Alone to see, and there his altar raise : 
 
 The patriarch bow'd, and o'er the mountain path 
 
 Both child and parent took their solemn way, 
 
 But each was silent, for they thought of Heaven. 
 
 So on they went, till at the mount ordain'd 
 
 Arriving, with enamour'd gaze they saw 
 
 The hills of glory capp'd with sunset hues, 
 
 And willow'd plains; and drank the balmy air, 
 
 And cool'd their foreheads in the breeze, that fell 
 
 Light as the tremor of an angel's wing; 
 
 So still the hour, so calm the scene, that God 
 
 Himself seem'd waiting there to welcome man ! 
 
 Then Isaac, when the stony altar-pile 
 
 Beneath the shadow of a mountain tree 
 
 Was founded, and the hallow'd fire prepared, 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 11 
 
 In words of unsuspecting sweetness cried, 
 "My father!" Abram answer'd, "Here, my 
 
 son !" 
 
 " The wood and fire behold! but where the lamb 
 Of sacrifice, to crown the flaming pile ?" 
 Then heaved his bosom with the love of years 
 Departed, and a tear paternal rose, 
 As gazed he fondly on that only child, 
 And far away a childless mother saw, 
 Whose heart had echoed every infant cry ! 
 But soon the strife, and soon the tear was o'er : 
 To Heaven he look'd, and thus to Isaac spake; 
 " My son ! in thee a sacrifice the Lord 
 Hath found, and thou art dedicate to God!" 4 
 He answer'd not, but meekly knelt him down, 
 And on the altar lay, a willing lamb! 
 But God descended ! and the hand, uplift 
 In glorious faith to sacrifice a child, 
 Was holden, while an angel voice proclaim'd, 
 " O Abram ! spare thy son ! thine only, spare, 
 And let him live, for thou art faithful found." 
 With thrilling wonder and ecstatic awe, 
 Up look'd the patriarch, and behold ! a ram 
 Beside him, in a woody thicket caught : 
 And while it bled, again the Voice sublime 
 Repeated, like the roll of many storms, 
 " In blessing I will bless thee! arid thy seed 
 
12 MESSIAH. [BOOK r, 
 
 The sand of ocean shall outnumber far, 
 And from it spring the Glory of the World!" 
 
 On Isaac, too, by shadowy promise, came 
 The Lord of Life: and, in symbolic dream, 
 To Jacob, as he fled the murd'rous foe, 
 His couch the earth, his canopy the skies. 
 When night had deepen'd, homeless, sad, and worn, 
 The wand'rer, pillow'd on a stone-built couch, 
 For slumber stretch'd him on the dreary plain : 
 Companionless he was : and forests, dark 
 With midnight umbrage, torn by wolfish winds, 
 And echoed by the frequent lion -roar, 
 Howl'd on the hills ! but God he ever felt, 
 And round his heart the parent blessing twined, 
 Till sleep came o'er him, like a smile from Heaven ! 
 Rude was his couch, but oh! the vision grand 
 To see, who would not oft a ruder share ? 
 He dreamt, and lo! a ladder, based on earth, 
 And buried in the sky, before him rose; 
 Adown it shapes of awful beauty stole, 
 While others, robed in archangelic light, 
 Did solemnly from step to step ascend : 
 Above, a beaming Apparition shone, 
 Ineffable ! from whom a voice divine, 
 In accent richer than the full-toned sea, 
 Proclaim'd Thy father's God! and thine, behold! 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 13 
 
 Wide o'er the world thy destined seed will spread, 
 
 And, numberless, empeople lands and isles, 
 
 Till ONE arise, and make all kingdoms blest!" 
 
 "How dreadful ! 'tis the gate of heaven !" he cried : 
 
 Amid the breathings of melodious air 
 
 Aloft then moved the hierarchal pomp; 
 
 And ere the lark to hymn the day began, 
 
 The exile rose, a rocky pillar raised, 
 
 Shed o'er its top the consecrating oil, 
 
 And then on wings of morning hied away ! 
 
 " From Judah's hand the sceptre shall not fall, 
 Till Shiloh come; to him shall empires bow!" 
 So spake a patriarch from his couch of death; 
 And thus, through all the realm of holy writ, 
 Messiah is the Morning Star of Hope 
 For ever shining on the soul of truth! 
 
 But ere the organ of prophetic strain 
 In full magnificence of tone begin, 
 A vision of that unforgotten prime, 
 The patriarchal age, when Earth was young, 
 Awhile, oh ! let it linger ! on the soul 
 It breaketh, like a lovely burst of spring 
 Upon the gaze of captives, when the clouds 
 Again are floating over freedom's head ! 
 Though Sin had wither'd with a charnel breath 
 
14 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 Creation's morning bloom, there still remained 
 
 Elysian hues of that angelic scene, 
 
 When the Sun gloried o'er a sinless world, 
 
 And with each ray produced a flower! From dells 
 
 Untrodden, hark! the breezy carol comes 
 
 Upwafted, with the chant of radiant birds. 
 
 What meadows, bathed in greenest light, and woods 
 
 Gigantic, towering from the skiey hills, 
 
 And od'rous trees in prodigal array, 
 
 With all the elements divinely calm, 
 
 Our fancy pictures on the infant globe ! 
 
 And ah ! how godlike, with imperial brow 
 
 Benignly grave, yon patriarchal forms 
 
 Tread the free earth, and eye the naked heavens : 
 
 In nature's stamp of unassisted grace 
 
 Each limb is moulded ; simple as the mind 
 
 The vest they wear ; and not a hand but works, 
 
 Or tills the ground with honourable toil: 
 
 By youth revered, their sons around them grow 
 
 And flourish; monarch of his past'ral tribe, 
 
 A patriarch's throne is each devoted heart ! 
 
 And when he slumbers on the tented plain 
 
 Beneath the vigil stars, a living wall 
 
 Is round him, in the might of love's defence : 
 
 For he is worthy : sacrifice and song 
 
 By him are ruled; and oft at shut of flowers, 
 
 When queenly virgins in the sunset go 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 15 
 
 To carry water from the crystal wells, 
 In beautiful content, beneath a tree, 
 Whose shadows hung o'er many a hallow'd sire, 
 He sits; recording how creation rose 
 From nothing, of the Word almighty born; 
 How Man had fallen, and where Eden boughs 
 Had waved their beauty on the breeze of morn ; 
 Or, how the angels still at twilight love 
 To visit earth with errands from the sky. 
 
 But like a river that its course renews, 
 Again my song to its high theme returns. 
 When Balak, frighted by the banner'd hosts 
 Of Israel, camping on unbounded plains, 
 For Balaam sent, upon his tranced eyes 
 A sudden vision from th' Almighty fell ! 
 
 There, when the monarch on the mountain stood, 
 Seven altars, 6 oxen, and seven rams prepared, 
 And sacrifice of mystic numbers paid, 
 The seer his oracle of light unrolTd. 
 He look'd, and lo ! along the river'd vale 
 Where Arnon glitter'd, shone the myriad tents 
 Of Judah, whitening in the lust'rous air, 
 Like clouds that congregate on summer sky, 
 In ranks of infinite and fresh array : 
 Then all the poet in his passion glow'd ! 
 
16 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 His curse was buried in the bliss to come, 
 While glory, blessing, and mysterious joy, 
 The tents of Jacob from the prophet drew, 
 Till ecstasy this higher strain began, 
 In " I shall see HIM but not now ! a Star 
 From Jacob, and from Israel shall arise 
 A Sceptre, in whose shadow will depart 
 Thy race and region, deserted king!" 
 
 Thus prophecy from Heaven itself began, 
 Oh, miracle! beyond all utterance deep; 
 Immeasurably vast : outmarching time, 
 Subduing space, and, with colossal might, 
 Erecting thrones, or crushing city walls 
 With curses, like the winds, when desert-born, 
 Terrific, loud, with desolation wing'd! 6 
 
 And ye, selected from the dust of earth, 
 Dread oracles ! whose dooming words have 
 
 blanch'd 
 
 The cheek of Empires, and the rock -built domes 
 Of princes shatter'd, when with stormy howl 
 The darker vision from your spirit rush'd! 
 August and lonely, sad, yet all sublime, 
 Ye lived, in sackcloth robed, in deserts housed, 
 Or mountain cavern : fated, and apart 
 From blinding shadows of terrestrial sway, 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 17 
 
 Ye dwelt, like portions of Almighty thought ! 
 The gloom, the glory, and the vision came; 
 The Future rendered her weird secrets up, 
 Like phantoms towering from eternity, 
 Dim Ages rose, and answer'd to your spell! 
 
 And he, whose sorrow was sublimely borne, 
 Whose grief was glory, for it made the soul 
 A witness how the EVERLASTING thinks, 
 Behold him! on the ashy ground reclined. 
 Seven days and nights have o'er his throbbing head 
 Departed, still in mutest wo he bows 
 With three beside him. Oft, when darkness rose, 
 A groan sank dreary on the midnight air; 
 But soon his agony again retired 
 Back in the gulph of unlamenting gloom! 
 Nor lip nor limb his inward strife reveal; 
 Despair in stone was not more dumb than he! 
 Prometheus, chain'd on Scythia's burning rock, 
 When lightning, tempest, and Tartarean ire, 
 And thund'ring earthquake, round his martyr'd 
 
 frame, 
 
 The tragedy of Nature's wreck begun, 
 In full sublimity of god-like wo, 
 Was less exalted than the silent Job ! 
 
 And what a lesson of undying truth 
 c 2 
 
18 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 The torture of the scene supplies! When came 
 A whirlwind, did the speaking God declare, 
 In bright apocalypse, one secret vast, 
 Unfold His counsels, or the mystic depth 
 Of His omnipotence unshroud, or trace? 
 No! sea and mountain, thunder-storm and cloud, 
 The glorious miracles of life and form 
 Which float the waters, or the earth command, 
 These are but types of His unutter'd power, 
 Yet who the myst'ry of their being knows ? 
 Lost in the blaze of His minutest light 
 If Eeason wander, how could Thought embrace 
 The will or wisdom which the heavens assert? 
 To question deeply what we darkly know, 
 Our boding fancies, in their raven flight, 
 Cross and re-cross a universe of gloom! 
 And yet, in this appall'd conviction ends, 
 That God is good, and infinite, and wise, 
 But man, immortal dust that dares to think, 
 And grasp the glories of Eternal Mind! 
 
 When nature in her awful doubt creates 
 Myst'ry and madness for the heart and brain 
 In all that life endures, let mortals feel, 
 That man, the infant of eternity, 
 By wo is nursed, and strengthened for the skies; 7 
 And a brave soul, though Earth and Hell combine 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 19 
 
 To scatter tempest round its blighted way, 
 Beholds a God in all things but despair! 
 In hours of sadness, when Oppression rules, 
 And each pale sunburst of unwonted joy 
 Breaks o'er the spirit, like derisive beams 
 Of summer playing round a wintry realm, 
 Let Grief remember how the patriarch cried 
 With voice that travelled o'er the sea of time, 
 "Oh! that the graven rock my words imprest, 
 And iron stamp'd them with eternal truth! 
 For though in dust my body be dissolved, 
 That my REDEEMER liveth, and shaU stand 
 When time is ended, on this mortal earth, 
 I surely know ! on Him mine eye shall gaze, 
 And in my flesh shall I a God behold!" 
 
 Round Jesus all the prophets shed their rays: 8 
 And thou ! the Shepherd-King, of Jesse born, 
 Of Heaven beloved, similitude express 
 Of Christ, the Lord of everlasting worlds; 
 Whether on Zion hill thy holy strain 
 Be harp'd, or by the brook of Kedron hymn'd; 
 Or nightly warbled, when unnumber'd orbs 
 To thee their origin divine declared, 
 Thy words are breathings by the soul attuned; 
 For aye thou seem'st a Spirit from above, 
 That chants the glory of remember'd skies ! 
 
20 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 Wouldst thou in meekest adoration bend, 
 Or mount the heavens, and with bright myriads 
 
 swell 
 
 The chorus of eternity? does Grief 
 Around thee blacken in her stormy ire, 
 Or sad dejection on thy eyelids weigh? 
 The royal minstrel hath a mood for thee, 
 And in his heart an echo of thine own ! 
 But when the frame of this majestic world 
 The mind o'erawes, then, who like him appeals 
 To clouds and whirlwinds, with the thunder talks, 
 Partakes the tempest, and of ocean learns 
 Such mimicry sublime, that Fancy hears 
 The billows heaving in his roll of song ! 
 But Nature in her gentleness, alike 
 From David woos a sympathy divine. 
 The lull of night, the language of the stars, 
 And all that beautiful, serene, or blest 
 Is deem'd, his harp melodiously inspires. 
 
 Bard of the Spirit! thine heroic song, 
 Whose hallelujahs in Engeddi's cave, 
 Or wooded glens, and palmy grove, prevailed 
 O'er every pang the exiled bosom felt, 
 Hath tuned Religion's universal voice! 
 Canadian forests, or the parched wilds 
 Of Afric, ocean -rocks, and cavern -gloom, 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 21 
 
 Wherever God descends or Man adores, 
 Thy melodies the yearning heart relieve. 
 And oh! what blessings have thy hymns evoked 
 From Heaven's vast treasury of light and love, 
 Since first they sounded on the shepherd's lyre ! 
 For they are all Imagination dreams 
 Angelic lips may utter: on the Cross 
 Of Calvary, ere the Son of Man dismiss'd 
 His martyr'd spirit, thine was His farewell! 
 
 But chief o'er all in David's glorious strain, 
 The homage wafted to the destined throne 
 Whereon would reign a Universal King, 
 From him descended: in his darksome wo 
 Was symbolized the Martyr of the World; 
 And when exalted, his far-reaching eye, 
 By Heaven unsealed, in emblematic light 
 Foreshadow'd HIM, the Triumpher o'er Death, 
 And Victor of the Grave! Thus, vision-blest, 
 The prophet minstrel all divinely sung; 
 Thus rose from mortal to immortal themes, 
 Above his nature tower'd, and hail'd on high 
 The Monarch of Eternity, predoom'd 
 To visit earth, and reinstate mankind. 
 
 And how he imageth the Saviour God 
 Before us, when he mounteth on the wings 
 
22 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 Of rapture, soaring through the heaven of heavens ! 
 " From Zion shall he wither in his wrath 
 Rebellious kings! to me hath He declared, 
 My Son thou art! this day Jehovah hath 
 Begotten Thee; the heathen are Thine own, 
 And vanquish'd worlds beneath Thy sceptre bow !" 
 
 But when the starry hush and pomp of night 
 O'erawed him, and the moon her Maker's hand 
 Confessed, the spirit of prophetic truth 
 Again was vocal: thus the minstrel sang: 
 " When I consider how the heavens, ordain'd 
 By Thee, Thine own almightiness portray, 
 Lord! what is man? yet HIM hast thou encrown'd; 
 Upon the deep His vast dominion walks, 
 And subject earth His high command endures! 
 
 " Ever before me lives the Lord of Hosts ! 
 His hand o'ershades me, and my heart exults; 
 Yea, Hope takes wing beyond the tomb, for there 
 A Soul shall triumph, and thy Holy One 
 No dark corruption of the dead shall stain!" 
 
 " How beauteous Thou, above the sons of men! 
 Upon Thy lips what loveliness diffuse! 
 Array Thee in thy glory! gird Thy sword 
 Upon Thy thigh, majestically ride! 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 23 
 
 Hark! Earth is quaking, her foundations rock, 
 Thine arrows thicken, terrible Thy sway! 
 For ever and for ever is thy throne 
 Almighty! righteously Thy sceptre rules, 
 And over all Thy God anoints Thee, great! 
 
 " Throughout all ages are Thy years unroll'd; 
 The earth was founded, and the heavens were arch'd 
 By Thee; Creation felt Thy forming hand; 
 But while they perish, Thou shalt aye endure: 
 When, like a vesture, they are changed and gone, 
 Still, Thou art One, th' ETERNAL and the TRUE !" 
 
 And thus did Zion's royal minstrel chant, 
 And through the cloud of unaccomplished time 
 His glance direct, to that transcendent reign 
 Of mercy when the veil would be uprolFd, 
 And brightly dawn the Saviour of the world ! 
 
 Next in the train of these immortal seers 
 Another of the god-directed hail; 
 Who, like the clarion that shall rouse the dead, 
 Might quicken dust, such glory fires his song ! 
 Amid a temple, bright as Syrian noon 
 Upon a throne unutterably high, 
 O'er which the six-wing'd Seraphim appear'd, 
 The LORD was seated; and the awful cry 
 
24 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 Of " Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord!" 
 Melodious came from each seraphic lip: 
 Amid that vision did Isaiah stand. 
 
 Terrific bard, and mighty! in thy strain 
 A torrent of inspiring passion sounds: 
 Whether for cities by th' Almighty cursed 
 Thy wail arose; or on enormous crimes, 
 That darkened heaven with supernatural gloom, 
 Thy flash of indignation fell, alike 
 The feelings quiver when thy voice awakes! 
 Borne in the whirlwind of a dreadful song, 
 Our spirit travels round the destined globe, 
 While shadows, cast from solemn years to come, 
 Fall round us, and we feel a God is nigh! 
 
 But when a gladness from thy music flows, 
 Creation brightens ! glory paints the sky, 
 The Sun hath got an everlasting smile, 
 And earth is temper'd for immortal spring: 
 The lion smoothes his ruffled mane, the lamb 
 And wolf together feed, and by the den 
 Of serpents, see the rosy infant play! 
 
 There is a day the darkness of whose scene 
 In visitings of dread can oft subdue 
 The brightness of the passing world to come, 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 25 
 
 When the huge fabric of a stately globe 
 Shall bow with terror in the storm of doom ! 
 Then, in that hour of chaos, while the Earth 
 And Heaven shall fade like elemental dreams, 
 Alone, Isaiah! standing on some rock 
 Tremendous, should thy daring voice be heard 
 In bursts of wo magnificently wild, 
 The last that lingers round a dying world ! 
 
 But, Prince of Prophets ! in thy page eterne, 
 How visibly the Son of God appears ! 
 " Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear 
 A son; IMMANUEL shall his name be call'd." 
 Again " For unto us a Child is born, 
 To us a Son is given; and his name 
 Is, Wonderful, the Everlasting Prince 
 Of Peace ! the Counsellor, and mighty God ! 
 
 " A voice comes wafted through the wilderness ! 
 Prepare the way, and be the desert smooth: 
 Arise, ye valleys ! and ye mountains, sink 
 Before Him! for the LORD JEHOVAH comes! 
 
 " Despised, rejected, and a Man with grief 
 Acquainted, surely He our woes hath borne, 
 And in His bosom all our sorrows ta'en! 
 Our chastisement is on Him: we are heal'd, 
 
 D 
 
26 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 But He is wounded! and on Him alone 
 The Lord hath laid th' iniquity of all !" 
 
 Nor, when captivity by Chebar dwelt, 
 And Israel wore the Babylonian chain 
 Beside the willow-shaded streams, was dumb 
 The voice prophetic: but where Belus rose 
 In her stupendous miracle of towers, 
 Ezekiel pour'd his passionate lament; 
 Or shaped for time the destinies he saw 
 From heaven prefigured: what colossal shades, 
 As though reflected from the scenes immense 
 Around him, crowd upon his fated world! 
 But high o'er all the visionary pomp, 
 To us the CEDAR OF THE GOSPEL rears 
 Its allegoric boughs, beneath whose shade 
 Birds of all clime, and wing, and beauty, dwell ! 
 
 So Daniel, when his midnight trance begun 
 Amid the bosom of th' unbounded deep, 
 Whose waters quiver'd in the tempest -grasp, 
 Beheld Him, coming with the clouds of heaven, 
 The SON of MAN! then, throned in flaming 
 
 pomp, 
 
 With myriads of angelic forms begirt, 
 Perpetual empire to the Son was given, 
 O'er land and language, kingdom, sea, and isle! 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 27 
 
 Thus on we trace, where'er prophetic rays 
 Have shone, the mystery of Christ unborn : 
 At last, with healing on His wings, arose 
 The SUN of Righteousness, to him* who cried, 
 " Before the splendour of that dreadful day, 
 A Herald of the Lord, Elijah comes, 
 To turn thy heart, O guilty world! to ME, 
 Or thou shalt wither in My blast of ire !" 
 
 So Prophecy, with time begun, with time 
 Shall end; and when in some empyreal sphere 
 The mind expands to far sublimer powers 
 Than aught our faith or fancy can conceive, 
 In proud fulfilment Prophecy will reign. 
 For, having grasp'd the glory of the world 
 Redeem'd, and taught us how millennium smiles, 
 Beyond the universe of sense it wings 
 An awful flight, and in mysterious depth 
 Of being unexplored, for man foredooms 
 A state unspeakably divine and pure, 
 Eternity, O God! and shared with Thee! 
 
 Thou holy, heavenly, angel-worshipp'd Lord! 
 Far seated in Thine infinite excess 
 Of light seraphic, whose unwearied gaze 
 
 * Malachr, 
 
28 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 Is ever fix'd upon the fallen world ! 
 
 As oft in chamber dim, or lonesome walk 
 
 By leafy twilight arch'd, the Mind foreviews 
 
 Her own eternity, and dreams Thy form 
 
 To life again, how wonderful, apart, 
 
 By time unsoil'd, by accident, or sin, 
 
 Thy being riseth in irradiant truth 
 
 Before us, purer than the light of light, 9 
 
 Of all transcendencies the sum and soul! 
 
 For when did Earth Thine attribute display, 
 
 One vast benevolence, that girt a world 
 
 Of hearts in its divine embrace of love? 
 
 All time and truth, all empires and all powers 
 
 That were, or would be, in the march of fate, 
 
 By Thee were compass'd for th' almighty plan! 
 
 As o'er the grandeur of unclouded heaven 
 Our vision travels with a free delight, 
 As though the boundless and the pure were made 
 For speculation; so the tow'ring mind, 
 By inward oracle inspired and taught, 
 The lofty and the excellent in mind adores. 
 Then, Saviour! what a paragon art Thou 
 Of all that Wisdom in her hope creates; 
 A model for the universe! Though God 
 Be round us, by the shadow of his might 
 For aye reflected, and with plastic hand 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 29 
 
 Prints on the earth the character of things ; 
 Yet He Himself, how awfully retired 
 Depth within depth, unutterably deep! 
 His glory brighter than the brightest thought 
 Can picture, holier than our holiest awe 10 
 Can worship, imaged only in, I AM ! 
 
 But Thou ! apparell'd in a robe of true 
 Mortality; meek sharer of our low 
 Estate, in all except compliant sin; 
 To Thee a comprehending worship pays 
 Perennial sacrifice of life and soul, 
 By love enkindled: Thou hast lived, and breathed; 
 Our wants and woes partaken; all that charms 
 Or sanctifies, to Thine unspotted truth 
 May plead for sanction; 11 virtue but reflects 
 Thine image; wisdom is a voice attuned 
 To consonance with Thine; and all that yields 
 To thought a pureness, or to life a peace, 
 From Thee descends; whose spirit-ruling sway, 
 Invisible as thought, around us brings 
 A balm almighty for affliction's hour! 
 Once felt, in all the fulness of Thy grace 
 The living essence of the living soul, 
 And there is faith ! a firm-set, glorious faith, 
 Eternity cannot uproot, or change! 
 Oh ! then the second birth of soul begins, 
 D 2 
 
,30 MESSIAH. [BOOK i. 
 
 That purifies the base, the dark illumes, 
 And binds our being with a holy spell, 
 Whereby each function, faculty, and thought, 
 Surrenders meekly to the central guide l2 
 Of hope and action, by a God empower'd. 
 
 Until the eyelids of the dead unclose, 
 Though THOU art vanished into viewless light,. 
 Still happy, far beyond heroic state, 
 Or kingly triumph, is a Christian life 
 Securely founded on the rock of faith! 
 All the wide glories which the eye commands, 
 Or air and ocean, earth and heaven supply, 
 Of HIM report, whose potency begat 
 Them all ! the ground is hallow'd, for 'twas trod 
 By Thee; all earth is radiant with a sense 
 Ethereal, born of Thy remember'd sway: 
 Nor pang, nor trial, torture, grief, nor care, 
 Communion high and mystic interchange 
 With Thee destroys; in solitude alike, 
 As in the roaring capital, the mind 
 Can picture into holy form again 
 That living Saviour whom the Past perceived, 
 In light and shade of everlasting truth, 
 Without an atom of defiling self 
 To mar perfection with a stain of man ! 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 " The intellectual Power, through words and things, 
 Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way." Wordsworth. 
 
 " Melior origo nos expectat, alius rerum status. Dies iste, quern tan- 
 quani extremum reformidas, seterni natalis este." Seneca, Epist. 102. 
 
ANALYSIS OF BOOK II. 
 
 HAVING shewn that the gradual announcement of a Messiah was the 
 primary object of the prophetic scheme, the Second Book is principally 
 devoted to a consideration of the necessity and probability of a Revela- 
 tion from God, by an argument drawn from the nature of the human 
 mind and the destinies of man. 
 
 Natural and Revealed Religion the total inadequacy of the former 
 is endeavoured to be shewn by exhibiting a mind most exquisitely 
 attuned to the glories and harmonies of the universe, yet averse to the 
 truth and character of Christ's atonement ; till, finally convinced, by 
 the utter helplessness of human philosophy, it reposes in the faith which 
 is from heaven The probability of a Revelation from God, induced 
 from the weakness, obscurity, and impotence of ancient systems, and 
 the frequent longing of their founders for some certain Lawgiver from 
 above The doctrine of Pagan and Christian Philosophy sublime supe- 
 riority of the latter its triumphant effects this Revelation was gradu- 
 ally made, in analogy with the progressive tendencies of the human 
 4 mind, and the divine arrangements from the commencement of the 
 world Belief by compulsion would violate the freedom of the will, and 
 reduce the character of man to an irresponsible nature Christ Reve- 
 lation extends through all ages Apostrophe to England as a country 
 gloriously distinguished by the ameliorating influence of Christianity 
 Her Sabbaths Prayers for the diffusion of the Gospel and our Coun- 
 try's efforts in this holy toil Concluding thoughts, sentiments, and 
 descriptive associations. 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 * 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 THERE is a God ! the Universe exclaims : 
 There is a Grod ! the heart of man replies : 
 And round the world that mighty answer rolls !- 
 And thus Creation, while the spirit throbs 
 In full response to her sublime appeal, 
 Can teach the mind imagination's creed, 
 Till all her splendours to the soul become 
 The faint reflections of a vast UNSEEN ! l 
 
 Yet vainly beautiful the god of Earth, 
 Whom Nature's worship for the soul creates ; 
 Our homage is material ; and the mind, 
 While in the light of elemental pomp 
 It lives and moves, may still its darkness keep, 
 Unvisited by that perpetual ray 
 Of hope divine, from revelation born. 
 
 There is a haunt whose quietude of scene 
 
34 MESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 Accordeth well with hours of solemn hue, 
 A church-yard, buried in a beauteous vale, 
 Besprinkled o'er with green and countless graves, 
 And mossy tombs of unambitious pomp 
 Decaying into dust again. No step 
 Of mirth, no laughter of unfeeling life 
 Amid the calm of death that spot profanes ; 
 The skies o'er-arch it with serenest love ; 
 The winds, when visiting the dark-bough'd elms, 
 An airy anthem sing ; and birds and bees, 
 That, in their innocence of summer joy, 
 Exult and carol with commingling glee, 
 But add to Solitude the lull of sound : 
 There is an ocean, but his unheard waves, 
 By noon entranced, in dreaming slumber lie ; 
 Or when the passion of a loud-wing'd gale 
 Hath kindled them with sound, the stormy tone 
 Of waters, mellow 'd into music, dies, 
 Like that which echoes from the world afar, 
 Or lingers round the path of perish'd years ! 
 
 And here, companion'd by his soul alone, 
 A being, whose unfathom'd spirit fought 
 With loneliness, did wander oft and muse 
 His hours away ; while dream-wove spells entwined 
 Their myst'ry round him : if the tomb its dead 
 Surrendered, well might he arise and speak, 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 35 
 
 How frail the creed which erring nature moulds 
 When darkness rushes on the doom of Man ! 
 
 In vain the witchery of words would tell 
 How deeply with the universe he shar'd, 
 To all of which he seem'd enlink'd by love. 
 The hues and harmonies of blended things 
 Were beauty to the magic of his mind ; 
 And all the thousand wheels of moving life 
 Made intellectual melodies, that roll'd 
 For ever to the charming of his soul ! 
 Such warm imaginings, where'er he came, 
 A glittering falseness on the true and stern 
 Suffused ; and through the light of feeling shone 
 The scene of Earth, and countenance of Heaven. 
 The young enchantment of angelic spring 
 Flow'd in his veins voluptuously deep. 
 The gentle being of a flower was dear 
 To him, nor would he tread its life away ; 
 Nor wander in the soundless gloom of dell 
 Or grove, without a sympathetic hush. 
 And oh ! to view him when the balmy night 
 Breathed o'er the quiet world, and from her throne, 
 The lustrous moon on tree and temple pour'd 
 The pallid radiance of her peaceful smile, 
 In the full worship of his soul he seem'd 
 Dissolving in the loveliness around ! 
 
36 MESSIAH. [BOOK 11. 
 
 So lived, so felt he ; making all without 
 Enchantment for electric thought within ; 
 But that eternity which girdles time, 
 Majestic Faith, and everlasting Hope, 
 Commoved not him ; hereafter drown'd his soul 
 In seas of darkness, billowing with doubt 
 And fear ! That this divine, all-beauteous orb, 
 Whose faintest impulse, sent from breeze or star, 
 So thrillingly his heart confessed, was framed, 
 Upheld, and circled through the void profound 
 By POWER apart, invisibly enthroned, 
 An innate majesty of mind declared. 
 But such a God, of dreams and shadows born, 
 No bended knee, no voice or vow adored ; 
 He WAS a Spirit or pervading Sense, 
 A viewless Nature, an Almighty Self, 
 Articulated by the tones of Earth, 
 And gloriously by Nature's pomp reveal'd, 
 So Fancy mused, and Feeling taught no more. 
 And hence did Pride and Passion, which imbue 
 Mortality with taints of sin or wo, 
 And colour all the atmosphere of life 
 With clouds of awful gloom, work unrestrain'd, 
 And rule or sanction the decrees of thought : 
 Yet, many a sad and silent prayer of love 
 To him unknown, for intellectual light, 
 At midnight rose, and pleaded in the skies. 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH, 37 
 
 At length. Affliction, that behind our joys 
 A grinning spectre mask'd in savage gloom 
 Is seated, frown'd upon his haughty way ; 
 Arid one, the beatings of whose heart were his 
 Re-echo'd ! she who walk'd with angel step, 
 Her looks the living sunshine of his soul, 
 Her tones the music of his memory, 
 Whose printless foot made consecrated ground, 
 The hope and heaven of all ! lay still in death ! 
 Then came that worldless, dread, eclipse of mind ! 
 The agony that curdles soul and sense, 
 As though annihilation had begun, 
 And man were mould'ring into dust again ! 
 One beam of Heaven had brought salvation now ; 
 But Darkness girt him with her deepest shroud, 
 Wherein he stood, nor wept, nor spoke, nor sigh'd, 
 But, mute and stone-like, turn'd to cold despair ! 
 
 With tender rudeness to his couch they bore 
 The widow'd martyr ; day by day, and hour 
 By hour, Affection with her heavenly eye 
 Attended, faintly smoothed his pallid brow, 
 Then touch'd his hand, and with a yearning gaze, 
 Did woo his spirit into speaking life, 
 Which came at last ; and then, alone he nursed 
 His sorrow; in the breathless noon of night, 
 All unperceived, the lovely dead he found ; 
 
38 MESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 There stood, and gazed, enamour'd of the grief 
 
 That, now unfrozen, from his spirit pour'd 
 
 Tears fast and free, in all the storm of wo ! 
 
 Upon that form, so exquisitely pale, 
 
 Where the lone night-watch flung a spectral gleam, 
 
 He look'd, as though a life were in that look 
 
 Absorb'd, and felt, that never more would flash 
 
 From that still clay, revealings of the soul ; 
 
 The mystery of being was fulfill'd, 
 
 The seal of Nature set, the vision gone, 
 
 Or vanish'd in a universe of gloom ! 
 
 And yet from dreams, a light immortal soothed 
 
 The mourner, when from out the grave he saw 
 
 An apparition, bright as golden air, 
 
 Ascend, assume her own appealing smile, 
 
 And point with waving hand to better worlds! 
 
 But life no longer seem'd the living sense 
 Of mortal nature, but a ghastly dream 
 Wherein he moved, by Destiny compelPd. 
 A dismal trance of dull satiety 
 This lone world grew; a dampness of despair, 
 The sullen winter of a broken heart, 
 Was all he felt, was all he wish'd to feel! 
 A demon shadow, by his anguish bred, 
 O'er all things brooded: in the light, no light 
 Appear'd, e'en melody no music brought, 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 39 
 
 And Earth emaciate as an orb of death 
 To him became; his thoughts alone did live; 
 And these, like pulses in a tortured brain, 
 Throbb'd in the spirit with eternal pang ! 
 
 And now the poison of dejection work'd; 
 His cheeks were blighted ; o'er his thin-worn hands 
 The veins meander'd with a dying hue; 
 The mournful hair that arch'd his manly brow 
 Droop'd like the locks of eld; his bright eye lost 
 The boldness of expressive thought, and grew 
 Unearthly, from its depth of lifeless gaze ! 
 And oft did mothers heave maternal sighs, 
 And children cease their revel, when he pass'd 
 Unheedful by them, like a shape from tombs ! 
 
 At length the unbeliever task'd the Night 
 To tell him secrets of eternity. 
 And then, how terrible th' immortal throes 
 And agonies of doubting nature ruled ! 
 Above him, the majestic sea of heaven, 
 Where island-orbs of beauty saiPd and shone; 
 Around him, dimness and the calm of death; 
 By nothing marr'd, but when a moving branch 
 Of cypress, like a dying billow, shed 
 A faint sound on the feeble wind, how long 
 And deep, how passionate the gaze he sent 
 
40 MESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 Far in the blue infinity of night ! 
 
 Oh! let some spirit on the wings of love 
 
 Be wafted, and the burning doubt that preys 
 
 On nature, with permitted voice subdue, 
 
 He listen'd! on the air a faded leaf 
 
 Fell slowly, with a sad and ling'ring sound, 
 
 That did not seem of earth; but soon it still'd; 
 
 And then the blackness of diseaseful thought 
 
 Commenced; eternity became a tomb! 
 
 An hour there came from Heaven at last, when 
 
 Faith 
 
 Looked up, and view'd her God! As evening smiled 
 Upon the ocean brim, where molten waves 
 A restless glory of rich waters made, 
 A pensive wanderer, on the circling beach 
 He stood, communing with the glorious scene. 
 Where'er his glance of worship fell, there beam'd 
 A charm, that told Almightiness had touch'd 
 The world; and when the folding clouds embraced 
 The shining monarch of the heavens, and cool 
 And calm the unimpassioned twilight rose, 
 A purity of second childhood came, 
 Whose tenderness is truth. In that soft hour 
 When darkness from the soul dissolves away, 
 With gentle step, and gentler mien, approach'd 
 A hoary sage, by hallow 'd wisdom blest. 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 41 
 
 The balmy light, the beauty and romance 
 
 Of scene, well harmonized with heavenly thought. 
 
 And hence, the solemn teacher on his soul 
 
 The dews of immortality distill'd: 
 
 Not hiding mercy in dogmatic gloom, 
 
 Or, led by light presumingly inspired, 
 
 Outventuring on the mystic waves that roll 
 Between us and the shore of worlds unseen; 
 But, meekly firm, of everlasting Love, 
 Creative power, and providential Truth, 
 The Christian spake; and, leaf by leaf, the book 
 Of Man's redemption from primeval wo 
 UnroIFd, and challenged wide creation's law 
 To prove, how Nature visioneth the plan 2 
 That God himself descended to reveal. 
 With soften'd eye, and brow intently sad, 
 This theme of glory did the sceptic hear, 
 Yet answer'd not; but look'd to Heaven, and 
 
 sigh'd. 
 
 Now twilight into solemn gloom retired; 
 The pomp of clouds was o'er, and ocean lay 
 In floating darkness round the rock-hewn beach; 
 But here and there prevailing starlight gleam'd 
 On some excited billow: deep the hour, 
 And holier the scene, as each, immersed 
 In contemplation, track'd his homeward way, 
 Unvoiced their feelings, arid their thoughts unknown. 
 E 2 
 
42 MESSIAH, [BOOK n. 
 
 But Heaven had watch'd them, and ere midnight's 
 
 veil 
 
 Had shrouded earth, the unbeliever pray'd! 
 When years had vanished, and all-glorious truth 
 Lived in the light of Deity, and knew 
 The depths of her Redeemer's love, how look'd 
 The infidel on what his heart had been? 
 Go ! ask the martyr of a dungeon gloom, 
 How fresh the light, how beautiful the airs 
 Of Heaven, that visit his reviving frame, 
 And he shall tell thee, how the mourner felt 
 .When broke the clouds from his benighted soul, 
 And Morn, eternal Morn, began to smile! 
 
 So weak is all unaided Nature lends 
 To educate the restless soul of man, 
 Or solace wo, or subjugate the sense 
 To ruling powers of majesty within. 
 Became it not, then, that Almighty Love, 
 From whom did emanate the wondrous world, 
 To roll the darkness from His radiant throne, 
 That mortals might draw near Him, and adore? 
 Could HE, to whom the universe of life 
 From wave and wind a hymn of worship sends, 
 Let Man alone be ignorantly dumb, 
 Or mock by Superstition's jarring creed, 
 The awful meaning of a God confess'd ?- 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 43 
 
 And did not Man himself of old secure, 
 
 By feign'd communion with celestial pow'rs, 
 
 Profound dominion for the sacred rites 
 
 That reach us from the past? In wood or grove, 
 
 And cave oracular, Dependence knew 
 
 Herself, and long'd for Deity enthroned 
 
 By Truth, and by unerring faith adored. 
 
 Thus Plato, 8 in his pure ambition, nursed 
 
 A glorious longing for supremer Mind, 
 
 To tune the soul, and teach him perfect law. 
 
 The past survey, and what hath Reason done? 
 Passion and Doubt her waning light withstood: 
 And stubborn ages, as they swept along, 
 But mock'd her impotence with blind misrule, 
 Of creed or crime begot. 4 Man look'd abroad, 
 And on his spirit rush'd one vast belief! 
 From life and matter, from the sun and moon 
 And the deep waters did a power appeal, 
 Attesting God, and teaching His domain; 
 But how to worship, how His law obey, 
 In vain would philosophic Reason find, 
 In pensive shade, or Academic bower. 
 The world was deified! terrestrial gods 
 In all that apprehending sense believed, 
 A mystic reign for adoration held. 
 Thus, Neptune on his ocean car appeared, 
 
44 MESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 Apollo gloried in the realm of light, 
 
 And Dian, with her starry nymphs begirt, 
 
 The virgin moon inspired. There breathed no wind, 
 
 There waved no grove, no fountain-music play'd, 
 
 No river in his march of waters joy'd, 
 
 But Superstition lent a listening ear 
 
 To hail her fancied god; each city claim'd 
 
 Presiding deities, and built her fanes 
 
 For monsters imaged out of monstrous thought, 
 
 Where dark Pollution fed her secret fires. 
 
 At length, Idolatry the mind subdued, 
 
 From tombs evoked the undeserving dead, 
 
 Or, round the statues of her living great 
 
 In sycophantic homage knelt, and pray'd! 
 
 Eeligion thus in clouds of error lost, 
 Morality no sacred power assumed, 
 To harmonize the wheels of social life; 
 The world without, to that far mightier world 
 Within, a secondary station held, 
 And action was alone the source of law; 
 While thought and impulse, those creative springs 
 On which the conduct of our being turns, 
 In secret wildness kept unholy sway. 
 Men learned to live, but were not taught to die; 
 Each hour proclaim'd its own peculiar heaven; 
 The heart might covet what the hand revered; 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 45 
 
 And in the soul, a thousand years of sin 
 Lie floating, in a sea of fancy toss'd, 
 And be unblamed! No inward law prevail'd, 
 Like that which ever to the Christian speaks; 
 Prejudging thought, ere yet it grows to deed, 
 And throning conscience in the heart of man. 
 
 Then who can wonder that a darkness hung 
 Round heathen ages, by no hand unveil'd? 
 Magnificent and mighty was the past, 
 In learning, prowess, and devoted arts; 
 Yet ne'er was hero, in his sun-bright car, 
 With all his panoply of gorgeous hue, 
 And shouting thunders from a nation's lip 
 To tell his conquest, so sublimely great, 
 As dying Stephen, when his spirit quench'd 
 In glorious faith the agonies of death, 
 Beheld the sky, and for his murd'rers pray'd! 
 
 Bright as the morning of primeval day 
 Burst on the waters of chaotic gloom, 
 Came revelation on the darksome world!* 
 Then error vanish'd in celestial truth, 
 Hush'd were the oracles, and quench'd the fires 
 That savage bigotry for ages fed: 
 
 * In Europe alone, at the early periods of Christianity, the number of 
 idols known to be worshipped amounted to thirty thousand. 
 
46 MESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 New light, new order, new existence rose! 
 The pangs of wo, the wrongs of patient worth, 
 Were now no more, as once their truth had been: 
 Eternity would pay the debt of time, 
 The soul redeem, and justify her God. 
 
 Yet was not this transcendent scheme of love 
 To earth unfolded, till maturing age 
 Had nerved the spirit for its high display. 
 But just as nature, by apparent means 
 And fine gradations of effective power, 
 The miracle of life and form achieves, 
 So Mind, in her advance to heavenly things, 
 Progressively to full redemption came. 
 In the calm innocence of youthful time 
 When earth undeluged lay, eternal God 
 By deep communion did himself impart 
 To his frail creature, Man: or, spirits bright, 
 Or archangelic Presences, declared 
 To Nature, how her God might be adored. 
 When, darkly sunk in Amoritish guilt, 
 The patriarchal purity was o'er; 
 Religion hallow'd with Mosaic law, 
 And special covenant, and ritual pomp 
 Of ark, and fane, and sacrificial blood, 
 The chosen people; 5 thus began 
 Sublime THEOCRACY; and when it sunk 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 47 
 
 To kingly sway, prophetic bards reveaFd 
 The One Jehovah, and the promised Seed: 
 Thus moved the destinies of earth along 
 In light and darkness, as career the waves 
 Through sun and tempest, till Messiah rose! 
 
 There are who deem no revelation true, 
 That doth not, by divine compulsion, awe 
 The universal mind to one belief. 
 But, where the freedom of inviolate will, 
 If truth descend with overpow'ring blaze? 
 The lines of human character are lost, 
 No principle can act, no feeling sway, 
 No passion on the altar of pure faith 
 Can nobly die, in sacrifice to Heaven: 
 As heave the waters to a reinless wind, 
 So, led by impulse, would the spirit yield 
 To Fate's high will, without one virtue blest. 
 For what is virtue, but a vice withstood, 
 Or sanctity, but daring sin overcome? 
 Life is a warfare, which the soul confronts, 
 While good and evil, truth and error clash, 
 Or rally round it in confused array; 
 And he who conquers, wins the crown of Light 
 Which Heaven has woven for her warrior saints. 
 
 A God with all his glory laid aside, 
 
48 MESSIAH. [BOOK n, 
 
 Behold Him bleeding! on his awful brow 
 
 The mingled sorrows of a world repose: 
 
 " 'Tis FINISH'D!" at those words creation throbs; 
 
 Round Hell's dark universe the echo rolls; 
 
 All nature is unthroned; and mountains quake 
 
 Like human being when the death-pang comes; 
 
 The sun has wither'd from the frighted air. 
 
 And with a tomb-burst, hark! the dead arise 
 
 And gaze upon the living, as they glide 
 
 With soundless motion through the city's gloom, 
 
 -Most awfully! the world's REDEEMER dies!- 
 
 That hour of blood, that scene of death, is past, 
 And quench'd the savage eyes that mock'd and 
 
 smiled 
 
 On Calv'ry, when the direful Cross upbore 
 A martyr'd Saviour: but there comes a mood, 
 When Fancy wanders to that fated hill, 
 And from His pleading face, to heaven upturn'd 
 In godlike pity for the murd'rous Jew, 
 A look celestial for the soul derives, 
 When faints it oft in penitential gloom! 
 
 And thou, my Country! foremost in the van 
 Of Glory found, no empire that bedecks 
 The globe, exalted mercies can record 
 Like those that crown'd and still encircle thee! 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 49 
 
 From the foul darkness of engulphing sin 
 A power almighty bade thy Spirit rise, 
 And live, like angels, in the cloudless heaven. 
 Omnipotence hath aye o'ershadow'jl thine 
 Estate; and though not spotless be thy truth, 
 Religion from thy thousand temples calls 
 Aloud on Deity, and walks unseen 
 The paths of goodness, musing holy joy. 
 
50 MESSIAH. [BOOK II. 
 
 And may the glories of Thy Gospel shine 
 From zone to zone, till earth one temple prove; 
 And the sole prayer that angels waft on high 
 Be that which laudeth a Kedeemer's love! 
 For THOU hast promised, and Thy word shall reign ! 
 Let earth be riven, sun and system die, 
 Or nature into nothing be recall'd, 
 Ere this be doubted, the decree of God! 
 Oft in the gloom of unpartaken hours, 
 When Nature travels on the wings of thought 
 Far into chaos, greets the dawning world, 
 And age by age from out the deep of time 
 Ascendeth, till the living moments sound, 
 And fancy is no more, I glow to trace 
 Eternal wisdom and almighty power. 
 E'en now, as here in solitary mood 
 My spirit wanders down the tide of song, 
 What destinies are weaving for the race 
 Of Man ! what energies of heart and soul, 
 In mingled yet harmonious play, complete 
 For time the doom Eternity had plann'd ! 
 
 And, if our winged aspirations dare 
 The hour outfly, and future glory meet, 
 My brother man! wherever doom'd thou art, 
 In dark isles, bosom'd on the dusky main, 
 A savage found, magnificently free; 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 51 
 
 Or, in the icy wilderness unknown, 
 On thee, on thee, may revelation smile, 
 And let thy spirit recognise its God ! 
 
 That prayer is heard! for with it mingling rose 
 A thousand echoes from my Country's heart; 
 Behold, her Genius! on some native cliff; 
 To rocky isles, and dreadful isMnd-wastes 
 That spot the billows, her dejected eye 
 Is turn'd and what a vision of despair 
 The savage dwellers on the sea create! 
 That round their dying captive dance and howl; 
 Or, prostrate at some tow'ring idol's car, 
 In bloody rapture limb and life destroy. 
 She looks to Heaven, and lo ! a sudden burst 
 Of morning brightness o'er the midnight scene; 
 For woods of horror, laughing corn-fields wave ; 
 For cavern'd homes, and huts of wildest gloom, 
 What sylvan cots and glitt'ring mansions rise, 
 What sun-clad spires in every woodland gleam! 
 And ships are riding in securest bays 
 Of commerce, where of old untravell'd sea 
 Lay grimly hush'd, or loud with tempest-war. 
 All things have gilded into beauteous change; 6 
 And Man, at whose creation God rejoiced, 
 No more in darkness of the spirit dwells, 
 But with a bright recover'd soul, appears, 
 
52 MESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 In mind and form, the perfect mould of heaven. 
 The Genius of my Country ! on her brow 
 What apostolic smiles of love and light 
 Begin! for her the vision hath unrolTd 
 Its promise, and to her hath God appealed 
 For Earth, and bade from his divinest source 
 The spirit of immortal truth proceed 
 In heavenly conquest, till th' archangel's trump 
 Be sounded, and the dream of Nature o'er! 
 
 And here awhile, on this majestic hope 
 Of brighter ages doom'd to be, the Muse 
 Reposeth, ere a vaster theme unfolds. 
 But pardon, ye who feel how Nature makes 
 Her worship vocal, if in fond delay 
 Of love, I gaze upon the gorgeous eve, 
 And watch the shadows of a waning sky. 
 
 A sunset! what a host of shapes and hues 
 In cloudy lustre multiplied and flash'd, 
 And flung their beauty in reflected tints 
 On dimpling waters, musically calm: 
 And then, concentred in one pomp of light, 
 Like that which girdles an Almighty throne!* 
 But ere the sun behind yon sea withdrew, 
 
 * Vide the Apocalypse. 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 53 
 
 A thunder-gloom with silent threat advanced, 
 And the loud hiss of the exulting rain 
 Was heard, till universal freshness beam'd; 
 The meadow sparkled, and the sun retired, 
 On waves of glory, like an ocean -god: 
 From out the billows beam'd a rainbow form, 
 That died in azure o'er the distant hijls; 
 The sea-gull fluttered on his foam-like wing, 
 And, like some fairy of the minute born, 
 A wind exulted over trees and flowers. 
 
