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Paradiſe loſt.
Book 4.
One Gate there onely was, and that look'd EaſtOn th' other ſide: which when th' arch-fellon ſawDue entrance he diſdaind, and in contempt, 180At one flight bound high overleap'd all boundOf Hill or higheſt Wall, and ſheer withinLights on his feet. As when a prowling Wolfe,Whom hunger drives to ſeek new haunt for prey,Watching where Shepherds pen thir Flocks at eeveIn hurdl'd Cotes amid the field ſecure,Leaps o're the fence with eaſe into the Fould:Or as a Thief bent to unhoord the caſhOf ſome rich Burgher, whoſe ſubſantial dores,Croſs-barrd and bolted faſt, fear no aſſault, 190In at the window climbes, or o're the tiles;So clomb this firſt grand Thief into Gods Fould:So ſince into his Church lewd Hirelings climbe.Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life,The middle Tree and higheſt there that grew,Sat like a Cormorant; yet not true LifeThereby regaind, but fat deviſing DeathTo them who liv'd; nor on the vertue thoughtOf that life-giving Plant, but only us'dFor proſpect, what well us'd had bin the pledge 200Of immortalitie. So little knowsAny, but God alone, to value rightThe good before him, but perverts beſt thingsTo worſt abuſe, or to thir meaneſt uſe.Beneath him with new wonder now he viewsTo all delight of human ſenſe expos'dIn narrow room Natures whole wealth, yea more,A Heaven on Earth: for bliſsful ParadiſeOf God the Garden was, by him in the Eaſt
Of
