Lie vanquish'd; thou hast given 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

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
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 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 assur'd,
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 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

All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend
Wondering; but soon the Almighty thus reply'd :
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 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 restor❜d,

As many as are restor'd, 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 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 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
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 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 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, 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 offense

To Heaven remov'd where first it grew, there grows,

And flowers aloft shading the fount of life,