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Book XII
As one who in his journey bates at noon,
Though
bent on speed; so here the Arch-Angel paused
Betwixt
the world destroyed and world restored,
If Adam
aught perhaps might interpose;
Then, with transition
sweet, new speech resumes.
Thus thou hast seen one
world begin, and end;
And Man, as from a second
stock, proceed.
Much thou hast yet to see; but I
perceive
Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine
Must needs impair and weary human sense:
Henceforth what is to come I will relate;
Thou
therefore give due audience, and attend.
This second
source of Men, while yet but few,
And while the
dread of judgement past remains
Fresh in their
minds, fearing the Deity,
With some regard to what
is just and right
Shall lead their lives, and
multiply apace;
Labouring the soil, and reaping
plenteous crop,
Corn, wine, and oil; and, from the
herd or flock,
Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or
kid,
With large wine-offerings poured, and sacred
feast,
Shall spend their days in joy unblamed; and
dwell
Long time in peace, by families and tribes,
Under paternal rule: till one shall rise
Of
proud ambitious heart; who, not content
With fair
equality, fraternal state,
Will arrogate dominion
undeserved
Over his brethren, and quite dispossess
Concord and law of nature from the earth;
Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)
With
war, and hostile snare, such as refuse
Subjection to
his empire tyrannous:
A mighty hunter thence he
shall be styled
Before the Lord; as in despite of
Heaven,
Or from Heaven, claiming second sovranty;
And from rebellion shall derive his name,
Though
of rebellion others he accuse.
He with a crew, whom
like ambition joins
With him or under him to
tyrannize,
Marching from Eden towards the west,
shall find
The plain, wherein a black bituminous
gurge
Boils out from under ground, the mouth of
Hell:
Of brick, and of that stuff, they cast to
build
A city and tower, whose top may reach to
Heaven;
And get themselves a name; lest, far
dispersed
In foreign lands, their memory be lost;
Regardless whether good or evil fame.
But God,
who oft descends to visit men
Unseen, and through
their habitations walks
To mark their doings, them
beholding soon,
Comes down to see their city, ere
the tower
Obstruct Heaven-towers, and in derision
sets
Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase
Quite out their native language; and, instead,
To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:
Forthwith
a hideous gabble rises loud,
Among the builders;
each to other calls
Not understood; till hoarse, and
all in rage,
As mocked they storm: great laughter
was in Heaven,
And looking down, to see the hubbub
strange,
And hear the din: Thus was the building
left
Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named.
Whereto thus Adam, fatherly displeased.
O execrable
son! so to aspire
Above his brethren; to himself
assuming
Authority usurped, from God not given:
He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
Dominion
absolute; that right we hold
By his donation; but
man over men
He made not lord; such title to himself
Reserving, human left from human free.
But this
usurper his encroachment proud
Stays not on Man; to
God his tower intends
Siege and defiance: Wretched
man!what food
Will he convey up thither, to sustain
Himself and his rash army; where thin air
Above
the clouds will pine his entrails gross,
And famish
him of breath, if not of bread?
To whom thus
Michael. Justly thou abhorrest
That son, who on the
quiet state of men
Such trouble brought, affecting
to subdue
Rational liberty; yet know withal,
Since thy original lapse, true liberty
Is lost,
which always with right reason dwells
Twinned, and
from her hath no dividual being:
Reason in man
obscured, or not obeyed,
Immediately inordinate
desires,
And upstart passions, catch the government
From reason; and to servitude reduce
Man, till
then free. Therefore, since he permits
Within
himself unworthy powers to reign
Over free reason,
God, in judgement just,
Subjects him from without to
violent lords;
Who oft as undeservedly enthrall
His outward freedom: Tyranny must be;
Though to the
tyrant thereby no excuse.
Yet sometimes nations will
decline so low
From virtue, which is reason, that no
wrong,
But justice, and some fatal curse annexed,
Deprives them of their outward liberty;
Their
inward lost: Witness the irreverent son
Of him who
built the ark; who, for the shame
Done to his
father, heard this heavy curse,
Servant of servants,
on his vicious race.
