I.  I will stand upon my watch,1    Hab. ii. 1. saith the venerable Habakkuk; and I will take my post beside him today on the authority and observation which was given me of the Spirit; and I will look forth, and will observe what shall be said to me.  Well, I have taken my stand, and looked forth; and behold a man riding on the clouds and he is very high, and his countenance is as the countenance of Angel,2    Judg. xiii. 6. and his vesture as the brightness of piercing lightning; and he lifts his hand toward the East, and cries with a loud voice.  His voice is like the voice of a trumpet; and round about Him is as it were a multitude of the Heavenly Host; and he saith, Today is salvation come unto the world, to that which is visible, and to that which is invisible.  Christ is risen from the dead, rise ye with Him.  Christ is returned again to Himself, return ye.  Christ is freed from the tomb, be ye freed from the bond of sin.  The gates of hell are opened, and death is destroyed, and the old Adam is put aside, and the New is fulfilled; if any man be in Christ he is a new creature;3    2 Cor. v. 17. be ye renewed.  Thus he speaks; and the rest sing out, as they did before when Christ was manifested to us by His birth on earth, their glory to God in the highest, on earth, peace, goodwill among men.4    The reading εὐδοκία of the Received Text is pronounced by Tischendorf to have less authority than εὐδοκίας, which he adopts on the testimony of important mss., but chiefly on the strength of a citation and comment three times in Origen, and because all the Latin Fathers read bonæ voluntatis.  Lachmann, Tregelles, Westcott, and with some hesitation Alford follow him; though Tregelles and Westcott allow εὐδοκίας a place in the margin.  Wordsworth (giving no reason); and Scrivener because he thinks it makes better sense, read εὐδοκία, and scout εὐδοκίας; which, however, is found in four of the five oldest mss., and in all the Latin versions and Fathers.  The Greek Fathers, however, all but unanimously support the Received Text.  And with them I also utter the same words among you.  And would that I might receive a voice that should rank with the Angel’s, and should sound through all the ends of the earth.

Αʹ. Ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς μου στήσομαι, φησὶν ὁ θαυμάσιος Ἀββακούμ. Κἀγὼ μετ' αὐτοῦ σήμερον, τῆς δεδομένης μοι παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐξουσίας καὶ θεωρίας, καὶ ἀποσκοπεύσω καὶ γνώσομαι, τί ὀφθήσεται, καὶ τί λαληθήσεταί μοι. Καὶ ἔστην, καὶ ἀπεσκόπευσα: καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνὴρ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν, καὶ οὗτος ὑψηλὸς σφόδρα: καὶ ἡ ὅρασις αὐτοῦ, ὡς ὅρασις ἀγγέλου: καὶ ἡ στολὴ αὐτοῦ, ὡς φέγγος ἀστραπῆς διερχομένης: καὶ ἐπῆρε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ κατ' ἀνατολὰς, καὶ ἐβόησε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ. Φωνὴ αὐτοῦ, ὡς φωνὴ σάλπιγγος: καὶ κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ, ὡς πλῆθος οὐρανίου στρατιᾶς, καὶ εἶπε: Σήμερον σωτηρία τῷ κόσμῳ, ὅσος τε ὁρατὸς, καὶ ὅσος ἀόρατος. Χριστὸς ἐκ νεκρῶν, συνεγείρεσθε: Χριστὸς εἰς ἑαυτὸν, ἐπανέρχεσθε: Χριστὸς ἐκ τάφων, ἐλευθερώθητε τῶν δεσμῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Πύλαι ᾅδου ἀνοίγονται, καὶ θάνατος καταλύεται, καὶ ὁ παλαιὸς Ἀδὰμ ἀποτίθεται, καὶ ὁ νέος συμπληροῦται: εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ καινὴ κτίσις, ἀνακαινίζεσθε. Ταῦτα ὁ μὲν ἔλεγεν: οἱ δὲ ἀνύμνουν, ὅπερ καὶ πρότερον, ἡνίκα ἡμῖν ἐπεφάνη Χριστὸς διὰ τῆς κάτω γεννήσεως, τὸ, δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις Θεῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη, ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία. Μεθ' ὧν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν ὑμῖν ταῦτα φθέγγομαι: εἴη δὲ καὶ φωνὴν λαβεῖν τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ἀξίαν, καὶ πάντα περιηχοῦσαν τὰ πέρατα.