 An hour with nature is an hour with heav'n, 
 When feeling hallows what the fancy views: 
 And thus, O twilight ! may the spirit learn 
 From thy fond stillness what the day denies. 
 Now Mem'ry too, divinest mourner, wakes 
 The soul's romance, till years of verdant joy 
 Revive, and bloom around the heart once more. 
 Bright forms, by greeting childhood so beloved! 
 Maternal tones, and features, of whose smile 
 In blissful rivalry our own was born, 
 And voices, echo'd in our dreams of heaven, 
 Around us throng, until th' unliving past 
 Our being enters, and is life again! 
 
 Of no false weakness is the inward sigh 
 Of mem'ry, for the days of spring -warm truth 
 F 2 
 
54 MESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 Departed; beautiful regret is there! 
 
 To love the past but makes the present dear; 
 
 The mournful wisdom of our discontent 
 
 Can then unteach what young delusion taught 
 
 Alone; for who that lives, and living, thinks, 
 
 But adds another to an endless train 
 
 Of sad confessors since the world began? 
 
 A life of glory is a dream fulfilled, 
 
 That fades in acting, as a gorgeous cloud, 
 
 E'en as it dazzles, is but dying air! 7 
 
 If I too, ere autumnal age my brow 
 Hath wrinkled, or the twilight of my days 
 Begun, the barrenness of earth perceive, 
 And feel mortality's most fev'rish wear 
 For ever on the soul; if all that bloom'd 
 Like Eden once, hath grown a desert now 
 Of dying hope, and faded joy; if life be lone, 
 And sad, and bleak, while aspirations droop 
 Unwatch'd within me, and delightless earth 
 More tomb-like grows, as death's absorbing 
 
 dream 
 
 Doth haunt the spirit wheresoe'er it fly 
 For refuge, may I not our being mourn? 
 No! let me fall, and worship at the Fount 
 Of promise; life is Heaven's surpassing gift, 
 And what his Maker wills, let man revere! 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 55 
 
 To cover earth with shades of hell, accuse 
 The sun of darkness, and the world blaspheme, 
 Deny all hope, disdain co-equal man, 
 And mar the heavenliness of human joy, 
 Betrays a tempest of unholy thought, 
 Rais'd by the demon of our darker hours ! 
 But, nobly true, inexplicably deep, 
 That mournfulness our better nature feels, 
 When solitude is silent poetry, 
 Read by the soul, interpreted within! 
 Like a mute pilgrim, on some distant shore 
 At twilight shaping in the skiey air 
 The towers and temples of his native land, 
 While on his ear the sounds of home renew. 
 The sweetness of their social melody, 
 So, oft in solitude, existence feels 
 As though mortality an exile were, 
 Saw visions of a former Heaven, and heard 
 Instinctive voices of the parent clime, 
 Like a faint language from departed worlds ! 
 And oh! how oft beneath the bluest sky 
 That summer arches over lake or wood, 
 When round and round, with antic motion, sport 
 The insect populace of beams and flowers; 
 When herb is bright, and breeze is gay, the mind 
 A mystic shadow of dejection feels. 
 Sorrow and dimness, shade and mournful fear 
 Hang round about us, like a haunting spell: 
 
56 MESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 For ever on the solemn verge we seem 
 Of gloom unknown, or glory unreveal'd; 
 And who shall say, that life does not preserve 
 A faint reflection of some vanish'd state 
 By Earth forgot, as oft the sea retains 
 A dim resemblance of departed storm? 
 
 'Tis night; the holy, deep, delicious night! 
 Oh ! pardon me, mild Elements, whose wand 
 Of loveliness doth so becalm the world, 
 If Fancy hath awhile your scene forgot; 
 Again a worshipper, my spirit bows 
 Before ye, panting for a mightier voice 
 Than Ecstasy, though all divinely toned. 
 Thou blue eternity of space ! adorn'd 
 With radiant solitudes, how many eyes 
 Of spirits, who have ceased to walk the globe, 
 Imaginings from thee have caught, and gazed, 
 Until the soul amid yon azure wild 
 Seem'd wand'ring, as on seraph-music borne! 
 
 Mysterious hour! when most self-knowledge 
 
 reigns, 
 
 And minutes are soft teachers, whom the heart 
 Obeys; and art thou not more deeply fill'd 
 With inspiration from thy Maker sent, 
 O Earth! than in the day's tyrannic roar? 
 And if there be, as noblest minds allow, 8 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 57 
 
 A god-like moment, when pure spirits walk 
 
 This lower world, where man is doom'd to strive 
 
 Tranquillity enshrines their presence now*! 
 
 In pale omnipotence of light the moon 
 
 Presides, too brilliantly for meeker stars 
 
 To venture forth, save one bright watcher, seen 
 
 O'er yon lone hill to let his beauty smile: 
 
 The clouds are dead; and scarce a breeze profanes 
 
 The blissful calm, save when some rebel dares 
 
 On fitful wing to wander into life 
 
 Awhile, and make unwilling branches wave, 
 
 Or moonlight flutter through the boughs, and fall 
 
 In giddy brightness on the grass beneath; 
 
 Then earth is soundless; and the solemn trees 
 
 In leafy slumber frown their giant -length 
 
 Before them; Night and Stillness are enthroned. 
 
 Then let the spirit on sublimest wing 
 Expatiate, soaring through unearthly spheres! 
 And haply, hover round some truth unknown. 
 And be the earth all reverently trod, 
 Since out of it did human dust proceed; 
 Let all we look upon religion make 
 For inmost thought, or meditative love; 
 Upon the winds aye let there float a voice 
 Of God; and Ocean in his billowy song 
 Eternal anthems to Jehovah sing! 
 
58 THESSIAH. [BOOK n. 
 
 Oh! THOU whose blood redeemingly was shed, 
 The King of Terrors, but for Thee, appears 
 In ghastly triumph on his dreadful throne ! 
 The future languishes, the fainting world 
 Departs, and lost in nothingless we lie, 
 Forgotten dreams of ever-faded men, 
 Till THOU art felt! then o'er the barren grave 
 The flowers of immortality begin 9 
 To blossom; glory dwells beyond the tomb! 
 Though earth be darkened with the frown of Death ; 
 Though hues autumnal, falling leaves, and flow'rs 
 Proclaim him; and his shadow mar our dreams. 
 There is that daunts him, when the trial comes! 
 And what an ecstasy! when first the gates 
 Of light unfold! the melodies divine 
 Commence, we hear the hallelujahs sound, 
 Then, turn to glory, as we gaze and live 
 Before the throne of Deity unveil'd ! 
 And oh! may I, when restless life is o'er, 
 When mute the tongue, and motionless the hand, 
 Each pang forgot, each pulse for ever still, 
 A glorious voice of some bright angel learn, 
 To sing thy love in far sublimer strain, 
 Immortal Saviour! where thy presence smiles, 
 Tih 1 heaven complete what failing earth began. 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Prepare the way ! a God, a God appears ! 
 A God ! a God ! the echoing vales reply. 
 
 POPE. 
 
 A venerable and sacred tradition relates, that by the rising of a certain 
 uncommon star was foretold , not diseases or death, but the descent of 
 an adorable God for the salvation of the human race, and the meliora- 
 tion of human affairs ; which star, they say, was observed by the Chal- 
 deans, who came to present their offerings to the new-born God. From 
 CHALCIDIUS, an ancient Commentator on the Timceus of Plato. 
 
ANALYSIS OF BOOK III. 
 
 THE fulness of timeProbable sympathy of distant and unknown 
 worlds Despair of the Evil One State of the world Gabriel com- 
 manded to earth The Annunciation Mary's holy raptures Her visit 
 to her cousin at Hebron Her journey described The subject naturally 
 suggests an allusion to the hallowed associations which the beauty and 
 Scenery of Palestine awake The Virgin's arrival Congratulations- 
 Caesar's order for a general census Birth of the Messiah Appearance 
 of the Angels to the Shepherds in Bethlehem Vale Their hymn Visit 
 of the Shepherds to the cradle of Jesus Reflections on the humility of 
 Christ's entrance into this world How contrary to the sublunary ideas 
 of the Jews Their doubt, rejection of Christ, and consequent dis- 
 persion, when compared with their former high estate, kindle our 
 deepest thoughts of fear and faith Then- future restoration Return to 
 the order of the Gospel Day of circumcision Presentation of the 
 Divine Babe in the Temple Simeon's ecstasy Return of the Holy 
 Family to the Vale of Nazareth Arrival of the Magi The craft and 
 cruelty of Herod Massacre of the Innocents Childhood of Jesus 
 His appearance among the Rabbies at twelve years of age in the 
 Temple Second return to Nazareth The meditations of the Saviour 
 as he contemplated the Redemption of Man, amid the seclusion and 
 silence of His lowly lot John the Baptist His dwelling in the desert- 
 Obeys the Holy Spirit Announces the coming of Christ Preaches re- 
 pentance, which is true wisdom The book ends with a view of the 
 consolation of the Scriptures, and the beauty of the outward universe, 
 when enjoyed in connexion with the Divine Creator. 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Now was the fulness of predestined time 
 
 Complete, wherein th' eternal purpose, (told 
 
 To fallen Nature, when the ireful voice 
 
 Of Heav'n through Eden sent a withering sound,) 
 
 In Christ embodied, should at length appear; 
 
 And not ungreeted did redemption's hour 
 
 Arrive: before the throne new radiance burn'd; 
 
 And emanations of intenser bliss 
 
 Than that which kindled o'er creation's birth, 
 
 Angelic myriads felt, as roll'd their hymns 
 
 Of awful wonder ! yea, in worlds of life, 
 
 From whence no sound or shape to earth has come, 
 
 Round these, perchance, a sympathetic thrill 
 
 Of glory ran, when first Salvation smiled ! l 
 
 And thou! the demon King of Darkness, throned 
 In thine eternity of tort'ring fires, 
 Thou dread apostate! who didst shake the skies 
 G 
 
62 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 For vict'ry; vanquish'd, but rebellious still; 
 On thee the dawning of Messiah's reign 
 Shone terrible: within thy dark abyss 
 When ruin'd angels to the summons throng'd, 
 With dreadful beauty, like a dying sun 
 Amid the tempest sinking, each adorn'd! 
 No triumph on thy thunder-blasted brow, 
 But deeper vengeance, more despairing wo 
 Than yet the realms of agony endured, 
 Was visible; that hour, so long foredoom'd, 
 Is coming ! when a world shall be unbound 
 From chains infernal, and the Powers of Hell 
 Disarm'd for ever on their crumbling thrones! 
 
 Meanwhile, on Earth mute Expectation sat 
 And listened; for a rumour, echoed down 
 From dateless time, of two surpassing kings 
 Fore-destined on the globe to rule, prevailed; 
 Whose powers, though blended in Virgilian song, 
 Sublimely differed. 2 In Augustan peace 
 The world reposed; and grateful Rome beheld 
 Her Janus shut, 3 her crimson banners furPd. 
 No more Dodona, from the oaken shade, 
 Or Delphi, from exhaling cavern, sent 
 Vain oracles in mystic verse enweaved: 
 The temples mourn'd, Idolatry was dumb, 
 Or mutter'd faintly from her glimmering shrines; 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 63 
 
 While Art and Science, in their palmy state, 
 
 Triumphantly advanced. Thus, all matured 
 
 And apt to question with profoundest thought, 
 
 Each creed or doctrine of diviner tone, 
 
 The Earth awaited her Messiah's dawn; 
 
 From realm to realm commingling voices spake 
 
 Of sybil words, that sang the coming God; 
 
 While many a heart, prophetically deep, 
 
 Mused in the silence of majestic hope, 
 
 Or, heaven -inspired, the world's Redeemer haiPd. 
 
 Thus all below; when Gabriel heard a voice 
 Of Thunder from the Throne proceed, which bade 
 i To Galilee a winged flight convey 
 His presence, where in rocky Naz'reth dwelt 
 A maiden pure, to Joseph then betroth'd. 
 , And lo! an Angel brighten'd into view 
 Before her, like a lovely burst of morn ! 
 , And while she trembled, dazzled into dread, 
 A salutation of entrancing sound 
 Fell on her ear: " Divinely favoured thou! 
 i Of women blest ! The Lord is with thee, hail ! 
 j A Son, behold, thy virgin womb shall bear; 
 ij Son of the Highest! JESUS let His name 
 !, Be called; upon the throne of David fix'd, 
 I O'er Jacob's house for ever shall he reign, 
 ! And endless will his glorious kingdom prove." 
 
64 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 " But how?" cried Mary, "since I know not man." 
 
 Again the Angel: " Overshadowing thee 
 
 The Holy Spirit will in power descend, 
 
 And That thou bearest, SON OF GOD be called." 
 
 Then answered she "Behold thy handmaid, Lord! 
 
 And be thy word fulfill'd," as brightly fled 
 
 The glowing Angel to his native skies. 
 
 Let silence think, for how can words reveal 
 The full devotion of ecstatic thought, 
 When Mary ponder'd on the promised child ? 
 Let mothers tell! to whose enchanted ears 
 Earth brings no music like the helpless cry 
 Of new-born life from lips that know not guile. 
 Oh! maid select! with more than gladness wing'd, 
 In the young beauty of thy spousal bloom, 
 To Hebron didst thou o'er the mountains pass, 
 And visit one, by Heav'n's bright herald warn'd. 
 
 Beneath the opening eyelids of the sun 
 The pilgrim started, when a breeze was up, 
 And, like a wing, invisibly career'd 
 O'er woods and waters; from the grey ravines 
 The oak and olive sent a leafy sound, 
 And with her crimson multitude of flow'rs 
 The blooming Sharon glitter'd from afar; 
 Or, gazing from some terraced rock or hill, 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 65 
 
 The herding goats from villages and vales, 
 And wild onagras,* free as desert wind, 
 Her eye discern'd; while veil'd Arabians sought 
 A distant well, like Midian girls of old; 
 And others to empurpled vineyards hied, 
 Amid the radiance of unshrouding morn. 
 
 Secure in heav'n, o'er lone and lofty heights 
 She glided on; and trod with eager foot 
 Each verdant slope, each rocky change of scene, 
 Where olive waved, or cypress shadow fell. 
 But oft she paused, and bless'd the vital breeze 
 From lake upborne; or, when some hill or plain 
 Of green magnificence, or glorious view 
 Of Nature's wonders, to her eye appeal'd, 
 How beautiful! to hear the Maiden chant 
 A hymn of David, while her soul recall'd 
 The hallow'd memories which ever cling 
 To ground immortal as great Palestine! 
 
 Oh, tell me not of trophied Greece, and groves 
 Where Plato wander'd, or poetic streams 
 That shine in Homer's page, or Pindar's song, 
 For Palestine by God himself was loved, 
 
 * The wild-ass, or pard. " He scorneth the multitude of the city, 
 neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the moun- 
 tain is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing." Job, 
 xxxix. 7, 8. 
 
 G2 
 
66 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 Inhabited, and blest! His spirit there 
 
 Hath walk'd, the shadow of His form hath been! 
 
 His miracles prevail'd; the mountains blazed 
 
 "With His descending glory! all her vales, 
 
 Her fountains, rivers, and delicious plains, 
 
 Of patriarchs and prophets speak; beneath the shade 
 
 Of her ancestral trees have angels sat, 
 
 And holy Abram smiled; her meanest spot 
 
 Is mighty, and her dust a sacred charm, 
 
 For in it sleep the world's primeval sires! 
 
 Unbounded Fancy! on whose fairy wings 
 The spirit voyageth o'er realms and isles, 
 Oh, waft me now to Tabor's solemn height, 
 Where Barak and his heaven-arm'd thousands hid, 
 And there the drama of the world renew ! 
 Let Eden rise, her boughs and branches wave, 
 And shapes aerial from the clouds descend, 
 To view her lovely bowers. The flood react, 
 Earth, sea, and sky in billowy chaos lost! 
 Call up the patriarchs; mark their rev'rent forms, 
 Or hear the prophets when the people rage: 
 Or, wouldst thou from the sacred past retire 
 To scenes that live, from haunted Tabor view 
 The pomp and glory of a hundred plains ! 
 Lo! vast Esdraelon, like a verdant sea, 
 By dew -famed Hermon bound; there Endor lies, 
 
BOOK III.J MESSIAH. 67 
 
 Where dwelt the night-hag in unholy gloom, 
 And Saul was withered as the spectre rose, 
 Wrapp'd in a mantle, out of Hades call'd ! 
 But northward, lock'd in azure calm of noon, 
 The lake Tiberias ! on that blue extent 
 Of shining waters oft the Saviour look'd; 
 And, near yon mountain, iced with dazzling snow, 
 The sacred hill whereon He sat, and taught 
 The wisdom of eternity to man. 
 
 But, see! o'er Judah's aromatic clime 
 The sun is west'ring: long ere twilight rose, 
 With dewy welcome to her second night 
 Of mountain pilgrimage, the Virgin stood 
 Beneath the shelter of a rustic cot, 
 In Hebron, and her holy cousin haiPd, 
 Enraptured! what a brightness clad 
 Each feature, what a glory fill'd her eyes, 
 And swell'd her form, when that saluting voice 
 Was heard, as thrilling with celestial truth 
 Elizabeth on Mary gazed, and cried, 
 " Of women blest! divinely blest, art thou!" 
 While leapt the babe within her womb, for joy. 
 And thus did Mary in her chant reply, 
 " My soul doth magnify the gracious Lord ! 
 The proud He scatters, but the meek regards; 
 For thus to Abram and our fathers spake 
 
68 MESSIAH. [BOOK in 
 
 The God of Israel glorious be His name ! 
 For me, his lowly handmaid, ever -blest 
 Shall ages deem, and generations call!" 
 
 But now from Csesar came a high command, 
 That each of Judah born his birth enrolled. 
 Then Joseph, by angelic dream forewarned, 
 How vestal Mary had from God conceived, 
 To Bethlehem went, and there the infant Christ 
 His virgin mother in a manger laid: 
 All pure and holy, as the promise spake, 
 Incarnate myst'ry, deep as undefiled! 
 And say! what hour so fervently divine, 
 So fill'd, so fated with sublimest awe, 
 As when the child-god met the placid gaze 
 Of his unspotted mother ! what enshrined 
 A scene, where Deity the mortal shape 4 
 Of feeble infant took, and rudely wrapt, 
 In new-born meekness smiling forth the God, 
 Deliver'd earth, and thrill'd the Heavens with joy! 
 
 That night were shepherds at their watches due 
 Around unfolded sheep, in that soft vale 
 Whose fountain warbled to the dreaming ear 
 Of David, when he sought Adullam's cave. 
 A calm, so deep that silence seem'd a soul, 
 Pervaded all things; dew -light on the ground 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 69 
 
 Was glist'ring, arid the vigil shepherds watch'd 
 Contentedly their breathing charge recline 
 On pasture, where the morning flock had fed.* 
 No cloud the heaven defiled; but, far and high, 
 In beauty, world on world came sparkling out! 
 'Twas then, while Nature mute as dreaming air 
 Reposed, a melody in wafted flow 
 Advanced; and when it reached the starry plain, 
 An earthless Form, seraphically robed, 
 Outburst, and glitter'd like a noontide sea! 
 
 Awe-smote, and blinded with excessive blaze 
 Of archangelic lustre, on the ground 
 Each shepherd sank, nor dared with lifted eye 
 The glory face, till words of music came : 
 " Ye pious watchers! tremble not; behold 
 The tidings of eternal joy I bring, 
 This night the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD is born! 
 Within a manger, lo! the babe is found!" 
 He said; and as the sound of breezy waves, 
 WTien summer winds melodiously awake, 
 The rushing of unnumber'd radiant wings 
 Of thronging spirits fill'd the air around! 
 And, robed with brightness, thus the legion sang: 
 
 * Vide the Abbd Fleury's account of the agriculture &c. &c. of the 
 ancient Jews. 
 
70 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 " Thou Lord of Lords, and Light of Light! 
 Who, with empyreal glory bright, 
 Art seated on th' Eternal Throne 
 Invisibly, the vast Alone! 
 Ten thousand worlds around Thee blaze, 
 Ten thousand harps repeat Thy praise, 
 Yet hymn, nor harp, nor song divine, 
 Nor myriad orbs created Thine, 
 This measureless display of love 
 To earth below, and heaven above, 
 By their immingled power could tell, 
 That ends the Curse, and conquers Hell! 
 For lo ! the manger where He lies, 
 A world-redeeming Sacrifice: 
 Peace on earth! to Man good will! 
 Let the skies our anthem fill! 
 
 " Hail, Virgin-born ! transcendent Child 
 Of mortal semblance, undefiled, 
 By ages vision'd, doom'd to be 
 The Star of Immortality! 
 Hail ! Prince of Peace, and Lord of Light ! 
 Around thy path the world is bright; 
 Where'er Thou tread'st an Eden blooms, 
 And earth forgets her myriad tombs! 
 Thy voice is heard and anguish dies, 
 The dead* awake and greet the skies! 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 71 
 
 Lo! blindness melts in healing rays, 
 And mute lips ope in hymns of praise; 
 The famish'd on Thy bounty feed, 
 While myriads at Thy summons speed, 
 To live upon Salvation's strain, 
 And see the lost restored again ! 
 Peace on earth! to Man good will! 
 Let the skies our anthem fill! 
 
 " Awake, awake, thou ransom'd Earth! 
 And, smiling with a second birth, 
 In loveliness awake and shine, 
 Thy King is come, Salvation thine I 
 The winds are rock'd in holy rest, 
 The waves asleep on ocean's breast, 
 And beautiful the boundless calm, 
 O'er nature spread, like midnight balm, 
 For lo! the manger where He lies, 
 A world-redeeming Sacrifice; 
 The Promised, since the world began, 
 To live and die for guilty man. 
 
 " Again, again, the anthem swell ! 
 For Heaven shall burst the gates of Hell I 
 A vision of uncounted years, 
 That travel on through toil and tears, 
 
72 MESSIAH. [BOOK nr. 
 
 Is all unroll'd in wild extent, 
 Like ocean's heaving element! 
 But soon the demon shade hath pass'd, 
 Messiah rules in light at last! 
 The sunbeams of a sabbath-day 
 Around adoring myriads play; 
 From north to south, from east to west, 
 All pangs are hush'd, all hearts at rest! 
 Pacific homes, Atlantic isles, 
 Where earth extends, or ocean smiles; 
 The rudest spot which man can own, 
 Shall hail Messiah on His throne; 
 And human life, by land and sea, 
 One altar build, O God! to Thee; 
 While men and angels round it throng 
 To chant the sempiternal song, 
 Peace on earth ! to Man good will ! 
 Let the skies our anthem fill !" 
 
 The song is hush'd, the shining train ascends, 
 And swift commingles in one pomp of light 
 From heaven advancing, like a golden sea; 
 While, all entranced, th' adoring shepherds 
 
 kneel : 
 
 But when the bright ascent was o'er, up rose 
 They all in ravishment! to Bethlehem sped, 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 73 
 
 And there the Child- God, wrapp'd in swaddling- 
 clothes, 
 
 They found, and sang with reverential joy 
 A hymn of worship to the Babe Divine ; 
 While Mary, meekly silent, heard the tale 
 Of wonder, musing with prophetic soul. 
 
 O world ! and was it thus thy Saviour came? 
 Rich as the chorus of creation's morn 
 From every region should thy lips have pour'd 
 A loud Hosannah, to proclaim the Lord! 
 The skies have bent, the mountains clapp'd their 
 
 hands, 
 
 The cedars waved on every hallow'd hill, 
 And sun and moon, and each melodious star, 
 And ocean, with his jubilee sublime, 
 Have thrill'd the universe with natal joy! 
 But all was silent, unobserv'd and still; 
 i No empire sung, when Man's Redeemer came; 
 The peasant mother in her. Alpine cot, 
 At dreadful midnight, no desertion feels, 
 Like the rude manger where the Virgin lay, 
 And scarce a solitary taper shone! 
 
 Is this the WONDERFUL? the Prince of Light, 
 The King of kings, the Lord of countless worlds? 
 Oh! language hath no loftiness to reach 
 
74 MESSIAH. [BOOK in 
 
 That height of glory which her fancy view'd 
 When Judah, o'er the world enthroned, conceived 
 Dominion boundless as her Maker's smile! 
 
 Empires have sunk, and kingdoms pass'd away; 
 But still, apart, sublime in mis'ry stands 
 The wreck of Israel ! Christ hath come, and bled, 
 And miracles and ages round the Cross 
 A holy splendour of undying truth 
 Preserve; yet still their pining spirit looks 
 For that unrisen sun which Prophets hail'd ! 
 Where once the temple, bathed in morning hues, 
 Immensely glorious with her matchless spires, 
 On mount Moriah stood, a race exist 
 In darkness, still to Zion turn, and weep ! 5 
 And when I view him in the garb of wo, 
 A wand'ring outcast, by the world disown'd. 
 The haggard, lost, and long-oppressed Jew! 
 " His BLOOD BE ON us!" through my spirit rolls 
 In fearful echo, from a nation's lip. 
 
 Remember'd Zion! still for thee awaits 
 A future, teeming with triumphal sounds 
 And shapes of glory ! still a remnant lives, 
 Who once again thy banner shall unroll, 
 And plant it on thine everlasting walls ! 
 The cities huge that overawed the world 
 
BOOK III,] MESSIAH. 75 
 
 Rot in a gloom, irrevocably seal'd, 
 
 Of desolation; time shall never rear 
 
 The towers, nor crowd their weed-grown walks 
 
 again ! 
 
 But Judah's offspring, like a stony wreck, 
 Which age nor elemental wrath subdues, 
 In mournful grandeur that outlives decay; 
 There as it lies on yon deserted plain, 
 Shall yet endure, till Restoration's voice 
 Convene them back to Salem's widow'd clime. 6 
 
 Exult, O Zion! for thy God is king, 
 And lift thy banner on the mountain tops; 
 From Egypt, Pathros, and Assyria call'd, 
 From Shinar, Hamath, and the sea-born isles, 
 From the vast regions of the utmost orb, 
 Returning Israel from dominion comes ! 
 A voice of weeping it is heard no more; 
 The timbrels sound, her glad-eyed maidens dance, 
 Her young men shout, the aged meekly smile, 
 Rememb'ring all the pleasant things of old ! 
 The lea of Sharon, and the pastured glen 
 Of Achre, beautiful in verdure shine; 
 While planted vineyards, with a costly bloom, 
 Wave on her hills, and court the rip'ning sun. 
 The lamb, the lion, and the infant play 
 Together; Righteousness thy gate adorns, 
 
76 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 And Peace within thy walls, eternal Peace, 
 Recover'd Salem! with Jehovah dwells. 
 
 As when a mother for an absent child 
 Laments, till beauty on her cheek decays, 
 Yet haply in declining loveliness 
 More exquisite than in her glowing prime 
 Appeareth, so doth thine afflicted land 
 Touch the deep spirit with diviner thought 
 Now in thy wo, than when a fertile pomp 
 Bedeck'd thee; for the homeless race afar 
 Thou yearnest with a soft maternal grief; 
 To hill and mountain the devouring curse 
 Hath clung; and rivers down unpeopled vales 
 Like mournful pilgrims glide; while fruit nor tree 
 Bear to the tyrant what thy children took 
 From thy fond bosom; yet, a latent power 
 Of life and glory in thy wither'd soil 
 Is buried, it will rise when Judah comes; 
 Like music sleeping in a haughty lyre, 
 Whose muteness only to the master-touch 
 Breaks into sound that ravishes a world ! 
 
 Now o'er the infant God a day decreed 
 For circumcision rose, in wonted light, 
 And JESUS, let the heavens and earth revere 
 That sound almighty! was the name He bore. 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 7 
 
 And then, each light of due lustration done, 
 The lowly Virgin to the temple brings 
 The young Redeemer; thus had God ordain'd;* 
 No lamb had she; but in her meekness brought 
 Two turtle-doves of pure and spotless wing, 
 And solemnly within the outer court 
 Awaited, while a priest the Lord approach'd ; 
 And haply, on the Temple's wondrous mass 
 Of golden beauty and eiFulgent pomp 
 Oft gazed, and gloried in her country's dream, 
 That there the God of Israel loved to dwell! 
 But when th' oblation of unspotted doves 
 Was paid, an inner court's wide precincts ope, 
 And Mary enters with her bosom'd child; 
 Then silently, with glance of tend'rest love, 
 For presentation yields her holy babe. 
 
 But who is he, with beard of flowing white, 
 That enters 'mid the ceremonious pomp? 
 Led by the Spirit, lo ! a bending form 
 Approaches, kindles as with sudden youth, 
 The babe enclasps, and to his Maker cries, 
 " In peace, O Lord! now let Thy servant go; 
 These eyes have seen, these wither'd arms embrace 
 Thy promised ONE, a child of glory, sent 
 
 * See Exod. xiii. 2. Levit. xii. 6. Also, Lightfoot on the Temple 
 Service. 
 
 H 2 
 
78 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 To lighten Israel, and the world restore!" 
 
 Yes, morning, noon, and night, in dream or prayer, 
 
 In temple-worship, and mysterious hours, 
 
 For this he long'd to see Messiah born! 
 
 The Saviour came, and Simeon died in joy. 
 
 Each rite complete, the Holy Family sought 
 In Bethlehem vale their consecrated home ; 
 There, scarce arrived, when lo! as Magi bow'd 
 In nightly worship to unnumber'd worlds 
 Of starry name, an orbed meteor shone 
 With mystic loveliness, superbly bright! 
 But well they knew, those star-adoring seers, 
 That revelation high, and sped on wings 
 Of holy speed to Zion's stately haunt ; 
 There wond'ringly around Jerusalem's walls 
 Exclaim'd " The new-born great! Judean King, 
 His dwelling say, for Him would we adore!" 
 And souls there lived, which drank, as thirsty ground 
 Drinks in the summer rain, refreshing hope, 
 When eastern sages of a mighty birth 
 For Israel spake; for Judah long had pined, 
 And on the willows hung her captive harp! 
 But he, whom Mariamne's murder'd form 
 For ever haunted, like a dream of hell, 
 The guilty, pamper'd, pale Herodian king! 
 Heard this, and trembled! but in bloody calm 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 79 
 
 His purpose lay, and thus the king address'd . 
 
 Those eastern sages: " Swift to Bethlehem, haste! 
 
 The infant find, around his cradle kneel, 
 
 And tell, where I may come and worship too?" - 
 
 They went; and lo! the beauteous star, 
 
 In loveliness beyond all loveliest worlds 
 
 "Which decorate the night, a guidance lent, 
 
 Till o'er the roof where lay infantine Christ 
 
 It paused, and quiver'd with exceeding light; 
 
 There sped the Magi, earth's Redeemer found 
 
 Encradled; there with bending awe they kneel, 
 
 His form adore, and solemn worship pay, 
 
 With myrrh and frankincense; while Mary stands 
 
 In wonder! with her eye to heaven upturn'd, 
 
 Her bosom swelling with a silent praise, 
 
 And in her soul, a more than mother's joy! 
 
 Their homage done, and Earth's Messiah seen, 
 By God forewarn'd, the orient pilgrims wend 
 Afar from Herod, to their destined home. 
 That night, in visionary trance, appear'd 
 The shape angelic Joseph once beheld: 
 " Arise! to Egypt with the Virgin speed, 
 And holy Infant; Him would Herod slay!" 
 To that high word obedient, ere the blush 
 Of morning redden'd over Horeb's brow, 
 Or Jordan's waters in the sunshine wound, 
 
80 MESSIAH. [BOOK m. 
 
 Alone, yet compass'd with Almighty arms, 
 To Egypt went he, till the monarch died: 
 " For out of Egypt have I call'd my Son!" 
 So spake the seer, whose word our God fulfill'd. 
 
 Then passion, like a kindled hurricane, 
 Burst from the tyrant with terrific sway! 
 And then was havoc, dark as hell desired; 
 Oh! then were shrieks maternal, sounds that 
 
 came 
 
 From riven souls; then childless Rachel wept, 
 In Rama was the voice of mourning heard, 
 And red with blood the streams of Israel ran ! 
 'Twas Murder's banquet on a thousand babes! 
 Sweet flowers of life, whose fragile beauty made 
 The living Eden of parental hearts: 
 Asleep in cradled stillness, with the light 
 Of infant slumber on their lovely cheeks, 
 Or prattling gaily at the cottage door, 
 Did slaughter come, and mock with murd'rous yell 
 The cry of mothers, shrieking for their God! 
 That cry was answer'd, when the monster king, 
 By pain corrupted, turn'd a loathsome mass, 
 And died! then, heralded by Gabriel's wings, 
 The young Redeemer into Naz'reth came; 
 For Archelaus o'er Judah's empire ruled, 
 And, Herod-like, had bathed his throne in blood. 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 81 
 
 Mysterious time ! o'er many realms and lands 
 Thy shadow broods, which man cannot dispel, 
 Or brighten; but o'er that most hallow'd scene 
 Where dwelt unknown, in human meekness veil'd, 
 The Son of Glory, lies thy thickest gloom. 
 For ever hidden, by no voice reveal'd, 
 How lived, and where, the Galilean blest; 
 Yet, wafted back on no irreverent wing, 
 Imagination oft her eye would fix 
 On that green vale, where first our Morning Star 
 With mildest beauty rose ! By earth unfelt, 
 Celestial watchers ! did ye not descend 
 And hover round, while grew the wondrous Child 
 In the fond light of Mary's pensive gaze? 
 Maiden and mother! all divinely pure, 
 When lock'd in slumber the Redeemer lay, 
 How on his features would thy fancy dwell! 
 
 But years departed, and Messiah grew, 
 Strong in the spirit, wisdom, grace, and power, 7 
 Then, oft at eve, when sultry day was o'er, 
 The holy Infant, by his parent's knee, 
 The Book of Life with tender awe perused, 
 And question'd; while in love's delightful dream 
 Each parent wander 'd; calling back the shapes 
 Angelic, or the vision Bethlehem saw; 
 Or, sounding all the dim and mighty depths 
 
82 MESSIAH. [BOOK in 
 
 Of prophecy, where solemn meanings lay. 
 And ah, how beautiful! in cradled sleep 
 While slept her child, to mark the wedded maid 
 On his pure brow a gentle kiss implant, 
 And then to Joseph, with a speaking look 
 Of fondness, say, " How wonderful is Heaven, 
 If there the Hope of fallen Israel lies !" 
 
 When twelve years thus the Son of God had spent 
 To celebrate a high and solemn feast, 
 Begun when over Egypt's first-born flew 
 The direful angel on his wings of death, 
 All came; and with glad myriads went 
 Christ's holy parents up to Salem's walls, 
 As true adorers. When the seventh day saw 
 Each rite concluded, back to Naz'reth vale 
 They speed but where is He, the sacred Boy? 
 With friends beloved, or in Jerusalem lost? 
 There hasten'd they, and sorrowingly roam'd 
 The virgin mother, garden, grove, and field; 
 And as she hurried through the thronging paths, 
 Her eye's fond question moved each passing face 
 With feeling! such as thoughts untold betray 
 When look is language, and that language read 
 By hearts that sympathize with pangs unknown. 
 And thus she sought Him with unwearied step, 
 Till tears had gather'd, and her gaze was dim, 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 83 
 
 Yet found Him not; when hark! a burst of joy 
 Maternal! in the temple, lo! He stands, 
 With priest and sage, and vested rabbis mix'd, 
 The lost One lingers; on His brow the light 
 Of Godhead! from His lips a stream of words 
 Is flowing, fraught with unresisted power, 
 That shook all hearts, the ear of age entranced, 
 And through the spirit pour'd celestial rays 
 Which had not shone before! Each look'd on each 
 Astounded; wisdom seem'd a thing unwise 
 By man announced Divinity was there ! 
 But, garb'd in lowliness, the peasant child 
 The temple left, His mother's smile renewed, 
 And gently her inquiring wonder check'd 
 With words unfathom'd yet in Mary's heart 
 How treasured they, how buried deep in love! 
 Then homeward once again the pilgrims haste 
 United; murm'ring of the festal pomp, 
 And crowded worship, such as Salem loved. 
 And long before the pallid star of eve 
 Had heralded the shady twilight hour, 
 A cot was round them, in their quiet vale. 
 
 By Nazareth are green and silent dells, 
 Secluded paths, and solemn shades profound; 
 And here Messiah dwelt: those eighteen years 
 Of fameless calm, wherein the Prince of Light 
 
84 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 Reposed, and mingled, like a child of clay, 
 
 By sin except, with human toil and tears, 
 
 With what a sense, impenetrably deep, 
 
 They sink upon the silent heart of man! 
 
 Whether on thee, O Virgin blest! we muse, 
 
 Thy soul by reverence and awe subdued 
 
 To something holier than mother's love; 
 
 Or that all -glorious, all-majestic Form, 
 
 In whom was centred man's eternal hope, 
 
 Survey, amid the still and solemn vale, 
 
 Our thoughts are thrilling as the tears that rise 
 
 When angels warble round a soul forgiven ! 
 
 That wondrous Being, in whose presence lived 
 
 The light immaculate perfection feels, 
 
 As lone he wander'd in the mountain dells, 
 
 Redemption! how magnificently vast 
 
 Thy truth and glory must have made His dreams ! 
 
 On this He ponder'd, this the mind perceived; 
 
 From Cana's miracle, to Calv'ry's mount, 
 
 The crown and cross, the agony of death 
 
 He view'd! nor dash'd the bitter cup away 
 
 The curse had fill'd, and man was doom'd to drink, 
 
 Had Christ not come, and drank the cup, and died! 
 
 But now the hour, by Heaven's decree declared, 
 For Jesus to unfold th' Almighty will, 
 Approach'd. Tiberius over sceptred Rome 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 85 
 
 Was reigning; and in subject Judah ruled 
 The savage Pilate; when the Word of God 
 To John amid the wilderness was sent; 
 For thus the prophet in his prescient song, 
 " A voice comes wafted through the wilderness! 
 From Him who crieth, ' Let the mountains sink, 
 The valleys rise, and be the deserts smooth! 
 A God approaches ! be His way prepared !' " 
 
 The great precursor, whose proclaiming voice, 
 " Repent ye!" travell'd on the desert wind, 
 Was robed in hairy sackcloth; round his loins 
 A leathern girdle wound; the mountain spring, 
 That bubbled through the vale, his drink supplied; 
 His meat was honey and the locust wild. 
 Alone, but angel-watch'd, the orphan grew 
 To manhood; nursed amid the elements, 
 A son of Nature, where the desert waved 
 Her wildest bough, or flung her blackest gloom, 
 The cavern'd eremite with God communed, 
 In storm or stillness, when the thunder voiced 
 His anger, or the sunshine brought His smile! 
 One awful loneliness his life became, 
 In thought and prayer mysteriously it pass'd; 
 And oft sublime! as when at sunset hour, 
 A red magnificence of dying hues 
 Came o'er the desert, and each rocky crest 
 I 
 
86 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 Of mountains with volcanic lustre blazed, 
 While slept the sultry air, the prophet knelt; 
 And the wild glory of his dreaming eye 
 To heaven was turn'd, in meditative awe! 
 The hush of woods, the hymn of waters faint, 
 And a blue prospect of the midland sea 
 Beyond the desert, glimmering and vast, 
 And dying cadence of some distant bird, 
 Whose song was fading like a silver cloud, 
 While thus around Creation charm'd, and look'd, 
 E^rth had no grander scene, than when the hour 
 Of Syrian twilight heard the Baptist pray ! 
 
 Beside the waters of th' unliving sea, 
 Where buried cities lift their ghastly wreck 
 In tomb -like waste, 8 the prophet chanced to muse, 
 And dream of dark Gomorrah, and the loud 
 Despair of millions, when the thunder knelTd, 
 And rapidly a burning deluge came! 
 An airy stillness, solitude sublime 
 Was there; no bird upon enchanted wing, 
 No murmur, but the reedy moan of banks 
 Of sickly herbage; or the creeping sound 
 Of Jordan, dragging his sepulchral way; 
 Sea, sky, and air in one unearthly calm 
 Reposed ! In such a scene of lifeless gloom, 
 While mused the Baptist on the guilt of Man, 
 A mighty impulse, an imbreathing power 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 87 
 
 Of inspiration on his spirit came ! 
 
 He felt the God! and, fill'd with sacred fire, 
 
 To Jordan hastened; soon the region round 
 
 " Repent ye!" heard each hill and vale repeat. 
 
 Where ran the holiest of holy streams 
 
 That wind and glitter through green Palestine, 
 
 His cry awoke; from hence a warning rung, 
 
 How terribly! before it, passions fled 
 
 Like waves before the wind! from Judah's realm 
 
 To Alexandria's clime, his solemn threat 
 
 Was echoed, till around the Baptist throng'd 
 
 All sects and nations, to repent and live, 
 
 By laving waters of Baptismal power. 
 
 There stood the Sadducee! with eye unsealed, 
 
 To see the darkness of the grave illumed 
 
 By words immortal; there the glozing tribe 
 
 Of Pharisees, with frighted soul appeal'd 
 
 For mercy! cow'ring as the prophet cried, 
 
 " Ye vipers ! who hath warn'd you from the wrath 
 
 To come! Eepentance! let thy fruits appear; 
 
 The axe is laid, and every fruitless tree 
 
 Shall wither! lo! the fire of vengeance falls!" 
 
 Divine Repentance! in thy sacred tear 
 Alone is wisdom for the erring heart. 
 That infancy of soul, that stainless hour 
 When all the chaos of our spirit sleeps 
 
88 MESSIAH. BOOK in 
 
 In passionless repose, how oft it woos 
 Our feelings back to purity and Heaven! 
 Alas! that in our solitude we soar 
 To perfect goodness, but in life descend 
 To dust again! our aspirations quench'd, 
 And all that purer moments wisely taught, 
 Denied, degraded, or forgot! Thus glide 
 Our years along, in melancholy dreams 
 Of what they dare, and what they cannot be ! 
 
 'Yet all we think on, fancy, feel, or view, 
 Hath something for the soul's mysterious chords 
 Attuned, to thrill them with religious tone: 
 But far above each sight or sound of earth, 
 Or mind of man, that heaven-revealing book, 
 Along whose page of everlasting truth 
 The Spirit of th' Almighty lives and moves ! 
 Oh ! there be visions of transcendent blaze, 
 And heralds bright, embassadors divine, 
 And voices from the Throne and Seat of bliss 
 Deep utter'd by the God-adoring chofr; 
 And Great Jehovah! with his thunder girt, 
 And radiance, speaking like the ocean vast: 
 And you, ye Oracles, whose words relate 
 The story of redemption, so sublime ! 
 With what a simple rectitude severe 
 Your page immortal moves from change to change, 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 89 
 
 Nor turn'd, nor daunted, whatsoe'er the gloom 
 Or brightness of the awful scene it paints: 
 So rolls a river through a wide domain; 
 Whatever the colour which the clouds reflect, 
 Or bank, or verdure, on its beauty flings, 
 It travels onward with the stately course 
 Of sound and motion, to the fated sea ! 
 
 By this alone, can mortal life unweave 
 Her web of mystic lines, and many hues, 
 And man's eternity before him rise, 
 In dreams of light, or shadows of despair. 
 At evening once, beside a circling shore 
 Of sandy wildness, where the billows loved 
 Their foaming solitude, my fancy stray'd: 
 Dark crags, and summits, fit for tempest thrones, 
 Hung near: but mid-way, on a lofty mount, 
 By the green splendour of tumultuous grass 
 Made beautiful, there sat a wither'd shape, 
 By sorrow featured: on his wasted cheek 
 Lived pale decline; but still the quenchless eye 
 Was glorious, there a burning spirit shone! 
 A book, an ancient book of faded leaves, 
 Was open'd, which, with bended brow, he read 
 Intently: nearer still my footstep crept, 
 And by the breeze from his pale lip was brought 
 The melody of some almighty speech: 
 i 2 
 
90 MESSIAH. [BOOK in. 
 
 Then, quaking with excess of thought divine, 
 
 Down on the herb adoringly he sank, 
 
 And fix'd his eyes upon the awful heavens, 
 
 As though enthroned, there God himself appear'd! 
 
 And then, when roUing tears ran bright and large, 
 
 Exultingly his gasping spirit cried, 
 
 " For ever and for ever is Thy Throne 
 
 Transcendent, Lord, and everlasting King!" 
 
 True adoration, what a voice is thine! 
 From earth it wanders through the Heaven of 
 
 Heavens, 
 
 There from the Mercy-seat itself evokes 
 An answer, thrilling the seraphic host 
 With added glory of celestial song!* 
 For prayer is man's omnipotence below, 
 A soul's companionship with Christ and God, 
 Communion with Eternity begun! 
 
 Oh, love creative ! earth itself is heaven, 
 Would man profane it not, by savage tread 
 And sordid gaze. E'en now, the sun appears 
 A king of glory, and the breathing world, 
 Like some vast instrument of solemn sound, 
 A thousand melodies of life awakes! 
 The sky is covered with her isles of cloud, 
 
 * There is joy in Heaven, &c. Matthew's Gospel. 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 91 
 
 That flash or float as sun and wind command, 
 The air is balm, her breeze a living joy; 
 My heart is dumb with an exceeding bliss 
 Of light and beauty, pouring in from day's 
 Enchantment; while beneath yon vernal hill, 
 In shadowy sport reflecting cloud and sky, 
 Poetic murmurs from the distant sea 
 In lulling falls come faintly on the mind. 
 
 But now the conscious elements prepare 
 For slumber; modulated breezes swell; 
 The sky, with ocean-mimicry adorn'd, 
 Grows pale and paler; soon will stars advance 
 And seem to palpitate, as 'there they shine, 
 With living beauty ! Thus will night begin, 
 And earth lie cradled in a dim repose, 
 Till the pure heaven comes down upon the soul 
 And all is hush'd within her holy spell! 
 So ends a sabbath; so may sabbaths end 
 Devoutly sacred; till the wings of Time 
 Be folded, and ETERNAL SABBATH reigns ! 
 For all Thy ministries begin and end 
 In Love, that glorious synonyme of Thee, 
 Whose palace fills th' interminable Heavens; 
 From the first tear that rolTd down Adam's cheek, 
 To the last pang of living bosoms now, 
 In light and darkness, still our God is Love ! 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 " Oh, 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 !" Paradise Lost, book xii. 
 
 ' Muse upon His pregnant words imagine the awful serenity of His 
 tones stand by while He calls the dead from the bier behold Him 
 stilling the winds hear Him remit sins follow Him to the mount of 
 death thus walking side by side with Jesus." The Natural History of 
 Enthusiasm. 
 
ANALYSIS OF BOOK IV. 
 
 THE glorious manifestation of Truth in the appeal of the Baptist Ap- 
 proach of Christ to be baptized Jesus led by the Spirit into the Wil- 
 derness The temptation described Angels sent to console Hun Thus 
 proved, He commences his Ministry as the Redeemer of the world- 
 Purity and majesty of His Life and Doctrines First Miracle The 
 Marriage in Cana Jesus goes to Jerusalem The modern state of 
 Jerusalem, compared with her ancient glories The Passover de- 
 scribed, at the Celebration of which Christ arrived His entrance to the 
 Temple Miraculous expulsion of its defilers Nicodemus, his cha- 
 racter, and visit to the Saviour by night Jesus, on the death of the 
 Baptist, hastens to Galilee, to avoid the Jews His Journey through 
 Samaria Scenery Well of Sychem Interview with the Woman of 
 Samaria He travels to Cana The Nobleman's Son healed by a word 
 of Christ His appearance in the Synagogue is expelled from thence 
 by His offended Countrymen Led to the brovr of a hill Delivers Him- 
 self from instant destruction Capernaum Lake of Tiberias, described- 
 Miraculous Draught of Fishes Confession of Peter Exultation of the 
 Crowd who witnessed the Miracle to this was added an innumerable 
 number of divine deeds and mercies Doctrine adduced from Miracle 
 The power they exhibited cannot be fathomed; but the principle 
 which they inculcate is to be imitated for it teaches boundless Love 
 to the whole family of Man. 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 SAY, who can measure the exalted might 
 
 3f truth, delivered by a daring soul, 
 
 Till conscience trembled, like the world's great sire, 
 At that "Where art thou?" earth's Creator spake! 
 A brow irradiate with divinest thought, 
 An eye majestic, and a voice like Heaven's, 
 
 Vere his, who usher'd in th' expected God! 
 m cot to palace rose his high reproof; 
 
 Yherever wander'd in the realm of vice 
 
 The heart of man, " Repent ye!" sounded there. 
 
