Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/297

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��What might improve my knowledge or

their own,

And was admired by all. Yet this not all To which my spirit aspired. Victorious

deeds Flamed in my heart, heroic acts one

while

To rescue Israel from the Roman yoke; Then to subdue and quell, o'er all the earth, Brute violence and proud tyrannic power, Till truth were freed, and equity re- stored: 220 Yet held it more humane, more heavenly,

first

By winning words to conquer willing hearts, And make persuasion do the work of fear; At least to try, and teach the erring soul, Not wilfully misdoing, but unware Misled; the stubborn only to subdue. These growing thoughts my mother soon

perceiving,

By words at times cast forth, inly rejoiced, And said to me apart, ' High are thy

thoughts, O Sou ! but nourish them, and let them

soar 230

To what highth sacred virtue and true

worth Can raise them, though above example

high; By matchless deeds express thy matchless

Sire.

For know, thou art no son of mortal man; Though men esteem thee low of parentage, Thy Father is the Eternal King who rules All Heaven and Earth, Angels and sons of

men.

A messenger from God foretold thy birth Conceived in me a virgin; he foretold Thou shouldst be great, and sit on David's

throne, 240

And of thy kingdom there should be no end. At thy nativity a glorious quire Of Angels, in the fields of Bethlehem, sung To shepherds, watching at their folds by

night,

And told them the Messiah now was born, Where they might see him; and to thee

they came,

Directed to the manger where thou lay'st; For in the inn was left no better room. A Star, not seen before, in heaven appear- ing, Guided the Wise Men thither from the

East, 250

��To honour thee with incense, myrrh, and

gold; By whose bright course led on they found

the place,

Affirming it thy star, new-graven in heaven, By which they knew thee King of Israel

born.

Just Simeon and prophetic Anna, warned By vision, found thee in the Temple, and

spake,

Before the altar and the vested priest, Like things of thee to all that present stood.' This having heard, straight I again re- volved The Law and Prophets, searching what was

writ 260

Concerning the Messiah, to our scribes Known partly, and soon found of whom

they spake

I am this chiefly, that my way must lie Through many a hard assay, even to the

death,

Ere I the promised kingdom can attain, Or work redemption for mankind, whose

sins' Full weight must be transferred upon my

head.

Yet, neither thus disheartened or dismayed, The time prefixed I waited; when behold The Baptist (of whose birth I oft had

heard, 270

Not knew by sight) now come, who was to

come

Before Messiah, and his way prepare ! I, as all others, to his baptism came, Which I believed was from above ; but

he Straight knew me, and with loudest voice

proclaimed Me him (for it was shewn him so from

Heaven)

Me him whose harbinger he was ; and first Refused on me his baptism to confer, As much his greater, and was hardly won. But, as I rose out of the laving stream, 280 Heaven opened her eternal doors, from

whence

The Spirit descended on me like a Dove; And last, the sum of all, my Father's

voice, Audibly heard from Heaven, pronounced

me his,

Me his beloved Son, in whom alone He was well pleased: by which I knew the

time

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