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 CALVARY 
 
 THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 
 A POEM, 
 
 I N E IGHT BOOKS. 
 
 BY RICHARD 'CUMBERLAND. 
 
 SEVENTH EDITION, 
 
 VOL. IT. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 LACKINGTON, ALLEN, AND CO, 
 
 TEMPLE OF THE aiUSES, 
 FINSBURY-SQUARE. 
 
 1810. 
 
Harding and Wright, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 
 
■^ NOV 3 3 1025 
 '1 * 
 
 CALVARY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 This Book, proposing to treat of the trial and condemnation 
 of Christ, opens with an invocation to the Evangelists, 
 the sacred historians of that event Christ, brought be- 
 fore the priests and elders in council, accused by the wit- 
 nesses, interrogated by Caiaphas, persists in keeping si- 
 lence, till being solemnly called upon to declare himself, 
 he answers by an affirmation of the truth... .Instantly all 
 voices are let loose upon him, accusing him of blasphemy 
 and pronouncing him worthy of death:. ...He is delivered 
 
 over to mockery and insult The Jews resolve to arraign 
 
 him before Pilate on the following morning He tunis 
 
 and looks upon Peter, who according to prediction had 
 three several times denied him The sorrow and con- 
 trition of that Disciple is described ; he retires apart to 
 
 bewail his crime and supplicate forgiveness His prayer 
 
 and confession in the temple-porch The council of the 
 
 Jews resort to Pilate next nwrning and appeal against 
 Christ:, ...He informs them that by the Roman law no 
 judgment can be given till tlie accused is confronted with 
 
 his accusers, and heard in his defence Now commences 
 
 the trial of Christ before Pilate, who, finding nothing 
 worthy of death in that just Person, refers him to Herod 
 
 as belonging to his jurisdiction Herod, after mocking 
 
 him, arrays him in a gorgeous robe, and in that apparel 
 
 sends him back to Pilate He again appears in the 
 
 judgment-hall before Pilate, who after many fruitless 
 efforts to save him, the Jews still urging him by their 
 clamorous importunity to crucify him, finding no other 
 way to preventa tumult of the people, after declaring him- 
 .self innocent of the blood of Jesus by the ceremony of 
 washing his hands before the multitude, delivers him to be 
 crucified. 
 
CALVARY. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 THE CONDEMNATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 1 E sacred Guides, whose plain unvarnish'd page, 
 Penn'd by the hand of Truth, records the scene, 
 Where Christ before the bar of impious men. 
 Patient of all their scorn, arraign'd, betray'd 
 And of his own abandon' d, silent stands, 5 
 
 You I invoke ; so from the same pure source, 
 Whence my faith flows, shall also flow my song. 
 Not idly babbling, like that shallow rill 
 Trickling at foot of the Parnassian Mount, 
 But deep, serene, to hallow'd airs attun'd : 10 
 Aid me from Heav'n,where now before God's throne 
 In evangelic attributes ye stand 
 
 VOL. II. B Six- 
 
6 CALVARY. 
 
 Six-wing'd and thick bespangled o'er with eyes, 
 Ranging all points before you and behind, 
 Seraphic minstrels, chanting day and night IS 
 
 Your ceaseless hallelujahs to the name 
 Of Him, who was and is and is to come. 
 Led by your hand with trembling step I press 
 The sacred ground, which my P^edeemer trode, 
 Now like a lamb to slaughter led, and now 20 
 Pendent, Oh horror ! on the bloody tree ; 
 And whilst to tell his sacrifice of Iotc, 
 His soul-dissolving agonies I strive. 
 My heart melts into sorrows deep as those, 
 When the sad daughters of Jerusalem 25 
 
 Water'd his passage to the cross with tears. 
 
 Musing my pious theme, as fits a bard 
 Far onward in the wint'ry track of age, 
 I shun the Muses haunts, nor dalliance hold 
 With fancy by the way, but travel on 30 
 
 My mournful road, a pilgrim grey with years ; 
 
 One 
 
BOOK V, 7 
 
 One that finds little favor with the World, 
 Yet thankful for its least benevolence 
 And patient of its taunts ; for never yet 
 Lur'd I the popii'Iar ear with gibing tales, 25 
 Or sacrific'd the modesty of song, 
 Harping lewd madrigals at drunken feasts 
 To make the vulgar sport and win their shout. 
 Me rather the still voice delights, the praise 
 Whisper'd, not publish'd by fame's braying trump : 
 Be thou my herald, Nature ! Let me please 41 
 The sacred few, let my remembrance live 
 Embo&om'd by the virtuous and the wise ; 
 Make me, O Heav'n ! hy those, who love thee, lov'd: 
 So when the widow's and the children's tears 45 
 Shall sprinkle the cold dust, in which I sleep 
 Pompless and from a scornful world withdrawn, 
 The laurel, which its malice rent, shall shoot 
 So water'd into life, and mantling throw 
 Its verdant honors o'er my grassy tomb. 5Q 
 
 B 2 Here 
 
8 CALVARY. 
 
 Here in mid- way of my unfinished course, 
 Doubtful of future time whilst now I pause 
 To fetch new breath and trim my waining lamp, 
 Fountain of Life, if I have still ador'd 
 Thy mercy and remember' d Thee with awe 55 
 Ev'n in my mirth, in the gay prime of youth— 
 So conscience witnesses, the mental scribe. 
 That registers my errors, quits me here — 
 Propitious Pow'r, support me I and if death, 
 Near at the farthest, meditates the blow 60 
 
 To cut me short in my prevented task, 
 Spare me a little, and put by the stroke. 
 Till I recount his overthrow and hail 
 Thy Son victorious rising from the grave. 
 
 Now to that dismal scene return, my thoughts I 65 
 Where Christ in midst of an irreverent crew, 
 Usher'd by torches through the darkling streets, 
 And now at summit of the holy Mount 
 Arriv'd, before the pontiiF's lofty gate, 
 
 Waiting 
 
BOOK V. g 
 
 Waiting the call of impious pride, attends. 70 
 
 The halls and lobbies vomit forth a swarm 
 
 Of saucy seryitors with ideot stare 
 
 Gazing the wond'rous Man, and venting loud 
 
 Their coward mockeries : He stands unmov'd. 
 
 Great is the stir within, and on the post 75 
 
 Through all the palace runs the buzzing news 
 
 Of this great Prophet's capture, circling round 
 
 With ever new enlargement of strange sights 
 
 And fearful doings in the garden seen 
 
 Of those who took him. Caiaphas meanwhile 80 
 
 Summons the Temple-chiefs, elders and scribes, 
 
 A hasty Sanhedrim : No longer now 
 
 With stately step in measur'd pace they march ; 
 
 Huddled together by their fears tKey flock. 
 
 They cluster in a throng, safest so deem'd, 85 
 
 And fill the council seats. In speech abrupt 
 
 And brief their hierarch the cause expounds 
 
 Of their so sudden meeting — Christ is seiz'd, 
 
 The 
 
16' CALVARY. 
 
 The prophet, whom they dreaded, is in hold, 
 Th» Enchanter, who by league with Belzebub 90 
 Scar'd them with magic spells, is at their door ; 
 Now is the time to put his art to proof. 
 Now is the moment to decide if thus 
 Their unreveal'd Messias shall appear 
 After long promise in this abject state 95 
 
 A shackled pris'ner, or a conquering king. 
 Admit him ! with faint voice some two or three 
 Of the least timorous cry. — Behold, he comes I 
 The rabble throng rush in, and at the bar 
 Of the immur'd divan present him bound 100 
 
 With cords, his raiment soil'd with hands profane, 
 His head uncover'd and his sacred locks 
 By the rude winds and ruder men despoil'd 
 Of their propriety, dishevell'd, spread 
 Like shatter' d fragments on the branching top 105 
 Of piny Lebanon after a storm. 
 Silericeaow reign'd,the roar of tongues was hush'd. 
 
 And 
 
BOOK V. 11 
 
 And expectation with suspended breath 
 
 Sate watchful when some sign or word of power 
 
 Should in a miracle break forth upon them. 110 
 
 None such that patient Sufferer vouchsaf'd, 
 
 Nor menace nor complaint his eye bespake, 
 
 But meek serene composure. Noting this, 
 
 As cowards out of danger loudest vaunt, 
 
 The council now took heart : Then soon were heard 
 
 The lying tongues of witnesses suborn'd 116 
 
 Various and loud ; but these no order kept ; 
 
 Falsehood with falsehood clash'd, and each to each 
 
 Irreconcileable, as all to truth : 
 
 Shame held the council mute, for vilest hearts, 120 
 
 Cloak'd in the robes of judgment, will affect 
 
 Some outward shew of what they ought to be, 
 
 Then most malicious when most seeming just. 
 
 Confusion now ensu'd and perjury 
 
 In its own labyrinth had lost itself, 125 
 
 When some of graver note within the pale 
 
 Of 
 
12 CALVARlf. 
 
 Of justice seated, but far thence removed 
 In conscience and in heart, started new charge, 
 Averring they had heard the Pris'ner say — 
 I will destroy this temple made with hands, 130 
 And within three days will another build [urg'd. 
 Made without hands. — The charge was gravely 
 And, colour'd to the semblance of a plot, 
 Breath'd sacrilegious menace to God's house. 
 Fit matter for descant pontifical : 135 
 
 When Caiaphas, as foremost in degree 
 So first to sound forth danger and affix 
 Solemnity to malice, from his state 
 With magisterial dignity arose, 
 And sternly fixing on the face divine 140 
 
 His eye inquisitorial, thus began. [charge 
 
 Hear'st thou what these alledge ? The words in 
 Stand witness'd by these present : Face to face 
 Th' accusers they and thou th' accused meet : 
 Justice is open. What is thy defence ? 145 
 
 Answerest 
 
BOOK V. 13 
 
 Answerest thou nothing ? — Nothing answered he. 
 But as a lamb before its shearers mute 
 He open'd not his mouth ; the mystery couch'd 
 Under those words, prophetic of his death 
 And following resurrection, to expound 150 
 
 To their perverted minds beseem' d not him, 
 Searcher of hearts and Savior of mankind : 
 Silent not pertinacious he endur'd 
 Their scorn, nor did his meek demeanour shew 
 More than the dignity of conscious truth, 155 
 
 Which knows itself prejudg'd and scorns a plea. 
 But Caiaphas, who brook'd not this repulse, 
 And still occasion sought from his own lips 
 By subtlety to' ensnare him, thus re-urg'd 
 Question with solemn adjuration back'd. 160 
 
 Hear me, thou man accus'd, and answer make 
 I do adjure thee by the living God 
 To what I now demand. Art thou the Christ, 
 The very Christ, Son of th' eternal God, 
 
 Or 
 
14 CALVAllV. 
 
 Or art thou not ? Resolve us who thou art ! 165 
 
 Then Jesus by this solemn adjuration urg'd^ 
 Lifting his eyes to heav'n in mute appeal. 
 Whilst all his Father's virtue in his face 
 Effulgent beam'd, these glorious words pronounc'd; 
 Hear them, O heav'n, and Oh ! record them, earth. 
 Write them, ye mortals, on your hearts— lam, 171 
 I am the Christ ; all that you ask I am : 
 And ye shall see me coming in the clouds 
 Of heav'n, enthron'dat the right hand of Power. 
 
 As when on rapine bent a savage horde 175 
 Arab or Indian, in some sandy dell 
 Or by the sedgy lake in ambush lodg'd. 
 Upon the watch-word by their leader giv'n 
 Leap from their treach'rous lair with sudden yell 
 And bloody weapons waving to surprize 180 
 
 And overpower th' unguarded traveller. 
 Fatally trapp'd into their murderous snare ; 
 So at the signal of their priestly chief 
 
 Uprose 
 
BOOK V. 15 
 
 Uprose the dire divan with rushing sound, 
 
 Like roar of distant waters. Terror-struck, 185 
 
 Frantic as Bromius, with furious hands 
 
 Th' enthusiastic hierarch seiz'd his robes, 
 
 And into tatters like a cancell'd scroll 
 
 Tore them, exclaiming vehement and loud 189 
 
 That all might hear — What need of further proof ? 
 
 Ye' have heard his blasphemy. How think ye, sirs ? 
 
 What may such crime deserve ? Th' infuriate priests 
 
 Seiz'd by like phrensy with one voice pronounce — 
 
 Death be his sentence ! — Death through all the hall 
 
 Rebounding echoes back th' accurs'd decree. 195 
 
 Horrible sentence ! Murder hatch' d in hell ; 
 
 Libation for the fiends ! Daemons, on you 
 
 And on your generations to all time 
 
 His righteous blood shall rest. Now uproar wild 
 
 And horrid din succeeds ; The scoffing crowd WO 
 
 Rush to the bar, so privileg'd, and there 
 
 With scurril taunts and blasphemies revile 
 
 The 
 
16 CALVARY. 
 
 The patient Son of God. Oh thought of horror ! 
 The Savior of mankind revil'd by man, 
 The Just by th' unjust ! Others more profane 205 
 Vent their vile rheum upon his sacred face, 
 Or smite him "with their palms, then gibing cry — 
 Tell us who smote thee; prophesy, thou Christ ! 
 Monsters, that Christ hath prophesied, your 
 Already by that Prophet is pronounced, [doom 
 The lips you strike have utter'd it : Behold ! 211 
 Jerusalem is fall'n, her tow'rs are dust, 
 Your city smokes in ruin : Lo ! what piles 
 Of mangled carcases ; what horrid scenes 
 Of violated matrons : Hark! what screams 215 
 Of infants butcher'd in their mothers arms ; 
 And look ! your temple blazes to the sky ; 
 Its beams of cedar overlaid with gold. 
 Its fretted roof with carvings rich emboss'd, 
 And all its glorious splendor feeds the flames 220 
 Insatiate ; mark how high their serpent spires 
 
 Hissing 
 
BOOK V. 17 
 
 Hissing ascend : God fans them in his ire ? 
 Thither the wild beasts of the desart hie, 
 There carrion owls by midnight haunt, there dwells 
 The dragon, and the satyrs dance : 'Tis done ! 225 
 That prophecy is seal'd. There yet remains 
 An awful consummation unreveal'd, 
 Till God shall gather up your scattered race 
 Still yagrant o'er th' inhospitable earth. 
 Ah ! wretched people, broken and dispersed, 230 
 Did ye preserve the oracles of God 
 But to convict your own obduracy ? 
 Sad nation, on whose neck the iron yoke 
 Of persecution hard, too hard, hath lain. 
 And jet lies heavy, will ye not accept 235 
 
 A High Priest, holy, harmless, undefil'd. 
 From iinners separate and exalted high 
 Above the heavens ? And do ye not perceive 
 The word of Jesus in yourselves fulfill'd ? 
 Rue then the prophecy, which you provok'd, 240 
 
 Of 
 
18 CALVARY. 
 
 Of faithless fathers ye still faithless sons ! 
 Whilst shuddering I recount the impious taunts 
 Of that blaspheming rout : But neither taunts 
 Nor violence could shake the Savior's peace ; 
 He in his own pure spi'rit collected stood, 245 
 Nor of their base revilings took account. 
 
 'Twas now that Christ, knowing himself denied 
 Three times of Peter, turn'd and look'd upon him. 
 He from the garden, where his Lord was seiz'd. 
 Following at distance Judas and his band, 250 
 Had kept his eye upon their moving fires. 
 And up the sacred mount pursued their track. 
 Till at the palace-door he stood and sought 
 Admission with the crowd ; when there behold ! 
 A damsel at the portal scans him o'er 255 
 
 With scrutinizing eye and strait exclaims — 
 Thou too wert in this Galilean's train ; 
 Thou art of Jesus. — Sudden to his heart 
 The coward tremor runs and there suggests 
 
 Thf^ 
 
BOOK y. 19 
 
 The fear-conceived lye ; before them all 260 
 
 With confidence to falsehood ill applied— 
 I know not what thou say'st — he strait avers, 
 And to the porch goes forth : There in his ear 
 The cock his first shrill warning gives and sings 
 The knell of constancy's predicted breach, 265 
 Of constancy, alas! too strongly vouch'd 
 By him in rash and over-weening zeal, 
 Boasting like martyrdom with Christ himself, 
 Sole sacrifice appointed for mankind. 
 But he, though of presumption warn'd, by fear 270 
 Still haunted and the guilty dread of deatli, 
 Strait to a second questioner replies — 
 I do not know the man —and to engage 
 Belief, binds down the falsehood with an oath, 
 Fatal appeal to Heav'n ! insult to God 275 
 
 And His all-righteous ears ! Is this the man. 
 Who with such glowing ardor self-assur'd— 
 Though all shall be offended, I will not — 
 
 Proudly 
 
20 CALVARY. 
 
 Proudly averr'd, and for that pride reprov'd — 
 Though I should die with thee, dauntless rejoin'd, 
 Yet will I not deny thee — ? Man, weak man, 281 
 Pride was not made for thee. If Peter fell 
 Presuming, who shall say, Behold ! I stand 
 In my own strength nor ask support of God ? 
 And now, as if devoted to his shame, 285 
 
 Curious to pry, yet fearful to be seen, 
 He mixes with the throng that crowd the hall ; 
 And there once more is challenged for his speech. 
 As savo'ring of the Galilean phrase ; 
 Then with reiterated oaths abjures 290 
 
 His Master the third time ; when hark ! again 
 The cock's loud signal echoes back the lye 
 In his convicted ear ; the prophet bird 
 Strains his recording throat, and up to heav'n 
 Trumpets the trebled perjury and claps 295 
 
 His wings in triumph o'er presumption's fall. 
 Oh ! fall'n how low, is this thy promised faith, 
 
 Favor'd 
 
BOOK V. 21 
 
 Favor'd of Christ so highly ? Know'st thou not. 
 Disciple, thine own Lord ? or know'st him only 
 In safety, in prosperity, in power, 300 
 
 For thine own selfish ends, a summer guest, 
 Prone to desert him in the win'try hour 
 Of tribulation, poverty and woe ? 
 Is thy frail memory of that slippery stuff, 
 That a friend's sorrow washes out all trace 305 
 Of a friend's features ! Look upon his eyes 
 Behold, they turn on thee : Them dost thou know? 
 Their language canst thou read and from them draw 
 The conscious reminiscence thou disown'st ? 
 Mark, is their sweetness lost ? Ah ! no ; they beam 
 Celestial grace, a sanctity of soul 311 
 
 So melting soft with pity, such a gleam 
 Of love divine attemp' ring mild reproof, 
 Where is the man, that to obtain that eye 
 Of mercy on his sins woald not forego 31 5 
 
 Life's dearest comforts to embrace such hope ? 
 VOL. II. c O death, 
 
22 CALVARY. 
 
 O death, death ! where would be thy sting, or where 
 These awful tremblings, which thy coming stirs 
 In my too conscious breast, might I aspire 
 To hope my Judge would greet me with that look ? 
 Vaunt not yourselves, ye scorners, nor exult 321 
 In this recital of a good man's fall, 
 Faithful historian of his own offence : 
 But rather let it physic your proud spleen 
 To mark how mean, prevaricating, false 325 
 
 And despicable a vain-glorious man. 
 Peter's denial, David's heinous sin, 
 And all the guilty lapses of man's heart, 
 Though summ'd together into one account, - 
 Each spot and blemish malice can search out 330 
 To tarnish the fair lustre of a name. 
 Stand but as lessons of humility, 
 Warnings of frailty to o'er-weening man ; 
 And if our mournful page hath now set forth 
 The fall af virtue, let it next record 335 
 
 Its 
 
BOOK V. 23 
 
 Its glorious resurrection : We have shewn 
 The* offender in his shame, what now remains 
 But to display the penitent ? Behold ! 
 Abash'd he stands bath'd in remorseful tears : 
 One glance from his beloved Master's eye, 340 
 Like Nathan's parable, hath rous'd from sleep 
 His drowsy conscience. Mark, where he retires 
 To weep in solitude and purge his heart 
 By sorrowful repentance of its guilt. 
 O Peter, could my verse fit offering make, 345 
 That verse should be bestow' d upon thy tears. 
 
 Now the assembled elders and their chief. 
 After short consultation had, resolve 
 With the next dawn of morning to arraign 
 Their Prisoner at the praetorian bar J50 
 
 Of Pilate, procurator for the state 
 Imperial of Rome and Caesar ; he 
 Held judgment sovereign of life and death 
 In tributary Jewry, judge corrupt, 
 
 c 2 And 
 
24 CALVARY. 
 
 And like Rome's venal emissaries prone 355 
 
 To every sordid purpose ; train'd in blood 
 And for tribunal bloody therefore fit. 
 
 Meanwhile forth issuing from the fatal hall, 
 Scene of his shame, the sad Disciple took 
 His pensive way across the temple-court 360 
 
 Silent and solitary, seeking where 
 To' unbosom his full sorrows and give up 
 His soul to pray'r, and pardon seek of God 
 For his revolt. Pale through night's curtain gleam'd 
 By fits the lunar intermittent ray, 365 
 
 That quiv'ring serv'd to light his lonely steps 
 To the fair gate call'd Beautiful, whose porch 
 High over-arch'd, on writhed columns propp'd 
 Of spiral brass convolv'd, was for its shade 
 Of Christ and his Disciples much in quest. 370 
 
 Hither he came, and falling on his knees, 
 Like the' humble publican smote on his breast, 
 And this confession self-accusing made. 
 
 Here 
 
BOOK y. 25 
 
 Here let me fall and in repentant tears 
 Weep out my soul upon these piti'less stones, 375 
 Made sacred by His steps, whose awful name 
 Thrice blasphem'd, thrice abjur'd, I dare not speak, 
 Though in my supplication. Can I say, 
 Spare me, O God of mercy ? Can I ask 
 Pardon of God, unpardoned of myself ? 380 
 
 Oh ! wretched recreant creature as I am, 
 What shall redeem me from this misery, 
 And reconcile my conscience to itself, 
 A perjur'd conscience ? Never more can peace 
 Dwell in this bosom ; never can my soul 385 
 
 Ascend out of the dust, or lift a thought 
 In hope tow'rds heav'n. With Judas let me dwell, 
 Colleague in treason ; with his sin my sin 
 In the' execration of all time be link'd. 
 Or shall I ^(enture to look up and say, 390 
 
 O God, behold a wretch, who dares not sue 
 For mercy but for mitigated wrath, 
 
 For 
 
26 CALVARV. 
 
 For punishment proportion'd to my bearing, 
 
 Protracted, not too sudden, lest it take 
 
 My senses from me and with them all power 396 
 
 Of meditation, penance and atonement ? 
 
