Play'd in those plumes, that never more And glorious universe of his, And endless love, proclaims He is ! That gentle instrument, as suits (So kin its spirit to the lute's,) Tremblingly follow'd the soft strain, Interpreting its joy, its pain, And lending the light wings of words To many a thought that else had lain Unfledged and mute among the chords. All started at the sound-but chief The third young Angel, in whose face, Though faded like the others, grief Had left a gentler, holier, trace; Unmelted at the bottom lay, The bitterness should pass away. Of solitary sweetness broke, To his bright peers, while thus it spoke : “Come, pray with me, my seraph love, My angel-lord, come pray with me; But pray I cannot without thee! “I've fed the altar in my bower With droppings from the incense-tree; Of life, or lustre, without thee! Are like what I am without thee! But when again, in sunny pride, Oh, happier thus than without thee !" Where curving down that airy height, There suddenly shone out a light That haunt a poet's walk at even, Upon his dreams of love and heaven. 'T was but a moment—the blush, brought O'er all her features at the thought Of being seen thus late, alone, By any but the eyes she sought, Had scarcely for an instant shone Through the dark leaves when she was goneGone, like a meteor that o'erhead Suddenly shines, and, ere we've said, “Look, look, how beautiful!”—'t is fled. Yet, ere she went, the words, “I come, I come, my Nama," reach'd her ear, In that kind voice, familiar, dear, Which tells of confidence, of home,Of habit, that hath drawn hearts near, Till they grow one-of faith sincere, And all that Love most loves to hear! A music, breathing of the past, The present, and the time to be, Where Hope and Memory, to the last, Lengthen out life's true harmony ! Nor long did he, whom call so kind Summon'd away, remain behind; Nor did there need much time to tell What they—alas, more fallen than he From happiness and heaven-knew well, His gentler love's short history! Thus did it run-not as he told The tale himself, but as 't is graved Upon the tablets that, of old, By Cham were from the deluge saved, All written over with sublime And saddening legends of the unblest But glorious spirits of that time, And this young Angel's 'mong the rest. THIRD ANGEL'S STORY. AMONG the Spirits, of pure flame, That round the Almighty Throne abideCircles of light, that from the same Eternal centre sweeping wide, Carry its beams on every side (Like spheres of air that waft around The undulations of rich sound) “Then ne'er, my spirit-love, divide, In life or death, thyself from me; Till the far-circling radiance be Even to those high-brow'd Cherubs given, Though knowing all-so much doth Love Transcend all knowledge, even in heaven! 'Mong these was Zaraph once—and none E'er felt affection's holy fire, With half such longing, deep desire. Not, as with others, a mere part Of its existence, but the whole The very life-breath of his heart! ’T was first at twilight, on the shore Of the smooth sea, he heard the lute And voice of her he loved steal o'er The silver waters, that lay mute, As loth, by even a breath, to stay The pilgrimage of that sweet lay; Whose echoes still went on and on, Till lost among the light that shone Far off beyond the ocean's brim There, where the rich cascade of day Into Elysium roll'd away! Attendant Mercy, that beside Ready with her white hand, to guide His bolts of vengeance to their preyThat she might quench them on the way. Of Peace-of that Atoning Love, Upon whose star, shining above This twilight world of hope and fear, The weeping eyes of Faith are fix'd So fond, that with her every tear The light of that love-star is mix'd!- Of piety was in that song, Tenderly to his ear, along Often, when from the Almighty brow A lustre came too bright to bear, And all the seraph ranks would bow Their heads beneath their wings, nor dare To look upon the effulgence thereThis Spirit's eyes would court the blaze (Such pride he in adoring took,) And rather lose, in that one gaze, The power of looking than not look! The moment, watch'd for by all eyes, First touch'd the threshold of the skies, Such love as only could belong Could, even from angels, bring such song! Alas, that it should e'er have been The same in heaven as it is here, Where nothing fond or bright is seen, But it hath pain and peril near Where right and wrong so close resemble, That what we take for yirtue's thrill Is often the first downward tremble Of the heart's balance into ill- So holy, but the serpent, Sin, Beneath his altar may glide in! The charm that sloped his fall along Too easy lapse, to loving wrong.