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;

£35

240

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'd; thou hast giv'n me to possess Life in my self 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, 24 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 Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarm'd. [stoop I through the ample air in triumph high Shall lead hell captive maugre hell, and show 255

250

216 me] The frequent repetition of 'me' is like Virgil, Æn.

ix. 427.

255

maugre hell] Such Life that maugre Hell he lives.' Sir T. Hawkins' Horace, (1638) p. 72. Maugre thy fury,'t.

260

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 carcase glut the grave:
Then with the multitude of my redeem'd
Shall enter heaven 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

265

270

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 215 My sole complacence! well thou know'st how dear To me are all my works, nor man the least,

Marino's Sl. of the Inn. p. 58. Maugre thine enemies' hate.' Gayton's Ch. Script. p. 3. 4to.

267 immortal love] See Lucret. v. 122.

• Immortalia

mortali sermone notantes.' Aristot. de Rhetor. ii. 17. 2.

ἀθανάτον ὅργην μὴ φύλαττε, θνητὸς ὤν,

least] Shakespeare's Lear, act i. scene 1.
Now our joy,

Although the last, not least.'

and Jul. Cæs. act iii. scene 1.

Though last, not least, in love.'

Newton.

280

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 can'st redeem
Their nature also to thy nature join;
And be thy self man among men on earth,
Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,
By wondrous birth: be thou in Adam's room 25
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 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 judged 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 lessen or degrade thine own.
Because thou hast, though thron'd in highest bliss

295

300

301 destroys] The fall is spoken of as a thing past, but as perhaps present to the divine mind, so ver. 151 and 181. Pearce.

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

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

Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce:
All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide 320
In heaven, 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

325

306 Equal] Newton says, this is an instance of Milton's orthodoxy;' how could he have overlooked the lines that follow ?

"By merit more than birthright Son of God.'

325 archangels] Archangel; v. Thessal. iv. 6. St. Matt. xxiv. 31. Bentl. MS. 'The Archangel Michael is the only Archangel of whom we know any thing from holy Writ.' Horsley's Sermons, p. 583, 8vo.

336

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. Mean while 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: Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by, For regal scepter then no more shall need, GOD shall be all in all. But all Gods Adore him, who to compass all this dies, Adore the Son, and honour him as me.

ye

340

345

No sooner had th' 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, 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 flow'r which once In Paradise fast by the Tree of Life

337 golden Virg. Eclog. iv. 9.

Toto surget gens aurea mundo.' Hume.

345 angels] On the construction of this sentence, see Pearce's and Monboddo's note.