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 for fake his Love, who form'd us out of the Duft, and plac'd us here in the Fulness and utmost Measure of Bliss, that can be apprehended or fought after by human Defires? To whom the Angel made Anfwer: 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 ftand 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 perfevere or not; ordain'd thy Will free by Nature, not over-rul'd by inevitable Fate, or ftri&t 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, because 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 Bliss 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 constant Thoughts always affur'd me and affure me ftill; though what thou telleft me, hath pass'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 fcarcely 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 Requeft; and RAPHAEL after a short Pause assenting, began thus: FIRST of Men! What thou defireft of me, is no fmall Matter, for how fhall I explain to human Senfe the invifible Exploits of contending Spirits, or how relate without a Renewal of past 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 beft 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, ftream in the Air, Standards, and Banners, betwixt the Van and the Rear, and ferve for Distinction 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 stood in Circles in Number inexpreffible, Orb within Orb, the infinite Father, by whom fat the Son, in the Bofom of Blifs, amidst them, as from a flaming Mount, whose Top Brightness had made invisible, fpake thus: ALL ye Angels! Children of Light! Thrones! Dominations! Princedoms! Virtues! and Powers! hear this my Decree, which shall stand 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 reinain 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 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 spent that Day like other folemn 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 refembles nearest; eccentric, intervolv'd, and yet moft 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 E"vening approach'd now (for we have alfo our Evening and our Morning, not for Neceffity, but for pleafant Variety) and from the Dance with one Confent, they turn'd themfelves 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 Prodúce 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 Camp Camp in numberlefs Pavilions by living Streams that run among the Trees of Life; and fuddenly rais'd up celeftial Tabernacles where they flept, refresh'd with the cool Wind, except thofe, who in their Turn fung melodious Hymns all Night long before the Throne of GOD. But SATAN (call him fo now for his former Name is no more heard in Heaven) did not wake to any fuch Purpose; he, one of the firft if nót the very firit Arch-Angel, very great in Power, in Favour, and Preeminence; yet being fill'd with Envy against the Son of GoD, (who was that Day honour'd by his great Father, proclaim'd MESSIAH (r) and anointed King) could not bear through Pride to fee that Sight, and thought himself leffen'd and impair'd, conceiving thence Difdain and deep Malice, he refolv'd as foon as it was Midnight, and all were in Sleep, and Silence, to defert with all his Legions, and contemptuously to leave the fupreme Throne unworship'd and unobey'd, and to him who was next in Degree under him, thus fpoke in fecret: My dear Companion! doft thou sleep now? what Sleep can close thy Eyes, doft thou not remember the Decree of Yesterday, which hath pafs'd the Lips of the Almighty KING of Heaven? Thou waft us'd to impart thyThoughts to me,I mine to thee, waking we had but one Mind, how then is it, that thy Sleep makes us differ, thou fee'ft there are new Laws impos'd! New Laws made by him who reigns, may raife new Minds in us who ferve, and new Counfels to debate what may hereafter happen : It is not fafe to utter more in this Place.-Do thou affemble all thofe Angels of whom we lead the Chief; tell them that by Command before Morning, I, and all those who are unO 2 (r) Meffiah; Heb. Meffias, and Chriftos in Greek, i. e. The Anointed. Chriftians believe that Jefus born in Bethlehem, about der A. M. 4000, in the Reign of |