 | Israel in Egypt |  |
Man fallën, ages many there passed on;
And, for the rebel angels, triumph great
Accomplished seemed: for, even than themselves
More wicked, vile, as of a lower kind,
Earth's wretched race they deemed. In man they saw,
Part spirit, matter part; but, by the gross,
The higher nature ruled; the animal,
Such as with brutes the human nature shared,
Above the etherial,—man's peculiar,—
Rampantly lording; till the compound strange,
But a worse brute among the brutes might seem:
And even they, the outcasts from all good,
The first to sin, the tempters to his fall,
Looked on him loathing: yet rejoicing, too:
For, was not this fouled nature as a shout
Of victory, aye sounding to heaven's vault;
Telling to Him they once Almighty deemed,
How He had been defeated? Was not this,
This thing abhorred, the creature made so late,
So favored, loved; so with ripe wisdom formed,
That happiest, best—the appointed changes past—
Had been designed his lot? The Omnipotent, then,
Had not their guile o'ercome?
And, for the rebel angels, triumph great
Accomplished seemed: for, even than themselves
More wicked, vile, as of a lower kind,
Earth's wretched race they deemed. In man they saw,
Part spirit, matter part; but, by the gross,
The higher nature ruled; the animal,
Such as with brutes the human nature shared,
Above the etherial,—man's peculiar,—
Rampantly lording; till the compound strange,
But a worse brute among the brutes might seem:
And even they, the outcasts from all good,
The first to sin, the tempters to his fall,
Looked on him loathing: yet rejoicing, too:
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Of victory, aye sounding to heaven's vault;
Telling to Him they once Almighty deemed,
How He had been defeated? Was not this,
This thing abhorred, the creature made so late,
So favored, loved; so with ripe wisdom formed,
That happiest, best—the appointed changes past—
Had been designed his lot? The Omnipotent, then,
Had not their guile o'ercome?
Thus foolishly
Reasoned the proud rebellious: yet, with watch
Never remitting, marked the course of man;
His acts, and sufferings, hopes, and fears; his words
Attentive listened; if of heaven's designs
Aught should he learn: for sometimes—as they knew—
By shape celestial had a favored one
Been visited; and message from above
Within the heart had felt: nay, even words
Of human speech, with bodily ear had heard
From lips divine, as if to man spake man.
Reasoned the proud rebellious: yet, with watch
Never remitting, marked the course of man;
His acts, and sufferings, hopes, and fears; his words
Attentive listened; if of heaven's designs
Aught should he learn: for sometimes—as they knew—
By shape celestial had a favored one
Been visited; and message from above
Within the heart had felt: nay, even words
Of human speech, with bodily ear had heard
From lips divine, as if to man spake man.
Thus, sometimes, of the things by God designed,
Knowledge they gathered; subtly, as they thought,
And unsuspect: then, straightway,—summons spread
From sun to sun, throughout the universe,
Wherever Spirit might be,—to their lone orb
Their flight they took; assured therein to hold
Council unknown by even Him, once deemed
Omniscient; viewless even to eye of Him,
The All-Seeing named. There, how the best to o'erthrow,
Or turn aside to issue different,
The purpose known of their great enemy,
Debated they: nor ever deemed how plain
Before Him lay their every act, and word,
And thought most secret: and that, bent on ill,
Good final were they working; though by way
Most foul; as, from the loathsome ordure, springs,
Fragrant, and beautiful, and pure, the flower.
Knowledge they gathered; subtly, as they thought,
And unsuspect: then, straightway,—summons spread
From sun to sun, throughout the universe,
Wherever Spirit might be,—to their lone orb
Their flight they took; assured therein to hold
Council unknown by even Him, once deemed
Omniscient; viewless even to eye of Him,
The All-Seeing named. There, how the best to o'erthrow,
Or turn aside to issue different,
The purpose known of their great enemy,
Debated they: nor ever deemed how plain
Before Him lay their every act, and word,
And thought most secret: and that, bent on ill,
Good final were they working; though by way
Most foul; as, from the loathsome ordure, springs,
Fragrant, and beautiful, and pure, the flower.
| Israel in Egypt | |