choir, celebrate the FATHER and the SON. Mean while SATAN alights upon the bare convex of this world's outermost orb; where wandring he firft finds a place, fince call'd the Limbo of Vanity; what perfons and things fly up thither; thence comes to the gate of heaven, defcribed afcending by fairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it: bis paffage thence to the orb of the fun: he finds there Uriel the regent of that orb; but firft changes himself into the shape of a meaner Angel; and pretending a zealous defire to behold the new creation, and Man whom GoD bath placed here, inquires of him the place of his habitation, and is directed; alights firft on mount Niphates.

H

AIL holy light, offspring of heav'n first-
born!

Or of th' eternal coeternal beam!
May I express thee unblam'd? fince GoD
is light,

And never but in unapproached light
Dwelt from eternity; dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright effence increate !
Or hear'ft thou rather pure ethereal stream,
Whofe fountain who fhall tell? Before the fun,
Before the heav'ns thou wert, and at the voice
Of GoD, as with a mantle didft invest
The rifing world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formlefs Infinite.
Thee I revifit now with bolder wing,
Efcap'd the STYGIAN pool, tho' long detain'd
In that obfcure fojourn; while in my flight
Through utter and through middle darknefs born,
With other notes than to th' ORPHEAN lyre,
I fung of CHAOs and eternal NIGHT;
Taught by the heav'nly Mufe to venture down
The dark defcent, and up to re-afcend,
Tho' hard and rare! Thee I revifit fafe,
And feel thy fov'reign vital lamp: but thou
Revifit' it not thefe eyes, that rowl in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn
So thick a Drop Serene hath quench'd their orbs,

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Or dim fuffufion veil'd! Yet not the more
Ceafe I to wander, where the Muses haunt
Clear fpring, or fhady grove, or funny hill.
Smit with the love of facred fong: but chief
Thee SION, and the flow'ry brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallow'd Feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I vifit: nor fometimes forget
Thofe other two equal'd with me in fate,
(So were I equal'd with them in renown!)
Blind THAMYRIS, and blind MÆONIDES;
And TIRESIAS, and PHINEUS, Prophets old.
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious Numbers; as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year
Seafons return; but not to me returns
Day, or the fweet approach of ev'n or morn,
Or
Or fight of vernal bloom, or fummer's rofe,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine:
But cloud instead, and ever during dark
Surrounds me! from the chearful ways of men
Cut off; and for the book of knowledge fair,
Prefented with a univerfal blank

Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdom at one entrance quite fhut out!
So much the rather thou, celestial light!

Shine inward, and the mind through all her pow'rs

Irradiate; there plant eyes; all mift from thence
Purge and difperfe; that I may fee and tell
Of things invifible to mortal fight.

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Now had th' Almighty Father from above,

(From the pure empyrean where He fits

High thron'd above all height) bent down His eye,

His own works and their works at once to view.
About Him all the Santities of heav'n

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Stood thick as ftars, and from his fight receiv'd
Beatitude paft utt'rance: on His right
The radiant image of His glory fat,

His only Son. On earth He first beheld

Our

Our two first parents (yet the only two
Of mankind) in the happy garden plac'd,
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love;
Uninterrupted joy, unrival'd love,
He then survey'd

In blifsful folitude.

Hell and the gulf between, and SATAN there
Coafting the wall of heav'n on this fide night,
In the dun air fublime; and ready now

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To ftoop with wearied wings, and willing feet,
On the bare outfide of this world, that feem'd
Firm land imbofom'd without firmament;
Uncertain which, in ocean or in air
Him GoD beholding from his profpect high,
Wherein paft, prefent, future He beholds,
Thus to his only SON foreseeing spake.

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Only begotten SoN! feeft thou what rage
Tranfports our adverfary, 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 defperate revenge, that shall redound
Upon his own rebellious head. And now
Through all reftraint broke loose, he wings his way
Not far off heav'n, in the precincts of light,
Directly towards the new created world,
And man there plac'd; with purpose to affay
If him by force he can deftroy, or worse,
By fome falfe guile pervert: and fhall pervert ;
For man will hearken to his glozing lies,
And easily tranfgrefs the fole command,
Sole pledge of his obedience: fo will fall,
He, and his faithlefs progeny. Whose fault?
Whofe but his own? Ingrate! he had of me
All he could have: I made him juft and right;
Sufficient to have ftood, though free to fall.
Such I created all th' ethereal Pow'rs,

And fpirits, both them who flood, and them who fail❜d:
Freely they food who ftood, and fell who fell.
Not free, what proof could they have giv'n fincere.

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85

90

95.

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Of

Of true allegiance, conftant faith or love,

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

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Not, what they would? What praise could they receive?

What pleasure I from fuch obedience paid,
When will and reafon (reafon alfo is choice)
Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil❜d,
Made paffive both, and ferv'd neceffity,

Not me? They therefore, as to right belong'd,
So were created, nor can justly accufe

Their Maker, or their making, or their fate :
As if predeftination over-rul'd

Their will, difpos'd by abfolute decree,

Or high fore-knowledge. They themselves decreed
Their own revolt, not I: if I fore-knew,

Fore knowledge had no influence on their fault,
Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown.
So without leaft impulfe, or fhadow of fate,
Or ought by Me immutably forefeen,
They trefpafs; authors to themselves in all,
Both what they judge, and what they choose; for fo
I form'd thein free, and free they muft 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 fort by their own fuggeftion fell,
Self-tempted, felf-deprav'd: man falls, deceiv'd
By th' other firft: Man therefore fhall find grace;
The other none: in mercy and justice both,
Through heav'n and earth, fo fhall my glory excel;
But mercy, first and laft, fhall brighteft fhine.

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Thus while GOD fpake, ambrofial fragrance fill'd All heav'n, and in the bleffed fpirits elect

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Senfe of new joy ineffable diffus'd.

Beyond compare the Son of GOD was seen
Moft glorious: in Him all His FATHER fhon.
Subftantially exprefs'd; and in His Face
Divine compaffion vifibly appear'd,

Love without end, and without measure grace;

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