 Spare me a little to abhor myself ; 
 
 And if the arrow, which my conscience drives 
 
 Into this guilty heart, draws not enough 
 
 Of its vile blood to purify what's left, 400 
 
 Let the strong hand of justice force it home 
 
 And finish me at once. Was I not warn'd 
 
 Of my presumption, and a signal set 
 
 To number my denials, when I swore 
 
 Never to swerve, but follow him to death ? 405 
 
 Mine, like Iscariot's, was predicted sin : 
 
 I spar'd not him, I call'd his wilful guilt. 
 
 Obstinate malice ; and can I now urge 
 
 Necessity my plea ? All things are kn*wn 
 
 To Christ ; the evil motions of my will 410 
 
 He saw, not over-rul'd : I might have pray'd 
 
 For 
 
BOOK V. 27 
 
 For grace, support, prevention ; I pray'd not, 
 But heedless of the prophecy and blind 
 Rush'd into sin prepense, self-will'd, self-lost. 
 What fascination seiz'd me to draw forth 415 
 
 The sword in rash defence of Him, whose word 
 Legions of Angels could have call'd from heav'n ? 
 And what prevaricating daemon breath'd 
 The lye into my lips, when the same night. 
 Nay, the same hour, that saw me prompt to* oppose 
 My life to danger, saw me meanly shrink 421 
 
 From what I courted, and behind a lye 
 Three times repeated like a coward sculk ? 
 And did I not know Christ whom I denied ? 
 Did I not know the Master whom I serv'd, 425 
 Who call'd me to him, pour'd into my heart 
 His heav'nly doctrines, rais'd my lowly thoughts 
 From the mean drudgery of a fisher's trade, 
 And taught me in the energy of faith 
 To walk upon that sea, in which ere ►while 430 
 
 I dragg'd 
 
28 CALVARY. 
 
 I dragg'd the net and toil'd for daily bread ? 
 
 memory, once my glory, now my curse. 
 To what sad purpose do I call thee home, 
 Absent in danger, present in despair ? 
 
 Is there a wonder done of Christ on earth 435 
 
 1 have not witnessed ? Did I not behold 
 Dead Lazarus revive at his command? 
 What shall I say to him, whom I saw die. 
 When living he arraigns me face to face ? 
 
 What answer make to those, whom I have serv'd 440 
 From one small wallet with the bread of thousands ? 
 The very blind, ere they receiv'd their sight. 
 Saw more than I, and haiPdhim Lord and Christ. 
 Who shall believe when T renounce belief? 
 The very dev'ils own Him whom I denied. 445 
 Can I call these accurst, whose impious cry 
 Dooms him to death; who smite him with their 
 
 palms 
 Blaspheming ? Harder than their hands my heart. 
 
 Wretch, 
 
BOOK V, 29 
 
 Wretch, 'twas my false tongue train 'd them on to 
 On me, me only all their sin rebounds : [murder : 
 I stand condemn' d, they free. Can I forget 451 
 How oft my lips confess'd him Son of God ? 
 Perish that tongue, which could revoke its faith, 
 Disown confession and belie my heart. 
 Denied of me on earth, when in the clouds 455 
 Of heav'n he comes at the right hand of Pow'r, 
 And sends his Angels with the trumpet's sound 
 To gather his elect from the four winds, 
 When, as a shepherd culling out his flock, 
 To separate all nations and divide 460 
 
 The good from evil he proceeds, Ah ! then. 
 Then will he not retort the fatal words 
 First us'd of me, I know thee not ! Depart, 
 Thou wicked servant, into outer darkness. 
 There weep and gnash thy teeth in fires prepar'd 465 
 For Satan and his outcast crew accurst? 
 
 Thus he all night with deep remorse o'erwhelm'd, 
 
 Mournfully 
 
so CALVARY. 
 
 Mournfully kneeling at God's temple-gate, 
 
 Bewail'd his crime and supplication made 
 
 For pardon ; and let after-times attest 470 
 
 How full a portion of God's spi'rit abode 
 
 In this blest Penitent, when with the sound 
 
 Of rushing mighty winds it was pour'd down 
 
 On him and on his fellows, thence install'd 
 
 Apostles, and with gifted tongues inspir'd 475 
 
 To speak all languages and preach the Word 
 
 Of Christ throughout the whole converted world. 
 
 Here in this very spot, where now he kneels 
 
 Repentant, fill'd ere long with pow'r divine. 
 
 He bade the cripple in the name of Christ 480 
 
 Rise up and walk : He at the word in sight 
 
 Of all the people rose and stood and walk'd 
 
 And in the temple gave loud praise to God. 
 
 Then let not his offence, pardon'd of God, 
 
 By man but for example's sake be nam'd, 485 
 
 And once more, hail, thou renovated Saint! 
 
 Made 
 
, BOOK V. 31 
 
 Made brighter by repentance : Enter tliou 
 Into thy Master's joy once more ; resume 
 Thine apostolic primacy, and feed, 
 Shepherd of Christ deputed, feed his flock. 490 
 Nor shall th) faith once faulter, nor thy zeal 
 Shrink from the test of martyrdom, reserv'd 
 To glorify thy Master on the cross. 
 
 Now morning from her cloudy barrier forth 
 Advancing crimson'd all the flecker'd East, 495 
 As blushing to lead on the guilty day. 
 With the first dawn the wakeful elders meet, 
 Short council hold, for little time suffic'd 
 To take their voices, whose relentless minds 
 In the same bloody league were banded all ; 500 
 And now unanimous with their high priest 
 In stately grave procession forth they march 
 To find their heathen judge, and at his bar 
 Arraign the Holy One.^But check, my heart, 
 Thine indignation ; let the verse proceed ! — 505 
 
 Him 
 
32 CALVARY. 
 
 Him in his seat of judgment high enthron'd. 
 
 With axes and with lictors round embay'd 
 
 In martial state, with reverence they salute. 
 
 And lowly stoop their tributary heads 
 
 To his vice-gerent majesty : With smile 510 
 
 Of condescending favor he accepts 
 
 Their abject greeting, and to his right hand 
 
 Their chief advances ; others in their ranks 
 
 And orders he disposes ; then with feign'd 
 
 Solicitude, as if to seek the cause 515 
 
 Of this concerted meeting, he begins. 
 
 What cause so weighty brings Jehovah's priest 
 With these wise elders and time-honor'd scribes 
 Thus early to seek justice at my bar ? 
 Appeal so reverend, with such leader grac'd 520 
 And by such followers witnessed, well demands 
 Of Caesar's servant his most equal ear. 
 
 Whereto the' high priest, second to none in craft, 
 With solemn accent and demeanor grave 
 
 Masking 
 
BOOK V. 33 
 
 Masking his base collusion, thus replies : 525 
 
 When he, whose hand the sword of justice sways, 
 Her balance also holds in equal poise 
 Over this realm provincial, we have cause 
 To thank the master of our liberties, 
 Who by such delegation of his power 530 
 
 Makes light that yoke, which else would gall our 
 ThoughCaesarlaysitonus: Then let praise [necks, 
 Be giv'n to Caesar for the love we bear 
 To Pontius Pilate. Have I leave to say. 
 That we your servants, a peculiar race, 535 
 
 Pay worship to one God and hold at heart 
 As sacred that commandment handed down 
 From our forefathers, which for ever makes 
 His undivided Unity the creed 
 Of all our nation ; and whoe'er blasphemes 540 
 His name and controverts our holy faith, 
 Dies by our law ? This sentence we have pass'd, 
 But execution staid, so bound in duty, 
 
 Upon 
 
34 CALVARY. 
 
 Upon a certain Nazarite, by name 
 
 Jesus, obscure of birth, but of our peace 545 
 
 No slight disturber ; for the common herd, 
 
 A monster as you know with many heads, 
 
 And every head with twice as many ears 
 
 Itching for novelties, have rais'd this man 
 
 To dang'rous eminence; and for he cheats 550 
 
 Their gross credulity with juggling sleights, 
 
 Which they call miracles, have blown his pride 
 
 To such a monstrous bulk, he now scales heaven. 
 
 There seats himself — Oh ! where shall I find words 
 
 To speak his blasphemy ? —at God's right hand, 556 
 
 His SoDj his equal, sharer of his throne. 
 
 Judge of the world. If this be not a crime 
 
 For death to expiate we are slaves indeed, 
 
 And every statute, ordinance and law 
 
 Rome leaves inviolate, Jesus shall break 560 
 
 Unpunished : Nor is this, dread sir, the whole 
 
 Of his presumption ; mark, I pray, the height 
 
 To 
 
BOOK V. 35 
 
 To which his phrensy rages, mark his threat ! 
 
 He will put down this temple in three days, 
 
 And in like lime with hands invisible 565 
 
 Erect another. — Patron of our laws, 
 
 Fountain of justice ! ought this man to live ? 
 
 Such madness breath' d into our people's minds 
 
 Will spur them to the deed, break every band 
 
 That ties them down to order, and turn loose 370 
 
 Their fury not on us alone but Rome, 
 
 Not on our temple only but perhaps 
 
 On this tribunal, which Heav'n guard I And now 
 
 Take the whole matter of our charge at once ; 
 
 This Jesus hath pronounc'd himself a king, 575 
 
 Our king, your master's rival : You best know 
 
 If your great empe'ror abdicates his right 
 
 To our allegiance, which we fain would hold. 
 
 Where we have vow'd it, to imperial Caesar, 
 
 Not to this mean mechanic, Joseph's son. 580 
 
 This is our plea, Pontius, why we claim 
 
 Justice 
 
36 CALVARY. 
 
 Justice against the pris'ner, who now waits 
 Your sentence under guard and bound, as fits 
 Delinquent so atrocious : I have said. 
 
 To him the Roman — Be it known to all, 585 
 The sentence, which you urge against the life 
 Of your now absent pris'ner, cannot pass 
 By practice of our law, till face to face 
 With his accusers he shall stand at bar, 
 And licence have to answer for himself 590 
 
 Touching the crime in charge ; therefore these words, 
 Which you have largely spent, are spent in air, 
 Else might the ear of justice be forestall'd 
 By the empleader's charge, and so perchance 
 Let fall the axe upon the guiltless head. 595 
 
 Much knowledge of your laws I cannot boast, 
 Nor with these learned scribes hold argument ; 
 For so much therefore as to them pertains 
 I on the part of Caesar am no judge ; 
 His tributes, his supremacy and rights 600 
 
 Disputed 
 
BOOK V. 37 
 
 Disputed or oppos'd I shall uphold 
 
 'Gainst all offenders. Let th' accused appear! 
 
 This said, behold the blessed Son of God 
 Dragg'd to a pagan bar ! There whilst he stood 
 A spectacle of pity, patient, meek, 605 
 
 Submitted to his fate, Pilate, who knew 
 Him innocent and his accusers false, 
 Envious and cruel, ey'd him o'er and o'er, 
 And as he ponder'd in his mind how base 
 The sentence he was now required to give, 610 
 Some sparks of Roman virtue, not quite dead 
 Though faintly felt in his degene'rate breast, 
 Revolted from the deed : Soft was the touch. 
 Though ineffectual, which sweet pity gave 
 To his stern heart: He wish'd, yet knew not how, 615 
 To' unfold the gates of mercy, and through them 
 Let pass the rescued Innocent to life ; 
 The son of Epicurus could no more. 
 Upon the Sufferer's brow serene he saw 
 
 VOL. II, D Where 
 
38 CALVARY. 
 
 Where innocence and sanctity enthron'd 620 
 
 Sate visible and claim'd his just award ; 
 
 He turn'd him to th' accusers aiid beheld 
 
 Such malice, as brought up to view a groupe 
 
 Of his own furies from their fabled hell ; 
 
 Then with a frown he cries — Whatlawisyour's, 625 
 
 Which makes this man a culprit ere he's tried ? 
 
 Unmanacle his limbs ! A Roman judge 
 
 Hears no man plead in shackles ; he, who speaks 
 
 In life's defence, hath call for every aid 
 
 That Nature can bestow, free use of limbs, 630 
 
 Action and utterance to grace his cause. 
 
 And hold him up against the world's contempt : 
 
 I will not hear a man that pleads in bonds. 
 
 Cut those vile cords asunder : Set him loose ! 
 
 And now our blessed Lord, his arms releas'd 635 
 From the harsh thongs, which the malignant Jews 
 Had bound about them, 'gan to re-compose 
 His decent venture and with calm survey 
 
 To 
 
BOOK V. 39 
 
 To note his persecutors, those dire priests 
 And cruel hypocrites that bay'd him round. 640 
 In every breast transparent to his eye 
 Malice and craft and envy he discern' d : 
 In Pilate's face the shifting hues bespoke 
 Internal strife of passions all in arms, 
 Combat 'twixt good and evil : In his hand 645 
 He held a scroll, which with intentive eye 
 And thoughtful brow deep pondering he perus'd : 
 The writing well he knew, but the contents. 
 Thus worded, much perplex'd his wav'ring thoughts. 
 " O Pilate, if thy wife was ever held 650 
 
 ''In honor, love or trust, I do adjure thee 
 " This once take warning from her voice inspir'd 
 " To snatch thee from destruction. Oh! withhold 
 " Thine hand from that just Person, harm not him, 
 '' That holy Jesus, who now stands before thee; 
 '' Touch not his sacred life, or on thine head 656 
 " A fearful judgment thou shalt else puil down : 
 D 2 A mighty 
 
40 CALVARY. 
 
 '' A mighty Pow'r protects him, what I know not, 
 '' But mightier sure than all the gods of Rome ; 
 " For I have seen his glory in a dream, 660 
 
 "And dreams descend from heav'n. Pilate,beware!" 
 
 Such was the warning scroll he now perus'd, 
 Ev'n on the judgment-seat, by timely hand 
 Sent for his rescue ; Happy ! had he turn'd 
 His heart so warn'd to justice, and obey'd 665 
 The visitation of the spi'rit vouchsafed : 
 But he, like Caesar, deem'd his manhood pledg'd 
 To make slight 'count of a weak woman's dream : 
 Yet much confus'd, uncertain and perplex'd 
 He look'd around, and saw all eyes upon him: 670 
 The Jews impatient, Jesus at the bar 
 Prepar'd for trial : What shall he resolve ? 
 Break up the court and judgment put aside 
 For a mere vapor, for no better plea 
 Than to indulge a woman's fond caprice, 675 
 
 And bid the law stand still and wait the time 
 
 " Till 
 
BOOK V. 41 
 
 ' ' Till Pilate's wife shall meet with better dreams? ' ' 
 Such scorn he dar'd not to provoke, and now 
 Loud murmurs fiU'd his ear : Compell'd to rise, 
 Though uncollected and in mind disturb'd, 680 
 He thus address'd the Lord : — Art thou a king, 
 And of this nation, who accuse thee to me, 
 King of the Jews ? — Thou says't it, Jesus cried ; 
 But says't thou of thyself this thing, or taught 
 Of others art thou prompted so to speak ? — 685 
 Am I a Jew ? the fault'ring judge replied ; 
 Not I, but these, who if thou wert a kin^ 
 Were thine own subjects, elders, priests and scribes, 
 These have accus'd thee. Not of them am I ; 
 Nor in this business covet further share, / 690 
 Than on the part of justice to demand, [charge ? 
 What hast thou done ? How answer'st thou their 
 Of this world were my kingdom, said our Lord, 
 My servants would defend their King, and fight 
 To save me from my* oppressors : But I reign 695 
 
 Not 
 
49 f CALVARY. 
 
 Not on this earth, nor is my pow'r from hence. 
 
 Art thou a king then ? — interpos'd the judge : — 
 Thou say'stj cried Jesus, that I am a king ; 
 And truly to this purpose was I born, 
 And for this cause came I into the world, 700 
 
 That I should witness bear unto the Truth ; 
 And all, that to the Truth belong, hear me. — 
 What is the Truth ? said Pilate, but his voice 
 Now faulter'd and his thoughts unsettled, wild 
 And driv'n at random like a wreck, could grasp 705 
 No helm of reason; only this he knew ^,. 
 There was no fault before him : This aloud 
 To all he publish'd and pronounc'd him clear. 
 
 Whereat with rage and disappointment stung, 
 Furious as wolves defrauded of their prey, 710 
 Uprose the priests appellant, and afresh 
 Urge o'er and o'er their aggravating charge, 
 Forging new falsehoods and re-forging old : 
 The Preacher of forbearance, peace and love, 
 
 Perverter 
 
BOOK V 43 
 
 Perverter of the nation now they call, 715 
 
 Fomenter of sedition, spreading wide 
 From Galilee, the cradle of his birth, 
 Throughout all Jewry to the capital ; 
 Where now assuming to himself the name. 
 Prerogative and state of King and Christ, 720 
 He stirreth up the people to revolt, 
 Forbidding them to pay their rightful dues 
 Of tribute to Rome's emperor, himself 
 Exalting above Csesar. This and more 
 In the like strain of virulence, with lips 725 
 
 In aspic venom steep'd they now depose : 
 Nor had they brought their malice to a pause. 
 When Pilate, hoping he had now found plea 
 To shift the dreaded sentence from himself. 
 Thus interposing check' d their clam'rous spleen, 730 
 Break oflf, and let your tongues take rest awhile : 
 It is not at this bar you must emplead 
 This man, a Galilean as it seems ; 
 
 Whom, 
 
44 
 
 CALVARY. 
 
 Whom, being such, it is not mine to hear 
 
 But Herod's : Let his special tetrarch judge 735 
 
 'Twixt him and you ; Thither remit your suit. 
 
 This said, he rose preventing all reply, 
 Whilst they, though by procrastination gall'd, 
 Yet of their tetrarch confident, submit : 
 But nor with Herod could their malice speed 740 
 To its main purpose : Little care had he 
 For all their priestly clamor; in his thoughts 
 Religion had no interest, truth no weight : 
 For prophets and for prophecies no ear 
 Had he, alike regardless how Christ preach'd, 745 
 Or they complain'd ; yet much he wish'd to see 
 Some splendid miracle of him performed, 
 Something to strike his senses with surprize 
 And satisfy a wanton curiosity, 
 Made eager by the fame of those great works, 750 
 Whereof he much had heard and nothing seen. 
 But when our Lord to all his questions mute 
 
 Nor 
 
BOOK V. 45 
 
 Nor word nor sign vouchsaf d, to wrath impell'd, 
 
 What by enticements he had fail'd to gain 
 
 By taunts he hop'd to' extort ; and now his spleen 
 
 To impious scorn and mockery gave the rein: 756 
 
 Forthwith his Prisoner in a gorgeous robe 
 
 Apparel'd as a king, to all his court 
 
 Held up for sport and laughter, he expos'd. 
 
 Loud was the roar of blasphemy the whilst, 760 
 
 And wild the revels of the scoffing throng 
 
 As the lewd orgies of the frantic god, 
 
 Or clamor of that sacrilegious rout. 
 
 When their mad rage the Thracian minstrel tore, 
 
 Whose wonder-working harp could charm the ear 
 
 Of hell and call dead nature into life. 766 
 
 The priests look'd on and grinn'd malicious joy ; 
 
 Yet would not Herod execution doom ; 
 
 Or willing to appease the jealousy 
 
 Of Pilate, or content to mark his scorn 770 
 
 Of Jesus by this arrogant display 
 
 Of 
 
46 CALVARY. 
 
 Of mercy, as not dreading whom he spared. 
 
 Now once again at Pilate's bar he stands, 
 Not as before like malefactor tied 
 And round begirt with cords, biit overlaid 775 
 With a rich load of sumptuous mockery ; 
 A lamb compell'd to carry the proud spoils 
 And guilty trappings of the ty' rannous wolf. 
 Again the judge with slow unwilling step 
 To his tribunal mounts and thus he speaks. 780 
 
 Y'ou still persist to bring this man to me 
 Asa perverter of your nation's faith 
 And loyalty : Your witnesses I've heard, 
 Ponder'd their depositions and throughout 
 Examin'd ev'ry tittle of your charge : 785 
 
 Him too I've question'd in the ears of all 
 Here present, and no shadow of offence 
 Can I discern to warrant your appeal 
 For execution^ and pass judgment on him ; 
 No, nor yet Herod, for to him I sent 790 
 
 You 
 
ROOK V. 47; 
 
 You and your pris'ner, and behold him freed, 
 
 Nothing is done unto him worthy death : 
 
 I will chastise him therefore and release ; 
 
 Yet this chastisement rather to allay 
 
 Your anger, than so merited of him, 795 
 
 I shall inflict. Remember this your feast 
 
 Hath the long plea of custom to be mark'd 
 
 With pardon and forbearance : To reprieve 
 
 One culprit from his sentence I am bound 
 
 No less by inclination than by rule 800 
 
 And usage immemorial : Make your choice ! 
 
 But let it fall on innocence not guilt. 
 
 Instant all voices echo'd forth a cry — 
 Hence with this man ! away with him to death ! 
 Give us the murd'rer, set Barabbas free : 805 
 Let Jesus perish ! — Wherefore; for what crime? 
 Pilate exclaim'd: what evil hath he done ? 
 No cause of death in Jesus can I find, 
 Be witness for me, justice, none in him ; 
 
 But 
 
48 CALVAllV. 
 
 But for that wretch, on whom ye would bestow 810 
 Pardon misplac'd, so various are his crimes. 
 So black their quality, ye cannot name 
 A death more terrible than he deserves. 
 Take of the guiltless blood what stripes can draw 
 To satisfy your longing, but forbear 815 
 
 To take the life, if not for pity's sake. 
 In honor of yourselves, that ye may say. 
 There was one prophet, whom ye did not kill. 
 Loud as the winds that lash the raging seas 
 And all as deaf, redoubling now the roar, 820 
 Th' infuriate Jews rend their blaspheming throats, 
 Howling for blood ; 'till deafen'd with the din 
 Of, Crucify him ! crucify him ! dreadful cry, 
 Pilate, who 'twixt their tumult and the death 
 Of that just Person saw no middle course, 825 
 By which t' escape, one solemn act prepar'd, 
 By expiatory washing of his hands 
 In presence of the multitude, to purge 
 
 His 
 
BOOK V. 49 
 
 His soul, and thereof God alone is judge. 
 
