1.                 As one who in his journey bates at noon,

2.                 Though bent on speed; so here the Arch-Angel paused

3.                 Betwixt the world destroyed and world restored,

4.                 If Adam aught perhaps might interpose;

5.                 Then, with transition sweet, new speech resumes.

6.                 Thus thou hast seen one world begin, and end;

7.                 And Man, as from a second stock, proceed.

8.                 Much thou hast yet to see; but I perceive

9.                 Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine

10.             Must needs impair and weary human sense:

11.             Henceforth what is to come I will relate;

12.             Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.

13.             This second source of Men, while yet but few,

14.             And while the dread of judgement past remains

15.             Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,

16.             With some regard to what is just and right

17.             Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace;

18.             Labouring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,

19.             Corn, wine, and oil; and, from the herd or flock,

20.             Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,

21.             With large wine-offerings poured, and sacred feast,

22.             Shall spend their days in joy unblamed; and dwell

23.             Long time in peace, by families and tribes,

24.             Under paternal rule: till one shall rise

25.             Of proud ambitious heart; who, not content

26.             With fair equality, fraternal state,

27.             Will arrogate dominion undeserved

28.             Over his brethren, and quite dispossess

29.             Concord and law of nature from the earth;

30.             Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)

31.             With war, and hostile snare, such as refuse

32.             Subjection to his empire tyrannous:

33.             A mighty hunter thence he shall be styled

34.             Before the Lord; as in despite of Heaven,

35.             Or from Heaven, claiming second sovranty;

36.             And from rebellion shall derive his name,

37.             Though of rebellion others he accuse.

38.             He with a crew, whom like ambition joins

39.             With him or under him to tyrannize,

40.             Marching from Eden towards the west, shall find

41.             The plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge

42.             Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell:

43.             Of brick, and of that stuff, they cast to build

44.             A city and tower, whose top may reach to Heaven;

45.             And get themselves a name; lest, far dispersed

46.             In foreign lands, their memory be lost;

47.             Regardless whether good or evil fame.

48.             But God, who oft descends to visit men

49.             Unseen, and through their habitations walks

50.             To mark their doings, them beholding soon,

51.             Comes down to see their city, ere the tower

52.             Obstruct Heaven-towers, and in derision sets

53.             Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase

54.             Quite out their native language; and, instead,

55.             To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:

56.             Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud,

57.             Among the builders; each to other calls

58.             Not understood; till hoarse, and all in rage,

59.             As mocked they storm: great laughter was in Heaven,

60.             And looking down, to see the hubbub strange,

61.             And hear the din: Thus was the building left

62.             Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named.

63.             Whereto thus Adam, fatherly displeased.

64.             O execrable son! so to aspire

65.             Above his brethren; to himself assuming

66.             Authority usurped, from God not given:

67.             He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,

68.             Dominion absolute; that right we hold

69.             By his donation; but man over men

70.             He made not lord; such title to himself

71.             Reserving, human left from human free.

72.             But this usurper his encroachment proud

73.             Stays not on Man; to God his tower intends

74.             Siege and defiance: Wretched man!what food

75.             Will he convey up thither, to sustain

76.             Himself and his rash army; where thin air

77.             Above the clouds will pine his entrails gross,

78.             And famish him of breath, if not of bread?

79.             To whom thus Michael. Justly thou abhorrest

80.             That son, who on the quiet state of men

81.             Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue

82.             Rational liberty; yet know withal,

83.             Since thy original lapse, true liberty

84.             Is lost, which always with right reason dwells

85.             Twinned, and from her hath no dividual being:

86.             Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed,

87.             Immediately inordinate desires,

88.             And upstart passions, catch the government

89.             From reason; and to servitude reduce

90.             Man, till then free. Therefore, since he permits

91.             Within himself unworthy powers to reign

92.             Over free reason, God, in judgement just,

93.             Subjects him from without to violent lords;

94.             Who oft as undeservedly enthrall

95.             His outward freedom: Tyranny must be;

96.             Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.

