I 3 2
��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
�� �
