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Funere: ab His retrahet mea fe Clementia folis.
Nec fatis Hoc: legem fummi violare Parentis
Aufus Homo, & cœli perrumpere fœdera, honores
Divinos pofcit demens: jam degener, exfpes,
Omnium inops, nec habet fcelerata unde expiet ausa.
Hinc Illi miferæ cladi æternæque ruinæ

Devoto, fimul infandâ cum ftirpe, cadendum:

Aut pereundum Illi, aut pereat Divina neceffe eft
Juftitia: immenfum ni fponte Potentior Alter
Perfolvat pretium, & mortem moriendo repellat.
Dicite vos Superæ, Pietas ubi tanta, Cohortes?
Quis vestrûm membra indutus mortalia lapsum
Eripiet genus, atque infons pro fonte peribit?
Tantus Amor latis cœli inveniendus in oris?

Dixerat: aft Divûm toto fimul agmine turmæ
Omnes conticuere, & facta filentia cœlo.
Ufque adeo genti deerat Sponforque Patronufque
Humanæ; grave nec pretium perfolvere quifquam

And none but fuch from mercy I exclude.
But yet all is not done: Man disobeying,
Difloyal breaks his fealty, and fins
Against the high Supremacy of Heav'n,
Affecting Godhead, and so lofing all,
To expiate his Treafon hath nought left:
But to deftruction facred and devote,
He with his whole posterity must die;
Die He or Justice muft; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay

The rigid fatisfaction, death for death.

Say, heav'nly Pow'rs, where fhall we find fuch
[love?

Which of ye will be mortal to redeem
Man's mortal crime, and juft, th' unjust to save ?
Dwells in all Heaven Charity fo dear?

He ask'd, but all the Heav'nly Choir stood mute;
And filence was in Heav'n. On man's behalf
Patron, or Interceffor, none appear'd;
Much less that durft upon his own head draw
Aufus,

P

Aufus, & immani caput objectare ruinæ.

Jamque Hominum ftirps tota omni viduata salute
Conciderat, morti duræ damnata tenebrisque
Æternis; magni nifi Filius ipfe Parentis,
Cui fons divini largiffimus undat Amoris,
Se Medium intulerat, placido fic ore locutus:
Gratia, dixifti Pater irrevocabile verbum,
Gratia lapfo Homini conceditur: Ergone eunti
Non aditus datur, aut via Te mittente patebit?
Quam nullæ tenuere moræ, quæ præpete pennâ
Omnia pervolitat loca; quæ diverfa Animantum
Sæcula, quot vivunt, tua velociffima visens
Nuntia fe fert fponte, & vota precesque volatu
Antevenit. Felicem Hominem! Nam quâ prece,
Jam vultu, lapfus tantùm vitiifque fepultus,
Poffet opem petere? Ut dignè commiffa piare
Crimina?

vel quo

Me, memet Tibi tradam, animamque cadentis

Ipfe animâ redimam noftrâ: in Me tota furoris

The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.
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 paft; Man fhall find grace:
And fhall Grace not find
that finds her

way,

means,

The speedieft 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 loft)
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;

Vis cadat. Ipfe finum veftrum & Tibi proxima regna
Linquam ultro, miferans Hominem: quin Illius ergô
Mortem etiam, mortifque afperrima tela subibo.
Sed Me non longum imperiis pallentibus Hades
Infultans premet; æternam per Te mihi vitam
Concilias. Equidem cedam, mî cedere quantum
Fas erit: Haud omnis moriar, penitusve fepulchro
Obruar; immaculatam Animai fimplicis auram
Nunquam atras patiere inter putrefcere fordes.
At referam attonito ingentes ex Hofte triumphos,
At fpolia eripiam oftentata, ipfumque domabo
Victorem: ipfe Hades lethali procidet i&tu,
Contufofque animos & fracta fatebitur arma.
Altus ego incedens fpatiofis ætheris arvis
Multa Erebum luctantem indignantemque catenas
Acer agam, regefque umbrarum in vincula miffos
Oftendam cœlo. Tu puro lumine lætus
Defpectans procul æthereâ ridebis ab arce,