Thus will this latter, as the
former world,
Still tend from bad to worse; till God
at last,
Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw
His presence from among them, and avert
His holy
eyes; resolving from thenceforth
To leave them to
their own polluted ways;
And one peculiar nation to
select
From all the rest, of whom to be invoked,
A nation from one faithful man to spring:
Him on
this side Euphrates yet residing,
Bred up in
idol-worship: O, that men
(Canst thou believe?)
should be so stupid grown,
While yet the patriarch
lived, who 'scaped the flood,
As to forsake the
living God, and fall
To worship their own work in
wood and stone
For Gods! Yet him God the Most High
vouchsafes
To call by vision, from his father's
house,
His kindred, and false Gods, into a land
Which he will show him; and from him will raise
A
mighty nation; and upon him shower
His benediction
so, that in his seed
All nations shall be blest: he
straight obeys;
Not knowing to what land, yet firm
believes:
I see him, but thou canst not, with what
faith
He leaves his Gods, his friends, and native
soil,
Ur of Chaldaea, passing now the ford
To
Haran; after him a cumbrous train
Of herds and
flocks, and numerous servitude;
Not wandering poor,
but trusting all his wealth
With God, who called
him, in a land unknown.
Canaan he now attains; I see
his tents
Pitched about Sechem, and the neighbouring
plain
Of Moreh; there by promise he receives
Gift to his progeny of all that land,
From Hameth
northward to the Desart south;
(Things by their
names I call, though yet unnamed;)
From Hermon east
to the great western Sea;
Mount Hermon, yonder sea;
each place behold
In prospect, as I point them; on
the shore
Mount Carmel; here, the double-founted
stream,
Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons
Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.
This ponder, that all nations of the earth
Shall in
his seed be blessed: By that seed
Is meant thy great
Deliverer, who shall bruise
The Serpent's head;
whereof to thee anon
Plainlier shall be revealed.
This patriarch blest,
Whom faithful Abraham due time
shall call,
A son, and of his son a grand-child,
leaves;
Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown:
The grandchild, with twelve sons increased, departs
From Canaan to a land hereafter called
Egypt,
divided by the river Nile
See where it flows,
disgorging at seven mouths
Into the sea. To sojourn
in that land
He comes, invited by a younger son
In time of dearth, a son whose worthy deeds
Raise
him to be the second in that realm
Of Pharaoh. There
he dies, and leaves his race
Growing into a nation,
and now grown
Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks
To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
Too
numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves
Inhospitably, and kills their infant males:
Till by
two brethren (these two brethren call
Moses and
Aaron) sent from God to claim
His people from
enthralment, they return,
With glory and spoil, back
to their promised land.
But first, the lawless
tyrant, who denies
To know their God, or message to
regard,
Must be compelled by signs and judgements
dire;
To blood unshed the rivers must be turned;
Frogs, lice, and flies, must all his palace fill
With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land;
His
cattle must of rot and murren die;
Botches and
blains must all his flesh emboss,
And all his
people; thunder mixed with hail,
Hail mixed with
fire, must rend the Egyptians sky,
And wheel on the
earth, devouring where it rolls;
What it devours
not, herb, or fruit, or grain,
A darksome cloud of
locusts swarming down
Must eat, and on the ground
leave nothing green;
Darkness must overshadow all
his bounds,
Palpable darkness, and blot out three
days;
Last, with one midnight stroke, all the
first-born
Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten
wounds
The river-dragon tamed at length submits
To let his sojourners depart, and oft
Humbles his
stubborn heart; but still, as ice
More hardened
after thaw; till, in his rage
Pursuing whom he late
dismissed, the sea
Swallows him with his host; but
them lets pass,
As on dry land, between two crystal
walls;
Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand
Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:
Such
wondrous power God to his saint will lend,
Though
present in his Angel; who shall go
Before them in a
cloud, and pillar of fire;
By day a cloud, by night
a pillar of fire;
To guide them in their journey,
and remove
Behind them, while the obdurate king
pursues:
All night he will pursue; but his approach
Darkness defends between till morning watch;
Then through the fiery pillar, and the cloud,
God
looking forth will trouble all his host,
And craze
their chariot-wheels: when by command
Moses once
more his potent rod extends
Over the sea; the sea
his rod obeys;
On their embattled ranks the waves
return,
And overwhelm their war: The race elect
Safe toward Canaan from the shore advance
Through
the wild Desart, not the readiest way;
Lest,
entering on the Canaanite alarmed,
War terrify them
inexpert, and fear
Return them back to Egypt,
choosing rather
Inglorious life with servitude; for
life
To noble and ignoble is more sweet
Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.
