RECITATIVE.

So, led by Sin and Death, and his pale troop,

Impatient came, and all this goodly scene,

As at the withering of a demon's curse, was blasted.

Then they two went forth, from whom

Their children sorrow and sin and death derived:

They two went forth into the forlorn world,

Heart-struck, but not despairing.

From that hour

Death's shadow walks on earth, a hideous form,

Saddening the very sun; and giant crimes

Have multiplied, till to the throne of God,

And the serene air of untroubled bliss,

The noise of violence, and the cries of blood,

Have from the ground ascended.

Therefore God

Me hath commissioned to uplift the trump

Of doom, and sweep this world of sin away!