The enemies of truth; who then shall guide
His people, who defend? will they not deal
Worse with his followers than with him they dealt?
485 Be sure they will, said th’ angel; but from Heav’n
He to his own a Comforter will send,
The promise of the Father, who shall dwell
His Spirit within them, and the law of faith
Working through love, upon their hearts shall write,
490 To guide them in all truth, and also arm
With spiritual armour, able to resist
Satan’s assaults, and quench his fiery darts,
What man can do against them, not afraid,
Though to the death, against such cruelties
495 With inward consolations recompensed,
And oft supported so as shall amaze
Their proudest persecutors: for the Spirit
Poured first on his apostles, whom he sends
To evangelize the nations, then on all
500 Baptized, shall them with wondrous gifts endue
To speak all tongues, and do all miracles,
As did their Lord before them. Thus they win
Great numbers of each nation to receive
With joy the tidings brought from Heav’n: at length
505 Their ministry performed, and race well run,
Their doctrine and their story written left,
They die; but in their room, as they forewarn,
Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves,
Who all the sacred mysteries of Heav’n
510 To their own vile advantages shall turn
Of lucre and ambition, and the truth
With superstitions and traditions taint,
Left only in those written records pure,
Though not but by the Spirit understood.
515 Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names,
Places and titles, and with these to join
Secular power, though feigning still to act
By spiritual, to themselves appropriating
The Spirit of God, promised alike and giv’n
520 To all believers; and from that pretence,
Spiritual laws by carnal power shall force
On every conscience; laws which none shall find
Left them enrolled, or what the Spirit within
Shall on the heart engrave. What will they then
525 But force the Spirit of grace itself, and bind
His consort Liberty; what, but unbuild
His living temples, built by faith to stand,
Their own faith not another’s: for on earth
Who against faith and conscience can be heard
530 Infallible? yet many will presume:
Whence heavy persecution shall arise
On all who in the worship persevere
Of spirit and truth; the rest, far greater part,
Will deem in outward rites and specious forms
535 Religion satisfied; truth shall retire
Bestuck with sland’rous darts, and works of faith
Rarely be found: so shall the world go on,
To good malignant, to bad men benign,
Under her own weight groaning, till the day
540 Appear of respiration to the just,
And vengeance to the wicked, at return
Of him so lately promised to thy aid,
The Woman’s Seed, obscurely then foretold,
Now amplier known thy Saviour and thy Lord,
545 Last in the clouds from Heav’n to be revealed
In glory of the Father, to dissolve
Satan with his perverted world, then raise
From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined,
New heav’ns, new earth, ages of endless date
550 Founded in righteousness and peace and love,
To bring forth fruits joy and eternal bliss.
He ended; and thus Adam last replied.
How soon hath thy prediction, seer blest,
Measured this transient world, the race of time,
555 Till time stand fixed: beyond is all abyss,
Eternity, whose end no eye can reach.
Greatly instructed I shall hence depart,
Greatly in peace of thought, and have my fill
Of knowledge, what this vessel can contain;
560 Beyond which was my folly to aspire.
Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best,
And love with fear the only God, to walk
As in his presence, ever to observe
His Providence, and on him sole depend,
565 Merciful over all his works, with good
Still overcoming evil, and by small
Accomplishing great things, by things deemed weak
Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise
By simply meek; that suffering for truth’s sake
570 Is fortitude to highest victory,
And to the faithful death the gate of life;
Taught this by his example whom I now
Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest.
To whom thus also th’ angel last replied:
575 This having learnt, thou hast attained the sum
Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars
Thou knew’st by name, and all th’ ethereal Powers,
All secrets of the deep, all Nature’s works,
Or works of God in Heav’n, air, earth, or sea,
580 And all the riches of this world enjoy’dst,
And all the rule, one empire; only add
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add faith,
Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love,
By name to come called charity, the soul
585 Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
A paradise within thee, happier far.
