Man fhall not quite be loft, but fav'd who will,
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me
Freely vouchfaf'd; once more I will renew
His lapfed pow'rs, though forfeit and inthrall'd
By fin 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 deliverance, and to none but me.
Some I have chofen of peculiar grace
Elect above the reft; fo is my will:
The reft fhall hear me call, and oft be warn'd
Their finful state, and to appease betimes
Th' incenfed Deity, while offer'd grace
Invites; for I will clear their fenfes dark,
What may fuffice, and foften ftony hearts
To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.
To pray'r, repentance, and obedience due,
Though but endeavor'd with fincere intent,
Mine ear fhall not be flow, mine eye not shut.
And I will place within them as a guide
My umpire confcience, whom if they will hear,
Light after light well us'd they shall attain,
And to the end perfifting, safe arrive.
This my long fufferance 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 ftumble on, and deeper fall;
And none but fuch from mercy I exclude.
But yet all is not done; Man disobeying,
Difloyal breaks his feälty, and fins
Against the high supremacy of Heaven,
Affecting God-head, and so losing all,
To expiate his treason hath nought left,
But to deftruction facred and devote,
He with his whole posterity must die,
Die he or justice muft; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay
The rigid fatisfaction, death for death.
Say heav'nly Pow'rs, where fhall we find fuch 1
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem
Man's mortal crime, and just th' unjust to fave
Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?
He afk'd, but all the heav'nly quire ftood mu And filence was in Heav'n: on Man's behalf Patron or interceffor none appear'd,
Much less that durft upon his own head draw
The deadly forfeiture, and ransome set.
And now without redemption all mankind
Must have been lost, adjudg'd to Death and Hel
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 fhall find grac And fhall grace not find means, that finds her The speedieft of thy winged meffengers,
To vifit all thy creatures, and to all
Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unfought?
Happy for Man, so coming; he her aid
Can never seek, once dead in sins and loft;
Atonement for himfelf 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 fake will leave
Thy bofom, and this glory next to thee
Freely put off, and for him lastly die
Well pleas'd; on me let Death wreck all his rage;
Under his gloomy pow'r I shall not long
Lie vanquish'd; thou haft giv'n me to poffefs
Life in myself for ev'r; 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 loathfome grave
His prey, nor fuffer my unfpotted foul
For ever with corruption there to dwell';
But I fhall rife victorious, and fubdue
My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil;
Death his death's wound fhall then receive, and stoop
Inglorious, of his mortal fting difarm'd.
I through the ample air in triumph high
Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and fhow 255
The Pow'rs of darkness bound. Thou at the fight
Pleas'd, out of Heaven fhalt look down and smile,
While by thee rais'd I ruin all my foes,
Death last, and with his carcafs glut the grave::
Then with the multitude of my redeem'd
Shall enter Heav'n long absent, and return;
Father, to fee thy face, wherein no cloud-
Of anger fhall remain, but peace affur'd
And reconcilement; wrath fhall be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.
His words here ended, but his meek afpéct
Silent yet spake, and breath'd immortal love
To mortal men, above which only thone
Filial obedience: as a facrifice
Glad to be offer'd, he attends the will
Of his great Father. Admiration feis'd
All Heav'n, what this might mean, and whither
Wond'ring; but foon th' Almighty thus reply'd.
O thou in Heav'n and Earth the only peace
Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou
My fole complacence! well thou know'st how de
To me are all my works, nor Man the least,
Though laft created; that for him I spare
Thee from my bosem and right hand, to fave,
By lofing thee a while, the whole race lost.
Thou therefore, whom thou only canft redeem,
Their nature also to thy nature join;
And be thyfelf Man among men on earth,
Made flesh, when time fhall be, of virgin feed,
By wondrous birth: be thou in Adam's room
The head of all mankind, though Adam's fon.
As in him perish all men, fo in thee,
As from a fecond root, fhall be restor'd
As many as are reftor'd, without thee none.
His crime makes guilty all his fons; thy merit
Imputed fhall abfolve 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 fatisfy for Man, be judg'd and die,
And dying rife, and rifing with him raise
His brethren, ranfom'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 eafily deftroy'd, and still destroys
In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
Nor fhalt thou, by descending to assume
Man's nature, leffen or degrade thine own.
Because thou hast, though thron'd in highest blifs
Equal to God, and equally enjoying
God-like fruition, quitted all to fave
A world from utter lofs, and haft been found
By merit more than birthright Son of God,
Found worthieft to be fo 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 fhalt thou fit 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 fupreme
Thrones, Princedoms, Pow'rs, Dominions I reduce;
All knees to thee fhall bow, of them that bide
In Heav'n, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell.
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