PARADISE LOST 2

Wikipedia Commons
Illustrations to Milton's Paradise Lost 
Illustration 2
Satan, Sin and Death: Satan Comes to the Gates of Hell 

Paradise Lost
John Milton
 
Book 2, Beginning line 721
"For never but once more was wither like
To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds
Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,
Had not the snaky Sorceress, that sat
Fast by Hell-gate and kept the fatal key,
Risen, and with hideous outcry rushed between.
Oh father, what intends thy hand, she cried,
Against thy only son? What fury, Oh son,
Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart
Against thy father's head? And know'st for whom?  ...
T' whom thus the portress of Hell-gate replied:
Hast thou forgot me, then; and do I seem
Now in thine eye so foul?, once deemed so fair
In Heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight
Of all the seraphim with thee combined
In bold conspiracy against Heaven's King,
All on a sudden miserable pain
Surprised thee, dim thine eyes and dizzy swum
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
Threw forth, till on the left side opening wide,
Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright,
Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess armed,
Out of thy head I sprung. Amazement seized
All the host of Heaven; back they recoiled afraid
At first, and called me Sin, and for a sign
Portentous held me; but, familiar grown,
I pleased, and with attractive graces won
The most averse, thee chiefly, who, full oft
Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing,
Becam'st enamored; and such joy thou took'st
With me in secret that my womb conceived
A growing burden.
...
Pensive here I sat
Alone; but long I sat not, till my womb,
Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown,
Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.
At last this odious offspring whom thou seest,
Thine own begotten, breaking violent way,
Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain
Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew
Transformed: but he my inbred enemy
Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart,
Made to destroy. I fled, and cried out Death!"

Blake's second illustration to Paradise Lost shows what has been called the 'Unholy Trinity.' Satan, Sin and Death are pictured at the Gate of Hell as Satan tries to exit hell on his journey to disrupt God's intention to create a new level of being called 'man.' Being unwilling to come under the dominion of God, Satan has undertaken to oppose God by launching an attack on man. At the gate of hell Satan encountered two beings whom he did not recognize. Sin was a woman, partly beautiful and alluring, partly grotesque and repelling. Death was an armed and menacing being, although without form or substance. Sin and Death were children of Satan whose conception was so dreadful that Satan had erased it from his memory. When they were identified to Satan, the gate was unlocked and he was allowed to pass out through the Gate of Hell in order to continue on his path to menace the newly created earthly beings.

Milton's scenario did not originate in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, the entry of Death into the world was the result of the fall of Eve and Adam. They were expelled from Eden to prevent them from eating the fruit of the Tree of Life which would have granted Eternal life. Their fate instead would be to return to the earth from which they were made.

The first mention of sin occurs later in Genesis in conjunction with Cain's gift being unacceptable to God. There is no mention of Satan in the book of Genesis. 

Genesis 3 
[19] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 
... 
[22] And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 
[23] Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 
[24] So drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Blake refused to see the physical body made from dust as the true humanity. The death of the body was a release to the Life Eternal. Eternal Death was life on earth in as far as it was lived without consciousness of the Divine.

That which prevented man from living Eternally, although confined to earth, was his Selfhood, Spectre or Satan. It's origin was mental when he first conceived of a distant, punishing God whose love was exclusive. It was not sin which alienated man from God. It was his inability to experience God as good, loving and accessible. 

Jerusalem, Plate 4, (E 146) 
"Of the Sleep of Ulro! and of the passage through 
Eternal Death! and of the awaking to Eternal Life." 

Milton, Plate 14 [15], (E 108)  
"I in my Selfhood am that Satan: I am that Evil One!              
He is my Spectre! in my obedience to loose him from my Hells
To claim the Hells, my Furnaces, I go to Eternal Death.

And Milton said. I go to Eternal Death! Eternity shudder'd
For he took the outside course, among the graves of the dead
A mournful shade. Eternity shudderd at the image of eternal death

Then on the verge of Beulah he beheld his own Shadow;
A mournful form double; hermaphroditic: male & female
In one wonderful body. and he enterd into it
In direful pain for the dread shadow, twenty-seven-fold
Reachd to the depths of direst Hell, & thence to Albions land:  
Which is this earth of vegetation on which now I write,"

PARADISE LOST 3

Wikipedia Commons   Illustrations to Paradise Lost     Illustration 3
Christ Offers to Redeen Man

John Milton, William Blake and the writers of John and Philippians agreed that God had foreknowledge that Adam and Eve would fall to Satan's temptation. Before Adam and Eve encountered the serpent in Eden, God had provided that his Son would offer himself as an avenue through which Adam and Eve and their descendants would be redeemed.