97.             Yet sometimes nations will decline so low

98.             From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,

99.             But justice, and some fatal curse annexed,

100.        Deprives them of their outward liberty;

101.        Their inward lost: Witness the irreverent son

102.        Of him who built the ark; who, for the shame

103.        Done to his father, heard this heavy curse,

104.        Servant of servants, on his vicious race.

105.        Thus will this latter, as the former world,

106.        Still tend from bad to worse; till God at last,

107.        Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw

108.        His presence from among them, and avert

109.        His holy eyes; resolving from thenceforth

110.        To leave them to their own polluted ways;

111.        And one peculiar nation to select

112.        From all the rest, of whom to be invoked,

113.        A nation from one faithful man to spring:

114.        Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,

115.        Bred up in idol-worship: O, that men

116.        (Canst thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,

117.        While yet the patriarch lived, who ’scaped the flood,

118.        As to forsake the living God, and fall

119.        To worship their own work in wood and stone

120.        For Gods! Yet him God the Most High vouchsafes

121.        To call by vision, from his father’s house,

122.        His kindred, and false Gods, into a land

123.        Which he will show him; and from him will raise

124.        A mighty nation; and upon him shower

125.        His benediction so, that in his seed

126.        All nations shall be blest: he straight obeys;

127.        Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes:

128.        I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith

129.        He leaves his Gods, his friends, and native soil,

130.        Ur of Chaldaea, passing now the ford

131.        To Haran; after him a cumbrous train

132.        Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude;

133.        Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth

134.        With God, who called him, in a land unknown.

135.        Canaan he now attains; I see his tents

136.        Pitched about Sechem, and the neighbouring plain

137.        Of Moreh; there by promise he receives

138.        Gift to his progeny of all that land,

139.        From Hameth northward to the Desart south;

140.        (Things by their names I call, though yet unnamed;)

141.        From Hermon east to the great western Sea;

142.        Mount Hermon, yonder sea; each place behold

143.        In prospect, as I point them; on the shore

144.        Mount Carmel; here, the double-founted stream,

145.        Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons

146.        Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.

147.        This ponder, that all nations of the earth

148.        Shall in his seed be blessed: By that seed

149.        Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruise

150.        The Serpent’s head; whereof to thee anon

151.        Plainlier shall be revealed. This patriarch blest,

152.        Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call,

153.        A son, and of his son a grand-child, leaves;

154.        Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown:

155.        The grandchild, with twelve sons increased, departs

156.        From Canaan to a land hereafter called

157.        Egypt, divided by the river Nile

158.        See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths

159.        Into the sea. To sojourn in that land

160.        He comes, invited by a younger son

161.        In time of dearth, a son whose worthy deeds

162.        Raise him to be the second in that realm

163.        Of Pharaoh. There he dies, and leaves his race

164.        Growing into a nation, and now grown

165.        Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks

166.        To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests

167.        Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves

168.        Inhospitably, and kills their infant males:

169.        Till by two brethren (these two brethren call

170.        Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim

171.        His people from enthralment, they return,

172.        With glory and spoil, back to their promised land.

173.        But first, the lawless tyrant, who denies

174.        To know their God, or message to regard,

175.        Must be compelled by signs and judgements dire;

176.        To blood unshed the rivers must be turned;

177.        Frogs, lice, and flies, must all his palace fill

178.        With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land;

179.        His cattle must of rot and murren die;

180.        Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss,

181.        And all his people; thunder mixed with hail,

182.        Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptians sky,

183.        And wheel on the earth, devouring where it rolls;

184.        What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,

185.        A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down

186.        Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green;

187.        Darkness must overshadow all his bounds,

188.        Palpable darkness, and blot out three days;

189.        Last, with one midnight stroke, all the first-born

190.        Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten wounds

191.        The River-dragon tamed at length submits

192.        To let his sojourners depart, and oft

193.        Humbles his stubborn heart; but still, as ice

194.        More hardened after thaw; till, in his rage

195.        Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea

196.        Swallows him with his host; but them lets pass,

197.        As on dry land, between two crystal walls;

198.        Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand

199.        Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:

