Such favour I unworthy am vouchsaf'd, By me the promis'd Seed shall all restore."
So spake our mother Eve; and Adam heard Well pleas'd, but answer'd not; for now too nigh Th' arch-angel stood; and, from the other hill To their fix'd station, all in bright array The cherubim descended; on the ground Gliding meteorous, as evening mist Ris'n from a river o'er the marish glides, And gathers ground fast at the lab'rer's heel Homeward returning. High in front advanc'd, The brandish'd sword of God before them blaz'd Fierce as a comet; which with torrid heat,
And vapour as the Lybian air adust,
Began to parch that temp rate clime; whereat In either hand the hast'ning angel caught Our ling ring parents, and to th' eastern gate Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast To the subjected plain; then disappear'd. They looking back, all th' eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Wav'd over by that flaming brand; With dreadful faces throng'd, and fiery arms : Some natural tears they dropt, but wip'd them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They, hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.
I WHO erewhile the happy garden sung, By one man's disobedience lost, now sing Recover'd Paradise to all mankind,
By one man's firm obedience fully try'd Through all temptation, and the tempter foil'd In all his wiles, defeated and repuls'd, And Eden rais'd in the waste wilderness.
Thou spirit who led'st this glorious Eremite Into the desart, his victorious field,
Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st him thence
By proof th' undoubted son of God, inspire
As thou art wont, my prompted song, else mute,
And bear through height or depth of nature's bounds
With prosp'rous wing full summ'd, to tell of deeds
Above heroic, though in secret done,
nd unrecorded left through many an age, Worthy t' have not remain'd so long unsung. Now had the great Proclaimer, with a voice. More awful than the sound of trumpet, cry'd Repentance, and heav'n's kingdom nigh at hand To all baptiz'd to his great baptism flock'd With awe the regions round, and with them came From Nazareth the son of Joseph deem'd, To the flood Jordan, came as then obscure, Unmark'd, unknown; but him the baptist soon
Descry'd, divinely warm'd, and witnesss bore As to his worthier, and would have resign'd To him his heav'nly office; nor was long His witness unconfirm'd: on him baptiz'd Heav'n open'd, and in likeness of a dove The spirit descended, while the Father's voice From heav'n pronounc'd him his beloved Son. That heard the adversary, who, roving still About the world, at that assembly fam'd Would not be last, and with the voice divine Nigh thunder-struck, th' exalted man, to whom Such high attest was giv'n, a while survey'd 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, Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involv'd, A gloomy consistory; and them amidst, With looks aghast and sad, he thus bespake : O ancient pow'rs 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 possess'd, and rul'd, In manner at our will th' affairs of earth, Since Adam and his facile consort Eve Lost Paradise, deceiv'd 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 heav'n Delay, for longest time to him is short; And now, too soon for us, the circling hours This dreaded time have compass'd, wherein we
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