That is, to thy obedience; therein stand.

This was that caution given thee; be advised.
God made thee perfect, not immutable:

And good he made thee, but to persevere
He left it in thy power; ordain'd thy will
By nature free, not overruled by fate
Inextricable, or strict necessity:
Our voluntary service he requires,
Not our necessitated; such with him
Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how

Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve
Willing or no, who will but what they must
By destiny, and can no other choose?

Myself, and all the angelic host, that stand
In sight of God enthroned, our happy state
Hold as you yours, while our obedience holds;
On other surety none: freely we serve,
Because we freely love, as in our will
To love or not; in this we stand or fall;
And some are fallen, to disobedience fallen,
And so from Heaven to deepest Hell; O fall
From what high state of bliss, into what woe!

To whom our great progenitor: Thy words
Attentive, and with more delighted ear,
Divine instructor, I have heard, than when

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Cherubic songs by night from neighboring hills

Aerial music send: nor knew I not

To be both will and deed created free;

Yet that we never shall forget to love
Our Maker, and obey him whose command
Single is yet so just, my constant thoughts

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Assured me, and still assure: though what thou tell'st
Hath pass'd in Heaven some doubt within me move,
But more desire to hear, if thou consent,

The full relation, which must needs be strange,
Worthy of sacred silence to be heard;

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And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun
Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins
His other half in the great zone of Heaven.
Thus Adam made request: and Raphael,
After short pause assenting, thus began;

High matter thou enjoin'st me, O prime of men, Sad task and hard; for how shall I relate

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To human sense the invisible exploits
Of warring Spirits? how, without remorse,
The ruin of so many glorious once

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And perfect while they stood? how last unfold
The secrets of another world, perhaps

Not lawful to reveal? yet for thy good

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This is dispensed; and what surmounts the reach
Of human sense, I shall delineate so,

By likening spiritual to corporeal forms,

As may express them best; though what if Earth

Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein 575 Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?

As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild

Reigned where these Heavens now roll, where Earth Upon her centre poised; when on a day (For time, though in eternity, applied

To motion, measures all things durable

By present, past, and future,) on such day

[now rests

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As Heaven's great year brings forth, the empyrial host

Of Angels, by imperial summons call'd,

Innumerable before the Almighty's throne

Forthwith from all the ends of Heaven appear'd
Under their Hierarchs in orders bright:

Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,
Standards and gonfalons 'twixt van and rear
Stream in the air, and for distinction serve
Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;
Or in their glittering tissues bear imblazed
Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love

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Recorded eminent. Thus when in orbs

Of circuit inexpressible they stood,

Orb within orb, the Father Infinite,

By whom in bliss imbosom'd sat the Son,
Amidst as from a flaming mount, whose top
Brightness had made invisible, thus spake:
Hear, all ye Angels, progeny of light,

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Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
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.

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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

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Then most, when most irregular they seem;
And in their motions harmony divine

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So smooths 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.

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On flowers reposed, and with fresh flowerets crown'd They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet Quaff immortality and joy, secure

Of surfeit, where full measure only bounds

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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 and shade
Spring both, the face of brightest Heaven had changed
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 globous earth in plain outspread

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(Such are the courts of God,) the angelic throng, 650 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 sov❜reign 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,

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If not the first Archangel, great in power,

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In favor, and pre-eminence, yet fraught
With envy against the Son of God, that day
Honor'd by his great Father, and proclaim'd

Messiah King anointed, could not bear

Through pride that sight, and thought himself impair'd

Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved
With all his legions to dislodge, and leave
Unworship'd, unobey'd, the throne supreme,
Contemptuous; and his next subordinate
Awakening, thus to him in secret spake:

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Sleep'st thou, companion dear? What sleep can close
Thy eyelids? and remember'st what decree
Of yesterday, so late hath pass'd the lips

Of 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 imposed;

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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, erc 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 Archangel, and infused
Bad influence into the unwary breast
Of his associate: he together calls,

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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 disencumber'd Heaven,
The great hierarchal standard was to move;

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