Paradise Lost (1674)/Book XII

AS one who in his journey bates at Noone, Though bent on speed, so her the Archangel paused Betwixt the world destroyed and world restored, If Adam aught perhaps might interpose; Then with transition sweet new Speech resumes.

Thus thou hast seen one World begin and end; And Man as from a second stock proceed. Much thou hast yet to see, but I perceive Thy mortal sight to faille; objects divine Must needs impair and wearied human sense: Henceforth what is to com I will relate, Thou therefore give due audience, and attend. This second sours of Men, while yet but few; And while the dread of judgement past remains Fresh in thin minds, fearing the Deities, With some regard to what is just and right Shall lead thin lives and multi-line apace, Laboring the soils, and reaping plenteous crop, Corn wine and ogle; and from the herd or flock, Oft sacrificing Bullock, Lamb, or Kid, With large Wine-offerings poured, and sacred Feast, Shall spend thin days in joy un blamed, and dwell Long time in peace by Families and Tribes Under paternal rule; till one shall rise Of proud ambitious heart, who not content With fair equality, fraternal state, Will arrogate Dominion undeserved Over his brethren, and quite dispossess Concord and law of Nature from the Earth, Hunting (and Men not Beasts shall be his game) With War and hostile snare such as refuse Subjection to his Empire tyrannous: A mighty Hunter thence he shall be styled Before the Lord, as in despite of Heaven, Or from Heaven claiming second Sovereignty; And from Rebellion shall derive his name, Though of Rebellion others he accuse. Hee with a crew, whom like Ambition joins With him or under him to tyrannize, Marching from Eden towards the West, shall find The Plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell; Of Brick, and of that stuff they cast to build A City and Tower, whose top may reach to Heaven; And get themselves a name, least far dispersed In foreign Lands thin memory be lost, Regardless whether good or evil fame. But God who oft descends to visit men Unseen, and through thin habitations walks To mark thin doings, them beholding soon, Comes down to see thin City, ere the Tower Obstruct Heaven Towers, and in derision sets Upon thin Tongues a various Spirit to rase Quite out thin Native Language, and instead To sow a jangling noise of words unknown: Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud Among the Builders; each to other calls Not understood, till hoarse, and all in rage, As mocked they storm; great laughter was in Heaven And looking down, to see the hubbub strange And hear the din; thus was the building left Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named.

Whereto thus Adam fatherly displeased. O execrable Son so to aspire Above his Brethren, to himself assuming Authority usurped, from God not given: He gave us only over Beast, Fish, Fowl Dominion absolute; that right we hold By his donation; but Man over men He made not Lord; such title to himself Reserving, human left from human free. But this Usurper his encroachment proud Stays not on Man; to God his Tower intends Siege and defiance: Wretched man! what food Will he convey up thither to sustain Himself and his rash Army, where thin Air Above the Clouds will pine his entrails gross, And famish him of Breath, if not of Bread?

