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 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 meditation thus renew'd:

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

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

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 Líturgy, Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings,' &c. that is, Let thy grace articipate us in our designs, and so make them just and holy.

245

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
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

250

250

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 aspéct
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

265

270

275

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
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.

249. See Ps. xvi. 10. and Acts ii. 20, 21.

280

252. The punning character of this line has been justly repro

bated as unworthy of the subject.

254. Ps. Ixviii. 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,

As from a second root, shall be restored

285

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

Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume

In those who, when they may, accept not grace.

Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own.

300

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

315

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.

321

Thrones, Princedoms, Pow'rs, Dominions I reduce :
All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide
In Heav'n, 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 Arch-Angels to proclaim
Thy dread tribunal, forthwith from all winds
The living, and forthwith the cited dead
Of all past ages, to the gen'ral doom

325

Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their sleep. Then all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge 330 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 sceptre shalt lay by,
For regal sceptre 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 ceased, but all
The multitude of Angels, with a shout
Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from blest voices, utt'ring joy, Heav'n rung
With jubilee, and loud Hosannas fill'd
Th' eternal regions: lowly reverent

336

Tow'rds either throne they bow, and to the ground

With solemn adoration down they cast

351

Their crowns, inwove with amarant and gold;
Immortal amarant; a flow'r which once

In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,

Began to bloom; but soon, for man's offence,

355

321. Philip. ii. 10.

334. 2 Pet. iii. 12, 13.

333. I cannot do better than here recommend to the reader, the perusal of Dr. Chalmers' powerfully interesting sermon on the subject of a new Heaven and a new Earth.

341. 1 Cor. xv. 28. and Ps. xcvii. 7. and Heb. i, 6.

343. John v. 23.

351. Rev. iv. 10.

353. Amarant, a flower whose beauty never fades. Allusion is made here to 1 Pet. 14. and 1 Pet. v. 4

A

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 360
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.
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,

360

370

375

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 Scripare to a fountain or river.

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

382. See Isaiah vi. 2. 383. Col. i. 15. Rev. iil. 14.

297. John 1. 18. xiv. 9.