 What marvel, then, Messiah's self appear'd 
 n John embodied, till the people cried, 
 Vith loud impatience, " Art thou Christ, the true?" 
 ' With water I indeed baptize and bless; 
 3ut ONE shall come, transcendently sublime 
 3'er me, the very latchet of whose shoes 
 
 am not worthy to unbind! with fire, 
 
96 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 And with the Holy Ghost shall He baptize; 
 Behold, the fan is in His fearful hands! 
 The wheat He gathers, but the wicked chaff 
 Ungarner'd, burneth with a quenchless flame!" 
 Thus answer'd he; and shadow'd Israel's heart 
 With wonder, dreaming on the dark unknown. 
 
 While thus by Jordan's hallow'd wave, the rite 
 Of waters, sanctioned by mysterious sway, 
 The Baptist to repenting souls perform'd, 
 The LORD OF LIFE, in human weakness veil'd, 
 Himself presented. Round His beauteous head 
 No glory play'd, no godlike effluence shone, 
 As on He came; yet, sacredly o'erpower'd 
 By some deep impulse, vast and undefined, 
 The crowd stood parted; and a solemn hush, 
 Like stillness o'er a forest, when the winds 
 Lie dreaming in a dead or sullen calm, 
 The murm'ring host subdued : but from thy face, 
 Great harbinger ! what recognition flash'd ! 
 Then spirit-bright thy gladden'd mien became; 
 For He, whom prescient Heaven and Earth foretold, 
 Before Thee stood, Salvation's Prince appear'd : 
 And this, thy greeting : " Lo ! at length He comes ! 
 Behold the LAMB OF GOD! Oh! pure above 
 All Beings pure, from me this rite forego, 
 For I have need of Thy baptizing grace, 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 97 
 
 And comest thou to mine?" " Refuse me not; 
 Since thus all righteousness must be fulfill'd:" 
 So speaking, down the bank Messiah moved, 
 Stood in the waters, there the rite received, 
 And thence ascended, dumb with secret prayer. 
 When lo! the heavens miraculously oped, 
 The dazzling concave God Himself reveal'd 
 Descending! lustrous, with ethereal light: 
 Then, dove-like hover'd o'er the Saviour's head 
 Th' Eternal Spirit, while a Voice declared 
 Like sea and thunder when their music blends, 
 " Adore Him! This is my beloved SON!" 
 
 And now came on temptation's demon hour 
 To crush the Saviour! By the Holy (Jhost 
 Compell'd, within a desert's trackless wild 
 Alone He wander'd, unperceived by eyes 
 Of mortal; there to fathom time and fate, 
 Redemption, and the vast design of Love. 
 A noontide o'er his contemplation sped 
 Away, and still the awful Thinker roved 
 With foot unwearied: sunset, fierce and red, 
 Succeeded: never hung a savage glare 
 Upon the wilderness, like that which tinged 
 This fated hour; the trees and herbless rock 
 Wore angry lustre, and the dying sun 
 Sank downward like a deity of wrath, 
 K 
 
98 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 Behind him leaving clouds of burning wreck! 
 And then rose twilight; not with tender hues, 
 Or choral breezes, but with shade as dim 
 And cold, as death on youthful spirit throws: 
 Sad grew the air, and soon th' affrighted leaves 
 And branches from the crouching forest sent 
 A wizard moaning, till the wild-bird shriek'd, 
 Or flutter'd, and in dens of deepest gloom 
 The lion shook, and dreadful monsters glared. 
 
 Tremendous are ye, ever-potent storms, 
 In wild magnificence of sound and scene ! 
 Watch'd on the mountains, in convulsive play, 
 Or from the ocean -margin, when the sea 
 With her Creator wrestles ! and we hear 
 The fancied winds of everlasting Power 
 In wrath and gloom fly sweeping o'er the world! 
 But when hath tempest, since a deluge roar'd, 
 The pale earth shaken, like that stormy rage 
 That tore the desert, while Messiah mused? 
 Then God to hands infernal seem'd to trust 
 The helm of Nature, while a chaos drove 
 The elements to combat! night and storm, 
 And rain and whirlwind, in their frenzied wrath 
 Triumphant, while aloft unnat'ral clouds 
 Hung o'er the sky the imag'ry of Hell! 
 Not hence alone tempestuous horror sprung: 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 99 
 
 To aid the Tempter, shapes of ghastly light, 
 With phantoms, grim beyond a maniac's dream, 
 To thunder, darkness, and dread midnight gave 
 A power unearthly: round thy sleepless head, 
 Adored Redeemer! did the voices chant, 
 Or wildly mutter their unhallow'd spell; 
 Yet all serene Thy godlike virtue stood, 
 Unshaken, though the universe might fall! 
 
 Thus forty days of dire temptation leagued 
 Their might hell-born, with hunger, thirst, and pain. 
 Meanwhile, in thankless calm the world reposed. 
 Life went her rounds, and busy hearts maintained 
 Their wonted purpose: still uprose the parent orb, 
 And all the dewy ravishment of flowers 
 Enkindled; Day and Ocean mingled smiles 
 And then, meek Night with starr'd enchantment rose, 
 While moonlight wander'd o'er the palmy hills 
 Of green-hair'd Palestine: and thus unmark'd 
 By aught portentous, save demonian wiles, 
 His fasting period in the desert gloom 
 Messiah braved. At length, by hunger rack'd, 
 And drooping, deaden'd by the scorching thirst 
 Of deep exhaustion, round him nothing stood 
 But rocky bleakness, mountains dusk and huge, 
 Or riven crags, that seem'd the wreck of worlds. 
 And there, amid a vale's profoundest calm, 
 
100 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 Where hung no leaf, nor lived one cheering tone 
 
 Of waters, with an unappalled soul 
 
 The Saviour paused, while arid stillness reign'd, 
 
 And the dead air, how dismally intense 
 
 It hung and thicken'd o'er the lifeless dale! 
 
 When lo! from out the earth's unfathom'd deep, 
 
 The semblance of a mighty cloud arose ; 
 
 From whence a shape of awful stature moved, 
 
 A vast, a dim, a melancholy Form ; 
 
 Upon his brow the gloom of thunder sat, 
 
 And in the darkness of his dreadful eye 
 
 Lay the sheath'd lightnings of immortal ire! 
 
 As king of dark eternity, he faced 
 
 The Godhead; centering in that one still glance 
 
 The hate of Heaven, the agony of Hell, 
 
 Defiance and despair! and then, with voice 
 
 Sepulchral, deep as when a tempest dies, 
 
 Him thus addressed: " If SON OF GOD Thou be, 
 
 These stones, command them into living bread!" 
 
 " 'Tis written," answer'd our undaunted Christ, 
 
 " Not bread alone, but every word of God, 
 
 Is life!" Scarce utter'd that sublime reply, 
 
 When each ascended, and on noiseless wings 
 
 Invisibly both God and Demon soar'd 
 
 Together, rapid as th' almighty glance 
 
 Which roams infinity ! On Herod's towers, ' 
 
 From whose dread altitude the very sky 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 101 
 
 Seems nearer, while below a hush'd abyss 
 
 Extendeth, dark with supernatural depth, 
 
 They soon alighted; where with impious wile 
 
 Again the Tempter thus the Godhead tried: 
 
 " If Son of God Thou be, Thyself cast down! 
 
 'Tis written, c Thee protecting angels watch 
 
 For ever, lest a stone thy feet may dash.'" 
 
 " The Lord thy God thou shalt not tempt!" replied 
 
 The Saviour: awed by such divine repulse, 
 
 The baffled Demon for his last design 
 
 Prepared; and swiftly by an airy flight, 
 
 To Quarantania's unascended top 
 
 That crowns the wilderness with savage pomp, 2 
 
 Messiah next he bore; from thence, a world 
 
 In visionary light lay all reveal'd 
 
 With luring splendour ! regions, thrones, and climes 
 
 Of bloom and fragrance, meadows, lakes, and groves : 
 
 And there lay cities, capp'd with haughty towers, 
 
 With piles, and palaces of marble sheen, 
 
 And domes colossal, with exulting flags 
 
 Of royal conquest on their gilded spires : 
 
 And there were armies, thick as trooping clouds, 
 
 On plains assembled, chariot, smoke, and steed, 
 
 The pomp of death, and thunder-gloom of war: 
 
 Nor absent, fleets within the silver bay 
 
 Reposed, or riding o'er a gallant sea: 
 
 All this, the world's inspirer thus evoked, 
 
 K2 
 
102 MESSIAH. [BOOK i\ 
 
 One vast enchantment, one enormous scene 
 Of splendour, deluging the dazzled eye 
 With mingled radiance, till the fancy reel'd! 
 And then, outstretching with imperial sway 
 A shadowy hand, Hell's crafty monarch spake, 
 " This pomp and glory, this surpassing World 
 Is Thine ! if Thou wilt kneel and worship me !" 
 Then bright as Deity, with truth erect, 
 Victoriously Messiah thus rebuked 
 The Prince of Hell. "Behind me, Satan, get! 
 ? Tis written, thou shalt worship God alone;" 
 And thus responding, rays of awful truth 
 His eye emitted ; from whose dreaded glance 
 The Devil shrunk, and wither'd into air! 
 When, light as breezes, lovely as the morn 
 Descended, blooming with celestial grace, 
 Angelic creatures, in whose hands upborne, 
 By man unseen, the wafted Jesus sank 
 To earth again; and there, a squadron bright 
 Of minist'ring spirits round Him knelt, and sang. 
 
 His trial o'er, by men and angels proved 
 Consummate Lord; by John again confess'd 
 Amid the Sanhedrim, as Christ foretold 
 Since time began, by five disciples found 
 And follow'd, Jesus on His glorious task 
 Now enters; fallen earth shall be restored! 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 103 
 
 Do kings array Him? Doth the palace ope 
 Its gorgeous portals to admit His train? 
 Alas! the bird his nest, the beast his lair 
 Inhabits, but the homeless Son of Man 
 Forsaken, hath not where to lay His head! 
 And He, whose fiat was the birth of things, 
 Whose frown had made the universe no more, 
 The pangs and woes of meanest want endured; 
 For others wept, or bade his might outblaze, 
 But stood Himself, unaided and alone, 
 A God that suffer'd, while he saved His world! 
 
 And who shall paint Him? let the sweetest 
 
 tone 
 
 That ever trembled on the Harps of Heaven, 
 Be discord; let the chanting seraphim, 
 Whose anthem is eternity, be dumb; 
 For praise and wonder, adoration, all 
 Melt into muteness, ere they soar to Thee, 
 Thou sole PERFECTION ! Theme of countless worlds ! 
 Be mine, with solemn step and rev'rent gaze 
 From miracle to miracle to roam, 
 Through paths of glory, tracks of peaceful light; 
 And on the way, devout accession cull 
 Of thought or meaning, from the book divine 
 Translated: pleased beyond ambition's joy, 
 If thus companion'd by consenting mind, 
 
104 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 My theme advances, till on Calv'ry's mount 
 Arriving, Faith behold her Saviour die. 
 
 Thy miracles in mercy, Lord began. 
 To Cana, peering o'er a woody crest 
 Of green ascent, beside Capernaum raised, 
 Messiah with his virgin mother went; 
 And there, by one fond deed of love confirmed 
 A holy sanction of connubial bliss. 
 Unknown the bride, or whom the wedding throng 
 A bridegroom hail'd; but Nature has not seal'd 
 That fountain up, from whence all feeling flows, 
 The heart, whose current is by time unchanged. 
 And thus in garlanded array behold 
 Two happy creatures, 'mid rejoicing friends, 
 In white apparel gemm'd by nuptial flowers. 
 What beautiful emotion, born of dreams 
 Which make a future paradise, abounds ! 
 Yet, in thy gaze a gleam of vanish'd years 
 Shines pensive, maid! around whose virgin brow 
 A bridal wreath consenting parents wove. 
 The home of love, the haunts where infant feet 
 Have roam'd, the mingled and o'ermast'ring sense 
 Of truth and tenderness the past awakes, 
 Upon thee like returning childhood comes ! 
 A cloud melts o'er thy summer noon of joy, 
 Serenely dark, and exquisitely sad: 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 105 
 
 For haply, on the old familiar walls, 
 : And chamber, where thy lisped vows began, 
 
 Thine eye hath look'd farewell! or, down the paths 
 
 Of garden loveliness, where tiny hands 
 
 So often labour'd with delightful toil, 
 ! How mutely hast thou wander'd ! blessing flowers- 
 
 Whose fairy magic woo'd thy frequent touch, 
 
 When dew and sunshine call'd thy fancy forth 
 
 To drink their beauty with absorbing gaze; 
 
 And that green haunt by fragrant trellis hung, 
 ; Yes ! there thy soul hath dream'd of days no more, 
 
 When twilight redden'd o'er thy girlish bowers. 
 
 But now the banquet: such as lowly roof 
 Demanded, and which simple manners claim'd. 
 O'er milk and honey, rice and kneaded flour, 
 And water, cool as mountain-well contain'd, 
 When consecrating prayer arose, for Heaven's 
 
 1 High blessing then the marriage-feast began. 
 But soon to Jesus, Mary's asking eye 
 
 . Was turn'd, and meekly for the aidless want 
 Of friends beloved, a miracle she hoped; 
 But thus was answer'd: " Woman! unarrived 
 My dawn of glory ! what have I to do 
 With thee?" Oh! think not from That sinless 
 
 mouth 
 Annihilating words of harshness came; 
 
106 MESSIAH. [BOOK i 
 
 The pity, not the anger, of rebuke 
 
 Was there! Six stony water-pots antique. 
 
 For pure lavation, such as holy rite 
 
 Demanded, in the nuptial chamber stood; 
 
 And each, obedient to Messiah's voice, 
 
 With gushing water to the brim was filPd; 
 
 When lo! the element, by power subdued, 
 
 Blush'd into wine, and glow'd beneath its God! 
 
 And when the ruler of the rustic feast 
 
 Admiring drank this new-created wine, 
 
 A miracle stood forth! as shines a star 
 
 Clear, round, and large, the only one in heaven: 
 
 Each heart beat louder; on the lifted brow 
 
 Of mute-struck guests, divine amazement sat; 
 
 And from the eyes of new disciples flash'd 
 
 The fire of faith ! that eloquence of soul, 
 
 While ecstacy is dumb. And when at night, 
 
 By torch and timbrel home the vested train 
 
 Returned, amid the hymeneal song 
 
 Of sweetest rapture, while each bridal robe 
 
 Like snow in moonlight glitteringly shone, 
 
 The holy mildness of thy deep -toned voice, 
 
 Redeemer ! still in hearts its echo rang. 
 
 Though vaster miracles Thy name enthrone, 
 
 In this, omnipotently tender shine 
 
 The rays of love ; concenter'd, calm, and bright, 
 
 They dazzle not, but still Thy power declare. 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 107 
 
 With fame before Him, now for Judah's feast 
 Of sacrifice, to Zion's city-queen 
 The Saviour went. In moods of high romance 
 'Tis pleasant down the depth of ages past 
 To venture, re-erect huge capitals, 
 And hear the noise of cities now no more! 
 But Egypt, with her pyramids august, 
 Titanian Thebes, or Athens, temple-famed, 
 Or Rome, the miracle of mighty arms, 
 And whatsoe'er gigantic fancy builds 
 In visions of the vast and gone, dissolve 
 To shadows, when Remembrance pictures thee, 
 Jerusalem! alas! the wailing harp 
 All truly mourn'd. a throneless captive thou 
 In dust thy robes of beautiful array 
 Have wither'd; tears are on thy faded cheek, 
 And nothing, save a glorious past, is thine! 
 Those mountains, branded by th' almighty curse, 
 Ascend, and look down yon sepulchral vales, 
 Where silence by the tramp of desert steeds 
 Alone is echo'd: paths of lifeless length, 
 Dim walls, and dusky fanes, barbaric homes, 
 And Arab huts, how eloquently sad 
 The ruin, how sublime the tale it tells! 
 Jerusalem! the clank of heathen chains 
 In iron wrath hath sounded o'er thy doom 
 For ages : sword and savage on thy blood 
 
108 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 Have feasted; fatal martyrdom was thine 
 From Roman, Frank, and fiery Mameluke: 
 E'en now, thy wreck is made Pollution's prey; 
 And minarets their flashing spires uplift, 
 Where once the palace of Jehovah blazed! 
 
 But round thy desolation lives a dream 
 Of what thou wert, when Heaven o'ershadow'd thee. 
 Religion, fame, and glory all endow'd 
 With mingled light thy once celestial home. 
 There 'tween thy cherubim, th' Eternal dwelt! 
 From out the Cloud His utter'd meaning came; 
 The hymn of David, and the voice of seers 
 By vision raptured, through thy streets have roll'd; 
 And He who spake as never mortal did, 
 In temple, dome, and synagogue proclaim'd 
 His awful mission: well might warriors pause, 
 The poet chant, and pure apostles bend 
 Before thee, casting down their sacred wreaths, 
 Queen of the desert ! once by angels walk'd, 
 And still where murmurs of Jehovah's lip 
 In dreams of melody thy vales entrance ! 
 
 To such high city came Salvation's Prince, 
 When all was loud, on that religious eve 
 That marks a feast, by whose unblemish'd lamb 
 Was typified the Lamb of God eterne. 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 109 
 
 But, hark! the clang of trumpets on the wind! 
 Down hill and mountain, red with lustrous sky 
 The banner'd tribes of shouting Israel come ! 
 And how magnificently full and deep 
 The blended anthem! reaching from the heart 
 Through Heaven's infinity, where angels list, 
 And waft its echo round the throne of God! 
 Beneath them, beautiful, and bright, and vast, 
 Jerusalem with all her dazzling towers 
 Reposing; Zion the beloved is there! 
 And midmost, pinnacled in golden pomp, 
 O'er all uplift, the gorgeous Temple stands, 
 And glitters, like the sheen of Alpine snow.* 
 While downward, jubilant with holy glee, 
 Enamour 'd thousands to the city rush: 
 Each window, roof, and balcony, alive 
 With gazers, scattering o'er the marching tribes 
 A spring of flowers, and wreaths of rosy bloom, j 
 
 While thus, from every region which the heavens 
 O'er-canopy, the host of Israel came 
 In troop and tribe, as though the archangel's trump 
 Had sounded, Jesus to the Temple pass'd. 
 Nine gates enormous, folding back like clouds 
 Of splendour, when the prince of morning conies, 
 
 * Vide Josephus' Description of the Temple. 
 t See Lightfoot and the ancient Commentators. 
 L 
 
110 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv 
 
 Round Herod's temple blazed : without were courts 
 
 And one, the Gentile's, circling with a range 
 
 Of gleaming columns of colossal height 
 
 The rest within; and here alone, the Jew 
 
 To proselytes an entrance gave; nor deem'd 
 
 That where a Gentile vow'd, Jehovah was! 
 
 And thus, with unconcern, and loud contempt 
 
 Of holiness, convened a merchant throng 
 
 Of money-changers, in that outer court, 
 
 Whose tongue and tread the House of God defiled. 
 
 Then rose He! like an hierarch array'd 
 
 With might celestial, or a fervid seer 
 
 In the wild tempest of prophetic ire 
 
 On realms and vices warring, the unknown 
 
 Redeemer; driving with a corded scourge 
 
 The vile profaners, whom His visage awed 
 
 With sudden brightness of appalling power! 
 
 " 'Tis written," cried a soul-commanding voice, 
 
 " My House the solemn House of prayer shall be; 
 
 But ye profane it like a den of thieves.!" 
 
 While fled the crowd, a mutt'ring wonder rose, 
 
 Till the Jew, reading with an eye of wrath 
 
 The face of Christ, thus haughtily inquired: 
 
 " For this high daring, what miraclous sign, 
 
 Or what omnipotence from Heaven hast Thou?" 
 
 " This temple scatter, and ere three days end, 
 
 Command it rise again!" Then spake the Jew, 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. Ill 
 
 While o'er the vastness of Jehovah's pile 
 
 His eye-glance roll'd, and thence with flashing pride 
 
 On Jesus fell:" Through six-and-forty years 
 
 This Temple rose, and widen'd! canst Thou crush 
 
 Its glory, and in three days bid it rise?" 
 
 But Christ of His corporeal temple spake 
 
 For resurrection doom'd. Yet words that rung 
 
 A knell of ruin o'er the noblest fane 
 
 Which earth had borne, or gazing awe beheld, 
 
 Such fatal warning could not be forgiven, 
 
 E'en in that hour of agony divine 
 
 When shook the World, as pass'd her God away! 
 
 Eternity! there is a sound and sense 
 Of terror, dwelling in thy dim abyss 
 Of meaning, whether by the spirit named 
 When lips are whitening in the gasp of death, 
 Or utter'd by the pensive voice of life. 
 In vain immunity and calm we seek, 
 Dark intimations of thy state will rise, 
 Though time be mock'd, and tombs unheeded stand. 
 There was a man whom meditation charm'd 
 And counsell'd, by the Sanhedrim beloved 
 For wisdom; hiving in his inmost heart 
 Prophetic truths, and hopes of regal pride 
 For Judah destined, when her King appear'd. 
 All gloomy, lone, and melancholy things 
 
112 .MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 To him were genial: on the face of death 
 
 His eye would fasten a devouring gaze, 
 
 For some confession ! down the wizard paths 
 
 Of midnight, when the fainting moon retired, 
 
 Or planets sicken'd by sepulchral caves 
 
 Where prince and prophet slumber'd, he would stray 
 
 And ponder, dreaming of immortal doom. 
 
 No spot or scene, where past religion shed 
 
 A glory, but to him intrancement gave. 
 
 On Horeb he had mused, and heard the choir 
 
 Of Sinai's thunders, heralding their God! 
 
 On dewy Hermon, loved by David's lyre, 
 
 And Carmers oaken top, where trembling stood 
 
 Elijah, when the cloudy answer came, 
 
 He wander'd; and the eagle-haunted heights 
 
 Of cedar'd Lebanon by him were trod, 
 
 That mountain chilPd by everlasting snow, 
 
 When all the firmament lies bathed in fire ! 
 
 For high revealings of immortal truth 
 His soul was thus attun'd; and when the light 
 Of miracles, by Jesus' hand perform'd, 
 His heart illumined, as the risen day 
 Doth suddenly with living splendour cheer 
 The gloom and hollow of deserted vales, 
 Omnipotence at once his soul perceived; 
 Goodness and glory, such as make a God, 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 113 
 
 In Christ had met, but where the throne of thrones, 
 The pomp and princedom, ancient seers announced? 
 And thus, through ebbing moods of doubt and faith, 
 The pharisee was borne, till Mercy smiled! 
 'Twas on a night of meditative calm, 
 Devoutly while his musing spirit read 
 The story of creation, sin and fall, 
 
 ; And second Eden, by atoning grace 
 Procured, that impulses of sacred power, 
 Led Nicodemus to consult the Lord. 
 
 . And what an interview that night reveals 
 'Tween sinful Earth and condescending Heaven. 
 Go! read it, where Eternal Life is found: 
 The second birth of renovated souls 
 Commenced; the HOLY SPIRIT, how He comes 
 The world to sanctify, unseen departs, 
 And worketh like an unbeholden wind, 
 The Lord explain'd; till Nicodemus bow'd 
 In wonder, doubted, trembled, and believed ! 
 Since light was born, and condemnation found 
 For deeds of evil, that in darkness lurk 
 And blacken, hating light that brings a God. 
 Then ask not, how the doubter home return'd, 
 Or how his dream to slumber's paradise 
 That night was wafted on melodious wing: 
 From this deep hour his heaven of faith began. 
 A Saviour living and a Saviour dead, 
 L 2 
 
114 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 For both he pleaded, when the bravest shook, 
 And they who loved Him were the first to flee ! 
 
 When John was prison'd, from the hating Jews 
 Whom miracles confounded, Jesus fled 
 To Galilee; that haunt supremely loved! 
 Where sprung apostles, where His childhood grew, 
 And where He hastened, when from death unbound, 
 Through dells of beauty, hush'd and shaded haunts, 
 Or meadows, whiten'd by the olive boughs 
 That waved and flashed amid the breezy swell, 
 Through each and all, as Nature's fancy tinged 
 Arid character'd her glowing realm, He pass'd, 
 Till day advanced, and burning, breathless noon, 
 When earth was heated to her inmost core, 
 And light and languishment the brain oppressM, 
 At Sichem 3 glitter'd round the Saviour's form. 
 
 Alone, beside a patriarchal well 
 He rested, wearied by the fiery toil 
 Of travel; while his fond disciples sought 
 The city, bosom'd in Grerizirn's vale. 
 Majestic calm, and mournfulness divine, 
 Around Him incommunicably reign'd, 
 The quiet breathed from His eternity! 
 So 'tranced the air, that each minutest sound 
 By wing, or breeze, or basking insect made, 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 115 
 
 Was audible, and seem'd profanely loud: 
 At that deep moment Nature knew her God, 
 And bade the silent elements adore ! 
 
 While thus, immersed in some immortal dream 
 Of bright salvation, man's Redeemer sat, 
 There came a woman to that haunted well 
 Where holy Jacob, in the dawn of time, 
 Cool'd his hot thirst beneath a zenith sun. 
 A Jew! of that abhorrent nation sprung, 
 That ever since on Dan and Bethel stood 
 Samaria's idol, bade her miscreant race 
 Of heaven despair, and scorn'd her rival fane, 
 How spake He aught, to one of Sichem born! 
 With touching beauty, and with tender grace, 
 Messiah answer'd, Had she known the gift 
 Of God, and WHO he was, that fain would drink, 
 A living water had divinely flow'd ! 
 His heaven-like mien, and voice augustly toned 
 With spirit-searching power, the woman awed, 
 And nearer still, with eye intently raised, 
 She wond'ring stole, and mortal -like replied; 
 That from the well, o'erhung by solemn boughs 
 Whose shadows oft on patriarchal heads 
 Had play'd, He had not now wherewith to draw, 
 And was He greater than their primal Sire? 
 Alas! the dimness which our being shrouds, 
 To keep us mortal in immortal hours ! 
 
116 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 Of water springing with eternal life, 
 
 Whose fountain is the ever-during soul, 
 
 Our WISDOM spake; but when the letter still, 
 
 And not the spirit of His words, prevail'd, 
 
 Out-flash'd the prophet! rolling back the clouds 
 
 Which on her guilty past concealment spread, 
 
 And bare before him laid her life of sin ! 
 
 Then, Conscience! like a voice from other worlds, 
 
 Sudden and piercing, did thy power appeal 
 
 To yon frail woman! in her cheeks' array 
 
 Of paleness, in her eyes' dissolving shame, 
 
 It witness'd! and her loudly -beating heart 
 
 By every throb a pang to mem'ry paid! 
 
 Then, pointing to Samaria's mountain fane, 
 
 Whose massy pomp of pinnacles and towers 
 
 Rose black and solemn in the cloudless air, 
 
 She call'd Him, Prophet! and in meekness ask'd 
 
 Where heaven from earth the purest incense 
 
 hail'd ? 
 
 From Zion hill, or where her fathers knelt, 
 Gerizim? whence of old, from Joshua's lip, 
 The full-voiced blessing by a myriad tongues 
 Was echoed, while from Ebal's blanched height 
 A curse came down, like thunder from the skies! 4 
 
 Oh! ye who narrow to the dungeon walls 
 Of bigotry, the limitless design of Heaven, 
 Approach and tremble! God a spirit is! 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 117 
 
 And they who worship, must in spirit bend 
 His throne before! The universal Heart 
 Of man by revelation's light redeem'd, 
 Jehovah! there Thy purest temple reigns. 
 So heard the woman; and a hope confessed 
 Of coming Glory, in whose morning beam 
 The night of error would dissolve away. 
 
 I But when Messiah, " I who speak am HE !" 
 Responded, mute, and statue-like, she stood, 
 Embodied wonder! till disciples came, 
 And marvell'd that their own Redeemer spake 
 With one so branded, that her blood was crime ! 
 But awe withheld them; and on raptur'd wings 
 Of speed, to Sychar back the woman rush'd, 
 And, like a prophetess, when new-inspir'd 
 To holy madness, gloryingly cried, 
 Through street and dwelling, " Lo! Messiah comes! 
 A Man who told me all I ever did 
 The SAVIOUR by the well of Jacob sits !" 
 At once, to see the heaven-descended Christ, 
 
 \ Up the green valley, troop ecstatic throngs, 
 Till thick and fast the mingling shadows fell 
 
 ! From young Samaritans, on herb and flowers, 
 As on they sprang, like birds, to meet the morn ! 
 While slow behind, the hoary -headed forms 
 Of age were gliding, pale with wordless joy. 
 " The harvest, say ye not, four months will bring? 
 
118 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 Behold! the meadows are already white, 
 And he who gathers, reaps immortal fruit !" 
 Thus spake the Saviour, and His welcome high 
 The crowd attracted; dumb with deepest awe, 
 They linger'd; not a heart but quaked with bliss 
 Divine, or thought its immortality begun ! 
 Then, lovingly, that simple-hearted race 
 The mighty Stranger to their dwellings brought, 
 And fell before Him, in sublime belief 
 Exclaiming, " Thou alone art Christ the Lord!" 
 
 From Sychar, hence to Cana Christ advanced, 
 And there again shone forth, incarnate God ! 
 A nobleman, around whose only child 
 The shades of death were deep'ning, at His feet, 
 With all the father mirror'd in his eyes, 
 Sunk prostrate; and, in tones that tore the heart 
 With dreadful truth, His healing power besought, 
 To soothe the madness of parental wo, 
 And back to life a dying son recall! 
 " Thy son is living !" so the Godhead spake, 
 And he who trusted found his faith's reward ! 
 And thus for ever His unwearied arm 
 Is present; wheeling forth the worlds of night, 
 Or waved in mercy round the fate of man ! 
 
 But His it was, though all divinely meek 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 119 
 
 Each virtue shone, to drink the bitter cup! 
 As in the synagogue, when call'd, as wont, 
 From out th' assembly, to unroll and read 
 The haphtoroth, 5 a deaden'd language rose 
 To life upon His lips ! there all in vain 
 
 ' The fulness of angelic wisdom spake, 
 By Him commanded, and the Christ declared; 
 Their eyes were dark, they saw but Joseph's son! 
 
 I But when of miracles for Gentiles work'd 
 Alone, while famish'd Israel droop'd in dust, 
 
 i And on the heavens immitigably seaFd, 
 From dawn to midnight turn'd her mournful 
 
 gaze! 
 When such he mention'd, to convict the soul, 
 
 I The living frame of that assembly shook 
 With passion ! not an eye but glared revenge ! 
 And, fell as tigers, savagely they sprung, 
 And bore Him upward to the rocky hill 
 Where hung their city; down whose awful depth 
 To atoms they had hurl'd the Saviour God ! 
 But, in a moment, by its dizzy brink 
 Each eye was dazzled, and a Pow'r unknown 
 Invisibly the human chaos quelPd; 
 In the full whirlwind of their fiercest ire, 
 They soften'd to a breezelike calm, that died 
 To utter stillness, when the crowd beheld 
 Their Victim, passing through the parted throng 
 
120 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 Unhurt; as he who faced a fiery death, 
 
 And walk'd the furnace with the Son of Man ! 
 
 To thee, Capernaum! by Messiah bless'd 
 And haunted, turn we now our solemn gaze. 
 There mead and hamlet, mountain, shore, and plain, 
 His presence felt, His mighty works enjoy'd; 
 While Nature to each theme of glory lent 
 Her own sweet magic, imagery, and power. 
 And seest thou, girdled in by barren wilds, 
 Yon blue expanse? Gennesareth is there! 
 Quiescent now as meditation's hour, 
 Yon lake of beauty in the noontide gleams; 
 But when a hurricane with Syrian roar 
 Descends the mountain, and her calm defies, 
 Then, Chinnereth! thy sleeping might awakes; 
 And the deep billows with disastrous swell 
 In thund'ring harmony the winds rebuke! 
 
 By the bright waters, on the lovely beach 
 Of famed Tiberias, where a wondering crowd 
 Around Him panted for immortal truth, 
 "Was Jesus standing; while the fisher wash'd 
 His net, and dried it on the pebbled shore. 
 Two silent vessels on the lake reposed; 
 The one He enter'd, and the people taught; 
 But ere the music of His mighty words 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 121 
 
 Was still'd, " Launch forth! and let your nets 
 
 descend," 
 
 The Christ commanded: worn by fruitless toil, 
 All doubtingly did Peter's hand obey: 
 But when at once, with its enormous load 
 The net uprose ! till e'en the laden ship 
 Beneath her living burden sank, and reel'd, 
 Each sound departed ! tongueless air was hush'd, 
 As though Creation wonder'd ! then, a cry 
 The multitude from off the shore produced, 
 That scatter'd silence like a broken dream! 
 While Peter, quiv'ring with unearthly dread, 
 Fell in amazement at Messiah's feet, 
 And utter'd, " Leave me, Lord ! for I am vile !" 
 That moment his apostleship began 
 For ever! death and darkness, time and wo, 
 From faith's high throne he overlook'd them all! 
 Then James and John at once that Christ revered 
 To whom the Elements their laws resign'd, 
 And laid their sceptres down. Of old prevail'd 
 The prayer of prophets, for the sick and dead 
 Arising; but a word that ruled the waves 
 And travell'd ocean with creative might, 
 Had ne'er till now a lip of clay inspired! 
 
 To this high deed, an unrecorded mass 
 Of miracles in one successive blaze 
 
122 MESSIAH. [BOOK iv. 
 
 Was added: when the sun's expiring gleam 
 Flash'd o'er Capernaum, round Messiah's door 
 Disease assembled all her ghastly troop 
 Of martyrs: in an instant, ere a sound 
 Could perish, health's untainted blood return'd! 
 The lame and sightless, palsied, deaf, and dumb, 
 Recover'd, fleet as resurrection's change! 
 And thus, by deed embodying all Isaiah sung, 
 Through town and village the Redeemer went, 
 And rested never from His glorious toil; 
 Except when God th' incarnate Son adored, 
 As oft He did, in melancholy wilds, 
 Where, all unseen, the Man of Sorrows knelt, 
 And moved the heavens with magnifying prayer! 
 
 And must we sink, in lifeless wonder lost, 
 Amid the glory of transcendent deeds? 
 The power, but not the principle sublime, 
 Is hidden, whence Creation's ruling Lord 
 Each miracle derived; and that is love, 
 Which link by link connects a thousand worlds, 
 And chains them all to one almighty Throne! 
 This earth, what is it, but a glorious mass 
 Of might and terror, visibly array 'd? 
 Behold the sun, eternity's first-born, 
 In flaming stillness how he travels on 
 Dominions vast beyond extent to name! 
 
BOOK IV.] MESSIAH. 123 
 
 The mountains, cover'd with mysterious calm, 
 
 Like thrones of immortality; or view 
 
 The lordly hills that rise from earth to heaven, 
 
 And take our spirit with them ! moon and star, 
 
 When night has marshall'd her majestic worlds, 
 
 Or, when the Storm's ejaculations rise, 
 
 And thunder bellows from his cloudy lair, 
 
 Go, wander by the antiquated sea, 
 
 That rolls her music through the soul of man 
 
 In living echo to her Maker's voice! 
 
 And what, if thus when all are seen and felt, 
 
 Thy mortal nothingness with terror prove, 
 
 How far from Infinite the finite stands! 
 
 So might it be, if POWER alone subdued 
 
 Our comprehension: but behind the veil 
 
 We enter! lo, the HIGH and LOFTY ONE! 
 
 And Love and Light His attributes reveal. 
 
 Then shall the elements, with louder voice 
 And loftier meaning, nature's worship teach, 
 Than miracles by Jesu's word perform'd? 
 For true example, not inactive awe, 
 Messiah lived; and he who soars to Him, 
 Mounts the pure region of exalted mind, 
 That shines abroad in mediatorial love, 
 Wliich hue nor language, creed nor climate bounds, 
 But sunlike falls on universal Man! 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 " All the stars 
 
 Thou knew'st by name, and all th' ethereal powers, 
 
 All secrets of the deep, all Nature's works, 
 
 Or works of God in heaven, air, earth, or sea." Milton. 
 
 M2 
 
ANALYSIS OF BOOK V. 
 
 SOLITUDE how exaltedly employed when devoted to a contemplation 
 of the glorious plan of Redemption The Sermon on the Mounl 
 Scenery A summary of its doctrines The measureless good they have 
 effected in the world since first promulgated Christ at Capernaum 
 A leper cleansed Escapes from the multitude who would force Him to 
 be their king Passage over the lake Storm Peril and affright of the 
 disciples Jesus rebukes the elements to perfect calm The demoniac 
 A description of his horrid sufferings the demons are expelled, and 
 then* victim cured How utterly impossible for human pen to paint or 
 express the divine loveliness of the Redeemer's actions and character 
 The daughter of Jairus Her youth, education, sickness, and death 
 The father's despair Arrival of the Saviour His miraculous display of 
 power in recalling the spirit to life From hence Messiah goes to Galilee, 
 passes a night in prayer, and on the morrow elects His disciples Thi 
 pass in retrospective view their triumphs and toils, as they are recalled 
 by the associations and scenes of Nazareth Jesus goes to Nain Calls 
 to life the widow's son Description of the miracle Reflections on the 
 tenderness of Christ in his conduct to women The Magdalene Christ 
 again at Jerusalem Cures a man at the pool of Siloam The Jews* 
 mock observance of the Sabbath Observed best by imitation of Christ- 
 Messiah enters the desert of Bethsaida Feeds a multitude Reflections 
 on this surpassing miracle Our strange neglect of the wonderful love 
 daily exhibited by God to man The disciples embark on the lake 
 Storm Appearance of Christ walking on the waters Peter's faith and 
 despair Lesson taught by his presumption The Transfiguration 
 Pride still the dominant principle in the disciples' souls Christ blessi 
 little children, and proposes them as examples of what his followers 
 should be The woman taken in adultery Her accusers how appalled 
 and subdued by conscience The feast of lights Raising of Lazarus 
 Christ's triumphant entry through Jericho to Jerusalem The widow's 
 mite The Saviour's last farewell of the Holy City His prediction of its 
 terrible fate A vision of its fall. 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 How beautiful the soul's religious calm 
 
 When thought is heav'nward, and the chainless 
 
 mind, 
 
 Like soaring Enoch, to her God ascends? 
 And, oh! how glorious, by some vision led, 
 To travel back six thousand years, and view 
 When first the generated world began, 
 And moulded all beneath her Maker's eye. 
 The new-born winds, the ocean's young delight, 
 Heard in a rhapsody of rolling waves ; 
 With every tint and motion, gleam or glance 
 Of life and matter, from the lyric host 
 Of stars, with quiring gratulation loud, 
 To fairy insect and minutest flower, 
 Of each and all Imagination dreams, 
 When Earth lay basking in Jehovah's smile ! 
 
 But what is this, or all th' amazing stream 
 Of glories, terrors, and supernal acts 
 
128 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Of truth and judgment, down the mighty page 
 Devolved, to thine all-wond'rous plan, 
 Redemption ? vast beyond the vastest dream 
 That circles round the comprehending soul, 
 Thy power extendeth! nature's utmost bounds, 
 From earth to heaven, from heaven to higher worlds, 
 And higher still, till gasping wonder fails; 
 Immensity, and all Eternal Mind 
 Created, fills, or may hereafter frame, 
 Redeemer, Thou wilt reign as Lord of all ! 
 
 But lo! the mount, whereon Messiah sat 
 And 'taught; while multitudes with lifted gaze, 
 And soul that listened with suspended breath, 
 Beneath Him swarm'd, to drink eternal life, 
 Whose fountain issued from the throne of God. 
 The spring was forth; young loveliness and bloom 
 Her reign attested; trees and meadows flash'd 
 With verdant lustre, while the shaken flowers 
 Their scent and beauty to the breeze resign'd 
 With playful murmur. From its sacred top 
 A bright extent of ever-changing view* 
 The beatific mount o'ergazed: from thence, 
 Gilboa, where, amid the chariot rush 
 Of Philistines, the dying Saul despair'd, 
 
 * Vide Wilson's Travels; and Maundrell's Journey, p. 155, eighth 
 edition. 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 129 
 
 Was seen to lift her Pyrenean crags 
 
 And cloudlike spires; Gennesareth's azure mass 
 
 Of waters, and the snow -clad Hermon's height, 
 
 Conspicuous beam'd; and all which gave 
 
 To hallow'd words an instantaneous glow 
 
 Of life and feeling, full before him lay. 
 
 Bethulia glitter'd in a thousand eyes, 
 
 When Jesus of the hill-throned city spake ; 
 
 The lily -flowers, which neither toil nor spin, 
 
 Yet, beautiful beyond arrayed Solomon! 
 
 In golden freshness on the meadows waved; 
 
 And when on providential care alone 
 
 He bade terrestrial want repose, and cried, 
 
 " Behold the fowls your heavenly Father feeds !" 
 
 Their wings exulted on the air around, 
 
 And fired a precept with example's force. 
 
 Oh! what a scene of heart-affecting power 
 Was there beheld! the consecrated mount, 
 On whose green summit sat the SON OF MAN ; 
 The words He utter'd: deep and awful tones, 
 Yet tender in their might, as moonlight sounds 
 From Ocean's lip; with all unclouded spring 
 Of fresh and fair commandeth; and the crowds 
 Which hung like bees upon the mountain side, 
 As thick and numberless; yet hush'd and chain'd 
 To utter calm, as though their living mass 
 
130 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Together breathed but one absorbing soul! 
 Keligion! thou wert throned in godlike pomp 
 Amid a scene transcendently endow'd 
 Like this with attributes of holy might, 
 Beyond the Temple in its costliest hour. 
 
 And what a doctrine of almighty depth 
 Messiah founded, when His truth declared, 
 In meekness lies the majesty of man! 
 At once the wisdom of the world was dumb, 
 And Fortune blasted on her throne of bliss ! 
 The ways of pleasantness, the paths of peace, 
 Are. dim and narrow, tracks of noiseless gloom, 
 Which glory flies, and grandeur seldom walks: 
 The poor in spirit, and the meek in heart, 
 Who thirst and hunger for Thy righteous Word, 
 Oh! these are blest, for Thine unerring voice 
 Hath calFd them so, and crown'd their lowly lot, 
 And sanctified the unrebellious tear: 
 To them divinely was the blessing given; 
 And while in shed or cottage, swamp or wild, 
 The sacred pangs of poverty endure, 
 There Goodness and her Lord may constant meet, 
 And Charity, with soft and silent foot, 
 Move like an angel to a deed of heaven ! 
 
 And vaster truths, unspeakably divine, 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 131 
 
 Which live before the Throne, and light effuse 
 
 O'er all who worship their immortal Source, 
 
 Did Christ reveal: of uncomplaining love, 
 
 Forgiving as it hopes to be forgiven; 
 
 Of sanctity, within the spirit shrined; 
 
 Of passion rooted from terrestrial ties, 
 
 And trampled, as the soul's unhallow'd weed; 
 
 Of alms in secret, temples in the mind, 
 
 Where God in dedicated moments comes 
 
 To earth unknown; 1 and needs no trumpet-voice 
 
 To teU the world a conscious sinner prays; 
 
 Of providence, life's angel, ever nigh, 
 
 That feeds the bird, and robes the meadow flower; 
 
 Of lofty hope, and meditative peace ; 
 
 And feeling, touch'd with man's infirmity, 
 
 O'ercoming wrong with mercy's tender gaze, 
 
 That looks aside when human error falls, 
 
 But loves a virtue in its frailest hour! 
 
 Of these He spake, and taught believing man 
 
 A worship, which eternal Wisdom loves: 
 
 He, whom the universal choir of worlds 
 
 Doth chant, our falt'ring tongues may Father call ! 
 
 Glory of glories! can archangels boast 
 
 A voice, or language of mysterious love, 
 
 Surpassing this? that bids "OUR FATHER!" sound 
 
 From lip of mortals, when a soul renews 
 
 Her solemn intercourse with Christ and Thee! 
 
132 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Give ear, O Heaven ! thou wond'ring Earth, be still 
 For here is love, so measureless and deep, 
 That feeling staggers, and expression fails, 
 Or ventures only, let Thy will be done ! 
 Oh! long as man upon creation moves, 
 In solemn aisles of monumental gloom 
 Ascending with a loud melodious swell; 
 In rustic fane, or tranquil home beloved, 
 By hoary age, or lisping childhood breathed; 
 From cave or desert, dungeon, rock, or sea, 
 That mighty prayer upon the mountain taught, 
 To Heaven and Jesus may it ever rise, 
 And win the mercy it was framed to woo! 
 
 His task is o'er, the sacred Teacher gone, 
 And the last murmur of descending feet 
 Dies on the hill; where now a breeze awakes 
 The spring-born flowers, till livingly they stir, 
 And tremble into low sweet song again. 
 But all the host who heard Immortal Truth 
 Upon the beatific mount declared, 
 Are vanished, like the dew of yesterday ! 
 And thrones and states and Babylonian piles 
 Have wither'd; dust has claim'd its dead 
 For ever, quenching in sepulchral sleep 
 The earth's unquiet generations gone; 
 Yet, pure as perfect, Christ's majestic law 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 133 
 
 High o'er the wreck of men and things endures ! 
 And will, till heaven and earth dissolve away! 
 
 What toils and agonies, what glorious tears 
 And blessed pangs by penitence sublimed, 
 The earth has known, though unrecorded left! 
 Hist'ry ! thou hast done the world a wrong 
 Immense and mournful; on the alpine height 
 ; Of human greatness, thine enamour'd gaze 
 Has linger'd; mindless in that partial mood 
 Of silent virtue in the vale below ! 
 And robed thy themes of darkness with a veil 
 Of bright attraction, as the thunder wraps 
 His ruin oft in clouds of glorious spell : 
 Yet better far, had thy pervading glance 
 From earthly pomp to scenes of heavenly truth 
 Descended; marking how the Saviour's word 
 Had triumph'd, how it lived in lonely hearts 
 And aching bosoms, weeded daily life 
 Of sin and wo, and dried the widow's tear. 
 Sublime of sermons ! atheistic tongues 
 Have bless'd thee, and the worldling's rocky soul 
 Gush'd into tears beneath thy tender sway! 
 When life is gladness, or when sorrow flings 
 A sudden autumn o'er the leaves of joy, 
 The purest oracle of peace and love 
 Which Time has utter'd since the world began! 
 
134 MESSIAH. [BOOK v 
 
 But thou, Capernaum! once again the arm 
 Almighty bares itself for thee, and thine, 
 Oh, misbelieving land! to heaven upraised 
 And hell cast down. A grim and ghastly wreck, 
 Upon his face beneath Messiah's feet 
 A leper falls, there lifts his bloodshot gaze, 
 And with a voice of choked and dying tone 
 His help implores : From Egypt's fiery realm 
 The dread corruption came, when burning noon 
 Flamed o'er the limbs of Pharaoh's toil-worn slaves; 
 And now, a victim of its direst rage 
 The Son of Man beheld. Each sign accursed 
 Disease had printed on his mould'ring form; 
 Till fruit had wither'd in the hot embrace 
 Of each infected hand! let fancy shrink, 
 But still a martyrdom of Nature see, 
 Then, picture how the LORD OF BEING look'd! 
 When graciously his godlike hand approach'd, 
 The leper touch'd, and with a word divine 
 Commanded, "Be thou clean!" and lo ! he 
 
 sprang 
 
 To earth again, a free and perfect man, 
 And pure as childhood in its glowing prime; 
 For health with instantaneous gush o'erflow'd 
 His being, like the world's untainted Sire 
 He stood in glory, eyeing earth and heaven, 
 As though his spirit would encircle all ! 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 135 
 
 And well might gratitude obedience quench; 
 On wings, that seem'd round every limb to play, 
 O'er mount and vale the ecstatic creature fled, 
 A living miracle! and cried aloud, 
 " A God! a God! His mighty cure behold!" 
 Roused into motion, like autumnal leaves 
 By wind invoked, a rushing host that cry 
 Re-echoed; onward with exulting speed 
 To fall in worship round the wondrous God 
 They came: but not in Him, the loud uproar 
 Of shouting numbers, nor the false delight 
 Of glory flashing over envious eyes, 
 Nor crown, nor throne upon the dying breath 
 Of sudden wonder raised, acceptance found. 
 The shady desert, and the dark-bough'd wild 
 Again He haunted; there, amid the calm 
 Of Nature, hush'd to an instinctive awe, 
 Alone THE EVERLASTING pray'd, and thought. 
 But, vain seclusion! through the verdant depth 
 Of solemn woods the rush of thronging feet 
 Advanced; and voices, with a sea -like roar 
 Confused and clashing, round the Saviour roll'd: 
 'Twas then, escaping from the countless herd, 
 I Upon the lake His prompt disciples launch'd 
 Their bark, and bore the great Redeemer on. 
 Far o'er the blue and glossy waters sail'd 
 The boat, serene as yonder twilight cloud 
 
136 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 It moved, whose haven was the ruddy west. 
 In pillow'd slumber on the silent deck 
 The Son of Man reposed: sublimely calm 
 His features in the light of evening shone; 
 And oft entranced some fond disciples stood 
 To gaze upon His holy sleep, and draw 
 Transcendent meaning from a face divine! 
 
