REDEMPTION. 273
Pour consolation in his sorrowing heart,
Assuage his bleeding brow, and strengthen him.
Not that he needs thine aid as not divine,
In might co-equal, co-etern, with me;
But yet, as Man, susceptible of woe,
Of sin's defect, which all men must enthrall,
Toil, anguish, weakness, grief, and pangs of death ;
By him more keenly felt, who bears them all
Assumed, without the guiltiness of sin,
A free will off 'ring made to me for them.
Tell him, his pray'r is granted, if he wills
The proffer'd ransom to withhold, imposed
Not by decree of mine, though glad accept,
As all-sufficient, offer'd once for all.
At his own option ta'en then, or dispensed,
He may as free perfect or pretermit,
Leaving the penalty there, where of right
The guilt and punishment alone belong.
So far thy mission ; leave the rest to whom
It doth belong, and ere the dawn, as earth
Divides the course of time, hither return.'
Swifter than thought, or flash'd from living mind, Or hastive sent along those subtil wires, Which, wove in meshes, like the mooned net, Or spider's cunning web, enwheel the earth, The warlike angel cut the star paved way, And bright, dilated, huge as Atlas, stood, With brandish'd sword, two edged, fronting his foe. The Dragon saw, nor needed more ; but, bash'd, Or impotent with rage, so swift subdued, Or by superior Pow'r secure withheld, Cringed beneath the flaming seraph's eye,
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