Let us descend now therefore from this top
Of speculation; for the hour precise
590 Exacts our parting hence; and see the guards,
By me encamped on yonder hill, expect
Their motion, at whose front a flaming sword,
In signal of remove, waves fiercely round;
We may no longer stay: go, waken Eve;
595 Her also I with gentle dreams have calmed
Portending good, and all her spirits composed
To meek submission: thou at season fit
Let her with thee partake what thou hast heard,
Chiefly what may concern her faith to know,
600 The great deliverance by her Seed to come
(For by the Woman’s Seed) on all mankind,
That ye may live, which will be many days,
Both in one faith unanimous though sad,
With cause for evils past, yet much more cheered
605 With meditation on the happy end.
He ended, and they both descend the hill;
Descended, Adam to the bow’r where Eve
Lay sleeping ran before, but found her waked;
And thus with words not sad she him received.
610 Whence thou return’st, and whither went’st, I know;
For God is also in sleep, and dreams advise,
Which he hath sent propitious, some great good
Presaging, since with sorrow and heart’s distress
Wearied I fell asleep: but now lead on;
615 In me is no delay; with thee to go,
Is to stay here; without thee here to stay,
Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me
Art all things under Heav’n, all places thou,
Who for my wilful crime art banished hence.
620 This further consolation yet secure
I carry hence; though all by me is lost,
Such favour I unworthy am vouchsafed,
By me the promised Seed shall all restore.
So spake our mother Eve, and Adam heard
625 Well pleased, but answered not; for now too nigh
Th’ Archangel stood, and from the other hill
To their fixed station, all in bright array
The Cherubim descended; on the ground
Gliding metéorous, as ev’ning mist
630 Ris’n from a river o’er the marish glides,
And gathers ground fast at the labourer’s heel
Homeward returning. High in front advanced,
The brandished sword of God before them blazed
Fierce as a comet; which with torrid heat,
635 And vapour as the Libyan air adust,
Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat
In either hand the hast’ning angel caught
Our ling’ring parents, and to th’ eastern gate
Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast
640 To the subjected plain; then disappeared.
They looking back, all th’ eastern side beheld
Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,
Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate
With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms:
645 Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
They hand in hand with wand’ring steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.
PARADISE REGAINED
THE FIRST BOOK
I who erewhile the happy garden sung,
By one man’s disobedience lost, now sing
Recovered Paradise to all mankind,
By one man’s firm obedience fully tried
5 Through all temptation, and the Tempter foiled
In all his wiles, defeated and repulsed,
And Eden raised in the waste wilderness.
Thou Spirit who led’st this glorious eremite
Into the desert, his victorious field
10 Against the spiritual Foe, and brought’st him thence
By proof th’ undoubted Son of God, inspire,
As thou art wont, my prompted song else mute,
And bear through heighth or depth of nature’s bounds
With prosperous wing full-summed, to tell of deeds
15 Above heroic, though in secret done,
And unrecorded left through many an age,
Worthy t’ have not remained so long unsung.
Now had the great proclaimer with a voice
More awful than the sound of trumpet, cried
20 Repentance, and Heaven’s Kingdom nigh at hand
To all baptized: to his great baptism flocked
With awe the regions round, and with them came
From Nazareth the son of Joseph deemed
To the flood Jordan, came as then obscure,
25 Unmarked, unknown; but him the Baptist soon
Descried, divinely warned, and witness bore
As to his worthier, and would have resigned
To him his Heavenly office, nor was long
His witness unconfirmed: on him baptized
30 Heaven opened, and in likeness of a dove
The Spirit descended, while the Father’s voice
From Heav’n pronounced him his beloved Son.
That heard the Adversary, who roving still
About the world, at that assembly famed
35 Would not be last, and with the voice divine
Nigh thunder-struck, th’ exalted man, to whom
Such high attest was giv’n, a while surveyed
With wonder, then with envy fraught and rage
Flies to his place, nor rests, but in mid air
40 To Council summons all his mighty peers,
Within thick clouds and dark ten-fold involved,
A gloomy consistóry; and them amidst
With looks aghast and sad he thus bespake.
O ancient Powers of air and this wide world,
45 For much more willingly I mention air,
This our old conquest, than remember Hell
Our hated habitation; well ye know
How many ages, as the years of men,
This universe we have possessed, and ruled
50 In manner at our will th’ affairs of earth,
Since Adam and his facile consort Eve
Lost Paradise deceived by me, though since
With dread attending when that fatal wound
Shall be inflicted by the Seed of Eve
55 Upon my head; long the decrees of Heav’n
Delay, for longest time to him is short;
And now too soon for us the circling hours
This dreaded time have compassed, wherein we
Must bide the stroke of that long-threatened wound,
60 At least if so we can, and by the head
Broken be not intended all our power
To be infringed, our freedom and our being
In this fair empire won of earth and air;
For this ill news I bring: the Woman’s Seed
65 Destined to this, is late of woman born;
His birth to our just fear gave no small cause,
But his growth now to youth’s full flow’r, displaying
All virtue, grace and wisdom to achieve
Things highest, greatest, multiplies my fear.