 But ere the twilight, with her fairy crowd 
 Of splendours, melted in the dark embrace 
 Of night, with soul intent the seamen heard 
 The incantation of a storm begin ! 
 The air was toned with sadness, like a sigh 
 Of broken hearts, or moan of guilty dreams 
 When midnight is confessor! O'er the lake 
 There ran a sudden and a breezy life, 
 Till ripples flash'd and bubbling foam began 
 To whiten o'er the waters: in the sky 
 No mercy dawnsl for all is scowling there, 
 And savage clouds are in funereal march, 
 Benighting heaven with one enormous gloom! 
 But hark! with ominous array it comes, 
 Creation's tyrant! list the tempest howls! 
 The south-east sends her hurricane, and back 
 The Jordan with affrighted motion rolls! 
 The lake upheaves her dark and dreadful might, 
 Till billows writhe in agonizing play 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 137 
 
 Along the surface ! loud and living shapes 
 Of water, battling with the winds they seem, 
 And make a thunder wheresoever they move! 
 In that wild hour, when star nor moon reveal'd 
 A solace, and the only light that gleam'd, 
 Shone when the lightning with a wizard flash 
 Call'd the dun mountains into dreary form 
 And station! then the pale disciples ran 
 And cried, u We perish! save us, Lord! arise!" 
 He heard; He rose; and while the vessel creak'd, 
 And cordage rattled in the roaring gale 
 Like wither 'd branches in a forest-wind, 
 Till o'er the deck the climbing billows rush'd, 
 And darken'd round her with devouring yell! 
 His hand he waved, the rolling storm rebuked, 
 The Tempest knew her God, and still'd! 
 Then o'er Tiberias, calm as cradled sleep, 
 The moon uprose; and in her mellow sway 
 Each cloud dissolved, as angry feeling dies 
 By music overcome; and once again 
 The doubting crew their winged bark beheld, 
 With stars above, and star-lit waves beneath, 
 Serenely gliding on to Gadarene: 
 Oh! then, amid that elemental trance^ 
 The meek reproach of their forgiving Lord 
 Was felt! Each gazed on each with holy fear; 
 The calm of Nature grew a fearful charm; 
 N 2 
 
138 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 For sea and air with more than language cried, 
 " The waters hear Him and the winds obey!" 
 
 The shore is reached; but what unearthly shape, 
 What thing accurst, in human semblance clothed, 
 Foaming and wild, with eye-balls sternly fix'd, 
 Glares on them! like a cavern'd brute aroused 
 By errant footsteps, when her whelps are nigh? 
 O Prince of Darkness ! and ye Powers of Air, 
 By Heaven permitted, from the fiery doom 
 Of hell's abyss, to roam the peopled earth 
 Awhile, and enter in the breathing frame 
 Of mortals, maddening with demonian rage 
 Both blood and spirit, there your victim stands ! 
 Thou dreaded martyr! words and feelings fly 
 Aghast, or shudder round thy gloomy pangs! 
 Thy limbs are bare, and down their wither'd length 
 The blood has track'd the lacerating stone, 
 Tormented Madness from the hills hath wrung' 
 To glut her agony! among the tombs 
 Thy dwelling is; from human sound apart, 
 The dead around thee in sepulchral caves 
 Of rocky darkness,* there thy spirit moans, 
 Or mutters, till the very mountains seem 
 Appall'd to echo with thy blasphemy! 
 
 * See MaundrelPs Account of the Ancient Tombs, &c. &c. 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 139 
 
 But, dreader far, when night's dominion came 
 To hear thy howlings ! e'en the desert beast 
 Hath trembled when the horrid echoes rang; 
 While, pillow'd on a sleeping mother's breast, 
 The infant shook to think thy shadow nigh! 
 
 Thus stood the maniac, and in silence flash'd 
 The terror of his demon-haunted eyes 
 Through each disciple soul ! but ere a limb 
 Could move, that dreadless VOICE, which made 
 ' The roaring tempest mute, and never spake 
 But Heaven was raptured, and profoundest Hell 
 With agonies of coming doom convulsed, 
 Or shaken, like omnipotence arose: 
 " Come forth, defiler!" and the spirit fell 
 In kneeling torture at Messiah's feet! 
 There, " By the living God!" dark LEGION cried, 
 " Thou Jesus! Son of the Most High! adjured, 
 Before our time, torment us not! nor plunge 
 Our spirits in th' infernal deep again, 
 But let us enter in yon mountain prey." 
 When thus permitted, like a gentle dawn 
 His soul emerged, and spread each vital hue 
 Of nature o'er the freed demoniac's frame: 
 i And when the crowding Gradarenes advanced 
 j In gazing terror round Messiah's form, 
 No bleeding maniac from the rocky tombs 
 
140 MESSIAH. [BOOK v 
 
 They witnessed, but a man renew'd and mild, 
 From Hell delivered, at the feet of Christ 
 Reposing, with his native vesture clad: 
 There as he sat, how superhuman seein'd 
 The great Restorer! thanks in wonder died; 
 But what a language in his lifted eye, 
 Whose words were tears, the eloquence of joy! 
 
 Divine perfection of embodied Love ! 
 Supremely fair, insufferably bright, 
 By Thee, the Muse, how dazzled! all is deep, 
 August, and holy, where Thy presence rules; 
 The bigot tamed, the hypocrite unmask'd, 
 The law illumined, and blinded Israel taught 
 The darkness of exclusive faith was o'er, 2 
 That Light approach'd, and from immortal depths 
 Began to play along th' unbounded world! 
 Him, Son of Alpheus ! though the luring world 
 Had long enchain'd thee; thou didst not refuse, 
 When, " Follow me!" fell sudden on thine ear, 
 And thou wert His! by solemn faith redeemed. 
 
 But what awaits us? let maternal hearts, 
 Whose every beat is love, approach and tell, 
 Oh life! how beautiful thy maiden bloom 
 In that bright morn, when youth's unfolded years, 
 Like rising veils before enchantment spread, 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 141 
 
 Recede, and down a fairy vista roams 
 The glancing joy of Expectation's eye! 
 Then day by day, as some meek violet rear'd 
 By fondling sunshine, grows the virgin mind 
 In home's retreat, till childhood melts away, 
 And dawning womanhood her smile begins. 
 Then all is fair; affection's graceful smile 
 From out a purity of spirit plays; 
 And life and motions, inspirations are 
 To tone the voice or teach the step delight; 
 The frown of sorrow, though it shade the cheek, 
 Can never dim the soul, whose placid tears 
 Melt as they rise, the tender dew of wo ! 
 Romance is true, reality a dream; 
 And cares, oh! what are they, but minute clouds 
 That speck the ether of the calmest life ! 
 
 And canst thou, Death! congenial dungeons quit, 
 Where thou art woo'd by dark and wretched men; 
 To come where youth and loveliness unite 
 Their magic, and the breath of life is joy? 
 Alas! the knells, that with diurnal grief 
 The wind intone; alas! the frequent pall, 
 The church-yard tales, on tomb and stone re- 
 hearsed, 
 
 The blinded chamber, or the weeping home 
 Where round some coffin drooping parents bend, 
 
142 MESSIAH. [BOOK 
 
 Like marble shapes of monumental wo, 
 Thy victims tell, thy savage choice reveal! 
 
 Then think, if in bereavement's blackest hour, 
 When flooding agonies the brain o'erwhelm, 
 And a last gaze seems looking life away, 
 The parted spirit of the dead return'd ! 
 For such a scene hath Revelation drawn. 
 On Jairus Heaven an only child bestow'd; 
 A lovely scion, round whose being twined 
 The clinging fondness of parental fear : 
 For beautiful as Syria's lonely flowers, 
 That wave and murmur on the shady top 
 Of wooded Lebanon, her form had grown 
 From infancy, till now, revealing time 
 Had written woman on her virgin cheek. 
 
 Born in that land where summer's pregnant beam 
 Was brightest, where the fruits of Eden hung, 
 And the rich mulberry spread a snowy bloom, 
 While grapes empurpled ev'ry terraced hill, 
 Her shape and spirit magic influence caught 
 From Syria's clime of glory; nature's grace, 
 By power of exquisite attraction, seem'd 
 Reflected from it! light and beauty fill'd 
 Her soul, and flash'd from those irradiate eyes ; 
 And walk'd she not, as Israel's daughter would, 
 
BOOK V.] -MESSIAH. 143 
 
 The mighty scenes where patriarchal feet 
 Had trodden, where the God of Zion spake! 
 Lake, fount, and river, and the mountains three 
 Which camp'd her warriors, and that still overlook 
 Esdraelon's plain, where tented Arabs dwell, 
 Around whose home, when dewy nightfall comes, 
 The gambling flocks to reedy murmurs play.* 
 From each and all pure inspiration sprung, 
 And told how beautiful religion look'd 
 By youth entempled in a spotless heart ! 
 
 And yet on her, so delicately young, 
 Infection breathed, and poison'd blood and brain, 
 Till all the bloom of animation died ! 
 Her form was blighted, and her faded cheek 
 The pallid certainty of coming doom 
 Betray 'd: oh, hear it, Heaven! a father's prayer 
 Ascends the sky, to claim a brighter hope: 
 Away! with agonizing speed he flies, 
 Nor treads the ground, nor hears the city -roar, 
 Nor feels the motion of his moving limbs ! 
 Condensed and darkened into wild despair 
 His soul became, till Nature's functions fail'd, 
 And earth was reeling from his dazzled gaze! 
 When full amid the pharisaic throng 
 
 * See Malte Bran on Palestine. 
 
144 MESSIAH. - [BOOK v. 
 
 He rush'd, and prostrate with a burst of wo, 
 Unloosed the spirit from her horrid trance! 
 " My daughter, Lord! her dying pangs approach, 
 But hasten! touch her with Thy healing hand, 
 And yet my child shall live;" Ere Jesus came, 
 Her spirit vanish'd, like a lovely sound! 
 
 The house of mourning:- hark! the funeral dirge. 
 The doleful flutes, and dying melodies 
 Of instrumental tone, or wailing yells 
 Of frantic grief and mercenary wo.* 
 But, enter! there in yon sepulchral room, 
 Alone a childless mother comes to seal 
 The lids of death, and on the marble lip 
 Imprint a long and last the parting kiss. 
 And shall the worm of putrefaction feed 
 On that young form, of beauty's finest mould? 
 The light and life of twelve enchanted years, 
 All sunk and shaded in remorseless dust! 
 Oh agony! could thawing tears the soul 
 Dissolve, let suffering nature shed them now. 
 While o'er thy cheek, so eloquently pale, 
 Once full of rosy life, her bending eye 
 With dreadful speculation broods, beloved, 
 And blessed ! all thy winning ways and smiles, 
 
 * Abb Fleury's Account of Jewish Ceremonies, &c. &c. 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 145 
 
 Thy look and laugh, in one sweet throng, return 
 Upon her, till thy warm and living breath 
 Again is playing round affection's heart! 
 But ah! her martyr'd frame's convulsive heave, 
 As if in that chaotic gloom of mind, 
 When feeling is our only faith, the soul 
 Would rive the body, and at once be free, < 
 Betokens thou art death, and she despair! 
 
 Believe, and fear not! in the blackest cloud 
 A sunbeam hides; and from the deepest pang 
 Some hidden mercy may a God declare ! 
 There as she stood, delirious, rack'd, and wild, 
 The Saviour enter'd, and his soothing glance 
 Fell on the mother's torn and troubled heart, 
 As moonlight on the ocean's haggard scene ! 
 The wailing minstrel, and the dirge of death, 
 He bade them cease; " The maiden is not dead, 
 But sleepeth!" Then around her vestal couch 
 The mourning parents, with His chosen Three, 
 Advanced, and in the midst, divinely calm, 
 The Son of Man ! In lifeless beauty laid, 
 A loveliness, and not the gloom of death, 
 The virgin wore; and on her placid cheek 
 The light of dreams reposed : oh ! ne'er could dust 
 A purer sacrifice from death receive! 
 But when He stoop' d, and held her icy hand, 
 o 
 
146 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 And utter'd, " Maid, arise !" the beating heart 
 
 Of wonder, doubt, delight, and awful fear, 
 
 Was hush'd ! for, swift as echo to the voice 
 
 Replies, the spirit of the dead awoke 
 
 At His high summons! whether from the arms 
 
 Of angels, lock'd in some oblivious trance; 
 
 Or from the bloom and breath of Paradise, 
 
 Amid beatitude, to earth recall'd, 
 
 To us unknown; enough for man to know, 
 
 That when the Lord of resurrection spake, 
 
 The soul return'd ! and mark its coming glow ; 
 
 Soft o'er each deaden'd cheek the rosy light 
 
 Of cherub slumber steals; the eyes unfold, 
 
 And lift their veiny lids, as matin flowers, 
 
 When dew and sunshine fascinate their gaze; 
 
 In red and smiling play the lips relax, 
 
 And, delicate as music's dying fall, 
 
 The throb of life begins ! she moves ! she breathes ! 
 
 The dead hath risen, and a living child 
 
 Sinks on the bosom of maternal love! 
 
 From hence, to Galilee, the Prince of Life 
 Again retreated ; there His own beloved 
 Receiv'd Him not, but savagely repell'd 
 The Nazarene; alas! they little dreamt 
 What shrouded glory lived in Mary's Son ! 
 But from the vain, whom pomp alone allured, 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 147 
 
 To multitudes of meek and aidless men, 
 
 Who, faint and scatter'd, for instruction pined, 
 
 And tractable, the mild Eedeemer turn'd. 
 
 Upon the mountain, when a night of prayer 
 
 Had passed, and awful Invocation knelt, 
 
 The Twelve were chosen, gifted, arm'd, inspired ; 
 
 And yet, how poor! a Galilean tribe 
 
 By man untaught, to wisdom's ranks unknown ; 
 
 But not as ours are Thine unfathom'd ways, 
 
 Jehovah! in the mean Thy might displayed 
 
 Its vastness; on the low Thy lofty truth 
 
 Descended; out of weakness wisdom sprung; 
 
 So light from darkness, worlds from nothing, came ! 
 
 And these were living oracles, whose voice 
 Was power, whose doctrine, an eternal life! 
 To them was portioned this almighty task: 
 " Advance! though Hell's dark legions rise, advance! 
 And preach the kingdom of approaching Heaven. 
 Nor gold, nor silver, raiment, staff, nor scrip, 
 Provide, but enter ye the city gates; 
 The lame restore, the dead recal, the blind 
 Illumine, cleanse the leper, heal the sick, 
 And hurl the demon from the haunted soul ! 
 Be wise as serpents, innocent as doves; 
 Beware of all, but flatter none; for thrones 
 Shall tremble, and the cheek of kings 
 
148 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Look blasted, and your words of lightning cleave 
 The spirits that appal ye, when the lash 
 Is loudest, and the blood of trial flows, 
 Advance, and fear not! for your very hairs 
 Are numbered; Heaven is round about your path, 
 And he who offers to the parched lip 
 A cup of water, him will God repay !" 
 
 And did they not? unveil, immortal heavens ! 
 Your host reveal, and answer! let the world 
 Reply; or bid the Past her solemn pall 
 Uplift, and there, along the boundless scene 
 Of time departed, shines the glorious track 
 Of true apostles ! On their heads the curse 
 Was wreak'd, and fires of persecution rain'd ! 
 Their limbs were torn, around them dungeons gaped, 
 And yet they ceased not; still the cry was heard, 
 " Redemption! on the Cross a Saviour hung; 
 Repent, believe, and be for ever blest!" 
 
 Transcendent martyrs ! round your awful brows 
 Seraphic wreaths are twined, and ye adore, 
 In throned array, the CO-ETERNAL THREE! 
 But with your presence, not your power sublime 
 Departed still around us in their might, 
 Recorded, mercies, miracles, and truths 
 Divine, are breathing: by whose vital sway 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 149 
 
 Are sanction'd all that daily life enjoys 
 Of charity, protection, faith, and peace; 
 The light of laws, the liberty of home, 
 Content, and all that makes a country dear. 
 
 From what high armory, celestial band ! 
 Were your bright weapons taken? Was your creed 
 A pliant courtier, bending to the will 
 Tyrannic? culling from each varied clime, 
 Or doctrine, some accordant hue to please 
 A passion, flatter doubt, or soothe despair; 
 Or did ye with the mind's undaunted truth 
 Condemn the vices of corrupted man? 
 Against the passions, wheresoever they ruled, 
 Ye march'd ; and fought them in their fiercest shape 
 Of lust and pride, and dark ambition's dreams, 
 And hopes which make eternity a lie, 
 By moulding heaven to each infirm desire! 3 
 
 O trav'ller! far from England's elmy dales 
 To Syria wafted, in the trance of noon, 
 When thou art seated on some rocky cliff 
 Of Nazareth, and think'st that there, unknown, 
 In meek subjection, lived the Son of Man, 
 Till came the hour, when, like a buried stream 
 Of glory bursting into sudden day, 
 The mighty doctrine which embraced a world 
 o2 
 
150 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Rose into light and ran its vast career, 
 What visions o'er thy brain and spirit roll? 4 
 The flood of cent'ries, in their fancied roar 
 Thou hear'st them sweeping! but amid the tide 
 Of desolation over king and kingdom pour'd, 
 The ROCK of AGES based on earth, indeed, 
 But tow'ring to the skies unshaken stands, 
 A monument to Immortality! 
 
 But now, from everlasting triumph fresh 
 And ardent, met the apostolic band 
 Once more around Him; then to lovely Nain, 
 By Hermon shaded, o'er whose dazzling snow 
 A mid-noon burn'd, the godlike Jesus went. 
 Whoe'er thou art, a scene of touching might 
 And tender beauty waits thy spirit there. 
 And yet, how simple! such as link mankind 
 Together by unbroken ties of soul, 
 The glories of the gospel ! from the heart 
 They spring, and to the heart alone appeal 
 With eloquence divine. 
 
 Behold, as Noon 
 
 Was calming from her hot meridian rage, 
 And Tabor o'er Esdraelon's verdure threw 
 A longer shade, where cooling Kishon ran 
 His midway course, the Lord of mercy reach'd 
 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 151 
 
 The mountain-dell, where Nain of Hermon stands. 
 
 But ere He enter'd, came a mournful troop 
 
 In dark procession from the city gates: 
 
 The air was wrung with anguish; and the dirge 
 
 Fell sad and frequent on Messiah's ear! 
 
 While midmost, on a mantled bier upborne, 
 
 A youth was carried to an early grave 
 
 An only child, the star of widow'd home, 
 
 In whose fond ray a mother's spirit smiled! 
 
 With what a sense of beautiful delight 
 
 Her ear drank in the father's fancied voice, 
 
 Still in her son triumphant o'er the tomb! 
 
 How tenderly her soul's creative eye 
 
 Gazed on the meanings of his manly face, 
 
 And made each feature all the sire restore 
 
 In proud resemblance ! while a sacred hope 
 
 Survived, that when her widow'd race was done, 
 
 His hand would smoothe, his gentle voice attend 
 
 Her dying bed; and tears of filial truth 
 
 Fall on the flowers that graced a mother's tomb ! 
 
 But Heaven had frown'd, her living star was set, 
 
 In the bright morning of its beauty gone 
 
 For ever! Pity! thine are barren tears, 
 
 And unrefreshing as the thunder-drops 
 
 On burning sands, to wo intense as this! 
 
 For life and feeling in the grave descend, 
 
 And sounds of comfort, like the clam'rous waves, 
 
152 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 In heedless revel o'er the ocean dead, 
 Awake no echoes in her spirit now! 
 
 But on they come, the sad funereal crowd, 
 And deep o'er all the blended tones of grief 
 A heart-wrung widow's lamentations rise, 
 Distinctive of the mother ! Not a gaze 
 That is not dew'd, or dim; the young men weep, 
 As fancy pictures, on yon cover'd bier, 
 Their pale companion, from whose mirthful brow 
 So many a gleam of young enjoyment flash'd, 
 Like daily sunshine over kindred hours: 
 The aged bow their heads, to dreams of death 
 Surrender'd; parents muse on buried hopes, 
 Or clasp the living with a fearful joy! 
 And e'en the children, as the mourning train 
 Advances, from unthinking revel cease, 
 And sadden down the innocence of glee. 
 'Twas then the Lord of Life and Death approach'd 
 The long procession then a widow's tear 
 Was mighty, for it moved the Saviour's soul! 
 At once, majestic, through the yielding crowd, 
 Beside the corse He came, the bier He touch'd, 
 Then, moveless as the dead, that living host 
 Stood silent! every throbbing breeze grew loud, 
 And motions of the human heart were heard 
 In the deep hush of this portentous hour! 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 153 
 
 The awful coming of some dread display 
 I Each soul awaited: then was heard " ARISE!" 
 The spirit answer'd, and the youth arose! 
 And to his mother took Messiah's hand 
 Her only child! 
 
 Oh! ask not, what excess 
 | Of rapture, what ecstatic shriek of joy, 
 i What thrilling fires of new affection rose, 
 
 When heart to heart the beat of life return'd, 
 ; As there they stood, unutterably blest, 
 
 Each twined round each, affection's holy pair ! 
 
 The mountain top, though daring clouds retreat 
 
 Below it, oft victorious feet ascend; 
 
 And down the ocean have undaunted eyes 
 ! Descended; but the height and depth of love 
 
 Maternal, who shall meet its boundless sway? 
 ' But rather witness how one eager gaze, 
 i From the vast multitude's concentred awe, 
 * Is bent on Jesus ! dreadful light enrobes 
 
 His form, divinity His features wear, 
 
 And as He moves, in loud hosannahs rise, 
 
 " Our God hath visited His people NOW!" 
 
 And thus, whene'er the tears of woman fall, 
 Compassion ! in the LORD of pity view 
 Thy godlike semblance; never from His lip 
 
154 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 The unfeeling language of a loud rebuke 
 
 Descended, when the soul of woman cried! 
 
 And was not this example? Ere the tongue 
 
 Can utter, or the eye a wo reveal, 
 
 Her smile is round us, like a guardian spell 
 
 Which nothing scatters, save the tyrant gloom 
 
 Of death; and then, whose unforsaking glance, 
 
 Till the last hue of being fade, from dawn 
 
 To midnight keeps angelic watch beside 
 
 The ebbing spirit, lighting it to heaven? 
 
 'Tis action makes the world of man; but life 
 
 Is feeling, such as gentler woman bears; 
 
 The fairy people of her inward world 
 
 Are true affections; when the blight hath touch'd 
 
 Or wrong'd their beauty, darkly cold this earth 
 
 Becomes, the elements of being fade, 
 
 And silence is the sepulchre of thought, 
 
 Wherein the anguish of her spirit dwells ! 
 
 But should there yet some icy soul remain 
 That never melted at a woman's tear, 
 Let such advance, and meet THE SAVIOUR'S eye ! 
 Behold a chamber; round a simple board, 
 On circling couches, with unsandal'd feet 
 Reclined, a pharisaic throng convened; 
 Amid them, the Redeemer; as He lay, 
 Behind him crept a penitential form 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 155 
 
 Of faded beauty; years had fiercely traced, 
 
 And chronicled with Time's disastrous pen, 
 
 The countless agonies of guilty wo 
 
 On her palse visage! from whose haggard eyes 
 
 The tears gush'd big and bright, while down her neck, 
 
 In fine luxuriance, fell unheeded locks 
 
 Of blackest lustre: in her hand appear'd 
 
 An alabaster box of rich perfume. 
 
 But when her flood of anguish on the feet 
 
 Of Christ intruded, with her flowing hair 
 
 The tears she dried, and costly unction pour'd: 
 
 Divinely humbled, That mysterious head 
 
 She would not dare profane! but, sin abash'd, 
 
 Upon his feet alone an ointment due 
 
 She pour'd, the sad and silent Magdalene! 
 
 On her, as some mute parent's pensive gaze 
 The home-returning child of error greets, 
 Messiah look'd; but from the scorner's eye 
 A scornful flash of indignation broke, 
 To think a vile corruption, frail as she, 
 Might touch a prophet, or communion hold 
 With mortal sanctity! yet ere contempt 
 Grew vocal, He, whose comprehensive glance 
 Both heaven and earth, and time and space commands, 
 And from the dungeon of the darkest soul 
 The craven thought with sudden light expels, 
 
156 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 The brooding rancour of self-righteous man, 
 Perceived, and thus the hidden soul unmask'd: 
 " Two debtors once a creditor forgave; 
 Five hundred one, the other fifty pence. 
 Which loved him most?" " The one forgiven 
 
 most," 
 
 The cow'ring Pharisee at once replied, 
 With curling lip, and brow that blacker grew ! 
 " Behold yon woman! she hath loved the most, 
 And is the most forgiven!" Deadly rage 
 At those high words, which to JEHOVAH'S lip 
 Belonged, and charactered almighty power, 
 How fiercely did that proud assembly feel! 
 They spake not; but the blood's resentful ire 
 Flow'd on each visage with a fiery rush 
 Of inward passion ! while derisive tones 
 Around the table murmuringly ran, 
 That He, a throneless heir of mortal clay, 
 The sanction of tremendous God assumed, 
 And pardon'd one by pharisaic creed 
 Accurs'd, whose presence was defiling breath, 
 Than whom, for their celestial robe to touch, 
 To hug the pestilence were purer far! 
 In deep soliloquy of hate and dread 
 So mutter'd each dark soul; but, mildly firm, 
 IMMANUEL then to weeping Mary cried 
 " By faith forgiven, in thy peace depart!" 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 157 
 
 Again Jerusalem's Mosaic feast 
 Return'd, and Christ within her hoary walls 
 Hath enter'd, and beside Bethesda's pool. 
 Unknown amid the lazar-crowd, appears, 
 Beneath the porches lying. Round the bath 
 A pillar'd shade five tow'ring clusters threw, 
 Where each with ravenous impatience eyed 
 The blood-stain'd waters! panting for the hour 
 Medicinal, when some high Angel stirr'd 
 The healing pool : as oft a summer lake 
 Convulsively a thrilling breeze attests, 
 Bethesda rippled into mystic life 
 Beneath the wave of his unshadow'd wings! 
 
 Amid the martyrs, pale o'er all the rest, 
 And ghastly, bearing on his palsied frame 
 The loathsome curse of eight-and-thirty years' 
 Dread malady! an aidless victim met 
 Divine compassion, when his Lord approach'd. 
 " Wilt thou be whole?" the GREAT PHYSICIAN 
 
 cried : 
 
 "My limbs are moveless! lo, the crowd advance 
 Down in the waters ere my weakness come.'' 
 As man to man, the pining creature spake; 
 But when, " Arise ! thy bed uplift, and walk !" 
 Commanded Jesus, limb and life renew'd 
 Their freshness! free as Sampson in his hour 
 p 
 
158 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Of glory, with his couch the man uprose, 
 While magic blood, like streaming rapture, ran 
 From vein to vein, how exquisitely felt! 
 He walk'd, but not unenvied; savage frowns 
 Were seen, and stern the loud resentment rose : 
 " A broken Sabbath ! did it not condemn 
 The cure? that burden! was it not profane?" 
 The rebel heart of Jewish envy cried. 
 Thou hypocrite! let days and seasons quench 
 Thy soul, and narrow down the lofty creed 
 Of true religion; vital worth ascends 
 Beyond them; Goodness is a godlike power, 
 And active; she doth lead an angel life, 
 But keeps a holy calendar in heaven! 
 
 O mighty Founder of immortal faith, 
 Unblemish'd JESU! Thy denouncing words 
 Have been fulfilled : the race, who mock'd Thy deeds, 
 And darkened all Thy bright perfection did 
 Of good and wondrous for afflicted man, 
 Have drench'd the cup of wrath, and are become 
 The scoff and vileness of the peopled globe ! 
 But have we not Thy sacred Word defiled, 
 Thy law profaned, the light of truth repell'd, 
 And often crucified Thee o'er again, 
 Lamb of the World! Descend, O Lord! descend 
 And lighten, as Thou didst the Jews of old, 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 159 
 
 The dimness of our nature ! still remain 
 The curse of sect, the bigotry of creed, 
 And doctrine impious, whose exclusive rage 
 Would limit God, and shut the gates of heaven! 
 The pure and open, the unbounded scheme 
 Of earth's redemption, let not man presume 
 To shape, or alter, but submissive faith 
 The grand relationship of human souls 
 Confess; and while external sense reveres 
 Each hallow'd rite, let inward love abound, 
 And centre all its paradise in Thee; 
 So will Religion spread, and Time record 
 The days of Eden, Sabbaths of the mind, 
 When dream and doctrine, hope and faith, unite 
 To make the heart anticipated heaven ! 
 
 Where Jordan mingled his melodious wave 
 With the blue waters of that famous sea, 
 Which often mirror'd the Redeemer's form, 
 The grassy desert of Bethsaida lay. 
 To this deep wild the PRINCE OF GLORY went, 
 Dejected, for the murder'd Baptist's fate 
 A veiling sadness o'er His spirit threw. 
 But such a blaze of sanctity enwrapt 
 His person; wisdom so surpassing flow'd 
 From those pure lips, that, sooner might the sun 
 At flaming noontide from the eye recede, 
 
160 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Than Christ in unregarded might remain ! 
 
 And lo ! around Him, like a wilder'd flock 
 
 Of mountain-sheep, unshepherded and lone, 
 
 The poor have gather'd; and their pleading eyes 
 
 Were answer'd when the LORD OF BEING spake 
 
 Of time and nature, man's undying soul, 
 
 And blood mysterious, that would cleanse the 
 
 world : 
 
 Till soft enchantment on each spirit came, 
 Serene as starlight o'er a dusky lake 
 Of troubled water! hunger, want, and toil, 
 Were unremember'd in th' absorbing bliss 
 Of deep instruction; on the bread of life 
 They feasted, mindless of all other food! 
 But day was dying, and the mellow light 
 Of evening slanted through the desert-boughs, 
 Whose leafy motion, like a refluent tide 
 The pebbles chafing, made a restless sound. 
 And when Messiah, in the pallid gleam 
 Of western sunlight, mark'd the wearied host 
 Before Him, and a thousand faces turn'd 
 Full on His gaze! all famish'd, feeble, worn, 
 Compassion for their uncomplaining want 
 Awoke; at once a miracle sublime 
 His soul conceived, His mighty hand perform'd ! 
 
 Among the multitude a lad was found; 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 161 
 
 Five barley loaves and two small fishes made 
 
 His poor possession; but the scanty meal 
 
 Became abundance to creative power! 
 
 By fifties rank'd, along the verdant ground 
 
 The people sat, with expectation dumb, 
 
 And trembling with delightful awe ! Then took 
 
 The bread, and lifted His majestic eyes 
 
 To Heaven, the Saviour, blessing, as He gazed, 
 
 The food, from whence a miracle would rise 
 
 Magnificent, beyond our dreams of God 
 
 To picture, when they paint Him most divine ! 
 
 Oh! when His eye immensity o'ercame, 
 
 And travell'd through the infinite expanse 
 
 Of worlds on worlds, His own almighty seat 
 
 It witnessed! there, pavilion'd round about 
 
 With clouds and waters,* in array 'd excess 
 
 Of unimagined glory, He beheld 
 
 Jehovah ! then the mortal bread He brake, 
 
 And bade disciples to the awe-struck crowd 
 
 The food bestow, till that enormous host 
 
 Were fill'd ! and fragments of abundance lay 
 
 Around them scatter'd from the glorious feast. 
 
 As though a seed of earth's minutest growth 
 
 Rose from the ground, and like a forest spread! 
 
 From that mean food miraculously sprung 
 
 * 18th Psalm, 
 P2 
 
162 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 The glory of a great increase, that grew 
 And multiplied beneath Messiah's hand, 
 Till famish'd thousands were profusely fed! 
 
 Was ever banquet so sublime as this? 
 No canopy of regal pomp was there, 
 But the bright vastness of unclouded heaven; 
 The turf, a table, and the meanest food 
 A mountain -peasant knows, the sole supply, 
 But- God to serve, a miracle, the meal ! 
 The hour of beauty; Syria's matchless sky 
 Of floating crimson; lake Genes'reth stretch'd 
 In molten slumber, and her distant flash 
 Of waters, gleaming through the forest boughs, 
 And the deep moral of the mighty scene, 
 How pants the spirit to have witness'd all! 
 
 But he who fed five thousand, feeds a world, 
 And makes all earth a miracle of love ! 
 Creation's undiminish'd banquet, spread 
 For ever by the elemental laws 
 And seasons, ministrant to growth and good, 
 How mindless we, by whose stupendous gift 
 It aids the universe to move and live! 
 Enjoyment makes the world's ingratitude; 
 Above, around, beneath, th' almighty Hand 
 Itself avows ; at morn, conducting forth 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 163 
 
 The LORD OF BRIGHTNESS, and when day concludes. 
 
 And dews descend, the fairies of the night, 
 
 Arraying yonder firmamental arch 
 
 With moon and planet, and uncounted orbs, 
 
 Too beautiful for sullied earth to name! 
 
 But constant good proves mercy unadored; 
 
 And while all the glories of creation give 
 
 Their daily witness, man alone is dumb! 6 
 
 But night commenceth: hark! a shouting cry, 
 A multitude's delighted spirit speaks, 
 And woods are shaken with exulting sound! 
 Like mingling torrents, loud and far ascend 
 Their many voices, blending into one, 
 That hails Him Monarch! who had blest the poor. 
 Then Jesus to Bethsaida bade depart 
 His own disciples, from the crowd withdrew, 
 And sought His mountain solitude again. 
 
 Meanwhile, obedient to a high command, 
 Beloved disciples, in their boat embark'd, 
 Upon the lake are rocking : Darkness weaves 
 Her veil, and, like a tempest-demon, howls 
 The horrid wind, and tears the rising sea 
 To billowy madness, o'er whose heave and swell 
 Th' affrighted vessel, like a weary bird, 
 Advances, hung with flakes of plumy foam. 
 
164 MESSIAH. [-BOOK V. 
 
 At starless midnight, on the yelling deep, 
 The mariners with death and gloom contend, 
 Till in the sound of each remorseless wave 
 Each heart has heard a fun'ral anthem howl'd! 
 But ere the redness of reviving dawn 
 Approach'd, when nature wore that spectral hue 
 In which the shadows of her dead arise, 
 A living SHAPE along the billows stalk'd! 
 GOD OF THE WATERS, on the waves He moved 
 Sublimely firm! behind Him, like a cloud, 
 His garments floated on the gloomy air, 
 And where He trod, the conscious billow sank! 
 At that dim sight each pale disciple cower'd 
 And trembled, holding in the gasping breath, 
 Yet gazing, till the icy blood congeal'd, 
 Each limb was marble, and the palsied heart 
 Throbb'd loud and quick with supernat'ral play ! 
 A spectre from the unapparent world 
 He seem'd! or Spirit, of the tempest born, 
 Who walk'd the waters, terribly divine! 
 But when, in answer to a shriek of dread 
 Heard o'er the billows, all distinctly wild, 
 Upon the winds in solemn murmur rolTd 
 " 'Tis I !" the frenzy of affright was calm'd, 
 And he, whose fondness human faith surpass'd, 
 Entreated, like a God, to tread the deep ! 
 " Then come!" the Saviour, like a God, replied. 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 165 
 
 And he descended; on the deep he walk'd, 
 O'eraw'd, in dreadful wonder! wave on wave, 
 And wind on wind, in elemental roar 
 Like chaos, how can mortal faith defy? 
 His soul hath doubted, and th' apostle sinks, 
 Till, " Save me, Lord!" the drowning Peter cries, 
 And him the affable Redeemer caught 
 From out the billows, in their fierce array, 
 Rebuking thus " O thou of little faith!" 
 His fond disciple : when the toiling bark 
 They both had enter'd, on the waves He look'd, 
 The lake was silent, and the tempest gone! 
 
 Appalling grandeur! sea and midnight, God 
 And man, angelic faith and mortal fear, 
 All imaging, with allegoric truth, 
 A storm of trial on the world's great sea ! 
 Thus Heaven is round us in the dreadest hour ! 
 Her radiant mercies, like the mystic stars, 
 Through darkness, glitter on the trembling soul. 
 And from that shriek, from out the billows sent 
 By human frailness, let Presumption learn 
 How Nature falters when she feels sublime! 
 Oh! could our actions overtake our will, 
 That oft in solitude so highly soars 
 To lovely regions of imagined good, 
 What noble vengeance would the spirit wreak 
 
166 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 On baser qualities, which clog the soul! 
 Alas! perfection is our moral dream, 
 And error, nature's true reality! 
 "We would be angels, but we must be men ! 
 
 Yet marvel not that frail delusion hung 
 And hover'd o'er his apostolic mind 
 Who loved the Saviour with impassion'd truth, 
 But oft out-soar'd himself, when feeling dared 
 To mount where Faith alone her flight commands! 
 To him, and all, Messiah's kingdom seem'd 
 Dominion sceptred with terrestrial might; 
 The spell of earth was on them, and they rear'd 
 On words, whose meaning look'd beyond the world, 
 Imperial thrones, whereon The Twelve would sit 
 Holding the keys of heaven ! But Jesus tore 
 The veil of darkness; as rejected Christ, 
 A malefactor's death foredoom'd to die, 
 Himself described; and when the earthy mind 
 Of Peter started with rebellious doubt, 
 How quiver'd it at that august rebuke ! 
 " Avaunt thee, Satan ! not the things of God, 
 But those of men, thy blinded heart adores." 
 
 And then at once from out the gloom of earth 
 To heaven, and heaven's unutterable scene, 
 Where, throned in glory, the Redeemer comes, 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 167 
 
 He led the spirit, and of judgment spake! 
 A shout of angels, and a trumpet-voice, 
 Hark! how it thunders round the orbed world, 
 Till space becomes a universal sound! 
 The tombs awaken, and the rocking Sea 
 Unsepulchres her dead! then all is still, 
 And every eye beholds the JUDGE OF DOOM ! 
 
 Ere the dim shadow of this dreaded hour, 
 Predicted, from the mind had been dispell'd, 
 His three disciples holy Jesus took 
 From out the plain, to where the soundless calm 
 Of aromatic Tabor breathed. Aloft 
 Arriving, there, on its aerial top, 
 While Christ paternal Deity adored, 
 A languor, like a cloud of music, wrapt 
 The yielding sense, till, wearily o'ercome, 
 Their eyelids closed in slumber's soft eclipse, 
 And slept the mortal three. While such repose 
 Entranced them, into awful glory grew 
 The form of Jesus ! dazzlingly His face 
 That lustrous mien which Seraphim behold 
 With eyes wing-veil'd! assumed; His raiment shone 
 Like robes that whiten in immortal beams 
 Emitted from the throned ETERNAL ! bright 
 Beyond imagined brightness, he became 
 Transfigured; God of God, and Light of Light 
 
168 MESSIAH. [BOOK v 
 
 Apparent! round Him earth's surpassing two 
 In type of law and prophecy fulfilPd 
 By Jesus Moses and Elias, knelt, 
 Communing; like the talk of thunder-clouds, 
 The rolling of each voice the air intoned 
 With terror; deep, unearthly, distant sound, 
 That woke the sleepers, whose awe-stricken eyes 
 Eeel'd in the blaze, as though in heaven unclosed! 
 The Cross, and Resurrection of the Dead, 
 Appallingly distinct they heard reveal'd: 
 And Peter, burning with sublime dismay, 
 " Three tabernacles let us rear!" exclaim'd; 
 " For Thee, for Moses, and Elias, one!" 
 But while he spake, an overshadowing cloud 
 Descended, such as o'er the golden wings 
 Of Cherubim the Ark's shechinah made; 
 And from its depth a vocal PRESENCE cried, 
 " My Son of Glory! hear His voice! adore!" 
 Like riven trees th' affrighted mortals fell 
 Beneath the sound Almighty ! till, " Arise !" 
 Messiah utter'd; they arose, and view'd 
 Nor cloud nor vision, but the lovely green 
 Of Tabor, Jesus in his wonted shape 
 Of meekness, and the soft luxurious sky, 
 With azure canopy o'erarching all! 
 
 
 The passion that confounded heaven, unthroned 
 
BOOK V.J MESSIAH. 169 
 
 Archangels, and the spotless earth defiled, 
 Not Christ himself could overawe ! In vain 
 Of agony and blood Messiah spake, 
 To be His direful portion: still prevail'd 
 In each frail mind ambition's royal dream 
 Of thrones to come ; and whose imperial rank 
 Were most exalted, each with rival hope 
 Disputed. Fathoming their inmost heart, 
 Amid them all the mild Redeemer placed 
 A little child; then, gently with His arm 
 Encompassing the infant, thus began: 
 " Except man be converted, and become 
 As little children, humbled, meek, and pure, 
 My kingdom he cannot partake, nor feel; 
 For childlike is the greatest there !" How quaiPd 
 The pride, how shook the domineering thoughts 
 Of that assembly! when they thus beheld 
 Expressive meekness in the mighty soul 
 Of Christ perfected; and an artless child 
 The type of man's eternal glory made ! 
 Thou happy mother! at whose nursing breast 
 That infant fed; still happier child wert thou, 
 Whose eyelids fell beneath the Saviour's gaze, 
 Whose brow was hung with innocent alarm, 
 Amid the holy presence! Fairy things! 
 Ye living poetry of human life, 
 Of air-like motion, glitt'ring wild or gay, 
 Q 
 
170 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Oh, teach us, as around ye sport and smile. 
 Nor heed the clouds, nor hear the mutt'ring wind, 
 That heralds what to-morrow's doom may be, 
 Like you, content, in uncomplaining hope 
 To rest resigned, and innocently wear 
 The smile which Universal Love bestows. 
 
 Pride blasted Eden, and the world has bow'd 
 Beneath her sceptre, which to break in dust 
 The God incarnate every meekness wore! 
 Yet, what are we, that our Titanic dreams 
 Assault the skies with their incessant aim? 
 Oh, could we read Creation's book aright, 
 Our nothingness on each vast page would shine 
 Convicted! atoms mock our deepest ken, 
 The winds, invisible as angel-wings, 
 Attend our path, and tell not whence they come; 
 The dust derides us! from the floating orbs 
 Of Night's dim world, an overwhelming ray 
 Of myst'ry pierces the distracted mind; 
 And Ocean laugheth with resounding scorn, 
 When monarchs dare him, and his fleets, like 
 
 foam, 
 
 From wave to wave are darted ! Gaze within, 
 And what is there? a tempest in repose 
 Of passions wild, dark energies, and powers 
 That storm and madden at a demon's call ! 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 171 
 
 But evil is eternal war with Heaven; 
 And Pride, how dauntless ! e'en that hallow'd fane 
 Where the dim shadow of Jehovah dwells, 
 She enters, balancing with haughty brow 
 The merits which opinion, rank, or sect, 
 Assumes, before the Throne of that Supreme 
 From whose dread gaze the universe recoils! 
 When Jesus, from the triple-crested mount,* 
 Where midnight heard His orison arise, 
 At morn descended, as the rosy flush 
 Of daylight slanted over Kedron's vale, 
 And pilgrim waters, in the temple throrig'd 
 A pharisaic crowd, whose sleepless ire 
 With blood-hound fury track'd His glorious way ! 
 Before Him now, as there the people stood, 
 And drank His words, like inspiration's breath, 
 A poor adulteress they rudely dragg'd 
 
 ! For judgment; should He dare condemn 
 Her frailty, Rome would see rebellion rise, 
 And dungeon him for slaughter; should he blot 
 Her guilt, upon His soul her crime devolv'd! 
 
 ; But Christ their black attempt at once unveil'd, 
 And answer'd not, but, bending to the ground 
 
 j In mute abstraction, with His finger wrote; 
 Till once again His awful soul they tried 
 
 * Olivet. 
 
172 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 For judgment; then, with look divinely stern, 
 
 He rose ! and in a voice of withering tone, 
 
 " Let him among you who is sinless, cast 
 
 A stone the first !" the Son of Man replied. 
 
 Then, Conscience! thou that in the deadly night 
 
 Dost wring the soul, and mar the murderer's sleep, 
 
 Or people solitude with shapes of hell ! 
 
 The vile accusers Thy terrific power 
 
 O'eraw'd ; till, one by one, as though unseen 
 
 A hand compelled their motion, dumb like death, 
 
 And slow, each followed each, till all were gone ! 
 
 But on the hush of that deserted hall 
 
 A sigh, as though some heart had heaved, and 
 
 broke, 
 
 Distinctly fell; the Saviour's solemn eye 
 Was lifted, and beheld a guilty shape, 
 A woman! on whose burning cheek the blood 
 Confess'd her spirit, and the crime that drew 
 These tear-drops, running like a liquid fire 
 From agony within! Her downcast head was hung 
 With locks dishevell'd, wild as her despair; 
 Her lips were moveless, but the buried pang 
 Which heaved her bosom with convulsive throes, 
 And frequent shudder of her bending frame, 
 Were language! all that Penitence employ 'd 
 To tell a sinner's shame! " Hath none condemn'd 
 Thee, woman? Where are thine accusers? 7 ' " None," 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 173 
 
 She answer'd: " Neither, then," the Saviour cried, 
 " Do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more!" 
 
 The Feast of Lights, when dedicated lamps 
 Flash o'er the walls of Israel's echoing homes, 
 December brings: Jerusalem is loud 
 With chanted song, and melodies from harp 
 And timbrel, dulcimer and tabret pour'd; 
 From tow'ring altars an unwearied blaze 
 Ascendeth, rolling up with spiral glee 
 And gladness, crimsoning the sultry air. 
 The hearths are heap'd, and silver-headed Age 
 Delightedly to Youth's enamour'd ear 
 The festival unfolds; 7 while maidens twine 
 The holy dance, or tune the patriot lyre 
 To measures, floating like the silky clouds 
 The west along, so meltingly they die! 
 The street-ways, dappled with reflected gleams 
 From many a lattice, like a forest-sound 
 When ev'ry leaf is motion ! But apart, 
 Beneath the shadow of the temple-porch, 
 Messiah walk'd; till thence the scowling Jew 
 CompelPd Him, thirsting for His righteous blood, 
 To seek a shelter where Baptizing John 
 Had lived, when first by Jordan's laving stream 
 He heralded Redemption. There he taught 
 Believing thousands, till from Mary came 
 
174 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 A sudden messenger of wo, who said, 
 
 That Laz'rus, whom Messiah loved, was sick. 
 
 But from that sickness sprang a glorious power 
 
 The sisters dream'd not! Both did Jesus love; 
 
 Yet still he rested, till the night of death 
 
 Advanced, and Laz'rus in the tomb reclined! 
 
 Then bravely went, to where in mourning gloom 
 
 The fond and brotherless, with mingled tears, 
 
 His presence waited! Ere the olive trees 
 
 Of Bethany o'erhung His meadow'd way, 
 
 Rush'd Martha forth, to meet her mighty Lord. 
 
 " Hadst Thou been here, my brother had not died!" 
 
 Was her sad greeting. " He shall rise again!" 
 
 Responded Jesus; " When the dead awake, 
 
 And time is ended," sadly she replied. 
 
 " I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE! 
 
 And whoso liveth, and in Me believes, 
 
 Shall never die!"" The Son of God Thou art 
 
 The Christ to come, the Everlasting Lord!" 
 
 In one deep burst of lofty faith she cried, 
 
 And then withdrew, to where, her sister mourn'd, 
 
 To Mary, she who chose the better part! 
 
 At once she rose, the distant meadow sought, 
 
 And prostrate at the feet of Jesus fell; 
 
 " Hadst THOU been here, my brother had not died!" 
 
 She utter'd; tears alone the rest could tell, 
 
 And not a lid was dry ! Around He gazed, 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 175 
 
 Their tears beheld, their voiceless anguish view'd, 
 Then, meekly bowing His majestic head, 
 He sigh'd, and groan'd in spirit Jesus wept! 
 
 A mournful beauty, a sepulchral grace 
 Doth hallow nature, when the dead are tomb'd 
 In garden quiet, 'mid the wave of boughs 
 That often murmur in our living ears, 
 Like tones ancestral, by the heart revived ! 
 Beneath the twilight of overhanging trees 
 A cave was hollow'd, in whose rocky depth 
 Affection to the arms of Earth resigned 
 Her dead; in mute companionship there lay 
 The babe and mother, sister, son, and sire, 
 A household, though in dust! A sad delight, 
 More exquisite than loud-tongued pleasure feels, 
 Serened the spirit of surviving love, 
 Whene'er it rambled in the pensive gloom 
 Of such a garden. If the summer air 
 Breathed gladness, heaven was flaked with fleecy 
 
 clouds, 
 
 And playsome leaves hung prattling to the wind, 
 If hue and sound made life immortal seem, 
 A shade of sadness mellow'd, not destroy'd, 
 The mirth and beauty of surrounding day. 8 
 Oft would the eye of some fond mourner rest 
 On the green rock, whose cavern'd silence made 
 
176 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 The home of death, where generations slept ! 
 And haply, as the wild flowers meekly grew 
 From the dim verdure of sepulchral stone, 
 Delightful thoughts from sad mementos sprung ! 
 
