My word, my wifdom, and effectual might,
All haft thou fpoken as my thoughts are, all
As my eternal purpofe 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 deliv'rance, and to none but me.
Some I have chofen of peculiar grace
Elect above the reft; fo is my will:
The reft fhall hear me call, and oft be warn’d
Their finful state, and to appease betimes
Th' incenfed Deity, while offer'd grace
Invites; for I will clear their fenfes 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, 195
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 neglect and fcorn, fhall never tafte;
But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more,
That they may ftumble on, and deeper fall;
And none but fuch from mercy I exclude.
But yet all is not done; man difobeying,
Difloyal breaks his feälty, and fins
Against the high fupremacy of Heaven,
Affecting godhead, and fo lofing all,
To expiate his treafen hath nought left;
But to deftruction facred and devote,
He, with with his whole pofterity, muft 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 powers, where fhall we find fuch love? Which of ye will be mortal to redeem
Man's mortal crime, and juft th' unjust to fave! 215 Dwells in all heaven charity fo dear?
He afk'd; but all the heav'nly quire ftood mute, And filence was in heav'n: on man's behalf Patron or interceffor none appear'd,
Much lefs that durft upon his own head draw
The deadly forfeiture, and ransom fet.
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 shall grace not find means, that finds her way, 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 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 fake will leave
Thy bofom, and this glory next to thee
Freely put off, and for him laftly die
Well pleas'd; on me let Death wreak all his rage:
Under his gloomy pow'r I fhall not long
Lie vanquifh'd; thou haft giv'n me to poffefs
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, fpoil'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
The powers of darkness bound. Thou at the fight
Pleas'd, out of heaven fhalt look down, and smile,
While, by thee rais'd, I 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 fhall 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 afpéc
Silent yet spake, 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 feiz'd
All heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend Wond'ring; but foon th' Almighty thus reply'd.
O thou in heaven and earth the only peace Found out for mankind under wrath! O thou 275 My fole complacence! well thou know ft how dear To me are all my works, nor man the leaft,
Though laft created; that for him I spare
Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,
By lofing thee a while, the whole race loft.
Thou therefore, whom thou only can't 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 wond'rous birth: be thou in Adam's room 285
The head of all mankind, though Adam's fon.
As in him perish all men, so in thee,
As from a fecond root, shall be restor'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 tranfplanted, and from thee
Receive new life. So man, as is most just,
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 out do hellish 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.
Because thou haft, though thron'd in highest blifs, 305 Equal to God, and equally enjoying
God-like fruition, quitted all, to fave
A world from utter lofs, and haft been found
By merit more than birth-right Son of God,
Found worthieft to be fo 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 alfo to this throne;
Here fhalt thou fit incarnate, here fhalt reign
Poth God and man, Son both of God and man,
Anointed univerfal King; all power ·
I give thee; reign for ever, and affume
Thy merits; under thee, as head fupreme,
Thrones, princedoms, powers, dominions I reduce:
All knees to thee fhall bow, of them that bide
In heav'n, or earth, or under earth in hell.
When thou attended glorioufly from heaven
Shalt in the fky appear, and from thee fend
The fummoning 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
Shall haften; fuch a peal fhall rouse their sleep. Then, all thy faints affembled, thou fhalt judge 330 Bad men and angels; they arraign'd fhall fink Beneath thy fentence; hell, her numbers full, Thenceforth fhall be for ever fhut.
The world fhall burn, and from her afhes fpring
New heav'n and earth, wherein the juft fhall 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 fceptre fhalt lay by,
For regal fceptre then no more shall need,
God fhall 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 fooner had th' Almighty ceas'd, but all
The multitude of angels, with a fhout
Loud as from numbers without number, fweet
As from blefs'd voices, uttering joy, heav'n rung
With jubilee, and loud hofannas fill'd th' eternal regions: lowly reverent
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