- Down to earth's beaming eyes descended, Till love for the Creator soon In passion for the creature ended! Quickly, however, to its source, Flung their last tribute with a sigh- Lay down the far-brought gift, and dieAnd, while her lute hung by her, hush'd, As if unequal to the tide She raised, like one beatified, To be adored than to adoreSuch eyes as may have look'd from heaven, But ne'er were raised to it before ! 1 The Seraphim are the Spirits of Divine Love.-See Note. The language of their native sphere, Which they had else forgotten here. How then could Zaraph fail to feel That moment's witcheries ?-one so fair Breathing out music that might steal Heaven from itself, and rapt in prayer That seraphs might be proud to share ! Oh, he did feel it-far too well With warmth that much too dearly costNor knew he, when at last he fell, To which attraction, to which spell, Love, Music, or Devotion, most His soul in that sweet hour was lost. Sweet was the hour, though dearly won, And pure, as aught of earth could be, For then first did the glorious sun Before Religion's altar see That hymeneal chaplet wear, Can bid a new one bloom out thereBless'd union ! by that angel wove, And worthy from such hands to come; Safe, sole asylum, in which Love, When fallen or exiled from above, In this dark world can find a home. Could, like the dial, fix'd remain, By the rude storm, can rise anew, Sees sunny Good half breaking through! Of all its views, above, below- To trust, is happier than to know. And thus in humbleness they trod, Abash’d, but pure before their God; Nor e'er did earth behold a sight So meekly beautiful as they, Full on their brows, they knelt to pray, However sweet, must bear its brand, As the green earth and ocean stand, They both shall wander here--the same Throughout all time, in heart and frame Still looking to that goal sublime, Whose light, remote but sure, they see, Whose home is in Eternity! The chill, that turns his warmest sighs To earthly vapour, ere they rise; The doubt he feeds on, and the pain That in his very sweetness lies. Still worse, the illusions that betray His footsteps to their shining brink; That tempt him on his desert way Through the bleak world, to bend and drink, Where nothing meets his lips, alas, But he again must sighing pass On to that far-off home of peace, In which alone his thirst will cease. And, though the Spirit had transgressid, Terrestrial passion to breathe o'er God's image, there so bright beforeYet never did that God look down On error with a brow so mild; Never did justice launch a frown That, ere it fell, so nearly smiled. For gentle was their love, with awe And trembling like a treasure kept, And o'er whose preciousness they wept. In Nama's heart, by whom alone Seem'd all unvalued and unknown; And when her Seraph's eyes she caught, And hid hers glowing on his breast, “What claim have I to be so bless'a ?” To love as her own seraph loved, Faith that, were even its light removed, Confidings frank, without control, As is that light from chill or stain, To be by them shed back again! That happy minglement of hearts, Where, changed as chymic compounds are, To find a new one, happier far! That blessed hope of the bright hour, Their spirits shall, with freshen'd power, Rise up rewarded for their trust In Him, from whom all goodness springs, And, shaking off earth's soiling dust From their emancipated wings, Wander for ever through those skies Of radiance, where Love never dies ! Meet a young pair, whose beauty wants To look like heaven's inhabitants- Are humble in their earthly lot, That shines unseen, and were it not For its sweet breath would be forgot- Whose voices utter the same wills, Of fairy music 'mong the hills, Though close as 't were their souls' embrace, Like two fair mirrors, face to face, There is but one such pair below; “There Zaraph and his Nama go.' In what lone region of the earth These pilgrims now may roam or dwell, God and the Angels, who look forth To watch their steps, alone can tell. But should we, in our wanderings, 1 NOTES. PREFACE, p. 295, line 21. Fathers (and their opinion has been followed by all the theologians, down from St. Thomas to Caryl and An erroneous translation by the LXX. of that verse in the Lightfoot,“) the term “Sons of God," must be undervixth chapter of Genesis, etc. stood to mean the descendants of