130
��PARADISE LOST
��That far be from thee, Father, who art
judge
Of all things made, and judgest only right ! Or shall the Adversary thus obtain His end, and frustrate thine ? Shall he
fulfil His malice, and thy goodness bring to
naught Or proud return, though to his heavier
doom
Yet with revenge accomplished, and to Hell 160
Draw after him the whole race of mankind, By him corrupted ? Or wilt thou thyself Abolish thy creation, and unmake, For him, what for thy glory thou hast
made ? So should thy goodness and thy greatness
both
Be questioned and blasphemed without de- fence."
To whom the great Creator thus re- plied :
" O Son, in whom my soul hath chief de- light,
Son of my bosom, Son who art alone 169 My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are,
all
As my eternal purpose hath decreed. Man shall not quite be lost, but saved who
will;
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely voutsafed. Once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit, and en- thralled
By sin to foul exorbitant desires: Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand On even ground against his mortal foe By me upheld, that he may know how frail 180
His fallen condition is, and to me owe All his deliverance, and to none but me. Some I have chosen of peculiar grace, Elect above the rest; so is my will: The rest shall hear me call, and oft be
warned
Their sinful state, and to appease betimes The incensed Deity, while offered grace Invites; for I will clear their senses dark What may suffice, and soften stony hearts To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, Though but endeavoured with sincere in- tent, 192
��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 used they shall at- tain,
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 hardened, blind be blinded more, 200 That they may stumble on, and deeper fall; And none but such from mercy I ex- clude.
But yet all is not done. Man disobeying, Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins Against the high supremacy of Heaven, Affecting Godhead, and, so losing all, To expiate his treason hath naught left, But, to destruction sacred and devote, He with his whole posterity must die; Die he or Justice must; unless for him 210 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 asked, but all the Heavenly Quire
stood mute, And silence was in Heaven: on Man's be^
half
Patron or intercessor none appeared Much less that durst upon his own head draw 220
The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set. And now without redemption all mankind Must have been lost, adjudged to Death
and Hell
By doom severe, had not the Son of God, In whom the fulness dwells of love divine, His dearest mediation thus renewed: " Father, thy word is passed, 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 230 Comes unprevented, unimplored, un- sought ?
�� �
