wum

That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance All on a sudden, miserable pain
Thy miscreated front athwart my way

Surpris'd thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swi
To yonder gates ? through them I mean to pass, In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
That be assur'd, without leave ask'd of thee: Threw forth : till, on the left side opening wide,
Retire, or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright
Hell-born, not to contend with spirits of Heaven." Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess arm’d,

To whom the goblin full of wrath replied, Out of thy head I sprung: amazement seiz'd * Art thou that traitor-angel, art thou he,

All the host of Heaven; back they recoil'd afraid Who first broke peace in Heaven, and faith, till then At first, and call'd me Sin, and for a sign Unbroken ; and in proud rebellious arms

Portentous held me; but, familiar grown, Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons I pleas'd, and with attractive graces won Conjúr'd against the Highest; for which both thou The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft And they, outcast from God, are here condemn'd Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing To waste eternal days in woe and pain? Becam'st enamor’d, and such joy thou took'st And reckon'st thou thyself with spirits of Heaven, With me in secret, that my womb conceiv'd Hell-doom'd, and breath'st defiance here and scorn, A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose, Where I reign king, and, to enrage thee more, And fields were fought in Heaven; wherein reThy king and lord ? Back to thy punishment,

main'd False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings, (For what could else?) to our Almighty Foe Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue Clear victory; to our part loss and rout, Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart Through all the empyréan; down they fell Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before.” Driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down

So spake the grisly terror, and in shape, Into this deep; and in the general fall So speaking and so threatening, grew ten-fold I also; at which time, this powerful key More dreadful and deform. On the other side, Into my hand was given, with charge to keep Incens'd with indignation, Satan stood

These gates for ever shut, which none can pass lnterrified, and like a comet burn'd,

Without my opening. Pensive here I sat That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge

Alone; but long I sat not, till my womb, In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown, Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head Prodigious motion felt, and rueful tbroes. Levellid his deadly aim; their fatal hands At last this odious offspring whom thou seest, No second stroke intend ; and such a frown Thine own begotten, breaking violent way Each cast at the other, as when two black clouds, Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain With Heaven's artillery fraught, come rattling on Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew Over the Caspian, then stand front to front, Transform'd: but he my inbred enemy Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart To join their dark encounter in mid air:

Made to destroy! I fled, and cried out Death ! So frown'd the mighty combatants, that Hell Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd Grew darker at their frown; so match'd they stood ; From all her caves, and back resounded Death! For never but once more was either like I fled, but he pursued, (though more, it seems, To meet so great a foe: and now great deeds Inflam’d with lust than rage,) and, swifter far, Had been achiev'd, whereof all Hell had rung, Me overtook his mother all dismay'd, Had not the snaky sorceress, that sat

And in embraces forcible and foul Fast by Hell-gate, and kept the fatal key,

Engendering with me, of that rape begot Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rush'd between. These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry

"O father, what intends thy hand," she cried, Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceiv'd “ Against thy only son? What fury, O son, And hourly born, with sorrow infinite Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart

To me; for, when they list, into the womb
Against thy father's head ? and know'st for whom? That bred them they return, and howl and gnaw
For him who sits above and laughs the while My bowels, their repast; then bursting forth
At thee ordain'd his drudge, to execute

Afresh with conscious terrors vex me round,
Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids; That rest or intermission none I find.
His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both.” Before mine eyes in opposition sits

She spake, and at her words the hellish pest Grim Death, my son and foe; who sets them on,
Forbore ; then these to her Satan return'd. And me his parent would full soon devour

“So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange For want of other prey, but that he knows Thou interposest, that my sudden hand,

His end with mine involv'd; and knows that I
Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
What it intends ; till first I know of thee, Whenever that shall be; so Fate pronounc'd.
What thing thou art, thus double-form'd; and why But thou, O father, I forewarn thee, shun
In this infernal vale first met, thou call'st

His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
Me father, and that phantasm call'st my son: To be invulnerable in those bright arms,
I know thee not, nor ever saw till now

Though temper'd heavenly; for that mortal dint, Sight more detestable than him and thee." Save he who reigns above, none can resist.”