 From the pure blood of that devoted Lamb. 830 
 
 Behold ! he cries, I pour this water forth, 
 And therein make ablution of my soul 
 From all participation in your crime. 
 By washing of my hands from every stain 
 Of this inhuman sacrifice, each spot 835 
 
 And sprinkling of <his guiltless Victim's blood. 
 Rest on your heads the murder ! I am clean. 
 
 This said, he turn'd and fix'd a pitying look 
 Upon the Lord ; then sigh'd and gave the word : 
 Eager as hounds, when slipp'd upon their prey, 840 
 In rush the throng, and soon the hissing scourge 
 Whirl'd with impetuous swing aloud resounds 
 Gashing that sacred flesh, whose bleeding stripes 
 Heal'd our sin. wounded souls ; upon his brow 
 A thorny crown they fix, whose tortu'ring spikes. 
 Thrust rudely in by sacrilegious hands, 846 
 
 Furrow his temples and with crimson streams 
 
 Cover 
 
50 CALVARY. 
 
 Cover his face divine : Him thus abus'd, 
 Mangled with stripes and all o'er bath'd in blood, 
 In purple robe they scornfully array 850 
 
 And drag to public view. — Behold the man !— 
 Pilate proclaim'd with horror in his voice 
 And out..stretch'd arm, that pointed to a sight, 
 Which had to pity mov'd their steely hearts, 
 Had they not been of metal forg'd by fiends 855 
 And tempered in the sternest fires of hell. 
 Dry-ey'd, as rock of adamant unmov'd, 
 Obdurate to his sorrows they look'd on, 
 Nor from their crucifying clamor ceas'd, 
 Till Pilate, now all hope for Jesus lost, 860 
 Yielding to their tumultuous fury, cried. 
 
 Take him and do your bloody work yourselves : 
 Impose it not on me; I find no cause 
 Of death, no fault in Jesus. Take ye him 
 And crucify him ! Of his guiltless blood 865 
 
 Lo ! I am innocent ; see ye to that ! 
 
 On 
 
BOOK V^ 51 
 
 On us and on our children be his blood ! — 
 Then answered all the Jews. Tremendous words, 
 Tremendously fulfill'd ! And now afresh 869 
 
 They clamor for the cross ; when thus the judge — 
 Would you that I should crucify your king ? — 
 We have no king but Csesar, they rejoin, 
 Nor art thou Caesar's friend to spare this man.— 
 'Twas past ; to that dread name the Roman bow'd 
 Obedient, and from his sad heart sigh'd forth 875 
 Th' extorted doom — Death to the Lord of Life! 
 
 END OF THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
CALVARY; 
 
 THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 Judas Iscariot seized with remorse returns the thirty 
 pieces of silver to the priests and departs:. ...Mammon 
 re-assumes the habit of a Levite, and meeting Judas 
 after he had returned the money to the priests, instigates 
 him to destroy himself ....That evil spirit now takes wing 
 and repairs to the wilderness, convenes the daemons from 
 all parts of Palestine, and informing them of Satan's ex- 
 pulsion from earth, warns them by his command to betake 
 themselves to flight bafore the hour of Christ's cruci- 
 fixion .....This is no sooner announced than the whole in- 
 fernal host breaks up in disorder and disperses to various 
 
 parts of the world therein described The subject of the 
 
 Crucifixion is now brought forward :....The procession sets 
 out for Mount Calvary ; Christ bearing his cross is be- 
 wailed by the spectatois as he passes:.... He is seen by 
 Gabriel and the ailgels with him from the mount, on 
 which they were stationed :....He addresses himself to th& 
 daughters of Jerasalem :....The executioners nail his hands 
 and feet to the cross ; the priests revile him and call up- 
 on him to come down ; one of the malefactors crucified 
 with him casts the same in his teeth ; he is reproved by 
 the other, whose penitence is rewarded by the promise of 
 immediate salvation and glory :... .Christ from the cross 
 recommends his mother to John the beloved disciple :.... 
 Christ dies :....The sun is darkened, the earth quakes, the 
 rocks are rent, and the bodies of the saints and prophets 
 are raised from the dead, and appear upon earth :....The 
 priests and elders, alarmed by these prodigies, resort to 
 Pilate and demand a guard of Romans to defend the se- 
 pulchre, lest the disciples should take away the body of 
 Christ and pretend that he was risen :....Pilate replies, 
 that they have a watch ; bids them see to it themselves, 
 and dismisses them. 
 
CALVARY. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 THE CRUCIFIXION, 
 
 ^' On us and on our children be his blood !" — 
 Such was your imprecation, O ye Jews, 
 When in your sight the world^s Redeemer stood 
 Gash'd o'er with wounds, and emptying ev'ry Tein 
 For man's redemption ; and behold ! it flows, 5 
 It whelms upon you in a flood-gate tide ; 
 Steep' d to the lips ye are in all the blood 
 Of all the righteous shed upon the earth, 
 From blood of righteous Abel to the blood 
 Of Zechariah, whom your fathers ston'd lO 
 
 Betwixt the altar and the house of God. 
 Ye haye enough ; the mark is on your race ; 
 
 e2 Ye 
 
56 CALVARY. 
 
 Ye have drawn down the judgment ye provok'dj 
 
 It rests upon you : Yet for you no rest, 
 
 No station, no abiding-place is found ; 15 
 
 Strangers and weary wand'rers upon earth. 
 
 If in the dust of your Jerusalem 
 
 With foot proscrib'd ye dare to tread, ye die; 
 
 A savage race usurps your sacred mount. 
 
 And Jordan echoes an unhallow'd name; 20 
 
 Should ye but stop to shed a filial tear 
 
 Upon the soil where your forefathers sleep, 
 
 Woe to the circumcis'd that so is found ! 
 
 Oh ! slow of heart, when will ye understand. 
 
 That thus afflicted, scatter'd and dispers'd 25 
 
 Through every clime and kingdom of the w^orld 
 
 Ye are sent forth to publish, as ye pass, 
 
 How truly Christ predicted of your fate; 
 
 And though your lips deny, your sufferings prove 
 
 That proph^it Jesus, whom your fathers slew, 30 
 
 Was Savior, Christ, Messias, Son of God. 
 
 Amidst 
 
BOOK VI. 57 
 
 Amidst the throng that fill'd the judgment.hall 
 Stood Judas ; he upon the watch to' avoid 
 The Master's eye with caution took his post; 
 Yet was his ear, to all that Jesus spake 35 
 
 Still present, and, though few the words, yet strong 
 And potent of those few the' impressive truth. 
 There was a magic sweetness in his voice, 
 A note that seem'd to shiver every nerve 
 Entwin'd about his heart, though now corrupt, 40 
 Debas'd and harden'd. Ill could he abide, 
 Murderer although he were, the dying tones 
 Of him, whom he had murder' d : 'Twas the voice 
 As of a spirit in the air by night 
 Heard in the meditation of some crime, 45 
 
 Or sleep-created in the troubled ear 
 Of conscience, crying out. Beware! It smote 
 Upon the soul, for it was Christ who spake, 
 Well. then might Judas tremble ; 'twas the traitor 
 List' ning the plea of innocence betray 'd, 50 
 
 Well 
 
58 CALVARY. 
 
 Well might that plea awaken his remorse. 
 
 When the perverting witnesses depos'd 
 
 To crimes, of which he knew his Master free. 
 
 The refutation quiver' d on his lips, 
 
 And hard he struggled to bring forth the words, 55 
 
 Yet could not, tongue-ty'dwith despair and shame. 
 
 But if his hearing so alarm' d his heart. 
 
 What were his feelings, when at times his eye 
 
 Glanc'd on the sacred person of his Lord, 
 
 Bound like a felon, his defenceless hands 60 
 
 In manacles confin'd behind his back, 
 
 His cheeks with blows suiilated, and his face, 
 
 Oh, piteous! with blaspheming slaver stain'd; 
 
 Then stripp'd, transform'd, in purple stole array'd, 
 
 Saluted with the insolent AU.hail, 65 
 
 King of the Jews ! a spectacle of sport 
 
 And merriment to all the scoffing crowd ? 
 
 Could heart of man bear this, who had beheld 
 
 His miracles, his mercies ; prov'd his love, 
 
 His 
 
BOOK VI. 59 
 
 His patience, his forbearance ; shar'd his cares, 70 
 His labors and his patchings ; heard his voice. 
 When tempest-tost, rebuke the elements, 
 Though silent now amidst the roar of tongues ? 
 'Twas all that priestly malice could inflict, 
 But more than Mammon's convert could supports 
 Yet worse had these tormentors in reserve 76 
 
 To agonize his soul, another scene 
 To shift new horrors on that bloody stage : 
 The torturing scourge now sounded in his ears, 
 The mangled flesh flew ofi* in tatter'd stripes, 80 
 The crimson stream ran down, the pa,vement drank 
 Libation of his immolated blood : 
 The hall rebellow'd with the echoing cry 
 Of monsters, who applauded every stroke, 
 Wolves, vultureSjOh, for words to speak them worse ! 
 Menturn'dtodaBmons. Traitor though he were, 86 
 Son of perdition, this was all too much. ;, .v "^^ 
 Take hence, he cried, takeback your bribe accurst, 
 
 Damn'd 
 
60 CALVARY. 
 
 Damn'd price of damning deed ! Tell o'er your coin • 
 
 Count out your thirty pieces, for each piece 90 
 
 Is thirty thousand daggers to my heart : 
 
 Burthen'd too much already with my sins, 
 
 I should but into worse damnation sink 
 
 Under this mercenary load opprest. 
 
 I have betray'd the innocent ; too late 95 
 
 For pardon, I am past redemption lost ; 
 
 Ye may redeem the time, if ye recall 
 
 Your fatal condemnation and atone 
 
 To that just Person ye have doom'd to death; 
 
 If not, ye crucify the Lord of Life. 100 
 
 This said, he threw the thirty pieces down 
 And straight departed ; they to his retort 
 Short answer made remorseless and malign. 
 And now disburthen'd of his filthy bribe. 
 It seem'd as though his conscience would permit 103 
 A momentary pause for one short gleam 
 Of hope to visit his benighted soul : 
 
 'Twas 
 
BOOK VI. 61 
 
 'Twas something like atonement, 'twas one step 
 
 Turn'd backward from the precipice of sin 
 
 And pointed tow'rds repentance ; 'twas the last 1 10 
 
 Faint eflfort that reluctant nature made 
 
 To struggle 'gainst self-murder ; but how vain ! 
 
 For Mammon, once the tyrant of man's heart, 
 
 111 brooks expulsion thence, from youth to age, 
 
 From age to life's extremest hour he holds Hi 
 
 Absolute empire, nor does hell contain 
 
 Spirit so jealous of usurp'd command. 
 
 He in the bosoms of those impious priests 
 
 Held high pre-eminence, and them amidst, 
 
 Himself unseen, had noted all that pass'd ; 120 
 
 And much indignant to be now abjur'd 
 
 Of that compunctious traitor, swift as thought, 
 
 Such was his power of motion, took the form 
 
 And habit of that Levite first assum'd. 
 
 And him close following to the outward hall, 125 
 
 There with these taunting words assail'd his ear. 
 
 A losing 
 
62 CALVARY. 
 
 A losing game, friead Judas, thou hast play'd 
 To set thy soul upon a desperate cast, 
 And after pay the stake on either side. 
 What folly is it to be knave by halves ! 130 
 
 Who would strike virtue in the face, and then 
 Ask pardon for the blow ; fall oif from truth, 
 Enlist with falsehood and take pay for treason, 
 Then by a paltry plea of restitution 
 Think to compound one trespass by another, 135 
 Desertion by- desertion ? Get thee hence, 
 Thou shame to manhood ! wring out the sad dregs 
 Of thy detested life in hopeless tears. 
 For thou hast thrown away both worlds at once ;. ; 
 All gain in this, all glory in the next. 140 
 
 And what art thou, cried Judas, so to\gall 
 A wounded spirit, wounded by thy arts, 
 Tempter accurst ? Human thou canst not be, 
 Else thou wouldst find some pity in thy heart 
 For*^wretch like me. Who but thyself seduc'd 145 
 
 My 
 
BOOK VI. 63 
 
 My loyalty from Christ ? who sapp'd my faith ? 
 Who fix'd this adder to my breast but thou ? 
 Thou, daemon as thou art, hast hurl'd me down 
 From my high hope to fathomless abyss 
 Of misery and despair, from heav'n to hell. 150 
 
 Rail not on me, quoth Mammon, but thyself 
 And thine own folly ; there the charge were just. 
 Didst thou not sell thy Master for a bribe ? 
 My part was faithfully perform'd; the price 
 Condition' d for was paid. What wouldst thou more ? 
 I needed treason, and I sought out thee 156 
 
 As fittest for my purpose : Envious, proud. 
 Lustful of pelf, a villain ready-made 
 And ripe for mischief, such I mark'd thee down ; 
 Nay, and yet better ; for I thought thee whole 160 
 And perfect villain with no rotten part 
 Of penitence to mar thee ; but, behold, 
 Thou hast deceiv'd me vilely, and hast got. 
 A blinking vice about thee, a perverse 
 
 And 
 
64 
 
 CALVARY 
 
 And retrograde depravity of soul, 165 
 
 That malies thee hateful to my sight : Begone ! 
 That thou art wicked put not me to blame ; 
 Hadst thou been constant I had made thee rich, 
 And riches would have sav'd thee from contempt : 
 Now thou art poor and loathsome. Hence ; avaunt ! 
 One remedy I'll give thee for despair, 171 
 
 This cord, a remnant of thy Master's bonds; 
 A legacy most opportunely left 
 To heal thy cares and recompense thy love : 
 Take, and apply it to its proper use ; 175 
 
 It tied his limbs: Let it encase thy throat. 
 
 He said, and stooping, from the pavement took 
 The cord there left, and hurling it with scorn 
 To the desponding traitor disappear'd: 
 Nor did that wretch the fatal gift reject, 180 
 
 But eager seiz'd the instrument of death. 
 And soon within a darksome vault beneath 
 The judgment-hall fit solitude he found 
 
 And 
 
BOOK VI. 65 
 
 And beam appropriate to his desperate use; 
 Whereto appendent he breath'd out his soul, 185 
 Not daring to put up one pray'r for peace 
 At his dark journey's end; but trembling^ wild, 
 Confus'd, of reason as of hope bereft, 
 With heaving breast and ghastly staring eyes 
 There betwixt heav'n and earth, of both renounc'd, 
 Hung terrible to sight, a bloated corpse. 191 
 
 Oh ! how shall rash and ignorant man presume 
 To judge for God, and on his narrow scale 
 Think to mete out by limits and degrees 
 Immeasurable mercy ? Who can tell 195 
 
 How high the sorrows of man's suffering heart 
 Ascend tow'rds heav'n, how swift contrition flies, 
 What words find passage to the throne of grace. 
 What in mid-way are lost, dispers'd in air 
 And scatter'd to the winds? Oh! that my harp 200 
 Could sound that happy note, which stirs the string 
 Responsive, that kind Nature hath entwin'd 
 
 About 
 
66 CALVARY. 
 
 About the human heart, and by whose clue 
 Repentance, heavenly monitressj reclaims 
 The youthful wandererfrom his dang'rous maze 205 
 To tread her peaceful paths and seek his God : 
 So could my fervent, my effectual verse 
 Avail, posterity should then engrave 
 That verse upon my tomb to tell the world 
 I did not live in vain. But heedless man, 210 
 Deaf to the music of the moral song. 
 By Mammon or by Belial led from sin 
 To sin, runs onward in his mad career, 
 Nor once takes warning of his better guide, 
 Till at the barrier of life's little span 21 5 
 
 Arriv'd, he stops : Death opens to his view 
 A hideous gulph ; in vain he looks around 
 For the lost seraph Hope ; beside him stands 
 The tyrant fiend and urges to the brink ; 
 Behind him black despair with threat' ning frown 
 And gorgon shield^ whose interposed orb 22L 
 
 Bars 
 
BOOK VI. 67 
 
 Bars all retreat, and with its shade invohes 
 Life's brighter prospects in one hideous night. 
 So Judas fell ; so like him every wretch. 
 By the same filthy Mammon lur'd, ^all fall, 225 
 
 Meanwhile the vengeful daemon unappeas'd, 
 Pond' ring the warning of his Stygian lord 
 Late driv'n from earth, and mindful that the charge 
 And conduct of hell' s host on him devolv'd 
 Now claim'd his wariest thought, upon the wing 230 
 Sets forth full sail to summon his compeers, 
 As many' as in that quarter might be found, 
 And them apprise of their foul loss incurr'd 
 By their great captain's fall, and what dispatch 
 Behoves them now put forth timely to 'scape 235 
 Impending danger of their chief foreseen, 
 If Christ's death-hour should unawares surprize 
 Them idly station'd, or with curious gaze 
 Hovering about his cross. So forth he goes ; 
 But first to spy the land he wheels his flight 240 
 
 Athwart 
 
68 CALVAHr. 
 
 Athwart Mount Calvary, and there on guard 
 
 A file of heav'nly warriors he descries 
 
 Covering the sacred hill, and at their head 
 
 Gabriel in golden panoply array'd, 
 
 Arm'd at all points, commander of the band. 245 
 
 The fate of Satan and the recent sight 
 
 Of Chemos' ghastly wound, with guilty fears 
 
 Haunting his coward fancy, warn'd him fly 
 
 Beyond the range of that strong spear, from which 
 
 Spirit more warlike than himself had fled. 250 
 
 As when a pirate galley on the scout. 
 
 Roving the seas of some strong-guarded coast. 
 
 In bay or inlet moor'd under the lea 
 
 Of headland promontory' at anchor spies 
 
 A warlike fleet, whose tow' ring masts andsails 255 
 
 Unbent for sea bespeak their ready trim, 
 
 Down goes the helm at once, the felon crew 
 
 Bestir all hands and veer the vessel round 
 
 To seaward, then ply oars and sails for life : 
 
 So 
 
BOOK VI. 69 
 
 So at the sight of that angelic band 260 
 
 The Stygian scout wheeled round and sped his flight 
 Sheer to the wilderness on swiftest wing. 
 There on the watch Azazel haply found 
 He bade sound forth the loud Satanic trump, 
 Heard through all Palestine, at call whereof ^65 
 Spi'rits, to whatever element affix'd, 
 In troops swift-posting on the charmed winds, 
 Came from all parts ; from Sidon and from Tyre 
 New ris'n amidst the waves ; from Gaza's coast, 
 Meridian limit, to the snow-capt mounts 270 
 
 Hermon and Libanus, and them beyond 
 From Epidaphne on Orontes' stream, 
 Fam'd for its grove prophetic ; from the banks 
 Of Pharphar and Abana, Rimmon's haunts ; 
 From Byblus, where Astarte's wanton train 275 
 Howl for the death of Thammuz, yearly lost 
 And found as oft by the love-frantic dames. 
 These on the desert heath alighting stand 
 
 VOL. II. F Obedient 
 
70 CALVARY. 
 
 Obedient to the signal ; all around 
 
 Expectant of their arch-angelic chief ^ 280 
 
 They cast an anxious look, but look in vain : 
 
 Him in far other region they shall find 
 
 In chains fast bound amidst eternal fires. 
 
 His dismal dwelling, for them also' reserv'd 
 
 In God's appointed time. To whom the fiend. 285 
 
 I muse not, warriors, that ye stand amaz'd 
 To see yourselves in absence of our chief 
 Here summon' d by his arch-angelic trump. 
 Which other breath than his before ne'er fill'd ; 
 But public danger urges this bold step, 290 
 
 In me presumptuous, had I not to plead 
 Your safety for my warrant, and withal 
 His last sad mandate earnestly bequeath'd 
 At parting, when sole witness I beheld 
 His utter loss, discomfiture and flight. 296 
 
 Ah, friends ! how sympathetic with my soul 
 Is that deep general groan, which now I hear! 
 
 Full 
 
BOOK VI. 71 
 
 Full cause, immortal mourners, have we all 
 To groan and beat our breasts, nor I the least. 
 Whose melancholy task it is to pour 300 
 
 These heavy tidings in your grieved ears. 
 But let us yet remember what we are. 
 And be not therefore heartless, though bereft 
 Of him, who was the head and brain of all. 
 Many and mighty are the chiefs yet left, 305 
 
 Though he prime chief no longer shall review 
 This widow'd host. Of Satan the return 
 Is desp'rate, such a whirlwind caught him up, 
 So strong a southern blast at Christ's command 
 Blew him beyond the stretch of angel ken 310 
 Right onward to the realm of antient Night 
 Impetuous through the empyrean void 
 Sheer on the level wing. Of him the fate 
 Is worse than doubtful ; of his Victor's power 
 And Godhead irresistible what proof 315 
 
 Greater thaa this sad downfall can we need, 
 
 r2 Or 
 
7S CALVARY. 
 
 Or after such example what provoke ? 
 Behoves us now prepare for instant flight; 
 This our late chief, prophetic in his fall. 
 With his last words enjoin'd me to propound 320 
 To these our legions scatter'd o'er the coasts 
 Of Palestine, whom else the coming hour 
 Of Christ's mysterious passion shall involve 
 In like disgrace and ruin with your prince, 
 Who to his latest moment upon earth 325 
 
 Was studious of your safety. I have now 
 In words unworthy of my charge, yet such 
 As heart o'erwhelm'd with sorrow can supply, 
 Surrender'd to your ears my painful trust. 
 But whither to repair, whom to elect 330 
 
 As captain and conductor of this host, 
 Now headless, conscious that such high command 
 With none but with the worthiest should be lodg'd, 
 I, as becomes me, to your wiser thoughts 
 Submit, and with the general choice shall close. 335 
 
 No 
 
BOOK VI. 73 
 
 No more, for now with sudden panic seiz'd. 
 The Stygian host, no voice imperial heard 
 Nor rule nor order kept, uprose at once 
 Disbanded, lawless ; dreadful was the yell 
 Of that infernal rout, a swarm as thick 340 
 
 As locusts, making horrid night beneath 
 Their wings, that with like clangor beat the air, 
 As of a flock of cormorants disturb'd 
 From some lone island on the rocky coast 
 Of Chili, where they haunt ; so they with cry 345 
 More hideous mount, there hover for a while. 
 Then to all points disperse, as chance falls out, 
 Or short consult prescribes. Some to the South 
 With Isis and Osiris at their head 
 To Memphis, Thin and Tamis take their flight ; 35 
 There with the bestial deities to herd, 
 Birds, serpents, reptiles, monsters of the Nile, 
 Gods that would half unfurnish Noah's ark : 
 Some with Melcartus, demi-god of Tyre, 
 
 Light 
 
74; CALVARY. 
 
 Light short, and in his temple refuge take, 355 
 
 Where arm'd with massy club and lion hide 
 
 His huge athletic idol frowning stands : 
 
 Others with Rimmon eastward wing their way 
 
 To fam'd Damascus ; there in bow'ring shades 
 
 By rilling fountains on the flowery turf 360 
 
 To doze away the soft oblivious hours, 
 
 A slumb'ring synod : Some the golden spires 
 
 Of Nineveh attract and Nisroc's fane, 
 
 Stain'd with Sennacherib's imperial blood, 
 
 There by the parricidal princes shed : 365 
 
 To Byblus and Belitus others speed. 
 
 Light feathery wantons by Astarte led 
 
 With loose love-ditties and soft smiles lur'd o« 
 
 To page her pride and deck her amorous sports : 
 
 But of the rest far greater part repair 370 
 
 To high Olympus, where presides the power 
 
 Of thundering Baal ; he that station keeps 
 
 Pre-eminent o'er all the idol gods. 
 
 And 
 
BOOK VI. 75 
 
 And ia his festive hall rich nectar quaffs 
 With purple lips, and midaight revels holds 375 
 Luxurious, sensual, lewd, in vice immers'd: 
 Yet some there were and of no vulgar note, 
 Who, grief to tell ! to the biforked mount 
 Flew off, and there with the Parnassian maids 
 Held shameful dalliance, from whose lewd embrace 
 Descended a whole family of bards 381 
 
 Corruptive, illegitimate and base ; 
 A spurious breed of wickedness and wit ; 
 A Muse's genius with a Daemon's heart: 
 Mammon meanwhile, a solitary sprite, 385 
 
 Selfish, morose and ev*n by dev'ils abhorr'd. 
 Hied him alone, on sordid thoughts intent, 
 To rummage in Pactolus' sands for gold ; 
 None joln'd, nor sought he partner in his flight, 
 His sole ambition to engross and hoard. 390 
 
 Now came the awful consummation on, 
 The hour of ppomise, dimly shadow'd out 
 
 By 
 
76 CALVARY. 
 
 By types and prophecies, when from the womb 
 Of mystery, long travailing in pains 
 And groanings, now in ripe time should spring forth 
 Her full-form'd revelation to dispel 396 
 
 Th' Obscure of antient days and usher in 
 Twin birth of Immortality and Life. 
 Now God by the' off 'ring of his only Son 
 The type of Abraham's sacrifice fulfiU'd, 400 
 
 Who, though unconscious of that type, by faith 
 Righteous, was of the promises made heir. 
 And uow, as Moses in the wilderness 
 Lifted the serpent, so the Son of man 
 Exalted on the cross shall heal the world 405 
 
 Of sin, and expiate the wide-wasting plague. 
 Now the peace-offering of the spotless Lamb 
 By one conclusive Passover shall rend 
 The Law's symbolic veil, and all absolve. 
 Whose consciences are sprinkled with his blood. 
 From punishment entail'd upon the world 411 
 
 By 
 
BOOK VI. "77 
 
 By man's first disobedience. Forth He comes 
 From coudemnation : Ye too from your tombs 
 Come forth, ye prophets ! — Son of Amoz, thou 
 Prepare for resurrection : Come and see, 415 
 
 Not darkly' as in a glass, but face to face, 
 The object of thy vision ; Him, the man 
 Of sorrows : Him, who like a lamb is brought 
 To slaughter : Mark the travail of his soul ; 
 Witness how he is stricken for our sins, 420 
 
 Witness how we are healed by his stripes. 
 And by the note and comment of his death 
 Construe thine own predictions. Forth he comes 
 From condemnation under Roman guard, 
 Bearing his cross : Upon his bleeding brow, 425 
 Ensign alike of royalty and woe, 
 A thorny crown; no friendly hand is found 
 To wipe away the tear mingled with blood, 
 That hangs upon his cheek ; The soldiers cry, 
 Room for the criminal ! and rest their pikes .430 
 
 To 
 
78 CALVARY. 
 
 To keep the crowd aloof: staggering beneath 
 The ponderous burthen of his cross he faints 
 And sinks to earth o'erspent, till one is found, 
 A sturdy stranger of Cyrenean birth. 
 On whom to lay the venerable load. 435 
 
 Hail, Simon ! blessed above men wert thou. 
 If faith in Him that suffer'd on that cross 
 Glow'd in thy heart and furnish'd thee with zeal 
 To render this last service to thy Lord. ^ 
 
 Without the city walls there was a mount 440 
 Call'd Calvary : The common grave it was 
 Of malefactors ; there to plant his cross 
 It was decreed : Long was the way to death. 
 And like th' ascent to glory hard to climb. 
 Upon the summit stood the Angel troop 445 
 
 Of Mammon seen, though to man's filmed eye 
 Invisible : Here Gabriel from the height 
 Noting the sad procession, had espied 
 The suffering Son of God amidst the throng 
 
 Dragg'd 
 
BOOK VI. 79 
 
 Dragg'd slowly on by rude and ruffian hands 450 
 
 To shameful execution : Horror-struck, 
 
 Pierc'd to the heart th' indignant Seraph shook 
 
 His threat' ning spear, and with the other hand 
 
 Smote on his thigh in agony of soul 
 
 For man's ingratitude ; glist'ning with tears 455 
 
 His ey^is, whence late celestial sweetness beam'd, 
 
 Now shot a fiery glance on them below, 
 
 Then, raising them to heav'n, he thus exclaim'd. 
 
 Oh ! that the Everlasting would permit 
 His Angels to chastise these impious men, 460 
 And from their hands his holy Son redeem. 
 Whom in the heav'n of heav'ns we have beheld 
 Beloved of the Father, ever blest, 
 At the right hand of Pow'r in glory thron'd ! 
 But this for purposes beyond our reach 46? 
 
 God ever wise forbids, and who against 
 God's interdict shall stir ? Therefore retire, 
 Stand off and wait the time! If Christ commands, 
 
 We 
 
80 CALVARY. 
 
 We are his ministers to do his will. 
 
 Be it to lift this mountain from its base 470 
 
 And whelm it on his murderers ; if not, 
 
 Patient spectators we must here abide 
 
 And let the sacrilegious work proceed ; 
 
 Knowing that God hath said, I will revenge : 
 
 Vengeance belongeth to the Lord alone. 475 
 
 Now on the news of their great Prophet's fate 
 Each heart with fearfulness and trembling seiz'd, 
 Through all Jerusalem the tumult ran ; 
 Native or stranger, aged or infirm, 
 None in the Holy City now kept house : 480 
 
 Where'er the Savior pass'd his presence drew 
 Thousands to gaze; and many' an aching heart 
 Heav'd silent the last tributary sigh 
 In memory of his mercies ; zealous some 
 Rush'd in the grateful blessing to bestow 485 
 
 For health or limbs or life itself restor'd : 
 But these the soldiers rudely thrust aside, 
 
 And 
 
BOOK VI. 81 
 
 And some with brutal violence they smote, 
 Thick'ning their files to hem their Pris'ner close, 
 As fearful of a rescue. Loud the cry 490 
 
 Of women, whose soft sex to pity prone 
 Melts at those scenes, which flinty-hearted man 
 Dry-ey'd contemplates : Mothers in their arms 
 Held up their infants, and with shrill acclaim 
 Begg'd a last blessing for those innocents, 495 
 Whose sweet simplicity so well he lov'd, 
 And ever as he met them laid his hands 
 Upon their harmless heads with gentle love 
 And gracious benediction, breathing heav'n 499 
 Into their hearts.Oh! happy babes, so blest ! [round 
 Fenc'd in with shields and spears and compass'd 
 With Roman guards the persecuting priests. 
 Elders and scribes follow'd their Victim's steps 
 Amidst the scoffs and hissings of the crowd ; 
 And still as Christ approach'd the fatal spot, 505 
 Loud and more loud the sad lamentings grew, 
 
 Till 
 
OSJ CALVARY. 
 
 TiH at the foot of the funereal mount 
 Arriv'd he stopt, and, turning to the group 
 Of mourners, these prophetic words address'd. 
 
 Daughters of Solyma, weep not for me, 510 
 Weep rather for yourselves and for your babes ; 
 For lo ! the dawn of sorrows is at hand ; 
 The dread prediction presses to the birth, 
 When through Jerusalem a voice shall cry — 
 Give thanks, ye childless matrons, and confess 515 
 A barren bed, your worst misfortune deem'd, 
 Now your best blessing : Break forth into joy, 
 Ye, at whose breasts no infant ever hung. 
 For ye have none to mourn. Now to the clefts 
 And caverns of the mountains they shall say, 520 
 Fall on us, cover us, ye rocky vaults, 
 And hide us from this wrath ! For if with us 
 Already it begins, what shall the end 
 Of the ungodly and the sinner be ? 
 If the green tree cannot abide the storm, 5^5 
 
 How 
 
BOOK VI. 8^ 
 
 How shall the dry escape ? — Aud now no more : 
 
 Upon the summit of Mount Calvary 
 
 They rear his cross ; conspicuous there it stands 
 
 An ensign of salvation to the world. 
 
 Kneel, all ye Christian nations! bow your hearts 530 
 
 And worship your Redeemer, in whose death 
 
 Ye live, and from whose issuing wounds flows life. 
 
 By his blood purchased ; hope's best promise flows 
 
 Of joys immortal for the just reserved. 
 
 The soldiers, now by their centurion form'd 535 
 In hollow orb around the cross, begin 
 Their horrid prelude to the murd'rous scene ; 
 And first his vesture, their accustom'd spoil 
 And perquisite, they part ; but for his coat 
 From top to bottom woven without seam, 540 
 
 That they rend not, but on it cast their lots 
 Whose it shall be entire. Upon his cross 
 In Hebrew, Greek and Latin they inscribe, 
 So Pilate willed though by the priests oppos'd, 
 
 '^ Jesus 
 
84: CALVARY. 
 
 ^' Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews !'* 
 
 This title, in three several tongues display'd, 546 
 
 Read all those crucifiers of their King 
 
 And murmur'd as they read ; hard to the last, 
 
 Obdurate, unbelieving. Now began 
 
 The executioners to spread his arms 550 
 
 Upon the beam transverse, and through his palms. 
 
 Monsters of cruelty ! and through his feet 
 
 They drove their spiked nails ; whilst at the clang 
 
 Of those dire engines every feeling heart 
 
 Utter'd a groan, that with the mingled shrieks 555 
 
 Of mothers and of children pierc'd the air. 
 
 The priests and elders gnash'd their teeth for rage 
 
 And rancorous spite to hear him so bewail'd : 
 
 Women dropt down convuls'd and on the spot 
 
 Let fall their burthens immature for birth. 560 
 
 Words fail to paint the horrors of that scene : 
 
 The very soldiers paus'd and stood aghast, 
 
 Musing what these. lamentings might portend; 
 
 Sc arce 
 
BOOK VI. 85 
 
 Scarce dar'd they to pursue the dreadful work 
 Awe-struck and gazing on the face divine 565 
 Of the suspended Savior. He, though stretch'd 
 Upon the rack of agony, to heav'n 
 Raising his eyes — Father of mercy, cried, 
 Forgive them, for they know not what they do ! 
 
 O ruthless murderers ! could ye hear these words 
 And yet persist ? Blasphemers ! can ye read 571 
 And not adore ? The people stand at gaze : 
 The rulers eager to provoke anew 
 Their quailing resolution with one voice 
 Cry out amain — Ah! thou, that on the cross 575 
 Now hangest, thou, that boastedst to destroy 
 Our temple and rebuild it in three days. 
 Where art thou ? If thou be the very Christ, 
 The King of Israel, now come down, descend 
 And save thyself ; this seeing, we will then 580 
 Confess thee and believe. But 'tis iu vain ; 
 He hears not, he replies not, he expires : 
 
 VOL. II, G Others 
 
S6 CALVARY. 
 
 Others he sav'd; himself he cannot save. 
 
 Peace, peace, revilers ! nor expect reply : 
 Think not that Christ, thus dying for mankind, 
 Will from his great commission turn aside 586 
 And stop the sacrifice and quit the cross, 
 On which his body offer' d up for sin 
 As on an altar lies. Your taunts he hears ; 
 Yet will he not descend call'd down by you, 590 
 Nor at the door of death shrink back and leave 
 Short of perfection his all-glorious work. 
 But wait the time and greater sign than this 
 Ye shall behold, when rising from the dead 
 And incorruptible he shall return 59& 
 
 On earth triumphant o'er the cross and death. 
 Yet, such is the perverseness of your hearts. 
 Him nor descending would ye now believe. 
 Nor re-ascending will ye then confess. 
 
 And now behold I on either side the cross 600 
 Of Christ a wretched malefactor hung 
 
 Groaning 
 
BOOK VI. 87 
 
 Groaaing and writhing in the pangs of death : 
 When one of these, encourag'd by the taunts 
 Of the reviling priests, scornful exclaims — 
 Hear'st thou not what they say ? If thou be Christ, 
 Why art thou in this torture ? Save thyself, 606 
 And us thy fellows from this cross redeem — 
 This when his penitent companion heard, 
 New horrors smote his heart, his fault' ring voice 
 He rais'd and thus the blasphemy rebuk'd. 610 
 
 Hast thou no fear of God, expiring wretch ? 
 Stretch' d as thou art upon the tree of death, 
 Hast thou no terror for the wrath to come ? 
 And truly we the merited reward 
 Of our ill deeds receive, but this just Man, 615 
 What hath he done ? In him no fault is found. 
 
 This said, the penitent with faith inspir*d 
 Upon the Savior turn'd his dying eyes, ' 
 And — Lord ! he cried with supplicating voice, 
 When to thy heav'nly kingdom thou shalt come, 620 
 g2 Oh 
 
88 CALVARY. 
 
 Oh then remember me ! — To him the Lord— - 
 1 tell thee of a truth this very day 
 Thou shalt be found in Paradise with me. 
 
 Oh ! words of joy, that breathe into the ear 
 Of the expiring penitent the pledge 625 
 
 Of pardon and acceptance : Words, that waft 
 The soul yet hovering on the lips of faith 
 Into the heav'n of heav'ns, with grateful heart 
 We hail the glorious promise, which unfolds 
 The gates of bliss and present entrance gives 630 
 To the repentant sinner. Now no more 
 Conjecture ponders on the life to come ; 
 Our dying Savior draws aside the veil, 
 Thro' which dim reason caught a doubtful glimpse 
 Of shadowy realms, that stretch' d beyond the grave, 
 Elysian scenes in clouds and mist involv'd. 636 
 Yet with this comfort take the caution too ; 
 For who shall say what penitence was his, 
 That earn'd this promise ? Fatally he errs, 
 
 Whose 
 
BOOK VI. 89 
 
 Whose hope fore-runs repentance, who presumes 
 That God will pardon when he's tir'd of sin 641 
 And like a stale companion casts it off. 
 Oh ! arrogant, delusive, impious thought, 
 To meditate commodious truce with Heav'n, 
 When death's swift arrow smites him unprepar'd. 
 And that protracted moment never comes, 646 
 Or comes too late : Turn then, presumptuous man, 
 Turn to the other sinner on the cross. 
 Who died reviling, there behold thy doom ! 
 
 Thou too, the Virgin Mother of our Lord, 650 
 By the angelic salutation hail'd 
 Blest above women, thou amidst the group 
 Of sympathising mourners at that hour 
 Wast present, when th' incarnate Virtue, born 
 Of thine immac'ulate womb, impregn'd of Heav'n, 
 Hung on the cross expiring : He from thence 656 
 On thee disconsolate a dying look 
 Of tenderest pity cast, and at thy side 
 
 Noting 
 
90 CALVARY. 
 
 Noting the meek disciple whom he lov'd, 
 
 Thus both addressed— Woman, behold thy son ; 660 
 
 Son, look upon thy mother '.—Sacred charge, 
 
 And piously fulfill' d.— Now darkness fell 
 
 On all the region round ; the shrowded sun 
 
 From the impen'itent earth withdrew his light : 
 
 I thirst !— the Sayior ctied, and lifting up 665 
 
 His eyes in agony — My God, my God ! 
 
 Ah ! why hast thou forsaken me ?— exclaim' d. 
 
 Yet deem him not forsaken of his God : 
 Beware that error : 'Twas the mortal part 
 Of his compounded nature breathing forth 670 
 Its last sad agony, that so complain'd : 
 Doubt not that veil of sorrow was withdrawn, 
 And heav'nly comfort to his soul Touchsaf'd, 
 Ere thus he cried— Father ! into thy hands 
 My spirit I commend :— Then bow'dhis head 675 
 And died. Now Gabriel and his heay'nly choir 
 Of minist'ring angels hov'ring o'er the cross 
 
 Receiv'd 
 
BOOK VI. 91 
 
 Receiv'd his spi'rit, at length from mortal pangs 
 And fleshly pris'on set free, and bore it thence 
 Upon their wings rejoicing. Then behold 680 
 A prodigy, that to the world announc'd 
 A new religion and dissolv'd the old : 
 The temple's sacred vail was rent in twain 
 From top to bottom 'midst th' attesting shocks 
 Of earthquake and the rending up of graves : 685 
 Now those mysterious symbols, heretofore 
 Curtain'd from vulgar eyes and holiest deem'd 
 Of holies, were display'd to public view ; 
 The mercy-seat with its cherubic wings 
 O'ershadow'd and the golden ark beneath 690 
 
 Covering the testimony now through the rent 
 Of that dissever'd vail first saw the light. 
 A world redeem'd had now no further need 
 Of types and emblems, dimly shadowing forth 
 An angry Deity withdrawn from sight 695 
 
 And canopied in clouds : Him face to face 
 
 Now 
 
92 CALVARY J 
 
 Now in full light reveaPd the dying breath 
 Of his dear Son appeas'd, and purchas'd peace 
 And reconcilement for offending man. 
 Thus the partition wall, by Moses built, 700 
 
 By Christ was level' d, and the Gentile world 
 Enter'd the breach by their great Captain led 
 Up to the throne of grace, opening himself 
 Through his own flesh a new and living way. 
 Then were the oracles of God made known 705 
 To all the nations, sprinkled by the blood 
 Of Jesus and baptiz'd into his death; 
 So was the birth-right of the elder-born. 
 Heirs of the promise, forfeited ; whilst they, 
 Whom sin had erst in bondage held, made free 710 
 From sin and servants of the living God, 
 Now gain'd the gift of God, eternal life. 
 
 Soon as these signs and prodigies were seen 
 Of those who watch'd the cross, conviction smote 
 Their fear-struck hearts ; The sun at noon-day dark, 
 
 The 
 
COOK VI 
 
 93 
 
 The earth convulsive underneath their feet, 716 
 And the firm rocks in shiver'd fragments rent 
 Rous'd them at once to tremble and believe. 
 Then was our Lord by heathen lips confess' d, 
 When the centurion cried— In very truth 720 
 This righteous person was the Son of God — 
 The rest in heart assenting stood abash' d. 
 Watching in silence the tremendous scene : 
 The recollection of his gracious acts. 
 His dying pray'rs and their own impious taunts 725 
 Now rose in sad review ; too late they wish'd 
 The deed undone and sighing smote their breasts. 
 
 Strait from God's presence went that Angel forth, 
 Whose trumpet shall call up the sleeping dead 
 At the last day, and bade the Saints arise 730 
 
 And come on earth to hail this promised hour, 
 The day-spring of Salvation. Forth they came 
 From their dark tenements, their shadowy forms 
 Made visible as in their fleshly state, 
 
 And 
 
94 CALVARY. 
 
 And through the Holy City here and there 735 
 
 Frequent they gleam'd, by night, by day with fear 
 
 And wonder seen of many : Holy seers. 
 
 Prophets and martyrs from the grave set free, 
 
 And the first-fruits of the redeemed dead. 
 
 They, who with Christ transfigur'd on the mount 
 
 Were seen of his disciples in a cloud 741 
 
 Of dazzling glory, now in form distinct 
 
 Mingling amidst the public haunts of men. 
 
 Struck terror to all hearts ; Ezekiel there. 
 
 The captive seer, to whom on Chebar's banks 745 
 
 The heavens were open'd and the fatal roll 
 
 Held forth with dire denunciations fiU'd 
 
 Of lamentation, mourning and of woe, 
 
 Now falling; fast on Israel's wretched race : 
 
 He too was there, Hilkiah^s holy son, 750 
 
 With loins close girt and glowing lips of fire 
 
 By God's own finger touched : There might be seen 
 
 The youthful prophet, Belteshazzar nam'd 
 
 Of 
 
BOOK VI. 95 
 
 Of the Chaldees, interpreter of dreams, 
 Knowledge of God bestow'd, in visions skill'd 755 
 And fair and learn'd and wise ; The Baptist here 
 Girt in his hairy mantle frowning stalk' d. 
 And, pointing to his ghastly wound, exclaim'd — 
 Ye vipers ! whom my warning could not move 
 Timely to flee from the impending wrath, 760 
 
 Now fallen on your heads ; whom I indeed 
 With water, Chrisic hath now with fire baptiz'd : 
 Barren ye were of fruits, which I prescrib'd 
 Meet for repentance, and behold ! the axe 
 Is laid to the unprofitable root 765 
 
 Of every sapless tree, hewn down, conderan'd 
 And cast into the fire, Lo ! these are they, 
 These shadowy forms now floating in your sight, 
 These are the harbingers of antient days. 
 Who witness'd the Messias and announced 770 
 His coming upon earth. Mark with what scorn 
 Silent they pass you by : Them had ye heard, 
 
 Them 
 
96 CALVARY. 
 
 Them had ye noted with a patient mind. 
 
