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Show 7o8 ~<Ibe State of Innocence, ant ACT II. SCENE I. A Champion Country. Adam, „ newly Created, laid on a Bed of%Ufe and Flowers, by a Rock. a j x TI 7 Hit am I > Or from whence ? for that I am, \_Rifmg, Adam. \ / y % ^ v ; b e ^ i r e i t h i n k . but whence I came, Or how this frame of mine began to be, W h a t other Being can difclofe to me? I Move, I See, I Speak, Difcourfe, and Know 3 Tho' now I am, 1 was not always fa Then that from which I was, muft be before, W h o m as m y Spring of Being I Adore. H o w full of Ornament is all I view In all its Parts' and feems as beautiful as new : O goodly order'd Work! 0 Pow'r Divine! _ . Of thee I am 3 and what I am is thine ! [Raphael defends to Acjam m a Cloud Raphael. Firft of Mankind, madeo'er the World to Reign, Whofe fruitful Loins an unborn kind contain, Well haft thou reafon'd 3 of himfelf is none But that Eternal Infinite, and One, 'Who never did begin, who ne'er can end 3 On him all Beings, as their Source, depend. W e firft, who of his Image moft partake, W h o m he all Spirits Immortal Pure did make. Man next 3 Race exalted, muft fuppiy The place of th fe, who, falling, loft the Sky. Adam. Bright Minifter of Heav'n, fent here below, To me, whob r begin to think and know3 If fuch could fall from Blifs, who knew and faw, By near AdmifBon, their Creator's Law 3 What hopes have I, from Heav'n remote fo far, To keep thofe Laws unknowing when 1 err? Raphael Right Reafon's Laws to every Humane Heart % The Eternal, as his Image, will impart. This teaches to Adore Heav'ns Majefty: In Pray'r and Praife does all Devotion lie. So doing, thou and all thy Race are Bleft. Adam. Of every creeping thing, of Birdand Beaft, . I fee the Kinds 3 in Pairs diftinct they go: The Males their Loves, their Lovers Females know. Thou nam'dft a Race which muft muft proceed from me, Yet m y whole Species in m y felf I fee: A barren Sex, and fingle of no ufe 3 But full of Forms, which I can ne'er produce. Rapbel. Think not the Pow'r who made thee thus can find N o way like their's to propagate thy Kind. Mean time, live happy in thy felf alone 3 Like him who, fingle, fills the iEtherial Throne. To ftudy Nature will thy Time employ : Knowledge and Innocence are perfeft ]oy. , Adam. If Solitude were beft, th' All-Wife above Had made no Creature for himfelf to love. I add not to the Pow'r he had before 3 Yet to make me, extends his Goodnefs more. He would not be alone who all things can 3 But Peopled Heav'n with Angels, Earth with Man. Raphael. As M a n and Angels to the Deity, So all inferiour Creatures are to thee. Heav'ns Greatnefs no Society can bear 3 Servants he made, and thofe thou want'ft not here. Adam. FALL of MAN. J99 Adam. W h y did he Reafon in m y Soul implant, And Speech th'EffecTof Reafon? To the Mute M y Speech is loft 3 m y Reafon to the Brute, Lcve and Society more Bleffings bring to them, the Slaves, than Power to m e their King. Raphael. Thus far tp try thee-3 but,to Heaven/twas known, It was not beft for M a n to be alone 3 A n Equal, yet thy Subject, is defign'd For thy foft Hours, and to unbend thy Mind. Thy ftrongerSoul fhall her weak Reafon fway 3 And thou, through Love, her Beauty fhalt obey: Thou fhalt fecure her helplefs Sex from Harms 3 And fhe thy Cares fhall fweeten with her Charms. Adam. W h a t more can Heav'n beftow, or M a n require? Raphael. Yes 3 he can give beyond thy o w n Defire. A Manfion is provided thee more fair Than this, and worthy Heav'ns peculiar Care: Not fram'd of common Earth, nor Fruits, nor Flowers Of vulgar Growth3 but like Celeftial Bowers: The Soil luxuriant, and the Fruit Divine5 Where golden Apples on green Branches fhine, And Purple Grapes diflblve into immortal Wine, For Noon-day's heat are clofer Arbours made 3 And for freth Ev'ning Air, the op'ner Glade Afcend 3 and, as w e go, More Wonders thou fhalt know. Adam. And, as we go, let Earth and Heav'n above Sound our Great MakeVs Pow'r, and greater Love. [ They afcend to foft Mufick, and a bong is f The Scene chancres h and reprefents above, a Sun ghriojffly rtfwg, and moving orbiad,,- ly- At a diflance, below, is the Moon 3 the part next the Sun enlightened, the other dark A black Cloud comes whirling from the adverfe part of the Heavens, bearing Lucifer in it; at his nearer Approach, the Body ofthe Sim is dark»ed Lucifer. Am I become fo monftrous? So disfigur'd, That Nature cannot fuffer m y Approach, Or look m e in the Face > But ftands agaft 3 And that fair Light which glides this new-made Orb, Shorn of his Beams, fhrinks in! Accurft Ambition ! And thou, black Empire of the nether W7orld, H o w dearly have I bought you! But 'tis paft: I have already gone too far to ftop, And muft pufh on m y dire Revenge, in Ruine of this gay Frame, and M a n m y up-ftart Rival, In Scorn of m e created. Down m y Pride, And all m y fweiling Thoughts 3 I muft forget, A while, I a m a Devil, and put on A fmooth, fubmiffive Face 3 elfe I, in vain Have paft through Night and Chaos, to difcover Thofe envy'd Skies again, which I have loft, But ftay 3 far off, I fee a Chariot driv'n, Flaming with Beams, and in it Vriel, One of the Seven, (I know his hated Face) W h o ftands in Prefence of th'Eternal Throne, And feems the Regent of that glorious Light. From that part of the Heavens, where thc Sun appears, a Chariot is difeovered A: with white llorfes, and in it Uriel, the Regent of the Sun. Ihcihnot ,, f rifely towards Lucifer 3 and at Uriel's Approach, the Sup Hs, £4 Vriel. Spirit, who art thou? And from whence amv'd ? ( For 1 remember not thy Face in Heav'n.) |