And the redeem'd upon the sea of glass,
With voices like the sound of many waters,
Came on mine ear, whose secret cells were open'd
To entertain celestial harmonies,
-The small, sweet accents of those little children,
Pouring out all the gladness of their souls
In love, joy, gratitude, and praise to Him,
Him, who had loved and wash'd them in his blood; These were to me the most transporting strains Amidst the hallelujahs of all heaven.—
Though lost awhile in that amazing chorus at happy intervals,
The shrill hosannas of the infant-choir,
Singing in that eternal temple, brought
Tears to mine eye, which seraphs had been glad
To weep, could they have felt the sympathy
That melted all my soul, when I beheld
How condescending Deity thus deign'd,
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings here,
To perfect his high praise: -the harp of heaven
Had lack'd its least but not its meanest string,
Had children not been taught to play upon it,
And sing, from feelings all their own, what men
Nor angels can conceive of creatures, born
Under the curse, yet from the curse redeem'd,
And placed at once beyond the power to fall,
Safety which men nor angels ever knew,
Till ranks of these and all of those had fallen.
END OF THE SEVENTH CANTO.
"TWAS but the vision of an eye-glance; gone
Ere thought could fix upon it,-gone like lightning
At midnight, when the expansive flash reveals
Alps, Apennines, and Pyrenees, in one
Glorious horizon, suddenly lit up,-
Rocks, rivers, forests, -quench'd as suddenly:
A glimpse that fill'd the mind with images,
Which years cannot obliterate; but stamp'd
With instantaneous everlasting force
On memory's more than adamantine tablet ;-
A glimpse of that which eye hath never seen,
Ear heard, nor heart of man conceived.-It pass'd,
But what it show'd can never pass.—It pass'd,
And left me wandering through that land of exile,
Cut off from intercourse with happier lands;
Abandon'd, as it seem'd, by its Creator;
Unvisited by Him, who came from heaven
To seek and save the lost of every clime;
And where God, looking down in wrath, had said,
My spirit shall no longer strive with man :"
-So ignorance or unbelief might deem.
Was it thus outlaw'd? No; God left himself Not without witness of his presence there;
gave them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons,
Filling unthankful hearts with food and gladness.
He gave them kind affections which they strangled,
Turning his grace into lasciviousness.
He gave them powers of intellect, to scale
Heaven's height; to name and number all the stars;
To penetrate earth's depths for hidden riches,
Or clothe its surface with fertility;
Amidst the haunts of dragons, dens of satyrs,
To call up hamlets, villages, and towns,
The abode of peace and industry; to build
Cities and palaces amid waste places;
To sound the ocean, combat with the winds,
Travel the waves, and compass every shore,
On voyages of commerce or adventure;
To shine in civil and refining arts,
With tranquil science elevate the soul;
To explore the universe of mind; to trace
The Nile of thinking to its secret source,
And thence pursue its infinite meanders,
Not lost amidst the labyrinths of Time,
But o'er the cataract of death down rolling,
To flow for ever, and for ever, and for ever,
Where time nor space can limit its expansion.
He gave the ideal, too, of truth and beauty;—
To look on Nature with a poet's eye,
And live, amidst the daylight of this world,
In regions of enchantment ;-with the force
Of song, as with a spirit, to possess
The souls of those that hearken, till they feel
But what the minstrel feels, and do but that,
Which his strange inspiration makes them do;
Thus with his breath to kindle war, and bring
The array of battle to electric issue;
Or, while opposing legions, front to front,
Wait the dread signal for the work of havoc,
Step in between, and with the healing voice
Of harmony and concord win them so,
That hurling down their weapons of destruction
They rush into each other's arms, with shouts
And tears of transport; till inveterate foes
Are friends and brethren, feasting on the field,
Where vultures else had feasted, and gorged wolves
Howl'd in convulsive slumber o'er their corses.
Such powers to these were given, but given in vain ;
They knew them not, or, as they learn'd to know,
Perverted them to more pernicious evil,
Than ignorance had skill to perpetrate.
Yet the great Father gave a richer portion
To these, the most impoverish'd of his children;
He sent the light that lighteth every man,
That comes into the world,—the light of truth:
But Satan turn'd that light to darkness; turn'd
God's truth into a lie, and they believed
His lie, who led them captive at his will,
Usurp'd the throne of Deity on earth,
And claim'd allegiance, in all hideous forms,
-The abominable emblems of himself,
The legion-fiend, who takes whatever shape
Man's crazed imagination can devise
To body forth his notion of a God,
And prove how low immortal minds can fall,
When from the living God they fall, to serve
Dumb idols. Thus they worshipp'd stocks and
stones,
Which hands unapt for sculpture executed,
In their egregious folly, like themselves,
Though not more like, even in barbarian eyes,
Than antic clouds resemble animals.
To these they offer'd flowers and fruits; to those,
Reptiles; to others, birds, and beasts, and fishes;
To some they sacrificed their enemies,
To more their children, and themselves to all.
So had the god of this apostate world Blinded their eyes. But the true God had placed Yet further witness of his grace among them, When all remembrance of himself was lost:
Knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong; But knowledge was confounded, till they call'd Good evil, evil good; refused the right,
And chose and loved the wrong for its own sake.
One witness more, his own ambassador
On earth, the Almighty left to be their prophet,
Whom Satan could not utterly beguile,
Nor always hold with his ten thousand fetters,
Lock'd in the dungeon of the obdurate breast,
And trampled down by all its atheist inmates;
-Conscience, tremendous conscience, in his fits
Of inspiration, whencesoe'er it came,
Rose like a ghost, inflicting fear of death,
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