Not thus, our infidels th' eternal draw,

A God all o'er, confummate, abfolute,

Full orb'd, in his whole round of rays complete:
They fet at odds heaven's jarring attributes;

And, with one excellence, another wound;

225

Maim heaven's perfection, break its equal beams, 230
Bid mercy triumph over-God himself,

Undeify'd by their opprobrious praise:
A God all mercy, is a God unjust.

Ye brainless wits! ye baptiz'd infidels!

Ye worse for mending! wafh'd to fouler stains!
The ranfom was paid down; the fund of heaven,
Heaven's inexhauftible, exhaufted fund,

Amazing, and amaz'd, pour'd forth the price,
All price beyond: though curious to compute,
Archangels fail'd to caft the mighty fum:
Its value vaft, ungrafp'd by minds create,
For ever hides, and glows, in the Supreme.
And was the ranfom paid? it was: and paid
(What can exalt the bounty more ?) for
The fun beheld it-no, the fhocking scene

you.

Drove back his chariot: midnight veil'd his face;
Not fuch as this; not fuch as nature makes;
A midnight nature fhudder'd to behold;
A midnight new! a dread eclipfe (without
Oppofing fpheres) from her Creator's frown!

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240

245

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Sun! didft thou fly thy Maker's pain? Or start
At that enormous load of human guilt,

Which bow'd his bleffed head; o'erwhelm'd his cross; Made groan the centre; burft earth's marble womb,

With pangs, strange pangs! deliver'd of her dead? 255 Hell howl'd; and heaven that hour let fall a tear; Heaven wept,that men might fmile! heaven bled,that man Might never die !

And is devotion virtue? "Tis compell'd.

What heart of ftone but glows at thoughts like thefe? 260
Such contemplations mount us; and should mount
The mind ftill higher; nor ever glance on man,
Unraptur'd, uninflam'd.-Where roll my thoughts
To reft from wonders? other wonders rife ;

And ftrike where'er they roll: my foul is caught: 265
Heaven's fovereign bleffings, clustering from the cross,
Rush on her, in a throng, and close her round,
The prifoner of amaze !-in his bleft life
I fee the path, and in his death the price,
And in his great afcent the proof fupreme
Of immortality. And did he rife?

270

Hear, O ye nations! hear it, O ye dead!

He rofe! he rose! he burst the bars of death.

Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates!

And give the king of glory to come in.

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Who is the king of glory? he who left

His throne of glory, for the pang of death !

Lift up your heads, ye everlafting gates!

And give the king of glory to come in.

Who is the king of glory? he who flew

280

The ravenous foe, that gorg'd all human race!
The king of glory, he, whofe glory fill'd
Heaven with amazement at his love to man;

And with divine complacency beheld.

Powers moft illumin'd, wilder'd in the theme.

285 The theme, the joy, how then thall man fuftain ? Oh the burft gates! crufh'd fting! demolish'd throne ! Laft gafp! of vanquish'd death. Shout earth and heaven! This fum of good to man. Whofe natures then,

Took wing, and mounted with him from the tomb! 290 Then, then, I rofe; then first bumanity

Triumphant paft the cryftal ports of light,

(Stupendous guest!) and feiz'd eternal youth,.

Seiz'd in our name.

E'er fince, 'tis blafphemous

To call man mortal. Man's mortality

295

Was, then, transferr'd to death; and heaven's duration
Unalienably feal'd to this frail frame,

This child of duft-Ma n, all-immortal! hail;
Hail, heaven! all lavish of strange gifts to man!
Thine all the glory; man's the boundless bliss.

Where am I rapt by this triumphant theme,
On christian joy's exulting wing, above
Th' Aonian mount!-Alas! fmall caufe for joy!
What if to pain immortal? if extent

300

Of being, to preclude a close of woe?

Where, then, my boast of immortality?

305

I boast it ftill, though cover'd o'er with guilt;
For guilt, not innocence, his life he pour'd,

"Tis guilt alone can justify his death;
Nor that, unless his death can justify
Relenting guilt in heaven's indulgent fight.
If, fick of folly, I relent; he writes.
My name in heaven, with that inverted spear

310

(A Spear

(A fpear deep-dipt in blood!) which pierc'd his fide, And open'd there a font for all mankind,

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Who ftrive, who combat crimes, to drink, and live: This, only this, fubdues the fear of death.

And what is this?—Survey the wondrous cure: And at each step, let higher wonder rife!

46

Pardon for infinite offence! and pardon

Through means that speak its value infinite! "A pardon bought with blood! with blood divine! "With blood divine of him, I made my foe! "Perfifted to provoke ! though woo'd, and aw'd,. "Bleft, and chastis'd, a flagrant rebel ftill! "Á rebel,,'midft the thunders of his throne ! " Nor I alone! a rebel universe !

46

My fpecies up in arms! not one exempt! "Yet for the fouleft of the foul, he dies,

320

325

"Moft joy'd, for the redeem'd from deepest guilt! 330 "As if our race were held of highest rank;

"And Godhead dearer, as more kind to man!"

Bound, every heart! and every bosom, burn!

O what a scale of miracles is here!

Its lowest round, high planted on the skies;
Its towering fummit loft beyond the thought
Of man or angel! O that I could climb
The wonderful afcent, with equal praise !.
Praife! flow for ever (if aftonishment

335

Will give thee leave): my praife! for ever flow; 340 Praife ardent, cordial, conftant, to high heaven

More fragrant, than Arabia facrific'd,

And all her spicy mountains in a flame.

So

So dear, fo due to heaven, shall praise descend,

With her foft plume (from plaufive angels wing 345
First pluck'd my man) to tickle mortal ears,
Thus diving in the pockets of the great?
Is praise the perquifite of every paw,

350

Though black as hell, that grapples well for gold?
Oh love of gold! thou meaneft of amours!
Shall praise her odours waste on virtue's dead,
Embalm the bafe, perfume the stench of guilt,
Earn dirty bread by washing Æthiops fair,
Removing filth, or finking it from fight,
A scavenger in scenes, where vacant posts
Like gibbets yet untenanted, expect

335

Their future ornaments? From courts and thrones, Return, apoftate praife! thou vagabond!

360

Thou proftitute! to thy firft love return,
Thy firft, thy greateft, once unrival'd theme.
There flow redundant; like Meander flow,
Back to thy fountain; to that Parent Power,
Who gives the tongue to found, the thought to foar,
The foul to be. Men homage pay to men,

Thoughtless beneath whose dreadful eye they bow 365
In mutual awe profound of clay to clay,

Of guilt to guilt; and turn their back on thee,
Great Sire! whom thrones celeftial ceaseless fing:
To proftrate angels, an amazing scene!

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O the prefumption of man's awe for man!
Man's Author! End! Reftorer! Law! and Judge!
Thine, all; day thine, and thine this gloom of night,
With all her wealth, with all her radiant worlds:

What,