200.        Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend,

201.        Though present in his Angel; who shall go

202.        Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire;

203.        By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire;

204.        To guide them in their journey, and remove

205.        Behind them, while the obdurate king pursues:

206.        All night he will pursue; but his approach

207.        Darkness defends between till morning watch;

208.        Then through the fiery pillar, and the cloud,

209.        God looking forth will trouble all his host,

210.        And craze their chariot-wheels: when by command

211.        Moses once more his potent rod extends

212.        Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys;

213.        On their embattled ranks the waves return,

214.        And overwhelm their war: The race elect

215.        Safe toward Canaan from the shore advance

216.        Through the wild Desart, not the readiest way;

217.        Lest, entering on the Canaanite alarmed,

218.        War terrify them inexpert, and fear

219.        Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather

220.        Inglorious life with servitude; for life

221.        To noble and ignoble is more sweet

222.        Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.

223.        This also shall they gain by their delay

224.        In the wide wilderness; there they shall found

225.        Their government, and their great senate choose

226.        Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordained:

227.        God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top

228.        Shall tremble, he descending, will himself

229.        In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets’ sound,

230.        Ordain them laws; part, such as appertain

231.        To civil justice; part, religious rites

232.        Of sacrifice; informing them, by types

233.        And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise

234.        The Serpent, by what means he shall achieve

235.        Mankind’s deliverance. But the voice of God

236.        To mortal ear is dreadful: They beseech

237.        That Moses might report to them his will,

238.        And terrour cease; he grants what they besought,

239.        Instructed that to God is no access

240.        Without Mediator, whose high office now

241.        Moses in figure bears; to introduce

242.        One greater, of whose day he shall foretel,

243.        And all the Prophets in their age the times

244.        Of great Messiah shall sing. Thus, laws and rites

245.        Established, such delight hath God in Men

246.        Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes

247.        Among them to set up his tabernacle;

248.        The Holy One with mortal Men to dwell:

249.        By his prescript a sanctuary is framed

250.        Of cedar, overlaid with gold; therein

251.        An ark, and in the ark his testimony,

252.        The records of his covenant; over these

253.        A mercy-seat of gold, between the wings

254.        Of two bright Cherubim; before him burn

255.        Seven lamps as in a zodiack representing

256.        The heavenly fires; over the tent a cloud

257.        Shall rest by day, a fiery gleam by night;

258.        Save when they journey, and at length they come,

259.        Conducted by his Angel, to the land

260.        Promised to Abraham and his seed: the rest

261.        Were long to tell; how many battles fought

262.        How many kings destroyed; and kingdoms won;

263.        Or how the sun shall in mid Heaven stand still

264.        A day entire, and night’s due course adjourn,

265.        Man’s voice commanding, ’Sun, in Gibeon stand,

266.        ’And thou moon in the vale of Aialon,

267.        ’Till Israel overcome! so call the third

268.        From Abraham, son of Isaac; and from him

269.        His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.

270.        Here Adam interposed. O sent from Heaven,

271.        Enlightener of my darkness, gracious things

272.        Thou hast revealed; those chiefly, which concern

273.        Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find

274.        Mine eyes true-opening, and my heart much eased;

275.        Erewhile perplexed with thoughts, what would become

276.        Of me and all mankind: But now I see

277.        His day, in whom all nations shall be blest;

278.        Favour unmerited by me, who sought

279.        Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.

