What man can do against them, not afraid,1 *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

495

Baptized, shall them with wondrous gifs endue *To speak all tongues, and do all miracies,

500

* As did their Lord before them. Thus they win

* Great numbers of each nation to receive

505

◄ With joy the things brought from Heaven: at length, * Their ministry performed, and race well run, "Their doctrine and their story written left

"They die: but in their recm, as they forewara,

* Wives shall succeed3 for teachers, grievous wolves,

* Who all the sacred mysteries of Heaven
To their own vile advantages shall turn
Or Cucre and ambition; and the truth
*With superstitions and traditions saint,
• Let only in those written records pure,

Though 30s, but by the Spirit, understood.*

510

• Then stail her seek to avail themselves of names, 515 ◄ Places and zules, and with neste v vin

* Secular power, though feigning still to aes

By spiritusi: to themselves appropriating
* Phe Spirit of God, promised auke, and given
Po sil beitevers; and, from that presence,
Spiritual laws by arnai power stail free
On overy onscience; laws which one shall ind3
Set dem auroiled, or what the Spirit within
Sul on the heart agrave. What will they shen,

520

"But force the Spirit of grace itself, and bind
“His consort Liberty?1 what but unbuild
“His living temples, built by faith to stand,
“Their own faith, not another's! for on Earth

525

“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

530

"Of spirit and truth;3 the rest (far greater part) "Will deem in outward rites and specious forms "Religion satisfied; truth shall retire

535

“ Bestruck 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,

540

"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;
“ Last, in the clouds,7 from Heaven to be revealed
"In glory of the Father, to dissolve

545

“Satan, with his perverted world; then raise
"From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined,
"New Heavens, new Earth, ages of endless date,

9

1 His consort Liberty?-2 Cor. iii. 17.

2 His living temples,-Compare 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 19; Ephes. ii. 21, 1 Pet. ii. 5.

22;

3 The worship. . . of spirit and truth,—alluding to John iv. 23, 24.

♦ Truth shall retire bestruck with slanderous darts, &c.—See 2 Pet. ii. 2; Luke xviii. 8; 1 Tim. iv. 1; James ii. 17; Matt. xxiv. 12.

5 Under her own weight groaning.-Rom. viii. 22. 6 The day of respiration, -called

iii. 19.

"the times of refreshing." Acts

7 Last, in the clouds, &c.-Matt. xxvi. 64; xvi. 27.

8 To dissolve Satan, with his perverted world.—In 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12, we are told that the earth and heavens that now are shall be dissolved; and Milton includes Satan with the doom of this world, of which he is called the god (2 Cor. iv. 4). His power and kingdom shall be dissolved, though not

his being.

9 New Heavens, new Earth, -2 Pet. iii. 13. Milton delights in this idea,

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,
"Till time stand fixed! Beyond is all abyss-
"Eternity, whose end no eye can reach.
"Greatly instructed I shall hence depart;

555

"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,1
"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

560

565

"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;1

570

"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 knewst by name, and all the ethereal Powers, "All secrets of the deep, all Nature's works,

575

and enlarges on it in various places in this poem: b. iii. 1. 333-338; x. 638, 639; xi. 65, 66; xii. 464-466. The reader interested in these views would do well to read a sermon on the above text by Dr. T. Chalmers, Theological Works, vol. vii.

Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best, &c.-Compare Eccles. xii. 13; 1 Sam. xv. 22. On him sole depend,-1 Pet. v. 7. Merciful over all his works,-Ps. cxlv. 9.

2 With good still overcoming evil,-Matt. v. 45; Luke vi. 35; Rom. xii. 21. 3 By things deemed weak subverting worldly strong, &c.-1 Cor. i. 27.

Suffering for truth's sake is fortitude to highest victory;—Compare Rom. viii 37, "more than conquerors."

"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 add1
"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

580

585

"To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess "A paradise within thee, happier far!

"Let us descend now therefore from this top "Of speculation;2 for the hour precise

"Exacts our parting hence; and, see! the guards,

590

66 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,

595

"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,

600

"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:4

1 Only add, &c.-Compare 2 Pet. i. 5-11, and 1 Cor. chap. xiii.

605

2 Top of speculation,-the lofty eminence to which Michael had conducted Adam, that thence he might survey the inheritance of his descendants, b. xi. l. 477, &c. Speculation,-"observation by the eye." from the original meaning of the word in Latin.

Descended,-i. e. having descended.

And thus with words not sad she him received:-"The sleep that fell upon Eve, and the effects it had in quieting the disorders of her mind,

615

"Whence thou returnst, and whither wentst, I know; "For God is also in sleep; and dreams advise,1 "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 farther consolation yet secure

66 I carry hence; though all by me is lost,
66 (Such favour I unworthy am vouchsafed)—
"By me the promised seed shall all restore."

620

3

Risen from a river o'er the marish* glides,

So spake our mother Eve, and Adam heard
Well pleased, but answered not: for now, too nigh
The Archangel 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

625

630

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, 5

635

produce the same kind of consolation in the reader, who cannot peruse the last beautiful speech, which is ascribed to the Author of mankind, without a sweet pleasure and satisfaction. The following lines, which conclude the poem, rise in a most glorious blaze of poetical images and expressions."-A.

1 God is also in sleep; and dreams advise,—God admonishes by dreams, as well as by visions; an elegant application of Numb. xii. 6.

2 With thee to go is to stay here;-Eve has now come to the temper of mind enjoined by the angel, b. xi. 1. 290, to find her paradise in the society of her husband.

3 Gliding meteorous,-like a meteor, by a uniform motion, and not a succession of steps. The ancients attributed this kind of motion to the gods, and Milton gives it to the angels.

4 Marish, the old form of "marsh."

5 As the Libyan air adust,-the scorched air of the desert of Libya, the Sahara, in Central Africa.