This
also shall they gain by their delay
In the wide
wilderness; there they shall found
Their government,
and their great senate choose
Through the twelve
tribes, to rule by laws ordained:
God from the mount
of Sinai, whose gray top
Shall tremble, he
descending, will himself
In thunder, lightning, and
loud trumpets' sound,
Ordain them laws; part, such
as appertain
To civil justice; part, religious rites
Of sacrifice; informing them, by types
And
shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise
The
Serpent, by what means he shall achieve
Mankind's
deliverance. But the voice of God
To mortal ear is
dreadful: They beseech
That Moses might report to
them his will,
And terrour cease; he grants what
they besought,
Instructed that to God is no access
Without Mediator, whose high office now
Moses in
figure bears; to introduce
One greater, of whose day
he shall foretel,
And all the Prophets in their age
the times
Of great Messiah shall sing. Thus, laws
and rites
Established, such delight hath God in Men
Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes
Among
them to set up his tabernacle;
The Holy One with
mortal Men to dwell:
By his prescript a sanctuary is
framed
Of cedar, overlaid with gold; therein
An
ark, and in the ark his testimony,
The records of
his covenant; over these
A mercy-seat of gold,
between the wings
Of two bright Cherubim; before him
burn
Seven lamps as in a zodiack representing
The heavenly fires; over the tent a cloud
Shall rest
by day, a fiery gleam by night;
Save when they
journey, and at length they come,
Conducted by his
Angel, to the land
Promised to Abraham and his
seed:--The rest
Were long to tell; how many battles
fought
How many kings destroyed; and kingdoms won;
Or how the sun shall in mid Heaven stand still
A
day entire, and night's due course adjourn,
Man's
voice commanding, 'Sun, in Gibeon stand,
'And thou
moon in the vale of Aialon,
'Till Israel overcome!
so call the third
From Abraham, son of Isaac; and
from him
His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan
win.
Here Adam interposed. O sent from Heaven,
Enlightener of my darkness, gracious things
Thou
hast revealed; those chiefly, which concern
Just
Abraham and his seed: now first I find
Mine eyes
true-opening, and my heart much eased;
Erewhile
perplexed with thoughts, what would become
Of me and
all mankind: But now I see
His day, in whom all
nations shall be blest;
Favour unmerited by me, who
sought
Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.
This yet I apprehend not, why to those
Among whom
God will deign to dwell on earth
So many and so
various laws are given;
So many laws argue so many
sins
Among them; how can God with such reside?
To whom thus Michael. Doubt not but that sin
Will
reign among them, as of thee begot;
And therefore
was law given them, to evince
Their natural pravity,
by stirring up
Sin against law to fight: that when
they see
Law can discover sin, but not remove,
Save by those shadowy expiations weak,
The blood of
bulls and goats, they may conclude
Some blood more
precious must be paid for Man;
Just for unjust;
that, in such righteousness
To them by faith
imputed, they may find
Justification towards God,
and peace
Of conscience; which the law by ceremonies
Cannot appease; nor Man the mortal part
Perform;
and, not performing, cannot live.
So law appears
imperfect; and but given
With purpose to resign
them, in full time,
Up to a better covenant;
disciplined
From shadowy types to truth; from flesh
to spirit;
From imposition of strict laws to free
Acceptance of large grace; from servile fear
To
filial; works of law to works of faith.
And
therefore shall not Moses, though of God
Highly
beloved, being but the minister
Of law, his people
into Canaan lead;
But Joshua, whom the Gentiles
Jesus call,
His name and office bearing, who shall
quell
The adversary-Serpent, and bring back
Through the world's wilderness long-wandered Man
Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.
Mean while they,
in their earthly Canaan placed,
Long time shall
dwell and prosper, but when sins
National interrupt
their publick peace,
Provoking God to raise them
enemies;
From whom as oft he saves them penitent
By Judges first, then under Kings; of whom
The
second, both for piety renowned
And puissant deeds,
a promise shall receive
Irrevocable, that his regal
throne
For ever shall endure; the like shall sing
All Prophecy, that of the royal stock
Of David
(so I name this king) shall rise
A Son, the Woman's
seed to thee foretold,
Foretold to Abraham, as in
whom shall trust
All nations; and to kings foretold,
of kings
The last; for of his reign shall be no end.