 Ye had not crucified the Lord of Life : 
 
 He of these stones to Abraham shall raise up 775 
 
 Children, than you more worthy of his stock ; 
 
 And now his winnowing fan is in his hand, 
 
 With which he'll purge his floor, and having stor'd 
 
 The precious grain in garners, will consume 
 
 With fire unquenchable the refuse chaff. 780 
 
 Thus the terrific Vision in the ears 
 Of the astonish' d multitude declaim'd [hearts; 
 With threat' ning voice, and wrung their conscious 
 Whilst the blaspheming priests, who in their scorn 
 Triumphant saw the Savior of the world 785 
 
 Expiring on the cross and deem'd him lost, 
 Now by the resurrection of the saints, 
 Usher' d on earth with prodigies and signs. 
 Confounded and amaz'd, began to doubt 
 If yet the sepulchre had power to keep 790 
 
 Its crucified Possessor safe in hold, 
 
 And 
 
BOOK VI. 97 
 
 And with these thoughts perplex'd, masking their 
 
 Under pretence of caution, they repair [fears 
 
 To Pilate and demand a Roman guard 
 
 To watch the tomb of Christ, and then they add — 
 
 For we remember that Deceiver said, 796 
 
 Whilst he was yet alive, After three days 
 
 I will again arise ; therefore we pray 
 
 Command the sepulchre to be made sure 
 
 Till the third day, lest his disciples come 800 
 
 By night and craftily remove him thence ; 
 
 So the last error shall outgo the first. 
 
 But Pilate, whose unrighteous judgment still 
 Sate heavy on his heart, had little care 
 For what might them befall, and to their suit 805 
 Briefly reply'd — ^Why do ye ask of me 
 That custody, which in yourselves ye have? 
 Take your own watch and to their charge commit 
 The safeguard of that body, which, though dead, 
 
 Keeps 
 
98 CALVARY. 
 
 Keeps yet alive your fears : 'Tis your own cause, 
 As such I leave it with you ; so begone ! 811 
 
 He said and turn'd aside, nor did they tempt 
 Further discourse, but murm'ring went their way. 
 
 END OF THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
CALVARY 
 
 THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 This Book opens with the scene of Mount Calvary at the 
 coming on of evening ; Christ still hanging dead upon 
 the cross, the disciples standing apart and the holy women 
 watching, amongst whom is the Blessed Virgin support- 
 ed by St. John, Christ having bequeathed her to his 
 
 care :....His address to her on this subje;^t, and her reply 
 
 The soldiers come and break the legs of the two malefac- 
 tors, but finding Christ already dead, they pierce his 
 heart with a spear, and blood and water issues from the 
 wound :....They take him down from the cross and lay 
 him in the sepuiclire His spirit in the meanwhile is con- 
 veyed by the angels into the region of Death ; that region 
 described, and the distant prospect of the bottomless pit, 
 where the souls of the wicked are in torment:. ...Christ 
 points out these scenes to Gabriel and instructs him as 
 to the future objects of his descent into this gloomy re- 
 gion Satan expelled from earth falls prostrate at the 
 
 foot of the throne of Death:. ...He makes suit to that 
 power for protection :... .Death rejects his intercessions : 
 ....the person and palace of the King of Terrors descri- 
 bed :...The triumphant entry of Christ :....Satan is hurled 
 into the bottomless pit and there bound by the strong an- 
 gel ; the horrors of that dreadful abode are represented : 
 ....Death humbles himself before the Redeemer of man- 
 kind, and conscious that his power is overtlirown, tenders 
 his crown to Christ as to his conqueror :....He lays the 
 key at his feet, which sets free the souls of the Saints, 
 who are destined to be partakers of the first resurrection. 
 ....This key is given to Gabriel with instructions for their 
 
 release Christ in his reply to Death forewarns him 
 
 of his doom, but signifies to him that the dissolution of 
 
 fcis power will not be immediate The approach of the 
 
 Saints concludes the Book. 
 
CALVARY 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 THE DESCENT INTO HELL. 
 
 Now Hesperus reuew'd his eyening lamp 
 And hung it forth amid the turbid sky 
 To mark the close of this portentous day : 
 The laboring sun, in his mid course eclips'd, 
 Darkling at length had reach'd his western goal ; 5 
 And now it seem'd as if all Nature slept 
 O'erspent and wearied with convulsiye throes. 
 Upon his cross the martyr'd Savior hung; 
 Pale thro' the twilight gleam' d his breathless corpse 
 And silvery white, as when the moon-beam plays 10 
 On the smooth surface of the glassy lake : 
 His thorn-crown' d head upon his breast reclined; 
 VOL. II. H Wis 
 
102 CALVARY. 
 
 His arms were wide out-spread, as if in act 
 
 To' embrace and welcome the converted world ; 
 
 So were they late expanded, when he cried — 15 
 
 Come all ye heavy laden, come to me, 
 
 And I will give you rest I Death had not dar'd 
 
 To rob those features of one heav'nly grace, 
 
 Nor had the worm authority to taint 
 
 That incorruptible and hallow'd shrine, 20 
 
 Wherein his purity had deign'd to dwell. 
 
 The living saints here mingling with the dead 
 
 Stood round in pensive meditation rapt, 
 
 Silent spectators of the awful scene : 
 
 There his disciples in a group apart, 26 
 
 Like frighted sheep that cluster in a storm, 
 
 Throng'd each on other interchanging looks 
 
 Of sorrow and despair ; no voice was heard, 
 
 No utterance but of sighs ; though all had need 
 
 Of comfort, none had comfort to bestow. 30 
 
 But Peter, in whose self-accusing breast 
 
 Grief 
 
BOOK VII. 103 
 
 Grief roll'd in tempests, had the whilst chos'n out 
 A solitary spot, where at his length 
 Outstretch'd with face incumbent on the ground 
 He lay like one, whom fortune had cast off, 35 
 Of all hope 'reft, most wretched and forlorn. 
 
 There too the holy Mother might be seen. 
 Like Rizpah, watching o'er her murder'd son. 
 Rooted in earth, a monument of woe. 
 Beside her, bath'd in sympathising tears, 40 
 
 First in his Master's love, as meek of soul. 
 Stood John, adopted by his dying Lord 
 Son and supporter of that mournful Saint. 
 At length with reverend love he turn'd his eyes' 
 Upon the Virgin Mother, and thus spake. 4^ 
 
 Oh thou ! participant with God himself 
 In his incarnate Offspring, if I claim 
 The glorious title, which my dying Lord 
 On me, thy servant ever, now thy son. 
 Gracious bequeath'd, let not my words offend. 50 
 Ji *2 High 
 
104 CALVARY. 
 
 High honor and a trust than life more dear 
 
 Hatli Christ by this adoption deign'd to cast 
 
 On me unmeriting ; yet well I heard 
 
 Those sacred words — Mother, behold thy son ; 
 
 Son, look upon thy mother ! — Yes, I heard, 55 
 
 And treasuring in my heart the rich bequest, 
 
 Bow'd and obey'd : Ev'n then my zeal had spok« 
 
 The dictates of devotion, had I dar'd 
 
 To break the awful silence of that hour, 
 
 Or sacrilegiously divert the ear 60 
 
 Of mute attention, whilst those lips divine, 
 
 Those living oracles, had breath to move ; 
 
 Now mute, alas ! for He is now no more, 
 
 Who had the words of life : Our hope is quench'd, 
 
 Our glory vanish'd. See ! the deed is done ; 65 
 
 Those murderers have kilPd the Prince of Peace, 
 
 Cold on the cross and stifF'ning in the wind 
 
 To the rude elements his corpse is left • 
 
 Nor is there found, who shall provide a grave 
 
 For 
 
BOOK VIT. 105 
 
 For the sad reliques of the Son of God. [mourn'd 
 But lo ! the heav'ns, that three long hours hcive 
 In darkness, now throw off their sable shroud : 72 
 The earth no longer quakes beneath our feet, 
 The shatter'd rocks subside ; Nature is calm. 
 The sun unmasks and through disparted clouds 75 
 With ruddy twilight streaks the western sky. 
 And may not we, since God hath now withdrawn 
 His terrors and asswag'd the wrathful sky, 
 May not we hope, that as his light revives 
 At the third hour, so of his blessed Son 80 
 
 The promis'd resurrection to new life 
 At the third day shall also come to pass ? 
 When, as the sun emerging from eclipse 
 Darkness dispells, so Christ from out the grave 
 Arising shall dispell our dark despair ? 85 
 
 To him the holy Mother thus replied : 
 Thou meek Disciple, in thy Master's love 
 Pre-eminently blest, since He, whose will 
 
 Should 
 
106 CALVARY. 
 
 Should govern, so decrees it, from this hour 
 Henceforth I lodge thee in a mother's heart 95 
 
 And hold thee as my son ; for I perceive 
 Christ from his human nature is withdrawn, 
 And to mortality hath rendered back 
 All that from me a mortal he receiv'd : 
 His Incorruptible now lives with God, 95 
 
 And in that glory I no part must claim ; 
 Flesh cannot share with spirit. Henceforth thou, 
 Thou art my son adopted in the place 
 Of that incarnate Virtue, of whose birth 
 Miraculous the eastern star gave sign, 100 
 
 And Angels witness'd him the Son of God. 
 And now behold ! what wonders mark his death : 
 Whence are these prodigies ? What but the hand 
 Of God can shake the pillars of the earth, 
 Seal up the sun and rend these rocks in twain, 105 
 Turn day to night, tear down the temple vail, 
 Break up the graves and bid the saints come forth ? 
 
 Lo, 
 
BOOK VII. 107 
 
 Lo, where they pass as sensible to sight 
 As in broad day substantial man to man. 
 And can we ask if He be very Christ, 1 10 
 
 Whom stars and Angels usher'd into birth ? 
 Can we doubt Him on whom the Spi'rit of God 
 Dove-like descended ? Can we stop our ears 
 Against a voice from heav'n ? Are we so blind. 
 Dull and insensible not to behold 115 
 
 That sun emergent and these moving shapes, 
 That to revisit earth have left their graves, 
 Awakeu'd as from sleep ? If these can rise. 
 If these, whose bones are moulder'd into dust. 
 On whom the worm hath fed for ages, men 120 
 As mortal as ourselves can re-ascend 
 Out of the pit, do not these signs bespeak 
 His second coming, who is Lord and Christ ? 
 He shall. He shall return upon the earth 
 Victorious over death, and we, though now 125 
 Humbled in heart and for a season sad, 
 
 Yet 
 
108 CALVARY. 
 
 Yet wavering not in faith and holding fast 
 
 The anchor of our hope, shall yet again 
 
 Behold his glory, and as now his death 
 
 Turns day to night, his resurrection then 130 
 
 Shall into joy convert our present gloom. 
 
 But see, where Peter prostrate on the earth 
 
 Is lost in sorrow : Haste and bid him rise ; 
 
 Tell him the day's at hand when he must work. 
 
 Hath he not heard the servant shall not sleep 135 
 
 In his Lord's absence ? Strengthen thou his heart I 
 
 So spake these Saints, and each to other gave 
 Alternate solace ; faith inspiring hope, 
 And hope asswaging woe. At Peter's side 
 Behold the meek disciple — Up ! he cries, 140 
 
 Awake and put on strength : The Virgin Saint, 
 The Mother of our Lord, bids thee awake. 
 Unprofitable grief availeth nought, 
 But godly sorrow is approv'd in works 
 Meet for repentance. Up ! for Christ, the' dead, 
 
 Yet 
 
BOOK VII. 109 
 
 Yet speaketb, and shall come again on earth : 146 
 Woe to that servant therefore, whom his Lord 
 Shall find thus sleeping ; great shall be his wrath. 
 This said, he reach'd his hand and rais'd him up ; 
 He stood and spake— Servant, of Christ approv'd. 
 Thee and thy blessed Sender I obey : 151 
 
 Yet doth my heart, by deep remorse subdued, 
 Press downward to the dust. A wretch I am, 
 Who hath denied his Lord ; What can I do, 
 A miserable man ? O righteous John, 155 
 
 When thou shalt spread abroad, as sure thou wilt. 
 The direful doings of this fatal day, 
 And publish to mankind the wond'rous love 
 Of Christ thus dying for them, I conjure thee 
 Be faithful to the truth, screen not my crime, 160 
 Foul though it be, but let the nations know 
 Peter, who vaunted of himself, was false. 
 So shall they reap instruction from my shame, 
 And by despising me correct themselves. 
 
 Thus 
 
no CALVARY. 
 
 Thus spake the contrite Saint, when now the priests, 
 Whose custom was upon this solemn eve 166 
 
 To purge their Golgotha from human blood, 
 Send forth their guard official to remove 
 Christ and the slaves convict before the dawn 
 Of that great day, too hallow'd to permit 170 
 
 Their bodies fest'ring on th' ill-omen'd cross. 
 And lo ! the soldiers so encharg'd arrive, 
 Survey the victims and begin the work ; 
 But first the pond'rous sledge with horrid crash 
 Descending breaks the knees and ankle joints 175 
 Of these two criminals ; for stubborn life 
 Still hover'd on their lips, and now and then 
 Their heaving bosoms fetch'd a deep-drawn sigh, 
 Like the slow swell of seas without a wind. 
 But when the Savior's body they approach'd 180 
 And saw there needed not a second blow 
 To make his death secure, the word of God 
 Prophetic mov'd their else obdurate hearts 
 
 To 
 
BOOK VII, Itl 
 
 To break no limb ; yet one, so destined, thrust 
 His spear into his side and forthwith flow'd 185 
 Water and blood from the heart-piercing wound : 
 So deep the stab, that to life's citadel. 
 Had life remain' d, the mortal point had reach' d 
 And there had finish'd it. Meanwhile behold I 
 Joseph arrives; a counsellor was he, 190 
 
 But not for death, and rich and just withal ; 
 In Ramoth born, where Samuel first drew breath, 
 And as his heart in righteousness and faith 
 Stood firm with Christ whilst living, so his zeal 
 An honour'able interment to bestow 195 
 
 On his dead Master prompted him to make 
 Bold suit to Pilate for the lifeless corpse, 
 Nor fail'd he of his suit ; therefore he came, 
 So favor'd, to receive the precious charge 
 Of those dear reliques and with decent rites 200 
 Commit them to the grave : Spear' d to the heart, 
 And death with double diligence ensur'd. 
 
 The 
 
112 CALVARY. 
 
 The body they take down ; the hands and feet 
 Pierc'd thro' with nails and all besmear'd with blood, 
 O piteous spectacle ! which to behold 205 
 
 Bathes every angel face in heav'n with tears ! 
 Accursed Deicides ! the time comes on, 
 When every mark your sacrilegious hands 
 Have printed on that corpse shall be a seal 
 To testify against you, every gash 210 
 
 Unclos'd shall with its living lips proclaim 
 Christ in his human attributes renew'd, 
 Corporeal yet immortal ; Then the hand 
 Of him who doubts shall probe those gaping wounds, 
 And by the evidence of sense compel 215 
 
 The faithless and reluctant to believe. 
 And now they place the body on the bier, 
 Cleans'd of the blood and wrapt in seemly cloths : 
 Then under guard convey'd it to the vault 
 Hewn in the rock, where never corpse was laid, 220 
 And there consign it to its dark abode, 
 
 Rolling 
 
BOOK VII. 11^ 
 
 Rolling a massy fragment to the door. 
 Unwieldy, vast ; and haying seal'd the stone, 
 They post their centinels, and so depart. [free 
 
 Meanwhile the' unhoused spirit of Christ, set 
 From gross communion with his earthly clay, 226 
 Borne with the meteor's speed upon the wings 
 Of mightiest Cherubim had now approach'd 
 The dark confines of Death's engulph'd domain : 
 Here at the barrier of that vast profound 230 
 
 On the firm adamant, from whence uprose 
 The tow' ring structure of hell's ebon gate. 
 The heav'nly Visitant descending bade 
 His cherub bearers stoop their wings, on which 
 As in a plumey chariot he rode ; 235 
 
 And now alighted on the dreadful brink 
 The Savior paus'd and downward cast his eye 
 O'er that immeasurable blank, the grave 
 Of universal Nature, founded then 
 And charter' d to the gloomy powers of Sin 240 
 
 And 
 
lU 
 
 (JALV ARV 
 
 And Death Sin-born, when the primaeval pair 
 Lost immortality and fell from God. 
 The starry lamps of heav'n here lost their light, 
 No sun-beam ever reach'd this dismal realm: 
 Yet in Christ's spi'rit divine that living light, 245 
 Which from the Father of creation flow'd 
 Before all time, inherently supplied 
 Self-furnish'd vision to explore the bounds 
 Of that oblivious pit, in whose dark womb 
 Myriads of unredeemed souls were plung'd ; 250 
 All who of human birth had pass'd that gate 
 From righteous Abel, the first-fruit of death, 
 To him, whose heart had newly ceas'd to beat, 
 Were in that gulph immers'd. At farthest end 
 Of that Obscure a pillary cloud arose 255 
 
 Of sulph'rous smoke, that from hell's crater steam' d; 
 Whence here and there by intermittent gleams 
 Blue flashing fires burst forth, that sparkling blaz'd 
 Up to the iron roof, whose echoing vault 
 
 Resounded 
 
BOOK VII. 115 
 
 Resounded ever with the dolorous groans '260 
 
 Of the sad crew beneath : Thence might be heard 
 
 The wailing suicide's remorseful plaint ; 
 
 The murd'rer's yelling scream, and the loud cry 
 
 Of tyrants in that fiery furnace hurl'd, 
 
 Vain cry ! th' unmitigated furies urge 265 
 
 Their ruthless task and to the cauldron's edge 
 
 With ceaseless toil huge blocks of sulphur roll, 
 
 Pil'd mountains high to feed the greedy flames : 
 
 All these, th' accursed brood of Sin, were once 
 
 The guilty pleasures, the false joys, that lur'd 270 
 
 Their sensual vota'rists to th' infernal pit : 
 
 Them their fell mother, watchful o'er the work, 
 
 With eye that sleep ne'er clos'd and snaky scourge 
 
 Still wadng o'er their heads, for ever plies 
 
 To keep the fiery deluge at its height ; 275 
 
 And stops her ears against the clam'rous din 
 
 Of those tormented, who for mercy call 
 
 Age after age implor'd and still denied. 
 
 These 
 
116 CALVARY. 
 
 These when th' all-present Spirit of Christ descried 
 
 At distance tossing in the sulph'rous lake, 280 
 
 And heard their dismal groans, the conscious sense 
 
 Of human weakness by experience earn'd 
 
 In his own mortal body now put off, 
 
 And recollection that Himself of late 
 
 In his sublunar pilgrimage had prov'd 285 
 
 Temptations like to their 's, drew from his soul 
 
 A sigh of nat'ral pity, as from man 
 
 To man although in merited distress : 
 
 But when his human sympathy gave place 
 
 To judgment better weigh'd and riper thoughts 290 
 
 Congenial with the Godhead reassum'd, 
 
 The justice of their doom, th' abhorrence due 
 
 To their vile deeds by voluntary act 
 
 Of will, left free, committed in despight 
 
 Of conscience moving thom to better thoughts, 295 
 
 Turn'd him indignant from the loathed sight 
 
 Of these impenitents ; when, after pause, 
 
 To 
 
BOOK VII. 117 
 
 To Gabriel, chief of the cherubic host 
 
 And late his strength'ning angel, thus he spake. 
 
 Gabriel, or e'er from this high steep we launch 
 With prone descent into this gloomy vast, 301 
 This shadowy dark inane, the realm of Death, 
 After so swift a race through all the spheres 
 From earth to this hell's portal, it behoves 
 Thee and thy plumed cohort to recruit 305 
 
 The vigor of your wings ; for sure I am 
 That in this subterranean we shall find 
 No breeze from heav'n's pure aether to give aid 
 To motion, or uphold in steady poise 
 Your feath'ry vans outstretch'd ; nor may we look 
 For star or planet or one straggling ray 311 
 
 From circumlucent sun to guide our course 
 Through this obscure domain of Night and Death. 
 Nor less behoves thee, gentle as thou art, 
 Friendliest to man of all heav'n's angel host 313 
 And for each task of mercy and of love 
 
 VOL. II. I First 
 
118 CALVARY. 
 
 First in the choice of God, to arm thy heart 
 For the sad spectacles, the dismal scenes, 
 Which we must needs encounter in this gulph 
 Of human misery, this world of woes, 320 
 
 Fit residence for Satan and his crew 
 Of outcast angels ; sad reverse to thee 
 Inhabitant of heav'n : And now, behold ! 
 Where hell's infernal pit with horrid glare [God 
 Flames through the dismal gloom, there, but that 
 In mercy films thine arch-angelic eye, 326 
 
 Such myriads in that ever-burning lake 
 Of souls tormented thou would^st else discern 
 As would appal thy nature ; but these scenes 
 From thee, a spi'rit so loving to mankind, 330 
 So melting soft to pity, are with-held: 
 No mercy can I meditate for them 
 Impenitent, no embassy of peace 
 Have I in charge, no respite, till the trump 
 Of general resurrection calls them up 335 
 
 At 
 
BOOK VII. J 19 
 
 At the last day of judgment, then to hear 
 Their crimes rehears'd, their blasphemies exposM, 
 Their envyings, frauds, revilings, treach'ries, plots, 
 And ev'ry secret of their hearts unmask' d 
 By an all-righteous Judge, who shall pronounce 340 
 Their final condemnation and decree 
 Their present pains perpetual. We meanwhile 
 To other regions shall divert our course 
 From them and from their torments far apart. 
 Regions of night and silence, where the souls 345 
 Of righteous men in their oblivious caves 
 Sleep out the time till their Deliverer comes 
 To wake them from their trance, dissolve the spell 
 Of their enchanter Death, and set them free 
 To range the fields of Paradise, where flows, 350 
 As from a fountain by God's presence fed, 
 Beatitude surpassing human thought. 
 Pleasures unseen, unnumber'd, unconceiv'd. 
 This said, from those high battlements the Dove 
 I 2 Of 
 
120 CALVARY. 
 
 Of Peace upon Redemption's errand sent, 355 
 Borne on the wings of his cherubic choir. 
 Descended swift, and through the drowsy void 
 To Death's terrific palace steer'd his flight. 
 