Seth, by Enos--a The error of these interpreters (and, it is said, of family peculiarly favoured by Heaven, because with the old Italic version also) was in making it oi Ayye- them men first began to “call upon the name of the dou tou Jsov, “the Angels of God," instead of “the LORD"--while, by “the daughters of men,” they Sons”—a mistake which, assisted by the allegorising suppose that the corrupt race of Cain is designated. comments of Philo, and the rhapsodical fictions of The probability, however, is, that the words in ques. the Book of Enoch,' was more than sufficient to af- tion ought to have been translated “the sons of the fect the imaginations of such half-Pagan writers as nobles or great men,” as we find them interpreted in Clemens Alexandrinus, Tertullian, and Lactantius, the Targum of Onkelos (the most ancient and accuwho, chiefly, among the Fathers, have indulged rate of all the Chaldaic paraphrases,) and as, it apthemselves in fanciful reveries upon the subject. The pears from Cyril, the version of Symmachus also greater number, however, have rejected the fiction rendered them. This translation of the passage rewith indignation. Chrysostom, in his twenty-second moves all difficulty, and at once relieves the Sacred Homily upon Genesis, earnestly exposes its absurd- History of an extravagance, which, however it may ity;? and Cyril accounts such a supposition as eyyus suit the imagination of the poet, is inconsistent with uwplas, “ bordering on folly." According to these all our notions, both philosophical and religious. 1 It is lamentable to think that this absurd production, of of heresies, classes this story of the Angels among the numwhich we now know the whole from Dr. Laurence's trans-ber, and says it deserves only to be ranked with those ficlation, should ever have been considered as an inspired or tions about gods and goddesses, to which the fancy of the authentic work. See the Preliminary Dissertation, prefixed Pagan poets gave birth :-"Sicuti et Paganorum et Poetato the Translation. rum mendacia asserunt deos deasque transformatos nefanda 2 One of the arguments of Chrysostom is, that Angels are conjugia commisisse.”—De Hæres. Edit. Basil. p. 101. no where else, in the Old Testament, called “Sons of God,”- 4 Lightfoot says, “ The sons of God, or the members of but his commentator, Montfaucon, shows that he is mis- the Church, and the progeny of Seth, marrying carelessly taken, and that in the Book of Job they are so designated, and promiscuously with the daughters of men, or brood of (c. i. v. 6.) both in the original Hebrew and the Vulgate, Cain," etc. I find in Pole that, according to the Samaritan though not in the Septuagint, which alone, he says, Chry- version, the phrase may be understood as meaning "the sostom read. Sons of the Judges.”-Šo variously may the Hebrew word, 3 Lib. ii. Glaphyrorum.-Philæstrius, in his enumeration Elohim, be interpreted. G 66 a brook. Page 295, line 81. the agency of these spiritual creatures, The quesTransmit each moment, night and day, tions “de Cognitione Angelorum” of St. Thomas, The echo of His luminous word ! where he examines most prolixly into such puzzling Dionysius (De Cælest. Hierarch.) is of opinion, points as “ whether angels illuminate each other," that when Isaiah represents the Seraphim as crying whether they speak to each other,” etc. etc. The out “one unto the other,” his intention is to describe Thesaurus of Cocceius, containing extracts from those communications of the divine thought and will , almost every theologian that has written on the subwhich are continually passing from the higher orders ject—The 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters, sixth book, of the angels to the lower :-ola kai avtoustous Icora- of l'Histoire des Juifs,” where all the extraordinary τους Σεραφίμ οι θεολογοι φασιν έτερον προς τον έτερον κε reveries of the Rabbins' about angels and demons κραγεναι, σαφως εν τουτω, καθαπερ οιμαι, δηλουντες, οτι | are enumerated-The Questions attributed to St. των θεολογικων γνωσεων οι πρωτοι τοις δευτεροις μετα Athanasius—The Treatise of Bonaventure upon the Sidoagi.-See also in the Paraphrase of Pachymer folio of Suarez de Angelis," where the reader will Wings of the Seraphim?