[00:36.872]Gabriel:
[00:36.872]This Goodness, in the image of Himself,
[00:39.638]Formed man, also the Angels
[00:43.134]that they might together here with Him
[00:45.884]securely hold the Realm eterne
[00:50.133]the good ne'er-comprehended.
[00:51.388]Having the while with faithfulness maintained
[00:55.139]His firm prescribed law.
[00:57.879]He also built this wondrous universe,
[01:01.379]the world below made manifest,
[01:04.137]and meet for God and man,
[01:06.385]That in this garden man might rule
[01:09.626]and there might multiply;
[01:11.873]acknowledge God with all his seed;
[01:15.629]Him ever serve and e'er revere,
[01:20.635]And thus mount up, by the stairway of the world,
[01:24.391]The firmament of beatific light within,
[01:28.379]into the ne'er-created glow.
[02:11.961]Though Spirits may seem pre-eminent,
[02:14.467]Above all other beings,
[02:16.464]yet God hath decreed, even from eternity,
[02:20.471]that man shall high exalted be,
[02:23.724]even o'er the Angel world;
[02:25.975]Him destined for a glory and a crown
[02:30.468]Of splendor not inferior to His own.
[02:33.969]Ye shall behold the eternal Word above,
[02:37.466]When clad in flesh and bone,
[02:42.224]anointed Lord And Chief and Judge,
[02:45.724]mete justice to the hosts of Spirits,
[02:48.720]to Angels and to men alike,
[02:52.979]From His high seat, in His unshadowed Realm.
[02:57.219]There in the centre stands the holy Throne already consecrate.
[03:03.469]Let all the hosts Angelic then have care to worship Him,
[03:08.225]When He shall ride in triumph in,
[03:12.717]who hath the human form exalted o'er our own.
[03:19.471]Then dimly shines the bright translucent flame of Seraphim,
[03:23.966]beside this light of man,
[03:28.217]This glow and radiance divine.
[03:31.464]The rays of Mercy shall all Nature's splendors drown.
[03:35.971]'Tis fated thus—and stands irrevocable.