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 wreak all his
Under his gloomy power I shall not long
Lie vanquish'd; thou hast given me to possess
Life in myself for ever; by thee I live,

rage.

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 powers of darkness bound. Thou, at the sight
Pleased, out of heaven shalt look down, and smile,
While, by thee raised, I ruin all my foes,
Death last, and with his carcass 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 assured
And reconcilement; wrath shall be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire."

His words here ended, but his meek aspéct

Silent yet spake, and breathed 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 seized

All heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend,
Wondering; but soon the Almighty thus replied:
“O thou, in heaven 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 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 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,

As from a second root, shall be restored
As many as are restored; 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 judged 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 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 throned 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 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, powers, dominions, I reduce :
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 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

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 sceptre shalt lay by,
For regal sceptre then no more shall 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 ceased, 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,
With solemn adoration, down they cast

Their crowns, inwove with amarant and gold;
Immortal amarant, a flower which once

In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,

Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence

To heaven removed, 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, smiled.

Then, crown'd again, their golden harps they took,
Harps ever tuned, that glittering 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; thee, Author of all being,
Fountain of light, thyself invisible

Amidst the glorious brightness, where thou sitt'st
Throned inaccessible, but when thou shadest
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,