To whom thus the portress of Hell-gate replied, She finish'd; and the subtle fiend his lore
*Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth.
Now in thine eye so foul? once deem'd so fair “Dear daughter, since thou claim'st me for thy
In Heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight

sire, Of all the seraphim with thee combin'd

And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge In bold conspiracy 'gainst Heaven's King, Of dalliance had with thee in Heaven, and joys

a

:

Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth Befallin us, unforeseen, unthought of; know, Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame. I come no enemy, but to set free

Before their eyes in sudden view appear From out this dark and dismal house of pain The secrets of the boary deep; a dark Both him and thee, and all the heavenly host Illimitable ocean, without bound, Of spirits, that, in our just pretences armd, Without dimension, where length, breadth, and Fell with us from on high: from them I go

height, This uncouth errand sole ; and one for all And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night Myself expose, with Jonely steps to tread

And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold The unsounded deep, and through the void immense Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise To search with wondering quest a place foretold Of endless wars, and by confusion stand. Should be, and, by concursing signs, ere now For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions Created vast and round, a place of bliss

fierce, In the purlicus of Heaven, and therein plac'd Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring A race of upstart creatures, to supply

Their embryon atoms; they around the flag Perhaps our vacant room ; though more remov'd, Of each his faction, in their several clans, Lest Heaven, surcharg'd with potent mulutude, Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow Might hap to move new broils. Be this or aught Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the sands Than this more secret now design'd, I haste Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil, To know; and, this once known, shall soon return, Levied to side with warring winds, and poise And bring ye to the place where thou and Death Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits, Wing silently the buxom air, imbalm'd

And by decision more embroils the fray With odors: there ye shall be fed and fillid By which he reigns: next him high arbiter Immeasurably; all things shall be your prey." Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss, He ceas'd, for both seem'd highly pleas'd, and The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave, Death

Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire, Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear

But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd His famine should be fill'd ; and blest his maw Confus’dly, and which thus must ever fight, Destin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire. His dark materials to create more worlds ;

“The key of this infernal pit by due, Into this wild abyss the wary fiend And by command of Heaven's all-powerful King, Stood on the brink of Hell, and look'd a while, I keep, by him forbidden to unlock

Pondering his voyage: for no narrow frith These adamantine gates; against all force He had to cross. Nor was his ear less peal'd Death ready stands to interpose his dart,

With noises loud and ruinous, (to compare Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might. Great things with small,) that when Bellona storms, But what owe I to his commands above

With all her battering engines bent to rase Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down Some capital city; or less than if this frame Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,

Of Heaven were falling, and these elements To sit in hateful office here confin'd,

In mutiny had from her axle torn Inhabitant of Heaven, and heavenly-born, The stedfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans Here in perpetual agony and pain,

He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke With terrors and with clamors compass'd round Uplifted spurns the ground; thence many a league, Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed ? As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides Thou art my father, thou my author, thou Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets My being gav'st me; whom should I obey A vast vacuity : all unawares But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me soon Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops To that new world of light and bliss, among Ten thousand fathoms ep; and to this hour The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign Down had been falling, had not by ill chance At thy right hand voluptuous, as bescems The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud, Thy daughter and thy darling, without end." Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him

Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, As many miles aloft: that fury stay'd, Sad instrument of all our woe, she took ;

Quench'd in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea, And, towards the gate rolling her bestial train, Nor good dry land : nigh founder'd on he fares, Forth with the huge portcullis high up-drew, Treading the crude consistence, half on foot, Which but herself, not all the Stygian powers Half flying ; behoves him now both oar and sail. Could once have mov’d; then in the key-hole As when a gryphon, through the wilderness

With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale, The intricate wards, and every bolt and bar Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth Of massy iron or solid rock with ease

Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd Unfastens. On a sudden open fly

The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend With impetuous recoil and jarring sound O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut

