CHA P. II.

Paradife defcrib'd, Satan's firft Sight of Adam and Eve, at which he is greatly furpriz'd; overhears their Difcourfe, and from thence meditates their Destruction.

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OW SATAN had journied on, penfive and flow, to the Afcent of that steep and inacceffible Hill, but found no further Way; the Undergrowth of Shrubs and tangling Bushes had twisted themselves fo into one Clufter, that they deny'd a Path to whatever might affay to pafs that Way: There was only one Gate, and that look'd Eaft on the other Side, which when SATAN faw, he difdain'd to enter properly, and in Contempt at once leap'd over all Bounds, of Hill or highest Wall, and quite within lights on his Feet: As when a prowling Wolf, driven by Hunger to feek new Haunts for his Prey, watching where the Shepherds pen their Flocks in the Sheep-Cotes at Evening, leaps over the Fence amidst the Field, and gets fecurely and with Eafe into the Fold; or as a Thief with an Intention to rob fome rich Merchant (whofe fubftantial Doors, crofs-barr'd and bolted faft, cannot be broke open) climbs in at. the Window, or at the Top of the Houfe: So did this first great Thief climb into GOD's Fold; (fo do fince lewd Hirelings climb into his Church) from thence he flew up, and upon the Middle Tree in PARADISE (which was the Tree of Life, and the highest that grew there) fat like a Cormorant; yet did not thereby regain true Life, but instead of that fat devifing Death to them who liv'd; nor did he think of the Virtue of that Life-giving Plant, but only us'd to take a View of PARADISE, what well us'd had been the Pledge of Immortality. (So little does any but GOD

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GOD alone know to fet a right Value on the Things before him, but, either perverts the best Things to the worst of Abuses, or elfe to their meaneft Ufe) With new Wonder now he views beneath him NATURE'S whole Wealth, expos'd in narrow Room to all the Delight of human Senfe, nay it was more; it was a Heaven on Earth; for the Garden was the happy PARADISE of GOD, by him planted in the East of EDEN; EDEN was ftretch'd out from AURAN (b) Eaftward, to the Royal Towers of great SE LEUCIA, (i) built by the Kings of GREECE; or where the Sons of EDEN dwelt in TELASSAR. (k) In this pleafant Soil had GOD ordain'd his far more pleafant Garden, and to grow out of the fertile Ground all Trees of the nobleft Kind, whether for Sight, Smell, or Tafte; and exactly in the Middle ftood the Tree of Life highly eminent, bearing ambrofial Fruit, and Bloffoms

(b). Auran, Haran, or Charran; Heb. i. e. Wrath. The chief City of Mefopotamia, whither Abraham fled from the Wrath of God: because of the Idolatry of the Chaldeans, and alfo dwelt for a Time, Gen. 11. 31. Ats 7. 4. Jacob went to it afterwards for fear of Esau's Wrath, Gen. 29. which giveth Name to a large Country upon the River Tigris. It is called alfo Aram and Aramia; from Aram the Son of Sem, i. e. Mighty; and is what we call Syria. This City is 440 Miles Northward from Jerufalem; now called Ophea. It is eleven Day's Journey from Nineve; populous, and hath a good Trade.

fo Calne in the Land of Shinaz, Gen. 10. 10. Coche, then Alexandria; because it was rebuilt by Alexander the Great; afterwards repaired by AntiochusKing of Syria, who called it Seleucia in Memory of his Father Seleucus, Gr. i. e. Glorious. It is forty Miles from Old Babylon upon the Confluence of the Euphrates and the Tygris; the Turks poffefs it now, and call it Bachda or Bagdad.

(k) Telefar, and Elafar, Heb. i. e. A Fort or Rampart of the Affyrians. A Country upon the Borders of Affyria, wherein the Edenites were garrifoned to guard Babylon, from the Incroachments of the Affyrians, Ifa. 37. 12. Ezek. 27. 23. Be(i) Selucia; Lat. Gr. i. e.. A tween thefe Places the true Eden Glaring Light. Another famous and Paradife were fituated! Kid. City of Mefopotamia, called al-Huet, de Situ Paradifi.

