THE ARGUMENT.

The Subject proposed. Invocation of the Holy Spirit.-The Poem opens with John baptizing at the river Jordan. Jesus coming

there is baptized; and is attested, by the descent of the Holy Ghost, and by a voice from Heaven, to be the Son of God. Satan, who is present, upon this immediately flies up into the regions of the air: where, summoning his Infernal Council, he acquaints them with his apprehensions that Jesus is that seed of the Woman, destined to destroy all their power, and points out to them the immediate necessity of bringing the matter to proof, and of attempting, by snares and fraud, to counteract and defeat the person, from whom they have so much to dread. This office he offers himself to undertake; and, his offer being accepted, he sets out on his enterprise.-In the mean time God, in the assembly of holy Angels, declares that he has given up his Son to be tempted by Satan; but foretels that the Tempter shall be completely defeated by him : upon which the Angels sing a hymn of triumph. Jesus is led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, while he is meditating on the commencement of his great office of Saviour of Mankind. Pursuing his meditations he narrates, in a soliloquy, what divine and philanthropic impulses he had felt from his early youth, and how his mother Mary, on perceiving these dispositions in him, had acquainted him with the circumstances of his birth, and informed him that he was no less a person than the Son of God; to which he adds what his own inquiries and reflections had supplied in confirmation of this great truth, and particularly dwells on the recent attestation of it at the river Jordan. Our Lord passes forty days, fasting, in the wilderness; where the wild beasts become mild and harmless in his presence. Satan now appears under the form of an old peasant; and enters into discourse with our Lord, wondering what could have brought him alone into so dangerous a place, and at the same time professing to recognize him for the person lately acknowledged by John, at the river Jordan, to be the Son of God. Jesus briefly replies. Satan rejoins with a description of the difficulty of supporting life in the wilderness; and entreats Jesus, if he be really the Son of God, to manifest his divine power, by changing some of the stones into bread. Jesus reproves him, and at the same time tells him that he knows who he is. Satan instantly avows himself, and offers an artful apology for himself and his conduct. Our blessed Lord severely reprimands him, and refutes every part of his justification. Satan, with much semblance of humility, still endeavours to justify himself; and, professing his admiration of Jesus and his regard for virtue, requests to be permitted at a future time to hear more of his conversation; but is answered, that this must be as he shall find permission from above. Satan then disappears, and the Book closes with a short description of night coming on in the desert

PARADISE REGAINED.

BOOK I.

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 tried
Through all temptation, & the Tempter foil'd,
In all his wiles defeated, and repulsed,
And Eden raised in the waste wilderness.

Thou Spirit, who ledst this glorious Eremite
Into the desert, his victorious field,
Against the spiritual foe, & brought'st him thence,
By proof the undoubted Son of God, inspire,
As thou art wont, my prompted song, else mute;
And bear thro' highth or depth of nature's bounds,
With prosperous wing full summ'd, to tell of deeds
Above heroic, though in secret done,
And unrecorded left through many an age;
Worthy to have not remained so long unsung.
Now had the great Proclaimer, with a voice
More awful than the sound of trumpet, cried
Repentance, & Heaven's kingdom nigh at hand
To all baptized. To his great baptism flock'd,
With awe, the regions round; & 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
Descried, divinely warn'd, and witness bore.
As to his worthier, and would have resign'd
To him his heavenly office; nor was long
His witness unconfirm'd: on him baptized
Heaven open'd, and, in likeness of a dove,
The Spirit descended; while the Father's voice,
From Heaven pronounced him his beloved Son.
That heard the adversary, who roving still
About the world, at that assembly famed
Would not be last; and with the voice divine
Nigh thunder-struck, the exalted man, to whom
Such high attest was given, a while survey'd

With wonder; then, with envy fraught & rage, Flies to his place, nor rests, but in mid air To counsel summons all his mighty peers, Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved, A gloomy consistory; and them amidst, With looks aghast & sad, he thus bespake.

