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50 ENTRANCE OF SATAN INTO PARADISE.

Their seasons: among these the seat of men,
Earth with her nether ocean circumfused,
Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy men,
And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanced!
Created in his image there to dwell

And worship him; and in reward to rule
Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air,
And multiply a race of worshippers

Holy and just: thrice happy, if they know
Their happiness, and persevere upright!"
So sung they, and the empyrean rung

With halleluiahs: thus was the Sabbath kept.

MILTON.

ENTRANCE OF SATAN INTO PARADISE.

So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,
Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,
As with a rural mound, the champaign head
Of a steep wilderness; whose hairy sides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque, and wild,
Access denied; and over head up-grew
Insuperable height of loftiest shade,

Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching-palm,
A sylvan scene! and as the ranks ascend
Shade above shade, a woody theatre

Of stateliest view. Yet higher then their tops
The verdurous wall of Paradise up-sprung,
Which to our general sire gave prospect large
Into his nether empire, neighbouring round.
And higher than that wall a circling row
Of goodliest trees. loaden with fairest fruit,

Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
Appear'd, with gay enamel'd colours mix'd,
On which the sun more glad impress'd his beams
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath shower'd the earth; so lovely seem'd
That landscape! and of pure now purer air
Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight, and joy, able to drive
All sadness but despair: now gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils.

Now to th' ascent of that steep savage hill
Satan had journey'd on, pensive, and slow;
But further way found none, so thick entwined,
As one continued brake, the undergrowth
Of shrubs, and tangling bushes, had perplex'd
All path of man or beast that pass'd that way:
One gate there only was, and that look'd East
On th' other side: which when the arch-felon saw,
Due entrance he disdain'd, and in contempt,
At one slight bound high over-leap'd all bound
Of hill, or highest wall, and sheer within
Lights on his feet.

MILTON.

CHARACTER OF ADAM.

WITH him his noblest sons might not compare
In god-like features and majestic air;
Not out of weakness rose his gradual frame,
Perfect from his Creator's hand he came;

And as in form excelling, so in mind
The Sire of men transcended all mankind:
A soul was in his eye, and in his speech
A dialect of heaven no art could reach;
For oft of old to him the evening breeze
Had borne the voice of God among the trees;
Angels were wont their song with his to blend,
And talk with him as their familiar friend.
But deep remorse for that mysterious crime,
Whose dire contagion through elapsing time
Diffused the curse of death beyond control,
Had wrought such self-abasement in his soul,
That he, whose honours were approach'd by none,
Was yet the meekest man beneath the sun.
From sin, as from the serpent that betray'd
Eve's early innocence, he shrunk afraid;
Vice he rebuked with so austere a frown,
He seem'd to bring an instant judgment down;
Yet while he chid, compunctuous tears would start,
And yearning tenderness dissolve his heart;
The guilt of all his race became his own,
He suffer'd as if he had sinn'd alone.
Within our glen to filial love endear'd,
Abroad for wisdom, truth, and justice fear'd,
He walk'd so humbly in the sight of all,
The vilest ne'er reproach'd him with his fall.
Children were his delight;-they ran to meet
His soothing hand, and clasp his honour'd feet:
While midst their fearless sports supremely blest,
He grew in heart a child among the rest;
Yet as a parent, nought beneath the sky
Touch'd him so quickly as an infant's eye;
Joy from its smile of happiness he caught,
Its flash of rage sent horror through his thought.

His smitten conscience felt as fierce a pain,
As if he fell from innocence again.

MONTGOMERY.

PROGRESS OF GOSPEL TRUTH.

LET THERE BE LIGHT!-God said—and light be

came

A type of truth; and-What is truth? has been
The cry from that sad hour when Babel rose
Presumptuous to the stars, even to the time
The Governor did question Truth himself,
Yet waited not for answer. What is truth?
Millions upon millions still have ask'd
From age to age-and bigot creed on creed,
And pomp and ceremony, and show and form,
Have risen in replication. Here is truth!
Cried out the necromantic minds that ruled
Amid the gaunt and giant pyramids ;
When, in defiance of eternity,

Their spiky tops first pierced the clouds of heaven;
And from their shadows darkening the broad Nile,
Arose to shackle men, dread Osiris!

Like a magician with a hell-smoke bound,
Or solemn Isis, the dark ancient one,
Whose midnight veil of mystery no hand
E'er raised; and she stalk'd on through time
In her thick panoply of darkness, arm'd
Against the piercing looks of the roused mind,
Chilling all bosoms with her horrid air
And undiscover'd features. Here is truth!
Cried out aloud ten thousand oracles

From Babylon, and Tyre, and Nineveh,
Thebes and Ephesus, Athens and Rome,
And with the bleeding entrails of slain beasts
Twined round their arms, augurs and arch-flamen,
The Pythia and Haruspex enslaved

By darksome sayings, and dread words, the minds
Of kings, and ruled the destinies of men

And empires-while the Thunderer, dread Jove, Went eagle-like before mail'd hosts, and war Became an attribute of God! and strife

And massacre, an appetite and love

In man, and murder was a virtue !-Pomp

And power, and glory, sacerdotal pride,
The damning passions all let loose, like fiends,
Ran ravenous through the maniac earth,and brought
Old chaos back again upon the heart;
And rank confusion, tumult, havoc, death,
Reigned on through the mind's darkness.

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

God said again—and then did Light and TRUTH*
Come o'er the gloom of the chaotic breast,
Like Him that bore the bow, and went forth proud,
Both conquering and to conquer. As the shaft
That takes the light'ning for its pinion, He
Plunged forth upon his pure and milk-white steed-
Stern righteousness!-yet went not forth to tread
Down the high pride of kingdoms, or to crush
The might of empires-or to lay the stone
Of desolation in the heart of cities-

But in the heart of man-to light the brand
Of devastation in its citadel,

Revelation vi.

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