Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit, Improv'd by tract of time, and wing'd ascend Ethereal, as we, or may at choice Here or in heavenly paradises dwell; If ye be found obedient, and retain Unalterably firm his love entire,
Whose progeny you are. Your fill what happiness this happy state Can comprehend, incapable of more.
To whom the patriarch of mankind reply'd. O favourable spirit, propitious guest,
Well hast thou taught the way that might direct Our knowledge, and the scale of nature set From centre to circumference, whereon In contemplation of created things By steps we may ascend to GOD. But What meant that caution join'd, if ye be found Obedient? Can we want obedience then To him, or possibly his love desert,
Who form'd us from the dust and plac'd us here Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend?
To whom the angel. Son of heav'n and earth Attend that thou art happy, owe to God; That thou continu'st such, owe to thy self, That is, to thy obedience; therein stand. This was that caution giv'n thee; be advis'd. GOD made thee perfect, not immutable; And good he made thee, but to persevere He left it in thy power, ordain'd thy will
By nature free, not over-rul'd by fate Inextricable, or strict necessity: Our voluntary service he requires, Not our necessitated; such with him
Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how
Can hearts, not free, be try'd whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what they must By destiny, and can no other choose? My self and all th' angelic host, that stand In sight of GOD enthron'd, our happy state Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds; On other surety none; freely we serve, Because we freely love, as in our will To love or not; in this we stand or fall. And some are fall'n, to disobedience fall'n, And so from heaven to deepest hell: O fall From what high state of bliss into what woe! To whom our great progenitor. Thy words Attentive, and with more delighted ear, Divine instructor, I have heard, than when Cherubic songs by night from neighbouring hills Aereal music send: nor knew I not
To be both will and deed created free; Yet that we never shall forget to love Our maker, and obey him whose command Single is yet so just, my constant thoughts Assur'd me, and still assure: though what thou tell'st Hath past in heav'n, some doubt within me move, But more desire to hear, if thou consent, The full relation, which must needs be strange,
Worthy of sacred silence to be heard;
And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun Hath finish'd half his journey, and scarce begins His other half in the great zone of heaven.
Thus Adam made request, and Raphael, After short pause, assenting thus began.
High matter thou enjoin'st me, O prime of men, Sad task and hard; for how shall I relate To human sense th' invisible exploits Of warring spirits? how without remorse The ruin of so many, glorious once
And perfect while they stood? how last unfold The secrets of another world, perhaps
Not lawful to reveal? yet for thy good, This is dispens'd, and what surmounts the reach Of human sense I shall delineate so, By likening spiritual to corporal forms, As may express them best; though what if earth Be but the shadow of heaven; and things therein Each to other like, more than on earth is thought? As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild Reign'd where these heaven's now roll, where earth
Upon her centre pois'd; when on a day, (For time, though in eternity, apply'd To motion, measures all things durable By present, past, and future ;) on such day
557 sacred] Hor. Od. ii. 13. 29.
'Utrumque sacro digna silentio.' Richardson.
579 pois'd] Ov. Met. i. 13. 'Ponderibus librata suis.' Newton.
As heav'n's great year brings forth, th' empyreal host Of angels, by imperial summons call'd,
Innumerable before th' Almighty's throne Forthwith from all the ends of heaven appear'd; Under their hierarchs in orders bright; Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanc'd, Standards and gonfalons twixt van and rear Stream in the air, and for distinction serve Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees: Or in their glittering tissues bear imblaz'd Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love Recorded eminent. Thus when in orbs Of circuit inexpressible they stood, Orb within orb, the Father infinite,
By whom in bliss imbosom'd sat the Son, Amidst as from a flaming mount, whose top Brightness had made invisible, thus spake. Hear all ye angels, progeny of light,
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, Hear my decree, which unrevok'd shall stand. This day I have begot whom I declare
My only Son, and on this holy hill
Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
At my right hand; your head I him appoint; And by my Self have sworn to him shall bow All knees in heaven, and shall confess him Lord.
601 Thrones] By all the Thrones, and Dominations, Virtues, and Powers, and mighty hierarchies.' See Stafford's Niobe dissolv'd into a Nilus, 1611, p. 17. See also Greene's Hist. of Friar Bacon, p. 36; and Sir. Lindsay's Works, ed. Chalmers, vol. i. p. 215-6.
Under his great vice-gerent reign abide United, as one individual soul, For ever happy: him who disobeys,
Me disobeys, breaks union, and, that day Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls Into utter darkness, deep ingulf'd, his place Ordain'd without redemption, without end.
So spake th' Omnipotent, and with his words All seem'd well pleas'd; all seem'd, but were not all. That day, as other solemn days, they spent
In song and dance about the sacred hill, Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere Of planets and of fix'd in all her wheels Resembles nearest, mazes intricate, Eccentric, intervolv'd, yet regular
Then most, when most irregular they seem; And in their motions harmony divine
So smooths her charming tones, that God's own ear
Listens delighted. Evening now approach'd,
(For we have also our ev'ning and our morn,
We ours for change delectable, not need,)
Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn 630
Desirous; all in circles as they stood,
Tables are set, and on a sudden pil'd With angels food, and rubied nectar flows,
In pearl, in diamond, and massy gold;
Fruit of delicious vines, the growth of heaven.
On flowers repos'd and with fresh flowrets crown'd,
633 rubied] Nectar of the colour of rubies. Hom. Il. xix. 38, νέκταρ ἐρυθρόν. Newton.
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