280.        This yet I apprehend not, why to those

281.        Among whom God will deign to dwell on earth

282.        So many and so various laws are given;

283.        So many laws argue so many sins

284.        Among them; how can God with such reside?

285.        To whom thus Michael. Doubt not but that sin

286.        Will reign among them, as of thee begot;

287.        And therefore was law given them, to evince

288.        Their natural pravity, by stirring up

289.        Sin against law to fight: that when they see

290.        Law can discover sin, but not remove,

291.        Save by those shadowy expiations weak,

292.        The blood of bulls and goats, they may conclude

293.        Some blood more precious must be paid for Man;

294.        Just for unjust; that, in such righteousness

295.        To them by faith imputed, they may find

296.        Justification towards God, and peace

297.        Of conscience; which the law by ceremonies

298.        Cannot appease; nor Man the mortal part

299.        Perform; and, not performing, cannot live.

300.        So law appears imperfect; and but given

301.        With purpose to resign them, in full time,

302.        Up to a better covenant; disciplined

303.        From shadowy types to truth; from flesh to spirit;

304.        From imposition of strict laws to free

305.        Acceptance of large grace; from servile fear

306.        To filial; works of law to works of faith.

307.        And therefore shall not Moses, though of God

308.        Highly beloved, being but the minister

309.        Of law, his people into Canaan lead;

310.        But Joshua, whom the Gentiles Jesus call,

311.        His name and office bearing, who shall quell

312.        The adversary-Serpent, and bring back

313.        Through the world’s wilderness long-wandered Man

314.        Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.

