HUS they, in lowliest plight, repentant stood Praying; for from the mercy-seat above Prevenient grace descending had removed
The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh Regenerate grow instead, that sighs now breathed Unutterable, which the Spirit of prayer
Inspired, and wing'd for heaven with speedier flight Than loudest oratory: yet their port
Not of mean suitors; nor important less
Seem'd their petition, than when the ancient pair, In fables old, less ancient yet than these, Deucalion and chaste Pyrrha, to restore
The race of mankind drown'd, before the shrine Of Themis stood devout. To heaven their prayers Flew up, nor miss'd the way, by envious winds Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they pass'd Dimensionless through heavenly doors; then clad With incense, where the golden altar fumed, By their great Intercessor, came in sight Before the Father's throne: them the glad Son Presenting, thus to intercede began:
See, Father, what first-fruits on earth are sprung From thy implanted grace in man; these sighs And prayers, which, in this golden censer, mix'd With incense, I, thy priest, before thee bring; Fruits of more pleasing savour, from thy seed Sown with contrition in his heart, than those Which, his own hand manuring, all the trees Of Paradise could have produced, ere fallen From innocence. Now, therefore, bend thine ear To supplication; hear his sighs, though mute; Unskilful with what words to pray, let me Interpret for him-me, his Advocate And Propitiation; all his works on me, Good, or not good, ingraft; my merit those Shall perfect, and for these my death shall pay. Accept me; and, in me, from these receive
The smell of peace toward mankind; let him live Before thee reconciled, at least his days
Number'd, though sad, till death, his doom (which I
To mitigate thus plead, not to reverse),
To better life shall yield him, where with me All my redeem'd may dwell in joy and bliss Made one with me, as I with thee am one.”
To whom the Father, without cloud, serene : "All thy request for man, accepted Son, Obtain; all thy request was my decree : But, longer in that Paradise to dwell, The law I gave to nature him forbids: Those pure immortal elements that know No gross, no unharmonious mixture foul, Eject him, tainted now, and purge him off, As a distemper gross, to air as gross, And mortal food, as may dispose him best For dissolution wrought by sin, that first Distemper'd all things, and of incorrupt Corrupted. I, at first, with two fair gifts Created him endow'd; with happiness, And immortality: that fondly lost, This other served but to eternize woe; Till I provided death: so death becomes His final remedy; and, after life, ' Tried in sharp tribulation, and refined By faith and faithful works, to second life,
Waked in the renovation of the just,
Resigns him up with heaven and earth renew'd.
But let us call to synod all the blest
Through heaven's wide bounds: from them I will not
My judgments; how with mankind I proceed,
As how with peccant angels late they saw,
And in their state, though firm, stood more confirm'd." He ended, and the Son gave signal high
To the bright minister that watch'd; he blew His trumpet, heard in Oreb since, perhaps,
When God descended, and, perhaps, once more To sound at general doom. The angelic blast Fill'd all the regions: from their blissful bowers Of amarantine shade, fountain, or spring,
By the waters of life, where'er they sat In fellowships of joy, the sons of light Hasted, resorting to the summons high,
And took their seats: till, from his throne supreme, The Almighty thus pronounced his sovereign will: "O sons, like one of us man is become, To know both good and evil, since his taste Of that defended fruit; but let him boast His knowledge of good lost, and evil got; Happier, had it sufficed him to have known Good by itself, and evil not at all. He sorrows now, repents, and prays contrite, My motions in him; longer than they move, His heart I know how variable and vain, Self-left. Lest, therefore, his now bolder hand Reach also of the tree of life, and eat, And live for ever (dream at least to live For ever), to remove him I decree,
And send him from the garden forth to till The ground whence he was taken, fitter soil. Michael, this my behest have thou in charge; Take to thee from among the cherubim Thy choice of flaming warriors, lest the fiend, Or in behalf of man, or to invade
Vacant possession, some new trouble raise ; Haste thee, and from the Paradise of God, Without remorse, drive out the sinful pair— From hallow'd ground the unholy; and denounce To them, and to their progeny, from thence Perpetual banishment. Yet, lest they faint
At the sad sentence rigorously urged
(For I behold them soften'd, and with tears Bewailing their excess), all terror hide. If patiently thy bidding they obey, Dismiss them, not disconsolate ;reveal To Adam what shall come in future days, As I shall thee enlighten; intermix
My covenant in the woman's seed renew'd;
So send them forth, though sorrowing, yet in peace : And, on the east side of the garden, place, Where entrance up from Eden easiest climbs, Cherubic watch, and of a sword the flame Wide-waving, all approach far off to fright, And guard all passage to the tree of life; Lest Paradise a receptacle prove
To spirits foul, and all my trees their prey, With whose stolen fruit man once more to delude." He ceased; and the archangelic power prepared For swift descent; with him the cohort bright Of watchful cherubim: four faces each Had, like a double Janus; all their shape Spangled with eyes more numerous than those Of Argus, and more wakeful than to drowse, Charm'd with Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed Of Hermes, or his opiate rod. Meanwhile, To resalute the world with sacred light,
Leucothea waked, and with fresh dews embalm'd The earth; when Adam and first matron Eve Had ended now their orisons, and found Strength added from above; new hope to spring Out of despair; joy, but with fear yet link'd; Which thus to Eve his welcome words renew'd: "Eve, easily may faith admit that all
The good which we enjoy from heaven descends;
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