Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.
And I will place within them as a guide,

My umpire, conscience; whom if they will hear,
Light after light, well us'd, they shall attain,
And to the end, persisting, safe arrive.
This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,
They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;
But hard be harden'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 done: man disobeying,
Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins.
Against the high supremacy of Heaven,
Affecting God-head, and, so losing all,
To expiate his treason hath nought left,
But to destruction sacred and devote,
He, with his whole posterity, must die,
Die he, or justice must; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay

The rigid satisfaction, death for death.

Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love?

Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem

Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save?
Dwells in all heaven charity so dear? »

He ask'd, but all the heavenly quire stood mute
And silence was in heaven: on Man's behalf
Patron or intercessor none appear'd,

Much less that durst upon his own head draw
The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.

And now without redemption all mankind
Must have been lost, adjudg'd to death and hell

By doom severe, had not the Son of God,

Non sordi avrò gli orecchi o chiusi gli occhi.
Ed Io dentro essi locherò qual guida,
Coscienza, arbitro mio, cui s' elli udranno
Luce otterran da bene usata luce

E al ben tenaci verran salvi al fine.
Tal lungo mio soffrir, miei dì di grazia
Chi fugga o spregi, mia pietà non abbia.
Più duro il duro fia, più cieco il cieco
Sicchè egli inciampi e più profondo cada;
Solo costui da pietà mia divello.

Ma tutto qui non è; I' uom pervicace
Disleale sua fede rompe e falla
Contro dell' alta potestà del cielo,
Su Dio s'estolle, e sì di tutto scusso
Modo non ha per espiar suo crime,
Ma devoto e sacrato alla ruina
Ei co' suoi figli preda fia di morte.
Egli o giustizia dee perir: se niuno
Degno per lui non volontieri accetti
Morte a pagar con duro fio di morte.
Dove ora, o Spirti, avrem cotanto amore?
Chi di voi fia mortal la mortal colpa
Dell' uomo a riparar, chi giusto salvi
L'empio? È nel cielo carità sì bella? >>

Chiese, ma tutti muti fur gli spirti
E fu silenzio in cielo: a prò dell' uomo
Patrono o intercessor niuno appariva,
E men chi del morire il fio sul capo
Suo trarre osasse e star così riscatto.
E non redenta già l'umana stirpe
Fora perduta, a morte sacra e a inferno
Con dura pena, ma il Figliuol di Dio

In whom the fulness dwells of love divine,
His dearest meditation thus renew'd.

«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,

To visit all thy creatures; and to all
Comes unprevented, unimplored, unsought?
Happy for man, so coming; he her aid:
Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost;
Atonement for himself, or offering meet,
Indebted and undone, hath none to bring.
Behold me then, me for him, life for life
I offer, on me let thine anger fall;

Account me man; I for his sake will leave
Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee
Freely put off, and for him lastly die

Well pleas'd; on me let death wreck all his rage;
Under his gloomy power I shall not long

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

In cui sta il fonte dell' amor divino

L'amoroso suo dir si rinnovella.

«Padre, tuo detto uscì, l' uom grazia trovi; 1

E grazia or sosterà che sua via corre

Più veloce de' tuoi messaggi alati..

A visitar tue creature e a tutte

Previene e va imprevista e non pregata?

Bene è per uom, che così va; suo aiuto

་

Non può ei cercar perduto in colpe e morto;
Per se riparo non incontra o offerta,
Disfatto debitor, che dar non, have.

Ecco me dunque, me per lui, do vita.
Per vita, e l'ira tua su me discenda;
Tiemmi qual uomo; per suo amor tuo seno
lo lascierò, da gloria tua lontano
Libero andrò, ed infin per lui la morte
Porterò, morte in me sazii sua rabbia.
Non io sotto il suo tetro impero a lungo
Vinto starò; tu desti a me in me stesso
Tenere eterna vita; per te io vivo.
Benchè ora io ceda a morte, e sua ragione
Sia quanto è in me mortal ma tal tributo
Sciolto, tu me non lasciérai sua preda
In laida tomba, nè vorrai che il puro
Mio spirto là. stia sempre in putridore;
Ma io sorgerò vincente, e la vittrice
Mia domerò de' suoi trofei spogliata;
E morte avrà piaga mortal, spregiata
Giacerà e scema del letal suo dardo.
lo per l'ampio aere in trionfo altero
Trarrò captivo inferno e iroso, e l'oste
Di nero abisso ostenterò. Tu lieto

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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:
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 aspect 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 Lis great Father. Admiration seiz'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 savė, 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 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

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