Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/174

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��PARADISE LOST

��By merit more than birthright Son of

God,

Found worthiest to be so by being good, 310 Far more than great or high; because in

thee Love hath abounded more than glory

abounds ;

Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt With thee thy manhood also to this Throne: Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt

reign Both God and Man, Son both of God and

Man,

Anointed universal King. All power I give thee; reign for ever, and assume Thy merits; under thee, as Head Supreme, Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions,

I reduce: 320

All knees to thee shall bow of them that

bide In Heaven, or Earth, or, under Earth, in

Hell.

When thou, attended gloriously from Hea- ven, Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee

send

The summoning Archangels to proclaim Thy dread tribunal, forthwith from all

winds

The living, and forthwith the cited dead Of all past ages, to the general doom Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their

sleep. Then, all thy Saints assembled, thou shalt

judge 33 o

Bad men and Angels; they arraigned shall

sink Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers

full,

Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean- while The World shall burn, and from her ashes

spring New Heaven and Earth, wherein the just

shall dwell,

And, after all their tribulations long, See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, With Joy and Love triumph'ing, and fair

Truth. Then thou thy regal sceptre shalt lay

by;

For regal sceptre then no more shall need; God shall be All in All. But all ye Gods, Adore Him who, to compass all this, dies; Adore the Son, and honour him as me." 343

��No sooner had the Almighty ceased but

all

The multitude of Angels, with a shout Loud as from numbers without number,

sweet

As from blest voices, uttering joy Hea- ven rung

With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled The eternal regions. Lowly reverent Towards either throne they bow, and to the

ground 350

With solemn adoration down they cast Their crowns, inwove with amarart and

gold,

Immortal amarant, a flower which once In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life, Began to bloom, but, soon for Man's offence To Heaven removed where first it grew,

there grows And flowers aloft, shading the Fount of

Life, And where the River of Bliss through midst

of Heaven Howls o'er Elysian flowers her amber

stream ! With these, that never fade, the Spirits

elect 360

Bind their resplendent locks, inwreathed

with beams. Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the

bright

Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shon, Impurpled with celestial roses smiled. Then, crowned again, their golden harps

they took Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their

side Like quivers hung; and with praeamble

sweet

Of charming symphony they introduce Their sacred song, and waken raptures

high: No voice exempt, no voice but well could

join 37 o

Melodious part; such concord is in Heaven. Thee, Father, first they sung, Omnipo- tent,

Immutable, Immortal. Infinite, Eternal King; thee, Author of all being. Fountain of light, thyself invisible Amidst the glorious brightness where thou

sitt'st

Throned inaccessible, but when thou shad'st The full blaze of thy beams, and through a

cloud

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