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 seis'd
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 wonderous 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 restor❜d As many as are restor'd, without thee none. His crimes make 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 judg'd 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 throng'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 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 shalt 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 Arch-Angels 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 sínk 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, 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 ye Gods, Adore him, who to compass all this dies: Adore the Son, and honour him as me.
No sooner had the 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, 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 remov'd, 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 smil'd.
Then, crown'd again, their golden harps they took, Harps ever tun'd, 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, Immortable, Infinite, Eternal King; the Author of all being, Fountain of light, thyself invisible
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitst Thron'd inaccessible, but when thou shad'st
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. The next they sang of all creation first, Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,
In whose conspicuous countenance, without doubt Made visible, the Almighty Father shines, Whom else no creature can behold; on thee Impress'd the effulgence of his glory abides, Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests.
He Heaven of Heavens and all the powers therein By thee created; and by thee threw down The aspiring Dominations; thou that day Thy Father's dreadful thunder did'st not spare, Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks Thou drov'st of warring Angels disarray'd.
Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim Thee only extoll'd, Son of thy Father's might, To execute fierce vengeance on his foes, Not so on Man: Him through their malice fall'n, Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom So strictly, but much more to pity incline : No sooner did thy dear and only Son, Perceive thee purpos'd not to doom frail Man So strictly, but much more to pity inclin'd, He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife
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