And thus the Filial Godhead answering spake.

‘O Father, O Supreme of heavenly Thrones,

First, Highest, Holiest, Best; thou always seek’st

To glorify thy Son, I always thee,

As is most just: This I my glory account,

My exaltation, and my whole delight,

That thou, in me well pleased, declarest thy will

Fulfilled, which to fulfil is all my bliss.

Scepter and power, thy giving, I assume,

And gladlier shall resign, when in the end

Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee

For ever; and in me all whom thou lovest:

But whom thou hatest, I hate, and can put on

Thy terrors, as I put thy mildness on,

Image of thee in all things; and shall soon,

Armed with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebelled;

To their prepared ill mansion driven down,

To chains of darkness, and the undying worm;

That from thy just obedience could revolt,

Whom to obey is happiness entire.

Then shall thy Saints unmixed, and from the impure

Far separate, circling thy holy mount,

Unfeigned Hallelujahs to thee sing,

Hymns of high praise, and I among them Chief.’

So said, he, o’er his scepter bowing, rose

From the right hand of Glory where he sat;

And the third sacred morn began to shine,

Dawning through Heaven. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound

The chariot of Paternal Deity,

Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,

Itself instinct with Spirit, but convoyed

By four Cherubic shapes; four faces each

Had wonderous; as with stars, their bodies all

And wings were set with eyes; with eyes the wheels

Of beryl, and careering fires between;

Over their heads a crystal firmament,

Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure

Amber, and colours of the showery arch.

He, in celestial panoply all armed

Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought,

Ascended; at his right hand Victory

Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow

And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored;

And from about him fierce effusion rolled

Of smoke, and bickering flame, and sparkles dire:

Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,

He onward came; far off his coming shone;

And twenty thousand (I their number heard)

Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen;

He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime

On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,

Illustrious far and wide; but by his own

First seen: Them unexpected joy surprised,

When the great ensign of Messiah blazed

Aloft by Angels borne, his sign in Heaven;

Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced

His army, circumfused on either wing,

Under their Head embodied all in one.

Before him Power Divine his way prepared;

At his command the uprooted hills retired

Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went

Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed,

And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled.

This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured,

And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,

Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.

In heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?