Angels in Heav'n, as we may say,
Keep one Eternal Holy-Day;
No Fasts there are, nor Vigils there,
But Triumphs are their constant cheer
Yet when their King vouchsaf'd to come,
And make this lower world his home,
They were so kind we know,
To come and keep one holy day below,
Sent on a solemn Embassy, to tell
The world, how great a guest was coming there to dwell.
New Robes of Light, Heav'ns Liv'ry, they
Assume, more bright (by far) than day.
Yet not so bright as those, that there
The meanest Saint is us'd to wear;
For they foresaw, it might undo
The lower world, to view them so:
The Luster of so bright
And shining presence, would but scare and frigh[t]
The Guilty world into Astonishment,
And fear they come to bring deserved punishment.
But on a milder Errand these
Are sent, an Embassy of Peace,
Therefore they take a milder flame,
And with their beams unpointed came
Having Communion from above,
To Publish universal Love;
And being thus prepar'd,
That mortals at their sight might not be scar'd
Drest in their Trav'ling cloaths; Direct the way
Unto that distant place where their great Sov'reign lay .
Through rouling spheres and floods of flame,
Swifter than sight or thought they came
Toward the last, and lowest rounds,
Of the Etherial spreading bounds,
Which parts the high, from lower world,
And from those battlements they hurld
Their Glances, to Survey
The lower Regions, and where Bethle'm lay
They spy a little round black spot, call'd Earth
This they conclude the place of their great Sov'reigns birth.
Cry they, Admiring then, is that!
(Pointing to Earth) that mighty Plat
Where are those spacious Lands and Seas
Those mighty States and Monarchies
That mortals brag of, where's that pride
Which has so often Heav'n defy'd?
And is the place so small?
What are the dwellers that about it Crawl?
Our Prince made one of them; how great above
How small art thou below! How low the steps of Love .
Down they decend, the clouds give way,
Those Regions all in darkness lay,
Until their Presence made it day;
In spite of th' interviewing shade.
They by their beams discov'ries made:
The Earth seems greater to their Eye,
As they draw nearer, Seas they spy,
What space the Oceans fill,
And how the lofty tow'ring mountains, swell
Above the surface of those works of fame,
To which the lower worlds Inhabitants lay claim.
Cities, and Towns they spy, and amongst them
Juries Metropolis Jerusalem ,
In Fertile Palestine , nigh which they view
Bethle'm a little Town; to which they flew,
This is the place they'r sent to, here they cease
Their long fetch'd Journey, to make known the peace .
Which their great Sov'reign now,
Was come himself in Person to bestow;
Such matchless condescention as that,
Makes all the heav'nly host amaz'd with wonder at.
Amaz'd, twixt scorn and wonder, they
Smile to see how mean he lay;
That he, whom Heav'ns Immencitie
Could not contain, should crowded be,
And shrink into the central point,
Of the vast universe, and stint
His greatness to a Place,
Of but a span amidst the Aiery space.
Will here, cry they, our Monarch keep his Court?
Must this be now the place to which we must Resort?
Then to the Plains of Bethl'em they move,
There to Proclaim this universal love,
Not to the Prince at Court, but to the Swains,
Who watch their flocks by night upon those Plains:
To them this Gracious Embassy is told,
Begining to Proclaim it thus BEHOLD;
(Amazing brightness drives away the dark.
Hark! Fellow Shepherds, Hark!
The Proem is an Exce. Exces are
Ushers to things most Admirably Rare.)
GLAD NEWS, OF UNIVERSAL JOY WE BRING ;
THIS DAY IS BORN MANS ONLY SAVIOUR, CHRIST THE KING .
Keep one Eternal Holy-Day;
No Fasts there are, nor Vigils there,
But Triumphs are their constant cheer
Yet when their King vouchsaf'd to come,
And make this lower world his home,
They were so kind we know,
To come and keep one holy day below,
Sent on a solemn Embassy, to tell
The world, how great a guest was coming there to dwell.
New Robes of Light, Heav'ns Liv'ry, they
Assume, more bright (by far) than day.
Yet not so bright as those, that there
The meanest Saint is us'd to wear;
For they foresaw, it might undo
The lower world, to view them so:
The Luster of so bright
And shining presence, would but scare and frigh[t]
The Guilty world into Astonishment,
And fear they come to bring deserved punishment.
But on a milder Errand these
Are sent, an Embassy of Peace,
Therefore they take a milder flame,
And with their beams unpointed came
Having Communion from above,
To Publish universal Love;
And being thus prepar'd,
That mortals at their sight might not be scar'd
Drest in their Trav'ling cloaths; Direct the way
Unto that distant place where their great Sov'reign lay .
Through rouling spheres and floods of flame,
Swifter than sight or thought they came
Toward the last, and lowest rounds,
Of the Etherial spreading bounds,
Which parts the high, from lower world,
And from those battlements they hurld
Their Glances, to Survey
The lower Regions, and where Bethle'm lay
They spy a little round black spot, call'd Earth
This they conclude the place of their great Sov'reigns birth.
Cry they, Admiring then, is that!
(Pointing to Earth) that mighty Plat
Where are those spacious Lands and Seas
Those mighty States and Monarchies
That mortals brag of, where's that pride
Which has so often Heav'n defy'd?
And is the place so small?
What are the dwellers that about it Crawl?
Our Prince made one of them; how great above
How small art thou below! How low the steps of Love .
Down they decend, the clouds give way,
Those Regions all in darkness lay,
Until their Presence made it day;
In spite of th' interviewing shade.
They by their beams discov'ries made:
The Earth seems greater to their Eye,
As they draw nearer, Seas they spy,
What space the Oceans fill,
And how the lofty tow'ring mountains, swell
Above the surface of those works of fame,
To which the lower worlds Inhabitants lay claim.
Cities, and Towns they spy, and amongst them
Juries Metropolis Jerusalem ,
In Fertile Palestine , nigh which they view
Bethle'm a little Town; to which they flew,
This is the place they'r sent to, here they cease
Their long fetch'd Journey, to make known the peace .
Which their great Sov'reign now,
Was come himself in Person to bestow;
Such matchless condescention as that,
Makes all the heav'nly host amaz'd with wonder at.
Amaz'd, twixt scorn and wonder, they
Smile to see how mean he lay;
That he, whom Heav'ns Immencitie
Could not contain, should crowded be,
And shrink into the central point,
Of the vast universe, and stint
His greatness to a Place,
Of but a span amidst the Aiery space.
Will here, cry they, our Monarch keep his Court?
Must this be now the place to which we must Resort?
Then to the Plains of Bethl'em they move,
There to Proclaim this universal love,
Not to the Prince at Court, but to the Swains,
Who watch their flocks by night upon those Plains:
To them this Gracious Embassy is told,
Begining to Proclaim it thus BEHOLD;
(Amazing brightness drives away the dark.
Hark! Fellow Shepherds, Hark!
The Proem is an Exce. Exces are
Ushers to things most Admirably Rare.)
GLAD NEWS, OF UNIVERSAL JOY WE BRING ;
THIS DAY IS BORN MANS ONLY SAVIOUR, CHRIST THE KING .