And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies; Excell'd her power; the gates wide open stood, Al length a universal hubbub wild That with extended wings a banner'd host, Of stunning sounds, and voices all confus'd, Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear With horse and chariots rank'd in loose array ; With loudest vehemence: thither he plies,

turns

rare,

a

Undaunted to meet there whatever power Movid on, with difficulty and labor he;
Or spirit of the nethermost abyss

But, he once past, soon after, when man fell,
Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies Following his track, such was the will of Heaven,
Bordering on light; when straight behold the Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way
throne

Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread

Tamely endur'd a bridge of wondrous length, Wide on the wasteful deep: with him enthron'd From Hell continued reaching the utmost orb Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things, of this frail world ; by which the spirits perverse The consort of his reign; and by them stood With easy intercourse pass to and fro Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name

To tempt or punish mortals, except whom Of Demogorgon! Rumor next and Chance, God, and good angels, guard by special grace. And Tumult and Confusion all embroild,

But now at last the sacred influence And Discord with a thousand various mouths. Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven To whom Satan turning boldly, thus : “ Ye powers Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night And spirits of this nethermost abyss,

A glimmering dawn: here Nature first begins Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy,

Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire With purpose to explore or to disturb

As from her outmost works a broken foe The secrets of your realm ; but, by constraint With tumult less, and with less hostile din, Wandering this darksome desert, as my way Tbat Satan with less toil, and now with ease Lies through your spacious empire up to light, Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light, Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek And, like a weather-beaten vessel, holds What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn; Confine with Heaven; or if some other place, Or in the emptier waste, resembling air, From your dominion won, the ethereal King Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold Possesses lately, thither to arrive

Far off the empyreal Heaven, extended wide I travel this profound : direct my course;

In circuit, undetermin’d square or round, Directed, no mean recompense it brings With opal towers and battlements adorn'd To your behoof, if I that region lost,

Of living sapphire, once his native seat; All usurpation thence expell’d, reduce

And fast by, hanging in a golden chain, To her original darkness, and your sway,

This pendent world, in bigness as a star
(Which is my present journey) and once more Of smallest magnitude close by the Moon.
Erect the standard there of ancient Night: Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Yours be the advantage all, mine the revenge." Accurs'd, and in a cursed hour he hics.

Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old,
With faltering speech and visage incompos’d,
Answer'd. “I know thee, stranger, who thou art,

BOOK III.
That mighty leading angel, who of late
Made head against Heaven's King, though over-

THE ARGUMENT.
thrown.
I saw and heard : for such a numerous host God, sitting on his throne, sees Satan flying to-
Fled not in silence through the frighted deep, wards this world, then newly created ; shows
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,

him to the Son, who sat at his right hand; Confusion worse confounded ; and Heaven-gates foretells the success of Satan in perverting Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands

mankind; clears his own justice and wisdom Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here

from all imputation, having created Man free, Keep residence: if all I can will serve

and able enough to have withstood his tempter; That little which is left so to defend,

yet declares his purpose of grace towards him, Encroach'd on still through your intestine broils in regard he fell not of his own malice, as did Weakening the sceptre of old Night: first Hell, Satan, but by him seduced. The Son of God Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath ; renders praises to his Father for the manifestNow lately Heaven and Earth, another world, ation of his gracious purpose towards Man : Hung o'er my realm, link'd in a golden chain but God again declares, that grace cannot be To that side Heaven from whence your legions

extended towards Man without the satisfaction fell :

of divine justice : Man hath offended the maIf that way be your walk, you have not far; jesty of God by aspiring to godhead, and thereSo much the nearer danger; go, and speed; fore, with all his progeny, devoted to death, must Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain.”

