BOOK THIRD
��129
��Heaped on him there, nor yet the main
Abyss
Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems On desperate revenge, that shall redound Upon his own rebellious head. And now, Through all restraint broke loose, he wings
his way Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of i
light,
Directly towards the new-created World, And Man there placed, with purpose to assay 90
If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, By some false guile pervert : and shall
pervert ;
For Man will hearken to his glozing lies, And easily transgress the sole command, Sole pledge of his obedience: so will fall He and his faithless progeny. Whose fault ? Whose but his own ? Ingrate, he had of me All he could have; I made him just and
right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such I created all the Ethereal Powers 100 And Spirits, both them who stood and them
who failed; Freely they stood who stood, and fell who
fell. Not free, what proof could they have given
sincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love, Where only what they needs must do ap- peared, 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 de- spoiled,
Made passive both, had served Necessity, Not Me ? They, therefore, as to right be- longed i" So were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, As if Predestination overruled Their will, disposed by absolute decree Or high foreknowledge. They themselves
decreed
Their own revolt, not I. If I foreknew, Foreknowledge had no influence on their
fault,
Which had no less proved certain unfore- known.
��So without least impulse or shadow of fate, Or aught by me immutably foreseen, 121 They trespass, authors to themselves in
all, Both what they judge and what they choose ;
for so
I formed them free, and free they must re- main Till they enthrall themselves: I else must
change
Their nature, and revoke the high decree Unchangeable, eternal, which ordained Their freedom; they themselves ordained
their fall.
The first sort by their own suggestion fell, Self-tempted, self-depraved; Man falls, de- ceived 130 By the other first: Man, therefore, shall
find grace ; The other, none. In mercy and justice
both, Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my
glory excel; But mercy, first and last, shall brightest
shine."
Thus while God spake ambrosial fra- grance filled
All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffused. Beyond compare the Son of God was seen Most glorious; in him all his Father shon Substantially expressed ; and in his face 14 Divine compassion visibly appeared, Love without end, and without measure
grace; Which uttering, thus He to his Father
spake : " O Father, gracious was that word which
closed Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find
grace; For which both Heaven and Earth shall
high extol
Thy praises, with the innumerable sound Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy
throne
Encompassed shall resound thee ever blest. For, should Man finally be lost should
Man, 15
Thy creature late so loved, thy youngest
son, Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though
joined With his own folly 1 That be from
thee far,
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