 'Mid such a scene departed Laz'rus lay; 
 And lo ! Messiah by the rock-hewn grave 
 Arrived: around him, with unspeaking awe, 
 Disciples, mourners, and the sisters meek, 
 Collect. " The tomb unbar !" when thus exclaim'd 
 The LORD OF KESURRECTION, from the tomb 
 They roll'd the stone; then Martha's doubting soul 
 How solemnly he chided! Time had seen 
 Four suns upon her brother's grave reflect 
 Their brightness: on his frame corruption fed 
 E'en now she deem'd, and buried in her doubt 
 That faith, whose glory soon its God reveal'd. 
 The stone removed, apart Messiah stood, 
 To heaven uplifted His appealing gaze, 
 Divine communion with the Vast Unseen 
 Awhile he mutely held, till with a sound 
 Deep, audible, and grand, His prayer arose! 
 And when th' unutter'd answer from the Throne . 
 Descended, an immortal feeling clad 
 Each feature! on His brow unearthly calm 
 Was mirror'd; like a Deity he stood! 
 And spake the fiat, " LAZARUS, COME FORTH!" 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 177 
 
 And Lazarus came! as once Creation did 
 From darkness, by th' omnific Word produced. 
 Bound hand and foot, amid the living breathed 
 The dead, new risen! but his presence cast 
 A terror round it, awe without a name! 
 Entranced, as if another world begun, 
 Dumb with amaze, the whole assembly stood, 
 Till Jesus bade the grave's funereal robes 
 To be unwound, and breathing Lazarus spake! 
 As though a tree, by blasting time destroy'd, 
 Bloom'd into life, and suddenly recalPd 
 The leafy glory of its forest prime ! 
 So did the freshness of reviving blood 
 At once the lividness of death dispel; 
 And Laz'rus, pure as man's primeval form 
 Appear'd, when first creation call'd him Lord! 
 
 Such power immense, in open day reveal'd, 
 Through town and village, plain and hamlet, woke 
 A grateful wonder. At the school of seers 
 The sage consulted; street and dwelling heard 
 One mingled clamour of admiring tongues; 
 And in the synagogues, a mutt'ring crowd 
 Would linger, to peruse each other's face, 
 And chronicle, as Rumour told her tale 
 The words of age, or wisdom. But the blaze 
 Miraculous, that round the risen dead 
 
178 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Concentred, fell like pestilential fire! 
 
 Upon the soul of that dark sect, whose reign 
 
 Was clouded, and whose mould'ring sceptre shook: 
 
 Their fancy gloated on His bleeding form, 
 
 Their dreams were pictured with His dying pangs, 
 
 And every heart had hoarded up a curse 
 
 To mock His agony! Amid the wilds 
 
 Of Ephraim, persecuted Christ withdrew, 
 
 Till came the moment for the final scene 
 
 Of man's redemption, to unroll its gloom; 
 
 Amid the capital, with dreadless foot 
 
 Then march'd He forth to meet the fated hour! 
 
 To Jericho, along whose plain immense, 
 
 In greenest lustre rose unnumber'd palms, 
 
 That waved their beauty in balsamic winds, 
 
 Amid the breath of roses, flush'd and bright 
 
 As clouds of damask when- they drink the hues 
 
 Of sunset, Jesus and disciples went. 
 
 But soon from out her walls, and stately crowd 
 
 Of palaces, and domes of marble sheen, 
 
 He pass'd to Bethany; where Laz'rus rose, 
 
 And shouting hosts with palms had come, to meet 
 
 The Son of David! From the verdant top 
 
 Of Olivet, to where a hamlet smiled 
 
 Before them, bosom'd in a mountain vale, 
 
 The two disciples, at the word divine, 
 
 Departed . there, as Christ's prophetic eye 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 179 
 
 Fore-shadow'd, at the village gate they found 
 A colt, which never mortal burden bore, 
 Then led it to the Lord, devoutly hung 
 Their garments on its sacred back, and placed 
 The Christ thereon. Thus Zechariah sang, 
 When cent Vies, in their darkest slumber bound, 
 To him like animated creatures rose, 
 And utter'd visions ! Wonderful Thy ways, 
 Jehovah! in the whirlwind, Thou art there! 
 The tempest is Thy language, sea Thy path, 
 And glory, but the shadow of Thy shade ! 
 Yet human actions, by completing words 
 That drew aside the veil of time, and roll'd 
 Their meaning down the depth of years unborn, 
 With voice as mighty as creation speaks 
 Thy power attest, Thy ruling hand portray! 
 
 But oh! what jubilant hosannahs rose, 
 As Him they sung, magnificent, and great, 
 And good, and glorious, Israel's promised King, 
 The PRINCE OF PEACE ! Beneath His path their 
 
 robes 
 They strew'd, and round Him waved triumphant 
 
 palms, 
 
 And scatter'd branches, while a choral shout 
 Deeper and deeper, like colossal waves 
 Of sound, ascended! till the air partook 
 
180 MESSIAH. [BOOK v 
 
 The rapture, and the sympathetic leaves, 
 
 As with a breezy joy of summer noon, 
 
 Were shaken! then a sudden silence came 
 
 On the loud host; as when the pausing storm 
 
 In elemental muteness dies away, 
 
 The clamour ceased, a multitude was dumb. 
 
 On vast Jerusalem's devoted towers 
 
 The gaze of Christ prophetically fell, 
 
 And tears from out His mournful spirit rose 
 
 While He beheld them ! and their doom pronounced, 
 
 " If thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, 
 
 But peace hath vanish'd ever from thine eyes! 
 
 Thine hour is coming! round thee shall a trench 
 
 Be cast, and compass thee on every side, 
 
 Till, tomb'd in dust, thy towers and children fall, 
 
 Nor leave a stone to tell where thou hast been ! 
 
 Jerusalem! Jerusalem! whose hand 
 
 Hath stoned the prophets, and the holy slain, 
 
 How often, as the hen beneath her wings 
 
 Her brood protecteth, would my shielding hand 
 
 Have shelter'd thee! Thy children would not 
 
 come! 
 
 Thine house is desolate, thy kingdom gone, 
 And never till the clouds of judgment waft 
 His glory, will thine eyes again behold 
 The Son of Man! But magnify, O God, 
 My Father! magnify Thine awful name!" 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 181 
 
 The heavens grew vocal, and an angel voice 
 Came forth "I have, and will," its thunder 
 spake ! 
 
 Thus saying, in the portico He sat, 
 Where ever and anon, within a chest 
 Beside the pillars chain'd, an offering fell 
 From worshippers. Amid the pompous crowd 
 Of rich adorers, came a humble form, 
 A widow, meek as poverty doth make 
 Her children ! with a look of sad content 
 Her mite within the treasury -heap she cast : 
 Then, timidly as bashful twilight, stole 
 From out the Temple. But her lowly gift 
 Was witnessed by an eye, whose mercy views 
 In motive, all that consecrates a deed 
 To goodness : so He bless'd the widow's mite, 
 Beyond the gifts abounding wealth bestow'd. 
 Thus is it, Lord ! with Thee : the heart is Thine, 
 And all the world of hidden action there 
 Works in thy sight, like waves beneath the sun, 
 Conspicuous ! and a thousand nameless acts 
 That lurk in lovely secrecy, and die 
 Unnoticed, like the trodden flowers which fall 
 Beneath a proud man's foot, to Thee are known, 
 And written with a sunbeam in the Book 
 Of Life, where mercy fills the brightest page! 
 R 
 
182 MESSIAH. [BOOK v 
 
 Front of the Temple, whose enormous wall,* 
 Amid a vale miraculously rear'd, 
 Outlived the fury of Chaldean fires; 
 And when around chaotic ruins fell, 
 Stood like a master-spirit, when the world 
 Doth tremble ! Olivet's green summit rose : 
 And there Messiah, with his few elect, 
 Ascended; thence He took a last farewell! 
 Beneath them, in a wilderness of domes, 
 The thousand-streeted city lay, and roll'd 
 The hum and murmur of her myriad sounds 
 High in the air! while far around her stood 
 The guardian mountains, bathed in ruddy hues 
 Of sunlight, while the peaks of countless spires 
 Flash'd from the midst, like pinnacles of flame! 
 But, lone in glory, pillar'd, proud, and huge, 
 Colossal as some architectural dream 
 Embodied, Israel's massy Temple blazed! 
 And seem'd, in her immensity of shape, 
 A shrine that would endure Eternity ! 
 When each disciple had around him gazed, 
 And feasted with magnificent delight 
 On such a miracle of pomp and scene, 
 " It all shall wither ! not a stone endure," 
 Messiah cried; and like a dying knell 
 That murmur sank upon the listening soul ! 
 
 * Josephus's Account of the Foundation and Form of the Temple, &c. 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 183 
 
 The dread prediction ! was it not fulfill 'd 
 Beyond imagination's utmost might 
 Of horror, when the hell of earth began, 
 And men were demons with a robe of flesh 
 Enveloped, banqueting on human blood? 9 
 Ere forty years had swept the scene of time, 
 On that same mount where spake the awful Seer, 
 And drew from darkness the almighty curse 
 To come, the fierce-eyed Romans had encamp'd 
 Their legions; and the roll of martial drums, 
 And a loud music from the brazen lips 
 Of trump and clarion, with a sound of death, 
 Frighted the hills and dales of Palestine ! 
 
 Distress of nations ! sun and moon withdrawn ; 
 
 Enshrouded, that their gaze might not behold 
 
 The world's disaster! From the sea, a howl 
 , Of sleepless tempest ! on the earth are crime 
 
 And famine, fear and pestilence combined; 
 
 While Havoc, on the wings of Fury borne, 
 
 Doth scatter ruin, like a burning wind 
 
 That hurries round the universal orb 
 j To wither up creation ! Far and near, 
 
 Whatever light can face, or darkness feel, 
 j Is terrible : and list ! amid the gloom 
 
 Of midnight, like a guilty creature shakes 
 I A giant city ! as the earthquake pant 
 
184 MESSIAH. [BOOK v. 
 
 Doth come and go, and heave her mighty heart. 
 Jehovah is abroad! the heavens, appall'd, 
 Forget their seasons; cloudy visions, fill'd 
 With fiery battle, and a myriad shapes 
 Of warriors, charioted by burning steeds 
 That vanish in commotion, paint the air 
 With omens! then, a starry weapon cleaves 
 The sky, and flashes with descending might 
 As though 'twere wielded by Eternal hands! 
 While day and night, Jerusalem's ghastly eye 
 Looks up, and sees a blood-red comet blaze, 
 Fix'd like a curse of fire above the scene, 
 To agonize whate'er its flashes meet! 
 And once at midnight,* with appalling burst 
 The massive portals of an inner shrine 
 Expanded, and the shudd'ring fabric heard 
 A VOICE that issued with a dread farewell, 
 Whose thunder was, departing Deity! 
 
 The hour of judgment! lo, at length it comes, 
 And God is in it with devouring wrath 
 That deepens, till the stricken world despairs! 
 The Queen of Zion, beautiful and vast, 
 Glory of nations! who shall paint thee now? 
 Enwrapp'd with horrors, famish'd, weeping, faint, 
 
 * Vide Tacitus' Hist., book v. ; Josephus, &c. 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 185 
 
 And fallen, round thee, like a circling flood, 
 Doth rise a wall of Babylonian height, 
 And thou, a captive in the centre art 
 For martyrdom! and list! in whirlwind rush 
 A roaring flame around the Temple sweeps! 
 Moriah, like a seething furnace, glows 
 And reddens; as a cloudy palace, built 
 By sunset, how it dwindles, melts, and dies, 
 The fabric of Jehovah ! Palsied, wild, and pale, 
 In solemn agony thy myriads stand, 
 Scorch as they gaze ! but still yon gorgeous wreck 
 Beholding, on their ghastly features wear 
 A light of ruin, as the Temple falls, 
 For funeral glory! then, in tombs of fire, 
 While the last pillar of expiring flame 
 Mounts o'er the wreck, they shriek despair and 
 die! 
 
 R 2 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 'But who is He with tortured brow, 
 Degraded, bleeding, dying, now ; 
 His visage marr'd beyond despair ? 
 Thou quaking earth ! thy God is there ! 
 The sun appall'd hath slunk away, 
 And darkness hides the guilty day ; 
 Avert, O world ! thine impious eyes; 
 The curse is o'er, but Jesus dies !" MS. 
 
ANALYSIS OF BOOK VI. 
 
 THE book commences with an apostrophe connected with the sad and 
 mighty events which the conclusion of the Saviour's life unrolls ; but, 
 previous to detailing them, a retrospective view of His character, 
 actions, and doctrine, is attempted ; the order of time is then preserved 
 to the Ascension The Sanhedrim take council against Christ Judas 
 agrees to betray Him The Last Supper Description of the same 
 Terror and sadness of the disciples when Christ announced that He was 
 about to be betrayed The rite of Sacrament founded The Redeemer's 
 farewell The garden of Gethsemane Jesus in His agony Is tra- 
 duced The dawn of the day of Crucifixion Jesus brought up for trial 
 Peter's denial Reflections on his faith and weakness Jesus is con- 
 demnedLed to Caiaphas Pronounced guiltless Pilate makes his final 
 attempt to acquit the Redeemer Barabbas preferred to Jesus At last 
 is led forth on the judgment seat in sight of the multitude The repent- 
 ance, horror, and destruction of Iscariot The Crucifixion and its 
 attendant scenes The miracles which attested His Godhead at His 
 death The burial of Christ Night scene Moonlight on the tomb of 
 Jesus The Roman watch, &c. &c. The Resurrection Affright of the 
 soldiers Vision of the Angels Jesus reveals Himself to Mary Journey 
 of the two disciples to Emmaus Appearance of Christ Discovered by 
 the breaking of bread His second appearance to the Eleven Mira- 
 culous draught of fishes Peter thrice questioned Previous to His As- 
 cension, Christ takes the Eleven with Him to a mountain Explains the 
 Scriptures, gives His final charge, and ascends to Heaven. 
 
 Here, as far as the life of the Messiah is included, the Poem ends; but 
 the second Advent is the hope, faith, and glory of a Christian, and could 
 not be omitted. Previously to this, however, some reflections on the 
 subject of the Poem, state of the human mind, the destinies of man, and 
 the spirit of Poetry, viewed in connexion with the advancement of 
 Christianity, are offered : these naturally conclude in a contemplation 
 of the immortality which was brought to light through the Redeemer 
 His second Advent The Resurrection of the dead Last judgment of 
 men and angels Conclusion. 
 
THE MESSIAH. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 PREPARE, O Earth! with solemn gloom invest 
 
 Thy glories; bid the fading sun retire, 
 
 The sky be sad, the winds be tongues of wo, 
 
 And a sea-anthem with accordant swell 
 
 Arise; let time, and scene, and living man 
 
 In one vast fellowship of grief unite, 
 
 An hour is coming, black with dreadful fate, 
 
 Whose darkness palls a Saviour's agony! 
 
 But ere the ghastliness of nature prove, 
 By dread confession, man's Redeemer dies! 
 Behold the beauty of His matchless life, 
 In deed and thought connecting earth with heaven.- 
 Cull every virtue which the mind conceives, 
 Or view Perfection in sublime excess 
 Of glory, such as dreams of God portray, 
 And what can emulate the Prince of Peace ! 
 
190 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Where once the seasons, in luxuriant strife 
 Reign'd on the shore of that immortal lake 
 Whose wave is purple as the heaven it loves; 
 There in that clime, where fruit and verdure 
 
 bathed 
 
 Their tinted beauty in the richest sun, 
 Where all is dreary now, Messiah dwelt. 
 What alternation of eternal light, 
 And mortal dimness of a low estate 1 * 
 The sacred drama of His life reveals ! 
 Born in a manger, yet by guardians bright 
 And wing'd adorers, heralded and hymn'd; 
 The Heir of all things yet possessing none; 
 Surrender'd now to tears of mortal truth, 
 Or, ministrant at some disciple's feet; 
 Then, thunder-greeted by the glorious sky! 
 Here from the flower a lovely doctrine flows, 
 And now, a tempest from His frown recoils; 
 Hung on the cross, a malefactor's doom 
 He suffer'd, yet a paradise was there, 
 By Him according to the felon's soul ! 
 WTiile bleeding clay, incarnate God confess'd, 
 Whose pangs the aching universe partook, 
 And from those agonies which man beheld 
 And mock'd, the terror-blighted sun withdrew ! 
 
 * Vide Josephus' description of the shore of Tiberias. 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 191 
 
 Man never spake, in words divinely toned 
 With tenderness beyond a tear to move, 
 Like Him, to whom unutter'd feelings lay 
 Free as the clouds before a sun, exposed ; 
 The heart, He knew it best, and proved it most, 
 And touch'd the master-chord of human mind. 
 And oh! what exquisite discernment mark'd 
 Each high discourse, for creed or sect attuned; 
 Some happy image, to the hour applied, 
 Or palpably by outward sense perceived, 
 From mead and plough, the summer task or toil, 
 From storm and season, fruit and flower, enlived 
 The sacred lesson which the soul perused: 
 And when hath poet from his airy world 
 To shape or action, summon'd more express 
 And touching images of graceful power, 
 Than parables, 2 where Nature's self is judge, 
 And to the mind her silent cause commends? 
 Pathetic loveliness in all abounds ; 
 And as the eloquent creation oft 
 By moonlight more than storm the soul subdues, 
 When language with severest truth adorn'd 
 No passion quell'd, a parable prevail'd; 
 Whose soft dominion, like an angel smile, 
 Moved o'er the heart, and shone reflected there! 
 
 A Being thus surpassingly endow'd, 
 
192 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Whose life was goodness in perpetual act; 
 
 By pure magnificence of spirit raised 
 
 Above whate'er Platonic vision 3 shaped 
 
 Of high and holy, in the perfect man, 
 
 What hymned worship should the earth have paid 
 
 To such embodied Glory! yet, a doom 
 
 Of torture hover'd o'er his righteous head ; 
 
 A sinless offering for a sinful world 
 
 Dies! E'en now the Sanhedrim convened; 
 
 When suddenly, disorder'd, pale, and rack'd 
 
 With guilty terror, which on brow and cheek 
 
 Imprinted, villain! lo, the traitor comes, 
 
 And thirty pieces for a Christ betray'd, 
 
 Demandeth: then with unappall'd delight 
 
 Their fancy revels o'er His dying form! 
 
 There, as the traitor in the twilight gloom 
 Is homeward skulking with a stealthy pace, 
 While every breeze like condemnation sounds, 
 By Nature mutter'd with mysterious scorn, 
 A spirit, dark as demons love, behold! 
 He, ever when the proffer'd crown approach'd 
 The head of Christ, in worldly vision hail'd 
 The sceptred honours of some high domain, 
 About to dawn: but when the Saviour's lip 
 Blest the meek hands which ominously pour'd 
 Balsamic odour to anoint His head, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 193 
 
 Rebuke was felt, and disappointment raged, 
 Till Satan enter 'd with a rush of guilt 
 The soul of Judas; and the traitor rose 
 A dark apostate in a dream of blood ! 
 
 Meanwhile Messiah, whose omniscient word 
 A room appointed for the paschal feast, 
 To eat the lamb of covenant prepared. 
 His pangs approach, His agonies begin 
 To throng around him! and that hour, foretold, 
 Prefigured, and so oft in gloom unveil'd 
 To His mistaken Twelve, is come at last 
 To meet the Man of Wo ! A feast is set 
 Of wine and water, as Mosaic law 
 Ordain'd; where each with due thanksgiving drinks 
 The cup whose seal and sanction typified 
 The blood of Jesus, by symbolic power; 
 And then, the taintless lamb, the ritual herb, 
 And bread unleaven'd, psalm and prayer succeed, 
 Each serving each with ceremonious awe. 
 But in the midst, again rebellious pride, 
 Like Satan, when he darkened Paradise 
 By curst intrusion, mars the lovely scene 
 And mournful beauty of divine Farewell. 
 But princes, thrones, and dominations bow, 
 Lie mute and dead, ye arrogant desires, 
 Ambition! dooming life one long despair, 
 
194 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Quench the wild fever of thy fire-struck brain ! 
 Heaven stoops to earth, a Deity to dust, 
 A God is kneeling at the foot of man ! 
 Humility that makes the heart to reel, 
 The blood to tremble, and the brow of pride 
 To wither in the scathing light of shame ! 
 Oh! when was meekness dreadfully sublime 
 Like this, that dwarfs at once degree and state, 
 And dims the splendour of all outward things, 
 Till, like the radiance of a dying eve, 
 The waning glory of the world departs ! 
 
 But why hath sadness with a sudden gloom 
 On each descended? What hath blanch'd the cheek 
 With terror, in the eye dejection pour'd, 
 And stirr'd the calm of countenance with lines 
 Of feeling, working into restless play, 
 Like breeze-moved water? Eye to eye, and brow 
 To brow, in horrible dismay upturn'd, 
 Each reads the other with unspoken dread 
 Of something buried in the soul's abyss, 
 That now must be untomb'd! to stand condemned, 
 In the full light of God's unearthly gaze! 
 And yet, though terror-struck, with sad exclaim 
 Each utters, " Is it I?" eleven are pure; 
 Their souls are ramparted with sacred truth, 
 They tremble wildly, but with guiltless fear. 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 195 
 
 And one there was, o'er all the rest beloved, 
 Whose tender mildness, and devoted faith 
 With childlike fervour, to the Lord endear'd 
 His guileless nature, him whom Jesus loved, 
 The meek St. John! Beyond expressive wo, 
 The tearful language of his eye reveal'd 
 A yearning spirit ! while his drooping head 
 Lay fondly pillow'd on the breast of Christ. 
 By Peter urged, with look of saddest depth 
 On Christ he gazed, and whisperingly ask'd, 
 " Who is it, Lord?" Then Jesus," He who 
 
 takes 
 
 The bread I give, the Son of Man betrays ! 
 But, wo the traitor! well for him, had light 
 And being never an Iscariot known!" 
 Betrayer! thou whose spirit coil'd and sunk 
 Within thee, as a serpent, when the day 
 Shines on the darkness of his den, retires 
 To deeper gloom! upon thy face appears 
 A pale confession, which thy tongue denies: 
 Yes ! thou art he, a traitor to thy Lord ! 
 And, driven by the whirlwind of despair, 
 Forth from the chamber of discovered guilt 
 Thou speedest ; darkness is a heaven to thee ; 
 And thou hast night, sepulchrally array'd, 
 And starless, fit to cloak a traitor's deed, 
 Or give to earth the gloominess of hell! 
 
196 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 As the dim spell-work of some awful dream 
 Doth people slumber with a ghastly host 
 Of shapes and sounds, till, lo ! the morning smile 
 Dissolves it, so hath this phantasmal scene 
 Of doubt and dread, of agonizing sway, 
 At once receded; and quiescent joy 
 Again upon the true disciples come, 
 When Judas from the paschal chamber went 
 Convicted traitor! Then, with mien august, 
 The, mild Redeemer took the bread, and blest 
 And brake it; and the cup of wine He took, 
 And then of both made each disciple take: 
 A holy sacrament, whose typic shade 
 The great Passover was; but mightier far 
 The rite of Jesus, whose remembrance speaks 
 No single nation, but a boundless world, 
 Delivered, saved, and free! As bread and wine 
 The body nourish, so the soul is fed 
 By faith in this symbolic meal of love, 
 Wherein is shadow'd the Redeemer's death. 
 
 " Do this, and thou wilt then remember Me!" 
 Remember Thee! the Way, the Truth, and Life, 
 On whose pure eyelids hung our mortal tears; 
 Who wert so inaccessibly supreme 
 In the bright plenitude of awe and power, 
 And yet, so dinim'd by condescending love, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 197 
 
 That childhood gazed upon Thy glorious smile, 
 And deem'd it heavenlier than mothers wear! 
 Thou sole Reality of hope and time, 
 Incarnate Saviour, and co-equal God! 
 Remember Thee ! oh, if the dying words 
 Of honour'd parent round the mem'ry cling 
 With aye unweaken'd charm, shall man forget 
 That dear and solemn, Thy divine command, 
 Beyond all parents'? Till Thy Kingdom come, 
 When the great banquet of perpetual bliss 
 With Thee in glory, Thine elected sons 
 Partake, O Saviour! be thy hallow'd rite 
 Of Sacrament undyingly revered: 
 For in it, pardon and preserving grace 
 Abound, and by it earth with heaven communes; 
 And when, aweary of the world; or torn, 
 Or toss'd in the tempestuous gloom of sin, 
 The soul repenteth, yet in doubt appears, 
 Like Hagar in the wilderness, to weep and die 
 Forsaken, there in this all-heavenly feast 
 Redeemer! is Thy living presence found; 
 And, gently as the arkless dove was ta'en 
 Back to a shelter from the dreary wild 
 Of waters, welcom'd by a meeting smile, 
 The soul is bosom'd on thy holy rest. 
 
 But listen! for the Lord's farewell begins, 
 
 s2 
 
198 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 And deeply solemn, His mysterious tones 
 Fall on the silence of the sacred room, 
 Till tears have gather'd in the gazing eyes 
 From whence He parteth, and no eye ascends 
 Where He shall vanish! Yet, in dreadless faith, 
 The fervent Peter, with erected brow, 
 And voice triumphant over hell, replied, 
 * c Though all desert Thee, still will Peter stand 
 A rock unshaken! death nor dungeon frights 
 His spirit; life itself but lives in Thee!" 
 " I tell thee, Peter, ere the cock shall crow, 
 This very night wilt thou deny me thrice!" 
 Yet more impassioned with a louder voice, 
 And lip that quiver'd with exulting throb, 
 " Deny Thee! unto death my soul is fix'd!" 
 The fond one answer'd, and on Jesus glanced 
 A mild reproach, like one who felt his wrong, 
 But pleaded only by a look that spake ! 
 
 A sadness, deep and holy as the heart 
 E'er felt, came o'er the mute assembly now, 
 When the meek Saviour with angelic truth 
 Began " Believe in God, in Me believe, 
 For in My Father's everlasting House 
 Are many Mansions, and your Lord departs, 
 That ye may follow to a place prepared. 
 The Comforter, the Holy 'Ghost, shall come, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 199 
 
 And all I utter'd, memory shall teach, 
 By Him instructed; peace, immortal peace! 
 Beyond the world to give, with you I leave: 
 Abide in Me, as branches in the Vine 
 Endure, and ye shall bear celestial fruit !" 
 And then, as o'er Him, in its dark array 
 A vision of their sad desertion swept ! 
 Messiah added, " Do ye now believe? 
 Behold! it cometh, yea, the hour is come! 
 When all are scatter'd, and the Son of Man 
 Is left, yet not alone, for God is there! 
 The world is trouble, but in Jle a peace 
 Unfading ! let your souls in that confide, 
 Nor tremble; I have overcome the world!" 
 Then, lifting his dilated eyes to Heaven, 
 " My Father, glorify Thy Son!" He cried; 
 " Thy work is finished, and Thy faith is taught, 
 And Light and Immortality declared, 
 And now the glory, Mine before this earth 
 Was founded, I ascend with thee to share!" 
 
 Thus ended, Lord! thy first and last farewell! 
 When rose the parting hymn, devoutly deep, 
 And all o'er Kedron to the Olive Mount 
 Departing, wait upon Thy steps divine.* 
 
 * The hymn that they sung was Ps. 110, 117, 118, which was the last 
 part of the great Hallel, as they called it, which was constantly sung at 
 the Passover and their other great solemnities \ and with this latter 
 part was this solemnity concluded. Lightfoot's Harmony. 
 
200 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Did ever pathos from the soul demand 
 A deeper homage, than a scene like this? 
 Oh ! there be minds of adamantine calm 
 That nothing ripples! Let creation bring 
 Her finest hues of fascination forth, 
 Let sunbeams revel on the weedy shore, 
 The clouds be beauteous, shaped like molten cars, 
 To waft an embassy from orb to orb, 
 And the soft dialect of speaking flowers, 
 And airy language of the woods and winds, 
 When all exulting on a summer's day, 
 While billows carol with a bird-like glee 
 Their ocean rapture! let a scene display 
 Such earthly heavenliness, that nature seems 
 A living spirit form'd for human love, 
 And some will view it with impassive eyes! 
 And thus, in all The Galilean did, 
 Proclaim'd, or suffer'd, there be blinded souls 
 Who see no godhead ! But, forbid it, Heaven ! 
 That one of human semblance, e'er perused 
 The dying truths, by him whom Jesus loved 
 Recorded, nor himself the scene partook, 
 Till brain and bosom, heart and spirit thrilFd 
 With something holier than language speaks ! 
 
 But, veil thyself, Imagination! veil, 
 And worship ; put thy shoes from off thy feet, 
 Thou mortal gazer! for on hallo w'd ground, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 201 
 
 More consecrate than he of Horeb saw 
 
 When the bush burn'd with unconsuming fire, 
 
 Thou tread'st, the garden of Gethsemane ! 
 
 The moon, pale hermitress of heaven, hath found, 
 
 With no bright fellowship of starry orb, 
 
 Her midway sphere; and now, with conscious dread, 
 
 Shrined in a cloudy haze, she disappears, 
 
 While motionless yon patriarchal trees 
 
 Of tow'ring olive lift their spectral gloom. 
 
 But listen! groan on groan, with awful swell, 
 
 Heaves on the air, as though a God bewail'd 
 
 His creatures! Christ is bow'd in agony, 
 
 And prostrate! while a bloody sweat dissolves 
 
 From every pore: insufferably sad, 
 
 The human with the God contends, 4 and cries, 
 
 " My Father! if it can be, let this cup 
 
 Be taken from Me, from this hour removed, 
 
 And yet not Mine, but let Thy WiU be done!" 
 
 Dark agonies, unutterably deep, 
 That moment knew, whose merit countervailed 
 All that eternity's remorse could pay, 
 Wrung from the spirit of a ruin'd world!* 
 As once on Tabor, His transfigured form 
 A shadow of his future glory taught, 
 
 * Vide Barrow'a remark on the agony of Christ. 
 
202 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Gethsemane's most awful gloom declares 
 The dread, intolerable curse of sin ! 
 Which then, through pardon from the earth recalPd, 
 By imputation on the spotless soul 
 Of Jesus, frown'd itself from God, and pass'd 
 For ever! In that soul- appalling scene, 
 His manhood suffered all that flesh endures : 
 God unappeased, and Satan unsubdued, 
 The death and darkness of accursed sin 
 Still brooding o'er the world, and He foredoom'd 
 Upon the cross of agony to die, 
 That Heaven might open on forgiven man, 
 All this oppressed Him with the pangs, of hell ! 
 Exceeding sorrowful his soul became, 
 E'en unto death; till from the Throne, His cry 
 Of anguish brought a soothing angel down ! 
 But in the passion of this dreadful hour, 
 Oh! where are they, whose eyes so oft beheld 
 His wonders, in whose hearts His voice had pour'd 
 The balm and blessing of immortal truth? 
 Alas! one hour they could not watch, nor pray; 
 And they were sleeping, when the Saviour thrice 
 From prayer arose, and thrice their sleep forgave. 
 
 Yet now, sleep on! and take unthinking rest; 
 The Son of Man, Messiah, is betray'd, 
 The traitor hath his trait'rous work fulfilPd! 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 203 
 
 For hear ye not the sound of rushing feet 
 
 And ruder voices, through the moonless air 
 
 Advancing? Stirr'd, as by a tempest wing, 
 
 Around the olive-branches creak and bend, 
 
 And light comes flashing with a fierce intent, 
 
 Till on the countenance of Christ it falls, 
 
 And lights His features : marr'd and pale they 
 
 shone 
 
 Beneath it, as he met the midnight band 
 With torch and lantern, sword and stave, arrived, 
 To seize Him; Him they sought, and Christ they 
 
 found. 
 
 When " I am He !" was spoken, back they fell 
 Like life before a sudden blast of death, 
 Whose motion is almighty ! " I am He !" 
 Again he utter'd, and again they fell 
 Confounded, till the traitor with a kiss 
 Betoken'd Jesus; then the troop approach'd 
 And bound Him : legions of Immortals ! shine, 
 Descend, and wither the unhallowM throng! 
 No : meekly as a lamb to slaughter goes, 
 The Lord hath yielded; fetter'd, silent, sad, 
 Deserted, and betray'd, alone He meets 
 The Powers of darkness, in their deepest might.' 
 
 The break of morning with a dim uprise, 
 Pale as a prophet, when his eye foresees 
 
204 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Unutter'd woes upon the future throng! 
 
 The sun awaketh from his cloudy sleep 
 
 To usher in this all-tremendous day : 
 
 Already in the judgment chamber meet 
 
 The fell accusers; there, aloft upraised, 
 
 Their holy victim in the upper hall 5 
 
 His trial waiteth : not a shade of fear 
 
 The innocence of that calm brow defiles ! 
 
 In shape a man, in dignity a God 
 
 He seemeth. But around the palace fire 
 
 Beneath Him, from the council-seat apart, 
 
 What curses, loud with wrathful meaning, roll? 
 
 A damsel, when the Galilean voice 
 
 Of Peter sounded with betraying tones, 
 
 His true discipleship at once declared. 
 
 Then, he who hail'd Him " Son of living God!" 
 
 Adored His presence, saw His glory shine, 
 
 And vow'd eternally, with changeless love 
 
 Through life and death His mighty faith to hold, 
 
 The sacred knowledge of his Lord denied. 
 
 But when with horrid malediction rang 
 
 The fierce denial of his furious lip, 
 
 Till his eye glitter'd with a ghastly fire, 
 
 While falsehood, cowardice, and guilty fear, 
 
 All met and mingled with terrific clash 
 
 Within, a second time the cock then crew! 
 
 And Jesus, who shall paint the glance He gave, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 205 
 
 When pity, pardon, and subdued reproach 
 Came in a look of such celestial power, 
 That Peter trembled, and his soul was tears ! 
 
 Impassion'd, bold, beyond thy strength sincere, 
 Sublime apostle, but a sinful man, 
 As in thy faith, so in thy fall, we find 
 A truth which bids the yearning bosom feel, 
 E'en as thou wert, how half the world has been ! 
 Forgiven mourner! while with mantled face, 
 In groaning penitence without the porch, 
 Thou weepest, and from unforgotten scenes 
 A radiant vision of the past returns, 
 With blighting splendour to condemn thy soul, 
 Thou art a moral for mankind to read, 
 And heart to study, long as earth remains! 
 
 While thus in penance sad St. Peter wept, 
 Amid a council of encircling priests, 
 Of scribes and elders, great Messiah stood 
 In judgment. Witness after witness rose, 
 Suborn'd and savage; yet a war of words, 
 Where lie to lie, and truth to truth opposed 
 A meaning, all their accusation grew; 
 But when of doctrine the archpriest began, 
 " The temple, synagogue, the open world, 
 Let these my doctrine, testify, and tell, 
 T 
 
206 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 For nought in secret have I said or done!" 
 Thus answer'd the Redeemer; then uprose 
 Accusers, who with dreadless voice declared, 
 " The "gorgeous fabric which our eyes adore, 
 He thus blasphemed, ' This temple built with 
 
 hands, 
 
 Will I destroy, in three days shall arise 
 Another, built by no terrestrial hands !' " 
 Majestic silence was the sole reply. 
 Then Caiaphas, with fierce emotion shook 
 And darken'd; from his council-throne up sprang, 
 And with a voice like far-off thunder cried, 
 " Now by the living and tremendous God 
 Thee I adjure! art thou the Christ?" "I am! 
 Hereafter, coming with the clouds of heaven, 
 Girt like Jehovah, see the Son of Man !" 
 Then, " LET HIM DIE !" throughout th' assembly 
 
 rung. 
 
 The morning comes; and with unfolding day 
 The tragedy a deeper die assumes. 
 Again did Pilate, with proclaiming voice, 
 To elder, priest, and multitude pronounce 
 The Saviour guiltless, "Let Him be released!" 
 In vain he cried; for hark the savage yell, 
 " A pris'ner ! be our wonted right perform'd, 
 A captive freed!" 'Twas in that stormy hour, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 207 
 
 The dark confession of a hideous dream 
 
 The wife of Pilate in her slumber saw, 
 
 Was then reported: but His hour had come! 6 
 
 " Barabbas !" was the universal shout 
 
 By thousands echoed, when their judge preferred 
 
 To free Messiah, " Let Barabbas loose !" 
 
 But Christ, what deadly evil hath he done? 
 
 Again did " Crucify !" in one fell sound 
 
 Rise on the air so murderously loud, 
 
 That Pilate trembled. on his judgment-throne! 
 
 Then Jesus, by the soldiers dragg'd, endured 
 The mockery of reed, and robe, and crown 
 Of platted thorns, upon his temples pressed; 7 
 There as He bled, before Him bow the knees 
 Of scoffing worshippers, who shout and hail, 
 " King of the Jews!" they smite His awful 
 
 head, 
 
 And crush the crown upon his aching brows, 
 All which how silently His look forgave! 
 
 Thus bleeding, marr'd, and mock'd, the Saviour 
 
 comes; 
 
 Unmoved he stands, insuperably calm: 
 But wilder grew the clamour; hand, and eye, 
 And voice were raging with terrific signs 
 Of vengeance; till the name of " Caesar" rang 
 
208 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Loud on the soul of Pilate, like the knell 
 Of his destruction ! Caesar's foe must die, 
 And Hate must crucify whom Justice spared. 
 Then took he water, laved his hands, and cried, 
 " That I am innocent of blood, behold, 
 Of this just Person; be it yours to bear!" 
 " His blood be on us ! on our children be!" 
 In mingled answer from the mighty host 
 Ascended; dreary as the dying swell 
 Of ocean, up to heaven the fateful sound 
 Of imprecation roll'd ! with deeper dread 
 Than aught of human, since the vocal curse 
 From lips almighty, when creation shook ! 
 
 . 
 
 Earth has not view'd a more appalling scene 
 Than this, beneath an open sky display 'd; 
 When Time and Destiny were awed to hear 
 A man pronounce a verdict on a God! 8 
 A paved tribunal by the palace rose 
 Of pictured marble, and mosaic sheen, 
 Whereon was Pilate; as in kingly state 
 Enthroned; before him stood a bleeding Form 
 Of solemn aspect, in whose mild regret 
 A sanctitude beyond expression spake; 
 Below; a raving multitude was seen 
 Upgazing, all athirst for righteous blood; 
 And who, with features harrow'd by the strife 
 
BOOK VI. J MESSIAH. 209 
 
 And scorn of passion, from their God invoked 
 Eternal vengeance for eternal blood! 
 
 But where the vile traducer? While the doom 
 Of death was pass'd, and Jesus, like a lamb, 
 To slaughter, by the savage crowd decreed, 
 Then, Conscience, thy tremendous power began ! 
 The beauty, glory, and sublime display 
 Of virtues godlike, by the sinless Christ 
 Embodied, back upon his mem'ry came; 
 And in the light, intolerably pure, 
 From all He did reflected, dark and deep 
 The perfidy of His betrayer frown'd ! 
 Lash'd by remorse, the council-chief he sought, 
 The crime of innocence by him betray'd, 
 Confess'd; but when in vain his pleading guilt 
 Repented, in the temple down he hurl'd 
 The wages of iniquity, and fled 
 On wings of horror! like a maniac, wild 
 And blasted, into solitude he ran. 
 The ground grew fire beneath his guilty tread 
 The heaven hung o'er him like a vast reproach, 
 And groans which make the jubilee of hell, 
 Heaved from his soul, so terrible and deep 
 That life seem'd rushing in the sound away! 
 Where rose a precipice, whose rocky gloom 
 The downward waters of a torrent filFd 
 T 2 
 
210 MESSIAH, [BOOK vi. 
 
 With mimic thunder, in chaotic roar, 
 At length he stood, and on the black abyss 
 Stared wildly, then a pace withdrew, 
 Look'd o'er the heavens his horrible despair! 
 Till Nature with a ghastly dimness seem'd 
 Enshrouded; round him the horizon reel'd, 
 The earth was waning! and with hideous yell, 
 He seized the branches of a rock-grown tree, 
 Swung from its height, and down the dizzy steep 
 Sunk into darkness, and was seen no more! 9 
 
 But come, thou Spirit of creative might, 
 Whom nothing boundeth, and a scene behold 
 More awful than eternity contains, 
 A crucified Redeemer! With his cross, 10 
 To Calvary the lacerated Christ 
 Is now ascending; famish'd, faint, and pale, 
 Beneath the burden of a tree accursed 
 He falters; yet the goading throng 
 His limbs profane, and trample when He falls, 
 Their silent Martyr? Lest at once He die, 
 And cheat the tortures of intended doom, 
 To bear it, from Cyrene is compell'd 
 A pilgrim; and again, with murd'rous glee, 
 The rabble round about Him dance and hoot; 
 Yes, all are merciless, while Mercy bleeds, 
 Save thou, fond woman! in thy faithful eyes 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 211 
 
 Are tears; and from thine unforsaking love 
 
 The language of sublimest pity flows. 
 
 Yet not for Him, but for yourselves, lament; 
 
 Ye daughters of Jerusalem! who wail; 
 
 The days are coming, when the soul will cry 
 
 " The wombs how blessed which have never 
 
 borne !" 
 
 But lo ! the hill of Golgotha appears, 
 His cross is planted, with convulsive shake 
 Each limb unloosen'd, and the starting blood 
 In liquid torment from the flesh distill'd; 
 In vain, a potion to benumb his pangs 
 Is proffer'd; like a God He suffers all 
 " Forgive them! for they know not what they do!" 
 
 And thus they crucify the Son of Man ! 
 Those hands are bleeding, which have bless'd a world ; 
 Those feet are tortured, which have never moved 
 Except on errands of celestial love ; 
 Those brows are throbbing, and those eyes bedimm'd, 
 Where light and immortality were throned! 
 And ah! that pure, unspotted, perfect soul, 
 Divine as Deity on earth could be, 
 Doth agonize beneath th' imputed curse, 
 Whereby a ransom for the world is paid, 
 Yet, silently He all endures! Around the Cross 
 The soldiers wrangle for his parted vest; 
 
212 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 And when His eye in lifted torment gazed 
 O'er Calvary, by crowding myriads trod, 
 Plow few the faces where compassion dwelt, 
 Or tears were trickling, did that look behold! 
 The scowl of pharisees, the hate of scribes, 
 And the fierce glance of hypocrites rebuked, 
 Were turn'd upon Him to translate His pangs, 
 And watch the glory of a deep revenge ! 
 While others underneath the cross advanced 
 To read His title with reviling scorn, 
 " King of the Jews! thou Son of God! descend, 
 Thyself redeem !" Two thieves beside Him hung 
 In kindred torture, that a shame might rise 
 Beyond the brightness of a God to bear. 
 The one did rail, the other's meeken'd heart 
 Repented, sudden faith His soul illumed, 
 And, " Lord! when in Thy kingdom Thou art 
 
 throned, 
 
 Remember me!" the dying creature said; 
 And lo! a paradise was his reward. 
 
 Then look'd Messiah where His mother stood, 
 The Virgin Mary, with His own beloved 
 Disciple; agony could not subdue 
 His tenderness; compassion fill'd His gaze 
 With heavenly lustre, while in filial love 
 He bent on Mary the divinest look 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 213 
 
 That ever child on weeping parent cast, 
 
 And murmur'd, " Woman! there a Son behold; 
 
 Disciple! there a future Mother see! 
 
 O Maiden ! purest of all pure, who felt 
 
 A love maternal, when thy bosom throbb'd 
 
 Beneath the pangs of thine Almighty Son, 
 
 The sword of anguish, then thy soul it pierced, 
 
 As hoary Simeon in the temple sang. 
 
 Thus in the light, 'tween heaven and earth 
 
 upraised, 
 
 Upon the malefactor's cross was riail'd, 
 Was crucified, the Lord of living worlds : 
 Till came the sixth hour, when the noontide sun 
 Waned from his throne, and sudden darkness fell 
 O'er all Judea, till creation seem'd 
 By God forsaken! Whose averted face 
 Bade darkness emblematically speak, 
 How dreadfully a gloom of death and sin 
 Lay on the Spirit of the Son Divine. 
 Jerusalem, her temples, domes, and towers, 
 Were darken'd; Lebanon and Tabor shrunk, 
 And wither'd; Carmel, Gilead, and the rocks 
 By ocean towering, shadow cover 'd all 
 With night's terrific semblance! in the gloom 
 The mutter of a multitude uprose 
 Like sounds infernal, while their features wore 
 
214 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 A fell expression of unearthly hue ! 
 
 Each fearing what his impious tongue denied, 
 
 As ever and anon some coward took 
 
 A shudd'ring glance, where Man's Redeemer hung, 
 
 How the blood quiver'd in his guilty veins, 
 
 Till blasphemy in hollow murmur died! 
 
 Heart cannot dream, imagination dare 
 
 By words to picture th' almighty pangs 
 
 That in His darkness, and distress of soul, 
 
 Th' Ineffable upon the cross endured! 
 
 Who held His spirit as the Prince of Life, 
 
 To torment subject, till the curse was paid. 
 
 The ninth hour came, and then, with loud appeal, 
 
 In the full wrath of his avenging hour 
 
 He utter'd " Why hast Thou forsaken Me! 
 
 My God! My God!" then came an awful hush, 
 
 In which they deem'd Elias would descend 
 
 To save Him! but, a second time, a voice 
 
 More audible, the soul of myriads shook! 
 
 "'Tis FINISH'D! Father! to Thy hands divine 
 
 My Spirit I commend," the Saviour cried, 
 
 And bow'd His head, and breathed* His soul away! 
 
 " 'Tis FINISH'D ! let seraphic mind these words 
 Translate, for immortality is there! 
 
 * efeTTvei/o-ei/, Luke, xxiii. 46. 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 215 
 
 Which Heaven re-echoed, and the regions dark 
 
 Where Christ descended in a shape of Light, 
 
 Triumphant over powers and thrones of Hell, n 
 
 Groan'd at the sound which deepened their despair! 
 
 The universe a ghastly signal gave, 
 
 And Nature, as in agony, confess'd 
 
 The Prince of Glory, as His Spirit fled! 
 
 The earth was palsied, and the mountains rent 
 
 Like garments! tomb and sepulchre their dead 
 
 Released, and out of dust the saints arose. 
 
 And look'd upon the living! while the Veil, 
 
 As in the Temple of the Holies stood 
 
 A robed high priest, in sacerdotal pomp, 
 
 Was riven! from the top to bottom torn; 
 
 And full at once the Oracle reveal'd, 
 
 In symbol of sublimer law began. 
 
 Then, in the tremor of created things, 
 
 While rock and earthquake, tomb and temple, spake 
 
 With dread conviction, 'tis a God that dies ! 
 
 The pale centurion, with the crowd aghast, 
 
 Lift their wild looks, and smote their breasts, and 
 
 cried, 
 With lips that shudder'd, " 'Tis the SON OF GOD!" 
 
 Then came the soldiers, by the Jews besought 
 From Pilate, and the side of Jesus pierced, 
 Till blood and water, mystically true, 
 
216 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Flow'd from the wound, and testified Him dead : 
 
 But not a limb was broken ! for th spear 
 
 Was destined, " They shall look on Whom they 
 
 pierced!" 
 
 At evening, one who waited for his God 
 To dawn, and secretly had Christ adored; 
 With Nicodemus, he who came by night 
 To talk of immortality, approach'd, 
 No longer daunted, but sublimely bold, 
 And begg'd of Pilate, that his tomb might bear 
 The holy Body : which, with spice and myrrh, 
 When linen -girded, in a rocky grave 
 Hewn from a garden, reverent they placed, 
 Where never man had lain; then roll'd 
 Before the entrance of the sacred tomb 
 A mighty stone; while, mutely faithful, sat 
 And watch'd, the Christ-adoring Magdalene! 
 
 A tragedy which made the sun expire, 
 And earth to throb is ended! and the night 
 O'er Palestine her dewy wings unfolds; 
 On Calvary the solemn moonbeams lie 
 All chill and lovely, like the tranced smiles 
 Which light the features, when the pangs of 
 
 death, 
 
 Have ceased to flutter, and the face is still. 
 The stars are trooping, and the wintry air 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 217 
 
 Is mellow'd with a soft mysterious glow 
 
 Caught from their beauty; not a vapour mars 
 
 The stainless welkin, where the moon aloft 
 
 One blue immensity of sky commands, 
 
 Save where the fringe of some minutest cloud 
 
 Hangs like an eyelid on a brilliant orb, 
 
 Then withers, in pervading lustre lost. 
 
