Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand
This day I have begot whom I declare
My only Son, and on this holy hill
Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
At my right hand; your Head I him appoint;
And by myself have sworn, to him shall bow
All knees in Heaven, and shall confess him Lord:
Under his great vicegerent-reign abide
United, as one individual soul,
For ever happy him who disobeys,
Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day,
Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls
Into utter darkness, deep ingulf'd, his place
Ordain'd, without redemption, without end."
"So spake the Omnipotent, and with his words
All seem'd well pleased; all seem'd, but were not all.
That day, as other solemn days, they spent
In song and dance, about the sacred hill;
Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
Of planets and of fix'd, in all her wheels,
Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,
Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular,
Then most, when most irregular they seem;
And, in their motions, harmony divine
So smoothes her charming tones, that God's own ear
Listens delighted. Evening now approach'd,
For we have also our evening and our morn;
We ours, for change delectable, not need;
Forthwith, from dance to sweet repast they turn
Desirous; all in circles as they stood,
Tables are set, and on a sudden piled,
With angels' food; and rubied nectar flows
In pearl, in diamond, and massy gold,
Fruit of delicious vines, the growth of Heaven.
On flowers reposed, and with fresh flowrets crown'd
They eat, they drink, and, in communion sweet,
Quaff immortality and joy, secure
Of surfeit, where full measure only bounds
Excess, before the all-bounteous King, who shower'd
With copious hand, rejoicing in their joy.
Now when ambrosial night, with clouds exhaled
From that high mount of God, whence light & shadc
Spring both, the face of brightest Heaven had chang'd
To grateful twilight; for night comes not there
In darker veil; and roseate dews disposed
All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest;
Wide over all the plain, and wider far
Than all this globose earth, in plain outspread,
Such are the courts of God, the angelic throng,
Dispersed in bands and files, their camp extend
By living streams, among the trees of life,
Pavilions numberless, and sudden rear'd
Celestial tabernacles, where they slept
Fann'd with cool winds; save those, who in their course,
Melodious hymns about the sovereign throne
Alternate, all night long. But not so waked
Satan, so call him now, his former name
Is heard no more in Heaven; he, of the first,
If not the first arch-angel, great in power,
In favour and pre-eminence, yet fraught
With envy against the Son of God, that day
Honour'd by his great Father, and proclaim'd
Messiah, King anointed, could not bear,
Through pride, that sight, and thought himself impaird.
Deep malice thence conceiving, and disdain,
Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour,
Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolv'd,
With all his legions, to dislodge, and leave
Unworshipp'd, unobey'd, the throne supreme,
Contemptuous; and his next subordinate
Awakening, thus to him in secret spake.
"Sleep'st thou, companion dear, what sleep can close
Thy eye-lids? and remember'st what decree
Of yesterday, so late hath pass'd the lips
O. Heaven's Almighty? Thou to me thy thoughts
Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart ;
Both waking we were one; how then can now
Thy sleep dissent? New laws thou seest impos'd;
New laws from him who reigns, new minds may raise
In us who serve; new counsels, to debate
What doubtful may ensue; more in this place
To utter is not safe. Assemble thou,
Of all those myriads which we lead, the chief;
Tell them, that by command, ere yet dim night
Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste,
And all who under me their banners wave,
Homeward, with flying march, where we possess
The quarters of the north; there to prepare
Fit entertainment, to receive our King,
The great Messiah, and his new commands;
Who speedily, through all the hierarchies,
Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.'
"So spake the false arch-angel, and infused Bad influence into the unwary breast
Of his associate: he together calls,
Or several one by one, the regent powers,
Under him regent; tells, as he was taught,
That the Most High, commanding, now ere night,
Now ere dim night had disincumber'd Heaven,
The great hierarchal standard was to move;
Tells the suggested cause, and casts between
Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound
Or taint integrity: but all obey'd
The wonted signal, and superior voice
Of their great potentate; for great indeed
His name, and high was his degree in Heaven :
His countenance, as the morning star that guides
The starry flock, allured them, and with lies
Drew after him the third part of Heaven's host.