--and, lastly, the ponderous upon Dionysius, cap. 2. rather a striking passage, in which he represents all living creatures as being, find all that has ever been fancied or reasoned, upon in a stronger or fainter degree, " echoes of God.”' a subject which only such writers could have con trived to render so dull. Page 297, line 89. Then first the fatal wine-cup rain'd, etc. Some of the circumstances of this story were sug. This is given upon the authority, or rather accord- gested to me by the Eastern legend of the two angels, ing to the fancy, of some of the Fathers, who sup- Harut and Marut, as it is given by Mariti, who says, pose that the women of earth were first seen by the that the author of the Taalim founds upon it the Maangels in this situation; and St. Basil has even made hometan prohibition of wine. The Bahardanush tells it the serious foundation of rather a rigorous rule the story differently. for the toilet of his fair disciples ; adding, ikavov yap Page 297, line 105. εστι παραγυμνουμενον καλλος και υιους θεου προς ηδονην γοητευσαι, και ως ανθρωπους δια ταυτην αποθνησκον Why, why have hapless angels eyes ? tas, Ivrtovs atodešai.—De Vera Virginitat. tom. i. p. Tertullian imagines that the words of St. Paul, 747. edit. Paris. 1618. "Woman ought to have a veil on her head, on ac count of the angels,” have an evident reference to the Page 296, line 115. fatal effects which the beauty of women once proThe Spirit of yon beauteous star. duced upon these spiritual beings. See the strange It is the opinion of Kircher, Ricciolus, etc. (and passage of this Father (de Virgin. Velandis,) beginwas, I believe, to a certain degree, that of Origen) that ning “Si enim propter angelos,” etc. etc. where his the stars are moved and directed by intelligences or editor Pamelius endeavours to save his morality, at angels who preside over them. Among other pas- " excussat” for “ excusat. the expense of his latinity, by substituting the word Such instances of indesages from Scripture in support of this notion, they cite those words of the Book of Job, “When the corum, however, are but too common throughout the morning stars sang together.”—Upon which Kircher Fathers, in proof of which I need only refer to some remarks, “ Non de materialibus intelligitur.” Itin. 1. passages in the same writer's treatise, “ De Anima," – Isagog. Astronom. See also Caryl's most wordy to the Second and Third Books of the Pædagogus of Commentary on the same text. Clemens Alexandrinus, and to the instances which La Mothe le Vayer has adduced from Chrysostom in Page 297, line 33. his Hexameron Rustique, Journée Seconde. And the bright Watchers near the throne. 1 The following may serve as specimens "Les anges “The Watchers, the offspring of Heaven.”—Book ne savent point la langue Chaldaique: c'est pourquoi ils ne of Enoch. In Daniel also the angels are called portent point à Dieu les oraisons de ceux qui prient dans cette watchers :-“And behold, a watcher and an holy one euses; car l'Ange de la mort, qui est chargé de faire mourir langue. Ils se trompent souvent; ils font des erreurs dangercame down from heaven." iv, 13. un homme, en prend quelquefois un autre, ce qui cause de grands désordres. Ils sont chargés de chanPage 297, line 81 ter devant Dieu le cantique, Saint, Saint est le Dieu des armées ; mais ils ne remplissent cet office qu'une fois le Then, too, that juice of earth, etc. etc. jour, dans une semaine, dans un mois, dans un an, dans un siècle, ou dans l'éternité. L'Ange qui luttoit contre Jacob For all that relates to the nature and attributes of le pressa de le laisser aller, lorsque l'Aurore parut, parce angels, the time of their creation, the extent of their que c'étoit son tour de chanter le cantique ce jour-là, ce knowledge, and the power which they possess, or qu'il n'avoit encore jamais fait." 2 This work (which, notwithstanding its title, is, probacan occasionally assume, of performing such human bly, quite as dull as the rest) I have not, myself, been able functions as eating, drinking, etc. etc. I shall refer to see, having searched for it'in vain through the King's Lithose who are inquisitive upon the subject to the fol- brary at Paris, though assisted by the zeal and kindness of M. Langles and M. Vonpradt, whose liberal administration lowing works :--The Treatise upon the Celestial of that most liberal establishment, entitles them-not only Hierarchy written under the name of Dionysius the for the immediate effect of such conduct, but for the useful Areopagite, in which, among much that is heavy and and civilizing example it holds forth—to the most cordial gratitude of the whole literary world. trifling, there are some sublime notions concerning 3 Corinth xi. 10. Dr. Macknight's Translation. |