Paradise Lost (1667) — Book III

ail, holy light, ofspring of Heav’n firstborn,Or of th' Eternal Coeternal beamMay I express thee unblam’d? since God is light,And never but in unapproached lightDwelt from Eternitie, dwelt then in thee,Bright effluence of bright essence increate.Or hear'st thou rather pure Ethereal stream,Whose Fountain who shall tell? before the Sun,Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voiceOf God, as with a Mantle didst invest 10The rising world of waters dark and deep,Won from the void and formless infinite.Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,Escap’t the Stygian Pool, though long detain’dIn that obscure sojourn, while in my flightThrough utter and through middle darkness borneWith other notes then to th' Orphean LyreI sung of Chaos and Eternal Night,Taught by the heav’nly Muse to venture downThe dark descent, and up to reascend, 20Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe,And feel thy sovran vital Lamp; but thouRevisit’st not these eyes, that rowle in vainTo find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs,Or dim suffusion veild. Yet not the moreCease I to wander where the Muses hauntCleer Spring, or shadie Grove, or Sunnie Hill,Smit with the love of sacred song; but chiefThee Sion and the flowrie Brooks beneath, 30That wash thy hallowd feet, and warbling flow,Nightly I visit: nor somtimes forgetThose other two equal'd with me in Fate,So were I equal’d with them in renown,Blind Thamyris and blind Mæonides,And Tiresias and Phineus Prophets old.Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie moveHarmonious numbers; as the wakeful BirdSings darkling, and in shadiest Covert hidTunes her nocturnal Note. Thus with the Year 40Seasons return, but not to me returnsDay, or the sweet approach of Ev'n or Morn,Or sight of vernal bloom, or Summers Rose,Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;But cloud in stead, and ever-during darkSurrounds me, from the chearful waies of menCut off, and for the Book of knowledg fairPresented with a Universal blancOf Natures works to mee expung’d and ras’d,And wisdome at one entrance quite shut out. 50So much the rather thou Celestial lightShine inward, and the mind through all her powersIrradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thencePurge and disperse, that I may see and tellOf things invisible to mortal sight.Now had the Almighty Father from above,From the pure Empyrean where he sitsHigh 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 60Stood thick as Starrs, and from his sight receiv’dBeatitude past utterance; on his rightThe radiant image of his Glory sat,His onely Son; On Earth he first beheldOur two first Parents, yet the onely twoOf mankind, in the happie Garden plac’t,Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,Uninterrupted joy, unrivald loveIn blissful solitude; he then survey’dHell and the Gulf between, and Satan there 70Coasting the wall of Heav’n on this side NightIn the dun Air sublime, and ready nowTo stoop with wearied wings, and willing feetOn the bare outside of this World, that seem’dFirm land imbosom’d, without Firmament,Uncertain which, in Ocean or in Air.Him God beholding from his prospect high,Wherein past, present, future he beholds,Thus to his onely Son foreseeing spake.Onely begotten Son, seest thou what rage 80Transports our adversarie, whom no boundsPrescrib’d, no barrs of Hell, nor all the chainsHeapt on him there, nor yet the main AbyssWide interrupt can hold; so bent he seemsOn desperat revenge, that shall redoundUpon his own rebellious head. And nowThrough all restraint broke loose he wings his wayNot farr off Heav’n, in the Precincts of light,Directly towards the new created World,And Man there plac’t, with purpose to assay 90If him by force he can destroy, or worse,By som false guile pervert; and shall pervert;For man will heark'n to his glozing lyes,And easily transgress the sole Command,Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fallHee and his faithless Progenie: whose fault?Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of meeAll he could have; I made him just and right,Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.Such I created all th' Ethereal Powers 100And Spirits, both them who stood & them who faild;Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.Not free, what proof could they have givn sincereOf true allegiance, constant Faith or Love,Where onely what they needs must do, appeard,Not what they would? what praise could they receive?What pleasure I from such obedience paid,When Will and Reason (Reason also is choice)Useless and vain, of freedom both despoild,Made passive both, had servd necessitie, 110Not mee. They therefore as to right belongd,So were created, nor can justly accuseThir maker, or thir making, or thir Fate;As if Predestination over-rul’dThir will, dispos’d by absolute DecreeOr high foreknowledge; they themselves decreedThir own revolt, not I: if I foreknew,Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.So without least impulse or shadow of Fate, 120Or aught by me immutablie foreseen,They trespass, Authors to themselves in allBoth what they judge and what they choose; for soI formd them free, and free they must remain,Till they enthrall themselves: I else must changeThir nature, and revoke the high DecreeUnchangeable, Eternal, which ordain’dThir freedom, they themselves ordain’d thir fall.The first sort by thir own suggestion fell,Self-tempted, self-deprav’d: Man falls deceiv’d 130By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,The other none: in Mercy and Justice both,Through Heav’n and Earth, so shall my glorie excel;But Mercy first and last shall brightest shine.Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill’dAll Heav’n, and in the blessed Spirits electSense of new joy ineffable diffus’d:Beyond compare the Son of God was seenMost glorious, in him all his Father shonSubstantially express’d, and in his face 140Divine compassion visibly appeerd,Love without end, and without measure Grace,Which uttering thus he to his Father spake.O Father, gracious was that word which clos’dThy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace;For which both Heav’n and Earth shall high extollThy praises, with th' innumerable soundOf Hymns and sacred Songs, wherewith thy ThroneEncompass’d shall resound thee ever blest.For should Man finally be lost, should Man 150Thy creature late so lov’d, thy youngest SonFall circumvented thus by fraud, though joyndWith his own folly? that be from thee farr,That farr be from thee, Father, who art JudgeOf all things made, and judgest only right.Or shall the Adversarie thus obtainHis end, and frustrate thine, shall he fulfillHis malice, and thy goodness bring to naught,Or proud return though to his heavier doom,Yet with revenge accomplish’t and to Hell 160Draw after him the whole Race of mankind,By him corrupted? or wilt thou thy selfAbolish thy Creation, and unmake,For him, what for thy glorie thou hast made?So should thy goodness and thy greatness bothBe questiond and blaspheam’d without defence.To whom the great Creatour thus reply'd.O Son, in whom my Soul hath chief delight,Son of my bosom, Son who art aloneMy word, my wisdom, and effectual might, 170All hast thou spok'n as my thoughts are, allAs my Eternal purpose hath decreed:Man shall not quite be lost, but sav’d who will,Yet not of will in him, but grace in meFreely voutsaft; once more I will renewHis lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthrall’d