In testimony to the fact that this account is not taking place in time but in Eternity, early in his drama Milton places the scene of Son of God offering to take upon himself the wrath which should have fallen on man. The creation in time and the temptation had not yet occurred when the Son accepted his role in the process of redemption.

Blake's third illustration to Paradise Lost captures the moment when God in heaven accepts the offer of his Son to redeem Man. A mournful God embraces the Son who has assumed the human form. Satan has escaped from the hell into which he fell and is occupying the world made for man. 

Paradise lost

Book 3
Line 167
"To whom the great Creator thus replied.
Oh son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,
Son of my bosom, Son who art alone.
My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,
All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all
As my eternal purpose hath decreed;
man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will;
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me
Freely vouchsafed; once more I will renew
His lapsed powers, though forfeit; and enthralled
By sin to foul exorbitant desires;
Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand
On even ground against his mortal foe;

line 213
 Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love?
Which of you will be mortal, to redeem
Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save?
Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?
And silence was in Heaven: on man's behalf
He asked, but all the heavenly quire stood mute,
Patron or intercessor none appeared, 
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. 

line 227
Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace; 

line 237
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
Freely put off, and for him lastly die
Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his rage."   

John 1
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2] The same was in the beginning with God.
[3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 

Philippians 2 
[5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
[6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 
[7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 
[8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
[9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Four Zoas, Night VIII, Page 107 [115], (E 381)
"And Satan not having the Science of Wrath but only of Pity

Was soon condemnd & wrath was left to wrath & Pity to Pity
Rintrah & Palamabron Cut sheer off from Golgonooza
Enitharmons Moony space & in it Satan & his companions
They rolld down a dim world Crusted with Snow deadly & dark 

Jerusalem pitying them wove them mantles of life & death
Times after times And those in Eden sent Lucifer for their Guard
Lucifer refusd to die for Satan & in pride he forsook his charge
Then they sent Molech Molech was impatient They sent
Molech impatient They Sent Elohim who created Adam
To die for Satan Adam refusd but was compelld to die
By Satans arts. Then the Eternals Sent Shaddai
Shaddai was angry Pachad descended Pachad was terrified
And then they Sent Jehovah who leprous stretchd his hand to Eternity
Then Jesus Came & Died willing beneath Tirzah & Rahab"

Jerusalem, Plate 96, (E 256)
"Jesus said. Wouldest thou love one who never died
For thee or ever die for one who had not died for thee
And if God dieth not for Man & giveth not himself           
Eternally for Man Man could not exist. for Man is Love:
As God is Love: every kindness to another is a little Death
In the Divine Image nor can Man exist but by Brotherhood

So saying. the Cloud overshadowing divided them asunder
Albion stood in terror: not for himself but for his Friend

Divine, & Self was lost in the contemplation of faith
And wonder at the Divine Mercy & at Los's sublime honour"

Jerusalem, Plate 40 [45], (E 188)
"So spoke, unheard by Albion. the merciful Son of Heaven
To those whose Western Gates were open, as they stood weeping
Around Albion: but Albion heard him not; obdurate! hard!      
He frown'd on all his Friends, counting them enemies in his sorrow"
.

PARADISE LOST 4

Wikipedia Commons
Illustrations of Milton's Paradise Lost 
Illustration 4
Satan Watching the Caresses of Adam and Eve

In Blake's fourth illustration to Milton's Paradise Lost Blake shows a contrast between Satan entwined by the serpent, and Adam and Eve embracing each other. Most striking is that Satan and the serpent gaze into the other's eyes just as the human lovers do. Satan points to the head of Adam indicating his point of attack will be through Adam's brain (or perhaps through his unconscious.)

The first set of Illustrations of Paradise Lost which Blake painted for Rev. Joseph Thomas shows Satan with his upper body above Eve, facing toward Adam. In the second series Blake made the following year for Thomas Butts, he reverses the position of Satan. Also reversed are the positions of the sun and the moon. The sun which had been setting behind Eve is now rising behind Adam. This positions the sun in its rightful place with the male, and the moon with its reflected light behind the female. This positioning is more consistent with Milton's intent:

"For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in him:" (line 296-7)    

In 2008 Anna Beer wrote a biography titled Milton: Poet, pamphleteer, and Patriot. She sees the mature Milton as having resolved many of his sexual issues and able to envision Eden from a healthy sexual perspective. She states: "Milton's Edenic vision of ideal heterosexual love, expressed both physically and emotionally, is an extraordinary development in his writing, indeed in his life." (Page 326) 

