Revisit'ft not these eyes, that roll in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a drop ferene hath quench'd their orbs,
Or dim fuffufion veil'd. Yet not the more
Ceafe I to wander, where the Mufes haunt
Clear fpring, or fhady grove, or funny hill,
Smit with the love of facred fong; but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flowry brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I vifit: nor fometimes forget
Those other two equal'd with me in fate,
So were I equal'd with them in renown,
Blind Thamyris and blind Mæonides,
And Tirefias and Phineus prophets old:
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling, and in fhadiest 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 fight of vernal bloom, or fummer's rose,
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, celeftial Light,
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may fee and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.
Now had th' almighty Father from above,
From the pure empyréan where he fits
High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye,
His own works and their works at once to view:
About him all the Sanctities of Heaven
Stood thick as stars, and from his fight receiv'd
Beatitude past utterance; on his right
The radiant image of his glory fat,
His only Son; on earth he first beheld
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
In blissful folitude; he then furvey'd
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
To stoop with wearied wings and willing feet
On the bare outside 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 forefeeing spake.
Only begotten Son, feest thou what rage
Transports our Adverfary? whom no bounds
Prefcrib'd, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains
Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss
Wide interrupt can hold; fo bent he seems
On desperate revenge, that shall redound
Upon his own rebellious head. And now
Through all restraint broke loose he wings his wa
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 fome falfe guile pervert; and shall pervert,
For Man will hearken to his glozing lies,
And eafily tranfgrefs the fole command,
Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall,
He and his faithlefs progeny: Whose fault?
Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me
All he could have; I made him juft and right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
Such I created all th' ethereal Powers
And Spirits, both them who stood and them who fa
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
Not free, what proof could they have giv'n fincere
Of true allegiance, conftant faith or love,
Where only what they needs must do appear'd,
Not what they would? what praise could they rece
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, had serv'd neceffity,
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 predeftination over-rul'd
Their will, difpos'd by abfolute 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 forefeen,
They trefpafs, authors to themselves in all
Both what they judge and what they choose; for so
I form'd them free, and free they must remain,
Till they inthrall themselves; I else must change 125
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 130
By th' other firft: 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.
Thus while God fpake, ambrofial fragrance fill'd
All Heav'n, and in the blessed Spi'rits elect
Senfe of new joy ineffable diffus'd:
Beyond compare the Son of God was seen
Moft glorious; in him all his Father shone
Substantially exprefs'd; and in his face
Divine compaffion visibly appear'd,
Love without end, and without measure grace,
Which uttering thus he to his Father spake.
O Father, gracious was that word which clos'c Thy sovran fentence, that Man fhould find grace For which both Heav'n and Earth fhall high exto Thy praifes, with th' innumerable found
Of hymns and facred songs, wherewith thy thron
Incompafs'd fhall refound thee ever bleft.
For fhould Man finally be loft, should Man,
Thy creature late fo 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 fhall the Adverfary thus obtain
His end, and fruftrate thine? fhall he fulfil
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 haft made?
So fhould thy goodness and thy greatness both
Be question'd and blasphem'd without defense.
To whom the great Creator thus reply'd.
O Son, in whom my foul hath chief delight,
Son of my bofom, Son who art alone
My word, my wifdom, and effectual might,
All haft thou spoken as my thoughts are, all
As my eternal purpose hath decreed:
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