Bloffoms of vegetable Gold; and next to the Tree of Life grew our Death, the Tree of Knowledge, the Knowledge of Good, bought too dear through the Knowledge of Ill! Through EDEN Southward there went a large River, which never chang'd its Course, but underneath the fhaggy Hill being ingulph'd pafs'd through; for GoD had thrown that Mountain as his Garden Fence; high rais'd upon the rapid Current, which through Veins of the porous Earth drawn up with a kindly Thirft, rofe a fresh Fountain, and water'd the Garden with many a Stream; thence united fell down the flop'd Shade, and met the lower Flood, which now appears from his darkfome Paffage, and now being divided into four main Streams runs different Ways, wandering through many a famous Realm and Country, whereof there needs no Ac count here; but rather to tell how (if Art could tell how) from that Saphire Fountain the curled Brooks rolling over bright Pearl and Sands of Gold, ran Nectar with many a winding Course under the spreading Shades, vifiting each Plant and feeding the Flowers of PARADISE, which bountiful Nature and not nice Art had pour'd forth profufely, in Beds and curious Knots in Hill, Dale, and Plain, both where the Morning Sun first smote warmly the open Field, and where the unpierc'd Shade held the Bowers in pleasing Darkness, even at Noon.

THUS this Place was a happy rural Seat, with Variety of Profpect and Groves, fome of whofe rich Trees dropp'd Balm and fweet Gums; others, whose Fruit hung delightfully, ftreak'd as it were with burnifh'd Gold, and of delicious Tafte; what was fabled of the HESPERIAN Fruit true only here: Betwixt thefe Groves were Lawns, or level Downs, among which were difpers'd Flocks, grazing upon the tender Grafs; or Hills of Palm, or elfe the flowry Edge of fome well-water'd Valley spread its Store; Flowers of every

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every Hue, and Roles without Thorns, Another Side fhady Grottos, and Caves of cool Recefs, over which the fpreading Vine laid forth her purple Grapes, and gently crept with her increafing and wanton Branches; mean while the murmuring Waters fall difperfed down the flope Hills, or elfe unite their Streams in a Lake, that as it were holds a Mirror to the Bank grown over with fweet Myrtle. The Birds apply their Choir with vernal Airs, which breathing the Smell of the Fields and Groves, make Mufick in the trembling Leaves, while Nature, attended by the Seasons and the Hours, led on a continual Spring: Not that fair Field of ENNA, () where PROSERPINE (m) gathering Flowers was ravifh'd by PLUTO, which caus'd CERES all that Pain to feek her through the World; nor that fweet Grove of DAPHNE, by the River ORONTES, (n) and the infpir'd Spring of CASTALIA (0) might by any Means be compar'd to this PARA

(1) Enna; Chal. Phan. i. e. A Garden and Fountain. Enna is the fame as Eden, in the Language of the Phænicians, which they borrowed from Mojes, Gen. 2. 8. A most pleasant Field in the Heart of Sicily, abounding with Springs, Fruits and Flowers. There was a City, a Temple of Ceres, and a fine Grove: And out of it Pluto ftole and carried off Proferpine into Hell.

(m) Proferpine; Lat. i. e. Creeping out. The Daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, ravished by Pluto. Her Mother Ceres went to Hell to get her released; but because he had tafted a Pomegranate in Pluto's Orchard, Jupiter could do no more, than give her Leave to accompany her fix Months above; and Plu

to fix other Months below. Of the Rape of Proferpina, See Pindar. Ode I. This Fable hath nothing elfe in it, than that the Corn, Fruits, &c. lie fix Months in the Ground, then creep out of it, and flourish fix Months above it; and Ceres was an Inventrefs or Improveress of Hufbandry, &c. The Poets make her the Queen of Hell.

(n) Orontes; Gr. Lat. i. e. Rapid. The largest River in Syria, tifing on M. Lebanon, washing many Cities in its Course; it runs by and thro' Antioch into the Mediterranean Sea.

(0) Caftalia; Arab. i. e. A furling Stream. A fine Spring at the Root of Parnaffus, facred to the Mufes: Becaule the plea

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PARADISE of EDEN; nor that Ifland of NYSA, (p) furrounded by the River TRITON, (q) where CHAM, (r) the youngest Son of NOAH, (whom the Gentiles call AMMON (5) and LYBIAN JOVE) hid AMALTHEA (t) and her youthful Son BACCHUS, (u) from his Step-mother RHEA; nor could the Mountain AMARA (x) be compar'd to PARADISE, where L 3 the