Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

190

The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd 185
Their sinful state, and to appease betimes
Th' incensed Deity, while offer'd grace
Invites; for I will clear their senses dark,
What may suffice, and soften stony hearts
To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.
To pray'r, repentance, and obedience due,
Though but endeavor'd with sincere intent,
Mine car shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.
And I will place within them as a guide
My umpire Conscience, whom if they will hear, 195
Light after light well us'd they shall attain,
And to the end persisting, safe arrive.
This my long suff'rance and my day of grace
They who neglect and scorn shall never taste;
But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more, 200
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;
And none but such from mercy I exclude.
But yet all is not done; Man disobeying,
Disloyal breaks his feälty, and sins
Against the high supremacy of Heav'n,
Affecting Godhead, and so losing all,
To expiate his treason hath naught left,
But to destruction sacred and devote,
He with his whole posterity must die,

205

Die he or Justice must; unless for him

210

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 quire 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, adjudg'd to Death and Hell
By doom severe, had not the Son of God,

In whom the fulness dwells of love divine, 225
His dearest mediation thus renew'd:

Father! thy word is past, Man shall find grace;
And shall Grace not find means, that finds her way,
The speediest of thy winged messengers,
To visit all thy creatures, and to all
Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought?
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 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

230

235

240

Well pleas'd; on me let Death wreck all his rage;
Under his gloomy power I shall not long
Lie vanquish'd; thou hast giv'n me to possess
Life in myself for ev'er; 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 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

260

Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show 255 . The pow'rs of darkness bound. Thou at the sight Pleas'd, out of Heav'n shalt look down and smile, While by thee rais'd I ruin all my foes, Death last, and with his carcass 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 assur'd And reconcilement; wrath shall be no more Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire. 265 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

270

All Heav'n what this might mean, and whether 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,
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. 280
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 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 me'rit 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 judg'd 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 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,
Far more than great or high; because in thee
Love hath abounded more than glory' abounds,
Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt

306

310

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

325

Thrones, Princedoms, Pow'rs, Dominions, I reduce;
All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide 321
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 ach-angels 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 hasten, such a peal shall rouse their sleep.
Then all thy saints assembled, thou shall 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

« AnteriorContinuar »