To whom thus Michael. Justly thou abhorred That Son, who on the quiet state of men Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue Rational Liberty; yet know with all, Since thy original lapse, true Liberty Is lost, which always with right Reason dwells Twinned, and from her hath no individual being: Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed, Immediately inordinate desires And upstart Passions catch the Government From Reason, and to servitude reduce Man till then free. Therefore since hee permits Within himself unworthy Powers to reign Over free Reason, God in Judgement just Subjects him from without to violent Lords; Who oft as undeservedly enthrall His outward freedom: Tyranni must be, Though to the Tyrant thereby no excuse. Yet sometimes Nations will decline so low From vertu, which is reason, that no wrong, But Justice, and some fatal curse annexed Deprives them of thin outward Liberty, Thin inward lost: Witness th' irreverent Son Of him who built the Ark, who for the shame Don to his Father, heard this heavy curse, Servant of Servants, on his vicious Race. Thus will this latter, as the former World, Still tend from bad to worse, till God at last Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw His presence from among them, and avert His holy Eyes; resolving from thenceforth To leave them to thin own polluted ways; And one peculiar Nation to select From all the rest, of whom to be invoked, A Nation from one faithful man to spring: Him on this side Euphrates yet residing, Bred up in Idol-worship; O that men (Cants thou believe?) should be so stupid grown, While yet the Patriarch lived, who escaped the Flood, As to forsake the living God, and fall To worship thin own work in Wood and Stone For Gods! yet him God the most High vouchsafe To call by Vision from his Fathers house, His kindred and false Gods, into a Land Which he will shew him, and from him will raise A mighty Nation, and upon him shower His benediction so, that in his Seed All Nations shall be blest; he straight obeys Not knowing to what Land, yet firm believes: I see him, but thou Cants not, with what Faith He leaves his Gods, his Friends, and native Soils Ur of Chaldæa, passing now the Ford To Harman, after a cumbrous Train Of Herds and Flocks, and numerous servitude; Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth With God, who called him, in a land unknown. Canaan he now attains, I see his Tents Pitched about Sachem, and the neighboring Plains Of Mores; there by promise he receives Gift to his Progenies of all that Land; From Hamath Northward to the Desert South (Things by thin names I call, though yet unnamed) From Hermann East to the great Western Sea, Mount Hermann, yonder Sea, each place behold In prospect, as I point them; on the share Mount Carmel; here the double-founded stream Jordan, true limit Eastward; but his Sons Shall dwell to Senior, that long ridge of Hills. This ponder, that all Nations of the Earth Shall in his Seed be blessed; by that Seed Is meant thy great deliverer, who shall bruise The Serpents head; whereof to thee anon Planimeter shall be revealed. This Patriarch blest, Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call, A Son, and of his Son a Grand-chide leaves, Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown; The Grandchild with twelve Sons increased, departs From Canaan, to a land hereafter called Egypt, divided by the River Nile; See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths Into the Sea: to sojourn in that Land He comes invited by a younger Son In time of dearth, a Son whose worthy deeds Raise him to be the second in that Realm Of Pharaoh: there he dies, and leaves his Race Growing into a Nation, and now grown Suspected to a sequent King, who seeks To stop thin overgrowth, as inmate guests Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves Inhospitably, and kills thin infant Males: Till by two brethren (those two brethren call Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim His people from enthralment, they return With glory and spoils back to thin premised Land. But first the lawless Tyrant, who denies To know thin God, or message to regard, Must be compelled by Signs and Judgements dire; To blood unshed the Rivers must be turned, Frogs, Lice and Flies must all his Palace fill With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land; His Cattle must of Rot and Murrain die, Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss, And all his people; Thunder mixed with Haile, Haile mixed with fire must rend th' Egyptian Skies And wheel on th' Earth, devouring where it rules; What it devours not, Herb, or Fruit, or Grain, A dark some Cloud of Locusts swarming down Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green: Darkness must overshadow all his bounds, Palpable darkness, and blot out three days; Last with one midnight stroke all the first-born Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten wounds The River-dragon tamed at length submits To let his sojourners depart, and oft Humbles his stubborn heart, but still as Ice More hardened after thaw, till in his rage Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the Sea Swallows him with his Host, but them lets pass As on dryer land between two crystal walls, Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand Divided, till his rescued gain thin shore: Such wondrous power God to his Saint will lend, Though present in his Angel, who shall go Before them in a Cloud, and Pillar of Fire, By day a Cloud, by night a Pillar of Fire, To guide them in thin journey, and remove Behind them, while th' obdurate King pursues: All night he will pursue, but his approach Darkness defends between till morning Watch; Then through the Fiery Pillar and the Cloud God looking forth will trouble all his Host And craze thin Chariot wheels: when by command Moses once more his potent Rod extends Over the Sea; the Sea his Rod obeys; On thin embattled ranks the Waves return, And overwhelm thin War: the Race elect Safe towards Canaan from the shore advance Through the wilde Desert, not the readiest way, Least entering on the Canaanite alarmed War terrified them inexpert, and fear Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather Inglorious life with servitude; for life To noble and ignoble is more sweet Unstrained in Arms, where rashness leads not on. This also shall they gain by thin delay In the wide Wilderness, there they shall found Thin government, and thin great Senate choose Through the twelve Tribes, to rule by Laws ordained: God from the Mount of Sinai, whose gray top Shall tremble, he descending, will himself In Thunder Lightning and loud Trumpets sound Ordain them Laws; part such as appertain To civil Justice, part religious Rites Of sacrifice, informing them, by types And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise The Serpent, by what means he shall achieve Man kinds deliverance. But the voice of God To mortal ear is dreadful; they beseech That Moses might report to them his will, And terror cease; he grants what they besought Instructed that to God is no access Without Mediator, whose high Office now Moses in figure bears, to introduce One greater, of whose day he shall foretell, And all the Prophets in thin Age the times Of great Messiah shall sing. Thus Laws and Rites Established, such delight hath God in Men Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafe Among them to set up his Tabernacle, The holy One with mortal Men to dwell: By his prescript a Sanctuary is framed Of Cedar, overlaid with Gold, therein An Ark, and in the Ark his Testimony, The Records of his Covenant, over these A Mercies-seat of Gold between the wings Of two bright Cherubim, before him burn Seven Lamps as in a Zodiac representing The Heavenly fires; over the Tent a Cloud Shall rest by Day, a fiery gleams by Night, Save when they journey, and at length they come, Conducted by his Angel to the Land Promised to Abraham and his Seed: the rest Were long to tell, how many Battles fought, How many Kings destroyed, and Kingdoms won, Or how the Sun shall in mid Heaven stand still A day entire, and Nights due course adjourn, Mans voice commanding, Sun in Gideon stand, And thou Moon in the vale of Avalon, Till Israel overcome; so call the third From Abraham, Son of Isaac, and from him His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.