 Few hours have fleeted, and yon trampled hill 
 
 Was shaken with a multitude, who foam'd 
 
 And raged beneath the agonizing God ! 
 
 But Nature hath her calm resumed; and Night, 
 
 As if to spread oblivion o'er the day 
 
 And give Creation a sabbatic rest, 
 
 In balm and beauty on the world descends! 
 
 The crowds have vanished, like the waves that die 
 
 And leave a shore to quietude again : 
 
 Some in their dreams, perchance, the day renew, 
 
 The darkness, earthquake, and that loud Farewell! 
 
 But thou! upon a kingly couch reposed, 
 
 The Judge of Jesus, could thy soul conceive 
 
 That, long as time's recorded truths endure, 
 
 Thy name, united to this awful day, 
 
 Would live, when all the Caesars are forgot! 
 
 The hum and murmur of a distant town, 
 How faintly on the breeze they roll, and die 
 In soft confusion! turn thy gaze, and see, 
 u 
 
218 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Encircled with a huge Titanian wall, 
 Where tower and turret, and Herodian piles, 
 And battlements of dusky gloom, uprear 
 Their vastness, there the Holy City stands! 
 Augustly beautiful, in moonlight bathed, 
 Jehovah's palace awes the midnight air 
 Around it; while her mountain Genii, veil'd 
 With dimmer lustre, far and near preside, 
 Like guardians planted by almighty hands, 
 To watch the city, where a million breathe. 
 From plain and desert, isles and regions call'd, 
 Wherever son of Abram was, they throng'd 
 To worship, and the rite eternal* keep : 
 And there, in some unnoticed chamber lurk, 
 The panic-struck apostles ! when the gloom 
 Of earthquake on the hill of Calv'ry hung, 
 That God was coming from the Cross to take 
 Messiah ; or, that Christ himself would free, 
 And shake the universe, to shew the God, 
 Ambition blindly dreamt; He could not die, 
 The Lord of Life, and Potentate of Worlds! 
 A veil was on them; though prophetic Christ 
 His future resurrection oft declared, 
 'Twas unremember'd, while the sudden pangs 
 Of terror crucified the faith of all ! 
 
 * The Passover. 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 219 
 
 But, north of Zion, on a mountain-slope, 
 The garden where the tomb of Jesus lies 
 Behold; how solemnly, beneath a haze 
 Of moonlight, the sepulchral rock appears ! 
 Before it, with a frequent play, the flash 
 Of steely armour, as the Roman watch 
 Doth move and change in circular array, 
 Is seen; yet, save the night's uncertain sound, 
 The wizard motion of a rambling breeze 
 That stirs the olive, or the tow'ring palm, 
 And timid murmur of a garden -brook, 
 The scene is voiceless; while on high enthroned, 
 Yon firmamental orbs are fix'd and bright, 
 As though in wonder, that their glory falls 
 Upon the grave where buried Godhead lies! 
 
 Still Calv'ry sleeps; and nothing dread or wild 
 The holy slumber of the night arrests : 
 The sentries in their panoply are ranged; 
 Some on the gleaming worlds of air a glance 
 Upturn, and with inaudible delight 
 Adore their beauty; some, on fairy wings 
 Of fondness, to the haunt of childhood flee, 
 Among the hills of unforgotten Rome; 
 Or vaguely round yon high-wall'd city view 
 The shadowy watch-towers, on the vineyards raised, 
 Or mountain dim, or Maccabean pile; 
 
220 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 While others, haply, to the tomb devote 
 A gaze of sorrow, for the righteous Form 
 They help'd to rivet on the cursed tree! 
 
 But in that syncope,* that solemn trance, 
 When darkness, like a fading thought, decays 
 Amid the glimmer of increasing dawn, 
 Like God in thunder, lo! an earthquake came, 
 Till the rock quiver'd as a shaken reed! 
 In rushing glory down the sky advanced 
 A giant Angel ! from the tomb he roll'd 
 The barrier-stone, and on it sat, and blazed. 
 His face was lightning! and as dazzling snow 
 His vestment glitter'd: with a clang of arms 
 Prone on the earth the frighted soldiers fell! 
 And as Eliphaz, when the vision spake, 
 Upon the Formless turn'd a fearful gaze, 
 They look'd were blasted like the dead they 
 
 lay! 
 
 And then Immanuel from the grave arose 
 Invisible! all paramount and pure, 
 THE RESURRECTION and THE LIFE, He stood, 
 Lord of the tomb, victoriously sublime ! 
 Oh! then Captivity was captive led, 
 Satan unthroned, his domination spoil'd, 
 Hell-gates were sunder'd, and from earthy sleep 
 
 * A syncopfc, a solemn pause. Cowper. 
 

 BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 221 
 
 The dead awaking, as they lived and moved. 
 Felt on their brows a beam immortal play ! 
 
 But He who moved invisible to man, 
 To guardian woman did Himself reveal. 
 As Mary, weeping, by the tomb remain'd, 
 And bow'd within its rocky depth to gaze, 
 Two angel watchers, robed in dazzling white, 
 Were seated, where the vanished body lay! 
 " "Why weepest thou?" with gentlest tone they 
 
 cried: 
 
 " Because I know not where my stolen Lord 
 Be taken;" back she turn'd her eye of tears, 
 And there stood Jesus ! but to her unknown. 
 " Why weepest thou?" again was mildly heard; 
 Then Mary, with mistaking love, replied, 
 " If thou hast borne Him from this garden tomb, 
 Oh! tell me where; these hands will take Him 
 
 thence." 
 
 But Jesus, vocal with His wonted voice, 
 Responded, " Mary!" and the mourner fell 
 Down at His feet! Rabboni she adored! 
 Let one at midnight, when the cradling sea 
 Hath rock'd his slumber, and a dream of home 
 In murmuring faintness to the soul renews 
 Parental language, till his ocean-sleep 
 Is harrow'd by that too delicious sound! 
 u2 
 
222 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 The feeling picture, such may faintly tell, 
 When Mary worshipped, how her spirit thrilPd! 
 
 'Twas on the evening of this hallow'd day 
 That two disciples, down a western vale, 
 To where Emmaus in the sunset shew'd 
 Her whitening cots, with pensive step approached. 
 O dying hour of beautiful delight ! 
 The painter's worship, and the poet's song, 
 How few embrace thee with a purer thought 
 Than one, whose dreaming boyhood loved to form 
 Romantic visions of the unreveal'd, 
 From thine own hues; when, like those fairy clouds 
 That float and perish, yearning fancy shaped 
 Bright unrealities long rolFd away! 
 Divinest evening! when thy Syrian glow 
 On verd'rous olive, sycamore, and palm, 
 Descended, not unfelt thy magic woo'd 
 These holy pilgrims: homeward, flocks and herds 
 Were wending; while around them, richly soft, 
 The lingering decadence of light began; 
 But more than Nature on their brows has hung 
 A solemn meaning ! of the day they talk, 
 Of Death, and Resurrection; such their theme, 
 When, silent as the shadow of their forms, 
 ANOTHER came! and mingled word with word, 
 In deep communion; then of Christ He spake, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 223 
 
 From prophecy to prophecy unroll'd 
 
 Each revelation, till the shade of doubt 
 
 Fell from their spirit like a film removed 
 
 From blindness, letting in the light of heaven! 
 
 But when, abiding to partake their meal, 
 
 He sat before them, and the blessing gave, 
 
 That eye, so eloquent with awe devout, 
 
 That voice heaven-toned, That calm majestic mien 
 
 Declared Messiah! lo, at once He gazed 
 
 Upon them, featured like their living Christ, 
 
 So often follow'd, worshipped, and forsook ! 
 
 Within them how each wond'ring heart had burn'd 
 
 To hear Him, like an oracle, reveal 
 
 The Word of Life, and Everlasting Will! 
 
 But like a vision of the soul He fled. 
 
 Then back they speeded, to th' Eleven rehearsed 
 
 Their tale of wonder; when, again, behold! 
 
 Th' INCARNATE SAVIOUR! "Peace be with you! 
 
 hail!" 
 
 Becalming thus, with salutation mild, 
 Th' appall'd assembly, on them all He breathed 
 The Holy Spirit, and to each bestow 'd 
 O'er sin a power, to pardon or retain. 
 But Thomas doubted, till his hand could touch 
 The living Jesus ! lo ! again He came, 
 Inaudibly, within a chamber barr'd; 12 
 So like a spirit of the shapeless air 
 
224 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 He enter'd, that with dread, disciples quaked! 
 " Thy finger hither reach, These hands behold, 
 And thrust thine own within My wounded side, 
 Not faithless, but believing !" thus he spoke 
 To him, who answer'd, "Saviour, Lord, and 
 God!" 
 
 Once more upon the lake, Messiah view, 
 Whose azure waters at His word o'erfill'd 
 With countless fish, the Galilean bark, 
 Which night had baffled; then was Peter ask'd 
 That threefold question, how augustly filTd 
 With mem'ry of his denial thrice ! 
 And yet, so toned with tenderness divine, 
 The soul of Peter in his fond reply, 
 " Thou know'st I love thee!" spake through 
 dawning tears! 
 
 And now, the Counsel of Eternal Love, 
 Tremendous, vast, unspeakably sublime, 
 Wrapt in the folds of the Almighty Will 
 Before the universe was shaped or born, 
 Concludeth! Man's Redemption is complete, 
 And sanctioned; all the archetypal plan 
 Of Deity, for reconciling sin 
 With justice, by the mediating blood 
 Of covenant, in Christ has been fulfill'd; 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 225 
 
 THE WOMAN'S SEED HATH BRUISED THE SERPENT'S 
 
 HEAD! 
 
 For man hath lived, for man hath bled, and died, 
 Hath rose immortal, and his presence shewn; 
 Not in the midnight, when the spirit shapes 
 An earthless phantom; but by living day 
 Was Jesus heard, and manifestly seen.* 
 
 
 But, ere ascending to his seat on high, 
 Again the apostolic band He shew'd 
 The true Salvation, in its glorious light. 
 From age to age prophetically sung, 
 By type and shadow heralded or seen, 
 Begotten Son of Co-Eternal Sire, 
 His goings forth from Everlasting were ! f 
 Before the works of old, ere earth began, 
 When God His compass on the waters set 
 And gave the sea commandment, He was there! 
 The Star, 'the Prophet, like to Moses raised, 
 The Priest for ever, on the Eight Hand placed 
 Of glory, while the sun and moon endure, 
 Dominion o'er all nations, kings, and isles, 
 To Him was given, whom the Gentiles sought. 
 Born of a Virgin, blended God and Man, 
 Desire of nations, He whom Daniel saw, 
 
 * There are eleven distinct appearances of Christ, after His Resur- 
 rection, recorded in the New Testament. 
 
 t For this summary of Christ's magnificent titles and offices, vide 
 Scriptures, passim. 
 
226 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Ancient of Days, by king and kingdoms served, 
 
 The Heritor of Heathens, and the Throne 
 
 Of David, higher than the Heaven of Heavens, 
 
 Expressive semblance of the bright UNSEEN ! 
 
 And Morning Star of Immortality, 
 
 The Light of Light, unspotted Lamb of God, 
 
 For sin an offring, and for sinners slain, 
 
 But now arisen, from the tomb to soar 
 
 Triumphant Saviour of forgiven man ! * 
 
 Thus in the beams of revelation shone 
 
 The great Messiah! thus the cloudy veil 
 
 Of error from their souls He took, and cried, 
 
 " Go forth! repentance and remission teach, 
 
 Baptizing nations in the mingled name 
 
 Of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ! l3 Behold, 
 
 The power, the spirit, and the grfce shall dawn, 
 
 From Me descending, as the promise spake; 
 
 Within the city, tarry till they come, 
 
 Lo! I am with you to the ended world!" 
 
 My soul is shaken with a mighty dream 
 Of splendour! Supereminence and power, 
 Dominion, Majesty, and Truth, proceed 
 In pomp immortal from the depth of Heaven ! 
 I hear the gates of second Eden ope, 
 
 * Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand 
 the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it be- 
 hoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead. The Gospel. 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 227 
 
 And balm and freshness on the blighted world 
 
 Come flowing forth, with universal love. 
 
 Creation glitters with Redemption's smile! 
 
 And, hark! the echoes of a choral strain 
 
 Above; a new and everlasting song* 
 
 Is chanted, for the seven-seal'd Book unroll'd 
 
 The Lamb hath open'd, and symphonious hymns 
 
 Of thousand times ten thousand saints ascend, 
 
 The throne around! " HOSANNAH TO THE LAMB!" 
 
 For He is worthy! shout, ye angels! shout, 
 
 Till earth re-echoes that unwearied strain! 
 
 Let sun, let moon, and each melodious star, 
 
 The winds, the rivers, mountains, floods, and hills, 
 
 The diapason deepen, and the loud 
 
 Eternal Hallelujah of the sea 
 
 Wake into sound! while regions, zones, and isles, 
 
 The glory of our great Redeemer sing ! 
 
 And thus with angels and archangels laud 
 
 The Lamb Almighty, in the skies adored! 
 
 But, lo! upon Mount Olivet appears, 
 With hands uplifted in their last farewell, 
 The parting Saviour; on His God-like brow 
 A light of immortality begins ! 
 Disciples kneeling for His blessing ask, 
 
 * Rev., chap. v. 
 
228 MESSIAH. [ BOOK VI. 
 
 And, hark! 'tis given; on their souls He breathes 
 
 The breath of sanctity, of love sublime 
 
 And endless: then His mighty hand is lift; 
 
 But while it blesseth the beloved of earth, 
 
 The air is waiting to upwaft the God: 
 
 And see, He riseth! solemnly and slow, 
 
 Array 'd in brightness, dazzlingly divine ! 
 
 Less'ning and less'ning from the blinded gaze 
 
 Of His adorers, through the pathless air, 
 
 In the full lustre of unclouded day, 
 
 He riseth! leaving, like th' Atlantic sun 
 
 On ocean when he dies, a gorgeous death, 
 
 A beaming track, magnificently bright, 
 
 Behind Him ! till a radiant star He seems, 
 
 And then, is trackless, in th' empyrean depth 
 
 Evanish'd, mix'd with far immensity ! 14 
 
 But, oh ! if angels at His birth did sing, 
 What paeans now through heaven's wide concave roll ! 
 To welcome back the sempiternal Prince, 
 The Son almighty, into glory come, 
 O'er Sin and Death victorious, with a world 
 Recover'd, ransom'd, and for ever saved, 
 To speak his triumph in the state of man. 
 The skies are kindled! from the opal walls 
 And battlements of uncreated light, 
 Lo! seraphim and cherubim appear, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 229 
 
 With angel and archangel, rank on rank, 
 
 In wing'd array of infinite extent 
 
 And brightness, to conduct the Lord of Heaven ! 
 
 Now lift your heads, ye Everlasting Doors, 
 
 Receive the King of Glory ! Hark ! the choir 
 
 With jubilant Hosannas shout and sing, 
 
 " For ever and for ever is thy throne, 
 
 Thou Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts! 
 
 By Thee of old the Heaven and Earth were 
 
 framed, 
 
 Were founded : but they all shall fade and die, 
 And as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, 
 And they shall perish! still art Thou the same 
 Unchanging, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts ! 
 Thy Throne Eternal in the heavens resume, 
 Majestic Saviour, and immortal King!" 
 
 My theme is o'er, the great Messiah sung, 
 And this attempt, whose vast persuasion fill'd 
 My being with a dread delight, concludes. 
 How often, in some pause of holy fear, 
 Hath fancy folded her advent'rous wing, 
 And my soul bow'd with this unutter'd thought! 
 That He, whose mediatorial love I sang, 
 Beheld me, fathoming my spirit's depth! 
 And now, as girt with glory, in the Heaven 
 Of Heavens, the Son of Man His throne resumes, 
 x 
 
230 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 A dread comes round me, like a shadow cast 
 From waning tempest o'er a tranced sea! 
 
 Thou Land sublime ! of miracles and men, 
 Where poetry from Grod on earth came down 
 In warbled echoes of celestial song! 
 Where Hebron, Tabor, and Mount Carmel, lift 
 Their silent vastness in the sultry air, 
 Divinely haunted; where the Jordan rolls, 
 Where rock, and cavern, grotto, cell, and cave, 
 Are mighty; where the curse of Heaven has graved 
 Terrific warning on thy blasted trees, 
 And haggard vales, all fountainless and dry, 
 The stately vision of thy mingled scene 
 Departeth! He whose spirit oft has heard 
 The thunder-music of thy tempest roll, 
 Beheld thy sun-blaze, seen thine eagles mount, 
 And, dream-led, roved beside that mournful lake 
 Where man's Redeemer, in His days of earth, 
 Hath wander'd, bids thee now a long farewell ! 
 
 Autumnal morning in my chamber gleam'd, 
 When tremblingly, as though th' Almighty's 
 
 glance 
 
 My mind had bared! I struck the chorded lyre 
 Of sacred truth, to this surpassing theme. 
 But ever, as the waves of moving life 
 

 BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 231 
 
 From England's capital, with heave and swell, 
 Came surging from afar, my soul partook 
 A deep communion with the fate of man, 
 Amid a sea of wide existence toss'd, 
 Whose billows only the Redeemer trod 
 Secure; but left along the stormy wild 
 A track of glory, for terrestrial feet 
 To follow, guided by the star of Heaven ! 
 
 But now, the spirit of mysterious night 
 Comes forth, and, like a ruin'd angel, seems 
 All dimly glorious, and divinely sad; 
 And Earth, forgetful of her primal fall, 
 Lies in the beauty of reflected heaven. 
 Oh ! night creates the paradise of thought, 
 Enchanting back whatever time has wrong'd 
 Or exiled, touch'd with that celestial hue 
 Which faith and fancy on the dead bestow : 
 Emotions which the tyrant day destroys 
 Can now awaken, like reviving flowers; 
 And oh ! the darkness of unheavenly souls 
 Must feel immortal, as his eye receives 
 From all its views, a loveliness, that comes 
 To light the dimness of the spirit's depth ! 
 As when at morning, oft a sunrise pours 
 A stream of splendour through the window-panes 
 Of temple vast, to cheer its barren aisles, 
 
232 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 And on the gloom of monumental sleep 
 To glitter, like a resurrection morn ! 
 
 Thus life is chartered for a nobler fate 
 Than glory, by the breath of man bestow'd : 
 A living world reflects a living God, 
 Morn, noon, and night, with everlasting change! 
 And who can dim the universe, o'erawe 
 The elements, unseat the sun, or mar 
 That mighty Poem which the heavens and earth 
 Exhibit, written by Eternal hands? 
 The sense of beauty, which is so divine, 
 Lives in the spirit like a burning spell; 
 And while the wonders of creation teem, 
 To love and worship their majestic power, 
 Can lift the spirit into purer light, 
 Than ever canopied the throne of Fame! 
 
 And cold the heart, whose aspirations wing'd 
 Their flight from thee, my own inviolate land! 
 Whom night and beauty have apparelTd now. 
 Thy heaven is glassy, as the molten blue 
 Of ocean, in the noontide's dazzling sleep ; 
 Thy starry multitudes their thrones have set, 
 And the young moon looks on the quiet sea, 
 Tranced like a mother, with her doating eye 
 Intently fix'd upon a cradled child! 
 

 BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 233 
 
 While, round, and full, and ravishingly bright, 
 A planet, here and there, the sky adorns. 
 A path of lustre has o'erlaid the deep, 
 And heaves, and glitters, like a wizard shore 
 For sea-enchanters, when they rise and walk 
 The waves in glory; voice nor foot profanes 
 This dreaming silence; but the mellow lisp 
 Of dying waters on the beach dissolved, 
 Makes ocean -language for the heart and hour! 
 
 Now thought is heaven-like; and our earthly frame 
 Of purity beyond the day to bring, 
 Is conscious; from the uncreated fount 
 Of glory, may not emanations steal, 
 By night absorbed, and mystically felt? 
 Or creatures, such as once the mental eye 
 Of seraph-haunted Milton 15 saw descend, 
 Like sunbeams darted from a riven cloud, 
 On Eden's mount, with viewless wing career 
 Around us? charming with a gaze unseen 
 Whatever the beauty of their glances touch! 
 
 But oh! dark Spirit, 16 whose unquiet shade 
 Our fancy visions in reflected gloom, 
 Again thou comest! and thy frown declares, 
 What penal agonies, what groans and pangs, 
 What spirits rotting in obscure decay, 
 x2 
 
234 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 In this calm hour a bleeding world contains! 
 
 E'en now the curtains of futurity 
 
 Are shaken, by the blasts of coming doom! 
 
 For Self 17 has overshadow'd Deity 
 
 In dread oblivion, till our daring thoughts 
 
 To helm the universe, and guide the wheels 
 
 Of human fate, have awfully presumed! 
 
 A mind that glories in the world of man, 
 And graves, IMMORTAL! on the meanest brow, 
 Oh! how it loves the universe, and longs 
 To see the spirits whom Redemption won 
 Annihilate the hopes of Hell! Shall souls, 
 So highly destined, that a swell of joy 
 Heaves o'er the harps of Heaven's resounding choir 
 When Sin repents, be manacled and lost? 
 No ! let us, as the prince of morning quells 
 A cloudy tempest with imperial rays, 
 So learn to vanquish with celestial light 
 Our sin and darkness; till, as demons shrunk 
 To shapeless nothing at Messiah's look. 
 Our vices wither from our virtues' gaze! 
 
 Amid the energies that now unfold 
 Like harmonies from some awaking lyre, 
 Wilt thou, divinest of all arts divine ! 
 Last in the train of renovating truths, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 235 
 
 Proceed, poetical enchantress! Muse, 
 Who art the angel of the soul, whose voice 
 The primal loveliness of vanish'd things 
 Renews; or haply, thou, in pure perfection, art 
 A priestess, who behind the veil of sense 
 Conducts the spirit to the holy shrine 
 Where Beauty, Love, and Everlasting Light 
 Are shrouded; then, a prophetess, whose lip 
 Their power interprets with a vocal spell. 
 
 Thou beautiful magician! be thy name 
 Whate'er thou wilt : creatress of delight 
 Expression paints not! though the world affright 
 Thy radiant visit, still art thou adored; 
 And the soft wave of thy descending wings 
 Is token'd by the pulse's quivering joy; 
 Beneath the play of thy melodious smiles 
 The spirit quickens into thrills of heaven, 
 And feeling worships at thy faintest sound! 
 All hours are thine; all climes and seasons drink 
 Thine effluence bright, and immaterial power : 
 Thou with the universe twin -born didst rise! 
 And thou alone, when tempted Nature fell, 
 Unfallen wert: and thus thy glorious aim, 
 Like true Religion's, is to lead us back 
 From recreant darkness to primeval bliss ! l8 
 
236 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 All moods are thine; all maladies of thought 
 By thee are visited with healing sway : 
 Oh! there be moments, when a hideous veil 
 Of dimness, woven by some demon hand, 
 Lies on the world; when love itself is cold 
 And earthy, and the tone affection breathes 
 Falls fruitless on the mind, as ocean spray, 
 That dies unheeded on the savage rock; 
 When Nature is untuned, and all things wear 
 The coarse reality derision loves. 
 And then, how often thine assuasive balm, 
 Spirit of beauty ! intellectual queen ! 
 Is worshipped, melting over heart and brain, 
 Like dew upon the desert, till the soul 
 Eeviveth, and the world is exorcised! 
 And thou canst hallow with ennobling power 
 Deep impulses, of undiscover'd source, 
 That come like shades of pre -existent life 
 Athwart the mind, when superstition reigns.* 
 For is not man mysteriously begirt 
 By something dread, imagination feels, 
 Yet fathoms not? Dare human creed deny 
 That mortal feeling, in its finest mood, 
 
 * Man can never altogether turn aside his thoughts from infinity ; 
 and some obscure recollections will always remind him of his original 
 home. M. Schlegel. 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 237 
 
 May be some thrill of sympathetic chords 
 That link our nature to a world unknown! 
 
 And since the spirit with the flesh doth war, 19 
 And life is oft an agonizing thirst 
 Which nothing visible can tame, or cool, 
 That beauty, which the hues of thought create, 
 By thee enchanted, slakes the mental fire 
 That parches us within: and yearning dreams, 
 And hopes that breathe of immortality, 
 Thy power sublimeth with mysterious aid. 
 Then, long as earth is round us, and the wings 
 Of fancy by the light of faith ascend, 
 May Poetry her sibyl language weave, 
 Enlighten, charm, and elevate the world! 
 
 Creation's hope! our universal All! 
 From Thee alone the panting spirit learns 
 That man is deathless, an immortal heir 
 Of being yet to be; stupendous thought! 
 Though, frail as dew, our fleeting life departs 
 This mortal ruin in august decay, 
 To let the spirit from its bondage free. 
 The soul is godlike! world on world may rise 
 And wither, quench'd in everlasting gloom, 
 And surging ages into silence roll, 
 Like haughty billows that have heaved and died; 
 
238 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 But still unfading, bright with awful bliss, 
 Or dim with agony, the Soul shall live, 
 And, like JEHOVAH, utter its " I AM !" 
 
 "We shall not sleep, but we shall all arise 
 For judgment; with an instantaneous frame 
 Of being, dust shall look on God and live ! 
 An hour is coming when the grave will hear 
 And answer to a tomb -awakening trump 
 That thunders o'er the icy trance of death ! 
 The waning universe, the earth and heaven, 
 Shall vanish in th' immeasurable deep! 
 But Thine own promise shall not pass away. 
 And though that hour, for resurrection doom'd, 2 * 
 Be hidden, shrouded from angelic mind, 
 A secret buried in Eternal Thought! 
 As certain as the blood of Christ hath flow'd, 
 Messiah risen, and the heavens received 
 And throned His presence, HE SHALL COME 
 AGAIN! 
 
 And then, the funeral of creation see! 
 Sun, moon, and star dissolve, and wane, and die; 
 The earth is riven; with appalling roar 
 The sea departeth, as her dead ascend! 
 And wing'd archangels on the winds unroll 
 Their summons; not an atom but is thrill'd 
 
BOOK VI. MESSIAH. 239 
 
 With life or feeling, at that dreadful sound! 
 And now look up! behold, HE cometh! clouds 
 And splendours, with seraphic armies, throng 
 Before Him, cleaving the prophetic sky 
 With vanward glory,-r-to announce The God. 
 And lo ! the semblance of His far-off throne 
 Advances; as embodied lustre bright, 
 The JUDGE OF EARTH, the SON ALMIGHTY, 
 
 comes ! 
 
 And all who have been since creation was, 
 Moveless and countless, on their features wear 
 A solemn radiance, from the Form divine 
 Eeflected! every eye is fix'd and still, 
 To Him upraised, whose eye discerneth all! 
 
 Again the trumpet! -and this dread array, 
 The multitudinous and living mass, 
 At once is sever'd! right and left they stand 
 Divided, as of old the fated sea 
 Was cloven, when the wand of Moses waved ; 
 And in each soul there is a judgment-throne 
 Erected, where eternal conscience reigns. 
 
 But listen! far behind this breathing host 
 Of mortals, myriads of colossal Shapes, 
 Unearthly, wild, and dim with ghastly wo, 
 
240 MESSIAH. [BOOK vi. 
 
 Rise in the glare! the ruin'd Angels* come 
 From darkness, and a clank of chain resounds, 
 Appallingly, above the world distinct! 
 But ONE, who, vast above the vastest there, 
 In tow'ring majesty confronts. the sky, 
 As though the fabric of the heavens would shrink 
 From the dark light of his unfathom'd gaze, 
 Behold him! how magnificently dread! 
 From the huge mountain into embers sunk, 
 To the last billow of expiring sea, 
 O'er all, the terror of his ruin frowns 
 Sublime, who battled with Omnipotence, 
 And will be fearless in the fires of hell! 
 
 Another gaze! e'er earth and nature die; 
 The Spirit of eternity descends, 
 Seven thunders speak,* to heaven he lifts his arm, 
 And utters, " Time and earth shall be no 
 
 more ! 
 
 Creation withers at his dread command, 
 And like a shade, the Universe departs ! 
 
 Oh ! in this agony of Nature's death, 
 May he, who dared from erring fancy's gloom 
 
 * Epistle of Jude, i. 6. t See Revelation. 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 241 
 
 To lift his spirit to the Light of Light, 
 And shadow forth the lineaments divine 
 Of God Incarnate, by redemption seen, 
 Unblasted look upon the Lord he sang ! 
 And in some world unutterably bright, 
 Where thought is holy as the heaven it breathes, 
 By angels taught, around The Throne renew 
 The song eternal fleeting time began. 
 
NOTES. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK I. 
 
 OMITTED NOTE, PAGE 1. 
 
 Himself was all, the unapparent God. 
 
 Since the above line was written, the author has perused an 
 emphatic comment on its meaning, in a sermon of South's, on 
 the Divine Mercy : " His goodness was so vastly, so infinitely 
 full, that He seemed unquiet and unsatisfied till He had, as it 
 were, disburdened Himself by some communications of it. 
 One would have thought that these perfections had been too 
 rare to be communicated, so much as in resemblance, and 
 that God would have folded them up within His own essence for 
 ever ; so that He who now contents Himself with the prero- 
 gative of being the best and greatest Being, might have been 
 the only Being ; but He chose rather to draw out, than only 
 to possess, His own fulness ; to scatter something of His 
 image upon the creature, and to see Himself in effigy." 
 Works, vol. viii. p. 81. 
 
 NOTE 1, PAGE 2. 
 
 Whereof the day thou eatest, thou shalt die ! 
 
 It was fit to lay upon Adam this small restraint, to make 
 him sensible that, though he had dominion over all things, 
 yet he was not their lord, but a servant of the Most High. 
 But still, some ask, why should his obedience be tried in 
 such an instance as this ? not considering that a trial of it 
 could scarcely have been made in any of the usual precepts, 
 Y2 
 
246 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 which there was no opportunity of violating. For what should 
 tempt him to idolatry, or to take God's name in vain, or to 
 murder his wife ? How was it possible to commit adultery, 
 when there was nobody but he and she in the world? How 
 could he steal, or what room was there for coveting, when 
 God had put him in possession of all things ? It had been in 
 vain to forbid that which could not be done ; and it had been 
 virtue to abstain, not from that to which there was no temp- 
 tation, but from that which invited them to transgress. 
 Bishop Patrick. 
 
 In Vitringa, on the " Tree of the Knowledge of Good and 
 Evil" the reader will find some profound and vigorous rea- 
 soning. He says that " the tree of the knowledge of good 
 and evil was so called, because, from the divine institution, it 
 was a moral cause of that knowledge, i. e. it was a visible, 
 familiar, and permanent lesson, by which man was not only 
 admonished of the eternal distinction between good and evil, 
 but was put upon his guard as to the quarter from which alone 
 evil could assail him." Concerning the command itself, it is 
 observed, " the prohibition answered the threefold purpose of 
 trial, instruction, and of a sacramental pledge." We will venture 
 to extract his eloquent comment on the second of these pur- 
 poses : " Placed in the midst of the garden, and often meet- 
 ing the eyes of our first parents, it (viz., the l Tree of Know- 
 ledge,') could hardly fail to teach them such truths as these : 
 That God is the Lord of all things ; and, consequently, that 
 man's dominion was neither absolute nor independent ; that 
 in the enjoyment of God alone is the satisfying good of man ; 
 that, in judging of good and evil, man is not to be directed by 
 his own reason or pleasure, but by the revealed will of God ; 
 that man had not yet arrived at his highest happiness, but 
 was bound to expect and desire a more perfect state, yet in 
 that way alone which God had appointed ; that if he would 
 escape death, he must avoid the cause of it, i. e., sin. How 
 much further the unclouded mind of the first man might have 
 carried his reflections on the forbidden tree, to what sublime 
 conceptions of the Divine Nature and works of Providence it 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 247 
 
 might have led him, we, in our shattered state, with our dis- 
 cordant affections and obscure lights, are poorly qualified to 
 judge. Yet, disabled as we are by the Fall from taking such 
 rapid, capacious, and elevating views of whatever is fair, and 
 good, and magnificent, in the creature and Creator, as were 
 competent to a sinless being, we can discern enough to per- 
 suade us, that the tree of knowledge of good and evil must 
 have been to an innocent man a rich source of intellectual im- 
 provement and moral joy. Observ. Sacr., tome ii., lib. iv., 
 c. 12. 
 
 NOTE 2, PAGE 3. 
 
 Let Nature hope, and while her blessings thrive, 
 To secret Heaven resign the vast unknown. 
 
 A beautiful illustration of our limited apprehension relative 
 to the origin and destiny of things occurs in one of Paley's 
 Sermons, for which he is indebted to Tucker's Light of Na- 
 ture : " All such partial knowledge must be encumbered 
 with many difficulties, it is like viewing the map of a dis- 
 trict, or small tract of territory, by itself, and separated from 
 the adjacent country ; we see rivers marked out, without any 
 source to flow from, and running where there is nothing to 
 receive them. In like manner, we observe events in the 
 world, of which we trace not either cause or origin, and 
 tending to no design or purpose that we can discover." 
 
 NOTE 3, PAGE 5. 
 
 In Christ all revelation lives ! His voice 
 With man in Eden dread communion held, 
 
 It is perhaps deserving of observation, that, in the account 
 of the production of the world, in the first chapter of Genesis, 
 the absolute term, God, is constantly used ; but when the 
 account of the administration of the new-created world be- 
 gins, the term, the Lord God, is introduced. And in all the 
 intercourse and converse between the Deity and the first inha- 
 bitants of the world, this appellation is constantly given to the 
 
248 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 Divine Person, whom we find administering the affairs of the 
 new creation, and seems to denote a distinct person and cha- 
 racter. And in the several conversations between this Divine 
 Personage and Adam, Eve, Cain, &c., as recorded in the 
 third and fourth chapters of Genesis, it seems plain that he 
 presented himself in some personal form or visible appear- 
 ance. And whether or not this might have any relation to 
 the assumption of Humanity in the Mediator, there is, I think, 
 no doubt but it is to be referred to the same Person, and re- 
 lates to His mediatorial character, being part of the admi- 
 nistration of that important government, which was from 
 eternity ordained to be laid upon His shoulders ; and which 
 comprehends, not only, as the Jews fondly believed, the pro- 
 tection and restoration of their nation, but of all the race of 
 mankind. 
 
 NOTE 4, PAGE 11. 
 
 My son .' in thee a sacrifice the Lord 
 Hath found, and thou art dedicate to God .' 
 
 Bishop Warburton supposes that the command of sacrificing 
 Isaac was a mode of information by action, instead of words, 
 concerning the great sacrifice of Christ, given to Abraham at 
 his own request ; which is well illustrated by Mr. Gilbook 
 (Script. Hist.), and might receive perhaps some confirmation, 
 by observing that this scene was placed, most probably, upon 
 the very spot where Christ actually suffered. 
 
 NOTE 5, PAGE 15. 
 
 Seven altars. 
 
 It is well known that, in the Oriental style, the perfection 
 of any quality is expressed by the application of the number 
 Seven ; a figure, probably, derived from the history of the 
 Creation, the division of time into weeks, and the primeval 
 honour of the Sabbath day. But whatever was its origin, 
 seven came to be regarded as a most dignified and sacred 
 number. It occupied a marked place in the religious and 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 249 
 
 political institutions of the ancient Persians, who had derived 
 many principles of primitive revealed truth from undoubt- 
 edly a patriarchal source : and it was adopted into the sacred 
 phraseology of the Jews. .Thus the extremity of distress is 
 denoted by seven troubles; the most complete refining of 
 metals is called a being purified seven times ; a character of 
 consummate wickedness is represented by an enumeration of 
 seven vices, or the habitation of seven evil spirits ; the highest 
 measure of accomplishments is signified by seven men that 
 can render a reason ; the perfect excellence of wisdom, by a 
 palace of seven pillars ; and the omniscience of God, by seven 
 eyes and seven lamps. So also, still more remarkably, in 
 this book of mystical visions, the perfection of the Divine 
 government, in different parts of its administration, is de- 
 scribed by the symbolical agency of seven angels, seven 
 thunders, seven phials, seven plagues ; and the perfection, 
 and power, and wisdom of Christ, as exercised in the protec- 
 tion and government of His Church, is represented by seven 
 horns and seven eyes. Pye Smith's Scrip. Test., vol. iii. 
 1534. 
 
 ETTTO. /ie (pwvrjevra Oeov a(f)9trov aivei 
 
 Eifjii 3'eyco TTCU/TCOI/ xeAu? a<f>0no? n TCI \vpwdn 
 HpfjLavafJinv 3<vis ovpavioio /xeXrj. 
 
 " Seven sounding letters sing the praise of me, 
 Th' immortal God, th' Almighty Deity, 
 Father of All, that cannot weary be. 
 I am th' Eternal Viol of all things, 
 Whereby the melody so sweetly rings 
 Of Heaven's music which so sweetly sings." 
 What these seven letters are, that do thus express God, is 
 easie to guess that they be the letters of the name Jehovah. 
 Light/oofs Miscell, fol. ed. 
 
 NOTE 6, PAGE 16. 
 
 s, like the winds, when dt 
 ud, with desolation wing'i 
 
 As the storm darkened over the Hebrew kingdom, the 
 
 With curses, like the winds, when desert-born, 
 Terrific, loud, with desolation wing'd ! 
 
250 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 voices of the prophets became louder and more wild. In 
 their magnificent lyric odes, we have a poetical history of 
 these momentous times. They were like the great tragic 
 chorus to the awful drama which was unfolding itself in the 
 eastern world. Milman. 
 
 NOTE 7, PAGE 18. 
 
 The infant of eternity 
 By wo is nursed, and strengthened for the skies. 
 
 The existence of misery and evil in the world has ever 
 been, and continues to be, the grand question in theological 
 and sceptical controversy. But on such a subject we may 
 say, with Young, " Those things which our hands can grasp, 
 our understanding cannot comprehend : why then deny to 
 the Deity himself the privilege of being one, amidst that mul- 
 titude of mysteries which he has made !" Essay on Infidelity. 
 
 How noble is the sentiment of Seneca with reference to the 
 trials and afflictions of this present scene ! " Magnus es vir ; 
 sed unde scio, si tibi fortuna non dat facultatem exhibendse 
 virtutis. Descendisti ad Olympia j si nemo prseter te, coronam 
 habes, victoriam non habes." 
 
 The sentiments of a great modern metaphysician are in 
 perfect unison with those of the Roman philosopher : " If 
 virtue be excellent, the capacity of suffering, by which virtue is 
 formed or perfected, must, when this great relation of it is 
 considered, be allowed to have itself an excellence that is relative 
 to the excellence produced by it. Without it we might indeed 
 have been what the world terms happy the passive subjects 
 of a series of agreeable sensations ; but we could not have 
 had the delights of conscience ; we could not have felt what 
 it is to be magnanimous, to have the toil, the combat, and the 
 victory ; to exult that we have something within us which is 
 superior, not to danger only, but which can vanquish even 
 pleasure itself." Brown on the Philosophy of the Human Mind. 
 Lect. 95. 
 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 251 
 
 NOTE 8, PAGE 19. 
 Round Jesus all the prophets shed their rays. 
 
 Instead of loading the text with prophetical references, the 
 author has thought it more convenient to introduce, by way 
 of note, a table of prophecies relative to the kingdom, office, 
 and character of Christ. This summary was originally col- 
 lected by Hartwell Home, to whose invaluable Introduction 
 the writer begs to acknowledge infinite obligations. 
 
 TABLE OF PROPHECIES RELATIVE TO THE MESSIAH 
 AND HIS KINGDOM. 
 
 I. 
 
 PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE LIFE, DEATH, RESURRECTION, 
 AND ASCENSION OF THE MESSIAH. 
 
 1 . That a Messiah should come. 
 
 PROPHECY. FULFILMENT. 
 
 Gen. iii. 15, xii. 3, xxii. 18, Gal. iv. 4. Romans xvi. 20. t 
 xxvi. 4, xxviii. 14. Ps. Ixxii. 17. l John iii. 8. Rev. xii. 9. Heb. " 
 Isa. xl. 5, 9, 10. Hag. ii. 7- ii. 14. Luke ii. 116. 
 
 2. When he should come. 
 
 Gen. xlix. 10. Hag. ii. 69. Luke ii. l -3, 5. Mat. xxii. 
 Dan. ix. 24, 25. Mai. iii. 1. 20, 21. John xix. xx. 10 15. 
 
 Mat. ii. 110. Mark xv. 43. 
 Luke ii. 2538. John i. 19, 45. 
 
 3. That the Messiah should be God and man together. 
 
 Ps. ii. 7, ex. l. Isaiah ix. 6. Heb. i. 8. Mat. xxii. 4245. 
 Micah v. 2. l Cor. xv. 25. Heb. i. 13. Mat. 
 
 i. 23. John i. 1 14. Rom. ix. 5. 
 Col. ii. 9. l John v. 20. 
 
 4. From whom he was to be descended. 
 
 From the first woman, Gen. iii. Gal. iv. 4. Acts iii. 25. Mat. 
 15; from Abraham, Gen. xii. 3, i. 1. Heb. vii. 14. Rom. xv. 
 xviii. 18 ; from Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 12. John vii. 42. Acts ii. 30, 
 4 ; Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 14 j Judah, xiii. 23. Luke i. 32. 
 Gen. xlix. 10 ; Jesse, Isaiah xi. 1 ; 
 David, Psalm cxxxii. ll,lxxxix. 4, 
 27; Isaiah vii. 13, 14, ix. 7; Jer. 
 xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 20, 21. 
 
252 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 5. That the Messiah should be born of a Virgin. 
 
 PROPHECY. FULFILMENT. 
 
 Isa. vii. 14. Jer. xxxi. 22. Mat. i. 24, 25. Luke i. 2635. 
 
 Mat. i. 22, 23. 
 
 6. Where the Messiah was to be born. 
 
 Micah v. 2. Luke ii. 46, 10, 11, 15. Mat. 
 
 ii. 1, 46, 8, 11. John vii. 42. 
 
 7. That a Prophet in the spirit and power of Elias or Elijah should 
 be the Messiah's forerunner. 
 
 Mai. iii. 1. Isaiah xl. 3. Luke Mat. iii. 13, xi. 14. Luke vii. 
 i. 17. 27, 28. 
 
 8. That the Messiah was to be a Prophet. 
 
 Deut. xviii. 15, 18. John iv. 19, ix. 17- Mat. xxi. 
 
 46. Mark vi. 15. Luke vii. 16. 
 John vi. 14, vii. 40. Luke xxiv. 
 19. Mat. xxi. 11. 
 
 9. That he should begin to preach in Galilee. 
 Isaiah ix. l, 2. Mat. iv. 12 17. Luke iv. 14, 15. 
 
 10. That he should confirm his Doctrine by Miracles. 
 
 Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6, xlii. 7, xxxii. Mat. xi. 4, 5. Luke vii. 21. 
 
 3, 4, xxix. 18. Mat. iv. 23, 24, xv. 30, 31. Acts ii. 
 
 22, and many other passages 
 
 U. In what manner he should enter Jerusalem. 
 Zech. ix. 9. Mat. xxi. 4, 5, 7, 10. 
 
 12. That the Messiah should be poor and despised, and that he shoula 
 be betrayed and sold by one of his disciples for thirty pieces oj 
 silver, with which the potter's field should be purchased. 
 
 Isaiah liii. 3. Psalm xli. 9, Iv. Luke ix. 58. 2 Cor. viii. 9 
 12 14. Zech. xi. 12, 13. John xi. 35. Luke xxii. 3, 4- 
 
 Mat. xxvi. 14, xxvii. 3 10. 
 
 13. That the Messiah should suffer pain and death for the 
 sins of the world. 
 
 Psalm xxii. 14, 15. Isaiah 1. 6, John xix. 1, 2. Mat. xxvii; 
 liii. 5, 8, 12. 2931. Mark xv. 19, 25. l : 
 
 ii. 23, 24. 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 253 
 
 14. That the Messiah should be cruelly mocked and derided. 
 
 PROPHECY. FULFILMENT, 
 
 Psalm xxii. 7 8, 12, 13. Mat. xxvii. 39 44. Mark xv. 
 
 31, 32. Luke xxiii. 35. 36. 
 
 15. That vinegar and gall should be offered to the Messiah on the cross, 
 and lots cast for his vesture. 
 
 Psalm Ixix. 21, xxii. 18. John xix. 29. Matthew xxvii. 
 
 34, 35. Mark xv. 36. John xix. 
 23, 24. 
 
 16. That not a bone of him should be broken, but that his side should 
 be pierced. 
 
 Ps. xxxiv. 20. Zech. xii. 10. John xix. 32 34. 
 
 17. That the Messiah should die with malefactors, but be buried 
 
 honourably. 
 Isaiah liii. 9, 12. Mat. xxvii. 38, 5760. 
 
 18. That the Messiah should rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven. 
 
 Psalm xvi. 9, 10. Isaiah liii. 10, Acts ii. 32, 33, xiii. 35, 37. 
 Ixviii. 18. Mat. xxviii. 5, 6. Luke xxiv. 5, 
 
 6. 1 Cor. xv. 4. 
 
 19. That the Messiah should send the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. 
 
 Psalm Ixviii. 18. Joel ii. 28. Acts ii. 1 4, 16 21, iv. 31, 
 
 viii. 17, x. 44, xi. 15. 
 
 II. 
 PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE OFFICES OF THE MESSIAH. 
 
 1. That the Messiah was to be a Prophet and Lawgiver like unto Moses, 
 but superior to him ; who should change the law of Moses into a 
 new and more perfect law, common to both Jews and Gentiles, 
 ivhich should last for ever. 
 
 Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19; also, John vi. 14. Luke xxiv. 19. 
 
 Acts iii. 22, vii. 37. Heb. iii. 5, 6, vii. 18, 19. Isa. ii, 3. 
 
 Mat. xxviii. 19, 20. Heb. ii. 20, 
 
 ix. 24. John xiv. 2, 3. 1 John 
 
 ii. l. Heb. vii. 25. John i. 45. 
 
 Z 
 
254 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 2. That the Messiah was to be a Teacher. 
 
 PROPHECY. FULFILMENT. 
 
 Isa. Ixi. l, liv. 13, 1. 4. Psalm Mark i. 14. Luke viii. l. Mark 
 Ixxvii. 2. vi. 6. Luke iv. 15, 44. Mat. v. 
 
 l, 2, xiii. 34. Mark iv. 33. John 
 iii. 2, i. 49. 
 
 3. That the Messiah was to instruct and enlighten men. 
 
 Isaiah ix. 2. John xii. 46, viii. 12, ix. 5. 
 
 Luke ii. 32. John i. 4, 5. Acts 
 xxvi. 18. Ephes. v. 8. 
 
 4. That the Messiah was to be the Christ or anointed of God. 
 
 Isaiah Ixi. 1. Daniel ix. 24, 25. John iv. 25, 42, vi. 69, xi. 27. 
 Psalm cxxxii. 17, Ixxxix. 20, 51, Mat. xvi. 16, xxvi. 63, 64. Mark 
 ii. 2. xiv. 61, 62. Acts xviii. 28. 
 
 5. That the Messiah was to be a Priest. 
 
 Ps. ex. 4 (cited in Heb. v. 6, vii. Heb. iv. 14, viii. 1, iii. l, x. 21, 
 21.) Zech. vi. 13. ii. 17, vii. 24. 
 
 6. The Messiah was, by the offering of himself as a sacrifice for sin, to 
 make an end of sin ; to make reconciliation for iniquity ; to make men 
 holy ; and to destroy the power of the Devil. 
 
 Isa. liii. 6, 10, 12. Dan. ix. 24. Eph. v. 2, 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. 
 Gen. iii. 16. viii. 3. l John, ii. 2. Heb. ix. 
 
 14. l Pet. i. 19, iii. 18. Heb. x. 
 12, ix. 12, vii. 27, ix. 25, 26. John 
 i. 29. Acts v. 5. 1 John i. 7. 
 Rom. v. 10. 2 Cor. v. 18. Col. i. 
 20. Heb. v. 8, 9. 2 Cor. v. 15. 
 Rom. vi. 10 12. l Thess. v. 10. 
 l Pet. ii. 24. Tit. ii. 14. l Cor. vi. 
 20. 1 Pet. iv. 1, 2. 
 
 7. The Messiah was to be a Saviour. 
 
 Isa. lix. 20, Ixii. 11. 1 John iv. 14. Luke ii. 11. 
 