315.        Mean while they, in their earthly Canaan placed,

316.        Long time shall dwell and prosper, but when sins

317.        National interrupt their publick peace,

318.        Provoking God to raise them enemies;

319.        From whom as oft he saves them penitent

320.        By Judges first, then under Kings; of whom

321.        The second, both for piety renowned

322.        And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive

323.        Irrevocable, that his regal throne

324.        For ever shall endure; the like shall sing

325.        All Prophecy, that of the royal stock

326.        Of David (so I name this king) shall rise

327.        A Son, the Woman’s seed to thee foretold,

328.        Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust

329.        All nations; and to kings foretold, of kings

330.        The last; for of his reign shall be no end.

331.        But first, a long succession must ensue;

332.        And his next son, for wealth and wisdom famed,

333.        The clouded ark of God, till then in tents

334.        Wandering, shall in a glorious temple enshrine.

335.        Such follow him, as shall be registered

336.        Part good, part bad; of bad the longer scroll;

337.        Whose foul idolatries, and other faults

338.        Heaped to the popular sum, will so incense

339.        God, as to leave them, and expose their land,

340.        Their city, his temple, and his holy ark,

341.        With all his sacred things, a scorn and prey

342.        To that proud city, whose high walls thou sawest

343.        Left in confusion; Babylon thence called.

344.        There in captivity he lets them dwell

345.        The space of seventy years; then brings them back,

346.        Remembering mercy, and his covenant sworn

347.        To David, stablished as the days of Heaven.

348.        Returned from Babylon by leave of kings

349.        Their lords, whom God disposed, the house of God

350.        They first re-edify; and for a while

351.        In mean estate live moderate; till, grown

352.        In wealth and multitude, factious they grow;

353.        But first among the priests dissention springs,

354.        Men who attend the altar, and should most

355.        Endeavour peace: their strife pollution brings

356.        Upon the temple itself: at last they seise

357.        The scepter, and regard not David’s sons;

358.        Then lose it to a stranger, that the true

359.        Anointed King Messiah might be born

360.        Barred of his right; yet at his birth a star,

361.        Unseen before in Heaven, proclaims him come;

362.        And guides the eastern sages, who inquire

363.        His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold:

364.        His place of birth a solemn Angel tells

365.        To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;

366.        They gladly thither haste, and by a quire

367.        Of squadroned Angels hear his carol sung.

368.        A virgin is his mother, but his sire

369.        The power of the Most High: He shall ascend

370.        The throne hereditary, and bound his reign

371.        With Earth’s wide bounds, his glory with the Heavens.

372.        He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy

373.        Surcharged, as had like grief been dewed in tears,

374.        Without the vent of words; which these he breathed.

375.        O prophet of glad tidings, finisher

376.        Of utmost hope! now clear I understand

377.        What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain;

378.        Why our great Expectation should be called

379.        The seed of Woman: Virgin Mother, hail,

380.        High in the love of Heaven; yet from my loins

381.        Thou shalt proceed, and from thy womb the Son

382.        Of God Most High: so God with Man unites!

383.        Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise

384.        Expect with mortal pain: Say where and when

385.        Their fight, what stroke shall bruise the victor’s heel.

386.        To whom thus Michael. Dream not of their fight,

387.        As of a duel, or the local wounds

388.        Of head or heel: Not therefore joins the Son

389.        Manhood to Godhead, with more strength to foil

390.        Thy enemy; nor so is overcome

391.        Satan, whose fall from Heaven, a deadlier bruise,

392.        Disabled, not to give thee thy death’s wound:

393.        Which he, who comes thy Saviour, shall recure,

394.        Not by destroying Satan, but his works

395.        In thee, and in thy seed: Nor can this be,

396.        But by fulfilling that which thou didst want,

397.        Obedience to the law of God, imposed

398.        On penalty of death, and suffering death;

399.        The penalty to thy transgression due,

400.        And due to theirs which out of thine will grow:

401.        So only can high Justice rest appaid.

402.        The law of God exact he shall fulfil

403.        Both by obedience and by love, though love

404.        Alone fulfil the law; thy punishment

405.        He shall endure, by coming in the flesh

406.        To a reproachful life, and cursed death;

407.        Proclaiming life to all who shall believe

408.        In his redemption; and that his obedience,

409.        Imputed, becomes theirs by faith; his merits

410.        To save them, not their own, though legal, works.

411.        For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,

412.        Seised on by force, judged, and to death condemned

413.        A shameful and accursed, nailed to the cross

414.        By his own nation; slain for bringing life:

415.        But to the cross he nails thy enemies,

416.        The law that is against thee, and the sins

417.        Of all mankind, with him there crucified,

418.        Never to hurt them more who rightly trust

419.        In this his satisfaction; so he dies,

420.        But soon revives; Death over him no power

421.        Shall long usurp; ere the third dawning light

422.        Return, the stars of morn shall see him rise

423.        Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light,

424.        Thy ransom paid, which Man from death redeems,

425.        His death for Man, as many as offered life

426.        Neglect not, and the benefit embrace

427.        By faith not void of works: This God-like act

428.        Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldest have died,

429.        In sin for ever lost from life; this act

430.        Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength,

431.        Defeating Sin and Death, his two main arms;

432.        And fix far deeper in his head their stings

433.        Than temporal death shall bruise the victor’s heel,

434.        Or theirs whom he redeems; a death, like sleep,

435.        A gentle wafting to immortal life.

436.        Nor after resurrection shall he stay

437.        Longer on earth, than certain times to appear

438.        To his disciples, men who in his life

439.        Still followed him; to them shall leave in charge

440.        To teach all nations what of him they learned

441.        And his salvation; them who shall believe

442.        Baptizing in the profluent stream, the sign

443.        Of washing them from guilt of sin to life

444.        Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befall,

445.        For death, like that which the Redeemer died.

446.        All nations they shall teach; for, from that day,

447.        Not only to the sons of Abraham’s loins

448.        Salvation shall be preached, but to the sons

449.        Of Abraham’s faith wherever through the world;

450.        So in his seed all nations shall be blest.

451.        Then to the Heaven of Heavens he shall ascend

452.        With victory, triumphing through the air

453.        Over his foes and thine; there shall surprise

454.        The Serpent, prince of air, and drag in chains

455.        Through all his realm, and there confounded leave;

456.        Then enter into glory, and resume

457.        His seat at God’s right hand, exalted high

458.        Above all names in Heaven; and thence shall come,

459.        When this world’s dissolution shall be ripe,

460.        With glory and power to judge both quick and dead;

461.        To judge the unfaithful dead, but to reward

462.        His faithful, and receive them into bliss,

463.        Whether in Heaven or Earth; for then the Earth

464.        Shall all be Paradise, far happier place

465.        Than this of Eden, and far happier days.

466.        So spake the Arch-Angel Michael; then paused,

467.        As at the world’s great period; and our sire,

468.        Replete with joy and wonder, thus replied.

469.        O Goodness infinite, Goodness immense!

470.        That all this good of evil shall produce,

471.        And evil turn to good; more wonderful

472.        Than that which by creation first brought forth

473.        Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,

474.        Whether I should repent me now of sin

475.        By me done, and occasioned; or rejoice

476.        Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring;

