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. 190
To pray'r, repentance, and obedience due,
Though but endeavor'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, 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, 205
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,
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 230 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: 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 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 250 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 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 260
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

270
Of his great Father. Admiration seiz'd
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 fiesh, 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, 295
And dying rise, and rising with him raise
His brethren, ransom'd with his own dear life.
So heav'nly love shall outdo hellish hạte,
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, lessen or degrade thine own.

300

Because thou hast, though thron’d in highest bliss Equal to God, and equally enjoying

306 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 moro 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 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 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 325 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