prav'd from good, all created fuch to Perfection, one first Matter cloath'd all with various Forms, various Degrees of Subftance, and Life in Things that live; but as nearer plac'd to GoD, or nearer tending to him, more refin'd, fpirituous, and pure, each affign'd in their several active Spheres, 'till Body work up to Spirit, in the Bounds proportion'd to each Kind: So from the Root the green Stalk fprings lighter, and from thence the Leaves more airy, laft the bright and full-blown Flower breaths fweetest Perfumes; MAN'S Nourishment, Flowers and their Fruit, fublim'd by Degrees afpire to vital Spirits, and fo to animal and intellectual; giving both Life, Senfe, Fancy, and Understanding, whence the Soul receives Reason, and Reafon difcourfive or intuitive is her Being; Difcourfe is ofteneft yours, and Intuition moftly ours; differing but in Degree, and being of the fame Kind. Make no Wonder then, that I don't refuse to eat what GOD faw good for you, but convert it as you do to proper Substance. The Time may come, when MEN may partake with Angels, and find no Inconvenience in the Diet, nor the Fare too light; and from these corporal Nutriments, improv'd by Length of Time, perhaps your Bodies at last may turn all to Spirit, and you may afcend with Wings to Heaven, like us, or dwell at your Choice here, or in heavenly PARADISES; if ye be found obedient, and unalterably keep his Love firm and intire, whofe Progeny you are. Mean while enjoy your Fill of what Happiness this happy State can afford, and know that you are incapable of more.

To whom the Father of MANKIND made Anfwer: Favourable Spirit! my gentle and kind Gueft! thou haft well taught the Way that might direct our Knowledge, and fet before us the Compafs of the whole Creation; whereby we may, in Contemplation of Things created, afcend to GOD. But tell me, I

pray

pray thee, what was the Meaning of that Caution, IF YE BE FOUND OBEDIENT? Can we then ever want Obedience to him, or is it poffible we fhould forfake his Love, who form'd us out of the Duft, and plac'd us here in the Fulnefs and utmoft Measure of Blifs, that can be apprehended or fought after by human Defires? To whom the Angel made Answer: Son of Heaven and Earth! to what I am about to fay give great Attention! that thou art happy, owe it to GOD; that thou continueft happy, owe to thyfelf, that is owe it to thy Obedience; therein stand firm: This was that Caution given thee, therefore be advis'd: GOD made thee perfect, but not unchangeable, and he made thee good; but he left it in thy own Power to persevere or not; ordain'd thy Will free by Nature, not over-rul'd by inevitable Fate, or ftrict Neceffity. He requires our voluntary, and not our neceffitated Service; fuch with him finds no Acceptance, nor ever can find; for how can Hearts that are not free be tried, whether they ferve willingly or no? who will do nothing but what they must by Destiny, and can chufe no other? I myself, and all the Hoft of Angels that stand in the Sight of the Throne of GOD, hold our happy State upon the fame Condition as you do yours, ONLY WHILE WE HOLD OUR OBEDIENCE, and upon no other Surety: We ferve freely, becaufe we love freely; it being in our Will, either to love or not, and in this we either ftand or fall: And fome are already fallen, fallen to Difobedience, and from Heaven to deepest Hell: From what high State of Blifs into what Mifery!

To whom, our great Ancestor replied. Divine, Inftructor! I have heard thy Words attentively, and with an Ear more delighted, than when the Songs of Cherubim, fend heavenly Mufick by Night from the neighbouring Hills. Nor was I ignorant, that I was both as to Will and Deed, created quite free: Yet that we never fhall forget to love and obey our

MAKER,

MAKER, who has laid but one Command upon us fo mild and fo juft, my conftant Thoughts always affur'd me and affure me ftill; though what thou telleft me, hath pafs'd in Heaven, hath mov'd fome Doubt within me, but more hath it mov'd Defire to hear (fo be it, thou confent) the Relation at full: Which muft needs be very strange and worthy to be heard with facred Silence: There yet remains great Part of the Day to come, for the Sun hath scarcely finish'd half his Journey, and began his other half in the great Zone of Heaven.

CHA P. III.

Raphael tells Adam who his great Enemy is, informs him of Satan's firft Revolt, and what was the Occafion thereof. Abdiel forfakes Satan and bis Party.