 Mat. i. 21. Acts xiii. 26. John 
 iv. 42. Acts v. 31. 2 Pet. ii. 20, 
 iii. 18. Tit. iii. 6. 2 Pet. i. 1. 
 Phil. iii. 20. Tit. ii. 18. 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 255 
 
 8. The Saviour was to be a Mediator. 
 
 PROPHECY. FULFILMENT. 
 
 Ps. ex. 1. Dan. ix. 17, 19. Isa. Johnxiv. 6. l Tim. ii. 5. Heb. 
 viii. 14. Ps. Ixxx. 17. xii. 24. Eph. ii. 13, 18. Heb. vii. 
 
 22, viii. 6, ix. 15. John xv. 16, 
 xvi. 23, 24, xiv. 14. 
 
 9. The Messiah was to be an Intercessor. 
 
 Isa. liii. 12. Luke xxiii. 34, xxii. 32. John 
 
 xvii. Heb. ix. 24. 1 John ii. 1. 
 Rom. viii. 34. Heb. vii. 25. 
 
 10. Messiah was to be a Shepherd. 
 
 Isa. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 23, John x. 11. 14. Heb. xiii. 20. 
 
 xxxvii. 24. 1 Pet. ii. 25, v. 2, 4. 
 
 11. Messiah was to be a King. 
 
 Ps. ii. 6, cxxxii. 11. Isa. ix. 6, Mat. ii. 2, 6, xxi. 5. John xii. 
 
 Iv. 4. Zech. vi. 13. Jer xxiii. 5, 15. Luke xix. 38, i. 32, 33. John 
 
 6. Isa. xxxii. 1. Ezek. xxxvii. i. 49, xviii. 33, 36, 37. Mat. xx vii. 
 
 24, 25, xxxiv. 23, 24. Jer. xxx. 11. Acts v. 31. 
 9. Hos. iii. 5. Zech. ix. 9. 
 Micah v. 2. 
 
 12. Messiah as a King was to be above all others, and Head of his Church. 
 
 Ps. Ixxxix. 27, 36. Dan. vii. 13, Rev. i. v. 1 Tim. vi. 15. Rev. 
 
 14, 27, ii. 44. xvii. 14, xix. 16. Eph. i. 21 23. 
 
 Phil. ii. 9. Col. i. 18. Eph. iv. 
 15, 16. 1 Cor. xii. 27. 
 
 13. Messiah the King was to be exalted more particularly after his 
 sufferings and resurrection. 
 
 Ps. ii. 6, 8, viii. 5. Isa. liii. 10, 1 Pet. i. 11. Luke xxiv. 26. 
 
 12. John xvii. 1. Rom. i. 4. 1 Pet. 
 
 i. 21, iii. 22. Acts ii. 32, 33. Phil, 
 ii. 8 10. Heb. ii. 9, xii. 2. 
 
 14. That there is salvation only in Christ. 
 
 Isa. xlv. 21. Zech. xiii. 1. Mai. John iii. 16. 1 Thess. v. 9- 
 
 iv. 2. Isa. liii. 11, lix. 20. (see also John xvii. 3. Luke xxiv. 47. 
 
 Rom. xi. 26.) Ps. cxxxviii. 22. Acts x. 43, xiii. 38, 39, iv. 11, 12. 
 Isa. xxviii. 16. Mark xii. 10. 
 
256 MESSIAH, [NOTES, 
 
 15. Of the necessity of believing in Christ, and the danger of 
 rejecting him. 
 
 PROPHECY. FULFILMENT. 
 
 Deut. xviii. 15, 19. (see Acts iii. John iii. 18. Heb. ii. 3, x. 26 
 23.) Num. xv. 30, 31. Ps. ii. 12. 29. 2Thess. i. 7, 8. 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT PREDICTIONS, WITH THEIR FULFILMENT. 
 I. 
 
 PREDICTION THAT THEY WOULD FIND THINGS 
 ACCORDING TO HIS WORD. 
 
 Mat. xxi. 13. Mark xi. 2. Mark xi. 46. Luke xix. 32, 
 Lukexix/30, 31. Mark xiv. 13 xxii. Mark xiv. 16. 
 15. Mat. xxvi. 18. 
 
 PREDICTIONS OF JESUS CHRIST RELATIVE TO HIS SUFFER- 
 INGS, DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION. 
 
 1. That he was to be betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas. 
 
 John vi. 70, 71. Mat. xx. 18, Mat. xxvi. 14 16. Mark xiv. 
 
 xvii. 22. Mark x. 33. Luke ix. 44. 10. Luke xxii. 34. John x iii. 2. 
 Mat. xxvi. 2. John xiii. 10, 11, Mat. xxvi. 47, 49. 
 18, xvii. 12. Mark xiv. 18. Mat. 
 xxvi. 21. John xiii. 21, 26. Luke 
 xxii. 21. Mark xiv. 20, 42. Mat. 
 xxvi. 46. 
 
 2. That his other disciples would forsake him. 
 
 Mark xiv. 27. Mat. xxvi. 31. Mat. xxvi. 56. Mark xiv. 50. 
 John xvi. 32, xviii. 8, 9- 
 
 3. That Peter would deny him. 
 
 Luke xxii. 31 34. John xiii. Luke xxii. 60 62. Mat. xxvi. 
 
 38. Mat. xxvi. 34. Mark xiv. 30. 75. John xviii. 27. Mark xiv. 72. 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 257 
 
 4, That he should suffer. 
 
 PROPHECY. FULFILMENT. 
 
 Mat. xvi. 21. Mark viii. 31. John xi. 53. Mat. xxvi. 4. 
 Luke ix. 22. Mark ix. 31. Mat. Mark xiv. 1. Luke xxii. 2. Mat. 
 xvii. 22, 23. Mark x. 33, 34. Mat. xxvi. 66. Mark xiv. 64. Luke 
 xx. 18, 19. Luke xviii. 31 33. xxii. 71. Mat. xxvii. 26. Luke 
 
 xxiii. 24. John xix. 16, 18. Mat. 
 
 xxvii. 35. Luke xxiii. 33, xxiv. 6. 
 
 7, 26, 46. Actsii. 23, xiii. 27, xvii. 
 
 3. Gal. iii. l. 
 
 5. That he should suffer in Jerusalem. 
 
 Mat. xvi. 21. Luke ix. 31, xiii. Luke xxiv. 18. Mat. xxvii. 
 31, 33, xviii. 31. Mat. xx. 18. Mark xv. Luke xxiii. John xix. 
 
 Acts xiii. 27. Heb. xiii. 12. 
 
 6. That he should suffer by the Chief Priests. 
 
 Mat. xvi. 21. Mark viii. 31. Mat. xxvi. 3, 4. John xi. 53, 
 Luke ix. 22. Mat. xvii. 12. Mark xviii. 13, 24. Mat, xxvi. 57, 65, 66. 
 x. 33. Mark xiv. 63. Mat. xxvii. 20. 
 
 Luke xxiii. 13, 18, xxiv. 20. Acts 
 
 xiii. 28. 
 
 7. That he should suffer by the Gentiles. 
 
 Luke xviii. 31, 32. Mark x. 33. Acts xiii. 28. Mat. xxvii. 1. 
 Mat. xx. 18, 19- Mark xv. 1. John xviii. 31, 32. 
 
 Mark xv. 15. Luke xxiii. 24. 
 Acts iv. 27. 
 
 8. That he should be mocked. 
 
 Mark ix. 12. Luke xvii. 32. Mat. xxvi. 67, 68. Mark xiv. 
 Mark x. 34. 65. Luke xxiii. 11. Mark xv. 
 
 1719. Mat. xxvii. 29. John 
 xix. 2. Mark xv. 29 32. 
 
 9. Jesus foretold that he should be crucified. 
 
 John iii. 14, xii. 32, viii. 28. Mat. xxvii. 31. John xix. 16. 
 
 Mat. xx. 19- Luke xxiii. 33. Mark xv. 24, 25. 
 
 Luke xxiv. 6, 7, 20. Acts ii. 23, 
 iv. 10. 1 Cor. i. 23. Gal. iii. 1. 
 
 z2 
 
258 
 
 MESSIAH. 
 
 [NOTES, 
 
 10. Jesus Christ foretold his resurrection. 
 
 PROPHECY. FULFILMENT. 
 
 John ii. 19, 21, x. 17. Mark x. 
 
 Luke xxiv. 5, 615. Mat. 
 
 34, viii. 31. Luke ix. 22. Mat. xxviii. 6, 9, 11. Luke xxiv. 15,23, 
 
 xxvii. 62, 6.3. 
 
 34,*36. John xx. 14, 19, 27, xxi. 
 4. Acts i. 3, x. 40, 41, ii. 32, iv. 
 33. 1 Cor. xv. 20. Acts xvii. 3, 
 xxvi. 23. Rom. i. 4. 
 
 1 1 . Jesus Christ foretold that he would appear again to his disciples. 
 
 John xvi. 16, 22. Mat. xxvi. Mark xvi. 14. John xx. 19. 
 
 32. Mark xiv. 28. Mat. xxviii. Luke xxiv. 36. Mat. xxviii. 16, 
 10. Mark xvi. 7. 17. John, xxi. 1. l Cor. xv. 5, 6. 
 
 12. Jesus Christ foretold his ascension into heaven. 
 
 John vil 62, xvi. 28, xx. 17, vii. 
 33, xiv. 19, xvii. 13. 
 
 Mark xvi. 19. Luke xxiv. 51. 
 Acts i. 9, 10. Eph. iv. 10. 1 Pet. 
 iiL 22. Heb. ix. 24, iv. 14, vi. 20. 
 1 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
 13. Jesus Christ foretold the descent of the Holy Ghost after his 
 Ascension. 
 
 Mat. x. 20. Luke xi. 13, xii. 
 12. John vii. 39, xiv. 16, 17, 26, 
 xv. 26, xvi. 715, xx. 22. Luke 
 xxiv. 49. Acts i. 8. 
 
 Acts ii. 1 4, 33, iv. 8, 31, v. 31, 
 32, vii. 55, viii. 15 17, ix. 17, x. 
 44, xiii. 9, xv. 8, 28, xix. 6, xx. 22, 
 23 28, xxi. 4, 11. Rom. viii. 
 throughout, xv. 13. l Cor. ii. 10 
 16, iii. 16, 17, vi. 11, 19, xii. 313. 
 2 Cor. v. 5. Gal. iii. 3, v. 1618. 
 22 25. Eph. ii. 18, 22, iv. 4, 30. 
 l Thess. i. 5, 6. l Tim. iv. 1 . 2 Tim. 
 i. 14. Titus iii. 5, 6, Heb. vi. 4. 
 Rev. i. 10, ii. 7, xvi. 13, xxii. 17. 
 
 To this prophetical scheme, the masterly comment of the 
 Rev. W. Lancaster (Harmony of the Law and Gospel, p. 326) 
 may with much propriety be appended. " Redemption is the 
 great centre-point of scriptural instruction : every other divine 
 ordinance either meets in this point, or diverges from it. The 
 doctrine of the Atonement is the great and leading doctrine of 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 259 
 
 the Bible from beginning to end. This was darkly intimated 
 to fallen man before he was expelled from the abode of inno- 
 cence and bliss. The sacrifices offered by the faithful imme- 
 diately after the fall, were in unison with this intimation. 
 Abraham rejoiced in it, when he saw the day of Christ afar 
 off. The bloody ordinances of the Levitical law shadowed 
 out the same truth in emblem and mystery. The sweet 
 psalmist of Israel spoke a congenial language when he 
 painted the sufferings of Him who was to be the Saviour of 
 Men. In strains of mingled sadness and triumph, the pro- 
 phetic song announced the Man of Sorrows and acquainted 
 with grief ; and it bore, also, in different ages of the Jewish 
 church, a varied yet harmonious testimony to the great Per- 
 sonage in whom truth was substantially verified. The latest 
 prophet under the law, and the immediate harbinger of the 
 Messiah, proclaims the same truth, when he announces 
 Christ as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
 world. Christ himself declares the doctrine he verifies, and 
 bears witness to it in his death. The apostles proclaim our 
 Redeemer as him whom God hath set forth to be a sacrifice 
 and propitiation for the sins of the whole world. The holy 
 martyrs under the agonies of death testify the same ; nor does 
 the attestation stop here. After the Church militant hath 
 maintained it throughout every stage of its warfare, the 
 Church triumphant takes up the heavenly theme, resounding 
 it in hymns of exaltation and praise to the end of time. It 
 was first heard in the terrestrial Eden, and it ceases not to be 
 heard in the songs of the blessed Spirits who inhabit the celes- 
 tial Paradise." 
 
 NOTE 9, PAGE 28. 
 
 purer than the light of light, 
 Of all transcendencies the sum and soul. 
 
 On the same principle that prophecy, when proved by the 
 admissions of Volney, and similar writers of the French 
 school, affects the mind with a more convincing power than 
 
260 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 when illustrated by orthodox divines, the testimony of Rous- 
 seau to the glorious perfection of Christ's character is ex- 
 tremely valuable. It forms one of his most eloquent passages, 
 and cannot be deemed intrusive on the present occasion. 
 
 " The majesty of the Scriptures strikes me with admi- 
 ration, as the purity of the Gospel has its influence on my 
 heart. Peruse the works of our philosophers, with all their 
 pomp of diction ; how mean, how contemptible are they when 
 compared with the Scripture ! Is it possible that a book, at 
 once so simple and sublime, should merely be the work of 
 rnan ? What prepossession, what blindness must it be to 
 compare the son of Sophroniscus to the Son of Mary ! What 
 an infinite disproportion is there between them ! Socrates, 
 dying without pain or ignominy, easily supported his cha- 
 racter to the last: and if his death, however easy, had not 
 crowned his life, it might have been doubted whether So- 
 crates, with all his wisdom, was anything more than a vain 
 sophist. He invented, it is said, the theory of morals. 
 Others, however, had before put them in practice ; he had, 
 therefore, only to say ^what they had done, and to reduce 
 their examples to precept. But where could Jesus learn, 
 among his competitors, that pure and sublime morality of 
 which he only has given us both precept and example ? The 
 death of Socrates, peaceably philosophizing with his friends, 
 appears the most agreeable that could be wished for ; that of 
 Jesus, expiring in the midst of agonizing pains, abused, in- 
 sulted, and accused by a whole nation, is the most horrible 
 that could be feared. Socrates, in receiving the cup of 
 poison, blessed the weeping executioner who administered it; 
 but Jesus, in the midst of excruciating tortures, prayed for 
 his merciless tormentors. Yes, if the life and death of So- 
 crates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were 
 those of a God." EmiL, vol. ii. p. 215. 
 
 The following testimony of Publius Lentulus, (who was 
 Governor of J udea during the period of Christ's ministry,) as 
 transmitted by him to the Roman senate, though deemed 
 spurious by many writers, is too interesting to be omitted. 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 261 
 
 " There appeared in these our days a man of great virtue, 
 named Jesus Christ, yet living amongst us, and of the Gen- 
 tiles is accepted as a Prophet of the Truth, but by his own 
 disciples called the Son of God. He raiseth the dead and 
 cureth all manner of diseases. A man of stature somewhat 
 tall and comely, with a very reverend countenance, such as 
 beholders may both love and fear* His hair is of the colour of 
 
 * Irenseus, who was born as early as the year 13i), says, that the 
 Carpocratians exhibited both statues and pictures of our Saviour, and 
 that Pilate had caused a likeness to be painted of him. Tertullian 
 speaks of the intention of Tiberius to assign a place to our Saviour 
 among the deities of Rome, as a thing publicly and commonly known. 
 Eusebius relates, that there was, in his time, in the city of Csesarea 
 Philippi, a group of bronze figures, representing Christ and the woman 
 whom he had cured, and proceeds," We are not to be surprised that 
 the Gentiles should raise a monument to those who were cured by our 
 Saviour;" and further, " that he had seen pictures of the apostles, as 
 of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of Christ himself, kept and preserved ; 
 for it was an ancient custom among the heathens," he continues, " to 
 honour those after this manner who had benefited their country." 
 Zozomen, too, reports that Julian, who lived at the same time, took 
 down the statue of Christ, to withdraw the people from idolatry, and 
 hi order to substitute his own. It is not essential to my purpose that 
 these details should be literally true ; but we cannot deny the existence 
 of what men like these declare that they have seen. The same grati- 
 tude and veneration which prompted the early Christians to preserve a 
 resemblance of their Lord, would operate equally in making them hand 
 down his features to posterity. The impulse is natural, and has been 
 observed from remote antiquity j and the heads of Socrates and Plato, 
 for instance, are as well known to us now, as they were to their con- 
 temporaries. If, therefore, we can produce a portrait of Christ of the 
 time of Zozomen, the latest of the four writers above quoted, may we 
 not fairly conclude it to be a faithful resemblance ? One of these was, 
 within these few years, to be seen in the Basilica of St. Paul, in the 
 Via Ostinese, before that structure was destroyed by fire. The situ- 
 ation of it was over the Arcus Triumphalis j and it possessed traits of 
 benign majesty beyond what we observe in common mortals. It was ex- 
 ecuted in mosaic, an art practised through every period at Rome, and 
 which is almost as indestructible as the building it adorned. The date 
 of the edifice was verified by an inscription, by which we learn that it 
 was dedicated to Placidia, the mother of Valentinian the Third, A. D. 
 441. When at Rome, I was very careful hi collecting the opinions of 
 persons best qualified to judge concerning this portrait. I have viewed 
 
262 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 a filbert full ripe, and plain almost down to his ears, but from 
 his ears downwards somewhat curled, more orient in colour, 
 and waving about his shoulders. In the midst of his head 
 goeth a seam or partition of his hair, after the manner of the 
 
 it with our own Flaxman, ' himself a host ;' and every one whom I 
 consulted concurred in the belief of its being a genuine remain. A 
 question will instantly suggest itself to the reader, ' Why was not the 
 portrait of Christ uniformly continued among the faithful, with the same 
 accuracy as those of Socrates and Plato ? One reason might be found in 
 the wide diffusion of the Christian religion through so many countries 
 of different manners, habits, and ideas ; each of whom would naturally 
 represent the countenance of the Redeemer under the similitude most 
 congenial to their own minds and feelings, although the true effigy 
 might still be preserved in the capital of the western church, such as 
 we presume to be the portrait once existing in the church of St. Paul. 
 Another .cause might be, that in the early periods of the Christian faith, 
 the cross was represented simply, as it was in imagination seen by 
 Constantino . This sacred symbol was at times rendered significant by 
 the accompaniment of a gemmed or laurelled crown, held over it by a 
 hand from the clouds with A and Q. The body of Christ was not re- 
 presented on the cross till the seventh century. It was first so admit- 
 ted in the western church, with the head bowed down ; whereas in the 
 eastern (though not without some exceptions) the face was lifted up. 
 In the latter, the effigy of Christ is first seen on a Byzantine coin, 
 struck in the reign of Justinian the Second, 685 695 ; previous to 
 which time we find only crosses and anagrams. The Greeks, indeed, 
 reluctantly yielded to an innovation which they deemed degrading to 
 the Divine character, and rarely, if ever, exposed the Saviour of man- 
 kind (and how barbarous the exposure !) to open view, nailed to the 
 cross, crowned with thorns, exhausted with suffering, and devoid of 
 grace and majesty. To the Latins, among whom the rudiments of an- 
 cient art are not so evident as among the Greeks, and whose ideas were 
 therefore more on a level with common life, this mournful character of 
 the ' Man of Sorrows' was more congenial. Anxious to render the 
 subject in the highest degree affecting, and to bring it home to the 
 feelings of every one, under national configuration, attempts to be 
 pathetic degenerated into low life ; and a system of worship was incul- 
 cated which addressed itself more to the passions than to the under- 
 standing of its votaries. In the aspect of the Author of my redemp- 
 tion, let me not contemplate a mortal sinking under infirmities like 
 those to which I feel myself exposed, but a being who animates me 
 with hope, and inspires me with a confidence which enables me to 
 exult in the consciousness that 'my Redeemer liveth!' " Gunn's Car- 
 tonensia. 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 263 
 
 Nazarites : his forehead very plain and smooth ; his face 
 without spot or wrinkle, beautified with comely red ; his nose 
 and mouth so formed as nothing can be reprehended ; his 
 beard somewhat thick, agreeable in colour to the hair of his 
 head, not of any great length, but full in the midst ; of an in- 
 nocent, mature look ; his eyes grey, clear, and quick. In re- 
 proving, he is terrible; in admonishing, courteous and fair 
 spoken ; pleasant in speech, mixed with gravity. It cannot 
 be remembered that any have seen him laugh, but many have 
 seen him weep ; of proportion of body well-shaped and 
 straight ; his hands and arms right delectable to behold ; in 
 speaking, very temperate, modest, and wise. A man, for 
 singular beauty, surpassing the children of men." 
 
 
 NOTE 10, PAGE 29. 
 
 holier than our holiest awe 
 Can worship, imaged only in, I AM ! 
 
 Nothing is in fact more difficult for such a creature as man, 
 surrounded as he is by gross material objects, and necessarily 
 occupied in worldly pursuits, than to lift up his thoughts and 
 affections to God. A being whose nature is so incompre- 
 hensible that our knowledge of him is chiefly negative, of 
 whom we know not so much what he is as what he is not, it 
 is difficult even to make a steady object of thought. Now we 
 believe that God is a spirit ; but we have a very faint notion 
 of the nature of a spirit, except that it is not a body : God is 
 eternal ; but we are bewildered with the very idea of eternity, 
 of which we only know that it is without beginning and with- 
 out end : we say, that the Divine attributes are infinite ; i. e., 
 not bounded, wwlimited. And even where our knowledge of 
 God extends beyond mere negatives, we cannot but perceive, 
 on attentive reflection, that the attributes assigned to the 
 Deity must in reality be such in Him, as the ordinary sense 
 of those same terms, when applied to men, can but very 
 faintly shadow out. Archbishop Whately on Declaration of 
 God in his Son, p. 130, 131. 
 
264 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 NOTE 11, PAGE 29. 
 
 all that charms 
 
 Or sanctifies, to thine unspotted truth 
 May plead for sanction. 
 
 We may consider that our Lord, as partaker of our nature, 
 and in all things (bating sin) like unto us, had a natural 
 human will, attended with senses, appetites, and affections, 
 apt from objects incident to receive congruous impressions of 
 pleasure and pain ; so that whatever is innocently grateful and 
 pleasant to us, that he relished with delight, and thence did 
 incline to embrace ; whatever is distasteful and afflictive to us, 
 that he resented with grief, and thence was moved to eschew. 
 To this, probably, he was liable in a degree beyond our ordi- 
 nary rate ; for that in him nature was most perfect, his com- 
 plexion 'very delicate, his temper exquisitely sound and fine. 
 Barrow's Works, vol. ii. p. 308. 
 
 NOTE 12, PAGE 30. 
 
 Surrendering meekly to a central guide 
 Of hope and action, by the God empowered. 
 
 Jeremy Taylor, " the Shakspeare of divines," thus illus- 
 trates the mysterious operations of the Holy Spirit over the 
 human heart. Vide Sermon preached to the University of 
 Dublin. 
 
 " God, who designed the heavens to be the causes and 
 changes of all motions here below, hath placed his angels in 
 their houses of light, and given to every one of his appointed 
 officers a portion of that fiery matter to circum-agitate and 
 roll ; and now the wonder ceases : for if it be inquired why 
 this part of the fire runs eastward, and the other to the south, 
 they being both indifferent to either, it is because an angel of 
 God sits in the centre : and so it is in the understandings of 
 men ; when they all receive the same notions, and are taught 
 by the same master, and give full consent to all the propo- 
 sitions, and can, of themselves, have nothing to distinguish 
 
BOOK I.] MESSIAH. 265 
 
 them in the events, it is because God hath sent his Divine 
 Spirit, and kindles a new fire, and creates a braver capacity, 
 and applies the actives to the passives, and blesses their ope- 
 ration. For there is in the heart of man such a dead sea, 
 and an indisposition to holy flame, like as in the cold rivers 
 in the north, so as the fire will not burn them, and the sun 
 itself will never warm them, till God's Holy Spirit does, from 
 the Temple of the New Jerusalem, bring a holy flame, and 
 make it shine and burn." 
 
 A A 
 
NOTES TO BOOK II. 
 
 NOTE 1, PAGE 33. 
 
 The faint reflections of a vast Unseen f 
 
 IF Phidias could so contrive a piece of his own work as in it 
 to preserve the memory of himself, never to be obliterated 
 without the destruction of the work, well may we read the 
 Great Architect of the World in the works of his own hands, 
 and by the existence of one thing demonstrate the First 
 Cause of all things. * * * No age so distant, 
 no country so remote, no people so barbarous, but gives a 
 sufficient testimony to this truth. When the Roman eagle 
 flew over most parts of the habitable world, they met with 
 atheism nowhere ; but rather by their miscellaneous deities 
 at Rome, which grew together with their victories, shewed 
 no nation was without its God. Pearson, fol. 10th edit, p. 
 1921. 
 
 One of the finest thinkers of modern times, (the author of 
 Natural History of Enthusiasm,} in alluding to the revelations of 
 a Deity, as exhibited by the material universe, in his last work, 
 presents us with a noble passage: " The nocturnal heavens 
 at once symbolize and demonstrate the concealed existence 
 and attributes of God, just as the presence and symmetry of a 
 man are made known to a distant spectator, when the shadow 
 of his person, in sharp outline, falls upon a brightly illumi- 
 nated surface : we see not, indeed, the man, nor, in strictness 
 of argument, is it more than his exterior form of which we 
 have direct evidence : nevertheless, we do not scruple to fill 
 up in idea what is wanting in formal proof ; and we think 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 267 
 
 almost as distinctly of the person as if he stood, without a 
 screen, fronting us in the blaze of light. Thus is it that, 
 both in the vastness and in the richness of the visible universe, 
 the invisible God is adumbrated. If the eye be but clear, we 
 can never gaze upon the expanse of stars without descrying, 
 as it were, filling all the bright abyss of worlds, the great 
 lines, or contour, of the Supreme Majesty." Saturday Even- 
 ing, p. 171. 
 
 NOTE 2, PAGE 41. 
 
 how Nature visioneth the plan 
 That God himself descended to reveal. 
 
 The whole analogy of nature removes all imagined pre- 
 sumption against the general notion of a " Mediator between 
 God and man ;" for we find all living creatures are brought 
 into the world, and their life in infancy is preserved"by the 
 instrumentality of others; and every satisfaction of it, some- 
 how or other, is bestowed by the like means. So that the 
 invisible government which God exercises over the world is 
 by the instrumentality and mediation of others. And how 
 far his invisible be, or be not so, it is impossible to determine 
 at all by reason. And the supposition that part of it is so, ap- 
 pears, to say the least, altogether as credible as the contrary. 
 There is, then, no sort of objection, from the light of nature, 
 against the notion of a Mediator between God and man con- 
 sidered as a doctrine of Christianity, or as an appointment in 
 this dispensation ; since we find by experience that God does 
 appoint mediators to be the instrument of good and evil to us, 
 the instruments of his justice and mercy. Butler's Anal., 
 partii. p. 176. 
 
 NOTE 3, PAGE 43. 
 
 Thus Plato, in his pure ambition, nursed 
 A glorious longing for supremer Mind. 
 
 " Socrates, in a conversation with his friends, from the 
 present visibly perverted state of the world, infers the appa- 
 
268 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 rent necessity of a Divine mediator and restorer, and from 
 hence that we have reason to hope for and expect one. A nd 
 on another occasion, he says something very remarkable, 
 and then thought very mysterious, concerning a Divine Per- 
 son to be sent from heaven, to instruct mankind and restore 
 them to virtue and happiness. And Plato, either in his own 
 person or in that of Socrates, makes mention of the Divine 
 Logos as of a personal existence, and seems to have had an 
 idea of his distinct operation in the economy of the world. 
 And when Orpheus (if he is really the author of the frag- 
 ments that are ascribed to him) admonishes the person to 
 whom he addresses himself, * that the things which he had 
 been revolving in his mind should not rob him of his much- 
 desired futurity,' and directs him to 'look to the Divine 
 Logos, and adhere to that ;* whether by the word (Logos) he 
 means a person, or a precept, law, or instruction, it is clear 
 he recognises some Divine aid to which men might have 
 recourse when human reason fails them. And whether 
 he derived it from the writings of Moses, of which he cer- 
 tainly had some knowledge,f or from a still more ancient 
 source, he seems to have had a clear persuasion of the Deity's 
 being to appear personally on earth at a certain period ;{ as 
 
 ) -yap aXfjflea ; firjde <re TO. Trplv 
 
 'Ei/ <TTrj0e<T(ri tpavevra <pi\t]S alwvos u/uepcrrj. 
 
 E<? d Aoyov Qetov ySAex^as 1 , roury 7rpo<redpfiwe. (u) 
 t 'ft? \oyos apxaitov ws vSpoyevrjs (b) 3terafe v, 
 
 'Ex OeoOev yvtafj.a.icri Aa/3a>i/ Kara dinXana Oefffjiov. (c) 
 J Ovde Ti9 e'0-0' erepos' au 8e nev pea Travr' effoptjvais, 
 
 At KCI/ !<5>7? avrov Trpiv d>j Trore dt-vp kiri -ycuaV. (d) 
 
 (a) I will declare truth. Neither shall those things which you have 
 been considering in your mind rob you of desired futurity ; but looking 
 to the Divine word (Logos), hold to that. 
 
 (6) And she called his name Moses : And she said, because / drew 
 him out of the water. Exod. ii. 10. 
 
 (c) As the doctrine of the ancients, as he that rose from the water 
 hath taught : who divinely received precepts according to a twofold law. 
 
 (d) Neither is there any beside him. But you would clearly discern 
 all this, could you see him before the time when he shall at last appear 
 here on the earth. 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 269 
 
 also an idea of the Only-begotten^ who alone was capable of 
 beholding the Divinity, and of personal approach unto him. 
 And if his describing him as of Chaldean extraction* refers to 
 the promise made to Abraham, he must have had a much 
 clearer conception of that promise than ever the Jews them- 
 selves had." 
 
 NOTE 4, PAGE 43. 
 
 And stubborn ages, as they swept along, 
 But mock'd her impotence with blind misrule, 
 Of creed or crime begot. 
 
 Let us turn our eyes to those remote regions of the globe 
 to which this supernatural assistance has never yet extended, 
 and we shall there see men endued with sense and reason 
 not inferior to our own, so far from being capable of forming 
 systems of religion and morality, that they are at this day 
 totally unable to make a nail or a hatchet! These have 
 uniformly flowed from that great fountain of divine communica- 
 tion opened in the last, in the earliest ages, and hence been 
 gradually diffused in salubrious streams throughout the various 
 regions of the earth. And as REASON in her natural state is 
 thus incapable of making any progress in knowledge ; so 
 when furnished with materials by supernatural aid, if left to 
 the guidance of her own wild imagination, she falls into more 
 numerous and gross errors, than her own native ignorance 
 could ever have suggested. There is then no absurdity 
 which she is not ready to adopt : she has persuaded some 
 that there is no God : others that there can be no future 
 state : she has taught some that there is no difference between 
 vice and virtue, and that to cut a man's throat and to relieve 
 
 * Ou <yap Kev Tt? Idot Ovr\-rtav /lepOTrcov Kpdtvovra, 
 Et /nn /Aouvo-y ei/f]9 rtc aTroppof <pv\ov avtaOev 
 XaXdcucov.(a) 
 
 (a) None can see the Supreme Ruler of mortals except a certain 
 Only-begotten, whose descent is from an ancient race of the Chaldeans. 
 A A 2 
 
270 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 his necessities are equally meritorious : she has convinced 
 many that they have no free-will in opposition to their own 
 experience ; some, that there can be no such thing as soul or 
 spirit, contrary to their own perceptions ; and others, no such 
 thing as matter or body, in contradiction to their senses. 
 By analyzing all things, she can shew there is nothing in 
 anything ; by perpetual shifting, she can reduce all things to 
 the dust of scepticism, and by returning to first principles, 
 prove, to the satisfaction of her followers, that there are no 
 principles at all. Jenyrfs View, fyc. 
 
 NOTE 5, PAGE 46. 
 
 ritual pomp 
 Of ark, and fane, and sacrificial blood. 
 
 A splendid ceremonial dazzled their senses, perpetual 
 sacrifices enlivened their faith, frequent commemorative 
 festivals not only let loose their gay and joyous spirits, but 
 reminded them of all the surprising and marvellous events 
 of their national history. The tabernacles preserved the 
 form of the more solid and gigantic structures of Egypt ; 
 their priesthood were attired in dresses as costly, in many 
 respects similar ; their oblations were as frequent ; the 
 exclusions of daylight probably originated in subterranean 
 temples, hewn out of the solid rock, like those of Ipsambul, 
 and the cave-temples of India : the use of incense seems to 
 have been common in every kind of religious worship. 
 Milman. 
 
 NOTE 6, PAGE 51. 
 
 All things have glided into beauteous change. 
 
 Those who, from doubt or indifference, are apt to regard 
 the efforts of Missionaries as fruitless and vain, will do well 
 to peruse the highly interesting volumes of Mr. W. Ellis, 
 Missionary, entitled " Polynesian Researches." Speaking of 
 converted isles, he remarks, " Aged chiefs and priests, and 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 271 
 
 hardy warriors, with their spelling-books in their hands, 
 might be seen sitting hour after hour on the benches in the 
 schools, by the side, perhaps, of some smiling little boy or 
 girl, by whom they were now thankful to be taught the use 
 of letters. Others might be seen pulling down the houses of 
 their idols, and erecting temples for the Prince of Peace. 
 Their sabbaths must have presented spectacles on which 
 angels might look down with joy. Crowds who had never 
 before attended any worship but that of their demon -gods, 
 might now be seen repairing to their rustic and lowly temple 
 erected for Jehovah's praise : amidst their throng, mothers, 
 wives, sisters, and daughters, who were never before allowed 
 to join the other sex in any act of worship. Few remained 
 behind ; all the inhabitants of the district or village who were 
 able, attended public worship." Vol. i. p. 262, 3. 
 
 NOTE 7, PAGE 54. 
 
 as a gorgeous cloud, 
 f- ? " E'en as it dazzles, is but dying air I 
 
 There is a severe truth in a remark of Wollaston on the 
 unreality of human fame. " A man is not known ever the 
 more to posterity, because his name is transmitted to them ; 
 he does not live because his name does. When it is said 
 Julius Caesar subdued Gaul, beat Pompey, changed the 
 Roman commonwealth into a monarchy, &c., it is the same 
 thing as to say, the conqueror of Pompey was Caesar ; that 
 is, Caesar and the conqueror of Pompey are the same thing ; 
 and Caesar is as much known by one distinction as the other. 
 The amount then is only this : that the conqueror of Pompey 
 conquered Pompey ; or, somebody conquered Pompey. Such 
 a poor business is this boasted immortality ; and such as has 
 been here described is the thing called glory among us." 
 Relig. of Nat. Del 
 
 In consolatory opposition to this, may be added the senti- 
 ments of the elegant and philosophic Gray : " One principal 
 
272 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 character of vice in the present age is the contempt of fame. 
 Many are the uses of good fame to a generous mind : it 
 extends our existence and example into future ages ; con- 
 tinues and propagates virtue, which otherwise would he as 
 short-lived as our frame ; and prevents the prevalence of vice 
 in a generation more corrupt even than our own." * 
 
 NOTE 8, PAGE 56. 
 
 And if there be, as noblest minds allow, 
 A god- like moment, when pure spirits walk 
 This lower world. 
 
 The idea of some mystic communion between the living 
 and the dead has heen a beautiful source of religious consola- 
 tion in all ages. Klopstock was constantly dwelling on this. 
 In one of his letters to his departed wife (Meta), he remarks : 
 
 " All the ideas that man can form of the ways of Provi- 
 dence, and of the employment of angels and of spirits, must 
 ever fall short of reality ; but still it is right to think of them. 
 What can have a more exalting influence on the earthly life* 
 than in these first days of our existence to make ourselves 
 conversant with the lives of the blessed, with the happy 
 spirits whose society we shall hereafter enjoy ? We should 
 accustom ourselves to consider the spirits of heaven always 
 around us ; observing all our steps, and witnessing our most 
 
 * The above passage is taken from the notes which Gray had col- 
 lected for a poem entitled " The Alliance of Education and Govern- 
 ment." The fragment we possess vies with anything the poet has 
 written. In what ode has he surpassed, or equalled, the following 
 image ? 
 
 " Where Nile redundant o'er the summer bed 
 From his broad bosom life and verdure flings, 
 And broods o'er Egypt with his watery wings." 
 
 Of this poem well might Gibbon exclaim "Why did not Mr. Gray 
 apply the powers of his genius to finish the philosophic poem, of which 
 he has left us such an exquisite specimen ?" Decline and Fall, vol. ii. 
 p. 248. 
 
BOOK II.] MESSIAH. 273 
 
 secret actions. Whoever has become familiar with these 
 ideas, will find the most solitary place peopled with the best 
 society." 
 
 Of a mind breathing such elevated sentiments, well may 
 his excellent wife say " It will be a delightful occupation 
 for me to make you more acquainted with my husband's 
 poem. Nobody can do it better than I, being the person 
 who knows the most of that which is not published, being 
 always present at the birth of the young verses, which begin 
 by fragments here and there of a subject of which his soul is 
 just then filled. He has many great fragments of the whole 
 work ready. You may think that persons who love as we 
 do, have no need of two chambers ; we are always in the 
 same ; I with my little work, still, still only regarding some- 
 times my husband's sweet face, which is so venerable with 
 tears of devotion and all the sublimity of the subject," From 
 Letters to Richardson. 
 
 NOTE 9, PAGE 58. 
 
 o'er the barren grave 
 The flowers of immortality begin 
 To blossom. 
 
 Why is this the order of Nature, that there is such a differ- 
 ence in the duration and destruction of her works ? If the 
 mere stone decay, it is to produce a soil which is capable of 
 nourishing the moss and the lichen ; when the moss and the 
 lichen die and decompose, they produce a mould which be- 
 comes the bed of life to grass, and to a more exalted species 
 of vegetables. Vegetables are the food of animals, the less 
 perfect animals of the more perfect ; but in man, the faculties 
 and 3 intellect are perfected he rises, exists for a little while 
 in disease and misery, and then would seem to disappear, 
 without an end, and without producing any effect. 
 
 We are deceived, if we suppose that the human being who 
 has formed himself for action, but who has been unable to 
 act, is lost in the mass of being ; there is some arrangement 
 
274 MESSIAH. [NOTES. 
 
 of things which we can never comprehend, but in which his 
 faculties will be applied. 
 
 The caterpillar, on being converted into an inert scaly 
 mass, does not appear to be fitting itself for an inhabitant of 
 air, and can have no consciousness of the brilliancy of its 
 future being. We are masters of the earth, but perhaps we 
 are the slaves of some great and unknown beings. The fly 
 that we crush with our finger, or feed with our viands, has 
 no knowledge of man, and no consciousness of his superiority. 
 We suppose that we are acquainted with matter, and with all 
 its elements, and yet we cannot even guess at the cause of 
 electricity, or explain the laws of the formation of the stones 
 which fall from meteors. There may be beings, thinking 
 beings, near us, surrounding us, which we do not perceive, 
 which we can never imagine. We know very little ; but, in 
 my opinion, we know enough to hope for the immortality, 
 the individual immortality of the better part of man. DR, 
 PAEIS'S LIFE OF SIR HUMPHREY DAVY. vol. i. p. 198. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK III. 
 
 NOTE 1, PAGE 61. 
 
 Round these, perchance, a sympathetic thrill 
 Of glory ran, when first Salvation smiled ! 
 
 Though we can trace particularly the designs and effects 
 of the Redeemer's undertaking only in that part of the 
 system of Nature which, in some degree, falls under our 
 knowledge and observation, yet there is ground from Reve- 
 lation, as well as from the analogy of things, to suppose that 
 it extends to beings that lie entirely beyond the reach of our 
 conception. For whoever adverts to the boundless benefi- 
 cence of the UNIVERSAL PARENT, and the ways and degrees 
 in which an INFINITE OPERATOR may confer being and 
 enjoyment, cannot doubt for a moment that there are more 
 things and more beings in Nature than either our reason or 
 religion gives us any notice of. But all these, whatever they 
 may be, are the subjects of the Mediator's government, and 
 the objects of his redemption ; as being the Universal 
 Operator of Omnipotence, He by whom the Almighty 
 executes all his purposes, carries on, and shall bring to per- 
 fection, all his works. For it is a doctrine laid down in the 
 most pointed and express terms in Scripture, " That God 
 hath purposed in himself, in the dispensation of the fulness of 
 time, to gather together in one all things in Christ, and 
 having made peace by the blood of his cross, by him to 
 
276 MESSIAH. {[NOTES, 
 
 reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be 
 things in earth or things in heaven" 
 
 NOTE 2, PAGE 62. 
 
 Whose powers, though blended in Virgilian song, 
 Sublimely differed. 
 
 Vide Tacitus Hist., b. v. c. 13. Suetonius Vespas., c. 4. 
 The Sibyline books were an assemblage of rumours, ac- 
 counted sacred, that circulated in different regions of the 
 ancient world.* Part of these were Judean i. e., relative to 
 the Messiah ; and hence confusion of the prophecies relative 
 to a TEMPORAL KING and a SPIRITUAL ONE. Virgil, in his 
 
 * Bishop Horsley says, the Sibyl oracles "were composed of adulte- 
 rated fragments of the patriarchal prophecies and records, and that put 
 it out of doubt that of much of the prophetic part the Messiah was the 
 specific subject." 
 
 The origin of the Barbaric and Grecian philosophy may incontestibly 
 be traced to fragmental records derived from patriarchal ages, which 
 were adopted into various sytems, together with all the pollutions and 
 extravagances of each successive founder. This is briefly but com- 
 prehensively proved by Clement of Alexandria. 
 
 "With regard to the wise men and philosophers of Greece, it is 
 hardly necessary to remark, that the greater part of the most ancient 
 of them were either barbarians by birth, or instructed by barbarians ; 
 since it has been shewn that Pythagoras was either a Tyrrhenian, or a 
 Tyrian ; Antisthenes was a Phrygian ; Orpheus an Odrysian, or a 
 Thracian ; and Homer is, for the most part, thought to have been an 
 Egyptian. Thales was a Phoenician by birth, and is moreover recorded 
 to have conversed with the prophets of Egypt. Pythagoras did the 
 same, and was likewise circumcised by those prophets, in order that he 
 might be admitted to the most sacred recesses of their temples, and 
 thus become instructed in the mystical philosophy of the Egyptians. 
 He also conversed with the most ancient of the Chaldeans and the 
 Magi. As for Plato, he does not deny that he brought home from 
 the barbarians the noblest parts of his philosophy, and confesses that 
 he visited Egypt. Indeed, it is manifest that he takes every occasion 
 to magnify the barbarians, since he speaks of both himself and Pytha- 
 goras as having learned the largest and the best part of their doctrines 
 among them. lu one of his dialogues he discloses his acquaintance 
 with the Egyptian king, speaks of Thoyth, an eminently wise man, 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 277 
 
 Pollio, has blended them, and thereby puzzled the commen- 
 tators. The Judean oracles had foretold, for several ages, 
 two great kings, Augustus was one, (the last of the four 
 monarchs alluded to by Daniel,) and Jesus Christ the other. 
 
 The following extracts are quoted by Sandys, as genuine 
 specimens of the Sibyl Oracle : 
 
 Sed manibus passis cum mensus cuncta coronam 
 
 De spinis tulebit, nee non latus eius arundo 
 
 Fixerit acta manu, cujus causa tribus horis 
 
 Nox tenebrosa die medio monstrosaque fiet. 
 
 Tune hominum generi magnum Salomonia signum 
 
 Templa dabunt, Ditis cum tecta profunda subibit, 
 
 Nunciet in vitam reditum quo morte peremptis. Orac. l, 5. 
 
 whom he knew to be the same with Mercury ; and in another he ap- 
 pears to have known certain Thracians who held the immortality of the 
 soul. Pythagoras is recorded to have been the scholar of Sonches, 
 the Egyptian chief prophet ; Plato, of Sechnuphis, the Heliopolitan ; 
 and Eudoxus the Cnidian, of Cenuphis, who was also an Egyptian. 
 With regard to Democritus, we find him in his writings magnifying his 
 own learning after the following manner : ' I have travelled over a 
 greater part of the earth than any of my contemporaries, carrying my 
 inquiries into the most remote points of human knowledge , I have 
 also witnessed a greater variety of climates and soils ; I have conversed 
 with a greater number of learned men. No man, not even those who 
 are called Aspedonaftae, among the Egyptians, ever surpassed me in the 
 construction of lines, together with the demonstration of their proper- 
 ties. With these learned men I have maintained an intercourse, in the 
 whole, for eighty years in foreign countries.' For he visited Babylon, 
 and' Persia, and Egypt, and was a scholar of both the Magi and the 
 Priests. Pythagoras first made mention of Zoroaster, the Persian 
 Magus, of whose secret books the followers of Prodicus boast them- 
 selves in possession. Alexander, in his Treatise on the Pythagoric 
 Symbols, records that Pythagoras was a scholar of Zasoratus, the 
 Assyrian, and that he was moreover a hearer of the Gauls and Brach- 
 mans. It appears, then, philosophy flourished in ancient times among 
 the barbarians, and diffused its light among the nations; and that it 
 was afterwards introduced into Greece. And those who taught it the 
 prophets of Egypt, the Chaldeans of Syria, the braids of Gaul, the 
 Samarians of Bactria, those who philosophized among the Celts, the 
 Magi of Paris, the Gymiiosophistae of India, and other barbarian philo- 
 sophers." Clement, Alex. Strom., i. 15. 
 B B 
 
278 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 His NAME. 
 - vocales quatuor autem 
 
 Pert, non vocalesque j duas binum geniorum : 
 Sed quse sit nuraeri totius summa docebo, 
 Namque octo monadas, totidem decadas super ista 
 Atque hecatonradas octa, infidis significabat 
 Humanis nomen. L. l . 
 
 Thus explained: 
 
 I H 2 O Y 2 
 
 10 . 8 . 200 . 70 . 400 . 200 
 8.8. 800. 
 
 NOTE 3, PAGE 62. 
 
 The world reposed; and grateful Rome beheld 
 Her Janus shut, her crimson banners fur I'd. 
 
 Augustus Caesar, having united all nations in peace, from 
 east to west, from north to south, closed for the third time the 
 gates of the temple of Janus ; and at that particular period, 
 in the same year, in which, by the ordinance of God, he had 
 established a universal peace, Christ was born into the world ; 
 to whose advent that peace was made preparatory. Orosius, 
 a native of Spain, 4th cent, Hist, vii. c. 22. 
 
 NOTE 4. PAGE 68. 
 
 where Deity the mortal shape 
 Of feeble infant took. 
 
 The world's salvation was, without the incarnation of the 
 Son of God, a thing impossible ; not simply impossible, but 
 impossible, it being presupposed that the will of God was no 
 otherwise to have it saved than by the death of his own Son. 
 Wherefore, taking to himself our flesh, he had none of his 
 own, although from us, what to offer unto God for us. And 
 as Christ took manhood, that by it he might be capable of 
 death, whereunto he humbled himself; so because manhood 
 is the proper subject of compassion, and feeling pity, which 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 279 
 
 maketh the sceptre of Christ's regency even in the kingdom 
 of heaven, be affixable, he which without our nature could not 
 on earth suffer for the sins of the world, doth now also, by 
 means thereof, both make intercession to God for sinners, and 
 exercise dominion over all men with a true, a natural, and a 
 sensible touch of mercy. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., voL ii. p. 202. 
 
 NOTE 5, PAGE 74. 
 In darkness, still to Zion turn, and weep. 
 
 Amid this extraordinary desolation, you must pause a mo- 
 ment to contemplate two circumstances still more extraordi- 
 nary. Among the ruins of Jerusalem, two classes of inde- 
 pendent people find in their religion sufficient fortitude to 
 enable them to surmount such complicated terrors and 
 wretchedness. Here reside communities of monks, whom 
 nothing can compel to forsake the tomb of Christ. Night 
 and day they chant their hymns around the holy sepulchre. 
 Cast your eyes between the Temple and Mount Sion ; behold 
 another petty tribe, cut off from the rest of the inhabitants of 
 this city. The particular objects of every species of degrada- 
 tion, they bow their heads without murmuring ; if their head 
 be required, they present it to the scimitar. Enter the abodes 
 of the people you will find them, amid the most abject 
 wretchedness, instructing their children to read a mysterious 
 book, which they in their turn teach their offspring to read. 
 What they did five thousand years ago, these people still con- 
 tinue to do. Seventeen times have they witnessed the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem. Nothing can prevent them from 
 turning their faces toward Zion. Chateaubriand. 
 