477.        To God more glory, more good-will to Men

478.        From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.

479.        But say, if our Deliverer up to Heaven

480.        Must re-ascend, what will betide the few

481.        His faithful, left among the unfaithful herd,

482.        The enemies of truth? Who then shall guide

483.        His people, who defend? Will they not deal

484.        Worse with his followers than with him they dealt?

485.        Be sure they will, said the Angel; but from Heaven

486.        He to his own a Comforter will send,

487.        The promise of the Father, who shall dwell

488.        His Spirit within them; and the law of faith,

489.        Working through love, upon their hearts shall write,

490.        To guide them in all truth; and also arm

491.        With spiritual armour, able to resist

492.        Satan’s assaults, and quench his fiery darts;

493.        What man can do against them, not afraid,

494.        Though to the death; against such cruelties

495.        With inward consolations recompensed,

496.        And oft supported so as shall amaze

497.        Their proudest persecutors: For the Spirit,

498.        Poured first on his Apostles, whom he sends

499.        To evangelize the nations, then on all

500.        Baptized, shall them with wonderous gifts endue

501.        To speak all tongues, and do all miracles,

502.        As did their Lord before them. Thus they win

503.        Great numbers of each nation to receive

504.        With joy the tidings brought from Heaven: At length

505.        Their ministry performed, and race well run,

506.        Their doctrine and their story written left,

507.        They die; but in their room, as they forewarn,

508.        Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves,

509.        Who all the sacred mysteries of Heaven

510.        To their own vile advantages shall turn

511.        Of lucre and ambition; and the truth

512.        With superstitions and traditions taint,

513.        Left only in those written records pure,

514.        Though not but by the Spirit understood.

515.        Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names,

516.        Places, and titles, and with these to join

517.        Secular power; though feigning still to act

518.        By spiritual, to themselves appropriating

519.        The Spirit of God, promised alike and given

520.        To all believers; and, from that pretence,

521.        Spiritual laws by carnal power shall force

522.        On every conscience; laws which none shall find

523.        Left them inrolled, or what the Spirit within

524.        Shall on the heart engrave. What will they then

525.        But force the Spirit of Grace itself, and bind

526.        His consort Liberty; what, but unbuild

527.        His living Temples, built by Faith to stand,

528.        Their own faith, not another’s? for, on earth,

529.        Who against faith and conscience can be heard

530.        Infallible? yet many will presume:

531.        Whence heavy persecution shall arise

532.        On all, who in the worship persevere

533.        Of spirit and truth; the rest, far greater part,

534.        Will deem in outward rites and specious forms

535.        Religion satisfied; Truth shall retire

536.        Bestuck with slanderous darts, and works of faith

537.        Rarely be found: So shall the world go on,

538.        To good malignant, to bad men benign;

539.        Under her own weight groaning; till the day

540.        Appear of respiration to the just,

541.        And vengeance to the wicked, at return

542.        Of him so lately promised to thy aid,

543.        The Woman’s Seed; obscurely then foretold,

544.        Now ampler known thy Saviour and thy Lord;

545.        Last, in the clouds, from Heaven to be revealed

546.        In glory of the Father, to dissolve

547.        Satan with his perverted world; then raise

548.        From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined,

549.        New Heavens, new Earth, ages of endless date,

550.        Founded in righteousness, and peace, and love;

551.        To bring forth fruits, joy and eternal bliss.

552.        He ended; and thus Adam last replied.

553.        How soon hath thy prediction, Seer blest,

554.        Measured this transient world, the race of time,

555.        Till time stand fixed! Beyond is all abyss,

556.        Eternity, whose end no eye can reach.

557.        Greatly-instructed I shall hence depart;

558.        Greatly in peace of thought; and have my fill

559.        Of knowledge, what this vessel can contain;

560.        Beyond which was my folly to aspire.

561.        Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best,

562.        And love with fear the only God; to walk

563.        As in his presence; ever to observe

564.        His providence; and on him sole depend,