70 Before him a great prophet, to proclaim
His coming, is sent harbinger, who all
Invites, and in the consecrated stream
Pretends to wash off sin, and fit them so
Purified to receive him pure, or rather
75 To do him honour as their King; all come,
And he himself among them was baptized,
Not thence to be more pure, but to receive
The testimony of Heaven, that who he is
Thenceforth the nations may not doubt; I saw
80 The prophet do him reverence, on him rising
Out of the water, Heav’n above the clouds
Unfold her crystal doors, thence on his head
A perfect dove descend, whate’er it meant,
And out of Heav’n the sov’reign voice I heard,
85 This is my Son belov’d, in him am pleased.
His mother then is mortal, but his Sire
And what will he not do to advance his Son?
His first-begot we know, and sore have felt,
90 When his fierce thunder drove us to the deep;
Who this is we must learn, for man he seems
In all his lineaments, though in his face
The glimpses of his Father’s glory shine.
Ye see our danger on the utmost edge
95 Of hazard, which admits no long debate,
But must with something sudden be opposed,
Not force, but well-couched fraud, well-woven snares,
Ere in the head of nations he appear
Their King, their leader, and supreme on earth.
100 I, when no other durst, sole undertook
The dismal expedition to find out
And ruin Adam, and the expóit performed
Successfully; a calmer voyage now
Will waft me; and the way found prosperous once
105 Induces best to hope of like success.
He ended, and his words impression left
Of much amazement to th’ infernal crew,
Distracted and surprised with deep dismay
At these sad tidings; but no time was then
110 For long indulgence to their fears or grief:
Unanimous they all commit the care
And management of this main enterprise
To him their great dictator, whose attempt
At first against mankind so well had thrived
115 In Adam’s overthrow, and led their march
From Hell’s deep-vaulted den to dwell in light,
Regents and potentates
, and kings, yea gods
Of many a pleasant realm and province wide.
So to the coast of Jordan he directs
120 His easy steps; girded with snaky wiles,
Where he might likeliest find this new-declared,
This man of men, attested Son of God,
Temptation and all guile on him to try;
So to subvert whom he suspected raised
125 To end his reign on earth so long enjoyed:
But contrary unweeting he fulfilled
The purposed counsel preordained and fixed
Of the Most High, who in full frequence bright
Of angels, thus to Gabriel smiling spake.
130 Gabriel this day by proof thou shalt behold,
Thou and all angels cónversant on earth
With man or men’s affairs, how I begin
To verify that solemn message late,
On which I sent thee to the virgin pure
135 In Galilee, that she should bear a son
Great in renown, and called the Son of God;
Then told’st her doubting how these things could be
To her a virgin, that on her should come
The Holy Ghost, and the power of the Highest
140 O’ershadow her: this man born and now upgrown,
To show him worthy of his birth divine
And high prediction, henceforth I expose
To Satan; let him tempt and now assay
His utmost subtlety, because he boasts
145 And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng
Of his apostasy; he might have learnt
Less overweening, since he failed in Job,
Whose constant perseverance overcame
Whate’er his cruel malice could invent.
150 He now shall know I can produce a man
Of female seed, far abler to resist
All his solicitations, and at length
All his vast force, and drive him back to Hell,
Winning by conquest what the first man lost
155 By fallacy surprised. But first I mean
To exercise him in the wilderness;
There he shall first lay down the rudiments
Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth
To conquer Sin and Death the two grand foes,
160 By humiliation and strong sufferance:
His weakness shall o’ercome Satanic strength
And all the world, and mass of sinful flesh;
That all the angels and ethereal powers,
They now, and men hereafter may discern,
165 From what consummate virtue I have chose
This perfect man, by merit called my Son,
To earn Salvation for the sons of men.
So spake the Eternal Father, and all Heaven
Admiring stood a space, then into hymns
170 Burst forth, and in celestial measures moved,