And feel thy fovran vital lamp; but thou
Revifit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs,
Or dim fuffufion veil'd. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt,
Clear spring, or shady grove, or funny hill,
Smit with the love of facred fong; but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flowry brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I vifit: nor fometimes forget
Those other two, equal'd with me in fate,
So were I equal'd with them in renown,
Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides,
And Tirefias,and Phineus, prophets old:
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling; and in fhadieft covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus, with the year 40
Seafons return; but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or morn,
Or fight of vernal bloom, or fummer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me; from the chearful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair,
Presented with a univerfal blank
Of Nature's works, to me expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdom,at one entrance, quite shut out.
So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate; there plant eyes; all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may fee, and tell,
Of things invifible to mortal fight.
Now had th'almighty Father, from above,
From the pure empyréan, where he fits
High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye,
His own works and their works at once to view:
About him all the Sanctities of Heaven
Stood thick as stars, and from his fight receiv'd
Beatitude past utterance; on his right
The radiant image of his glory sat,
His only Son; on earth he first beheld
Our two first parents, yet the only two
Of mankind, in the happy garden plac'd,
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love;
Uninterrupted joy, unrival'd love
In blissful folitude; he then furvey'd
Hell, and the gulf between, and Satan there,
Coasting the wall of Heav'n, on this fide Night,
In the dun air fublime; and ready now
To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet,
On the bare outside of this world; that feem'd
Firm land imbofom'd, without firmament,
Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.
Him God beholding from his profpect high,
Wherein past, present, future he beholds,
Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake.
Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage
Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds
Prescrib'd, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains
Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss
Wide interrupt can hold; fo bent he seems
On desperate revenge, that shall redound
Upon his own rebellious head. And now,
Through all restraint broke loofe, he wings his way
Not far off Heav'n, in the precincts of light,
Directly towards the new created world,
And Man there plac'd, with purpose to assay
If him by force he can destroy, or worse,
By fome false guile pervert; and shall pervert,
For Man will hearken to his glozing lies,
And easily tranfgrefs the fole command,
Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall,
He,and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?
Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me
All he could have; I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have ftood, though free to fall.
Such I created all th'ethereal Powers
And Spi rits, both them who ftood and them who fail'd;
Freely they flood who stood, and fell who fell.
Not free, what proof could they have giv'n sincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,
Where only what they needs must do appear'd, 105
But mercy first and last shall brightest shine.
Thus while God spake, ambrofial fragrance fill'd 135
All Heav'n; and in the blessed Spi rits elect
Senfe of new joy ineffable diffus'd:
Beyond compare the Son of God was feen
Moft glorious; in him all his Father fhone
Subftantially express'd; and in his face
Divine compaffion visibly appear'd,
Love without end, and without measure grace;
Which uttering thus, he to his Father spake.
O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd
Thy fovran sentence, that Man fhould find grace; 145
For which both Heav'n and Earth shall high extol
Thy praises, with th’innumerable found
Of hymns and facred fongs, wherewith thy throne
Incompafs'd fhall refound thee ever blest.
For fhould Man finally be loft, fhould Man,
Thy creature late fo lov'd, thy youngest son,
Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd
With his own folly? that be from thee far,
That far be from thee, Father, who art judge
Of all things made, and judgeft only right.
Or fhall the Adversary thus obtain
His end, and fruftrate thine? fhall he fulfil
His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought,
Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,
Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to Hell
Draw after him the whole race of mankind,
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