All that of me can die; yet that debt paid,
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathfome grave
my unspotted foul For ever with corruption there to dwell;
But I fhall rife victorious, and subdue
My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil;
Death his death's wound fhall then receive; and stoop Inglorious, of his mortal fting disarm'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 smile;
While by thee rais'd I ruin all my foes,
Death laft, and with his carcafs 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 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 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, O thou
My fole complacence! well thou know'ft how dear
To me are all my works, nor Man the least,
Though laft created; that for him I spare
Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,
By losing thee awhile, the whole race loft.
Thou therefore, whom thou only canft redeem,
Their nature alfo 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 thou in Adam's room
The head of all mankind, though Adam's fon.
As in him perish all men, so in thee,
As from a second root, shall 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 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 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
In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
Nor fhalt thou, by descending to assume
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 save
A world from utter loss, and haft been found
By merit more than birthright Son of God,
Found worthiest 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 also to this throne;
Here fhalt thou fit incarnate, here fhalt reign
Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man,
Anointed universal king; all power
I give thee; reign for ever, and affume
Thy merits; under thee,as head fupreme,
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 Heaven
Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee fend
The fummoning Arch-Angels to proclame
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,shall sink
Beneath thy fentence; Hell, her numbers full,
Thenceforth fhall be for ever fhut. Mean while
The world fhall burn; and from her ashes spring
New Heav'n and Earth, wherein the juft fhall dwell; 335
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 fhall be all in all. But all ye Gods,
Adore him, who to compass all this dies;
Adore the Son, and honor him as me.
No fooner had th'Almighty ceas'd, but all
The multitude of Angels, with a shout
Loud as from numbers without number, fweet
As from bleft voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung
With jubilee, and loud Hofanna's fill'd
Th'eternal Regions: lowly reverent
Towards either throne they bow; and to the ground,
With folemn adoration, down they caft
Their crowns,inwove with amarant and gold;
Immortal amarant, a flow'r which once
In Paradise, faft by the tree of life,
Began to bloom; but foon, for man's offense,
To Heav'n remov'd, where first it grew,
And flow'rs aloft fhading the fount of life,
M 2
And where the riv'er of bliss,through midst of Heaven, Rolls o'er Elysian flow'rs her amber stream;
With these, that never fade, the Spi'rits elect
Bind their refplendent locks,inwreath'd with beams, Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright Pavement, that like a fea of jafper fhone,
Impurpled with celestial roses smil’d.
Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took; 365
Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their fide
Like quivers. hung, and with preamble sweet
Of charming fymphony they introduce
Their facred fong, and waken raptures high;
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join 370
Melodious part, fuch concord is in Heaven.
Thee, Father, first they sung,Omnipotent,
Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,
Eternal King; thee, Author of all being,
Fountain of light, thyself invisible,
Amidft the glorious brightness where thou fitft,
Thron'd inacceffible, but when thou fhad'ft
The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud,
Drawn round about thee like a radiant fhrine,
Dark with exceffive bright thy skirts appear;
Yet dazle Heav'n, that brightest Seraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes. Thee,next they fang,of all creation first,
Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,
In whofe confpicuous count'nance, without cloud 385
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