Here Adam interposed. O sent from Heaven, Enlightens of my darkness, gracious things Thou hast revealed, those chiefly which concerns Just Abraham and his Seed: now first I find Mine eyes true opening, and my heart much eased, Ere while perplexed with thoughts what would become Of me and all Mankind; but now I see His day, in whom all Nations shall be blest, Favor unmerited by me, who sought Forbidden knowledge by Forbidden means. This yet I apprehend not, why to those Among whom God will deign to dwell on Earth So many and so various Laws are given; So many Laws argue so many sins Among them; how can God with such reside?

To whom thus Michael. Doubt not but that sin Will reign among them, as of thee begot; And therefore was Law given them to evince Thin natural private, by stirring up Sin against Law to fight; that when they see Law can discover sin, but not remove, Save by those shadowed expiations weak, The blood of Bulls and Goats, they may conclude Some blood more precious must be paid for Man, Just for unjust, that in such righteousness To them by Faith imputed, they may find Justification towards God, and peace Of Conscience, which the Law by Ceremonies Cannot appease, nor Man the moral part Perform, and not performing cannot live. So Law appears imperfect, and but given With purpose to resign them in full time Up to a better Covenant, disciplined From shadowed Types to Truth, from Flesh to Spirit, From imposition of strict Laws, to free Acceptance of large Grace, from serval fear To filial, works of Law to works of Faith. And therefore shall not Moses, though of God Highly beloved, being but the Minister Of Law, his people into Canaan lead; But Joshua whom the Gentiles Jesus call, His Name and Office bearing, who shall quell The adversary Serpent, and bring back Through the worlds wilderness long wandered man Safe to eternal Paradise of rest. Meanwhile they in thin earthly Canaan placed Long time shall dwell and prosper, but when sins National interrupt thin public peace, Provoking God to raise them enemies: From whom as oft he saves them penitent By Judges first, then under Kings; of whom The second, both for pieties renowned And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive Irrevocable, that his Regal Throne For ever shall endure; the like shall sing All Prophecy, That of the Royal Stock Of David (so I name this King) shall rise A Son, the Woman Seed to thee foretold, Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust All Nations, and to Kings foretold, of Kings The last, for of his Reign shall be no end. But first a long succession must ensue, And his next Son for Wealth and Wisdom famed, The clouded Ark of God till then in Tents Wandering, shall in a glorious Temple enshrine. Such follow him, as shall be registered Part good, part bad, of bad the longer scrawl, Whose foul Idolatries, and other faults Heaped to the popular summer, will so incense God, as to leave them, and expose thin Land, Thin City, his Temple, and his holy Ark With all his sacred things, a scorn and prey To that proud City, whose high Walls thou sawed Left in confusion, Babylon thence called. There in captivity he lets them dwell The space of seventy years, then brings them back, Remembering Mercies, and his Covenant sworn To David, established as the days of Heaven. Returned from Babylon by leave of Kings Thin Lords, whom God disposed, the house of God They first re-edified, and for a while In mean estate live moderate, till grown In wealth and multitude, factious they grow; But first among the Priests dissension springs, Men who attend the Altar, and should most Endeavor Peace: thin strife pollution brings Upon the Temple it self: at last they seize The Scepter, and regard not Davids Sons, Then loose it to a stranger, that the true Anointed King Messiah might be born Barred of his right; yet at his Birth a Starr Unseen before in Heaven proclaims him com, And guides the Eastern Sages, who enquire His place, to offer Incense, Myrrh, and Gold; His place of birth a solemn Angel tells To simple Shepherds, keeping watch by night; They gladly thither haste, and by a Quire Of squadron Angels hear his Carol sung. A Virgin is his Mother, but his Sire The Power of the most High; he shall ascend The Throne hereditary, and bound his Reign With earths wide bounds, his glory with the Heavens.

