For know, whatever was created needs To be sustain'd and fed: Of elements
The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea, Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires Ethereal, and, as lowest first the moon;
Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurg'd Vapours not yet into her substance turn'd. Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale From her moist continent to higher orbs. The sun that light imparts to all, receives From all his alimental recompence In humid exhalations, and at even
Sups with the ocean. Though in Heaven the trees Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground Cover'd with pearly grain: Yet God hath here Varied his bounty so with new delights, As may compare with Heaven; and to taste Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat, And to their viands fell; nor seemingly The Angel, nor in mist, the common gloss Of Theologians; but with keen despatch Of real hunger, and concoctive heat
To transubstantiate: What redounds, transpires Through Spirits with ease; nor wonder; if by fire Of sooty coal the empirick alchemist
Can turn, or holds it possible to turn, Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold, As from the mine. Meanwhile at table Eve Minister'd naked, and their flowing cups
With pleasant liquours crown'd: O innocence Deserving Paradise! if ever, then,
Then had the sons of God excuse to have been
Enamour'd at that sight; but in those hearts Love unlibidinous reign'd, nor jealousy
Was understood, the injur'd lover's hell.
Thus when with meats and drinks they had suffic'd, Not burden'd nature, sudden mind arose
In Adam, not to let the occasion pass Given him by this great conference to know Of things above his world, and of their being Who dwell in Heaven, whose excellence he saw Transcend his own so far; whose radiant forms, Divine effulgence, whose high power, so far Exceeded human and his wary speech, Thus to the empyreal minister he fram'd: Inhabitant with God, now know I well, Thy favour, in this honour done to Man; Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsaf'd To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste, Food not of Angels, yet accepted so,
As that more willingly thou could'st not seem At Heaven's high feasts to have fed: yet what compare? To whom the winged Hierarch replied.
O Adam, One Almighty is, from whom All things proceed, and up to him return, If not deprav'd from good, created all Such to perfection, one first matter all, Endued with various forms, various degrees Of substance, and, in things that live, of life; But more refin'd, more spirituous and pure, As nearer to him plac'd, or nearer tending Each in their several active spheres assign'd, Till body up to spirit work, in bounds Proportion'd to each kind. So, from the root Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves More aery, last the bright consummate flower
Spirits odorous breathes: flowers, and their fruit, Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublim'd, To vital spirits aspire, to animal,
To intellectual; give both life and sense, Fancy and understanding; whence the soul Reason receives, and reason is her being, Discursive or intuitive; discourse
Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours, Differing but in degree, of kind the same. Wonder not then, what God for you saw good If I refuse not, but convert, as you,
substance. Time may come, when Men With Angels may participate, and find No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare; And from these corporal nutriments perhaps Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit, Improv'd by tract of time, and wing'd, ascend Ethereal, as we; or may, at choice, Here, or in heavenly Paradises, dwell; If ye be found obedient, and retain, Unalterably firm his love entire,
Whose progeny you are. Meanwhile enjoy Your fill what happiness this happy state Can comprehend, incapable of more.
To whom the patriarch of mankind replied. O favourable Spirit, propitious guest,
Well hast thou taught the way that might direct Our knowledge, and the scale of nature set From center to circumference; whereon, In contemplation of created things,
By steps we may ascend to God. But say What meant that caution join'd, If ye be found Obedient? Can we want obedience then To Him, or possibly his love desert,
Who form'd us from the dust and placed us here Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend?
To whom the Angel. Son of Heaven and Earth, Attend! That thou art happy, owe to God; That thou continuest such, owe to thyself, That is, to thy obedience; therein stand. This was that caution given thee; be advis’d. God made thee perfect, not immutable; And good he made thee; but to persevere He left it in thy power; ordain'd thy will By nature free, not overrul'd by fate Inextricable, or strict necessity: Our voluntary service he requires, Not our necessitated; such with him.
Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what they must By destiny, and can no other choose? Myself, and all the angelick host, that stand In sight of God, enthron'd, our happy state Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds; On other surety none: Freely we serve, Because we freely love, as in our will To love or not; in this we stand or fall: And some are fallen, to disobedience fallen, And so from Heaven to deepest Hell; O fall, From what high state of bliss, into what woe! To whom our great progenitor. Thy words Attentive, and with more delighted ear, Divine instructer, I have heard, than when Cherubick songs by night from neighbouring hills
Aëreal music send: Nor knew I not
To be both will and deed created free;
Yet, that we never shall forget to love
Our Maker, and obey Him whose command Single is yet so just, my constant thoughts
Assur'd me, and still assure: Though what thou tell'st Hath pass'd in Heaven, some doubt within me move,
But more desire to hear, if thou consent,
The full relation, which must needs be strange, Worthy of sacred silence to be heard;
And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun Hath finish'd half his journey, and scarce begins His other half in the great zone of Heaven.
Thus Adam made request; and Raphaël, After short pause assenting, thus began.
High matter thou enjoin'st me, O prime of men, Sad task, and hard: For how shall I relate To human sense the invisible exploits
Of warring Spirits? how, without remorse, The ruin of so many, glorious once
And perfect while they stood? how last unfold The secrets of another world, perhaps
Not lawful to reveal? Yet, for thy good This is dispens'd; and what surmounts the reach Of human sense, I shall delineate so,
By likening spiritual to corporeal forms,
As may express them best: though what if Earth Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein Each to other like, more than on earth is thought? As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild
Reign'd where these Heavens now roll, where Earth now rests Upon her center pois'd; when on a day
(For time, though in eternity, applied To motion, measures all things durable By present, past, and future,) on such day
As Heaven's great year brings forth, the empyreal host
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