On Page 324, Beer makes this observation:

"Milton's vision of Eden is an erotic world of sensuous pleasures, where man and woman are fascinatingly different from each other. Adam and Eve walk through Eden hand in hand, those 'wanton ringlets' waving as she moves, every step a kind of foreplay.
...
The lovers 'enjoy their fill / Of bliss on bliss.'
Milton, unlike many of religious commentators, unlike his younger self, is quite comfortable with the idea that there was sex, and good sex, before the Fall. But it was sex with love rather than

in the bought smile
Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared,
Casual fruition... (IV:765-7)

No 'casual fruition', for Adam and Eve; instead 'mutual bliss,' a delightful sleep as rose-petals fall upon their naked bodies...This is what humanity had lost."

Paradise Lost 
John Milton 
Book 4

Line 289
"for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,)
Whence true authority in men; though both
Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;
For contemplation he and velour formed;
For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in him:
His fair large front and eye sublime declared
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
She, as a veil, down to the slender waist
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved
As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied
Subjection, but required with gentle sway,
And by her yielded, by him best received,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed;
Then was not guilty shame, dishonest shame
Of nature's works, honor dishonorable,
Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind
With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure,
And banished from man's life his happiest life,
Simplicity and spotless innocence. 

Line 354
[Satan first observes Adam and Eve]
 When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood,
Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered sad.
Oh Hell! what do mine eyes with grief behold?
Into our room of bliss thus high advanced
Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps,
Not Spirits, yet to heavenly Spirits bright
Little inferior; whom my thoughts pursue
With wonder, and could love, so lively shines
In them divine resemblance, and such grace
The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.
Ah, gentle pair, ye little think how nigh
Your change approaches, when all these delights
Will vanish, and deliver ye to woe;
More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;" 

The Bible had little to say about the relationship between Adam and Eve before the fall. Man was created first, and woman was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.

Genesis 1
[26] And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
[28] And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 2
[20]...but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
[21] And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
[22] And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
[23] And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
[24] Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

An account of Los and Enitharmon parallels facets of the creation of Adam and Eve. Enitharmon is a part of Los before she becomes a separate being outside of him. Like Milton's first couple they are fascinated by one another's beauty and differences. But their 'two wills', 'two intellects' will also turn their joy to woe as Milton predicts for his lovers.    

Jerusalem, Plate 86, (E 245)
"Nor can any consummate bliss without being Generated
On Earth...
So dread is Los's fury, that none dare him to approach
Without becoming his Children in the Furnaces of affliction

And Enitharmon like a faint rainbow waved before him         
Filling with Fibres from his loins which reddend with desire
Into a Globe of blood beneath his bosom trembling in darkness
Of Albions clouds. he fed it, with his tears & bitter groans 
Hiding his Spectre in invisibility from the timorous Shade
Till it became a separated cloud of beauty grace & love       
Among the darkness of his Furnaces dividing asunder till
She separated stood before him a lovely Female weeping
Even Enitharmon separated outside, & his Loins closed
And heal'd after the separation: his pains he soon forgot:
Lured by her beauty outside of himself in shadowy grief.      
Two Wills they had; Two Intellects: & not as in times of old.

Silent they wanderd hand in hand like two Infants wandring
From Enion in the desarts, terrified at each others beauty
Envying each other yet desiring, in all devouring Love,"
.

PARADISE LOST 5

Wikipedia Commons
Illustrations to Milton's Paradise Lost 
Illustration 5
Adam and Eve Asleep

Genesis 3
[4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
[5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Blake's fifth Illustration of Paradise Lost shows the two angels whom God sent to look over Adam and Eve when they entered the state of sleep. Milton's implication is that in sleep the mind is more vulnerable to the entry of darkness into the psyche to counter the higher levels of consciousness. Eve had not yet consciously thought of eating the forbidden fruit. However Satan in the disguise of a toad whispered in her ear what she perceived as a dream.   

Paradise Lost
Milton 
Book 4
Line 784-812
  "From these, two strong and subtle Spirits he called
That near him stood, and gave them thus in charge.
Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed
Search through this garden, leave unsearched no nook;
But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,
Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.
This evening from the sun's decline arrived,
Who tells of some infernal Spirit seen
Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escaped
The bars of Hell, on errand bad no doubt:
Such, where ye find, seize fast, and hither bring.
So saying, on he led his radiant files,
Dazzling the moon; these to the bower direct
In search of whom they sought: Him there they found
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
Assaying by his devilish art to reach
The organs of her fancy, and with them forge
Illusions, as he list, phantasms and dreams;
Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint
The animal spirits, that from pure blood arise
Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise
At least distempered, discontented thoughts,
Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,
Blown up with high conceits ingendering pride.
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
Touched lightly; for no falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness: Up he starts
Discovered and surprised."

