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
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.

fall;

235

240

246

Well pleas'd; on me let Death wreak all his rage,
Under his gloomy power I shall not long
Lie vanquish'd; thou hast giv'n me to possess
Life in
my self 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
My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil;
Death his death's wound shall then receive, and
Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarm'd.

250

[stoop

I through the ample air in triumph high
Shall lead hell captive maugre hell, and show 255

236 me] The frequent repetition of 'me' is like Virgil, Æn. ix. 427.

255

Me, me, adsum qui feci in me convertite ferrum.'

Newton.

maugre hell] 'Such Life that maugre Hell he lives.' Sir T. Hawkins' Horace, (1638) p. 72. Maugre thy fury,' v.

·

260

The powers
of darkness bound. Thou, at the sight
Pleas'd, out of heaven shalt look down and smile,
While by thee rais'd I ruin all my foes,
Death last, and with his carcase glut the grave:
Then with the multitude of my redeem'd
Shall enter heaven long absent, and return,
Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud
Of anger shall remain, but peace assur'd
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 seiz'd

265

270

All heav'n, what this might mean and whither tend Wond'ring; but soon th' Almighty thus reply'd: O thou in heav'n and earth the only peace Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou 275 My sole complacence! well thou know'st how dear To me are all my works, nor man the least,

Marino's Sl. of the Inn. p. 58. Maugre thine enemies' hate.' Gayton's Ch. Script. p. 3. 4to.

267 immortal love] See Lucret. v. 122.

'Immortalia

mortali sermone notantes.' Aristot. de Rhetor. ii. 17. 2.

ἀθανάτον ὅργην μὴ φύλαττε, θνητὸς ὤν.

277 least] Shakespeare's Lear, act i. scene 1. • Now our joy,

Although the last, not least.'

and Jul. Cæs. act iii. scene 1.

Though last, not least, in love.' Newton.

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.

Thou therefore whom thou only can'st redeem
Their nature also to thy nature join ;

280

And be thy self man among men on earth,
Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,
By wondrous birth: be thou in Adam's room 285
The head of all mankind, though Adam's son.
As in him perish all men, so in thee,

As from a second root, shall be restor❜d,
As many as are restor'd, 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.
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

295

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 thron'd in highest bliss

301 destroys] The fall is spoken of as a thing past, but as perhaps present to the divine mind, so ver. 151 and 181. Pearce.

Equal to GOD, and equally enjoying
God-like fruition, quitted all to save

310

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,
Far more than great or high; because in thee
Love hath abounded more than glory abounds;
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 power

I give thee, reign for ever, and assume
Thy merits; under thee as head supreme

Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce:
All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide 320
In heaven, or earth, or under earth in hell;
When thou attended gloriously from heav'n
Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send
The summoning archangels to proclaim
Thy dread tribunal: forthwith from all winds
The living, and forthwith the cited dead
Of all past ages, to the general doom

325

306 Equal] Newton says, this is an instance of Milton's orthodoxy ;' how could he have overlooked the lines that follow?

'By merit more than birthright Son of God.'

325 archangels] Archangel; v. Thessal. iv. 6. St. Matt. xxiv. 31. Bentl. MS. 'The Archangel Michael is the only Archangel of whom we know any thing from holy Writ.' Horsley's Sermons, p. 583, 8vo.

Shall hasten, such a peal shall rouse their sleep.
Then, all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge
Bad men and angels; they arraign'd shall sink
Beneath thy sentence; hell, her numbers full,
Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while
The world shall 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 scepter shalt lay by,
For regal scepter then no more shall need,
GOD shall be all in all. But all ye Gods
Adore him, who to compass all this dies,
Adore the Son, and honour him as me.
No sooner had th' Almighty ceas'd, but all
The multitude of angels with a shout,
Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from blest voices, uttering joy, heav'n rung
With jubilee, and loud hosannas fill'd
Th' eternal regions. Lowly reverent

336

340

345

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground With solemn adoration down they cast

Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold,

Immortal amarant, a flow'r which once

In Paradise fast by the Tree of Life

337 golden] Virg. Eclog. iv. 9.

'Toto surget gens aurea mundo.' Hume.

345 angels] On the construction of this sentence, see Pearce's and Monboddo's note.