And destined Man himself to judge Man fallen.”
So spake the Father; and, unfolding bright
Toward the right hand his glory, on the Son
Blazed forth unclouded deity: he full
Resplendent all his Father manifest
Expressed, and thus divinely answered mild:
"Father Eternal, thine is to decree;
Mine, both in Heaven and Earth, to do thy will
Supreme; that thou in me, thy Son beloved,
Mayest ever rest well pleased. I go to judge
On Earth these thy transgressors; but thou knowest,
Whoever judged, the worst on me must light,
When time shall be; for so I undertook
Before thee, and, not repenting, this obtain
Of right, that I may mitigate their doom
On me derived; yet I shall temper so
Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most
Them fully satisfied, and thee appease.
Attendance none shall need, nor train, where none
Are to behold the judgement, but the judged,
Those two; the third best absent is condemned,
Convict by flight, and rebel to all law;
Conviction to the Serpent none belongs."
Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose Of high collateral glory; him Thrones and Powers, Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant Accompanied to Heaven-gate, from whence Eden and all the coast in prospect lay.
Down he descended straight; the speed of Gods Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged.
Now was the sun in western cadence low
and gentle airs, due at their hour, To fan the earth now waked, and usher in
The evening cool, when he from wrath more cool
Came, the mild judge and intercessor both,
To sentence Man. The voice of God they heard,
Now walking in the garden, by soft winds
Brought to their ears, while day declined; they heard,
And from his presence hid themselves, among
The thickest trees, both man and wife, till God
Approaching, thus to Adam called aloud:
"Where art thou, Adam, wont with joy to meet My coming seen far off? I miss thee here, Not pleased, thus entertained with solitude, Where obvious duty erewhile appeared, unsought. Or come I less conspicuously? or what change Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth." He came, and with him Eve, more loath, though first To offend, discountenanced both, and discomposed. Love was not in their looks, either to God Or to each other, but apparent guilt, And shame, and perturbation, and despair, Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile. Whence Adam, faltering long, thus answered brief: "I heard thee in the garden, and of thy voice Afraid, being naked, hid myself." To whom The gracious Judge without revile replied: "My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared, But still rejoiced; how is it now become
So dreadful to thee? that thou art naked who Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree, Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?" To whom thus Adam sore beset replied:
"O Heaven! in evil strait this day I stand, Before my Judge, either to undergo
Myself the total crime, or to accuse
My other self, the partner of my life;
Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,
I should conceal, and not expose to blame
By my complaint. But strict necessity
and calamitous constraint,
Lest on my head both sin and punishment,
However insupportable, be all
Devolved; though should I hold my peace, yet thou
Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.
This Woman, whom thou madest to be my help,
And gavest me as thy perfect gift, so good,
So fit, so acceptable, so divine,
That from her hand I could suspect no ill,
And what she did, whatever in itself,
Her doing seemed to justify the deed-
She gave me of the tree, and I did eat."
To whom the sovran Presence thus replied:
"Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey
Before his voice? or was she made thy guide,
Superior, or but equal, that to her
Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place
Wherein God set thee above her, made of thee
And for thee, whose perfection far excelled
Hers in all real dignity? Adorned
She was indeed, and lovely, to attract
Thy love, not thy subjection; and her gifts
Were such as under government well seemed;
Unseemly to bear rule, which was thy part
And person, hadst thou known thyself aright."
So having said, he thus to Eve in few:
Say, Woman, what is this which thou hast done?" To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelmed, Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge
Bold or loquacious, thus abashed replied:
"The Serpent me beguiled, and I did eat."
Which when the Lord God heard, without delay
To judgement he proceeded on the accused
Serpent, though brute, unable to transfer
The guilt on him who made him instrument
Of mischief, and polluted from the end
Of his creation; justly then accursed,
As vitiated in nature. More to know
Concerned not Man-since he no further knew-
Nor altered his offence. Yet God at last
To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied,
Though in mysterious terms, judged as then best;
And on the Serpent thus his curse let fall:
"Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed Above all cattle, each beast of the field; Upon thy belly grovelling thou shalt go, And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life. Between thee and the Woman I will put Enmity, and between thine and her seed; Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.” So spake this oracle, then verified
When Jesus, son of Mary, second Eve,
Saw Satan fall like lightning down from heaven,
Prince of the air; then, rising from his grave,
Spoiled Principalities and Powers, triumphed
In open shew, and, with ascension bright,
Captivity led captive through the air,
The realm itself of Satan, long usurped,
Whom he shall tread at last under our feet;
Even he who now foretold his fatal bruise,
And to the Woman thus his sentence turned:
"Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply
By thy conception; children thou shalt bring
In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will
Thine shall submit; he over thee shall rule."
On Adam last thus judgement he pronounced: "Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife,
And eaten of the tree, concerning which
I charged thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof,
Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thou in sorrow
Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth,
Unbid; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
Till thou return unto the ground; for thou
Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth,
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.”
So judged he Man, both Judge and Saviour sent,
And the instant stroke of death, denounced that day,
Removed far off; then, pitying how they stood
Before him naked to the air, that now
Must suffer change, disdained not to begin
Thenceforth the form of servant to assume;
As when he washed his servants' feet, so now,
As father of his family, he clad
Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain,
Or as the snake with youthful coat repaid;
And thought not much to clothe his enemies.
Nor he their outward only with the skins
Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more
Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness
Arraying, covered from his Father's sight.
To him with swift ascent he up returned,
Into his blissful bosom reassumed
In glory, as of old; to him appeased
All, though all-knowing, what had passed with Man Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.
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