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Paradise Regained - Book Ia
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by
danlowlite
Tue Sep 26 2000 at 22:30:25
Contents
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I, WHO erewhile the happy
Garden
sung
By one man's
disobedience
lost, now
sing
Recovered
Paradise
to all
mankind
,
By one man's firm
obedience
fully tried
Through all temptation, and the
Tempter
foiled
In all his wiles, defeated and repulsed,
And Eden raised in the waste
wilderness
.
Thou Spirit, who led'st this glorious
Eremite
Into the desert, his victorious field
Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st him thence 10
By
proof
the undoubted
Son of God
, inspire,
As thou art wont, my prompted song, else
mute
,
And bear through highth or depth of
Nature
's bounds,
With
prosperous
wing
full summed, to tell of deeds
Above heroic, though in
secret
done,
And
unrecorded
left through many an
age
:
Worthy to have not
remained
so long
unsung
.
Now had the great
Proclaimer
, with a
voice
More awful than the sound of
trumpet
, cried
Repentance, and
Heaven
's
kingdom
nigh at hand 20
To all baptized. To his great
baptism
flocked
With awe the regions round, and with them came
From
Nazareth
the
son of Joseph
deemed
To the flood
Jordan
--came as then
obscure
,
Unmarked, unknown. But him the
Baptist
soon
Descried, divinely warned, and
witness
bore
As to his worthier, and would have resigned
To him his
heavenly office
. Nor was long
His witness
unconfirmed
: on him
baptized
Heaven
opened, and in likeness of a
Dove
30
The Spirit descended, while the
Father
's voice
From
Heaven
pronounced him his beloved
Son
.
That heard the
Adversary
, who, roving still
About the world, at that
assembly
famed
Would not be last, and, with the voice
divine
Nigh
thunder-struck
, the exalted man to whom
Such
high attest
was given a while surveyed
With wonder; then, with
envy
fraught and
rage
,
Flies to his place, nor rests, but in mid air
To
council
summons
all his mighty
Peers
, 40
Within thick
clouds
and dark
tenfold
involved,
A gloomy
consistory
; and them
amidst
,
With looks
aghast
and sad, he thus
bespake
:--
"O ancient
Powers of Air
and this wide
World
(For much more willingly I mention
Air
,
This our old conquest, than remember
hell
,
Our hated habitation), well ye know
How many ages, as the years of men,
This
Universe
we have
possessed
, and ruled
In manner at our will the affairs of
Earth
, 50
Since Adam and his facile consort
Eve
Lost
Paradise
, deceived by me, though since
With dread attending when that
fatal wound
Shall be inflicted by the
seed
of
Eve
Upon my head. Long the decrees of
Heaven
Delay, for longest time to
Him
is short;
And now, too soon for us, the
circling
hours
This dreaded time have compassed, wherein we
Must bide the stroke of that long-threatened
wound
(At least, if so we can, and by the head 60
Broken be not intended all our power
To be infringed, our freedom and our being
In this fair empire won of
Earth
and
Air
)--
For this ill news I bring:
The Woman's Seed
,
Destined to this, is late of woman born.
His birth to our just fear gave no small cause;
But his growth now to youth's full flower, displaying
All virtue, grace and wisdom to achieve
Things highest, greatest, multiplies my fear.
Before him a great
Prophet
, to proclaim 70
His coming, is sent
harbinger
, who all
Invites, and in the
consecrated
stream
Pretends to wash off
sin
, and fit them so
Purified to receive him
pure
, or rather
To do him honour as their
king
. All come,
And he himself among them was
baptized
--
Not thence to be more pure, but to receive
The testimony of
Heaven
, that who he is
Thenceforth the nations may not doubt. I saw
The
Prophet
do him
reverence
; on him, rising 80
Out of the water,
Heaven
above the clouds
Unfold her
crystal doors
; thence on his head
A perfet
Dove
descend (whate'er it meant);
And out of
Heaven
the
sovraign
voice I heard,
'This is my Son beloved,--in him am pleased.'
His mother, than, is mortal, but his
Sire
He who obtains the
monarchy of Heaven
;
And what will He not do to advance his
Son
?
His first-begot we know, and sore have felt,
When his fierce thunder drove us to the
Deep
; 90
Who this is we must learn, for
Man
he seems
In all his lineaments, though in his face
The glimpses of his
Father
's glory shine.
