255

260

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 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 assured
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 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

265

270

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

275

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

255. maugre: Fr. malgré; in spite of, against one's will. 259. According to St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 26. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” N.

264. See Isaiah xxxv. 10.

269. An allusion to Psalm xl. 6. and the following verses.' N. 276. In whom alone I am well pleased. Whose obedience unto death is the sole efficient cause of my reconcilement to guilty man.' CowPer.

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 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.

280

285

290

295

So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate,
Giving to death, and dying to redeem,
So dearly to redeem, what hellish hate

300

278. The word that must here be understood in the sense of because. Thou knowest how dear he is to me, because to save him I spare thee from my bosom.' CowPER.

282. their nature: i. e. the nature of them whom thou only caust redeem. A manner of speaking very usual with our author.' N.

287.1 Cor. xv. 22. As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.'' N. See Rom. v. 18.

299. giving that ransom, viz. his life: Matth. xx. 28. The Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many.'

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 305
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: 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

301. The fall is spoken of as a thing past, perhaps because all things, even future ones, are present to the Divine mind: thus in v. 151. Thy creature late so loved :' and v. 181. that he may know how frail His fall'n condition is.'' PEARCE.

305. Compare Philipp. ii. 6-11. Psalm xlv. 6. 7.

317. Matth. xxviii. 18. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.'' N.

318.Horace Od. iii. 30, 14. Sume superbiam quæsitam meritis.'' N.

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.

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

336

340

325. See 1 Thess. iv. 16. Revel. xx. 12. 13. 1 Cor. xv. 51. 334. 2 Pet. iii. 12. 13. The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. St. John, Revel. xxi. 1.' N.

337. Virg. Ecl. iv. 9. Toto surget gens aurea mundo." HUME. 341. 1 Cor. xv. 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.'' N.

ib. gods. From Ps. xcvii. 7. Worship him, all ye gods,' i. e. all ye angels; and so it is translated by the Seventy, and so it is cited by St. Paul, Hebr. i. 6. And let all the angels of God worship him." N.

343. John v. 23. That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.'' N.

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

With solemn adoration down they cast

345

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground

351

Their crowns in wove 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

355

345. Job xxxviii. 7. The morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy.'

316. numbers without number: a figure of speech termed by the Greeks Oxymoron: Eur. Hec. 610. νύμφην τ' ἄνυμφον, παρθένον τ ̓ ἀπάρθενον.

347. The construction is: the multitude of angels uttering joy, Heaven rung; an ablative absolute.

348. jubilee: a word of Hebrew origin; properly a festival celebrated every seventh sabbatical year; which was ushered in with trumpets and every indication of gladness and rejoicing.

ib. hosanna: in Hebr. sare, I beseech thee: an exclamation frequent among the Jews in their ceremonies, particularly at the feast of tabernacles. Psalm cxviii. 25.

351. So they are represented in Rev. iv. 10.' N.

352. Crowns of amarant and gold interwoven; as iv. 693. 'inwoven shade Laurel and myrtle,' i. e. shade of laurel and myrtle interwoven.' RICHARDSON.

353. amarant: Gr. àμápavтos, unfading, that decayeth not; a flower of a purple velvet colour, which, though gathered, keeps its beauty, and, when all other flowers fade, recovers its lustre by being sprinkled with a little water, as Pliny affirms, 1. xxi. c. 11. Our author seems to have taken this hint from 1 Pet. i. 4. To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away,' àμápavтov: and to 1 Pet. v. 4. 'Ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away,' àμapávτivov: both relating to the name of his everlasting amarant, which he has finely set near the tree of life.' HUME.