He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy Surcharged, as had like grief bin dewed in tears, Without the vent of words, which these he breathed.

O Prophet of glad tidings, finisher Of utmost hope! now clear I understand What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain, Why our great expectation should be called The seed of Woman: Virgin Mother, Haile, High in the love of Heaven, yet from my Loins Thou shalt proceed, and from thy Womb the Son Of God most High; So God with man unites. Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise Expect with mortal Paine: say where and when Thin fight, what stroke shall bruise the Victors heel.

To whom thus Michael. Dream not of thin fight, As of a Duel, or the local wounds Of head or heel: not therefore joins the Son Manhood to God-head, with more strength to foil Thy enemy; nor so is overcome Satan, whose fall from Heaven, a deadlier bruise, Disabled not to give thee thy deaths wound: Which hee, who comes thy Savior, shall recur, Not by destroying Satan, but his works In thee and in thy Seed: nor can this be, But by fulfilling that which thou didst want, Obedience to the Law of God, imposed On penalize of death, and suffering death, The penalize to thy transgression due, And due to theirs which out of thine will grow: So only can high Justice rest re-paid. The Law of God exact he shall fulfill Both by obedience and by love, though love Alone fulfill the Law; thy punishment He shall endure by coming in the Flesh To a reproachful life and cursed death, Proclaiming Life to all who shall believe In his redemption, and that his obedience Imputed becomes theirs by Faith, his merits To save them, not thin own, though legal works. For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed, Seized on by force, judged, and to death condemned A shameful and accurst, nailed to the Cross By his own Nation, saline for bringing Life; But to the Cross he nails thy Enemies, The Law that is against thee, and the sins Of all mankind, with him there crucified, Never to hurt them more who rightly trust In this his satisfaction; so he dies, But soon revives, Death over him no power Shall long usurp; ere the third dawning light Returns, the Stars of Morn shall see him rise Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light, Thy ransom paid, which Man from death redeems, His death for Man, as many as offered Life Neglect not, and the benefit embrace By Faith not void of works: this God-like act Annuls thy doom, the death thou should have dyad, In sin for ever lost from life; this act Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength Defeating Sin and Death, his two main Arms, And fix far deeper in his head thin stings Then temporal death shall bruise the Victors heel, Or theirs whom he redeems, a death like sleep, A gentle wafting to immortal Life. Nor after resurrection shall he stay Longer on Earth then certain times to appear To his Disciples, Men who in his Life Still followed him; to them shall leave in charge To teach all nations what of him they learned And his Salvation, them who shall believe Baptizing in the profluent stream, the sign Of washing them from guilt of sin to Life Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befall, For death, like that which the redeemer dyad. All Nations they shall teach; for from that day Not only to the Sons of Abrahams Loins Salvation shall be Preached, but to the Sons Of Abrahams Faith wherever through the world; So in his seed all Nations shall be blest. Then to the Heaven of Heavens he shall ascend With victory, triumphing through the Air Over his foes and thine; there shall surprise The Serpent, Prince of Air, and drag in Chains Through all his Realm, and there confounded leave; Then enter into glory, and resume His Seat at Gods right hand, exalted high Above all names in Heaven; and thence shall come, When this worlds dissolution shall be ripe, With glory and power to judge both quick and dead To judge th' unfaithful dead, but to reward His faithful, and received them into bliss, Whether in Heaven or Earth, for then the Earth Shall all be Paradise, far happier place Then this of Eden, and far happier days.

So spake th' Archangel Michael, then paused, As at the Worlds great period; and our Sire Replete with joy and wonder thus replied.