die, unless some one can be found sufficient to He ceas'd ; and Satan staid not to reply,

answer for his offence, and undergo his punishBut, glad that now his sea should find a shore, ment. The Son of God freely offers himself a With fresh alacrity, and force renew'd,

ransom for Man: the Father accepts him, orSprings upward, like a pyramid of fire,

dains his incarnation, pronounces his exaltation Into the wild expanse, and, through the shock above all names in Heaven and Earth ; comof fighting elements, on all sides round

mands all the angels to adore him: They obey, Environ'd, wins his way; harder beset

and hymning to their harps in full quire, celebrate And more endanger'd, than when Argo pass'd the Father and the Son. Meanwhile Satan Through Bosporus, betwixt the justling rocks! alights upon the bare convex of this world's Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunn'd

outermost orb; where wandering, he first finds a Charybdis, and by the other whirlpool sleer'd. place, since called the Limbo of Vanity: what So he with difficulty and labor hard

persons and things fly up thither : thence comes to the gate of Heaven, described ascending by About him all the sanctities of Heaven stairs, and the waters above the firmament that Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received flow about it: his passage thence to the orb of Beatitude past utterance; on his right the Sun; he finds there Uriel, the regent of that The radiant image of his glory sat, orb, but first changes himself into the shape of His only Son; on earth he first beheld a meaner angel; and, pretending a zealous desire Our two first parents, yet the only two to behold the new creation, and Man whom Of mankind, in the happy garden plac'd, God had placed here, inquires of him the place Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, of his habitation, and is directed: alights first on Uninterrupted joy, unrivall'd love, mount Niphates.

In blissful solitude; he then survey'd

Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven, first-born, Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night Or of the Eternal coeternal beam

In the dun air sublime, and ready now May I express thee unblam’d? since God is light, To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet, And never but in unapproached light

On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, Firm land imbosom'd without firmament, Bright effluence of bright essence increate. Uncertain which, in ocean or in air. Or hear'st thou rather, pure ethereal stream, Him God beholding from his prospect high, Whose fountain who shall tell ? Before the Sun, Wherein past, present, future, he beholds, Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake. Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest

“Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage The rising world of waters dark and deep, Transports our adversary? whom no bounds Won from the void and formless infinite.

Prescrib’d, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains Thee I revisit now with bolder wing,

Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss Escap'd the Stygian pool, though long detain'd Wide interrupt, can hold ; so bent he seems In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight On desperate revenge, that shall redound Through utter and through middle darkness borne, Upon his own rebellious head. And now, With other notes than to the Orphéan lyre, Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way I sung of Chaos and eternal Night;

Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light, Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down Directly towards the new-created world, The dark descent, and up to reascend,

And Man there plac'd, with purpose to essay Though hard and rare : thee I revisit safe, If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, And feel thy sovran vital lamp; but thou By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert; Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain

For Man will hearken to his glozing lies To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; And easily transgress the sole command, So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs, Sole pledge of his obedience : so will fall Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more He and his faithless progeny. Whose fault ? Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill, All he could have; I made him just and right, Smit with the love of sacred song ; but chief Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,

Such I created all the ethereal powers 'That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow, And spirits, both them who stood, and them who Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget

fail'd; Those other two equall’d with me in fate, Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. So were I equallid with them in renown,

Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides,

Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love, And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old : Where only what they needs must do appear'd, Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move Not what they would ? what praise could they reHarmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird

ceive? Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid What pleasure I from such obedience paid, Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year When will and reason (reason also is choice) Seasons return; but not to me returns

Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil’d, Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, Made passive both, had serv'd necessity, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, Not me? They therefore, as to right belong'd, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine ; So were created, nor can justly accuse But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Their maker, or their making, or their fate, Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men As if predestination over-ruld Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Their will, dispos’d by absolute decree Presented with a universal blank

Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed Of Nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd, Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, So much the rather thou, celestial Light,

Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown. Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers So without least impúlse or shadow of fate, Irradiate ; there plant eyes, all mist from thence Or aught by me immutably foreseen, Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell They trespass, authors to themselves in all Of things invisible to mortal sight.

