he fell not of his own malice, as did Satan, but
by him seduc't. The Son of God renders praises to his father for the
manifestation of his gracious purpose towards Man; God again declares,
that Grace cannot be extended towards Man without the satisfaction of
divine Justice; Man hath offended the majesty of God by aspiring to
Godhead, and therefore with all his progeny devoted to death must dye,
unless some one can be found sufficient to answer for his offence, and
undergoe his Punishment. The Son of God freely offers himself a Ransome
for Man: the Father accepts him, ordains his incarnation, pronounces his
exaltation above all in Heaven and Earth, commands all the Angels to
adore him; they obey, amid hymning to their Harps in full Quire,
celebrate the Father and the Son.. Mean while Satan alights upon the
bare convex of this Worlds outermost Orb; where wandring he first finds
a place since call'd The Lymbo of Vanity, what persons and things fly up
thither; thence comes to the Gate of Heaven, describ'd ascending by
stairs and the waters above the Firmament that flow about it: His
passage thence to the Orb of the Sun; he finds there Uriel the Regent of
that Orb, but first changes himself into the shape of a meaner Angel;
and pretending a zealous desire to behold the new Creation and Man whom
God had plac't here, inquires of him the place of his habitation, and is
directed; alights first on Mount Niphates.

Hail holy light, ofspring of Heav'n first-born,
Or of th' Eternal Coeternal beam
May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light,
And never but in unapproached light
Dwelt from Eternitie, dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright essence increate.
Or hear'st thou rather pure Ethereal stream,
Whose Fountain who shall tell? before the Sun,
Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a Mantle didst invest 10
The rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless infinite.
Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,
Escap't the Stygian Pool, though long detain'd
In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight
Through utter and through middle darkness borne
With other notes then to th' Orphean Lyre
I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night,
Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down
The dark descent, and up to reascend, 20
Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe,
And feel thy sovran vit