GOD by afpiring to Godhead; and therefore with all his Progeny devoted to Death, muft die, unless fome one can be found fufficient to anfwer for his Offence, and undergo his Punishment. The SON of GOD freely offers himself a Ranfom for Man: The Father accepts him, ordains his Incarnation, pronounces his Exaltation above all Names in Heaven and Earth; commands all the Angels to adore him; they obey and finging to their Harps in full Choir celebrate the FATHER and the SON. Satan lights upon the bare Convex of the World's outermoft Orb, where he firft finds a Place fince call'd the Limbo of Vanity; what Perfons and Things fly up thither. Satan comes to the Gates of Heaven, defcrib'd afcending by Stairs, and the Waters above the Firmament that flow about it: His Paffage thence to the Orb of the Sun: He finds there Uriel the Regent of that Orb; but first changes himfelf into the Shape of a meaner Angel, inquires after the Habitation of Man and is directed; alights firft on the Mount Niphates. CHA P. I. GOD fees Satan flying towards this World, foretells bis Success in perverting Mankind; and declares his Purpofe of Grace thereupon. AIL holy Light! (who if not from Everlasting with the Deity, art the firft Offfpring of Heaven), may I exprefs thee without Blame? fince GOD himfelf is Light, and dwelling in Light from Eternity has always been unapproachable, always dwelt in Thee, Thou bright Effluence Effluence of the bright uncreated Being; or fhall I rather call Thee a pure heavenly Stream, whofe Fountain is GOD. Thou wert before the Sun and the Heavens, and at the Voice of GOD didft adorn the rifing World, which before was dark, and but just rifen from the CHAOS, without Form and infinitely void. Now I vifit Thee again with fresh Courage, having long been treating of Darknefs, and Hell, and the Shades of Obfcurity; having been taught by the heavenly Spirit to venture down the dark Defcent, and to afcend up again to speak of Thee. Thee I now fafely revifit, and feel thy fovereign quickning Lamp; but Thou revifit'ft not these Eyes, that in vain rowl to find Thy piercing Ray; fo thick a Darknefs and Suffufion hath veil'd them and extinguifh'd, that they never find a Dawn! Yet do I not for that Reason cease to wander among clear Springs, or fhady Groves, or funny Hills, where the Mules haunt; the Love of facred Song always delighting me. But chiefly SION, Thee I vifit nightly, and the flowry Brooks that wash thy hallow'd Foot, flowing fweetly; nor do I forget fometimes those other two infpired Writers, whom Fate made equal with me, and to whom I wish I were equal in Fame, blind THAMYRIS, (a) and blind MEONIDES, (b) and TIRE (a) Thamyris, Lat. Gr. i. e. Wonderful. A Poet of Thrace, who had the Vanity to contend with the Mufes in Singing, but loft it; therefore they put out his Eyes, and took away his Harp. This Fable teaches us the Danger and Vanity of mocking God, of Self-fufficiency and Pride. (b) Mæonides; Lat. Gr. i. e. The Son of Maon, for Homer, Gr. i. e. One that doth not fee: SIAS, (c) and PHINEUS, (d) who were Prophets of old. Then I feed on Thoughts, that naturally move to Harmony; as the wakeful Nightingale in the dark, and hid in the thickeft Shade, fings her fweet Song by Night. Thus the Seafons return with the Year, but neither Day, nor the fweet Approach of Evening or Morning, or Sight of Bloffoms in the Spring, or Summer's Rofe, or Flocks, or Herds, or Face of MAN, the Image of his Maker, return to me; but instead of that a Cloud and ever-during Darkness furrounds me, cut off from the chearful Ways of MMEN, and for the Book of fair Knowledge prefented with a univerfal Blot of Nature's Works, which are to ine all expung'd and eraz'd, and Wisdom at the great Entrance of Sight quite fhut out: So much the rather gos, Athena. He was born according to the best Account, A. M. 3120, 340 Years after the Deftruction of Troy, and 884 before the Incarnation. An antient and most celebrated Poet among the Greeks, the wittieft Man that ever liv'd, who had none to imitate, (except Mofes, from whom he took his best Thoughts) was never matched by any that came after him, except now by Milton, and a Pattern to all Poets, Philofophers and Hiftorians to this Day. He wrote the Wars of Troy in twenty-four Books, called the Iliads, and the dangerous Voyages of Ulyes, in the Odyfes, in as many. The greatest Veneration has been paid to his Name in all