Meanwhile the eternal eye, whose sight discerns
Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount,
And from within the golden lamps, that burn
Nightly before him, saw, without their light,
Rebellion rising, saw in whom, how spread
Among the sons of morn, what multitudes
Were banded to oppose his high decree;
And, smiling, to his only Son thus said:
"Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
In full resplendence, heir of all my might,
Nearly it now concerns us to be sure
Of our omnipotence, and, with what arms
We mean to hold, what anciently we claim
Of deity or empire; such a foe
Is rising, who intends to erect his throne
Equal to ours, throughout the spacious north;
Nor so content, hath in his thought to try,
In battle, what our power is, or our right.
Let us advise, and to this hazard draw
With speed what force is left, and all employ
In our defence, lest unawares
we lose
This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill.'
"To whom the Son, with calm aspéct and clear, Lightning divine, ineffable, serene,
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Made answer. Mighty Father, thou thy foes
Justly hast in derision, and, secure,
Laugh'st at their vain designs, and tumults vain
Matter to me of glory, whom their hate
Illustrates; when they see all regal power
Given me, to quell their pride, and in event
Know, whether I be dextrous to subdue
Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heaven.
"So spake the Son; but Satan with his
Far was advanced, on winged speed, an host
Innumerable, as the stars of night,
Or stars of morning, dew-drops, which the sun
Impearls on every leaf, and every flower.
Regions they pass'd, the mighty regencies
Of seraphim, and potentates, and thrones,
In their triple degrees; regions to which
All thy dominion, Adam, is no more
Than what this garden is to all the earth,
And all the sea, from one entire globose
Stretch'd into longitude; which having pass'd,
At length, into the limits of the north
They came; and Satan to his royal seat
High on a hill, far blazing, as
Raised on a mount, with pyramids and towers,
From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold,
The palace of great Lucifer, so call
That structure, in the dialect of men
Interpreted, which not long after, he,
Affecting all equality with God,
In imitation of that mount, whereon
Messiah was declar'd, in sight of Heaven,
The mountain of the congregation call'd;
For thither he assembled all his train,
Pretending, so commanded, to consult
About the great reception of their King,
Thither to come; and, with calumnious art
Of counterfeited truth, thus held their ears.
"Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers,
If these magnificent titles yet remain
Not merely titular; since, by decree,
Another now hath to himself engross'd
All power, and us eclipsed, under the name
Of King anointed; for whom all this haste
Of midnight march, and hurried meeting here,
This only to consult, how we may best,
With what be devis'd of honours new,
may
Receive him, coming to receive from us
Knee-tribute, yet unpaid, prostration vile,
Too much to one, but double how endur'd,
To one, and to his image now proclaim'd?
But what if better counsels might erect
Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke?
Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend
The souple knee? ye will not, if I trust
To know ye right; or if ye know yourselves
Natives and sons of Heaven, possess'd before
By none, and if not equal all, yet free,
Equally free; for orders and degrees
Jar no: with liberty, but well consist.
Who can in reason then or right assume
Monarchy over such as live by right
His equals? if in power and splendour less,
In freedom equal: or can introduce
Law and edict on us, who without law
Err not? much less for this to be our Lord,
And look for adoration, to the abuse
Of those imperial titles, which assert
Our being ordain'd to govern, not to serve.'
"Thus far his bold discourse, without control.
Had audience, when among the seraphim
Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored
The Deity, and divine commands obey'd,
Stood up; and, in a flame of zeal severe,
The current of his fury thus oppos'd.
"O argument blasphemous, false, and proud!
Words, which no ear ever to hear in Heaven
Expected; least of all from thee, ingrate,
In place, thyself so high above thy peers.
Canst thou, with impious obloquy, condemn
The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn,
That to his only Son, by right endued
With regal sceptre, every soul in Heaven
Shall bend the knee, and in that honour due,
Confess him rightful King? Unjust thou say'st,
Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free,
And equal over equals to let reign,
One over all, with unsucceeded power.
Shalt thou give law to God? shalt thou dispute
With him the points of liberty, who made
Thee what thou art, & form'd the powers of Heaven
Such as he pleased, and circumscrib'd their being?
Yet by experience taught, we know how good,
And of our good, and of our dignity,
How provident he is; how far from thought
To make us less, bent rather to exalt
Our happy state, under one head more near
United. But to grant it thee unjust,
That equal over equals monarch reign:
Thyself, though great & glorious, dost thou count,
Or all angelic nature join'd in one,
Equal to him begotten Son? by whom,
As by his word, the mighty Father made
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