The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems (48 page)

Read The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Online

Authors: John Milton,Burton Raffel

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Literary Collections, #Poetry, #Classics, #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #English poetry

BOOK: The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems
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274

      

   
“O thou, in Heav’n and earth the only peace

275

      

Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou

276

      

My sole complacence!
2529
Well thou know’st how dear

277

      

To me are all my works, nor man the least,

278

      

Though last created, that for him I spare

279

      

Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,

280

      

By losing thee a while, the whole race lost.

281

      

Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem,
2530

282

      

Their nature also to thy nature join,

283

      

And be thyself man among men on earth,

284

      

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

285

      

By wondrous birth. Be thou in Adam’s room
2531

286

      

The head of all mankind, though Adam’s son.

287

      

As in him perish all men, so in thee,

288

      

As from a second root, shall be restored

289

      

As many as are restored, without thee none.

290

      

His crime makes guilty all his sons: thy merit,

291

      

Imputed,
2532
shall absolve them
2533
who renounce

292

      

Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,

293

      

And live in thee transplanted, and from thee

294

      

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

295

      

Shall satisfy for man, be judged and die,

296

      

And dying rise, and rising with him raise

297

      

His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.

298

      

So Heav’nly love shall outdo hellish hate,

299

      

Giving to death, and dying to redeem,

300

      

So dearly
2534
to redeem what hellish hate

301

      

So easily destroyed, and still destroys

302

      

In those who, when they may, accept not grace.

303

      

Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume

304

      

Man’s nature, lessen or degrade thine own.

305

      

Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss

306

      

Equal to God, and equally enjoying

307

      

Godlike fruition,
2535
quitted
2536
all, to save

308

      

A world from utter loss, and hast been found

309

      

By merit more than birthright Son of God,

310

      

Found worthiest to be so by being good,

311

      

Far more than great or high—because in thee

312

      

Love hath abounded more than glory abounds.

313

      

Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt

314

      

With thee thy manhood also to this throne.

315

      

Here shalt thou sit incarnate,
2537
here shalt reign

316

      

Both God and man, Son both of God and man,

317

      

Anointed universal King. All power

318

      

I give thee: reign forever, and assume

319

      

Thy merits.
2538
Under thee, as head supreme,

320

      

Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce.
2539

321

      

All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide
2540

322

      

In Heav’n, or earth, or under earth in Hell.

323

      

When thou, attended gloriously from Heav’n

324

      

Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send

325

      

The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaim

326

      

Thy dread tribunal, forthwith from all winds

327

      

The living, and forthwith the cited
2541
dead

328

      

Of all past ages, to the general doom
2542

329

      

Shall hasten. Such a peal
2543
shall rouse their sleep.

330

      

Then all thy Saints assembled, thou shalt judge

331

      

Bad men and Angels. They, arraigned,
2544
shall sink

332

      

Beneath thy sentence. Hell, her numbers full,

333

      

Thenceforth shall be forever shut. Meanwhile

334

      

The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring

335

      

New Heav’n and earth, wherein the just shall dwell

336

      

And after all their tribulations long

337

      

See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,

338

      

With joy and peace triumphing, and fair truth.

339

      

Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by,

340

      

For regal scepter then no more shall need:

341

      

God shall be all in all. But all ye gods,

342

      

Adore him, who to compass
2545
all this dies,

343

      

Adore the Son, and honor him as me.

344

      

   
No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all

345

      

The multitude of Angels, with a shout

346

      

Loud as from numbers without number, sweet

347

      

As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav’n rung

348

      

With jubilee,
2546
and loud hosannas
2547
filled

349

      

The eternal regions. Lowly reverent

350

      

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground

351

      

With solemn adoration down they cast

352

      

Their crowns inwove with amarant
2548
and gold,

353

      

Immortal amarant, a flower which once

354

      

In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life,

355

      

Began to bloom, but soon for man’s offence

356

      

To Heav’n removed, where first it grew, there grows,

357

      

And flow’rs aloft, shading the Fount of Life,

358

      

And where the river of bliss through midst of Heav’n

359

      

Rolls o’er Elysian flow’rs her amber stream.

360

      

With these that never fade the Spirits elect
2549

361

      

Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams,

362

      

Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright

363

      

Pavement,
2550
that like a sea of jasper shone,

364

      

Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

365

      

Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took,

366

      

Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side

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