kind,
Far less the sons of God; but as our God
Has deigned to commune with me, and reveal
_His_ judgments, I reply, that the descent
Of Seraphs from their everlasting seat
Unto a perishable and perishing,
Even on the very _eve_ of _perishing_[153]?--world,
Cannot be good.

_Aza._ What! though it were to save?

_Noah_. Not ye in all your glory can redeem
What he who made you glorious hath condemned. 490
Were your immortal mission safety, 'twould
Be general, not for two, though beautiful;
And beautiful they are, but not the less
Condemned.

_Japh._ Oh, father! say it not.

_Noah_. Son! son!
If that thou wouldst avoid their doom, forget
That they exist: they soon shall cease to be,
While thou shalt be the sire of a new world,
And better.

_Japh._ Let me die with _this_, and _them_!

_Noah_. Thou _shouldst_ for such a thought, but shalt not: he
Who _can_, redeems thee.

_Sam._ And why him and thee, 500
More than what he, thy son, prefers to both?

_Noah_. Ask him who made thee greater than myself
And mine, but not less subject to his own
Almightiness. And lo! his mildest and
Least to be tempted messenger appears!

_Enter_ RAPHAEL[154] _the Archangel_.

_Raph._
Spirits!
Whose seat is near the throne,
What do ye here?
Is thus a Seraph's duty to be shown,
Now that the hour is near 510
When Earth must be alone?
Return!
Adore and burn,
In glorious homage with the elected "Seven."
Your place is Heaven.

_Sam._
Raphael!
The first and fairest of the sons of God,
How long hath this been law,
That Earth by angels must be left untrod?
Earth! which oft saw 520
Jehovah's footsteps not disdain her sod!
The world he loved, and made
For love; and oft have we obeyed
His frequent mission with delighted pinions:
Adoring him in his least works displayed;
Watching this youngest star of his dominions;
And, as the latest birth of his great word,
Ea