 NOTE 6, PAGE 75. 
 
 till Restoration's voice 
 Convene them back to Salem's widow'd clime, 
 
 From the melancholy grandeur of prophecy fulfilled, it is 
 delightful to turn to the bright futurity that is promised to 
 
280 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 afflicted Israel. The restoration of the Jewish kingdom is as 
 clearly revealed as its destruction was. In Keith's invaluable 
 work on Prophecy, the reader will find the various prophecies 
 relative to this assembled. The author remarks : 
 
 " Not naturalized to the isles of the Gentiles, either by law 
 or affection, nor bound to any soil by the possession of fixed 
 property, which would be of no easy transference ; but ever 
 looking with undiminished love to the land of their fathers, 
 even after an expatriation uninterrupted for nearly eighteen 
 centuries, they are ready whenever the time shall be ful- 
 filled to fly thither, like a cloud, and like doves to their win- 
 dows. But to what degree, and in what manner, the present 
 convulsions in the Turkish empire, combined with the peculiar, 
 and, in many instances, novel condition of the Jews throughout 
 Europe and America, shall be the means of facilitating their 
 eventual restoration to their own land, no mortal can deter- 
 mine. It is enough for Christians to know, that two thousand 
 of years, through nearly which it has been dormant, can 
 neither render extinct the title, nor proscribe the heaven- 
 chartered rite of the Seed of Abraham to the final and ever- 
 lasting possession of the land of Canaan ; that God will re- 
 member the land, and gather together unto it his ancient people ; 
 and that his word concerning Zion, which he hath neither 
 forgotten nor forsaken, is 'I have graven thee upon the 
 palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me thy 
 children shall make haste ; thy destroyers, and they that made 
 thee waste, shall go forth of thee.' And that, through all the 
 changes which have happened in the kingdoms of the earth, 
 from the days of Moses to the present time, which is more 
 than three thousand two hundred and sixty years, nothing 
 should have happened to prevent the possibility of the accom- 
 plishment of these prophecies ; but, on the contrary, that the 
 state of the Jewish and Christian nations at this day should 
 be such as renders them capable, not only of a figurative, but 
 even a literal completion, in every particular, if the will of 
 God be so. This is a miracle, which hath nothing parallel to 
 it in the phenomena of Nature." Keith' sWork, p. 4iO, 7th ed. 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 281 
 
 NOTE 7, PAGE 81. 
 
 Messiah grew, 
 Strong in the spirit, wisdom, grace, and power. 
 
 The act of the Son of God, in becoming a Mediator and 
 Saviour to mankind, is considered as that which involved a 
 temporary cessation or diminution of the developments, or 
 manifestations, ad extra, of the essential divine glories. It is 
 therefore, according to our apprehension of those phrases, 
 described as coming forth from the Father, coming down from 
 heaven, being sent into the world, becoming flesh, and making 
 his tabernacle among men, being sent in the likeness of sinful 
 flesh, divesting himself, taking the form of a servant, and 
 humbling himself. It cannot be but immensely difficult, and 
 probably, to human powers, impossible, to form perfect con- 
 ceptions of all that is included in the fact which these'expres- 
 sions designate ; yet it seems undeniable, that they all contain 
 the idea of degradation, humiliation, and submission to a sub- 
 ordinate capacity. Such a state we may, with reverence and 
 sacred modesty, conceive to be congruous with the supposi- 
 tion, the habitual consciousness and feelings of THE MAN 
 Christ Jesus were not those of unspeakable delight, in the 
 enjoyment of intimate communications from the unexistent 
 Deity ; but that, on the contrary, they were the feelings of a 
 mental depression which no words could describe, no imagi- 
 nation represent. Smith's Scripture Testimony. 
 
 NOTE 8, PAGE 86. 
 
 Where buried cities lift their ghastly wreck 
 In tomb- like waste. 
 
 Several travellers, and among others, Troilo and D' Arvieux, 
 
 assert that they remarked fragments of walls and palaces in 
 
 the Dead Sea. This statement seems to be confirmed by 
 
 Mauudrell and Father Frau. The ancients speak more posi- 
 
 B B 2 
 
282 MESSIAH. [NOTES. 
 
 tively on this subject. Josephus, employing a poetic expres- 
 sion, says he perceived on the banks of the lake the shades of 
 the overwhelmed cities. Strabo gives a circumference of 
 sixty stadii to the ruins of Sodom, which are mentioned also 
 by Tacitus. I know not whether they still exist ; but as the 
 lake rises and falls at certain seasons, it is possible that it may 
 alternately cover and expose the skeletons of the reprobate 
 cities. Chateaubriand, quoted by Conder in his Palestine. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK IV. 
 
 NOTE 1, PAGE 100. 
 
 On Herod's towers, 
 
 From whose dread altitude the very sky 
 Seems nearer. 
 
 THE city lay over against the Temple, in the manner of a 
 theatre, and was encompassed with a deep valley along the 
 entire south quarter ; but the finest part of the Temple, which 
 was southward, had indeed gates in its middle, as also it had 
 the royal cloisters with three walks, which reached at length 
 from the east valley unto that in the west, for it was impos- 
 sible it should reach any farther : and this cloister deserves to 
 be mentioned better than any under the sun ; for while the 
 valley was very deep, and its bottom could not be seen if you 
 looked from above into the depth, this farther vastly high 
 elevation of the cloister stood upon that height, insomuch, if 
 any one looked down from the top of the battlements, or down 
 both those altitudes, he would be giddy, while his sight could 
 not reach to such an immense depth. Joseph. Antiq., lib. xv. 
 c. ix. sect. 5. 
 
 NOTE 2, PAGE 101. 
 
 To Quarantania's unascended top 
 
 That crowns the wilderness with savage pomp. 
 
 After some hours' travel, you arrive at the mountainous 
 desert into which our Saviour was led by the Spirit to be 
 tempted by the Devil: a most miserable, dry, barren place it 
 
284 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 is, consisting of high, rocky mountains, so torn and disordered, 
 as if the earth had here suffered some great convulsion, in 
 which its very bowels had been turned outward. Certainly 
 there could not be found in the whole earth a more comfortless 
 and abandoned place for that purpose. As soon as we entered 
 the plain, we turned up on the left hand, and going about one 
 hour that way, came to the foot of Quarantania, which, they 
 say, is the mountain into which the Devil took our blessed 
 Saviour, when he tempted Him with that visionary scene of 
 all the kingdoms and glories of the world. MaundreWs 
 Journey, &c. pp. 106, 7. Eighth Edition. 
 
 NOTE 3, PAGE 114. 
 ' At Sichem glittered round the Saviour's form. 
 
 Naplosa is the ancient Sychem, or Sychar, as it is termed in 
 the New Testament. It stands in a narrow valley between 
 Mount Gerizim on the south, and Ebal on the north, being 
 built at thejfoot of the former. From Mount Gerizim it was 
 that God commanded the blessings to be pronounced on the 
 children of Israel, and from Mount Ebal, the curses. 
 Maundrett. 
 
 NOTE 4, PAGE 116. 
 
 while from Ebal's blanched height 
 A curse came down, like thunder from the skies. 
 
 Never did human imagination conceive a scene so imposing, 
 so solemn, so likely to impress the whole people with deep 
 and enduring awe, as the final ratification of their polity, 
 commanded by the dying lawgiver. In the territory after- 
 wards assigned to the tribe of Ephraim, a central region, 
 stand two remarkable mountains, separated by a deep and 
 narrow ravine, in which the ancient Sechem the modern 
 Naplus stands. Here all Israel was to be assembled, six 
 tribes on one height, ix on the other. In the open day, and 
 
BOOK III.] MESSIAH. 285 
 
 in a theatre, as it were, created by the God of Nature for the 
 express purpose, after a sacrifice offered on an altar of stones, 
 the people of Israel testified their free and deliberate accept- 
 ance of that constitution which their God had enacted. They 
 accepted it with its inseparable condition, maledictions the 
 most awful, which they imprecated on their own heads, in 
 case they should apostatize from its statutes, blessings equally 
 ample and perpetual, if they should adhere to its holy and 
 salutary provisions. The type of either destiny lay before 
 them : Mount Ebal was a barren, stony, wild, and desolate 
 crag ; Gerizim, a lovely and fertile height, with luxuriant 
 verdure, streams of running water, and cool, shady groves. 
 As God has blasted Ebal, so he would smite the disobedient 
 with barrenness, hunger, and misery ; as he crowned Gerizim 
 with beauty and fruitfulness, so he would bless the faithful 
 Israelites with abundance, with peace, with happiness. 
 Milman. 
 
 NOTE 5, PAGE 119. 
 
 to unroll and read 
 The haphtoroth. 
 
 The " Haptorath" was the section or lesson from the 
 prophets for that day. The one alluded to in the text com- 
 menced with the first verse of the forty-first chapter of Isaiah. 
 In the synagogues of the Hellenists, or Greek Jews, the law 
 was always read in the Greek version ; but in those of the 
 native Jews, the law was always read in the Hebrew ; whence 
 it became necessary, as soon as that language ceased to be 
 vernacular among the Jews, to establish an interpreter, by 
 whom the Jewish Scriptures were expounded in the Chaldee 
 dialect, which was spoken by them after the return from the 
 Babylonian captivity. The doctor, or reader, therefore, 
 having the interpreter always by him, softly whispered in his 
 ears what he said, and this interpreter repeated aloud to the 
 people what had thus been communicated to him. To this 
 custom our Saviour is supposed to have alluded, when he said 
 
286 MESSIAH. [NOTES. 
 
 to his disciples, " What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye on 
 the house-tops." Matt. x. 27. Home. 
 
 In the midst of the synagogue was a desk, or pulpit, on 
 which the book or roll of the law was read very solemnly. 
 There, likewise, he stood who intended to harangue the 
 people. At the highest part of the synagogue, towards the 
 east, and over against the door, which is always west, as far 
 as can well be, is the chest, or press, wherein the book or roll 
 of the law is kept, wrapped up in fine embroidered cloth. 
 The women are distinct from the men, and seated in a gal- 
 lery inclosed with lattices, so that they may see and hear, and 
 not be seen. Prideaux, Connect., and Jennings* Jew. Antiq. 
 
NOTES TO BOOK Y. 
 
 NOTE 1, PAGE 131. 
 
 temples in the mind, 
 Where God in dedicated moments comes 
 To earth unknown. 
 
 THE following quotation is pronounced by Wordsworth to be 
 " one of the finest passages in modern English prose :" 
 
 '* A man is supposed to improve by going out into the 
 world, by visiting London. Artificial man does ; he extends 
 with his sphere ; but, alas ! that sphere is microscopic : it is 
 formed of minutiae, and he surrenders his genuine vision to 
 the artist, in order to embrace it in his ken. His bodily 
 senses grow acute, even to barren and inhuman pruriency ; 
 while his mental become proportionally obtuse. The reverse 
 is the Man of Mind : he who is placed in the sphere of Na- 
 ture and of God might be a mock at Tattersal's and Brook es's, 
 and a sneer at St. James's : he would certainly be swallowed 
 alive by the first Pizarro that crossed him : but when he 
 walks along the river of Amazons ; when he rests his eye on 
 the unrivalled Andes; when he measures the long and 
 watered Savannah ; or contemplates from a sudden promon- 
 tory the distant vast Pacific, and feels himself a freeman in 
 this vast theatre, and commanding each ready -produced fruit 
 of this wilderness, and each progeny of this stream his ex- 
 ultation is not less than imperial. He is as gentle, too, as he* 
 is great : his emotions of tenderness keep pace with his ele- 
 vation of sentiment; for he says, ' These were made by a 
 good Being, who, unsought by me, placed me here to enjoy 
 
288 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 them.' He becomes at once a child and a king : his mind is 
 in himself; from hence he argues, and from hence^he acts, 
 and he argues unerringly, and acts magisterially : his mind 
 in himself is also in his God ; and therefore he loves, and 
 therefore he soars." From the Notes upon The Hurricane, a 
 Poem, by William Gilbert. 
 
 NOTE 2, PAGE 140. 
 
 The law illumed, and blinded Israel taught 
 The darkness of exclusive faith was o'er. 
 
 Without a correct acquaintance with the doctrinal cha- 
 racter of the Jews at the time of our Saviour, it is utterly 
 impossible to understand or duly feel the solemnity of his 
 rebukes when the Pharisees attempted to shape religion into 
 a mechanical observance of rites and ceremonies. A few 
 passages from uncommon sources are therefore submitted to 
 the reader's perusal. 
 
 Whoever shall sincerely keep even any one of the six 
 hundred and thirteen precepts, [of the Law,] behold he, by 
 fulfilling that precept, shall merit eternal life. Obadias de 
 Bartenora. 
 
 This is also one of the fundamental principles of our law, 
 that all the good which God has done, or will do, to us, is 
 done on account of the merit of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 because they kept the way of the Lord, by doing justice and 
 j udgment. Maimonides. 
 
 Every Israelite will have his portion in a future life. 
 Mishna. 
 
 Abraham sits near the gates of hell, and suffers not any 
 wicked Israelite to go down to hell. Talmud. 
 
 The Resurrection will be peculiar to the Israelites, and that 
 the Gentiles will not partake in it, for the whole world was 
 created for the sole benefit of Israel ! Our wise men have said, 
 " To Him who spake the word, and the world was made, it 
 was well known that Adam would sin ; why, then, did he 
 create Adam ? Because a nation in whom he found refresh- 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 289 
 
 ment would come from him. From the Israelites who stood 
 at the foot of Mount Sinai, that is, who received the law, 
 which is the tree of life, defilement was taken away, and they 
 were thus made fit for eternal life : the Gentiles who were 
 not present there, were not cleansed from this defilement, 
 and therefore are unfit for life. The Resurrection is therefore 
 wholly confined to the Israelites /" Juda Zabarah, Pocock, 
 Notce Misc., p. 194. 
 
 The extreme repugnance between these doctrines and the 
 boundless glory of Redemption will account for the re- 
 jection of Christ by the Jews. The following is a curious 
 and valuable summary of the popular notions which the Jews 
 had formed of the Saviour of Israel : 
 
 As to the days of the Messiah, that is, the time when 
 the kingdom will be restored to Israel, and the Israelites 
 will return to Palestine The Messiah will be a powerful king : 
 Zion will be the metropolis of his kingdom : his name will be 
 illustrious, and fill the uttermost parts of the earth with its 
 renown : he will be greater and richer than Solomon : the 
 nations will enter into peace with him, and the provinces will 
 yield obedience nnto him, on account of his distinguished 
 righteousness, and of the miracles which he will perform. 
 If any man shall rise up in rebellion against him, God will 
 destroy that man, and deliver him into his hand. Moreover, 
 all the texts of Scripture declare both the felicity of the Mes- 
 siah himself, and that which we shall obtain through him. 
 But there will be no change in the nature of things from the 
 state which now prevails, except that the kingdom will be 
 with Israel. So our wise men have said, " There is no dif- 
 ference between the present age and the days of the Messiah, 
 except only the subjugation of the kingdoms." And under his 
 dominion, some will be stronger and some weaker than 
 others. But in those days men will enjoy a remarkable 
 facility of obtaining food, so that a man will be able to ob- 
 tain riches with the least possible trouble. This is the 
 meaning of the saying, " It will be that the land of Israel 
 will bring forth cakes and silk garments." The sons of the 
 C C 
 
290 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 alien shall be your ploughmen and vinedressers. But the 
 great facility of that time will be, that we shall then be libe- 
 rated from that yoke of evil dominion, which keeps us back 
 from the pursuit of every virtue ; and that knowledge will 
 then be multiplied, as God hath said, " For the earth shall be 
 filled with the knowledge of the Lord :" and that then con- 
 tentions and wars shall be done away, as He also hath said, 
 " Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation." For to 
 them who live at that time shall be granted every advantage 
 by which they may attain to the life of a future world. But 
 the Messiah will die, and his son and his posterity will reign after 
 him. For that he will die, God declares : " He shall not fail nor 
 be discouraged, till he set judgment in the earth." But his 
 reign will be of very long duration, and men will then 
 attain great length of life ; for life is prolonged by the re- 
 moval of grief and sorrow. And it is certainly true that his 
 reign will last for some thousands of years. For it is said, 
 the coalition of society among the good cannot be dissolved. 
 But the days of the Messiah are not so much to be desired, 
 either that our corn or wealth may be multiplied, or that we 
 may ride on horses, or drink together to the sound of mu- 
 sical instruments ; but the prophets have wished for, and ex- 
 cellent men have eagerly expected, those days, on account of 
 that society of good men, that virtuous conversation and 
 knowledge which will then prevail, and on account of the 
 righteousness of the king and his distinguished knowledge, 
 and the near degree in which he is related to his Creator, as 
 God hath said to him, " Thou art My Son :" and because the 
 whole Law of Moses will then be fulfilled without reluctance, 
 perturbation, or constraint. Maimonides, Porta Mosis, p. 60. 
 
 NOTE 3, PAGE 149. 
 
 And hopes which make eternity a lie, 
 
 By moulding heaven to each infirm desire ! 
 
 According to the author of the Koran, there will "not 
 only be marriage, but also servitude in the next world. The 
 very meanest in Paradise will have eighty thousand servants 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 291 
 
 and seventy-two wives. He will also have a tent erected for 
 him of pearls, hyacinths, and emeralds !" In a catechism 
 printed at Constantinople are the following principal articles 
 to which a Mussulman is required to assent : " I believe in 
 the books which have been delivered from heaven to the pro- 
 phets. In this manner was the Koran given to Mahornet, 
 the Pentateuch to Moses, the Psalter to David, and the 
 Gospel to Jesus. I believe in the prophets, and the miracles 
 which they have performed. Adam was the first prophet, 
 and Mahomet was the last. I believe that, for the space of 
 fifty thousand years, the righteous shall repose under the 
 shade of the terrestrial Paradise; and the wicked shall be 
 exposed naked to the burning rays of the sun. I believe in 
 the bridge Siral, which passes over the bottomless pit of hell. 
 It is as fine as a hair, and as sharp as a sabre. All must pass 
 over it, and the wicked shall be thrown off. I believe in the 
 water-pools of Paradise. Each of the prophets has, in Para- 
 dise, a basin for his own use : the water is whiter than milk, 
 and sweeter than honey. On the ridges of the pools are ves- 
 sels to drink out of, and they are bordered with stars. I be- 
 lieve in heaven and hell. The inhabitants of the former 
 know no want, and the Houris who attend them are never 
 afflicted with sickness. The floor of Paradise is musk, the 
 stones are silver, and the cement gold. The damned are, 
 on the contrary, tormented with fire, and by voracious and 
 poisonous animals." 
 
 NOTE 4, PAGE 150. 
 What visions o'er thy brain and spirit roll ! 
 
 The pilgrim need not trouble himself about the authenti- 
 city of the tradition which gives to every cave in Palestine a 
 sacred name. In Nazareth, at least, there is a religion in the 
 place, which needs not the adventitious aid of superstition to 
 excite enthusiasm. The peaceful valley of Nazareth, hemmed 
 in from the noisy world by an amphitheatre of verdant hills, 
 is the spot which one might imagine the meek and lowly 
 
292 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 Jesus would have chosen for his earliest abode. The silent 
 paths, the deep ravines in the eastern hill, might well have 
 served for meditation ; every morning during iny stay in 
 Nazareth I visited these solitudes, calling to my mind the 
 miracle of morality and philosophy which came from the 
 little town before me, and reflecting on the revolution in re- 
 ligion which every country had undergone since Jesus of 
 Nazareth first broached his doctrines in the village synagogue, 
 the site of which was then before me. The feelings these re- 
 flections inspired were intense. Travels in the East. 
 
 NOTE 6, PAGE 163. 
 
 And while all the glories of Creation give 
 Their daily witness, man alone is dumb. 
 
 The miracles of Nature are exposed to our eyes long be- 
 fore we have reason enough to derive any light from them. 
 If we entered the world with the same reason which we carry 
 with us to an opera, the first time we enter a theatre, and if 
 the curtain of the universe were to be rapidly drawn up, 
 struck with the grandeur of everything which we saw, and 
 all the obvious contrivances exhibited, we should not be ca- 
 pable of refusing our homage to the Eternal Power which had 
 prepared for us such a spectacle. But who thinks of mar- 
 velling at what he has seen for fifty years ? What multitudes 
 are there, who, wholly occupied with the care of obtaining 
 subsistence, have no time for speculation ! The rise of the 
 sun is only that which calls them to toil, and the finest night, 
 in all its softness, is mute to them, or tells them only that it 
 is the hour of repose. Diderot, tome i. p. 100. 
 
 How deeply did Foster feel this deadness of human mind 
 to those fine appeals coming from a glorious universe, when 
 he penned the following passage : " It is unfortunate, I have 
 thought within these few minutes, while looking out on one 
 of the most enchanting nights of the most interesting season 
 of the year, and hearing the voices of a company of persons, 
 to whom I can perceive that this soft, solemn shade over the 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 293 
 
 earth, the calm sky, the beautiful stripes of cloud, the stars, 
 and waning moon just risen, are things not in the least more 
 interesting than the walls, ceiling, and candle-light of a 
 room." Foster's Essays, vol. i. pp. 26, 27. 
 
 NOTE 7, PAGE 173. 
 
 Delightedly to youth's enamoured ear 
 The festival unfolds. 
 
 Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the 
 sacrifices of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of 
 pleasure thereon ; but he feasted them on very rich and 
 splendid sacrifices ; and he honoured God, and delighted 
 them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad 
 at the revival of their customs, that they made it a law for 
 their posterity that they should keep a festival, on account of 
 the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And 
 from that time to this, we celebrate this festival, and call it 
 Lights. Josephus, Antiq., lib. xii. c. viii. s. vii. 
 
 NOTE 8, PAGE 175. 
 
 A shade of sadness, mellow' d, not destroyed, 
 The mirth and beauty of surrounding day. 
 
 The poet Young was devotedly attached to the quiet love- 
 liness of a garden-walk, and its attendant associations. In 
 his Essay on Pleasure occurs the following passage : 
 
 " A garden has ever had the praise and affection of the 
 wise. What is requisite to make a wise and happy man, but 
 reflection and peace ? And both are the natural growth of a 
 garden. Nor is a garden a promoter only of a good man's 
 happiness, but a picture of it ; and in some sort shews him to 
 himself. Its culture, order, fruitfulness, and seclusion from 
 the world, compared to the weeds, wildness, and exposure of 
 a common field, is no bad emblem of a good man compared 
 to the multitude. A garden weeds the mind ; it weeds it of 
 c C 2 
 
294 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 worldly thoughts, and sows celestial seed in their stead. 
 Who cannot look on a flower, till he frightens himself out of 
 infidelity?" 
 
 NOTE 9, PAGE 183. 
 
 And men were demons, with a robe of flesh 
 Enveloped, banqueting on human blood. 
 
 The capture of Jerusalem forms the most terrific tale which 
 the records of history unfold. Human nature seems to have 
 gone out of itself, and to have become a demonized and 
 savage thing, amid the horrors and devastations of a besieged 
 capital. Yet everything that was done, suffered, or displayed, 
 in this dreadful scene, had been predicted by the Saviour ; 
 and those who will compare the descriptions of Josephus 
 with the prophetic denunciation delivered nearly forty years 
 before the event, cannot escape the conviction, that " never 
 man spake like this Man !" A few of the most fearful and 
 illustrative passages from the Jewish historian are here 
 selected. The classical reader will not fail to detect in them 
 an occasional resemblance to the condensed and vehement 
 style that distinguishes the pages of Tacitus, who was con- 
 temporary with Josephus. 
 
 " Famine was too hard for all other passions ; children 
 pulled the very morsels their fathers were eating out of their 
 very mouths, and what was still more to be pitied, so did the 
 mothers do as to their infants : the old men who held their 
 food were beaten, and if the women hid what they had within 
 their hands, their hair was torn for so doing ; nor was there 
 any commiseration shewed either to the aged or to infants, 
 but they lifted up children from the ground, as they hung upon 
 the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down upon the 
 floor. 
 
 " All hope of escaping was now cut off, together with their 
 liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen 
 its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and 
 families : the upper rooms were full of women and children 
 that were dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full 
 
BOOK V.] MESSIAH. 295 
 
 of the dead bodies of the aged ; the children also and the 
 young men wandered about the market-place like shadows, 
 all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead wheresoever 
 their misery seized them ! Many died as they were burying 
 others, and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour 
 was come ! Nor was there any lamentation made under 
 these calamities, nor were heard any mournful complaints ; 
 those who were just going to die looked upon those who 
 were gone to their rest before them with dry eyes and open 
 mouths. A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had 
 seized upon the city ; while the robbers were yet more terrible 
 than these miseries were themselves, for those who entreated 
 them their sword to dispatch them, they were too froward to 
 grant their requests, and left them to be consumed by their 
 famine. Now every one of these died with their eyes fixed 
 upon the temple, and left the seditious alive behind them. 
 When Titus, on going his rounds along those valleys, saw 
 them full of dead bodies, he gave a groan, and spreading out 
 his hands to heaven, called God to witness that this was not 
 his doing. 
 
 " The multitude of carcasses that lay in heaps, one upon 
 another, was a horrible sight ; but as those were to go in 
 battle-array, who had been already to ten thousand murders, 
 and must tread on those dead bodies as they marched along, 
 so were they not terrified, nor did they pity men as they 
 marched over them." 
 
 Then succeeds the more than horrible description of a 
 woman who fed on her own infant, and when the seditious 
 came, uncovered what was left of her son, and exclaimed, 
 " This is mine own son, and what hath been done is mine 
 own doing. Come, eat of this food ; for I have eaten of it 
 myself. Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a 
 woman, or compassionate than a mother!" 
 
 A description of the temple on fire shall conclude these 
 extracts. Pindar and ^schylus, with a volcano to inspire 
 the fury of their verse, are vapid, compared with the calm 
 terror of the following passage: 
 
 " While the house was on fire, everything was plundered 
 
296 MESSIAH. [NOTES. 
 
 that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were 
 caught were slain ; nor was there a commiseration of any 
 age or any reverence of gravity, but children, and old men, 
 and priests, were all slain in the same manner. Thejlame 
 was also carried a long way, and made an echo together with the 
 groans of those that were slain ; and because the hill was high, 
 and the works at the temple were very great, one would have 
 thought that the whole city had been on fire. Nor can we 
 imagine or conceive any greater or more terrible than this noise ; 
 for there was at once a shout of the Roman legions, who 
 were marching all together, and a sad clamour of the sedi- 
 tious, who were now surrounded by fire and sword. The 
 people made sad moans, at the calamity they were under ; 
 the multitude also that were in the city joined in this outcry 
 with those "that were on the hill ; and besides many of those 
 that were almost worn away by famine, and their mouths 
 almost closed, when they saw the fire of the Holy House, 
 they exerted their utmost strength, and brake out into groans 
 and outcries again. Perea did also return the echo as well as 
 the mountains round about the city, and augmented the force of 
 the entire noise ! Yet was the misery itself more terrible than 
 this disorder ; for one would have thought the hill itself on which 
 the temple stood was seething hot, as full of fire in every part of 
 it, that the blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those 
 that were slain more in number than those who slew them ; for 
 the ground did nowhere appear visible, for the dead bodies that 
 lay on it ; but the soldiers went over heaps of these bodies, as 
 they ran upon such as fled from them ! As for the priests, 
 some of them plucked up from the holy house the spikes that 
 were upon it, with their bases, which were made of lead, and 
 shot them at the Romans instead of darts. But then, as they 
 gained nothing by so doing, and as the fire burst out upon 
 them, they retired to the wall that was eight cubits broad, 
 and there they tarried. The soldiers were in such a rage, 
 that they set the cloister on fire, by which means it came to 
 pass that some of these were destroyed by throwing them- 
 selves down headlong, and some were burnt in the cloisters 
 themselves. Nor did any one of them escape with his life." 
 
NOTES TO BOOK VI. 
 
 NOTE 1, PAGE 190. 
 
 What alternation of eternal light, 
 And mortal dimness of a low estate. 
 
 THESE two natures are as causes and original grounds of all 
 things which Christ hath done. Wherefore some things he 
 doth as God, because his Deity alone is the well-spring from 
 which they flow ; some things, as man, because they issue 
 from his mere human nature ; some things jointly, as both 
 God and man, because both natures concur as principles 
 thereunto. Hooker's Eccl. Pol, vol. i. p. 209. 
 
 Salvas proprieta utriusque naturae, suscepta est a majestate 
 humilitas, et virtute infirmitas, ab seternitate mortalitas. 
 Leo, Epist. ad. Flav. 
 
 NOTE 2, PAGE 191. 
 
 parables, where Nature's self is judge. 
 And to the mind her silent cause commends. 
 
 Our Saviour, in all his parables, puts the case on the 
 charitable side, and makes the most favourable representation 
 of things which the matter will bear. In the parable of the 
 ten virgins, he supposes the number of the wise to be equal to 
 that of the foolish. In the parable of the lost sheep, he sup- 
 poses but one in a hundred to go astray ; and yet the Good 
 Shepherd is content to leave all the rest, and go in quest of 
 the single straggler. In the third place, there is an exact 
 decorum observed in all Christ's parables, and everything that 
 
298 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 is spoken is fitted to the character of the person who speaks 
 it, a beauty which the critics look upon as the greatest orna- 
 ment of a poem, and which of itself is sufficient to make it 
 heard or read with delight and admiration ; and therefore I 
 hope it may recommend our Saviour's parables to the nice 
 and delicate taste of our modern wits, who are apt to think 
 everything in Scripture so mean and flat, as not to be worth 
 their reading. Lowth, Div., p. 185. 
 
 NOTE 3, PAGE 192. 
 
 By pure magnificence of spirit raised 
 Above whatever Platonic vision shaped. 
 
 When Plato described his imaginary good man with all the 
 shame of guilt, yet meriting the high reward of virtue, he de- 
 scribes exactly the character of Jesus Christ. The resem- 
 blance is so striking that all the Christian Fathers described 
 it. JRous. 
 
 NOTE 4, PAGE 201. 
 
 The human with the God contends. 
 
 There was present before his eyes in that fearful hour, on 
 the one side, God's heavy indignation and wrath towards 
 mankind as yet unappeased, death as yet in full strength, 
 hell as yet never mastered by any that came within the con- 
 fines and bounds thereof, somewhat also, peradventure, more 
 than is either possible or needful for the wit of man to find 
 out ; finally, himself, flesh and blood, left alone to enter into 
 conflict with all these. Secondly, on the other side, a world 
 to be saved by One, a pacification of wrath through the dignity 
 of that sacrifice which should be offered, a conquest over 
 death, through the power of that Deity which would not 
 suffer the tabernacle thereof to see corruption, and an utter 
 disappointment of all the forces of infernal powers, through 
 the purity of that soul which they should have in their hands, 
 and not be able to touch. Hooker, Ecdes. Pol, vol. ii. p. 187. 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 299 
 
 NOTE 5, PAGE 204. 
 
 there, aloft upraised, 
 Their holy victim in the upper hall 
 His trial waiteth. 
 
 St. Luke is the only Evangelist who has preserved this 
 beautiful circumstance of Christ's turning and looking on 
 Peter. The members of the council, who sat in judgment on 
 Jesus, were placed at the upper end of the hall ; in the other 
 were the servants with Peter, at the fire ; so that Jesus, being 
 probably placed on some eminence, that his judges, who were 
 numerous, might see and hear him, could easily look towards 
 Peter, and observe him denying Him, and in passionate terms, 
 loud enough to be heard, perhaps, over all the place. Mttner's 
 Life and History of Christ, p. 294. 
 
 NOTE 6, PAGE 207. 
 But his hour had come. 
 
 In all this we observe a remarkable display of a particular 
 providence. It had been foretold that the Messiah should be 
 crucified ; but this could never have happened, if he had died 
 by the hands of the Jews, or for any offence against their law ; 
 for crucifixion was a mode of punishment customary with the 
 Romans, but not with the Jews. Dean Stanhope. 
 
 NOTE 7, PAGE 207. 
 
 and crown 
 Of platted thorns upon his temples pressed. 
 
 There still exists a plant in Palestine, known among bo- 
 tanists by the name of the " spina Christi" or thorn of Christ, 
 and supposed to be the shrub which afforded the crown worn 
 by our Saviour before his crucifixion. It must have been very 
 fit for the purpose, for it has many sharp prickles, well adapted 
 to give pain ; and as the leaves greatly resemble those of ivy, it 
 is not improbable that the enemies of the Messiah chose it from 
 
300 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 its similarity to the plant with which emperors and generals 
 are accustomed to be crowned ; and hence that there might 
 be calumny, insult, and derision meditated in the very act of 
 punishment. EusseWs Palestine, p. 448. 
 
 NOTE 8, PAGE 208. 
 
 When Time and Destiny were awed to hear 
 A man pronounce a verdict on a God ! 
 
 A kind of structure was erected, adjoining the palace, which 
 served instead of a tribunal or judgment-seat. This building, 
 called in the Hebrew, " Gabbatha" was finely paved with 
 small pieces of marble, of different colours, being always ex- 
 posed to the weather. Perhaps it resembled a stage, but 
 larger, open on all sides, and on one part of it a throne was 
 placed, whereon the governor sat to hear causes. One side of 
 this structure joined to the palace, and a door was made in the 
 wall, through which the governor passed to the tribunal. By 
 this contrivance the people might stand around the tribunal, 
 in the open air, hear and see the governor when he spake to 
 them from the pavement, and observed the administration of 
 justice without the danger of being defiled. Milner. 
 
 NOTE 9, PAGE 210. 
 
 and down the dizzy steep 
 Sank into darkness, and was seen no more. 
 
 After he had thus returned the wages of iniquity, he re- 
 tired to some lonely place, not far, perhaps, from the scene 
 of Peter's repentance, and in the frenzy of despair, and at 
 the instigation of the devil, hanged himself ; crowning with 
 suicide the murder of his master and his friend ; rejecting his 
 compassionate Saviour, and plunging his own soul into per- 
 dition ! In another place it is said, that " falling headlong, 
 he burst asunder, and all his bowels gushed out." (Acts, i. 
 18.) Both these accounts might be true ; he might first have 
 hanged himself from some tree on the edge of a precipice, 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 301 
 
 and the rope or branch breaking, he might be dashed to 
 pieces by the fall. Hole's New Analysis of Chronology, 
 vol. ii. book ii. p. 878. 
 
 Lightfoot's surmise is very eccentric on the manner of 
 Judas's death : " The devil, who dwelt in him, caught him 
 up on high, strangled him, and threw him down headlong, 
 so that, dashing upon the ground, he burst in the midst." 
 Talmudical Exercitation on St. Matthew. 
 
 NOTE 10, PAGE 2 10. 
 
 With his cross, 
 
 To Calvary the lacerated Christ 
 Is now ascending. 
 
 The form, then, of the cross on which our Saviour suffered, 
 was not a simple but a compounded figure, according to the 
 custom of the Romans, by whose procurator he was con- 
 demned to die : in which there was not only a straight and 
 erected piece of wood fixed in the earth, but also a transverse 
 beam fastened into that towards the top thereof : and beside 
 these two, cutting each other transversely at right angles, there 
 was also another piece of wood infixed into, and standing 
 out from, that which was erected, and stood straight up. 
 To that erected piece was His Body, being lifted up, ap- 
 plied, as Moses' serpent to the pole ; and to the transverse 
 beam his hands were nailed ; upon the lower part, coming 
 out from the erected piece, his sacred body rested, and his 
 feet were transfixed and fastened with nails ; his head, being 
 pressed with a crown of thorns, was applied to that part of 
 the erect which stood above the transverse beam ; and above 
 his head, to that was fastened the table, on which was written, 
 in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin characters, the accusation, ac- 
 cording to the Roman custom. The writing was " JESUS 
 OF NAZARETH, the King of the Jews." Pearson on the Creed, 
 fol. ed., pp. 203, 4. 
 
302 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 NOTE 11, PAGE 215. 
 
 in a shape of Light, 
 Triumphant over powers and thrones of hell. 
 
 As the souls at the hour of death are really separated from 
 the bodies, so the place where they are at rest or misery after 
 death is certainly distinct from the place in which they lived. 
 They continue not where they were at that instant when 
 the body was left without life ; they do not go together with 
 the body to the grave ; but as the sepulchre is appointed for 
 our flesh, so there is another receptacle, or habitation, or 
 mansion, for our spirits. From whence it followeth, that the 
 soul doth certainly pass by a real motion from that place in 
 which it did inform the body, and is translated to that place, 
 and unto that society, which God of his mercy or justice 
 allotted it. And, not at present to inquire into the difference 
 and distance of these several habitations, it will appear to 
 have been the general judgment of the Church, that the soul 
 of Christ, contradistinguished from his body, that better and 
 more noble part of his humanity, his rational and intellectual 
 soul, after a true and proper separation from his flesh, was 
 really and truly carried into those parts below, where the 
 souls of men before departed were detained ; and that by such 
 a real translation of his soul, he was truly said to have de- 
 scended into hell. Many have been the interpretations of the 
 opinions of the fathers made of late. The persons to whom, 
 and end for which, He descended, they differ in ; " but as to a 
 local descent into the infernal parts, they all agree" And this 
 leads me to the end which I conceive most conformable to the 
 words of the prophet, and least liable to question or objec- 
 tion that He might undergo the condition of a dead man as 
 well as of a living. He appeared here, that we might never 
 come into those torments, which are these : By his descent 
 he freed us from our fears, and by his ascension he secured 
 us of our hopes. He passed to those habitations where Satan 
 hath taken up possession, and exerciseth his dominion ; that, 
 having no power over him, we might be assured that he 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 303 
 
 should never exercise any over our souls departed, as belong- 
 ing unto them. Pearson. 
 
 NOTE 12, PAGE 223. 
 
 Lo ! again he came, 
 Inaudibly, within a chamber barr'd. 
 
 The circumstance of the doors being shut is very happily 
 mentioned by St. John ; because it suggests a reason why the 
 disciples took their Master for a spirit, notwithstanding many 
 of them were convinced he was really risen from the dead. 
 Milner. 
 
 NOTE 13, PAGE 226. 
 
 Baptizing stations in the mingled name 
 Of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 Among the Jews, the controversy was about the true Mes- 
 siah ; among the Gentiles, about the true God : it was, there- 
 fore, proper among the Jews to baptize in the name of Jesus, 
 that he might be vindicated to be the true Messias : among 
 the Gentiles, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, that they might be hereby instructed in the doctrine 
 of the true God. Lightfoofs Talmudical Exercit. 
 
 In the earlier part of his life, the sublime Milton thus apos- 
 trophizes the Trinity : 
 
 Thou, therefore, that sittest in light and glory unapproach- 
 able, Parent of angels and men ! Next Thee I implore, Omni- 
 potent King, Redeemer of that lost remnant, whose nature 
 thou didst assume, ineffable and everlasting Love ! And 
 Thou, the third subsistence of Divine infinitude, illumining 
 Spirit, the joy and solace of created things ! one Tripersonal 
 Godhead, look upon this thy poor and almost spent and ex- 
 piring Church. Milton, Prose Works, vol. i. p. 57. 
 
 NOTE 14, PAGE 228. 
 
 And then, is trackless in the empyrean depth 
 Evanish' d, mix'd ivithfar immensity ! 
 
 Ascension into heaven is a plain local translation of 
 Christ, according to his manhood, from the lower to the 
 
304 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 higher parts of the world. Session at the right hand of God 
 is the actual exercise of that regency and dominion, wherein 
 the manhood of Christ is joined and matched with the deity 
 of the Son of God. Not that his manhood was before without 
 the possession of the same power, but because the full use 
 thereof was suspended till that humility, which had been 
 before as a veil to hide and conceal majesty, were laid aside. 
 Hooker's Eccl. Pol., vol. ii. p. 225. 
 
 NOTE 15, PAGE 233. 
 
 Or creatures, such as once the mental eye 
 Of seraph-haunted Milton saw descend. 
 
 Symmons has finely remarked of Milton, (Vide Life, p. 
 526,) that he was " a man who, if he had been delegated as 
 the representative of his species to one of the superior worlds, 
 would have suggested a grand idea of the human race." In 
 tracing the history of his mighty spirit, we cannot but ob- 
 serve the majestic view which he entertained of the poetical 
 character. With him poetry was something more than 
 amusement or pleasure, it was a high and consecrated 
 energy, to be devoted to the mental elevation of mankind. 
 From dawning manhood, through all the progressive years 
 of his life, the master dream within was that which pre- 
 figured poetical greatness. In a Vacation Exercise, he con- 
 fesses a desire to 
 
 Above the wheeling poles, and at heaven's door 
 
 Look in, and see each blissful deity, 
 
 How he before the thund'rous throne doth lie." 
 
 And in a letter to Deodati, he says : " For a moment let 
 me talk proudly to you ; Do you ask me what is in my 
 thought So may God prosper me, as it is nothing less than 
 immortality !" And how often, in the barren wilds of poli- 
 tical-controversy, do paragraphs of surpassing beauty and 
 loveliness flower forth, and evince the ruling purpose of the 
 soul. Never did he forget the " destiny divine" which awaited 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 305 
 
 him in the completion of a work. " Not to be obtained by 
 the invocation of Dame Memory and her stern daughters, 
 but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, who can enrich 
 with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out His Sera- 
 phim with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify 
 the lips of whom he pleases : then, amidst the hymns and 
 hallelujahs of saints, some one, perhaps, may be hearjd offer- 
 ing at high strains, in new and lofty measures, to sing and 
 celebrate the divine mercies and marvellous judgments in this 
 land throughout all ages." * 
 
 NOTE 16, PAGE 233. 
 
 Dark Spirit, whose unquiet shade 
 Our fancy visions in reflected gloom. 
 
 The reader is referred to one of Chalmers's sermons for 
 some noble remarks on the sadness and darkness of the 
 human soul ; and the gloomy atmosphere in which our spirits 
 so often delight to shape their fancies, and converse with 
 futurity. Was not Young sincere when he penned the fol- 
 lowing passage, that resembles the mighty and mysterious 
 anguish which the Greek choruses develop ? " The number- 
 less pains of body and mind ; the dark solemn approaches to, 
 or dismal vestibules of the grave, as well as opening graves 
 themselves, are so thickly scattered over the face of the earth, 
 that an unpetrified heart cannot look round without feeling 
 an inevitable damp, and general disconsolation ; and venting 
 a sigh universal for the whole family of Adam. Nothing but 
 strong faith in eternal life could hinder tears from bursting 
 over it : nor are tears too much, for sympathy is the chief 
 duty of human life." 
 
 * How minute are the links in that chain of events which compose a 
 life, and yet how important ! If the act of oblivion (on the accession 
 of Charles II.) had excepted Milton, or if he had not been concealed ia 
 St. Bartholomew's Close, we could not have boasted a " Paradise Lost." 
 Sir W. Davenant was the means of saving Milton by his interposition, 
 D D 2 
 
306 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 Schlegel has philosophically analyzed this propensity to 
 sadness in the human mind, which neither the brightness of 
 the world nor the pert laugh of pretended stoicism can 
 entirely overcome. 
 
 " To man alone, of all animals with which we are ac- 
 quainted, is it permitted to look back towards the past, and 
 forward into futurity ; and he has purchased this noble privi- 
 lege at a dear rate. The desire for what is infinite which 
 dwells in our being, is thwarted by the limits of the finite by 
 which we are fettered. All that we do, all that we effect, is 
 vain and perishable ; death stands everywhere in the back- 
 ground, and every good or ill spent moment brings us in 
 closer contact with him. There is no bond of love without 
 repentance, no enjoyment without grief for its loss ! When 
 we contemplate, however, the relations of our existence to 
 the extreme limit of possibilities ; when we consider that we 
 are exposed, in our weak, helpless state, to struggle with the 
 immeasurable powers of Nature, with conflicting desires on the 
 shores of an unknown world, and in danger of shipwreck at 
 our very birth : that in our passions we carry our enemy in 
 our bosom ; that every moment demands from us the sacri- 
 fice of our dearest inclinations, in the name of our most 
 sacred duties ; then every mind, which is not dead to feeling, 
 must be overpowered by an inexpressible melancholy, against 
 which there is no other protection than the consciousness of a 
 destiny soaring above this earthly life" W. Schlegel' s Lec- 
 tures, p. 42. 
 
 NOTE 17, PAGE 234. 
 
 For self has overshadowed Deity 
 In dread oblivion ! 
 
 What is wanting at the present era is, an insurrection 
 against egotism ; for the moral virtue of each individual is 
 found to centre in his own personal interest. De Stael. 
 
 May we not subscribe also to the truth of another observa- 
 tion by the same illustrious thinker " Tous les vices se 
 coaliscent, tous les talens devraient se rapprocher !" 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 307 
 
 NOTE 18, PAGE 235. 
 
 thy glorious aim, 
 
 Like true Religion's, is to lead us back 
 From recreant darkness to primeval bliss. 
 
 Lord Bacon relates, that a noble somebody, on being asked 
 his opinion of poets, replied, that " next to prose writers, they 
 were the best going !" But the philosopher himself took a 
 high view of poetry, and has thus recorded it : " The use of 
 this feigned history* hath been to give some satisfaction to 
 the mind of man in those points wherein the nature of things 
 doth deny it, the world being, in proportion, inferior to the 
 soul ; by reason whereof there is, agreeable to the spirit of 
 man, a more ample greatness, a more exact goodness, and a 
 more absolute variety, than can be found in the nature of 
 things. Therefore, because the acts or events of true history 
 have not that magnitude which satisfieth the mind of man, 
 poesy feigneth acts and events greater and more heroical : 
 so it appeareth that poesy serveth to and conferreth to mag- 
 nanimity, morality, and delectation. And, therefore, it was 
 ever thought to have some participation of divineness, be- 
 cause it doth raise and erect the mind, by submitting the 
 shows of things to the desires of the mind, whereas reason 
 doth buckle and bow the mind unto the nature of things ; to 
 ascribe unto it that which is due for the expression of affec- 
 tions, passions, corruptions, and customs, we are beholden to 
 poets' more than to philosophers' works ; and for wit and 
 eloquence, not much less than to orators' harangues." 
 Advancement of Learning, p. 8891. 
 
 * II y a toujours dans les fictions poetiques une sorte de logique 
 cachee: elles doivent tre en accord avec elles-m^mes; le beau est 
 I'image du vrai ; la coordination des idees precede et prepare leur 
 analyse. Les conceptions pottiques exercent au plus haut degr les 
 forces actives de 1'esprit ; elles le diligent a la recherche de cet iddal qui 
 est aussi & plusieurs egards le type des speculations philosophiques. 
 Degerando's Systcmes de Philosophic, vol. i. p. 380, 2nd edit. 
 
308 MESSIAH. [NOTES, 
 
 NOTE 19, PAGE 237. 
 
 And since the spirit with the flesh doth war, 
 And life is oft an agonizing thirst 
 Which nothing visible can tame or cool. 
 
 Among the Greeks, human nature was in itself all-suffi- 
 cient ; they were conscious of no wants, and aspired at no 
 higher perfection than that which they could actually ohtain 
 by the exercise of their own faculties. We, however, are 
 taught by superior wisdom, that man, through a high 
 offence, forfeited the place for which he was originally des- 
 tined. The religion of the senses had only in view the pos- 
 session of outward and perishable blessings. The very reverse 
 of all this is the case with the Christian ; every finite and mortal 
 object is lo'st in the contemplation of infinity ; life has become 
 shadow and darkness, and the first dawning of our real exist- 
 ence opens in a world beyond the grave. The soul, resting, as 
 it were, under the willows of exile, breathes out its longing 
 for its distant home. Hence, the poetry of the ancients was 
 the poetry of enjoyment, and ours that of desire ; the former 
 has its foundation in the scene which is present, while the 
 latter hovers betwixt recollection and hope. W. SchlegeL 
 
 NOTE 20, PAGE 238. 
 
 And though that hour, for resurrection doomed, 
 Be hidden, shrouded from angelic mind. 
 
 For aught we know, the soul may remain combined with a 
 portion of matter 1 ess than the ten thousandth part of the minutest 
 particle that was ever perceived by our senses ; since great or 
 small is only relative. All that we can be sure of is, that if 
 the soul be wholly disengaged from matter, and yet shall 
 enjoy consciousness and activity, it must be in some quite 
 different manner from that in which we now enjoy them ; if, 
 on the other hand, the soul remains inert and unconscious 
 
BOOK VI.] MESSIAH. 309 
 
 (as it does with respect to the seeing faculty for instance, 
 when the eyes are closed, or blinded,) till its re-union with 
 matter, the moment of our sinking into this state of uncon- 
 sciousness will appear to us to be instantly succeeded by that 
 of our awaking from it, even though twenty centuries may 
 have intervened of which one may convince himself by a few 
 moments' reflection. Whatelys Essay on a Future State, 
 Note B, page 29. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 T. C. Savill, Printer, 107, St. Martin's- Lane. 
 
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