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210

Affecting Godhead, and so losing all,
To expiate his treason hath nought left,
But to destruction sacred and devote,
He, with his whole posterity, must die;
Die he or justice must; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay
The rigid satisfaction, death for death.
Say, heav'nly Pow'rs, where shall we find such love?
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem

Man's mortal crime, and just th' unjust to save? 215
Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?

He ask'd; but all the heav'nly choir stood mute, And silence was in Heav'n: on Man's behalf Patron or intercessor none appear'd,

Much less that durst upon his own head draw
The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.
And now without redemption all mankind
Must have been lost, adjudged to Death and Hell
By doom severe, had not the Son of God,

in whom the fulness dwells of love divine,
His dearest meditation thus renew'd:

Father, thy word is past, Man shall find grace;

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225

And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,
The speediest of thy winged messengers,
To visit all thy creatures, and to all

230

Comes unprevented, unimplored, unsought?

Happy for man, so coming: he her aid

Can never seek, once dead in sins and lost:

Atonement for himself or off'ring meet,

Indebted and undone, hath none to bring.

235

Behold me then; me for him, life for life

I offer on me let thine anger fall;

Account me Man: I for his sake will leave

Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee

Freely put off, and for him lastly die

240

Well pleased on me let Death wreck all his rage: Under his gloomy pow'r I shall not long

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Lie vanquish'd: thou hast given me to possess

215. See 1 Peter iii. 18.

217. See Rev. viii. 1.

231. Unprevented; prevent is here used according to its sense In the Latin prævenire, to come before; not preceded by any thing else. It is used in this manner in one of the prayers of our Liturgy, Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings,' &c. that is, Let thy grace anticipate us in our designs, and so make them just and holy.

Life in myself for ever; by thee I live,
Though now to Death I yield, and am his due
All that of me can die; yet that debt paid,
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave
His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul
For ever with corruption there to dwell;
But I shall rise victorious, and subdue

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My Vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil;
Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop
Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarm'd.

I through the ample air in triumph high

260

Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and shew 255
The Pow'rs of darkness bound. Thou at the sight
Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,
While by thee raised I ruin all my foes,
Death last, and with his carcase glut the grave:
Then with the multitude of my redeem'd
Shall enter Heav'n long absent, and return,
Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud
Of anger shall remain, but peace assured
And reconcilement; wrath shall be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.

His words here ended, but his meek aspect
Silent yet spake, and breath'd immortal love
To mortal men, above which only shone
Filial obedience: as a sacrifice

Glad to be offer'd, he attends the will
Of his great Father. Admiration seized

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270

All Heav'n, what this might mean, and whither tend, Wond'ring; but soon th' Almighty thus reply'd:

275

O thou in Heav'n and Earth the only peace Found out for mankind under wrath! O thou My sole complacence! well thou know'st how dear To me are all my works, nor Man the least, Though last created; that for him I spare Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save, By losing thee a while, the whole race lost.

244. See John v. 26.

280

249. See Ps. xvi. 10. and Acts ii. 20, 21. 252. The punning character of this line has been justly reprobated as unworthy of the subject.

254. Ps. lxviii. 18. and Col. ii. 15.

259. 1 Cor. xv. 26.

266. If the reader compare this picture of the Son of God with that in the sixth book, he will be awed and delighted with the grandeur of Milton's conception of the Messiah's character.

Thou therefore whom thou only canst redeem,
Their nature also to thy nature join;

And be thyself Man among men on earth,
Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,
By wondrous birth: be ou in Adam's room
The Head of all mankind, though Adam's son.
As in him perish all men, so in thee,

295

As from a second root, shall be restored
As many' as are restored; without thee none.
His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit 290
Imputed shall absolve them who renounce
Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,
And live in thee transplanted, and from thee
Receive new life. So Man, as is most just,
Shall satisfy for man, be judged and die,
And dying rise, and rising with him raise
His brethren ransom'd with his own dear life.

295

So heav'nly love shall outdo hellish hate,
Giving to death, and dying to redeem,
So dearly to redeem what hellish hate

So easily destroy'd, and still destroys

300

In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume

Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own.

Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss 305 Equal to God, and equally enjoying

God-like fruition, quitted all to save

A world from utter loss, and hast been found

By merit more than birthright, Son of God,
Found worthiest to be so by being good,

310

Far more than great or high; because in thee
Love hath abounded more than glory 'bounds,
Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt
With thee thy manhood also to this throne:

Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign

315

Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man,
Anointed Universal King: all pow'r

I give thee; reign for ever, and assume

Thy merits; under thee as Head Supreme

287. See 1 Cor. xv. 22.

301. The language is here accommodated to the eternity of the speaker, to whom past, present, and future, are one.

317. Matt. xxviii. 18.

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To Heav'n removed, where first it grew, there grows,
And flow'rs aloft, shading the fount of life,
And where the riv'r of bliss through midst of Heav'n
Rolls o'er Elysian flow'rs her amber stream;
With these, that never fade, the Spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks inwreath'd with beams,
Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone,
Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

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Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took,
Harps ever tuned, that glitt'ring by their side
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
Of charming symphony they introduce
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join
Melodious part, such concord is in Heav'n.
Thee, Father, first they sung, Omnipotent,
Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,

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Eternal King; thee, Author of all being,
Fountain of Light, thyself invisible
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt'st
Throned inaccessible, but when thou shad'st
The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud
Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,
Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,
Yet dazzle Heav'n, that brightest Seraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.
Thee, next they sang, of all creation first,
Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,

380

In whose conspicuous count'nance, without cloud 385
Made visible, th' Almighty Father shines,
Whom else no creature can behold: on thee

Impress'd th' effulgence of his glory 'bides,
Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests.

He Heav'n of Heav'ns and all the Pow'rs therein 390
By thee created, and by thee threw down

Th' aspiring Dominations: thou that day

Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare,

358. The happiness of Heaven is repeatedly compared in Scrip are to a fountain or river.

380. The same idea is in Tasso, Can. 9. st. 57. and in Spenser' Jymn to Heavenly Beauty.

382. See Isaiah vi. 2.

383. Col. i. 15. Rev. iil. 14.

297. John i. 18. xiv. 9.

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