But first, a long succession must ensue;
And his
next son, for wealth and wisdom famed,
The clouded
ark of God, till then in tents
Wandering, shall in a
glorious temple enshrine.
Such follow him, as shall
be registered
Part good, part bad; of bad the longer
scroll;
Whose foul idolatries, and other faults
Heaped to the popular sum, will so incense
God, as
to leave them, and expose their land,
Their city,
his temple, and his holy ark,
With all his sacred
things, a scorn and prey
To that proud city, whose
high walls thou sawest
Left in confusion; Babylon
thence called.
There in captivity he lets them dwell
The space of seventy years; then brings them back,
Remembering mercy, and his covenant sworn
To
David, stablished as the days of Heaven.
Returned
from Babylon by leave of kings
Their lords, whom God
disposed, the house of God
They first re-edify; and
for a while
In mean estate live moderate; till,
grown
In wealth and multitude, factious they grow;
But first among the priests dissention springs,
Men who attend the altar, and should most
Endeavour
peace: their strife pollution brings
Upon the temple
itself: at last they seise
The scepter, and regard
not David's sons;
Then lose it to a stranger, that
the true
Anointed King Messiah might be born
Barred of his right; yet at his birth a star,
Unseen
before in Heaven, proclaims him come;
And guides the
eastern sages, who inquire
His place, to offer
incense, myrrh, and gold:
His place of birth a
solemn Angel tells
To simple shepherds, keeping
watch by night;
They gladly thither haste, and by a
quire
Of squadroned Angels hear his carol sung.
A virgin is his mother, but his sire
The power of
the Most High: He shall ascend
The throne
hereditary, and bound his reign
With Earth's wide
bounds, his glory with the Heavens.
He ceased,
discerning Adam with such joy
Surcharged, as had
like grief been dewed in tears,
Without the vent of
words; which these he breathed.
O prophet of glad
tidings, finisher
Of utmost hope! now clear I
understand
What oft my steadiest thoughts have
searched in vain;
Why our great Expectation should
be called
The seed of Woman: Virgin Mother, hail,
High in the love of Heaven; yet from my loins
Thou shalt proceed, and from thy womb the Son
Of God
Most High: so God with Man unites!
Needs must the
Serpent now his capital bruise
Expect with mortal
pain: Say where and when
Their fight, what stroke
shall bruise the victor's heel.
To whom thus
Michael. Dream not of their fight,
As of a duel, or
the local wounds
Of head or heel: Not therefore
joins the Son
Manhood to Godhead, with more strength
to foil
Thy enemy; nor so is overcome
Satan,
whose fall from Heaven, a deadlier bruise,
Disabled,
not to give thee thy death's wound:
Which he, who
comes thy Saviour, shall recure,
Not by destroying
Satan, but his works
In thee, and in thy seed: Nor
can this be,
But by fulfilling that which thou didst
want,
Obedience to the law of God, imposed
On
penalty of death, and suffering death;
The penalty
to thy transgression due,
And due to theirs which
out of thine will grow:
So only can high Justice
rest appaid.
The law of God exact he shall fulfil
Both by obedience and by love, though love
Alone
fulfil the law; thy punishment
He shall endure, by
coming in the flesh
To a reproachful life, and
cursed death;
Proclaiming life to all who shall
believe
In his redemption; and that his obedience,
Imputed, becomes theirs by faith; his merits
To
save them, not their own, though legal, works.
For
this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,
Seised on
by force, judged, and to death condemned
A shameful
and accursed, nailed to the cross
By his own nation;
slain for bringing life:
But to the cross he nails
thy enemies,
The law that is against thee, and the
sins
Of all mankind, with him there crucified,
Never to hurt them more who rightly trust
In this
his satisfaction; so he dies,
But soon revives;
Death over him no power
Shall long usurp; ere the
third dawning light
Return, the stars of morn shall
see him rise
Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning
light,
Thy ransom paid, which Man from death
redeems,
His death for Man, as many as offered life
Neglect not, and the benefit embrace
By faith
not void of works: This God-like act
Annuls thy
doom, the death thou shouldest have died,
In sin for
ever lost from life; this act
Shall bruise the head
of Satan, crush his strength,
Defeating Sin and
Death, his two main arms;
And fix far deeper in his
head their stings
Than temporal death shall bruise
the victor's heel,
Or theirs whom he redeems; a
death, like sleep,
A gentle wafting to immortal
life.