Both what they judge, and what they choose ; Now had the Almighty Father from above, From the pure empyréan where he sits

I form'd them free: and free they must remain, High thron'd above all height, bent down his eye Till they enthral themselves; I else must change His own works and their works at once to view: Their nature, and revoke the high decree

for so

Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd

My umpire, Conscience; whom if they will hear,
Their freedom; they themselves ordain'd their fall. Light after light, well us’d they shall attain,
The first sort by their own suggestion fell, And to the end, persisting, safe arrive.
Self-tempted, self-depravd: Man falls, deceiv'd This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,
By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace, They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste ;
The other none: in mercy and justice both, But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more,
Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;
excel :

And none but such from mercy I exclude.
But mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine." But yet all is not done ; Man disobeying,
Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance Disloyal, breaks his feälty, and sins
fill'd

Against the high supremacy of Heaven,
All Heaven, and in the blessed spirits elect Affecting godhead, and, so losing all,
Sense of new joy ineffable diffus’d.

To expiate his treason hath nought left, Beyond compare the Son of God was seen But to destruction sacred and devote, Most glorious : in him all his Father shone He, with his whole posterity, must die, Substantially express'd; and in his face

Die he, or justice must; unless for him Divine compassion visibly appear'd,

Some other able, and as willing, pay Love without end, and without measure grace, The rigid satisfaction, death for death. Which uttering, thus he to his Father spake : Say, heavenly powers, where shall we find such “O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd

love? Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace; Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem For which both Heaven and Earth shall high extol Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save ? Thy praises, with the innumerable sound Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?” Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne He ask’d, but all the heavenly quire stood mute, Encompass'd shall resound thee ever blest. And silence was in Heaven: on Man's behalf For should Man finally be lost, should Man, Patron or intercessor none appear'd, Thy creature late so lov’d, thy youngest son, Much less that durst upon his own head draw Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set. With his own folly? That be from thee far, And now without redemption all mankind That far be from thee, Father, who art judge Must have been lost, adjudg'd to Death and Hell Of all things made, and judgest only right. By doom severe, bad not the Son of God, Or shall the adversary thus obtain

In whom the fulness dwells of love divine, His end, and frustrate thine ? shall he fulfil His dearest mediation thus renew'd. His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought, “Father, thy word is past, Man shall find grace ; Or proud return, though to his heavier doom, And shall grace not find means, that finds her way, Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to Hell The speediest of thy winged messengers, Draw after him the whole race of mankind, To visit all thy creatures, and to all By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself

Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought?
Abolish thy creation, and unmake

Happy for Man, so coming; he her aid
For him, what for thy glory thou hast made ? Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost;
So should thy goodness and thy greatness both Atonement for himself, or offering meet,
Be question'd and blasphem'd without defence." Indebted and undone, hath none to bring :

To whom the great Creator thus replied. Behold me then; me for him, life for life
"O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, I offer; on me let thine anger fall;
Son of my bosom, Son who art alone

Account me Man; I for his sake will leave
My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee
Ad hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all Freely put off, and for him lastly die
As my eternal purpose hath decreed :

Well pleas'd ; on me let Death wreak all his rage;
Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will; Under his gloomy power I shall not long
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me

Lie vanquish'd ; thou hast given me to possess Freely vouchsaf’d; once more I will renew Life in myself for ever; by thee I live, His lapsed powers, though forfeit, and enthrallid Though now to Death I yield, and am his due By sin to foul exorbitant desires ;

All that of me can die : yet, that debt paid, Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave On even ground against his mortal foe;

His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul
By me upheld, that he may know how frail For ever with corruption there to dwell;
His fall'n condition is, and to me owe

But I shall rise victorious, and subdue
All his deliverance, and to none but me. My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil;
Some I have chosen of peculiar grace,

Death his death's wound shall then receive, and Elect above the rest; so is my will:

stoop The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarm'd. Their sinful state, and to appease betimes I through the ample air in triumph high The incensed Deity, while offer'd grace Shall lead Hell captive, maugre Hell, and show Invites ; for I will clear their senses dark, The powers of darkness bound. Thou, at tho What may suffice, and soften stony hearts

sight To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. Pleas'd, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, While, by thee rais'd, I ruin all my foes, Though but endeavor'd with sincere intent, Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave. Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut. Then, with the multitude of my redeem'd, And I will place within them as a guide,

Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return,