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'Mercy I formed them free, and free they must remain shall Till they enthrall themselves: I else must change brightest Their nature, and revoke the high decree

shine'

Unchangeable, eternal, which ordained

Their freedom; they themselves ordained their
fall.

The first sort by their own suggestion fell,
Self-tempted, self-depraved; Man falls, deceived
By the other first: Man, therefore, shall find

grace;

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The other, none. In mercy and justice both,
Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory
excel;

But mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.'
Thus while God spake ambrosial fragrance filled
All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect
Sense of new joy ineffable diffused.
Beyond compare the Son of God was seen
Most glorious; in him all his Father shone
Substantially expressed; and in his face
Divine compassion visibly appeared,
Love without end, and without measure grace;
Which uttering, thus he to his Father spake :-
'O Father, gracious was that word which
closed

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Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace;

For which both Heaven and Earth shall high extol

Thy praises, with the innumerable sound

Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne
Encompassed shall resound thee ever blest.
For, should Man finally be lost-should Man, 150
Thy creature late so loved, thy youngest son,

shall be upheld by God'

Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joined Man
With his own folly! That be from thee far,
That far be from thee, Father, who art judge
Of all things made, and judgest only right!
Or shall the Adversary thus obtain
His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfil
His malice, and thy goodness bring to naught
Or proud return, though to his heavier doom
Yet with revenge accomplished, and to Hell 160
Draw after him the whole race of mankind,
By him corrupted? Or wilt thou thyself
Abolish thy creation, and unmake,

For him, what for thy glory thou hast made?-
So should thy goodness and thy greatness both
Be questioned and blasphemed without defence.'

To whom the great Creator thus replied :'O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, Son of my bosom, Son who art alone

My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, 170
All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all
As my eternal purpose hath decreed.

in me

Man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will;
Yet not of will in him, but grace
Freely voutsafed. Once more I will renew
His lapsed powers, though forfeit, and enthralled
By sin to foul exorbitant desires:

Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand
On even ground against his mortal foe-
By me upheld, that he may know how frail 180
His fallen condition is, and to me owe
All his deliverance, and to none but me.
Some I have chosen of peculiar grace,
Elect above the rest; so is my will:

The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warned

'Who Their sinful state, and to appease betimes will re- The incensèd Deity, while offered grace forfeit of Invites; for I will clear their senses dark Death? What may suffice, and soften stony hearts

deem the

To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. 190
To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,
Though but endeavoured with sincere intent,
Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.
And I will place within them as a guide
My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear,
Light after light well used they shall attain,
And to the end persisting safe arrive.

This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,
They who neglect and scorn shall never taste;
But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more, 200
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;
And none but such from mercy I exclude.-
But yet all is not done. Man disobeying,
Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins
Against the high supremacy of Heaven,
Affecting Godhead, and, so losing all,
To expiate his treason hath naught 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, Heavenly Powers, where shall we find such
love?

Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem

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

He asked, but all the Heavenly Quire stood
mute,

offers

himself

to die

And silence was in Heaven: on Man's behalf The Son
Patron or intercessor none appeared-
Much less that durst upon his own head draw 220
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 mediation thus renewed :-

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

And shall Grace not find means, that finds her

way,

The speediest of thy winged messengers,
To visit all thy creatures, and to all

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 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 sake will leave
Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee
Freely put off, and for him lastly die

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Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his

rage.

Under his gloomy power I shall not long
Lie vanquished. Thou hast given me to possess
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

Admira- His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul tion For ever with corruption there to dwell; seized all But I shall rise victorious, and subdue

Heaven My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil.

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Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop

Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed;

I through the ample air in triumph high
Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show
The powers of Darkness bound. Thou, at the
sight

Pleased, out of Heaven shall 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 redeemed, 260
Shall enter Heaven, 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 aspéct
Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love
To mortal men, above which only shone
Filial obedience: as a sacrifice

270

Glad to be offered, he attends the will
Of his great Father. Admiration seized
All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither

tend,
Wondering; but soon the Almighty thus re-
plied:

O thou in Heaven and Earth the only peace Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou My sole complacence! well thou know'st how dear

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