Nor after resurrection shall he stay
Longer on earth, than certain times to appear
To his
disciples, men who in his life
Still followed him;
to them shall leave in charge
To teach all nations
what of him they learned
And his salvation; them who
shall believe
Baptizing in the profluent stream, the
sign
Of washing them from guilt of sin to life
Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befall,
For death,
like that which the Redeemer died.
All nations they
shall teach; for, from that day,
Not only to the
sons of Abraham's loins
Salvation shall be preached,
but to the sons
Of Abraham's faith wherever through
the world;
So in his seed all nations shall be
blest.
Then to the Heaven of Heavens he shall ascend
With victory, triumphing through the air
Over
his foes and thine; there shall surprise
The
Serpent, prince of air, and drag in chains
Through
all his realm, and there confounded leave;
Then
enter into glory, and resume
His seat at God's right
hand, exalted high
Above all names in Heaven; and
thence shall come,
When this world's dissolution
shall be ripe,
With glory and power to judge both
quick and dead;
To judge the unfaithful dead, but to
reward
His faithful, and receive them into bliss,
Whether in Heaven or Earth; for then the Earth
Shall all be Paradise, far happier place
Than this
of Eden, and far happier days.
So spake the
Arch-Angel Michael; then paused,
As at the world's
great period; and our sire,
Replete with joy and
wonder, thus replied.
O Goodness infinite, Goodness
immense!
That all this good of evil shall produce,
And evil turn to good; more wonderful
Than that
which by creation first brought forth
Light out of
darkness! Full of doubt I stand,
Whether I should
repent me now of sin
By me done, and occasioned; or
rejoice
Much more, that much more good thereof shall
spring;
To God more glory, more good-will to Men
From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.
But
say, if our Deliverer up to Heaven
Must re-ascend,
what will betide the few
His faithful, left among
the unfaithful herd,
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?
Be sure they will, said the Angel; but from
Heaven
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,
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
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
Baptized, shall them with wonderous
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 Heaven: At length
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 Heaven
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.
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
given
To all believers; and, from that pretence,
Spiritual laws by carnal power shall force
On every
conscience; laws which none shall find
Left them
inrolled, or what the Spirit within
Shall on the
heart engrave. What will they then
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
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
Religion satisfied; Truth shall
retire
Bestuck with slanderous 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
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 ampler
known thy Saviour and thy Lord;
Last, in the clouds,
from Heaven 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 Heavens, new Earth, ages of endless date,
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,
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;
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,
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
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 the Angel last replied.
This having learned, thou hast attained the sum
Of
wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars
Thou
knewest by name, and all the ethereal powers,
All
secrets of the deep, all Nature's works,
Or works of
God in Heaven, air, earth, or sea,
And all the
riches of this world enjoyedst,
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
Of all the rest: then wilt thou
not be loth
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
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;
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,
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
With meditation on the happy
end.
He ended, and they both descend the hill;
Descended, Adam to the bower, where Eve
Lay
sleeping, ran before; but found her waked;
And thus
with words not sad she him received.
Whence thou
returnest, and whither wentest, 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;
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 Heaven, all places thou,
Who for my wilful
crime art banished hence.
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
Well pleased, but answered not:
For now, too nigh
The Arch-Angel stood; and, from
the other hill
To their fixed station, all in bright
array
The Cherubim descended; on the ground
Gliding meteorous, as evening-mist
Risen 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,
And vapour as the Libyan air adust,
Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat
In
either hand the hastening Angel caught
Our lingering
parents, and to the eastern gate
Led them direct,
and down the cliff as fast
To the subjected plain;
then disappeared.
They, looking back, all the
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:
Some
natural tears they dropt, 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 wandering steps and slow,
Through
Eden took their solitary way.
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