REDEMPTION. 121
Whose virtue, fame had spread throughout the East,
Celestial pure, whose beauty, minstrels sang,
Prefers virginity, that hope precludes
To save her people by Messias birth,
Before that state which Juda's daughter's love.
Yet, some mysterious motive lies conceal' d,
Which our high pontiffs have full well approved,
And given her to Joseph, poor old man,
To be her guardian, and ward off reproach.
From hence the mystery of her life unfolds ;
An angel from the Lord appear'd to her,
Whereof all Nazareth rings with the fame,
That said she should be mother of a son,
Without the carnal touch of mortal man ;
And strange to say, this Virgin's big with child !
Nor did these prodigies commence with her ;
For Zachary, he of Abia's course,
Whose wife her cousin is, of Aaron's tribe,
Whilst serving in his place, an angel saw,
That promised him a son in his old age,
Expressly named forerunner of the Lord.
And, in like manner, Joachim received
A heav'nly visitant, who Mary's birth
Also foretold. What all this means, exceeds
What simple shepherds may aspire to know;
The wise and learned it behooves to tell.
This much is certain, all the prophets read,
That our Messias' birth must soon advene;
And if this glory, which round Bethlehem shines,
Be not a mere illusion of the brain,
Some supernatural fact it must reveal.
What e'er it be, short time will solve the doubt,
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