For you, ye guilty throng! that lately join'd
In this sedition, since seduc'd from good,
And caught in trains of guile, by spirits malign,
Superior in their order; you accept,
Trembling, my heavenly clemency and grace.
When the long aera once has fill'd its orb,
You shall emerge to light, and humbly here
Again shall bow before his favouring throne,
If your own virtue second my decree:
But all must have their manes first below,
So stands th' eternal fate, but smoother yours
Than what lost angels feel; nor can our reign,
Without just dooms, the peace of heav'n secure;
For forms celestial new erect in glory
Wou'd totter, dazzled with the heights of power,
Did not the nerves of justice fix their sight.