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 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 heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, Giving to death, and dying to redeem, So dearly to redeem what hellish hate So easily destroyed, 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
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
With thee thy manhood also to his 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: 320 All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell. When thou, attended gloriously from Heaven, Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send The 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 gen'ral 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 Heaven 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 scepter shalt lay by, For regal scepter then no more shalt 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 the Almighty ceas'd, but all The multitude of Angels, with a shout
Loud as from numbers without number, sweet As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heaven rung With jubilee, and loud Hosannas fill'd
The eternal regions: Lowly reverent
Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground, 350 With solemn adoration down they cast Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold; Immortal amarant,1 a flower which once.
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,
Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence
To Heaven remov'd, where first it grew, there grows,
And flowers aloft shading the fount of life,
And where the river of bliss, through midst of Heaven, Rolls o'er Elysian flowers 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 shone, Impurpled with celestial roses smil'd.
Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took, Harps ever tun'd, that glitt'ring 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 Heaven. Thee, Father, first they sung, Omnipotent, Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,
Eternal King; the Author of all being, Fountain of light, thyself invisible
16 Amarant,' ' incorruptible:' a flower of a purple colour, which never withers.
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt'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 Heaven, 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, the Almighty Father shines, Whom else no creature can behold; on thee Impress'd the effulgence of his glory abides, Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests.
He Heaven of Heavens, and all the Powers therein 390 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 Heaven's 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
For Man's offence. O unexampled love, Love nowhere to be found less than Divine ! Hail, Son of God, Saviour of men! Thy name Shall be the copious matter of my song Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin. Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere, Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent. Meanwhile upon the firm opacous globe
Of this round world, whose first convex divides The luminous inferior orbs, enclos'd From Chaos, and the inroad of Darkness old, Satan alighted walks: A globe far off It seem'd, now seems a boundless continent Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night Starless expos'd, and ever-threatening storms Of Chaos blust'ring round, inclement sky; Save on that side which, from the wall of Heaven Though distant far, some small reflection gains Of glimm'ring air less vex'd with tempest loud: Here walk'd the Fiend at large in spacious field. As when a vulture on Imaus1 bred, Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, Dislodging from a region scarce of prey To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids,
On hills where flocks are fed, flies towards the springs Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;
But in his way lights on the barren plains Of Sericana, where Chineses drive
With sails and wind their cany waggons light: So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend Walk'd up and down alone, bent on his prey;
Imaus:' a mountain in Asia.-2 Sericana:' a level plain between China and Imaus.
« ПретходнаНастави » |