Book 5 line 82
[Eve's dream]
  "So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,
Even to my mouth of that same fruit held part
Which he had plucked; the pleasant savory smell
So quickened appetite, that I, methought,
Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds
With him I flew, and underneath beheld
The earth outstretched immense, a prospect wide
And various: Wondering at my flight and change
To this high exaltation; suddenly
My guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,
And fell asleep; but Oh, how glad I waked
To find this but a dream! Thus Eve her night
Related, and thus Adam answered sad.

line 117
[Adam to Eve]
 Evil into the mind of God or man
May come and go, so unreproved, and leave
No spot or blame behind: Which gives me hope
That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
Waking thou never will consent to do."

The wisdom of the ages tells us that when dreams occur their meaning is obscure. They come from a deeper level of consciousness than the one we operate from in our waking state. They speak in the language of images and imagination. When Eve was given a dream she did not know where it came from or how to interpret it. From her dream she constructed illusions and fancies of an Eve who was more than the 'helpmeet' of Adam. Satan planted in Eve's mind the idea that eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree would make her wiser, stronger and more like God himself. Eve had the choice: evolve according to the pattern implanted within her or seek more than had been given to her.

This was the dilemma with which Eve struggled. Milton and Blake struggled with it too, as do you and I.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Song 26, (E 16)
"A Dream
Once a dream did weave a shade,
O'er my Angel-guarded bed,
That an Emmet lost it's way
Where on grass methought I lay.

Troubled wilderd and folorn   
Dark benighted travel-worn,
Over many a tangled spray
All heart-broke I heard her say.

O my children! do they cry
Do they hear their father sigh.   
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me.

Pitying I drop'd a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near:
Who replied. What wailing wight   
Calls the watchman of the night.

I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetles hum,
Little wanderer hie thee home."   
 
Europe, Plate 9, (E 63)
"Enitharmon slept,                                                
Eighteen hundred years: Man was a Dream!
The night of Nature and their harps unstrung:
She slept in middle of her nightly song,
Eighteen hundred years, a female dream!"

Jerusalem, Plate 34 [38], (E 180)
"Thus speaking; the Divine Family follow Albion:
I see them in the Vision of God upon my pleasant valleys.

I behold London; a Human awful wonder of God!
He says: Return, Albion, return! I give myself for thee:         
My Streets are my, Ideas of Imagination.
Awake Albion, awake! and let us awake up together.
My Houses are Thoughts: my Inhabitants; Affections,
The children of my thoughts, walking within my blood-vessels,
Shut from my nervous form which sleeps upon the verge of Beulah  
In dreams of darkness, while my vegetating blood in veiny pipes,
Rolls dreadful thro' the Furnaces of Los, and the Mills of Satan.
For Albions sake, and for Jerusalem thy Emanation
I give myself, and these my brethren give themselves for Albion.

So spoke London, immortal Guardian!"

Jerusalem, Plate 10 [11], E 104
"Then Los & Enitharmon knew that Satan is Urizen       
Drawn down by Orc & the Shadowy Female into Generation
Oft Enitharmon enterd weeping into the Space, there appearing
An aged Woman raving along the Streets (the Space is named
Canaan) then she returnd to Los weary frighted as from dreams   

The nature of a Female Space is this: it shrinks the Organs
Of Life till they become Finite & Itself seems Infinite.   

And Satan vibrated in the immensity of the Space! Limited
To those without but Infinite to those within: it fell down and
Became Canaan: closing Los from Eternity in Albions Cliffs     
A mighty Fiend against the Divine Humanity mustring to War"

Blake's friend Henry Fuseli pictured the scene in Paradise Lost differently. 

.

PARADISE LOST 6

Wikipedia Commons
Illustrations to Milton's Paradise Lost
Illustration 6
Raphael Warns Adam and Eve

Genesis 2
[8] And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
[9] And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
...
[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
[17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The sixth Illustration to Paradise Lost shows Adam, Eve and the angel Raphael in the glorious garden of Eden. God knew that Satan had entered the earth and begun his attack on the 'human pair.' Thinking that Adam and Eve might prevent Satan's 'designs In them at once to ruin all mankind', God assigned Raphael to descend to the garden with a warning. Raphael's delivered the message that the happy couple could lose the idyllic situation they enjoyed if Satan could trap them with his deceit.