"O ancient powers of air & 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 ruled, In manner at our will, the affairs of earth, Since Adam and his facile consort Eve Lost Paradise, deceived 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 Heaven 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 Must bide the stroke of that long-threaten'd wound, At least if so we can, and by the head Broken, be not intended all our power To be infringed, our freedom, and our being, In this fair empire won of earth and air; For this ill news I bring, the Woman's Seed, Destined to this, is late of woman born: His birth to our just fear gave no small cause; But his growth now to youth's full flower, displaying All virtue, grace, and wisdom, to achieve Things highest, greatest, multiplies my fear. Before him a great prophet, to proclaim His coming, is sent harbinger, who all Invites, and in the consecrated stream Pretends to wash off sin, and fit them, so Purified, to receive him pure, or rather, To do him honour as their king; all come, And he himself among them was baptized; Not thence to be more pure, but to receive The testimony of Heaven, that who he is Thenceforth the nations may not doubt. I saw The prophet do him reverence; on him rising Out of the water, Heaven, above the clouds, Unfold her crystal doors, thence, on his head A perfect dove descend, whate'er it meant; And out of Heaven the sovereign voice I heard.

'This is my Son beloved, in him am pleased.'
His mother then is mortal; but his Sire
He who obtains the monarchy of Heaven;
And what will he not do to advance his Son?
His first-begot we know, and sore have felt,
When his fierce thunder drove us to the deep;
Who this is we must learn, for man he seems
In all his lineaments; though in his face
The glimpses of his Father's glory shine.
Ye see our danger, on the utmost edge
Of hazard, which admits no long debate,
But must with something sudden be opposed;
Not force, but well-couch'd fraud, well woven
Ere in the head of nations he appear, [snares,
Their king, their leader, and supreme on earth.
I, when no other durst, sole undertook
The dismal expedition, to find out
And ruin Adam, and the exploit perform'd
Successfully: a calmer voyage now
Will waft me; & the way, found prosperous once,
Induces best to hope of like success.

He ended; and his wo ds impression left Of much amazement to th infernal crew, Distracted and surprised with deep dismay, At these sad tidings; but no time was then For long indulgence to their fears or grief: Unanimous, they all commit the care And management of this n.ain enterprise To him, their great dictator, whose attempt, At first, against mankind so well had thrived, In Adam's overthrow; and led their march From Hell's deep-vaulted den, to dwell in light, Regents, and potentates, and kings, yea gods, Of many a pleasant realm, and province wide. So to the coast of Jordan he directs His easy steps, girded with snaky wiles, Where he might likeliest find this new declar'd, This man of men, attested Son of God, Temptation and all guile on him to try; So to subvert whom he suspected raised To end his reign on earth, so long enjoy'd; But, contrary, unweeting he fulfill'd The purposed counsel, pre-ordain'd and fix'd Of the Most High, who in full frequence bright Of angels, thus to Gabriel smiling spake.

"Gabriel, this day by proof thou shalt behold, Thou, and all angels conversant on earth

With man or men's affairs, how I begin
To verify that solemn message, late
On which I sent thee, to the Virgin pure
In Galilee, that she should bear a son,
Great in renown, and call'd the son of God;
Then told'st her, doubting, how these things could
To her a virgin; that on her should come [be,
The Holy Ghost, and the power of the Highest
O'ershadow her: this Man, born & now upgrown,
To show him worthy of his birth divine,
And high prediction, henceforth I expose
To Satan: let him tempt, and now essay
His utmost subtlety, because he boasts
And vaunts of his great cunning, to the throng
Of his apostacy: he might have learn'd
Less overweening, since he fail'd in Job,
Whose constant perseverance overcame
What'er his cruel malice could invent,
He now shall know I can produce a man,
Of female seed, far abler to resist
All his solicitations, and at length
All his vast force, and drive him back to Hell;
Winning by conquest, what the first man lost,
By fallacy surprised. But first I mean
To exercise him in the wilderness;
There, he shall first lay down the rudiments
Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth
To conquer Sin & Death, the two grand foes,
By humiliation and strong sufferance:
His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength,
And all the world, and mass of sinful flesh;
That all the angels and ethereal powers,
They now, and men hereafter, may discern
From what consummate virtue I have chose
This perfect man, by merit call'd my
Son,
To earn salvation for the sons of men."

So spake the eternal Father; & all Heaven
Admiring stood a space; then into hymns
Burst forth, and in celestial measures moved,
Circling the throne, & singing, while the hand
Sung with the voice, and this the argument.

Victory and triumph to the Son of God! Now entering his great duel; not of arms, But to vanquish, by wisdom, hellish wiles. The Father knows the Son; therefore secure Ventures his filial virtue, though untried, Against what'er may tempt, what'er seduce,