Paradise Lost

by John Milton

Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven firstborn, Or of the Eternal coeternal beam May I express thee unblam’d? since God is light, And never but in unapproached light

I sung of Chaos and eternal Night; Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down 20 The dark descent, and up to re-ascend,

So were I equall’d with them in renown, Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace;

And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. So much the rather thou, celestial Light,

Beatitude past utterance; on his right The radiant image of his glory sat, His only son; on earth he first beheld

Our two first parents, yet the only two Of mankind in the happy garden plac’d Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, Uninterrupted joy, unrivall’d love, In blissful solitude;

If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert; For man will hearken to his glozing lies, And easily transgress the sole command, 95 Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault? Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me All he could have; I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

What pleasure I from such obedience paid, When will and reason (reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil’d, 110 Made passive both, had serv’d necessity,

So were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, As if predestination over-rul’d

high foreknowledge they themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I;

They trespass, authors to themselves in all Both what they judge, and what they choose; for so I form’d them free: and free they must remain,

Their freedom: they themselves ordain’d their fall. The first sort by their own suggestion fell, 130 Self-tempted, self-deprav’d: Man falls, deceiv’d By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,

Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel; But Mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.

while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill’d All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffus’d.

Beyond compare the Son of God was seen Most glorious; in him all his Father shone 140 Substantially express’d; and in his face...

Love without end, and without measure grace, Which uttering, thus he...

Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace; For which both Heaven and earth shall high extol Thy praises, with the innumerable sound Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne Encompass’d shall resound thee ever blest.

For should Man finally be lost, should Man, Thy creature late so lov’d, thy youngest son, Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join’d With his own folly? that be from thee far, That far be from thee, Father, who art judge 155 Of all things made, and judgest only right. Or shall the Adversary thus obtain His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfill His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought, Or proud return, though to his heavier doom, 160 Yet with revenge accomplish’d, and to Hell Draw after him the whole race of mankind, By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself Abolish thy creation, and unmake For him, what for thy glory thou hast made? 165 So should thy goodness and thy greatness both Be question’d and blasphem’d without defence.

To whom the great Creator thus replied. O son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, Son of my bosom, Son who art alone. 170 My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, All hast thou spoken as my t...

Man shall not quite be lost, but sav’d who will; Yet not of will in...

Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand On even ground against his mortal foe; 180 By me upheld, that he may know how frail His fallen condition is, and to me owe All his deliverance, and to none but me.

Some I have chosen of peculiar grace, Elect above the rest;

My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear, Light after light, well us’d, they shall attain, And to the end, persisting, safe arrive.

He, with his whole posterity, must die, 210 Die he or justice must; unless for him Some other able, and as willing, pay The rigid satisfaction, death for death.

Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love? Which of you will be mortal, to redeem 215 Man’s mortal crime, and just the unjust to save? Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear? He ask’d, but all the heavenly quire stood mute, And silence was in Heaven:

The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set. And now without redemption all mankind Must have been lost,

the Son of God, 225 In whom the fulness dwells of love divine,

he her aid Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost; Atonement for himself, or offering meet, 235 Indebted and undone, hath none to bring;

Behold me then: me for him, life for life I offer: on me let thine anger fall; Account me Man;

I for his sake will leave Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee 240 Freely put off, and for him lastly die Well pleased; ...

Under his gloomy power I shall not long Lie vanquished. Thou hast given me to possess Life in mys...

Though now to Death I yield, and am his due, All that of me can die, yet, that debt paid, Thou wilt not l...

I shall rise victorious, and subdue My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil.

Death his death’s wound shall then receive, and stoop Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed;

I through the ample air in triumph high 255 Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show Th...

Thou, at the sight Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, While, by thee r...

Death last, and with his carcase gl...

Then, with the multitude of my redeemed, Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return, Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud Of anger shall rem...

His words here ended; but his meek aspect Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love To mortal men,

above which only shone Filial obedience: as a sacrifice 270 Glad to be offered, he attends the will Of his great Father. Admiration seized All Heaven,

Though last created, that for him I spare Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,

Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem, Their nature also to thy nature join;

And be thyself Man among men on Earth, Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed, 285 By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam’s room The head of all mankind, though Adam’s son.

As in him perish all men, so in thee, As from a second root, shall be restored As many as are ...

His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit, Imputed, shall absolve them who renounce Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, And live in thee tr...

So Man, as is most just, 295 Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die, And dying rise, and rising with him raise His brethre...

So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, Giving to death, a...

So dearly to redeem what hellish hate So easily destroyed, and still destroys In those who, when...

Love hath abounded more than glory abounds;

With thee thy manhood also to this throne: 315 Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man, Anointed universal King;