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

His prey, nor fuffer My unfpotted Soul
For ever with corruption there to dwell;
But I fhall rife Victorious, and fubdue

Well pleas'd. On Me let Death wreak all his rage. My vanquisher, fpoil'd of his vaunted spoil;
Under his gloomy pow'r I shall 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
All that of Me can die. Yet that debt paid,
Thou wilt not leave Me in the loathfome grave

Death his death's wound fhall then receive, and
Inglorious, of his mortal fting difarm'd.

[stoop

I through the ample Air in Triumph high
Shall lead Hell captive, maugre Hell, and show
The Pow'rs of darkness bound. Thou at the fight
Pleas'd, out of Heaven shalt look down, and smile;
Dum

Dum vires Te dante tuas poft cuncta fupremum
Sub pedibus calcabo Haden, faucefque fepulchri
Horribiles prædâ faturabo victor opimâ.

Tum demum leto ereptas noftroque redemptas
Sanguine Dux referens turmas, patria astra revertar;
Teque iterum, venerande Pater, tuaque ora videbo
Explicita, & nebulis irarum blanda fugatis.
Pax stabilis lætamque ornabit Gratia frontem,
Vividaque æternis manabunt Gaudia rivis.
Conticuit: vultu tacitus fed perftitit almo
Suave loqui: fpirat miti divinus in ore

Gentem Amor humanam amplexus; fuper omnia fulget

In Patrem Pietas. Ceu victima læta Parentis

Imperium magni expectat. Stupor occupat omnes
Calicolas; nec quifquam ingens fcrutarier orfus
Arcanum. Deinde Omnipotens fic voce remifit:

O cœlo terrifque Homini Pax fola caduco,
Sola relicta Salus! O unica noftra Voluptas!

While by Thee rais'd I ruin all My Foes,
Death laft, and with his Carcass glut the Grave:
Then with the multitude of My redeem'd
Shall enter Heav'n long abfent, and return,
FATHER, to see Thy face, wherein no cloud
Of anger shall remain; but peace affur'd
And reconcilement: Wrath fhall 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 shon
Filial obedience: as a facrifice

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

Scis bene, quàm dilecta Mihi quæcunque creavi,
Utque Hominem, noras, operum licet ultima pars fit,
Non minus indulgens foveam. Te quippe propinquo
Hoc folio, Te complexu fecedere nostro,
Dulce Decus, patiar paulum nudatus, ut ipsum
Eripiam penitùs leto gentemque caducam.
Quam folus fervare potes, Tute indue Gentis
Naturam, humanofque artus; Hominefque morare
Inter Homo, infuetâ mirandum! Virginis alvo
Quondam emerfurus, veniet cum tempus: Adamo
Te natum, caput & fontem ftirps nofcet Adami.
Omnis in Illo Hominum gens lapfa; repullulat in Te
Haud fecus ac radice aliâ, cuicunque renafci
Contigerit. Gentem Noxa illius inquinat omnem :
At Tua purgabit Pietas, quot fe fuaque ultro
Abnuerint, quemcunque ferent ea Facta colorem.
Per Te frondescent iterum, atque inferta feraci
Germina læta magis furgent & fortia trunco.

My fole complacence! well Thou know'ft how dear
To Me are all My works, nor Man the least
Though last created; that for him I fpare
Thee from My bosom, and right hand, to save
(By lofing Thee a while) the whole Race loft.
Thou therefore, whom thou only canft redeem,
Their Nature also 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
The Head of all mankind, though Adam's Son.
As in him perish all men, so in Thee,
As from a fecond root, fhall be reftor'd
As many as are reftor'd; without Thee none.
His crime makes guilty all his Sons; Thy merit
Imputed shall absolve them, who renounce
Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds:
And live in Thee tranfplanted, and from Thee

En !

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