 Here the Arch-foe of man, from earth expell'd 
 By Man's Redeemer, newly had arriv'd, 360 
 
 But fear-struck and in like disastrous trim 
 With war-worn Sisera, when in his flight 
 From the victorious Naphthalite he came 
 To ask protection at false Jael's tent, 
 And ruin found instead. The whirlwind's blast 365 
 Had shatter'd his proud form ; now scorch' d by fires, 
 Now driv'n to regions of perpetual frost 
 Beyond extremest Saturn's wint'ry sphere, 
 No middle course kept he, nor had his feet 
 From their aerial journey once found rest, 370 
 Till at the threshold of Death's gloomy throne 
 Down on the solid adamant he fell 
 Precipitate at once, and lay entranc'd 
 
 Of 
 
BOOK VII. 121 
 
 Of arch-angelic majesty the wreck. 
 
 Scar'd at the hideous crash and all aghast 375 
 Death scream 'd amain, then wrapt himself in clouds. 
 And in his dark pavilion trembling sate 
 Mantled in night. And now the prostrate fiend 
 Rear'd his terrific head with lightnings scorch'd 
 And furrow 'd deep with scars of livid hue ; 380 
 Then stood erect and roU'd his blood-shot eyes 
 To find the ghastly vision of grim Death, 
 Who at the sudden downfall of his sire 
 Startled, and ef his own destruction warn'd, 
 Had shrunk from sight, and to a misty cloud 385 
 Dissolv'd hung low' ring o'er his shrouded throne. 
 When Satan, whose last hope was now at stake. 
 Impatient for the interview exclaim'd. 
 Where art thou, Death ? Why hide thyself from him, 
 Of whom thou art ? Come forth, thou grisly king ; 
 And though to suitor of immortal mould 391 
 
 Thy refuge be denied, yet at my call, 
 
 Thy 
 
122 CALVARY, 
 
 Thy father's call, come forth and comfort me, 
 Thou gaunt anatomy, with one short glimpse 
 Of those dry bones, in which alone is peace 395 
 And that oblivious sleep, for which I sigh. 
 
 He said, and now a deep and hollow groan, 
 Like roar of distant thunders, shook the hall, 
 And from before the cloud-envelop' d throne 
 The adamantine pavement burst in twain 400 
 
 With hideous crash self-open'd, and display'd 
 A subterranean chasm, whose yawning vault. 
 Deep as the pit of Acheron, forbade 
 All nearer access to the shado'wy king. 
 Whereat the imprison' d winds, that in its womb 405 
 Were cavern'd, 'gan to heave their yeasty waves 
 In bubbling exhalations, till at once 
 Their eddying vapors working upwards burst 
 From the broad vent enfranchise, when, behold ! 
 The cloud that late around the throne had pour'd 
 More than Egyptian darkness, now began 
 
 To 
 
BOOK VII. 123 
 
 To lift its fleecy skirts, till through the mist 
 The' imperial Phantom gleam'd ; monster deform'd, 
 Enormous, terrible, from heel to scalp 
 One dire anatomy ; his giant bones 413 
 
 Star'd through the shrivell'd skin, that loosely hung 
 On his sepulchral carcase ; round his brows 
 A cypress wreath tiara-like he wore 
 With nightshade and cold hemlock intertwin'd ; 
 Behind him hung his quiver'd store of darts 420 
 Wing'd with the raven's plume ; his fatal bow 
 Of deadly yew, tall as Goliath's spear, 
 Propp'd his unerring arm ; about his throne, 
 If throne it might be call'd, which was compos'd 
 Of human bones, as in a charnel pil'd, 425 
 
 A hideous group of dire diseases stood, 
 Sorrows and pains and agonizing plagues. 
 His ghastly satellites, and, ev'n than these 
 More terrible, ambition's slaught'ring sons, 
 Heroes and conquerors stil'd on earth, but here 430 
 
 Doom'd 
 
124 CALVARV. 
 
 Doom'd to ignoble drudgery, employ'd 
 
 To do his errands in the loathsome vault, 
 
 And tend corruption's never-dying worm, 
 
 To haunt the catacombs and ransack graves, 
 
 Where some late popu'lous city is laid waste 43B 
 
 By the destroying pestilence, or storm'd 
 
 By murdering Russ or Tartar blood-besmear'd 
 
 And furious in the desp'rate breach to plant 
 
 His eagle or his crescent on the piles 
 
 Of mangled multitudes and flout the sky 440 
 
 With his victorious banners. Now a troop 
 
 Of shrowded ghosts upon a signal given 
 
 By their terrific Monarch start to sight, 
 
 Each with a torch funereal in his grasp, 
 
 That o'er the hall diffus'd a dying light, 445 
 
 Than darkness' self more horrible : The walls 
 
 Of that vast cenotaph, hung round with spears, 
 
 Falchions and pole-axes and plumed helms, 
 
 Shew'd like the arm'ory of some warlike state : 
 
 There 
 
BOOK vn. 125 
 
 There every mortal weapon might be seen, 450 
 Each implement of old or new device, 
 Which savage nature or inventive art 
 Furnish' d to arm the ruffian hand of war 
 And deal to man the life-destroying stroke : 
 And them betwixt at intervals were plac'd 455 
 The crowned skeletons of mighty kings, 
 Caesars and Caliphs and barbarian Chiefs, 
 Monsters, whose swords had made creation shrink 
 And frighted peace and science from the earth. 
 
 Pondering the scene in mute amazement rapt 460 
 The lost Arch-angel stood, when soon the voice 
 Of Death as from the tombs low-murmurring thus 
 Bespoke attention — What uncivil cause, 
 Prince of the air, provokes thee to offend 
 Against the peaceful charter of these realms 465 
 By voice thus rude and clamo'rous ? Know'st thou 
 I reign by privilege, though son not slave ! [not 
 Of thee heav'n-exil'd ? Here no place hast thou. 
 
 For 
 
1^6 CALVARY. 
 
 For here is peace ; no part in this domain 
 
 To thee and to thy rebel host belongs : 470 
 
 They in the flames of Tartarus, but we 
 
 Dwell with the silent worm : The pow'r we have 
 
 O'er man's corruptible and mortal part 
 
 Ends with the body ; here the bones may sleep, 
 
 For these anatomies disturb us not : 475 
 
 But for the spark unquenchable, the soul 
 
 Immortal, which survives the fleeting breath, 
 
 Of that we take no charge : that must abide 
 
 In other regions its appointed lot 
 
 Of misery or bliss. What then hath Death 480 
 
 To do with Satan ? Can the son, who drew 
 
 Existence from the father, quench that spi'rit, 
 
 Which God decreed eternal ? Will those fires 
 
 Cease at my word ? Hell will not hear my voice, 
 
 Nor can the bowlings of th' infernal pit 485 
 
 Enter my ears. Ask not repose of me, 
 
 Tormented fiend : There is no grave for sin. 
 
 No 
 
BOOK VII. 127 
 
 No sleep for Satan ; fall'n from heav'n thou art, 
 There thou hast no abode ; faU'n now from earth, 
 Where is thy lodging ? Where, but in those flames ? 
 Pass on then in thy course, nor loiter here, 491 
 For hell expects thee : Wert thou here to stay, 
 Death in destroying thee himself destroys. 
 
 Whereto th' unwelcome visitant replied — 
 Inhospitable Pow'r ! and is it thus 495 
 
 Thou greet'st a father in his extreme need 
 Suppliant for leave to draw a moment's breath 
 In thy pale presence, till this furious blast. 
 That follow' d me from earth, shall spend its rage 
 And cease to howl thro' the profound of hell ? 500 
 If in thy heartless trunk no mem'ory dwells 
 Of what I was, Oh ! teach me to forget 
 What now I am and make my senses dull 
 To pain, as thine to gratitude are lost : 
 But if thy mind be present to record 505 
 
 My fall from bliss, will it not also serve 
 
 To 
 
128 CALVARY. 
 
 To put thee in remembrance how that fall 
 Bestow'd on thee a station and a name ? 
 Had I not fall'n from heav'n man had not lost 
 The joys of Paradise, immortal joys 510 
 
 Till I destroy'd them ; who then but myself, 
 Exil'd from God, brought Death into the world. 
 Gave thee the sepulchre for thy domain, 
 And every mortal body for thy prey ? 
 Whose hand but Satan's, thankless as thou art, 
 Plac'd that victorious wreath upon thy brow, 516 
 Arm'd thee for war and bade thee be a king ? 
 And what doth Satan now demand of Death ? 
 What, but a moment's respite, the small boon 
 Of hospitable shelter, where to lay 520 
 
 My aching head and rest my weary wing ? 
 This to the father can the son refuse ? 
 I ask no more. If Christ, from whom I fly. 
 Pursues me to this pit, and into hell 
 Descending shall repass her gloomy gates 525 
 
 Guarded 
 
BOOK VII. 129 
 
 Guarded by Sin, that barrier lost, farewell 
 To all thy greatness ! Where shall be thy sting, 
 O Death, and where thy victory, O Graye ? 
 Then to have harbor'd Satan shall not add 
 One feather to the balance of thy fate : 530 
 
 All must be lost together ; I to flames 
 Consign'd, thou, Phantom, into air dissoly'd. 
 
 No more of this vain arguing. Death replied ; 
 My peace and my repose I can but deal 
 As God decrees, and as he wills withhold : 533 
 Thus wrangling to the latest hour of time 
 Nothing, O Satan, could'st thou wring from me 
 But the same answer and the same despair : 
 I with mortality alone confer. 
 Thou art a deathless spirit : If my pow'r 540 
 
 Cannot annihilate the soul of man. 
 How then of angel ? Guilty thou hast been, 
 Conscious must ever be, and therefore curst. 
 Of me complaining thou condemn'st thyself, 
 
 The 
 
ISO CALVARY. 
 
 The righteous ever are at peace with Death ; 545 
 
 Thou art not of their number. Spi'rit unblest. 
 
 Author of man's revolt and all things ill, 
 
 The hell which thou hast peopled, is thine own. 
 
 Earth thou hast made a ruin, men by thee 
 
 Perverted turn to monsters, Heav'n itself, 550 
 
 Disturbed by thy rebellion, for a while 
 
 Suffer'd convulsion, and her thrones besieg'd 
 
 Echo'd the din of battle ; the fair bloom 
 
 Of Paradise was blasted by thy spells. 
 
 And man driv'n forth to till th' unthankful earth 
 
 And toil and sweat for a precarious meal, 556 
 
 Degraded from his origin, at length 
 
 To me and to corruption was consign'd. 
 
 These were thy doings, this was my descent, 
 
 And my inheritance the loathsome worm, 560 
 
 The throne funereal and this yawning gulph 
 
 Impassable, which I am yet to thank 
 
 For that it holds thee at a distance from me : 
 
 This 
 
BOOK VII. 131 
 
 This is thy bounty. Look upon these bones. 
 Survey this dread anatomy, and say 565 
 
 If son so fashion'd owes his father thanks : 
 Proportion' d to thy goodness I accord 
 My gratitude by bidding thee avaunt ; 
 Hence from my sight, intruder I Thrust from earth 
 As heretofore from heav'n, and tempest-torn 570 
 With bruised head and shatter' d flagging wing 
 Hither thou com'st a fugitive from Him, 
 Whom in the wilderness for forty days 
 Tempting thou didst annoy : Dull, doating spirit ! 
 Blind to thine own destruction, not to see 575 
 God's pow'r in Christ, nor understand that He, 
 Who foil'd thy cunning, might defy thy strength: 
 But neither strength nor cunning shall prevail 
 To draw me forth upon a losing side, 
 And set this empire on a desp'rate cast : 580 
 
 I lack presumption to oppose that Power, 
 Which puts hell's monarch to inglorious flight. 
 
 What 
 
132 CALVARY. 
 
 What shelter canst thou find behind a shade. 
 An airy phantom? Such thou say'st I am, 
 Such let me be ! That phantom will not tempt 585 
 The furious blast of God's avenging breath, 
 Nor mov'd to pity by thy treacherous plaints 
 Tender oblivion's boon to soul accurst : 
 Such favor when thoa would' st extort from Death, 
 That phantom will be adamant to thee. 590 
 
 Now learn a truth : Christ in the flesh is dead ; 
 Yet long I cannot hold him in the grave ; 
 His body interdicted to the worm 
 For some mysterious purpose is reserv'd 
 From all corruption free, and sure 1 am 595 
 
 He will not leave his enemy at large 
 In this obscure domain, where sleep the souls 
 Of righteous men ; fly then, whilst yet the hour 
 Serves thee for flight— And hark ! the angel trump 
 Sounds his approach. Now tremble, thou accurst. ! 
 No more ; encanopied beneath the wings 601 
 
 Of 
 
BOOK VII. 133 
 
 Of mighty Cherubim with souiid?ng trump 
 And joyful chaunt the Lord of Life came on — 
 Lift up your heads, the heav'nly chorus sung, 
 Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates, 605 
 
 And Christ the King of Glory shall come in- 
 Bright as the sun his presence ; darkness fled 
 Down to the center ; Satan on the earth 
 Fell motionless ; Death trembled on his throne. 
 And call'd his shadowy guards, they with lou:l 
 shrieks 610 
 
 Vanish' d in air, whilst from the gulph profound 
 Blue lightnings flash'd, and deep-mouth'd thunders 
 
 roar'd; 
 When Christ with eye severe on Satan turn'd 
 Bade the storm cease and thus address'd the fiend. 
 Well art thou found, thou serpent, on the brink 
 Of thy last home, this horrible abyss, 616 
 
 For thee and for thine impious crew prepar'd. 
 Man from his God by thy corruption turn'd 
 
 VOL. II. K Is 
 
134 CALVARY. 
 
 Is by my death receiv'd into the peace 
 
 Ofhis offended Maker, and if faith 620 
 
 Opens his way to beav'n in righteousness 
 
 And true conversion, Death cannot retain 
 
 His soul in darkness, nor thy crafty wiles 
 
 Puzzle his path and damp his glowing zeal ; 
 
 But thou presumptuous, who hast had the world 6^5 
 
 To range at will, and from God's altars pluck'd 
 
 Their consecrated honors, falsely view'd 
 
 Those spoils, by sufferance yielded, as the prize 
 
 Of thine own proper victory. Behold ! 
 
 These are thy triumphs; in this pit receive 630 
 
 Thy folly's confutation and the doom 
 
 Of woe eternal on thy sin denounc'd. 
 
 He said, nor other answer Satan gave 
 Than one deep groan rent from his lab'ring breast. 
 The strong vindictive Angel, to whose charge 635 
 The key of that infernal pit belong'd. 
 Now seiz'd him in his grasp and from the ground 
 
 Lifting 
 
BOOK VII. 135 
 
 Lifting his pond'rous bulk, such vigour dwelt 
 In arm celestial, headlong down at once 
 Down hurl'd him to the bottom of the gulph, 640 
 Then follow' d on the wing : His yelling cries 
 Death heard, whilst terror shiver'd every bone : 
 Not so the choir cherubic ; they with joy 
 Beheld Redemption's triumph in the fall 
 Of that Great Dragon, enemy of man, 645 
 
 That antient Serpent, now with bruised head 
 And sting-bereft hurl'd down into the pit : 
 Whereat in heav'nly concert they begin 
 To raise their tuneful voices and sing forth 
 Praise to the Lamb of God, and joyful strain 650 
 Of gratulation to the Saints redeem'd — 
 
 Now is salvation come and strength and power. 
 The kingdom of our God and of his Christ : 
 Now is that railing and malignant foe 
 Cast down into the pit, which day and night 655 
 K 2 Accused 
 
136 CALVARY. 
 
 Accus'd our righteous brethren to their God 
 Now are they made victorious by the blood 
 Of the Redeeming Lamb, and in the word 
 Of Truth, their fearless witness, through the world 
 Go forth against the anarchy of Sin 660 
 
 'A host of martyrs faithful unto death ; 
 Therefore rejoice, ye heav'ns. and ye of earth 
 Inhabitant?, awake to joy and hail 
 , The day-spring of Salvation from on high. 
 
 Satan meanwhile ton thousand fathoms deep 
 At bottom of the pit, a mangled mass 666 
 
 With shatter' d brain and broken limbs outspread, 
 Lay groaning on the adamantine rock : 
 Him the strong Angel with ethereal touch 
 Made whole in form, but not to strength restor'd. 
 Rather to pain and the acuter sense 671 
 
 Of shame and torment ; hideous was the glare 
 Of his blood-streaming eyes and loud he yell'd 
 
 For 
 
BOOK VII. J37 
 
 For very agony, whilst on his limbs 
 
 The massy fetters, such as hell alone 675 
 
 Could forge in hottest sulphur, were infix'd 
 
 And rivetted in the perpetual stone : 
 
 Upon his back he lay extended, huge, 
 
 A hideous ruin ; not a word vouchsaf'd 
 
 That vengeful Angel, but with quick dispatch 680 
 
 Plied his commission'd task, then stretch'd the wing 
 
 And upward flew ; for now th' infernal cave 
 
 Through all its vast circumference had giv'n 
 
 The dreadful warning, and began to close 
 
 Its rocky ribs upon th' imprisoned fiend : 685 
 
 Fierce and more fierce a» it approach'd became 
 
 The flaming concave ; thus comprest, the vault 
 
 Red as metallic furnace glow'd intense 
 
 With heat, that had the hideous den been less 
 
 Than adamant it had become a flood, 690 
 
 Or Satan other than he was in sin 
 
 And 
 
138 CALVARY. 
 
 And arch-angelic strength pre-eminent, 
 He neither could have suffer'd nor deserv'd : 
 Panting he roll'd in streams of scalding sweat, 
 Parch'd with intolerable thirst, one drop 695 
 
 Of water then to cool his raging tongue 
 Had been a boon worth all his golden shrines : 
 Vain wish! for now the pit had clos'd its mouth, 
 Nor other light remain'd than what the glare 
 Of those reverberating fires bestow'd : 700 
 
 Then all the dungeon round was thick beset 
 With horrid faces, threat'ning as they glar'd 
 Their haggard eyes upon him ; from hell's lake 
 Flocking they came, whole legions of the damn'd, 
 His worshippers on earth, sensual, profane, 705 
 Abominable in their lives, monsters of vice. 
 Blood-stained murderers, apostate kings, 
 And crowned tyrants some, tormented now 
 For their past crimes and into furies turn'd, 
 
 Accusing 
 
BOOK VII. 139 
 
 Accusing their betrayer : Curses dire, 710 
 
 Hissings and tauntings now from every side 
 Assail'd his ear, on him, on him alone. 
 From Cain first murderer to Iscariot all, 
 All with loud voices charg'd on him their sins. 
 Their agonies, with imprecations urg'd 715 
 
 For treble vengeance on his head accurst, 
 Founder of hell, sole author of their woe, 
 And enemy avow'd of all mankind. 
 
 Now when the King of Terrors had perceiv'd 
 The pow'r of his new Visitant and saw 720 
 
 Satan engulph'd and the devouring pit. 
 Best barrier of his throne, for ever clos'd, 
 Descending from his state with heart abash' d. 
 Conscious that pride would ill befriend him now 
 In presence of his Conqueror, at the feet 725 
 
 Of Christ with low obeisance he put off 
 The trophies of his brow, and on the knee, 
 
 Stooping 
 
140 CALVARY. 
 
 Stooping his vassal head, low homage paid, 
 And suppliant thus his humble suit preferr'd. 
 
 Immortal King ! all glorious and all good, 730 
 At whose great Name befits that every knee 
 In heav'u or earth or in these realms beneath 
 Should bend adoring, let thy will prevail 
 Here, as wherever else ! And sure I am 
 'Tis not my pow'r but thine own wond'rous love, 735 
 Consenting to the deed, hath brought thee here 
 In pity to mankind to taste the cup 
 Of agony and visit these sad shades, 
 Though deathless ; thence to re-ascend, as soon 
 Thou shalt, victorious to the realms of light. 740 
 I know thee for the Christ the Son of God, 
 Messias of the prophets long foreseen, 
 Yet of the unbelieving Jews despis'd. 
 Rejected, for thou cam'st not in the pomp 
 Of tcmpo'ral majesty and only great 745 
 
 In 
 
BOOK MI. 141 
 
 In patience, in humility, in love 
 And miracles of mercy. At thy feet 
 This head uncrown'd thus stooping, I resign 
 All empire ; not on me let fall thy wrath 
 As on that bruised Serpent. What am I ? 750 
 What is the sword, what is the pestilence, 
 And all my host of mortal ministers. 
 But servants of thy providence, a scourge 
 And rod of vengeance, wherewith to chastise 
 Presumptuous, guilty pride ? Whose hand but mine 
 Strikes terror to the atheist's harden'd heart? 756 
 Who plucks the tyrant from his bloody car 
 And rolls him in the dust ? or at a blow 
 Strangles the curse in t!ie blasphemer's throat ? 
 If on the martyr's head my axe descends, 760 
 
 The same hand plants a crown of glory there ; 
 And if in my dark caves the righteous sleep. 
 Peaceful they sleep; I break not their repose, 
 
 For 
 
142 CALVARY, 
 
 For silence dwells with me and night and rest. 
 
 Behold the key inviolate that guards 765 
 
 Their hallow'd slumbers ; never did I yield. 
 
