The Complete Poetry of John Milton (72 page)

   140     
Substantially
⁹
express’d, and in his face

               
Divine compassion visibly appeerd,

               
Love without end, and without measure Grace,

               
Which uttering thus he to his Father spake.

           
      
       O Father, gracious was that word which clos’d

   145     
Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace;

               
For which both Heav’n and Earth shall high extoll

               
Thy praises, with th’ innumerable sound

               
Of Hymns and sacred Songs, wherewith thy Throne

               
Encompass’d shall resound thee ever blest.

   150     
For should Man finally be lost, should Man

               
Thy creature late so lov’d, thy youngest Son

               
Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joynd

               
With his own folly? that be from thee farr,

               
That farr be from thee, Father, who art Judge

   155     
Of all things made, and judgest onely right.

               
Or shall the Adversarie thus obtain

               
His end, and frustrate thine, shall he fulfill

               
His malice, and thy goodness bring to naught,

               
Or proud return though to his heavier doom,

   160     
Yet with revenge accomplish’t and to Hell

               
Draw after him the whole Race of mankind,

               
By him corrupted? or wilt thou thy self

               
Abolish thy Creation, and unmake,

               
For him, what for thy glorie thou hast made?

   165     
So should thy goodness and thy greatness both

               
Be questiond and blaspheam’d without defence.

           
      
       To whom the great Creatour thus reply’d.

               
O Son, in whom my Soul hath chief delight,

               
Son of my bosom, Son who art alone

   170     
My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,

               
All hast thou spok’n as my thoughts are, all

               
As my Eternal purpose hath decreed:

               
Man shall not quite be lost, but sav’d who will,

               
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me

   175     
Freely voutsaft; once more I will renew

               
His lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthrall’d

               
By sin to foul exorbitant desires;

               
Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand

               
On even ground against his mortal foe,

   180     
By me upheld, that he may know how frail

               
His fall’n condition is, and to me ow

               
All his deliv’rance, and to none but me.

               
Some I have chosen of peculiar grace

               
Elect above the rest;
¹⁰
so is my will:

   185     
The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warnd

               
Thir sinful state, and to appease betimes

               
Th’ incensed Deitie, while offerd grace

               
Invites; for I will cleer thir senses dark,

               
What may suffice, and soft’n stonie hearts

   190     
To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.

               
To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,

               
Though but endevord with sincere intent,

               
Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.

               
And I will place within them as a guide

   195     
My Umpire
Conscience
, whom if they will hear,

               
Light after light well us’d they shall attain,

               
And to the end persisting, safe arrive.
¹¹

               
This my long sufferance and my day of grace

               
They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;

   200     
But hard be hard’n’d, blind be blinded more,

               
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;

               
And none but such from mercy I exclude.

               
But yet all is not don; Man disobeying,

               
Disloyal breaks his fealtie, and sinns

   205     
Against the high Supremacie of Heav’n,

               
Affecting God-head, and so loosing all,

               
To expiate his Treason hath naught left,

               
But to destruction sacred and devote,

               
He with his whole posteritie must die,

   210     
Die hee or Justice must; unless for him

               
Som other able, and as willing, pay

               
The rigid satisfaction, death for death.

               
Say Heav’nly Powers, where shall we find such love,

               
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem

   215     
Mans mortal crime, and just th’ unjust to save,

               
Dwels in all Heaven charitie so dear?

           
      
       He ask’d, but all the Heav’nly Quire stood mute,

               
And silence was in Heav’n: on mans behalf

               
Patron or Intercessor none appeerd,

   220     
Much less that durst upon his own head draw

               
The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.

               
And now without redemption all mankind

               
Must have bin lost, adjudg’d to Death and Hell

               
By doom severe, had not the Son of God,

   225     
In whom the fulness dwels of love divine,

               
His dearest
¹²
mediation thus renewd.

           
      
       Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace;

               
And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,

               
The speediest of thy winged messengers,

   230     
To visit all thy creatures, and to all

               
Comes unprevented, unimplor’d, unsought,

               
Happie for man, so coming; he her aid

               
Can never seek, once dead in sins and lost;

               
Attonement for himself, or offering meet,

   235     
Indebted and undon, hath none to bring:

               
Behold mee then, mee for him, life for life

               
I offer, on mee let thine anger fall;

               
Account mee man; I for his sake will leave

               
Thy bosom, and this glorie next to thee

   240     
Freely put off, and for him lastly die

               
Well pleas’d, on me let Death wreck all his rage;

               
Under his gloomie power I shall not long

               
Lie vanquisht; thou hast givn me to possess

               
Life in my self for ever, by thee I live,

   245     
Though now to Death I yeild, and am his due

               
All that of me can die, yet that debt paid,

               
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsom grave

               
His prey, nor suffer my unspotted Soul

               
For ever with corruption there to dwell;

   250     
But I shall rise Victorious, and subdue

               
My Vanquisher, spoild of his vanted spoil;

               
Death his deaths wound shall then receive, and stoop

               
Inglorious, of his mortall sting disarm’d.

               
I through the ample Air in Triumph high

   255     
Shall lead Hell Captive maugre
¹³
Hell, and show

               
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:

   260     
Then with the multitude of my redeemd

               
Shall enter Heav’n long absent, and return,

               
Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud

               
Of anger shall remain, but peace assur’d,

               
And reconcilement; wrauth shall be no more

   265     
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 shon

               
Filial obedience: as a sacrifice

   270     
Glad to be offer’d, he attends the will

               
Of his great Father. Admiration seis’d

               
All Heav’n, what this might mean, and whither tend

               
Wondring; but soon th’ Almighty thus reply’d:

           
      
       O thou in Heav’n and Earth the only peace

   275     
Found out for mankind under wrauth, 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,

   280     
By loosing thee a while, the whole Race lost.

               
Thou therefore whom thou only canst redeem,

               
Thir Nature also to thy Nature joyn;

               
And be thy self Man among men on Earth,

               
Made flesh, when time shall be, of Virgin seed,

   285     
By wondrous birth: Be thou in
Adams
room
¹⁴

               
The Head of all mankind, though
Adams
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.

   290     
His crime makes guiltie all his Sons, thy merit

               
Imputed shall absolve them who renounce

               
Thir own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,

               
And live in thee transplanted, and from thee

               
Receive new life. So Man, as is most just,

   295     
Shall satisfie for Man, be judg’d and die,

               
And dying rise, and rising with him raise

               
His Brethren, ransomd with his own dear life.

               
So Heav’nly love shall outdo Hellish hate,

               
Giving to death, and dying to redeem,