565.        Merciful over all his works, with good

566.        Still overcoming evil, and by small

567.        Accomplishing great things, by things deemed weak

568.        Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise

569.        By simply meek: that suffering for truth’s sake

570.        Is fortitude to highest victory,

571.        And, to the faithful, death the gate of life;

572.        Taught this by his example, whom I now

573.        Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest.

574.        To whom thus also the Angel last replied.

575.        This having learned, thou hast attained the sum

576.        Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars

577.        Thou knewest by name, and all the ethereal powers,

578.        All secrets of the deep, all Nature’s works,

579.        Or works of God in Heaven, air, earth, or sea,

580.        And all the riches of this world enjoyedst,

581.        And all the rule, one empire; only add

582.        Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith,

583.        Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love,

584.        By name to come called charity, the soul

585.        Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loth

586.        To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess

587.        A Paradise within thee, happier far.

588.        Let us descend now therefore from this top

589.        Of speculation; for the hour precise

590.        Exacts our parting hence; and see the Guards,

591.        By me encamped on yonder hill, expect

592.        Their motion; at whose front a flaming sword,

593.        In signal of remove, waves fiercely round:

594.        We may no longer stay: go, waken Eve;

595.        Her also I with gentle dreams have calmed

596.        Portending good, and all her spirits composed

597.        To meek submission: thou, at season fit,

598.        Let her with thee partake what thou hast heard;

599.        Chiefly what may concern her faith to know,

600.        The great deliverance by her seed to come

601.        (For by the Woman’s seed) on all mankind:

602.        That ye may live, which will be many days,

603.        Both in one faith unanimous, though sad,

604.        With cause, for evils past; yet much more cheered

605.        With meditation on the happy end.

606.        He ended, and they both descend the hill;

607.        Descended, Adam to the bower, where Eve

608.        Lay sleeping, ran before; but found her waked;

609.        And thus with words not sad she him received.

610.        Whence thou returnest, and whither wentest, I know;

611.        For God is also in sleep; and dreams advise,

612.        Which he hath sent propitious, some great good

613.        Presaging, since with sorrow and heart’s distress

614.        Wearied I fell asleep: But now lead on;

615.        In me is no delay; with thee to go,

616.        Is to stay here; without thee here to stay,

617.        Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me

618.        Art all things under Heaven, all places thou,

619.        Who for my wilful crime art banished hence.

620.        This further consolation yet secure

621.        I carry hence; though all by me is lost,

622.        Such favour I unworthy am vouchsafed,

623.        By me the Promised Seed shall all restore.

624.        So spake our mother Eve; and Adam heard

625.        Well pleased, but answered not: For now, too nigh

626.        The Arch-Angel stood; and, from the other hill

627.        To their fixed station, all in bright array

628.        The Cherubim descended; on the ground

629.        Gliding meteorous, as evening-mist

630.        Risen from a river o’er the marish glides,

631.        And gathers ground fast at the labourer’s heel

632.        Homeward returning. High in front advanced,

633.        The brandished sword of God before them blazed,

634.        Fierce as a comet; which with torrid heat,

635.        And vapour as the Libyan air adust,

636.        Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat

637.        In either hand the hastening Angel caught

638.        Our lingering parents, and to the eastern gate

639.        Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast

640.        To the subjected plain; then disappeared.

641.        They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld

642.        Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,

643.        Waved over by that flaming brand; the gate

644.        With dreadful faces thronged, and fiery arms:

645.        Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon;

646.        The World was all before them, where to choose

647.        Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:

648.        They, hand in hand, with wand’ring steps and slow,

649.        Through Eden took their solitary way.

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