The deadly forfeiture, and ranfom fet.
And now, without redemption all mankind
Must have been loft, adjudg'd to death and hell
By doom fevere, had not the SON of GOD,
(In whom the fulness dwells of love divine)
His dearest mediation thus renew'd.
FATHER! thy word is past, Man fhall find grace:
And fhall grace not find means, that finds her way,
The fpeedieft of thy winged meffengers,
To vifit all thy creatures, and to all
Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unfought?
Happy for Man, fo coming! He her aid
Can never feek, once dead in fins, and lost,
Attonement for himself, or offering meet,
(Indebted and undone !) hath none to bring.
Behold me then! me for him, life for life
I offer, on me let thine anger fall;
Account me Man: I for his fake will leave
Thy bofom, and this glory next to thee
Freely put off, and for him laftly die
Well pleas'd, on me let DEATH wreak all his
Under his gloomy pow'r I fhall not long
Lie vanquifh'd; thou haft giv'n me to poffefs
Life in my felf for ever; by thee I live,
Though now to DEATH I yield, and am his due 245
All that of me can die; yet that debt paid,
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathfome grave
His prey, nor fuffer my unfpotted foul
For ever with corruption there to dwell:
But I fhall rife victorious, and fubdue
My vanquisher, fpoil'd of his vaunted spoil:
DEATH his death's wound fhall then receive, and ftoop Inglorious, of his mortal fting difarm'd.
I through the ample air in triumph high
Shall lead hell captive, maugre hell! and show
The Pow'rs of darkness bound.
Pleas'd, out of heaven fhalt look down, and fimile;
While by thee rais'd I ruin all my foes,
DEATH laft, and with his carcafs glut the grave:
Then, with the multitude of my redeem'd
Shall enter heav'n long abfent, and return,
FATHER! to fee thy face, wherein no cloud
of
anger fhall remain; but peace affur'd
And reconcilement: wrath thall be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy prefence joy entire.
His words here ended, but his meek afpect Silent yet fpake, and breath'd immortal love To mortal men, above which only shone Filial obedience as a facrifice
Glad to be offer'd, he attends the will
All heav'n, what this might mean, and whither tend Wond'ring; but foon th' Almighty thus reply'd.
O THOU in heav'n and earth the only peace Found out for mankind under wrath! O thou My fole complacence! well thou know'ft how dear To me are all my works, nor Man the leaft Though laft created; that for him I fpare Thee from my bofom, and right hand, to fave, By lofing thee a-while, the whole race loft. Thou therefore whom thou only canft redeem, Their nature alfo to thy nature join ; And be thy felf Man among men on earth, Made flesh, when time fhall be, of virgin feed,
By wond'rous birth: be thou in ADAM's room 285
The head of all mankind, though ADAM's fon.
As in him perifh all men, fo in thee,
As from a fecond root, fhall be restor'd
As many as are reftor'd, without thee none.
His crime makes guilty all his fons; thy merit 290
Imputed fhall abfolve them who renounce
Their own both righteous, and unrighteous, deeds:
And live in thee tranfplanted, and from thee
Receive new life. So man, as is most just,
Shall fatisfy for man, be judg'd, and die;
And dying rife, and rifing with him raise
His brethren, ranfom'd with his own dear life.
So, heav'nly love fhall outdo hellish hate
Giving to death, and dying to redeem,
So dearly to redeem what hellish hate
So eafily deftroy'd, and ftill deftroys
In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
Nor fhalt thou, by defcending to affume
Man's nature, leffen or degrade thine own.
Because thou haft, tho' thron'd in highest bliss
Equal to GOD, and equally enjoying
God-like fruition, quitted all, to fave
A world from utter lofs, and haft been found
By merit more than birthright SON of GOD:
Found worthieft to be fo by being good,
Far more than great, or high; because in thee
Love hath abounded more than glory abounds;
Therefore thy humiliation fhall exalt
With thee thy manhood alfo to this throne:
Here fhalt thou fit incarnate, here fhalt reign
Both GOD and MAN, SON both of GOD and MAN,
Anointed univerfal King; all pow'r
I give thee, reign for ever, and affume
Thy merits under thee, as head fupreme
Thrones, Princedoms, Pow'rs, Dominions I reduce:
All knees to thee fhall bow, of them that 'bide
In heav'n, or earth, or under earth in hell,
When thou, attended gloriously from heav'n,
Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee fend
The fummoning Arch-Angels to proclaim
Thy dread tribunal: forthwith from all winds
The living, and forthwith the cited dead
Of all paft ages, to the general doom
Shall haften, fuch a peal fhall rouze their sleep!
Then all thy faints affembled, thou fhalt judge 330
Bad men, and angels; they arraign'd fhall fink
Beneath thy fentence; hell, her numbers full,
Thenceforth fhall be for ever shut.
The world fhall burn, and from her ashes spring
New heav'n and earth, wherein the just shall dwell;
And after all their tribulations long
See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,
With joy and love triumphing, and fair truth:
Then thou thy regal fceptre shalt lay by,
For, regal fceptre then no more shall need ;
GOD fhall be All in All. But all Gods,
Adore him, who to compass all this dies;
Adore the SON, and honour him as me.
No fooner had th' Almighty ceas'd, but all
The multitude of angels with a fhout,
Loud, as from numbers without number; fweet,
As from bleft voices, utt'ring joy, heav'n rung
With jubilee, and loud hofannas fill'd
Th' eternal regions. Lowly reverent
Tow'rds either throne they bow, and to the ground
With folemn adoration down they caft
Their crowns, inwove with amarant, and gold,
Immortal amarant! a flow'r which once
In Paradise faft by the Tree of Life
Began to bloom; but foon for man's offence
To heav'n remov'd, where first it grew, there grows,
And flow'rs aloft fhading the fount of life;
And where the river of blifs thro' midft of heav'n
Rowls o'er ELYSIAN flow'rs her amber stream:
With thefe, that never fade, the fpirits elect 360
Bind their refplendent locks, inwreath'd with beams
Now in loofe garlands thick thrown off, the bright
Pavement, that like a fea of jafper fhone,
Impurpled with cœleftial rofes fmil'd.
Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took;
Harps ever tun'd, that glitt'ring by their fide
Like quivers hung, and with preamble fweet
Of charming fymphony they introduce
Their facred fong, and waken raptures high,
No voice exempt; no voice but well could join 370
Melodious part, fuch concord is in heav'n.
THEE FATHER firft they fung, Omnipotent,
Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,
Eternal King! Thee author of all Being,
Fountain of light, thy felf invifible
Amidst the glorious brightnefs where thou fit'ft
Thron'd inacceffible, but when thou fhad'f
The full blaze of thy beams, and thro' a cloud
Drawn round about thee like a radiant fhrine,
Dark with exceffive bright, thy fkirts appear,
Yet dazle heav'n, that brightest Seraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.
Thee next they fung of all creation first,
Begotten SoN, Divine Similitude!
In whofe confpicuous count'nance, without cloud
Made visible, th' Almighty FATHER fhines,
Whom elfe no creature can behold: on thee
Imprefs'd, th' effulgence of his glory abides;
Transfus'd on thee his ample SPIRIT refts.
He heav'n of heav'ns, and all the pow'rs therein,
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