To whom the Angel. Therefore what he gives (Whose praise be ever sung) to Man in part Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be found
No ingrateful food; And food alike those pure Intelligential substances require,
As doth your rational; and both contain
Within them every lower faculty
Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,
And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
For know, whatever was created, needs To be sustain'd and fed: Of elements The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea, Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon;
Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurg'd Vapours nor yet into her substance turn'd. Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale From her moist continent to higher orbs. The sun, that light imparts to all, receives From all his alimental recompence In humid exhalations, and at even
Sups with the Ocean. Though in Heaven the trees Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground Cover'd with pearly grain: Yet God hath here Varied his bounty so with new delights,
As may compare with Heaven: and to taste Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat, And to their viands fell; nor seemingly
The Angel, nor in mist, the common gloss Of Theologians but with keen despatch Of real hunger, and concoctive heat
To transubstantiate: What redounds, transpire Through Spirits with ease; nor wonder; if by fire Of sooty coal the empirick alchemist
Can turn, or holds it possible to turn Metals of drossfest ore to perfect gold,
As from the mine. Mean while at table Eve Minister'd naked, and their flowing cups With pleasant liquours crown'd: O innocence Deserving Paradise! if ever, then,
Then had the sons of God excuse to have been Enamour'd at that sight; but in those hearts Love unlibidinous reign'd, nor jealousy
Was understood, the injur'd lover's hell.
Thus when with meats and drinks they had suffic'd, Not burden'd nature, sudden mind arose In Adam, not to let the occasion pass Given him by this great conference to know Of things above his world, and of their being Who dwell in Heaven, whose excellence he saw Transcend his own so far; whose radiant forms, Divine effulgence, whose high power, so far Exceeded human; and his wary speech
Thus to the empyreal minister he fram'd.
Inhabitant with God, now know I well Thy favour, in this honour done to Man; Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsaf'd To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste, Food not of Angels, yet accepted so,
As that more willingly thou couldst not seem
At Heaven's high feasts to have fed: yet what compare?
To whom the winged Heirarch replied. O Adam, one Almighty is, from whom All things proceed, and up to him return, If not deprav'd from good, created all Such to perfection, one first matter all, Endued with various forms, various degrees Of substance, and, in things that live, of life; But more refin'd, more spiritous, and pure, As nearer to him plac'd, or nearer tending Each in their several active spheres assign'd, Till body up to spirit work, in bounds Proportion'd to each kind. So from the root Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves More aery, last the bright consummate flower Spirits odorous breathes: flowers and their fruit, Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublim'd, To vital spirits aspire, to animal,
To intellectual; give both life and sense, Fancy and understanding; whence the soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being, Discursive, or intuitive; discourse
Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours, Differing but in degree, of kind the same. Wonder not then, what God for you saw good If I refuse not, but convert, as you,
To proper substance. Time may come, when Men With Angels may participate, and find
No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare; And from these corporal nutriments perhaps Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit, Improv'd by tract of time, and, wing'd, ascend Ethereal, as we; or may, at choice, Here or in heavenly Paradises dwell; If ye be found obedient, and retain, Unalterably firm his love entire,
Whose progeny you are. Mean while enjoy Your fill what happiness this happy state Can comprehend, incapable of more.
To whom the patriarch of mankind replied. O favourable Spirit, propitious guest,
Well hast thou taught the way that might direct Our knowledge, and the scale of nature set From center to circumference; whereon, In contemplation of created things,
By steps we may ascend to God. But say, What meant that caution join'd, If ye be found Obedient? Can we want obedience then
To him, or possibly his love desert,
Who form'd us from the dust, and plae'd us here Full to the utmost measure of what bliss
Human desires can seek or apprehend?
To whom the Angel. Son of Heaven and Earth, Attend: That thou art happy, owe to God; That thou continuest such, owe to thyself, That is, to thy obedience; therein stand, This was that caution given thee; be advis'd. 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 over-rul'd 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 angelick host, that stand In sight of God, enthron'd, 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 fall'n, to disobedience fall'n, And so from Heaven to deepest Hell; O fall
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