 Though oft solicited, this sacred pledge 
 
 To Satan or his sin-defiled crew ; 
 
 Faithful I've kept it ever, faithful now 
 
 To thee their Savior I resign my charge. 770 
 
 This said, the golden badge of his command, 
 Rich and of heav'nly workmanship with gems 
 Of azure, green and purple thick emboss'd, 
 Humbly he laid at the Redeemer's feet; 
 He to the zeal of Gabriel straight consign'd 775 
 Th' enlargement of those spi'rits to bliss preferr'd, 
 Fit minister for office so benign ; 
 Whereat he bade sound forth the signal trump 
 Of the First Resurrection, heard of none 
 Save of those holy Saints elect of God, 780 
 
 Martyrs and prophets, cali'd to live with Christ 
 
 In 
 
BOOK VII. 143 
 
 In antecedent glory till the day 
 Of general Resurrection shall awaken 
 And summon into judgment all mankind. 
 Swift hied that friendly Angel on the wing, 785 
 Swifter, for that, on gracious errand sent, 
 Joy urg'd him to put forth his utmost speed ; 
 Meanwhile the heav'nly Visitant of Death 
 Upon that ghastly Vision turn'd his eyes. 
 And thus in accent mild address'd the Shade. 790 
 That I came down from lieav' n and am the Christ, 
 Rightly, O Death, thou hast pronounc'd ; yet here 
 I come not to destroy thy power at once. 
 But to set free the Saints thou hold'st in thrall, 
 And call them to my peace ; but ev'n of these 795 
 Part till my second coming must abide : 
 Of thee and all things of corruption bred 
 The term is fix'd ; God must be all in all : 
 But time, as man computes, hath yet to roll 
 
 Through 
 
144 CALVARY. 
 
 Through numerous ages ere the final trump 800 
 Shall sound thy knell. I brought not upon earth 
 Peace, but the sword : the Gospel I have preached 
 Man will corrupt, misconstrue and pervert ; 
 Nor shall my Church be only drench' d with blood 
 Of its own martyrs, zealots shall arise 805 
 
 Aliens to my humility and peace, 
 With more than pagan enmity enflam'd 
 Each against other ; then shall ruthless war 
 And persecution and fierce civil rage 
 Ravage the Christian world ; intole'rant pride, 810 
 Usurping pow'r infallible, shall send 
 Its heralds forth with cursing in their mouths 
 And fetters for man's conscience in their hands ; 
 They in the battle's front shall plant the Cross 
 And bid the unconverted nations kneel 815 
 
 Under their conqu'ring standard and adopt 
 The creed of murderers, who, in the place 
 
 Of 
 
BOOK VII. 
 
 145 
 
 Of the pure bond of charity, present 
 
 A forged scroll blurr'd and defac'd with lies. 
 
 And impiously inscribe it with my Name. 820 
 
 These are religion's traitors, and from them 
 
 An ample harvest shalt thou reap, O Death ; 
 
 Suffice it thee to know that for a while 
 
 Thou shalt be spar'd : And now no more ; Behold ! 
 
 Gabriel leads on the congregated Saints. 825 
 
 Vanish, pale Phantom! Give the ransom'd place. 
 
 END OF THE SEVENTH BOOK. 
 
CALVARY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE DEATH OF CHRIS! 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 Christ, having closed his hiterview with Death, prepares 
 to receive the Saints of the First Resurrection now ap- 
 proaching under the condiict of the angel Gabriel, and 
 having ascended a mount in the midst of tlie congregation 
 appears to them in glory :... .They pay homage to their 
 Redeemer in a hymn of praise and thanksgiving :....He 
 addresses them in reply, and assures them of the blessings 
 of immortal hfe bestowed upon them by the Father as 
 the reward of righteousness :....The patriarch Abraham 
 enters into conference with Christ, in the conclusion of 
 which the Savior of the world shews liim the glorious 
 vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, the holy city, as de- 
 scribed in the Apocalypse :....When this beatific vision is 
 passed away, Christ leascends to earth in view of the 
 whole assembly of Saints :....'Mie angel Gabriel, who is 
 left behind, addresses them from the mount and expounds 
 the piuposes of the Savior's resurrection from the dead 
 and return to earth:.. ..Moses recapitulates the events of 
 ills life, instances the frequout rebellions of the Lord's un- 
 faithful people, and laments their future impenitence and 
 incredulity :....GAiiRiEL rcpHes, and from the nature of 
 man's free will explains the origin and necessity of evil, 
 from which he deduces the benefits of Christ's death and 
 Redemption :..,..4nd now the Spirit of God descending on 
 the hearts of the righteous, inspires them with all under- 
 standing and knowledge, fitted to their happy condition : 
 ....A Paradise arises within the regions of Death ; Ga- 
 briel, addresses them for the last time, and upon his de- 
 parture the Poem concludes. 
 
CALVARY. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. 
 
 Now had the Savior by the word of power 
 
 Wafted the magic Phantom into air. 
 
 And all the horrors of the scene dispell'd : 
 
 Swift as the stroke of his own winged dart. 
 
 Or flitting shadows by the moon-beam chas'd, 5 
 
 Death on the instant vanish'd ; What had seem'd 
 
 A citadel of proud and martial port 
 
 With bastions fenc'd and tow'rs impregnable 
 
 Of adamant compos'd and lofty dome. 
 
 Covering the throne imperial, now was air ; 10 
 
 And, far as eye could reach, a level plain, 
 
 In the intermin'able horizon lost, 
 
 TOL. II. L Unfolded 
 
150 CALVARY. 
 
 Unfolded its vast champain to the view. 
 
 Darkness twin-born with Death had fled ; the rays, 
 
 That from the Savior's sun-crown'd temples beam'd. 
 
 With dazzling lustre brighten'd all the scene. 16 
 
 There just emerging to the distant view. 
 
 And glitt'ring white, a multitude appear'd, 
 
 StretchM east and west in orderly array. 
 
 Swift marching underneath the mighty wings 20 
 
 Of the protecting Angel, who in air 
 
 Soar'd imminent, and with the broad expanse 
 
 From flank to flank envelop' d all the host : 
 
 He with the blast of the awak'ning trump 
 
 Gave note of their advance. In the mid-plain 25 
 
 There was a mount ; thither the Savior hied 
 
 With his cherubic guard, and there in view 
 
 Of the assembled myriads stood sublime. 
 
 The Saints in order form'd themselves around, 
 
 Orb witliin orb, each in his proper sphere 30 
 
 Instinctively arrang'd ; then all at once, 
 
 As 
 
BOOK VIII. 151 
 
 As by one soul inspir'd, with bended knee 
 And forehead prostrate on the earth they paid 
 Joint homage and ador'd. Oh ! who shall dare 
 With bold conjecture to compute the list 35 
 
 Of that blest multitude, or say, who first. 
 Who last, receiv'd the glorious All-hail, 
 Ye blessed of my Father ? Yet perchance, 
 So warranted by scripture and so taught 
 By moral sage experience, we may doubt 40 
 
 If many rich, if many great or learn'd 
 Were of that righteous company ; be sure 
 The lover of this world had there no place, 
 He barter'd it for gold, he pass'd it off 
 To Belial for a perishable toy, 45 
 
 He sold it to a wanton : There the proud 
 Were brought down, and the meek and lowly rais'd : 
 The conque'ror not of others but himself 
 There found pre-eminence : All joy to him, 
 Who rear'd the orphan, dried the widow's tears, 50 
 L 2 And 
 
152 CALVAIIV. 
 
 And sought affliction in her secret haunts. 
 
 Not for tho praise of men ; and may not we. 
 
 Born in an age when mild philanthropy 
 
 Hath taught a better lesson to the heart, 
 
 May not we foster a kind hope that some 53 
 
 Of pagan name were call'd, who through the maze 
 
 Of dark idolatry took Reason's clue, 
 
 And found a mental avenue to God ? 
 
 Here with the Father of the Faithful stood 
 
 A host of patriarchs, prophets, judges, saints : 60 
 
 Noah, who perfect in the time of wrath 
 
 And righteous found, was left unto the earth 
 
 A remnant, when the waters fell from heav'n, 
 
 And was in covenant with the Most High 
 
 That man no more should perish by the flood ; 65 
 
 Moses, the faithful servant of the Lord, 
 
 Meekest, though mightiest, of the sons of men 
 
 And glorious in the sight of dreadful kings ; 
 
 Joshua, th' avenger of th' Elect of God, 
 
 Whose 
 
BOOK VIII. 153 
 
 Whose voice upon mount Gibeon staid the sun 70 
 In the mid-heav'n, and bade the moon stand still 
 In Ajalon's dark vale, till Israel ceas'd [sheath'd: 
 From slaughter and the conqu'ring sword was 
 Here Samuel in his linen ephod girt, 
 Thrice call'd of God, amid the foremost stood: 75 
 He, who with Baal's priests contending rear'd 
 His rival altars and brought fire from heav'n 
 To vindicate his God : The Psalmist King, 
 And he, at whose sick pray'r the sun went back, 
 And he, surnam'd the Good : Daniel the seer, 80 
 And they, who in the furnace walk'd unhurt : 
 All in the sacred page recorded just 
 And faithful servants of the living God : 
 For who can doubt the holy word of truth 
 Attesting their salvation ? Yet there is 85 
 
 One, who, by promise sacredly assur'd 
 Of bliss immediate, heard the glorious call, 
 Whilst hanging on the cross, by penitence 
 
 And 
 
J54 CALVARY. 
 
 And faith obtain'd from the all-gracious lips 
 
 Of God's own Son expiring at his side. 90 
 
 Hail, holy congregation, elder-born 
 Of righteousness and first-fruits of the grave, 
 Elect unto salvation ! Hail, blest Saints, 
 Now cloathed in white robes, as in your lives 
 With purity, sound forth your praise to God 95 
 And to the Lamb, in whose blood ye are wash'd ; 
 Wave high your branches of victorious palm. 
 Hymning the strain, which He in Patmos heard, 
 What time the glorious vision was reveal'd. 
 
 Hail, First and Last ! th' immortal chorus sung, 
 Of all things the beginning and the end ; 101 
 
 For thou art he, who liveth and wast dead. 
 And lo ! thou art alive for evermore. 
 And hold'st in hand of hell and death the keys. 
 Salvation to our God and to the Lamb 105 
 
 At his right hand, who sitteth on the throne ; 
 Blessing and glory, wisdom, honor, power, 
 
 Might 
 
BOOK VIII. 155 
 
 Might and thanksgiving evermore to God 
 
 And to his Christ ! Father, we give thee thanks, 
 
 Lord God, which wast and art and art to come. 
 
 For this thy mighty pow'r in us fulfill'd. Ill 
 
 Now are the kingdoms of this world become 
 
 The kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, 
 
 And he shall reign for ever; now thy wrath 
 
 On the rebellious nations is let loose ; 115 
 
 Now is the first call of the sleeping saints, 
 
 And all thy servants faithful unto death 
 
 Thou hast rewarded with eternal bliss. 
 
 Henceforth for ever blessed are the dead, 
 
 Thus dying in the Lord, for they shall rest 120 
 
 From labor, and their good works are not lost ! 
 
 Their hymn performed, the whole redeemed host, 
 With hands uplifted and all eyes direct 
 Upon the glorious Presence, bent the knee 
 Silent, whilst thus the Lord of Mercy spake. 125 
 
 Ye blessed of my Father, prophets, saints 
 
 And 
 
156 CALVARY. 
 
 And martj^rs ; ye of Abraham's faithful stocky 
 And ye, though wild by nature, grafted in 
 Upon the parent tree and bearing fruits 
 To life eternal, welcome to my peace ! 1 30 
 
 Now are your watchings and your labors past. 
 Your tribulations, self-denials, pains 
 And mournings recorapens'd ; never again 
 Shall ye know thirst or hunger, nor the sun 
 Scorch you by day, nor yet by night the moon ; 13^ 
 For ye shall dwell before the throne of God, 
 And I will feed you ; I will lead you forth 
 To living founts and wipe away all tears. 
 Come, enter ye into your Master's joy. 
 Come, for the throne awaits you, take the crown 
 Of glory, take the kingdom from all time 141 
 
 For you prepar'd, possess your happy rights. 
 The earnings of your cliarity and love : 
 For I was hungred and ye gave me meat, 
 Thirsty I was and ye asswag'd my thirst, 145 
 
 I was 
 
BOOK VIII. 157 
 
 I was a stranger and ye took me in^ 
 Naked ye cloath'd me, sick ye visited^ 
 I was in prison and ye came unto me. 
 
 When, Lord, the righteous humbly interpos'd. 
 When were these charities by us perform'd ? 150 
 How have we merited this praise of thee, 
 Whom in the flesh we knew not ? Tell us. Lord, 
 When saw we thee an-hungred and gave food ? 
 When thirsty and gave drink ? a stranger when 
 And took thee in, naked and cloathed thee ; 155 
 When saw we thee in sickness or in prison 
 And came unto thee ? When didst thou endure 
 These hard necessities, or we relieve ? 
 
 Whereto the Lord replied : Truly ye say 
 Me in the flesh ye knew not, yet in spi'rit 160 
 Ye knew me, for my law was in your hearts ; 
 And what to these my brethren ye have done, 
 Or to the least of these, ye did to me, 
 Patron of mercy and the friend of man. 
 
 To 
 
158 CALVARY. 
 
 To every one, but not to all alike, 165 
 
 Some talent is in trust, the loan of Heav'n, 
 To husband as he may, and he who spares 
 From his imparted fund wherewith to help 
 His neighbor's scantier dole, improves the loan 
 And makes his Lord his debtor. First and last, 170 
 Ere Abraham was I am. Open your ears ! 
 Hear, mark and understand : The world by sin 
 Original had fallen off from God ; 
 Man was become corrupt, idolatrous. 
 Abominable ; Satan reign'd on earth. 175 
 
 Ye are of various ages ; all have slept, 
 And some from earliest times or e'er the flood 
 Swallow'd the nations, yet with one accord 
 All in your several periods have bewail'd 
 Degenerated man: Noah can tell 180 
 
 How all the earth with violence was fiU'd, 
 Or e'er the fountains of the vasty deep 
 Were broken up ; Moses can well declare 
 
 How 
 
BOOK VIII. J59 
 
 How hard and to rebellion prone the hearts 
 Of those whom he led forth : Samuel beheld 185 
 A stifF-neck'd generation spurn the yoke 
 And kick against their God ; but vain his Toice, 
 Vain all the prophets' voices, which foretold 
 My coming, without whom the world were lost. 
 Now is salvation come : I've drank the cup 190 
 Of bitterness and died the death for man : 
 My peace I've left on earth ; the living world. 
 They have the word of truth and by that word 
 Through faith they shall be sav'd ; from them I came 
 To visit these dark regions and redeem 195 
 
 The saints who slept; behold ! ye are alive ; 
 Death hath no more dominion ; Satan, chain'd 
 For ages, shall abide his time to come : 
 Meanwhile in glory ye shall dwell with me ; 
 By resurrection purchas'd with my blood 200 
 
 Ye are the first-fruits of immortal life. 
 
 Now Abraham, father of the faithful band 
 
 And 
 
160 CALVARY, 
 
 And first in station nearest to the mount, 
 
 His eyes uplifted to the face divine 
 
 Of the eiFulgent Virtue, and thus spake. 205 
 
 Yet once more, as aforetime in the days 
 Of Sodom, suffer me to plead for man, 
 And ask of thee his Savior if these few, 
 Few not in numbers, yet for heav'n too few 
 And for heav'n's mercy, seeing there are past 210 
 So many many ages of the world. 
 Are all that shall be sav'd : Alas, for man! 
 If this be the whole remnant, all the stock 
 Cull'd from so many myriads for God's fold. 214 
 W here are the nations vanish'd ? Where the hosts, 
 That sea, earth, flood and fire have swallow'd up ? 
 Can hell contain them ? Can devouring Death 
 Find stomach for them all ? Did God make man 
 For death and hell, or thou endure the cross 
 Only for us ? Are all the righteous shrunk 220 
 To thi« small measure ? And. if these be all, 
 
 ' Are 
 
BOOK VIII. 161 
 
 Are they not yet enough to save the rest, 
 
 If heav'nly mercy listen to our prayer ? 
 
 May not our righteousness so save a world 
 
 From wrath, as once the righteousness of five 225 
 
 Had sav'd a guilty city from its fate ? 
 
 To him the Lord of Mercy ; I have said 
 Ye are the first fruits by my blood obtain'd, 
 The earnest of redemption : I have bruis'd, 
 Not crush'd, the Serpent's head; he shall arise 230 
 Out of the pit once more to vex the earth. 
 Death the last enemy is not destroy'd. 
 Yet is his sceptre shorten' d, and the key, 
 That opens into life, now in those bauds. 
 Where mercy best can place it for man's good : 235 
 Thus of all pow'r though Death is not bereft, 
 Yet I have shook his throne, with inroad deep 
 Pierc'd his dark realm, and, you redeeming thence, 
 Made tenantless your graves, his strongest holds. 
 With you when from this depth I reascend, 240 
 
 And 
 
162 CALVARY. 
 
 And through heav'n's golden portal lead my host 
 Of Saints high-waving these victorious palms, 
 Your white robes glitt'ring in God's starry courts, 
 Great sure will be the triumph, loud th' acclaim, 
 When all my Father's Angels shall sound forth 245 
 Their joyful hallelujahs round his throne. 
 Enough for victory hath been atchiev'd, 
 Destruction is reserv'd to that great day, 
 When the compelling Angel shall go forth 
 To gather every atom of man's dust, 230 
 
 Which the seas cover or the earth contains : 
 Then shall all souls be judg'd ; if Abraham then, 
 When of all hearts the secrets shall be known. 
 Then if the Friend of God hath aught to urge 
 In mitigation of man's guilt, be sure, 255 
 
 Ere justice strike, mercy will hear the plea. 
 Of this no more : The seasons and the times 
 Are with the Father ; the dread hour draws on : 
 But I must first revisit those on earth, 
 
 Whom 
 
BOOK VIII. 163 
 
 Whom I have left in sorrow ; for their sakes 260 
 
 I must again submit me to the flesh. 
 
 And by the evidence of sense confirm 
 
 My promis'd resurrection ; this peii^m'd 
 
 And immortality reveal'd to man, 
 
 By faith made sure, my gospel shall go forth : 265 
 
 My office then the Comforter will take ; 
 
 The weak he shall make strong, the foolish wise, 
 
 And by the mouths of sucklings and of babes 
 
 He shall confound the wisdom of the world, 
 
 And o'er the gates of hell erect my Church. 270 
 
 When thus the Patriarch, glowing still with zeal 
 For man's salvation, further question urg'd. 
 
 Lord, will not then the faithless world believe, 
 When thou return'st with glory ? From the dead 
 When they behold thee visible on earth 275 
 
 And thence to heav'n ascending, can they doubt ? 
 Such revelation can their eyes resist, 
 Their ears such truth recorded ? Shall there then 
 
 Be 
 
164 CALVARY. 
 
 Be left a G«entile idol upon earth 
 
 To rival Israel's God ? Shall there not be 280 
 
 One Shepherd and one fold for all mankind. 
 
 One faith, oiH baptism, one Lord and Christ ? 
 
 But I perhaps too bold offend thine ear 
 
 With my rude converse ; Lord, if so, command 
 
 My tongue to silence ; yet not in thy wrath, 285 
 
 Not in thy wrath, O Lord, reprove my zeal. 
 
 Whereto the Savior mildly thus replied. 
 O Abraham, in whose soul compassion glows 
 And love, that burns with zeal for all thy sons, 
 Nor for thy sons alone, but the whole world, 290 
 Whose advocate thou art, think not the tongue, 
 That speaks for mercy, can offend my ear : 
 Yet what thy zeal anticipates in time 
 Is distant far ; ages must roll betwixt 
 Thy hope and its completion ; threat'ning clouds 
 Lour on the glorious prospect ; seas of blood 296 
 Must first be pass'd j long pilgrimage and sad 
 
 My 
 
BOOK VIII. "^65 
 
 My martyrs hare to make through vallies dark, 
 Where igno' ranee shades the sun, through frightful 
 
 haunts, 
 Where superstition pictures out the scene 300 
 
 Jn monstrous forms, and worships what it dreads : 
 Painful their march and round beset with snares ; 
 Here treach'ry lurks, there persecution flames, 
 Before them infidelity, behind 
 Reproach and slander and the roar of tongues 305 
 Contentious, urging them to turn from God 
 And waste their nobler zeal in vain dispute. 
 Thus step by step in righteousness and faith 
 Arm'd at all points my servants militant 
 Shall win their way, and what they earn enjoy. 310 
 Lowly and meek I came into the world, 
 And meek and lowly I shall now return, 
 Not with that glory rising from the grave, 
 Which for my second coming is reserv'd, 
 But in that mortal body, which they pierc'd, 315 
 VOL. II. M Shewing 
 
166 CALVARY. 
 
 Shewing my wounds, not with the proud display 
 
 Of one, who courts the voice of public fame, 
 
 But communing apart with those I left 
 
 To be my witnesses, that so through them 
 
 Men may be taught by reason to discern 320 
 
 Not what they must, but what they should, believe i 
 
 Not by the evidence of sense to feel, 
 
 But by the mind's conviction to perceive 
 
 Truth in its argument, not act, and build 
 
 On reason, not necessity, their faith, 325 
 
 And on their faith and their good works their hope. 
 
 God will not always struggle with mankind, 
 
 Heap proof on proof till incredulity 
 
 Tho' blind must see, tho' deiaf of force must hear : 
 
 He will not bring his lieav'n upon the earth, 330 
 
 Rather will lead man's heart from earthly things 
 
 To reach at heavenly; the railing Jews, 
 
 Who fix'd me to the cross, bade me come down 
 
 And with the sign of pow'r dispel their doubts : 
 
 So 
 
BOOK VIII, 167 
 
 So had I frustrated all faith at once, 335 
 
 And with all faith all virtue : I was dumb, 
 
 I open'd not ray mouth to their reproach, 
 
 I stirr'd not from the cross, I died the death. 
 
 Nor to my rescue brought one angel down, 
 
 Though legions waited to obey my call : 340 
 
 And now none other sign will I vouchsafe 
 
 But of the prophet Jonas, for as he 
 
 From out the belly of the whale emerg'd 
 
 On the third day, so I from out the tomb 
 
 In the same body will come forth on earth 345 
 
 With the third morning's dawn ; thus shall the word 
 
 Of prophecy by my disciples heard, 
 
 Not understood, be perfected in me, 
 
 And I will breathe my spi'rit into their hearts 
 
 To comprehend all scriptures, and to preach 350 
 
 Me crucified ; nor shall there be a dearth 
 
 Of witnesses to publish and attest 
 
 My resurrection ; hundreds shall behold 
 
 M 2 My 
 
168 CALVARY. 
 
 My substance in the flesh, and he that doubts 
 Shall touch me and believe. More to expound 355 
 There needs not ; this in all your ears aloud 
 I now promulgate, that when I am gone 
 Ye may abide the interim in peace, 
 By terror or impatience undisturb'd : 
 And now not many are the days to pass, 360 
 
 Ere to the heav'n of heav'ns I shall ascend. 
 And there in blest communion with my Saints, 
 Made perfect after death, for ever dwell 
 At the right hand of Pow'r; meanwhile the seed, 
 Which I have sown, though of all grains the least. 
 Yet water'd by the Comforter shall grow 366 
 
 Of herbs the greatest, and become a tree. 
 Within whose branches all the birds of air 
 Shall come and lodge, so shall my kingdom rise 
 From mean beginning into mighty growth, 370 
 A still small current, spreading as it goes; 
 For in the arm of man I place no strength, 
 
 Nor 
 
BOOK VIII, 169 
 
 Nor in the battle's thunder can be heard 
 
 His voice that preacheth peace ; to storm the ear, 
 
 Like those loud heathen orators, who shake 375 
 
 The forum with their eloquence, ill suits 
 
 The servants of a Master little vers'd 
 
 In this world's wisdom and not vain of speech : 
 
 In love, in calm persuasion and in peace 
 
 My gospel I have planted : Woe to them, 380 
 
 Who in the place of these sweet fruits provoke 
 
 The baneful growth of persecution, strife 
 
 And discord in my Church, op'ning my wounds 
 
 Unheal'd and crucifying me afresh. 
 