T

HUS ADAM made his Request; and RAPHAEL after a fhort Pause affenting, began thus:

FIRST of Men! What thou defireft of me, is no fmall Matter, for how fhall I explain to human Sense the invisible Exploits of contending Spirits, or how relate without a Renewal of paft Grief, the Ruin of fo many, who once while they ftood firm to their Obedience were fo glorious and perfect? How laftly unfold the Secrets of another World, which perhaps may be improper to reveal, yet this is difpens'd with for thy Good: And what is out of thy Capacity, I fhall fo delineate by likening fpiritual Things, to Things corporal, as best may make them understood: Though what if Earth be only the Shadow of Heaven; and the

Things that are in them, much like one another more than upon Earth they are imagin'd to be?

THIS World as yet was not created, and the wild Chaos reign'd where now the Heavens roll, and where the Earth refts pois'd upon her own Center;when upon a Day, (for Time apply'd to Motion measures all Things durable by paft, prefent, and future, though it be in Eternity) upon fuch a Day, as Heaven's great Year brings forth, the heavenly Hoft of Angels, call'd by imperial Summons appear'd forthwith before the Throne of the ALMIGHTY, from all the Ends of Heaven, in bright Order under their Hierarchs: Ten Thousand, Thousand Enfigns advanc'd high, stream in the Air, Standards, and Banners, betwixt the Van and the Rear, and ferve for Diftinction of Hierarchies, of Orders and Degrees, or in their glittering Tiffues bear exprefs'd holy Memorials, Acts of Zeal and Love fairly recorded. Thus when they ftood in Circles in Number inexpreffible, Orb within Orb, the infinite Father, by whom fat the Son, in the Bosom of Blifs, amidst them, as from a flaming Mount, whose Top Brightness had made invisible, spake thus :

ALL ye Angels! Children of Light! Thrones! Dominations! Princedoms! Virtues! and Powers! hear this my Decree, which fhall ftand irrevocable. This Day, have I begot whom I declare my only Son, and annointed him upon this holy Hill, he it is whom ye now behold at my Right Hand; I appoint him to be your Head And I have fworn by myself, that every Knee in Heaven fhall bow to him, and confefs him LORD. Under his great Vicegerency do you all remain united, as though all were but one individual Soul, and be for ever happy: Who difobeys him, difobeys me, breaks the Union, and that Day becomes caft out from GOD, and all Bleffednefs, and falls into O

utter

utter Darkness, deep into the lowest Gulph without any Redemption, and without End.

THUS fpoke the ALMIGHTY, and all feem'd well pleas'd with his Words: Seem'd pleas'd, but all were not fo in Reality. They fpent that Day like other fo ́lemn Days in myftical Song and Dance about the facred Hill, (which yonder ftarry Sphere of Planets, and of fix'd Stars, in all her Wheels resembles nearest; eccentric, intervolv'd, and yet most regular when they feem moft irregular,) and in their Motions divine Harmony is exprefs'd fo fmoothly in charming Airs, that God's own Ear liftens delighted. The Evening approach'd now (for we have also our Evening and our Morning, not for Neceflity, but for pleasant Variety) and from the Dance with one Confent, they turn'd themselves to fweet Repaft, Tables are fet all in Circles, as they ftood, and all on a fudden were piled up with the Food of Angels and bright Nectar flows in Cups of Pearls and Diamonds, and maffy Gold; the Produce of delicious Vines that were the Growth of Heaven.

REPOS'd upon Banks of Flowers, and crown'd with rich Garlands, they eat, and drink, and in fweet Communion quaff Immortality, and Joy, before the all-bounteous KING, who gave with a copious Hand and rejoyc'd in their Joy. Now when the Night exhal'd with Clouds, from that high Mountain of GOD, whence Light and Shade both fpring, had changed the full Brightnefs of Heaven to grateful Twilight; (for Night does not come there, in total Darkness) and fweet Dews had difpos'd all to Reft, except the unfleeping Eye of GOD; wide over all the Plain, and far wider than all this globofe Earth, if it were fpread out in Length (for fuch are the Courts of GoD) the Angels difpers'd in Bands, and Files,and extended their

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