O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd Thy sov'reign sentence, that Man should find grace ; For which both heav'n and earth shall high extol Thy praises, with th' innumerable sound
Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne
Encompass'd shall resound thee ever blest.
For should Man finally be lost, should Man,
Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest son,
Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd
With his own folly? that be from thee far,
That far be from thee, Father, who art judge
Of all things made, and judgest only right.
Or shall the Adversary thus obtain
His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfil
His malice, and thy goodness bring to naught.
Or proud return, though to his heavier doom.
Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to hell
Draw after him the whole race of mankind
By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself
Abolish thy creation, and unmake
For him what for thy glory thou hast made?
So should thy goodness and thy greatness both
Be question'd, and blasphem'd without defence.
To whom the great Creator thus reply'd:
O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,
Sen of my bosom, Son who art alone
My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,
All hast thou spoken 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
'reely vouchsaf'd; once more I will renew
His lapsed pow'rs, though forfeit, and inthrall'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 frai!
His fall'n condition is, and to me owe
All his deliverance; 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
nvites; 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 obed'ence 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 hea,
Light after light well us'd they shall attain,
And to the erd persisting, safe arrive.
This my long sufferance and my day of grace
They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste
But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more,
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;
And none but such from mercy 1 exclude.
But yet all is not done; Man disobeying,
Disloyal breaks his fealty, and sins
Against the high supremacy of heaven,
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
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
Ian's mortal crime, and just th' unjust to save 2
Dwell's in all heaven charity so dear?
He ask'd, but all the heav'nly choir 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 pleased; on me let Death wreck all his
Under his gloomy pow'r I shall not long
Lie vanquish'd; thou hast giv'n 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 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
Shall lead hell captive, maugre hell, and show
The Pow'rs of darkness bound. Thou at the sight
Pleas'd out of heaven shall 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.
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
All heav'n, what this might mean, and whither 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
My sole complacence! well thou know'st how dear
To me are all thy 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 awhile, 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 wond'rous 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 bate,
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,
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, 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 heav'n
Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send
Thy summoning Arch-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 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
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.
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