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Invests him coming; yet not terrible,

That I fhould fear; nor fociably mild,
As Raphaël, that I fhould much confide;
But folemn and fublime, whom not to' offend,
With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.

He ended; and th' archangel foon drew nigh,
Not in his shape celestial, but as man
Clad to meet man; over his lucid arms
A military veft of purple flow'd,
Livelier than Melibean, or the grain.

Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old
In time of truce; Iris had dipp'd the woof;
His ftarry helm unbuckled fhow'd him prime
In manhood, where youth ended; by his fide,
As in a glift'ring zodiac, hung the fword,
Satan's dire dread, and in his hand the fpear.
Adam bow'd low; he kingly from his state
Inclin'd not, but his coming thus declare'd.

Adam, Heaven's high behest no preface needs:
Sufficient that thy prayers are heard, and death,
Then due by fentence when thou didft tranfgrefs,
Defeated of his feizure many days

Giv'n thee of grace, wherein thou mayst repent,
And one bad act with many deeds well done.
Mayft cover well may then thy Lord appeas'd
Redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim;
But longer in this Paradife to dwell

Permits not; to remove thee I am come,
And fend thee from the garden forth to till
The ground whence thou waft taken, fitter foil.
He added not; for Adam at the news
Heart-ftruck with chilling gripe of forrow flood,.
That all his fenfes bound: Eve, who unfeen
Yet all had heard, with audible lament
Discover'd foon the place of her retire.

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O unexpected ftroke, worse than of death! Muft I thus leave thee, Paradife! thus leave

Thee, native foil, thefe happy walks and fhades, 270
Fit haunt of gods! where I had hope to spend,
Quiet though fad, the refpite of that day
That must be mortal to us both? O flowers,
That never will in other climate grow,
My early vifitation, and my last

At ev'n, which I bred up with tender hand
From the first op'ning bud, and gave ye names,
Who now shall rear ye to the fun, or rank
Your tribes, and water from th' ambrofial fount?
Thee laftly, nuptial bower, by me adorn'd
With what to fight or fmell was sweet, from thee
How fhall I part, and whither wander down

Into a lower world, to this obscure

And wild? how fhall we breathe in other air

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Lefs pure, accuftom'd to immortal fruits?

Whom thus the angel interrupted mild.

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Lament not, Eve, but patiently refign
What juftly thou haft lot; nor fet thy heart,
Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine.
Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes

Thy husband; him to follow thou art bound ;
Where he abides, think there thy native foil.
Adam by this from the cold fudden damp›››
Recovering, and his fcatter'd fpi'rits return'd,
To Michael thus his humble words addrefs'd.

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Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or nam'd
Of them the high'eft, for fuch of fhape may feem
Prince above princes, gently haft thou told
Thy meffage, which might elfe in telling wound,
And in performing end us; what befides
Of forrow, and dejection, and despair,
Our frailty can fuftain, thy tidings bring

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Departure from this happy place, our fweet

Recefs, and only confolation left

Familiar to our eyes; all places else

Inhofpitable' appear and defolate,

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Nor knowing us nor known: and if by prayer
Inceffant I could hope to change the will
Of him who all things can, I would not cease
To weary him with my affiduous cries:
But prayer against his absolute decree-
No more avails than breath against the wind,
Blown ftifling back on him that breathes it forth:
Therefore to his great bidding.I fubmit.
This most afflicts me, that departing hence,
As from his face I fhall be hid, depriv'd
His bleffed count'nance; here I could frequent
With worship place by place where he vouchfaf'd
Prefence divine, and to my fons relate,

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On this mount he appear'd; under this tree
Stood vifible, among thefe pinés his voice.

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I heard, here with him at this fountain talk'd:

So many grateful altars I would rear

Öf graffy turf, and pile up every stone

Of luftre from the brook, in memory,

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Or monument to ages, and thereon

Offer sweet smelling gums, and fruits, and flowers:
In yonder nether world where fhall I feek.
His bright appearances, or footstep trace?
For though I fled him angry, yet recall'd
To life prolong'd and promis'd race, I now
Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts
Of glory, and far off his steps adore.

To whom thus Michael with regard benign.
Adam, thou know'ft heaven his, and all the earth,
Not this rock only'; his omniprefence fills
Land, fea, and air, and every kind that lives,

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Fomented by his virtual power and warm'd:

All th' earth he gave thee to possess and rule,
No defpicable gift; furmife not then

His prefence to these narrow bounds confin'd

Of Paradife or Eden: this had been,

Perhaps, thy capital feat, from whence had spread

All generations, and had hither come

From all ends of the earth, to celebrate

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And reverence thee their great progenitor.

But this preeminence thou' haft loft, brought down
To dwell on even ground now with thy fons :
Yet doubt not but in valley and in plain
God is as here, and will be found alike
Prefent, and of his prefence many a fign
Still following thee, ftill compaffing thee round
With goodness and paternal love, his face.
Exprefs, and of his fteps the track divine.

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Which that thou mayst believe, and be confirm'd 355
Ere thou from hence depart, know I am fent
To show thee what shall come in future days
To thee and to thy offspring; good with bad.
Expect to hear, fupernal grace contending
With finfulness of men; thereby to learn
True patience, and to temper joy with fear

And pious forrow, equally inur'd

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By moderation either ftate to bear,
Profperous or adverfe: fo fhalt thou lead
Safeit thy life, and best prepar'd endure
Thy mortal paffage when it comes. Afcend
This hill; let Eve (for I have drench'd her eyes)
Here fleep below, while thou to forefight wake'lt;
As once thou flept'ft, while fhe to life was form'd.
To whom thus Adam gratefully reply'd.
Afcend, I follow thee, fafe guide, the path
Thou lead'it me', and to the hand of heaven fubmit,

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However chaft'ning, to the evil turn

My obvious breast, arming to overcome

By fuffering, and earn reft from labour won,
If fo I may attain. So both afcend

In the vifions of God. It was a hill
Of Paradife the higheft, from whose top:
The hemifphere of earth in clearest ken

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Stretch'd out to th' ampleft reach of profpect lay. 386.
Not high'er that hill, nor wider looking round,
Whereon for different cause the tempter fet.
Our fecond Adam in the wildernefs,

To show him all earth's kingdoms, and their glory'.

His eye might there command wherever stood

City of cld or modern fame, the feat

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Of mightiest empire, from the deftin'd walls
Of Cambula, feat of Cathaian Can,.
And Samarchand by Oxus, Temir's throne,
To Paquin of Sinean kings, and thence
To Agra and Lahor of great Mogul,
Down to the golden Cherfonefe, or where
The Perfian in Ecbatan fat, or fince

In Ifpahan, or where the Ruffian Czar
In Mofco, or the Sultan in Bizance,
Turcheftan-born; nor could his eye not ken
Th' empire of Negus to his utmost port
Ercoco, and the less maritime kings,
Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,
And Sofala thought Ophir, to the realm
Of Congo, and Angola farthest south;
Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount,
The kingdoms of Almanzor, Fez and Suez,
Morocco and Algiers, and Trebifond;

On Europe thence, and where Rome was to fway
The world in fpi'rit perhaps he alfo faw

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Rich Mexico the feat of Montezume,

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