d comforts him by revealing how one righteous man, in
whose "seed all nations shall be blest," is to be brought out of that
country into the Promised Land.

Not only does the angel name Abraham, but depicts his life, the
captivity in Egypt, the exodus, and the forty years in the desert. He
also vouchsafes to Adam a glimpse of Moses on Mount Sinai receiving
the tables of the law, and appointing the worship which the Chosen
People are to offer to their Creator. When Adam wonders at the number
of laws, Michael rejoins that sin has many faces, and that until blood
more precious than that of the prescribed sacrifices has been shed, no
suitable atonement can be made.

After describing how under the Judges and then under the Kings the
people of Israel will continue their career the angel designates David
as the ancestor of the Messiah, whose coming will be heralded by a
star which will serve as guide to eastern sages. He adds that this
Messiah will descend from the Most High by a virgin mother, that his
reign will extend over all the earth, and that, by bruising the
serpent's head, he will conquer Sin and Death. This promise fills
Adam's heart with joy, because it partly explains the mysterious
prophecy, but, when he inquires how the serpent can wound such a
victor's heel, Michael rejoins that, in order to overcome Satan, the
Messiah will incur the penalty of death, revealing how, after living
hated and blasphemed, he will prove by his death and resurrection that
Sin and Death have no lasting power over those who believe in his
name. Full of joy at the promise that the Messiah will lead all
ransomed souls to a happier Paradise than the one he has forfeited,
Adam declares since such good is to proceed from the evil he has done
he doubts whether he should repent.

Between the death of Christ and his second coming, the angel adds that
the Comforter will dwell upon earth with those who love their
Redeemer, helping them resist the onslaughts of Satan, and that in
spite of temptation many righteous will ultimately reach heaven, to
take the place of the outcast angels.

"Till the day
Appear of respiration to the just,
And vengeance to the wicked, at return
Of him so lately promised to thy aid,
The woman's Seed, obscurely then foretold,
Now amplier known thy Saviour and thy Lord,
Last in the clouds from heaven to be revealed
In glory of the Father, to dissolve
Satan with his perverted world,