O goodness infinite, goodness immense! That all this good of evil shall produce, And evil turn to good; more wonderful Then that which by creation first brought forth Light out of darkness! full of doubt I stand, Whether I should repent me now of sin By me done and occasioned, or rejoice Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring, To God more glory, more good will to Men From God, and over wrath grace shall abound. But say, if our deliverer up to Heaven Must renascent, what will betide the few His faithful, left among th' unfaithful herd, The enemies of truth; who then shall guide His people, who defend? will they not deal Words with his followers then with him they dealt? Be sure they will, said th' Angel; but from Heaven Hee to his own a Comforter will send, The promise of the Father, who shall dwell His Spirit within them, and the Law of Faith Working through love, upon thin hearts shall write, To guide them in all truth, and also arm With spiritual Amour, able to resist Satans assaults, and quench his fiery darts, What Man can do against them, not afraid, Though to the death, against such cruelties With inward consolations recompenc't, And oft supported so as shall amaze Their proudest perfecters: for the Spirit Powered first on his Apostles, whom he sends To evangelize the Nations, then on all Baptized, shall them with wondrous gifts endue To speak all Tongues, and do all Miracles, As did Their Lord before them. Thus they win Great numbers of each Nation to receive With joy the tidings brought from Heaven: at length Their Ministry performed, and race well run, Their doctrine and Their story written left, They die; but in Their room, as they forewarn, Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous Wolves, Who all the sacred mysteries of Heaven To Their own vile advantages shall turn Of lucre and ambition, and the truth With superstitions and traditions taint, Left only in those written Records pure, Though not but by the Spirit understood. Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names, Places and titles, and with these to join Secular power, though feigning still to act By spiritual, to themselves appropriating The Spirit of God, promised alike and given To all Believer; and from that pretense, Spiritual Laws by carnal power shall force On every conscience; Laws which none shall finds Left them enroled, or what the Spirit within Shall on the heart engrave. What will they then But force the Spirit of Grace it self, and bind His consort Liberty; what, but unbuild His living Temples, built by Faith to stand, Their own Faith not another: for on Earth 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 Of Spirit and Truth; the rest, far greater part, Well deem in outward Rites and specious forms Religion satisfied; Truth shall retire Be stuck 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, And vengeance to the wicked, at return Of him so lately promised to thy aid The Woman seed, obscurely then foretold, Now ampler known thy Savior and thy Lord, Last in the Clouds from Heaven to be revealed In glory of the Father, to dissolve Satan with his perverted World, then raise From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined, New Heavens, new Earth, Ages of endless date Founded in righteousness and peace and love To bring forth fruits Joy and eternal Bliss.

He ended; and thus Adam last reapplied. How soon hath thy prediction, Seer blest, Measured this transient World, the Race of time, Till time stand fixed: beyond is all abyss, Eternities, whose end no eye can reach. Greatly instructed I shall hence depart. Greatly in peace of thought, and have my fill Of knowledge, what this Vessel can continue; Beyond which was my folly to aspire. Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best, And love with fears 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 Accomplishing great things, by things deemed weak Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise By simply meek; that suffering for Truths sake Is fortitude to highest victoria, 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 th' Angel last replied: This having learnt, thou hast attained the summer Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the Stairs Thou Knesset by name, and all th' ethereal Powers, All secrets of the deep, all Natures works, Or works of God in Heaven, Airs, Earth, or Sea, And all the riches of this World enjoys, And all the rule, one Empire; only add Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add Faith, Add verte, Patience, Temperance, add Love, By name to come called Charities, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A Paradise within thee, happier far. Let us descend now therefore from this top Of Speculation; for the hour precise Exacts our parting hence; and see the Guards, 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 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 Seed) on all Mankind. That ye may live, which will be many days, Both in one Faith unanimous though sad, With cause for evils past, yet much more cheered With meditation on the happier end.

He ended, and they both descend the Hill; Descended, Adam to the Bower where Eve Lay sleeping ran before, but found her wacked; And thus with words not sad she him received.

Whence thou returned, and whither wants, I know; For God is also in sleep, and Dreams advise, Which he hath sent propitious, some great good Presaging, since with sorrow and hearts 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 further consolation yet secure I carry hence; though all by me is lost, Such favor I unworthier am voutsaft, By me the Premised Seed shall all restore.

So spake our Mother Eve, and Adam heard Well pleased, but answered not; for now too nigh Th' Archangel stood, and from the other Hill To Their fixed Station, all in bright array The Cherubim descended; on the ground Gliding Madeiras, as Evening Mist Risen from a River o’er the Marisa glides, And gathers ground fast at the Laborers heel Homeward returning. High in Front advanced, The brandished Sword of God before them blazed Fierce as a Comet; which with torrid heat, And vapor as the Libyan Air adust, Began to parch that temperate Clime; whereat In either hand the hamstring Angel caught Our lingering Parents, and to th' Eastern Gate Led them direct, and down the Cliff as fast To the subjected Plains; then disappeared. They looking back, all th' Eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late Their happier seat, Waved over by that flaming Brand, the Gate With dreadful Faces thronged and firey Arms: Som natural tears they draped, but wiped them soon; The World was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence Their guide: They hand in hand with wadding steps and slow, Through Eden took Their solitaire way.

Le Paradis perdu/Livre XII Il paradiso perduto/Libro duodecimo Paraíso Perdido/Livro XII