Ages: And Milton modeftly wishes he might be equalled to him therein, though in many Refpects he hath exceeded Homer himfelf, and Virgil alfo in Epic Poem, both in do the Grandeur of his Subject, in his Learning, Characters, and every Thing else. (c) Tirefias; Lat. Gr. i. e. A Star : because he foretold fome Things by the Knowledge of Aftrology. A blind Poet and Soothsayer of Thebes; long before Homer: the Son of Evetrus and Chariclo. He was ftruck blind either for peeping too curiously upon Minerva in the Fountain Hypocrine; or for deciding the Caufe between Jupiter and Juno to her Diffatisfaction for which Jupiter gave him the Faculty of Divination or Soothsaying. (d) Phineus; Lat. Gr. i. e. Shining, illuftrious. Shining, illuftrious. A King and Prophet of Arcadia, who for putting out the Eyes of his Children, and for revealing the Secrets of the Gods to Men, was punished with Blind nefs. do Thou celeftial Light fhine inward, and enlighten my Mind thro' all her Powers; there plant Eyes, purge and difperfe all Ignorance from thence, that I may fee and tell of Things which to mortal Sight are invisible. Now the ALMIGHTY Father had bent down his Eye from above, from the pure Heaven, where he fits high thron'd above all Height, to view at once his own Works and their Works; about him the most pure and holy Angels of Heaven stood as thick as Stars, and from his Sight receiv'd unspeakable Happinefs: On his Right-Hand fate his only Son, the bright Image of his Glory He first beheld on Earth our two first Parents, ADAM and Eve, as yet the only two of Mankind, plac'd in the happy Garden of EDEN, (e) reaping immortal Fruits of unrivall'd Love and uninterrupted Joy in a happy Solitude. The eternal Father then faw Hell and the Gulph between, and SATAN there coafting the Wall of Heaven, high in the thick Air, and on this Side of Night, ready to stoop with willing Feet and tired Wings upon the bare Outside of this World, that seem'd like Land encompass'd without Firmament; nor could SATAN, at that Distance, tell whether it was furrounded with Air or Water. GOD faw him from his high Prospect, wherein (e) Eden; an Hebrew Word. It fignifies Pleasure and Delight: because it was the most pleafant Place upon Earth, and Paradife was in it. Eden was a Country in Chaldea, thought by fome to be the fame as Mefo potamia, near Babylon, lying between the Euphrates and the Tygris, well watered with these and other Rivers, and most fruitful. But the learned Huetius proves, that Eden lay on the South of Babylon, and the Ter restrial Paradife on the East Side wherein he beholds all paft, prefent, and future Things, and foreseeing what was afterwards to be, thus spoke to his only SoN: ONLY BEGOTTEN, doft thou behold what Rage transports our Adversary, whom no prescrib'd Bounds, nor Bars of Hell, nor all the Chains heap'd on him there, nor yet the vast Gulph now feparated from the new Creation can hold? So eager he seems for defperate Revenge, which fhall fall upon his own rebellious Head; now broke loose from his Confinement, he takes his Flight not far from Heaven, and upon the Borders of Light, directly towards the World newly created, and towards MAN plac'd there, with Purpose to try if he can deftroy him by Force, or what is worse, by fome Allurement pervert him; which laft will be the Cafe; for MAN will give Ear to his flattering and deceitful Lies, and tranfgrefs the only Command which is the Pledge of his Obedience; fo will he fall, and with him his faithless Progeny. Whofe is the Fault? Whofe but his own? Ungrateful, difobedient MAN! I made him juft and right, with Power fufficient to have ftood, yet left him free to fall; and fo I created all the Powers and Spirits of Heaven, both them who ftood and them who fail'd; freely they ftood who ftood, and they who fell had the fame Freedom. Had they not been free, what fincere Proof could they have given of Allegiance, true Love, or conftant Faith, where nothing would appear but what they needs must do, not what they would? What Praife could they receive, or what Pleasure I, from fuch an Obedience? When Will and Reafon (for Reafon alfo is Choice) ftripp'd of their Freedom, both become useless and vain, and would ferve Neceffity, not me; they therefore as belong to Right, were fo created; nor can they with Juftice accufe me, their Maker, or their Making, nor blame their Fate, as if Predeftination had over-rul'd |