Ye see our danger on the utmost edge
Of hazard, which admits no long
debate
,
But must with something sudden be opposed
(Not force, but well-couched
fraud
, well-woven snares),
Ere in the head of nations he
appear
,
Their
king
, their leader, and supreme on
Earth
.
I, when no other
durst
, sole undertook 100
The dismal
expedition
to find out
And ruin
Adam
, and the
exploit
performed
Successfully: a calmer voyage now
Will waft me; and the way found
prosperous
once
Induces best to hope of like
success
."
He ended, and his words impression left
Of much amazement to the
infernal
crew,
Distracted
and surprised with deep
dismay
At these
sad tidings
. But no time was then
For long
indulgence
to their fears or grief: 110
Unanimous they all commit the care
And management of this man
enterprise
To him, their
great Dictator
, whose attempt
At first against
mankind
so well had thrived
In
Adam
's overthrow, and led their march
From
hell
's deep-vaulted den to dwell in light,
Regents
, and
potentates
, and
kings
, yea
gods
,
Of many a pleasant realm and province wide.
So to the coast of Jordan he directs
His easy steps, girded with snaky wiles, 120
Where he might likeliest find this
new-declared
,
This man of men, attested
Son of God
,
Temptation and all guile on him to
try
--
So to subvert whom he suspected raised
To end his
reign
on
Earth
so long enjoyed:
But, contrary, unweeting he fulfilled
The purposed counsel, pre-ordained and fixed,
Of the
Most High
, who, in full frequence bright
Of
Angels
, thus to
Gabriel
smiling spake:--
"
Gabriel
, this day, by
proof
, thou shalt behold, 130
Thou and all
Angels
conversant on
Earth
With
Man
or men's affairs, how I begin
To verify that
solemn
message late,
On which I sent thee to the
Virgin
pure
In Galilee, that she should bear a son,
Great in renown, and called the
Son of God
.
Then told'st her, doubting how these things could be
To her a virgin], that on her should come
The
Holy Ghost
, and the power of the
Highest
O'ershadow her. This Man, born and now upgrown, 140
To shew him worthy of his birth
divine
And high prediction, henceforth I expose
To
Satan
; let him
tempt
, and now
assay
His utmost subtlety, because he
boasts
And vaunts of his great cunning to the
throng
Of his
Apostasy
. He might have learnt
Less overweening, since he failed in
Job
,
Whose constant perseverance overcame
Whate'er his cruel
malice
could invent.
He now shall know I can produce a man, 150
Of female seed, far abler to resist
All his
solicitations
, and at length
All his vast force, and drive him back to
hell
--
Winning by conquest what the first man lost
By fallacy surprised. But first I mean
To exercise him in the
wilderness
;
There he shall first lay down the rudiments
Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth
To conquer
Sin
and
Death
, the two grand
foe
s.
By
humiliation
and strong sufferance 160
His weakness shall o'ercome
Satanic
strength,
And all the world, and mass of
sinful
flesh
;
That all the
Angels
and
aethereal
Powers
--
They now, and men hereafter--may discern
From what consummate
virtue
I have chose
This perfet man, by merit called my
Son
,
To earn
salvation
for the sons of men."
So
spake
the
Eternal Father
, and all
Heaven
Admiring stood a space; then into hymns
Burst forth, and in
celestial
measures moved, 170
Circling the throne and singing, while the hand
Sung with the voice, and this the argument:--
"Victory and triumph to the
Son of God
,
Now entering his great duel, not of arms,
But to vanquish by wisdom
hellish
wiles!
The
Father
knows the
Son
; therefore secure
Ventures his filial virtue, though
untried
,
Against whate'er may
tempt
, whate'er seduce,
Allure, or terrify, or
undermine
.
Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of
hell
, 180
And,
devilish
machinations
, come to nought!"
So they in
Heaven
their odes and vigils tuned.
Meanwhile the
Son of God
, who yet some days
Lodged in
Bethabara
, where
John
baptized,
Musing and much revolving in his
breast
How best the mighty work he might begin
Of
Saviour
to mankind, and which way first
Publish his
Godlike
office now mature,
One day forth walked alone, the
Spirit
leading
And his deep thoughts, the better to converse 190
With
solitude
, till, far from track of
men
,
Thought following thought, and step by step led on,
He entered now the bordering
Desert
wild,
And, with dark shades and rocks environed round,
His holy
meditations
thus pursued:--
Contents
Next
Paradise Regained - Contents
Paradise Regained - Book Ib
Summary of Paradise Lost
Reattainment
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