Only-begotten Son, seest thou what rage
Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds
Prescrib'd, no bars of hell, nor all the chains
Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss
Wide interrupt can hold; so bent he seems
On desperate revenge, that shall redound
Upon his own rebellious head. And now
Through all restraint broke loose he wings his way
Not far off heav'n, in the precincts of light,
Directly tow'rds the new created world,
And Man there plac'd, with purpose to assay
If him by force he can destroy, or worse,
By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert,
For Man will hearken to his glozing lies,
And easily transgress the sole command,
Sole pledge of his obedience: so will fall,

He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?
Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me
All he could have; I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
Such I created all th' ethereal powers

80

85

90

95

100

And spirits, both them who stood and them who fail❜d; Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.

Not free, what proof could they have giv'n sincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love,

Where only what they needs must do appear'd,'

105

Nor what they would? what praise could they receive?

101. both them who stood and them who fail'd;] Both the antitheton and the repetition in the next line shew that the author gave it,

-both them who stood and them who fell;

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell,

Bentley.

What pleasure I from such obedience paid,
When will and reason (reason also' is choice)
Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd,
Made passive both, had serv'd necessity,
Not me? They therefore as to right belong'd,
So were created, nor can justly' accuse
Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,
As if predestination over-rul'd

Their will, dispos'd by absolute decree

Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed
Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,
Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,
Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown.
So without least impulse or shadow' of fate,
Or ought by me immutably foreseen,
They trespass, authors to themselves in all
Both what they judge and what they choose; for so

110

115

120

121. Or ought by me immutably foreseen,] To foresee immutably (says Dr. Bentley) are two ideas that cannot unite: he thinks therefore that Milton must have given it immutably foredoom'd. His objection is right, but his emendation is wrong, I think. Milton seems rather to have dictated,

Or ought by me immutable foreseen, where ought immutable may signify any event that cannot be changed or altered. Pearce.

Immutably foreseen seems to mean so foreseen as to be immutable.

121. See Copleston upon Necessity and Predestination, note u. p. 109. E.

I form'd them free, and free they must remain,
Till they inthrall themselves; I else must change
Their nature, and revoke the high decree
Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd
Their freedom, they themselves ordain'd their fall.
The first sort by their own suggestion fell,
Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls, deceiv'd
By th' other first: Man therefore shall find grace,
The other none: in mercy, and justice both,
Through heav'n and earth, so shall my glory' excel,
But mercy first and last shall brightest shine.

125

180

Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill'd 135 All heav'n, and in the blessed spi'rits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd: Beyond compare the Son of God was seen Most glorious; in him all his Father shone Substantially express'd; and in his face

135. Thus while God spake, &c.] The effects of this speech in the blessed Spirits, and in the divine Person to whom it was addressed, cannot but fill the mind of the reader with a secret pleasure and complacency. Ad

dison.

Milton here shews, that he was no servile imitator of the ancients. It is very well known that his master Homer, and all who followed him, where they are representing the Deity speaking, describe a scene of terror and awful consternation. The heavens, seas, and earth tremble &c. and this, to be sure, was consistent enough with their natural notions of the supreme Being: but it would not have

140

Divine compassion visibly appear'd,

Love without end, and without measure grace,
Which uttering thus he to his Father spake.

150

O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace: 145 For which both heav'n and earth shall high extol Thy praises, with th' innumerable sound Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne Incompass'd shall resound thee ever blest. For should Man finally be lost, should Man, Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest son, Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd With his own folly? that be from thee far, That far be from thee, Father, who art Judge Of all things made, and judgest only right. Or shall the Adversary thus obtain His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfil

the Son of God is styled, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person ; χαρακτηρ της ὑποστασεως αυτον, the character of his substance, as the original expresses it. Hume.

147. -with th innumerable sound

Of hymns and sacred songs,] Innumerable sound of songs is here the same with innumerable force of spirits in i. 101. In both places the word innumerable, though joined to sound and force, yet in sense refers to songs and spirits. See also x. 268. Dr. Bentley dislikes sound, because resound follows in the next verse but one. But this way of writing is common in this poem:

155

See i. 642. and ii. 190, 192. So in i. 441, 442. we read songs unsung. And we have the very thing which the Doctor finds fault with in vii. 558.

Follow'd with acclamation and the sound

Symphonious of ten thousand harps
that tun'd

Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air
Resounded.

Pearce.

153. that be from thee far, &c.] An imitation of Genesis xviii. 25. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought,
Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,
Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to hell
Draw after him the whole race of mankind,
By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself
Abolish thy creation, and unmake

For him, what for thy glory thou hast made?
So should thy goodness and thy greatness both
Be question'd and blasphem'd without defence.

To whom the great Creator thus replied.
O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,
Son of my bosom, Son who art alone
My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,
All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all

160

165

170

As my eternal purpose hath decreed;

Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will,
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me

Freely vouchsaf'd; once more I will renew

175

His lapsed pow'rs, though forfeit and inthrall'd

By sin to foul exorbitant desires;

Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand
On even ground against his mortal foe,
By me upheld, that he may know how frail

158. -nought,] This word and ought our author most usually spells naught and aught, and they may be spelt either way; but this is grown obsolete, and the other may be justified as well from the Saxon.

168. O Son, &c.] The Son is here addressed by several titles and appellations borrowed from Scripture. O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, from

180

Matt. iii. 17. My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Son of my bosom, from John i. 18. The only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. My word, from Rev. xix. 13. And his name is called the word of God. My wisdom and effectual might, from 1 Cor. i. 24. Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

180. By me upheld,] It was before, ver. 178. Upheld by me.