Self tempted, felf-deprav'd: Man falls deceiv'd 130 By th'other firft: Man therefore fhall find grace, The other none: in mercy and justice both, Through Heav'n and Earth, so shall my glory'excel, But mercy first and last shall brightest shine.
Thus while God fpake, ambrofial fragrance fill'd
All Heav'n, and in the blessed Spirits elect
Senfe of new joy ineffable diffus'di
Beyond compare the Son of God was feen
Moft glorious; in him all his Father thone
Subftantially exprefs'd; and in his face
Divine compaffion visibly appear'd
Love without end, and without measure grace,
Which uttering thus he to his father spake.
O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd
Thy fovran fentence that Man fhould find grace; 145
For which both Heav'n and Earth fhall high extol
Thy praises, with th' innumerable found NITA
Of hymns and facred fongs, wherewith thy throne
Incompafs'd fhall refound thee ever bleft.
For fhould Man finally be loft, fhould Man, 150
Thy creature late fo lov'd, thy youngest fon,
Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd
With his own felly? that be from thee far,
That be far from thee, Father, who art judge
Of all things made, and judgest only right.
Or fhall the Adverfaty thus obtain
His end, and fruftrate thine? fhall he fulfil
His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought
Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,
Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to Hell
Draw after him the whole race of mankind,
By him corrupted? or wilt thou thy felf
Abolish thy creation, and unmake
For him, what for thy glory theu hast made?
So fhould thy goodness and thy greatnefs both 165
Be question'd and blafphem'd without defence.
To whom the great Creator thus reply'd.
O Son, in whom my foul hath chief delight,
Son of my bofom, Son who art alone
My word, my wisdom, and effe&tual might,
All haft thou spoken as my thoughts are, all
As my eternal purpose hath decreed:
Man fhall not quite be loft, but fav'd who will,
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me
Freely vouchfaf'd; once more I will renew
His lapfed pow'rs, though forfeit and inthrall'd
By fin to foul exorbitant defires;
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,
His fall'n condition is, and to me owe
All his deliverance, and to none but me.
Some I have chofen of peculiar grace
Ele& above the reft; fo is my will:
The reft fhall hear me call, and oft be warn'd 185
Their finful state, and to appease betimes
Th' incenfed Deity, while offer'd grace
Invites; for I will clear their fenses dark,
What may fuffice, and foften ftony hearts
To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.
To pray'r, repentance, and obedience due,
Though but endeavour'd with fincere intent,
Mine ear fhall not be flow, mine eye not shut.
And I will place within them as a guide
My umpire confcience, whom if they will hear,
Light after light well us'd they shall attain,
And to the end perfifting, fafe arrive.
This my long fufferance and my day of grace
They who negle& and scorn, shall never tafte;
But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more, 200
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;
And none but fuch from mercy I exclude.
But yet all is not done; Man difobeying,
Difloyal breaks his fealty and fins
Against the high fupremacy of Heaven,
Affecting God-head, and so losing all,
To expiate his treason hath nought left,
But to deftru&tion facred and devote,
He with his whole Pofterity muft die,
Die he or juftice muft; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay
The rigid fatisfa&tion 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 just th' unjust to save? 215 Dwells in all Heaven charity fo dear?
He afk'd, but all the heav'nly quire flood 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 220
The deadly forfeiture, and ransome set.
And now without redemption all mankind
Must have been loft, adjudg'd to Death and Hell
By doom severe, had not the Son of God,
In whom the fulness dwells of love divine,
His deareft mediation thus renew'd.
Father, thy word is paft, Man fhall find grace;
And shall 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 loft;
;
Atonement for himfelf 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 lastly die,
Well pleas'd; on me let Death wreck all his rage;
Under his gloomy pow'r I fhall not long
Lie vanquish'd; thou haft given me to possess
Life in myself for ev'r; 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, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil;
Death his death's wound fhall then receive, and stoop
Inglorious, of his mortal fting difarm'd.
I through the ample air in triumph high
Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show 255
The Pow'rs of darkness bound. Thou at the fight
Pleas'd, out of Heaven fhalt look down and fmile,
While by thee rais'd 1 ruin all my foes,
Death laft, and with his carcafe 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 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 fhone
Filial obedience: as a facrifice
Glad to be offer'd, he attends the will
Of his great Father. Admiration feis'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, thou 275 My fole complacence! well thou know'it how dear To me are all my works, nor Man the leaft, Though last 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 also to thy nature join; And be thyfelf Man among men on earth, Made flesh, when time fhall be, of virgin feed, By wondrous birth: be thou in Adam's room 285 The head of all mankind, though Adam's fon. As in him perish all men, fo 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 fons; thy merit 290 Imputed fhall abfolve 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 moft juft, 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 hellifh hate, Giving to death, and dying to redeem, So dearly to redeem what hellish hate So eafily destroy'd, and ftill destroys:
In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
Nor fhalt thou, by defcending to affume
Man's nature, leffen or degrade thine own.
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