So should thy goodness and thy greatness both
Be question'd, and blasphem'd, without defence."
To whom the great Creator thus repli'd:
"O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight!
Son of my bosom! Son, who art alone
My word, my wisdom, and effectual might!
All hast thou spok'n as my thoughts are, all
As my eternal purpose hath decreed:
Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will;
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me,
Freely voutsaft. Once more I will renew
His lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthrall'd
By sin to foul, exorbitant desires:
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 chosen of peculiar grace,
Elect above the rest; so is my will:
The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd
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 soft'n stony hearts
To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.
To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,
Though but endeavour'd with sincere intent,
Mine ear 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,
Light after light, well us'd, they shall attain,
And, to the end persisting, safe arrive.
This, my long sufferance and my day of grace,
They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;
But hard be hard'nd, blind be blinded more,
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 fealty, and sins
Against the high supremacy of Heav'n,
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 hin
Some other able, and as willing, pay
The rigid satisfaction,-death for death.
Say, Heav'nly powers, where shall we find such love?
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem
Man's mortal crime, and just th' unjust to save?
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
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,
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
Well pleas'd: on me let Death wreak all his rage;
Under his gloomy power I shall not long
Lie vanquish't: thou hast given me to possess
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 lonesome 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,
Shall lead Hell captive, maugre Hell, and show
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 carcass glut the
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."
His words here ended; but his meek aspect
Silent yet spake, and breath'd immortal love
To mortal men; above which only shon
Filial obedience: as a sacrifice
Glad to be offer'd, he attends the will
Of his great Father. Admiration seiz'd
All Heav'n, what this might mean and whither tend
Wondring; but soon th' Almighty thus repli'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.
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,
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,
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
In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume
Man's nature, less'n or degrade thine own.
Because thou hast, though thron'd in highest bliss
Equal to God, and equally enjoying
Godlike 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
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 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
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 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 hast'n; such a peal shall rouse their sleep.
Then, all thy saints assembl'd, 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. Meanwhile
The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.com.ni/books/content?id=s1MCAAAAQAAJ&output=text&pg=PA90&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=father&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2H5RU_8EjRmh5DWokLQsv4Mo1sFA&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=919,197,47,529)
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 ceast, 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
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 flowr which once
In Paradise, fast by the tree of Life,
Began to bloom; but soon for Man's offence
To Heav'n remov'd, where first it grew, there grows,
And flowrs aloft, shading the fount of Life,
And where the river of Bliss through midst of Heav'n
Rolls o'er Elysian flowrs her amber stream:
With these, that never fade, the spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks inwreath'd with beams.
Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shon,
Impurpl'd with celestial roses smil'd.
Then, crown'd again, their gold'n harps they took,—
Harps ever tun'd, that glittering 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,
Eternal King! thee, Author of all being,
Fountain of light, thyself invisible
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit 'st
Thron'd 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!
In whose conspicuous count'nance, without cloud,
Made visible th' Almighty Father shizes,
Whom else no creature can behold: on thee
Imprest the effulgence of his glory abides;
Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests.
He Heav'n of Heavens, and all the Powers therein,
By thee created, and by thee threw down
The aspiring Dominations: thou that day
Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare,
Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook
Heav'ns everlasting frame, while o'er the necks
Thou drov'st of warring angels disarray'd.
Back from pursuit thy powers with loud acclaim
Thee only extoll'd, Son of thy Father's might,
To execute fierce vengeance on his foes;
Not so on Man: him, through their malice fall'n,
Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom
So strictly, but much more to pity incline.
No sooner did thy dear and only Son
Perceive thee purpos'd not to doom frail Man
So strictly, but much more to pity inclin'd,
He, to appease thy wrath, and end the strife
Of mercy and justice in thy face discern'd,
Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat
Second to thee, offer'd himself to die
|
