And hoping in his folly (alas!) to find
Forgiveness of his wickedness, unware
What sentence on his deed is waiting him;
With words of wisdom’s weaving, and a voice
45 Presaging from God’s Spirit, speak a host
Of prophets. Publicly he does not dare
Nakedly to speak evil of the Lord,
Hoping by secret ingenuity
He possibly may lurk unseen. At length
50 The soul’s Light as the thrall of flesh is held;
The hope of the despairing, mightier
Than foe, enters the lists; the Fashioner,
The Renovator, of the body He;
True Glory of the Father; Son of God;
55 Author unique; a Judge and Lord He came,
The orb’s renowned King; to the opprest
Prompt to give pardon, and to loose the bound;
Whose friendly aid and penal suffering
Blend God and renewed man in one. With child
60 Is holy virgin: life’s new gate opes; words
Of prophets find their proof, fulfilled by facts;
Priests leave their temples, and—a star their guide—
Wonder the Lord so mean a birth should choose.
Waters—sight memorable!—turn to wine;
65 Eyes are restored to blind; fiends trembling cry,
Outdriven by His bidding, and own Christ!
All limbs, already rotting, by a word
Are healed; now walks the lame; the deaf forthwith
Hears hope; the maimed extends his hand; the dumb
70 Speaks mighty words: sea at His bidding calms,
Winds drop; and all things recognise the Lord:
Confounded is the foe, and yields, though fierce,
Now triumphed over, to unequal arms!
When all his enterprises now revoked
75 He sees; the flesh, once into ruin sunk,
Now rising; man—death vanquisht quite—to heavens
Soaring; the peoples sealed with holy pledge
Outpoured; the work and envied deeds of might
Marvellous; and hears, too, of penalties
80 Extreme, and of perpetual dark, prepared
For himself by the Lord by God’s decree
Irrevocable; naked and unarmed,
Damned, vanquisht, doomed to perish in a death
Perennial, guilty now, and sure that he
85 No pardon has, a last impiety