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.

210

Say, heavenly Powers, 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 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.

220

225

Father, thy word is pass'd, 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,

208 sacred] 'sacrate.' Bentl. MS.

230

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

235

240

245

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 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

250

My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil;
Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop
Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed.

I through the ample air in triumph high

Shall lead hell captive maugre hell, and show 255
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 carcass glut the grave:

236 me] The frequent repetition of 'me' is like Virgil, Æn. ix. 427. 'Me, me, adsum qui feci in me convertite ferrum.' Newton. 255 maugre hell] 'Such Life that maugre Hell he lives.' Sir T. Hawkins' Horace, (1638) p. 72. ' Maugre thy fury,' v. Marino's Sl. of the Inn. p. 58. Maugre thine enemies' hate.' Gayton's Ch. Script. p. 3. 4to.

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

260

265

270

All heaven, what this might mean and whither tend Wond'ring; but soon th' Almighty thus reply'd:

275

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 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. Thou therefore whom thou only can'st redeem Their nature also to thy nature join;

And be thy self man among men on earth,

280

267 Immortal love] See Lucret. v. 122. 'Immortalia mortali sermone notantes.' Aristot. de Rhetor. ii. 17. 2. ἀθανάτον ὄργην μὴ φύλαττε, θνητὸς ὤν.

277 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.

Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,
By wondrous 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,

285

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.

295

300

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

306

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.

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.'

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

310

315

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 heaven
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

Shall hasten, such a peal shall rouse their sleep. Then, all thy saints assembled, thou shalt 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 New heaven and earth, wherein the just shall dwell,

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.