 To him the Patriarch : Lord, we give thee thanks 
 For that thou hast imparted to thy saints .386 
 
 These tidings of great joy, though distant far 
 And through such clouds of sorrow dimly seen ; 
 And sure we are thy gospel shall prevail, 
 Yet much do we lament for what thy saints 390 
 And martyrs have to sufler upon earth, 
 
 Foil'd 
 
170 CALVARY. 
 
 Foil'd by that first Deceiver of mankind, 
 
 Who, though now bruis'd and for a while enchain'd. 
 
 Shall yet come forth to vex thy holy Church, 
 
 To conjure up false prophets and pervert 395 
 
 Thy followers, who are taught to live in peace 
 
 And charity with all men : But we know 
 
 God did not build this goodly frame of things 
 
 For Satan to destroy, and he and Death 
 
 Shall have an end : Heav'n is man's natural home 
 
 And righteousness the impulse of his heart ; 401 
 
 Nor will God fail his promise, that in me 
 
 And in my seed the whole world shall be blest : 
 
 Ah ! when shall I behold that promis'd day ? 
 
 When shall I see the warring world at peace ? 405 
 
 When shall my Israel, scatter'd o'er the earth 
 
 And straggling wide, hear their good Shepherd's call 
 
 And come into his fold ? Sure that blest voice, 
 
 That glorious vision would be heav'n itself. 
 
 That vision thou shalt see, the Lord replied 410 
 
 And 
 
BOOK VIII. 171 
 
 And smU'd all-gracious on th' enraptur'd Saint, 
 From this prospective mount with purged eye. 
 That through the lengthening tract of time discerns 
 Futurity remote, thou shalt behold 
 Th* Apocalypse, which to no living eye, 415 
 
 Save of my servant John, I shall disclose : 
 But know ere this blest period shall arrive 
 The elements must melt with fervent heat. 
 And earth and sea and heav'n must pass away, 
 Darkness and sin and death shall be no more, 420 
 And a new world shine forth. Ascend the mount, 
 And eastward turning tell me what thou see'st, 
 
 I see, the Patriarch cried, an heaven and earth, 
 Earth without sea and heav'n without a cloud, 
 All bright and glist'ning from the Maker's hands : 
 I see descending from the throne of God 426 
 
 Jerusalem the Holy City, new, 
 Deck'd like a bride for her celestial spouse: 
 Order and grace and symmetry conspire 
 
 In 
 
172 CALVARY. 
 
 In all her parts, and with the rich display 430 
 
 Of vivid gems make glorious her attire : 
 
 To the four points of heav'n in equal span 
 
 She stretches out her many-colour'd walls, 
 
 Celestial masonry, whose meanest stone. 
 
 More rare and precious than the brightest gem 435 
 
 Of earthly diadems, transparent flames, 
 
 From the foundations to the topmost cope 
 
 Of mural battlement one dazzling blaze 
 
 Of glorious jewelry, and them amidst 
 
 On every flank quadrangular three gates, 440 
 
 Each of an orient pearl, to our twelve tribes 
 
 By number and by name appropriate. 
 
 Stand open, guarded by Cherubic watch ; 
 
 Through whose unfolded portals I descry 
 
 A city all of purest gold and clear 445 
 
 As the unclouded crystal, on whose towers 
 
 God's all-sufficient glory sheds a flood 
 
 Of radiance brighter than the borrowed beam 
 
 Of 
 
BOOK VIII. 173 
 
 Of shadowy moon or sun oft wrapt in clouds, 
 Making alternate night and day on earth : 450 
 But night is here unknown ; day needeth not 
 To rest in darkness, nor the eye in sleep ; 
 Nor temple here for worship may be foundj 
 The ever-present Deity demands 
 No house of pray'r ; in ev'ry heart is built 455 
 His altar, every voice records his praise, 
 And every saint his minister and priest. 
 Through the mid-street a crystal river flows 
 Pellucid, welling from the throne of God, 
 Its living source, upon whose border springs 460 
 The tree of life, bearing ambrosial fruits 
 Monthly renew'd and varied through the year, 
 Food for immortals, in whose balmy gum 
 And leaves medicinal a virtue dwells 
 So general and potential, that no pain 465 
 
 Or ailment but here finds its ready cure : 
 No tear shall wet this consecrated soil. 
 
 Nor 
 
174 CALVARY. 
 
 Nor feud nor clamor nor unholy curse 
 
 Disturb these peaceful echoes, here the saints 
 
 In sweet harmonious brotherhood shall dwell 470 
 
 Serene and perfect in the sight of God. 
 
 And hark ! I hear seraphic voices chaunt 
 
 To their melodious harps the bridal hymn — 
 
 Now is our God espoused to his Church, 
 
 And from their heav'nly union are gone forth 475 
 
 Blessing and peace and joy to all mankind : 
 
 Now shall his saints eternal sabbath keep 
 
 From death and pain and wailing and complaint: 
 
 All is made new, the old is pass'd away, 
 
 Time draws aside the faded scene of things 480 
 
 And Nature in immortal freshness blooms : 
 
 Now to the waters of the fount of life. 
 
 Perpetual waters, every soul may come, 
 
 And he that is athirst may freely drink : 
 
 But fire and brimstone in the burning lake 485 
 
 Shall be their portion, who revolt from God ; 
 
 There 
 
BOOK VIII. J75 
 
 There with the Beast in torments they shall dwell, 
 
 Seal'd in their foreheads with his mark and drink 
 
 The cup of indignation to the dregs 
 
 Wrung out in anger, whilst their ceaseless cry 490 
 
 Shall with the smoke of the infernal pit 
 
 Day after day for evermore ascend. 
 
 No more ; for now the heav'nly vision clos'd ; 
 Awaken' d from his trance the Patriarch turn'd 
 With grateful reverence to address the Lord 495 
 And giyer of these new-discover'd joys, 
 When lo ! ascending from the mount he saw 
 Christ in a cloud of glory on the wings 
 Of mighty Cherubim upborne in air 
 High-soaring, to this orb terraqueous bound, 500 
 Seen over-head diminished to a point 
 Dim and opake amid the blue serene : 
 His raiment, whiter than the new-born light 
 Struck out of chaos by the Maker's hand 
 In earnest of creation, sparkling blaz/d 505 
 
 In 
 
176 CALVARY* * 
 
 In its swift motion and with fiery track 
 Mark'd his ascent to earth ; the host of Saints 
 With joyful loud hosannas fiU'd the air : 
 Glory to God on high was all their strain. 
 On the earth peace, good-will to all mankind ! 510 
 Meanwhile th' Arch-angel Gabriel, whoyetkept 
 His tutelary station on the mount, [voice 
 
 So bidd'n of Christ, with arm outstretch'd and 
 Commanding silence, thus the Saints bespake. 
 
 Now is your resurrection sure, your joy, 515 
 Your glory and your triumph over Death 
 And hell made perfect ; for behold where Christ 
 Your first-fruit is aris'n, and waves on high 
 The ensign of redemption ; now he soars 
 Up to yon pendent world, that darkling speck, 520 
 Which In the boundless empyrean floats 
 Pois'd on its whirling axle ; there he liv'd 
 And took your mortal body, there he died 
 And for your sakes endur'd the painful cross, 
 
 Giving 
 
BOOK VIIT. 177 
 
 Giving his blood a ransom for your sins ; 525 
 
 Thither he goes to re-assume his flesh ; 
 There, when his angel ministers have op'd 
 The sealed sepulchre, he shall come forth 
 And shew himself resurgent from the grave 
 To those whom he hath sanctified and call'd 530 
 To be his witnesses in all the world. 
 And of his resurrection after death 
 Their faithful evidence to seal with blood 
 Of martyrs and apostles, warning men 
 With their last breath to be baptiz'd and live ; 535 
 So shall the seed be water' d and increase. 
 Till all the Gentile nations shall come in 
 And dwell beneath its branches evermore. 
 Now are the gates of everlasting life 
 Set open to mankind, and when the Lord, 540 
 Captain of their salvation, shall have liv'd 
 His promis'd term on earth, and thence to heav'n 
 Ascending seat himself at God's right hand, 
 
 Then 
 
178 CALVARY. 
 
 Then shall the Holy Ghost the Comforter 
 Rush like a mighty wind upon the hearts 545 
 
 Of his inspired apostles ; tongues of fire 
 And languages untaught they shall receive 
 To speak with boldness the revealed Word, 
 Enduring all things for the gospel's sake ; 
 Troubled on ev'ry side yet not distress'd, 550 
 
 Perplex'd but not surrender'd to despair. 
 Afflicted not forsaken they shall be, 
 Cast down but not destroy'd, knowing that God, 
 Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, 
 Them also into life through him will raise, 555 
 And that the light affliction of this world, 
 Which is but for a moment, soon shall be 
 Overpaid by a far more exceeding weight 
 Of glory' eternal in the life to come. 
 
 He ceas'd, and all were silent, wrapt in awe 
 Of the late glorious vision, yet in heart 561 
 
 Troubled for what the Angel had reveal'd 
 
 Of 
 
BOOK VIII. 179 
 
 Of sorraws still to come and pains and deaths 
 To be encounter'd by the Saints on earth ; 
 When nowthat Shepherd, who on Sinai's mount 565 
 Commun'd with God, and heard creation's plan 
 Expounded by its Architect, thus spake. 
 
 Oh thou, whom through the fiery cloud I saw 
 On Horeb's hill, when tending Jethro's flock, 
 What time I heard my name twice cali'd of God 
 In thunder from amidst the flaming bush, 571 
 
 Bidding me straight go forth to loose his sheep 
 From Egypt's captive fold, I do perceive 
 That I have penned the Word of God aright, 
 And now in Christ behold the woman's seed 575 
 Bruising that Serpent's head, who wrought the fall 
 Of our first parents. Forty days and nights 
 On Sinai's top 'midst thund'rings, clouds and fire 
 Fasting T stood, and whilst the hallow'd ground 
 Trembled beneath my bare unsaudal'd feet, 580 
 I heard an awful voice, that bade me write 
 
 The 
 
180 CALVARY. 
 
 The glorious record of his six days work. , 
 
 Aghast, confounded, dazzled with the blaze 
 
 Of glory, still my faithful pen obey'd 
 
 The sacred dictates of an unseen God : 585 
 
 I wrote, and to an unbelieving world 
 
 Publish' d the wond'rous Code ; age after age 
 
 Libell'd the transcript : With the rod of pow'r 
 
 I smote the seas asunder ; Israel pass'd 
 
 Through wat'ry battlements ; forty long years 590 
 
 In the waste howling wilderness I fed 
 
 Their murmuring tribes with food miraculous ; 
 
 They fed but murmur'd still : I brought them laws 
 
 With God's own finger graven; I came down 
 
 Bearing Jehovah's statutes in my hand 595 
 
 On both sides written ; impious noisy shouts, 
 
 Lewd triumphs and vile revels smote mine ear; 
 
 The people danc'd around a molten calf, 
 
 Monstrous idolatry ! Raging with shame 
 
 I dash'd the stony tablets on the ground, 600 
 
 And 
 
BOOK VIII. ISl 
 
 And shivered them to fragments ; God was mock'd : 
 A stiff-neck'd and a stubborn race they were, 
 Who from the Rock of their salvation turn'd 
 And sacrific'd to devils ; and behold ! 
 Their sons have crucified the Lord of Life ; 605 
 Therefore his resurrection, which shall be 
 Light and redemption to the Gentile world, 
 To them is darkness and the shadow* of death ; 
 For they have slain the very Paschal Lamb ; 
 That bloody symbol of their antient law, 610 
 
 Which I made sacred, they have now made void, 
 And canceU'd my legation : I perceive 
 A new commandment is gone forth ; I see 
 The temple's vail is rent ; for the old law, 
 A carnal shadow of things spiritual, 615 
 
 Suffic'd not for perfection and the pow'r 
 Of an eternal life : Chuist is become 
 That King of Salem, that immortal Priest 
 Of God most high, whose ministry supreme, 
 TOL. II. N Before 
 
182 CALVARY. 
 
 Before all time from heav'n itself deriv'd 620 
 
 And not from right Levitical, removes 
 
 All title from that consecrated tribe, 
 
 Where I had fix'd it. God, who sending me, 
 
 Sent but his servant, now hath giv'n his Son 
 
 More worthy of his glory ; without sin 625 
 
 And spotless He, the great High Priest, hath pass'd 
 
 Into the heav'ns victorious over Death ; 
 
 But I, whose trespasses at Meribah, 
 
 Frail sinful man, provok'd the Lord to wrath, 
 
 Saw but the skirts of Dan from f isgah's top, 630 
 
 Unworthy deem'd to enter that fair land. 
 
 And died upon Mount Nebo. But when Christ, 
 
 Who hath awaken'd us from sleep, shall rise 
 
 And in his mortal flesh a second time 
 
 Visit his Saints on earth, who then shall say 635 
 
 There is no resurrection of the dead I 
 
 Faintly I shadow'd forth a future life ; 
 
 I spake not to men's senses, as Christ speaks ; 
 
 God 
 
BOOK VIII. 
 
 183 
 
 God gave me no commission to reveal 
 The secrets of the grave : corruption's worm 640 
 Spar'd not my flesh, nor came my spirit back 
 From Death's dark citadel to give mankind 
 Conviction ocular of his defeat ; 
 I left him in his power till Christ should come 
 To break that sceptre which had aw'd the world. 
 Much then it moves my wonder, much I grieve 646 
 That darkness shall not yet be drawn aside 
 From Israel, and thlt those, who would not hear 
 Me and the prophets, shall not yet believe 
 Christ their Messias rising from the dead. 650 
 To whomth' Arch-angel answer' d heav'nly mild : 
 Well may'st thou muse that reas'ning man should 
 
 doubt, 
 And cause we have to grieve, when he neglects 
 So great salvation ; but when Christ hath shewn 
 What is the good and true and perfect way, 655 
 Reason must do the rest : When all are free 
 
 N 2 Some 
 
184 CALVARY* 
 
 Some must be faithless, wilful and perverse, 
 God could have made his creatures void of sin, 
 For he can put a master in their hearts, 
 And govern them by instinct : but to man 660 
 He gave a nobler faculty, a will, 
 A spark of immortality, a soul, 
 Reason to counsel that immortal soul. 
 And conscience to restrain licentious will. 
 Grace shall assist the humble and devout ; 665 
 A proud man hath no friend i^heav'n or earth, 
 Renounc'd of angels and by men abhorr'd : 
 Truth must be sought, it will not be impos'd ; 
 What were that revelation, which should leave 
 No exercise to faith ? All men must work 670 
 With fear and trembling their salvation out, 
 God does not give free will to take away 
 What he hath giv'n ; if man will sin, he must : 
 Nor do we call them good, who cannot err, 
 Else brutes would claim a virtue. None is good 675 
 
 Save 
 
BOOK VIII. 185 
 
 Save God alone ; impute we not to God 
 The evil which man does, nor him arraign 
 For not preventing ills which he foreknows : 
 Angels have sinn'd and some are falPn from bliss ; 
 All had their days of error, their degrees 680 
 
 Of good and ill, else why have we degrees, 
 Ranks and precedencies of bliss in heav'n ? 
 Call your own lives to mind : ye have been men. 
 Your failings many, yet your virtues more ; 
 Why are ye now rewarded by your God ? 685 
 Why but because those virtues were your own ? 
 Ye made them what they were, ye rear'd their 
 
 growth, 
 Reason reform'd the wild luxuriant soil, 
 Pluck'd up the weeds and nurs'd the glorious fruit. 
 Is there amongst you one that hath to boast 690 
 Human perfection ? There is none that will. 
 A free yet faultless creature would be more 
 
 Than man, than angel ; nor can God create 
 
 Ah 
 
186 CALVARY. 
 
 An equal to himself, a rival God. 
 In Eden's happy groves when man was plac'dj 695 
 One interdicted baneful plant there was. 
 Tempting and rich in fruit ; all else was good, 
 Fair to the eye and wholesome to the taste; 
 Yet of that fruit man pluck' d and eat and died; 
 Tempted he was, but not compell'd to take ; 700 
 Warn'd to abstain, no angel stopp'd his hand, 
 No thundering voice deterr'd him from the deed. 
 For man was free ; so could he not have been, 
 Had God's foreknowledge over-rul'd his will. 
 Thus sin had origin and Death began 705 
 
 His occupation with the human race. 
 More terrible for that he came with pangs. 
 Horrors and doubts on sin-oppressed man, 
 When conscience wrung him in the parting hour : 
 But still the inextinguishable soul 710 
 
 Mock'd at Death's dart, the body was his own 
 From the beginning : of the earth 'twas made, 
 
 The 
 
BOOK VIII. 187 
 
 The earth it till'd and from the earth it fed ; 
 A tenement of dust was never form'd 
 For immortality ; and now, behold j 715 
 
 Adam the earthy man, in whom all die, 
 Is buried to the world ; redemption brings 
 The day-spring of Salvation from on high, 
 Christ in his glory comes, the Lord from heav'n, 
 And who in him have faith, in him have life. 720 
 He ceas'd, when now th' assembly of the Saints, 
 Who whilst he spake stood in their orbs unmov'd 
 Circling the mount, 'gan feel the Spi'rit of God 
 Descending on their hearts, and, like a sea 
 By secret currents from its bottom stirr'd, 725 
 Wav'd to and fro their undulating files 
 Wide and more wide, as with a mighty wind 
 The heav'nly inspiration on them riish'd: 
 This Gabriel heard and from the mount came 
 down, 729 
 
 Which quak'd beneath his feet, whilst over-head 
 
 Loud 
 
188 CALVARY. 
 
 Loud thunderings announced the coming God; 
 And now a fire, that cover'd all the mount. 
 Bespoke him present; all the air respir'd 
 Ambrosial odours, amaranth and rose, 
 For Nature felt her God, and every flower 735 
 And every fragrant shrub, whose honied breath 
 Perfumes the courts of heav'n, had burst to life 
 Blooming, and, in a thousand colors dy'd, 
 Threw their gay mantle o'er the naked heath : 
 Now glow'd the living landscape ; hill and dale 740 
 Rose on the flat, or sunk as Nature shap'd 
 Her loveliest forms and swell 'd her wavey line. 
 Leaving unrein' d variety to run 
 Her wild career amid the sportive scene : 
 Nor were there wanting trees of ev'ry growth, 745 
 Umbrageous some, making a verdant tent 
 Under their spreading branches, some of shaft 
 Majestic, tow'ring o'er the subject groves : 
 Blossoms and fruits and aromatic gums 
 
 Scente4 
 
BOOK VIII. 189 
 
 Scented the breeze, that fann'd their rustling leaves ; 
 And them betwixt, a crystal river flow'd 751 
 
 O'er golden sands, meand'ring in its course 
 Through amaranthine banks with lulling sound 
 Of dulcet murmurs breathing soft repose. 
 
 Thus at the sight of God spontaneous rose 755 
 A Paradise within the realm of Death, 
 Where that blest congregation might abide 
 Their Lord's return now visitant on earth : 
 And now th' Eternal having breath'd his joy 
 Into their hearts and giv'n them to discern 760 
 All knowledge, that befitted souls so blest, 
 Withdrew his presence from the flaming mount ; 
 Whereat the min'istring Angel, who beheld 
 Salvation's work complete, thus parting spake. 
 
 God, in whose presence pleasure ever dwells, 765 
 Hath for your dear Redeemer's sake bestow'd 
 These joys, and now his presence is withdrawn ; 
 Yet hath he left his Spirit in your hearts 
 
 To 
 
190 CALVARY. 
 
 To teach you all that is and is to be : 
 
 Behold, the cloud that veil'd your mortal eyes 770 
 
 Is drawn aside, and what as in a glass 
 
 Darkling ye saw^ now face to face is seen : 
 
 Ye now discern the ways of God how just, 
 
 How true, how wise, how perfect in design, 
 
 And well ye know that man, presumptuous man, 
 
 In a vain shadow walketh, ye perceive 776 
 
 His boasted mind sufficient for the things, 
 
 That to his own salvation appertain ; 
 
 Yet when it scans the mysteries of heaven. 
 
 How false, how weak, how daringly absurd ! 780 
 
 Firm faith, warm charity, and humble hope. 
 
 These are the Christian graces, these the guides, 
 
 That lead to life eternal ; thoughts perverse, 
 
 Pert quibbling follies, publish'd in the pride 
 
 Of false philosophy, are dev'lish arts, 785 
 
 That damn the instrument, who thus attempts 
 
 To hide the light of revelation's beam 
 
 From 
 
BOOK VIII. 191 
 
 From Weaker eyes, and turn the world from God. 
 
 These verily shall have their just reward : 
 
 And now no more ; this Paradise ye see 790 
 
 Is but your passage to a brighter scene, 
 
 A resting-place till Christ shall re-ascend 
 
 To the right hand of God and call you hence 
 
 To share his glory in the heav'n of heavens. 
 
 He said, and swifter than the meteor's glance, 795 
 Sprung on the wing to seek his native sphere : 
 The Saints look'd up, then sung with joint acclaim — 
 Glory to God and praises to his Christ, 
 Judge and Redeemer of the quick and dead ! 799 
 
 END OF THE POEM, 
 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
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 LlNN^US'S GENERAL SYSTEM OF NATURE, 
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