Adam looks at Raphael apprehensively; Eve, with an untroubled look, serves the lunch. Around the fruit laden tree in the background which is entwined by a serpent, Blake included symbolic animals:
elephant - strength
tiger - wrath
peacock - pride
horse - lust
donkey - beast of burden
ox - patience
birds of paradise - freedom
wading birds - transcend earth, water and air.
God did not place humanity on earth to be alone. Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God 'in the cool of the evening.' Guardian angels were dispatched to watch over them throughout the day and night.

Paradise Lost
John Milton
 
Book 5
Line 224
[God instructs Raphael]
  " Raphael, said he, thou hearest what stir on Earth
Satan, from Hell 'scaped through the darksome gulf,
Hath raised in Paradise; and how disturbed
This night the human pair; how he designs
In them at once to ruin all mankind. 
Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend
Converse with Adam, in what bower or shade
Thou findest him from the heat of noon retired,
To respite his day-labor with repast,
Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,
As may advise him of his happy state,
Happiness in his power left free to will,
Left to his own free will, his will though free,
Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware
He swerve not, too secure: Tell him withal
His danger, and from whom; what enemy,
Late fallen himself from Heaven, is plotting now
The fall of others from like state of bliss;
By violence? no, for that shall be withstood;
But by deceit and lies: This let him know,
Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend
Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned.
So spake the Eternal Father,"

Book 5
Line 519
[Raphael to Adam and Eve]
"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 advised.
God made thee perfect, not immutable;
And good he made thee, but to persevere
He left it in thy power; ordained thy will
By nature free, not over-ruled 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 angelic host, that stand
In sight of God, enthroned, 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 fallen, to disobedience fallen,
And so from Heaven to deepest Hell; Oh fall
From what high state of bliss, into what woe!"

The danger of falling away from the Divine Benevolence can not be taken lightly. Blake and Milton wanted to impress upon their readers the effort and care that God takes to keep his precious creation intact. Man is not meant to be divided from Man or God. Eternal vigilance is Man's responsibility. 

Jerusalem, Plate 55, (E 204) 
 "all equal share 
Divine Benevolence & joy, for the Eternal Man 
Walketh among us, calling us his Brothers & his Friends: 
Forbidding us that Veil which Satan puts between Eve & Adam"

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 133, (E 401)
And Many Eternal Men sat at the golden feast to see 
The female form now separate They shudderd at the horrible thing
Not born for the sport and amusement of Man but born to drink up all his powers
They wept to see their shadows they said to one another this is Sin
This is the Generative world they rememberd the Days of old

And One of the Eternals spoke All was silent at the feast 

Man is a Worm wearied with joy he seeks the caves of sleep
Among the Flowers of Beulah in his Selfish cold repose
Forsaking Brotherhood & Universal love in selfish clay
Folding the pure wings of his mind seeking the places dark
Abstracted from the roots of Science then inclosd around  
In walls of Gold we cast him like a Seed into the Earth
Till times & spaces have passd over him duly every morn
We visit him covering with a Veil the immortal seed
With windows from the inclement sky we cover him & with walls
And hearths protect the Selfish terror till divided all 

In families we see our shadows born. & thence we know | Ephesians
That Man subsists by Brotherhood & Universal Love     |    iii c.
We fall on one anothers necks more closely we embrace |   10 v   

Not for ourselves but for the Eternal family we live
Man liveth not by Self alone but in his brothers face            
Each shall behold the Eternal Father & love & joy abound

So spoke the Eternal at the Feast they embracd the New born Man
Calling him Brother image of the Eternal Father."

Ephesians 3
[8] Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this 
grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable 
riches of Christ;
[9] And to make all men see what is the 
fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath 
been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
[10] To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly 
places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
[11] According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
[12] In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

Once to Every Man and Nation

Author: James Russell Lowell (1845)
.

PARADISE LOST 7

Wikipedia Commons  
Illustrations to Milton's Paradise Lost   
Illustration 7  
The Rout of the Rebel Angels 

Genesis 1
[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
[4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

John 1
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2] The same was in the beginning with God.
[3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
[4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
[5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Milton's account of the rout of the rebel angels is from a memory as told by Raphael to Adam and Eve who were not in that time or place when it occurred. This is an account of the separation of light from darkness as was the biblical statement of what occurred 'In the beginning.' The rebel angels infected heaven - the place of light - with darkness when they chose to be separate themselves from the unity. The light cast them out into hell - the place of darkness. The rebel angels were not destroyed for their disobedience. They were sent away from the light; they were forced out of heaven. But as Adam and Eve would learn, they were still capable of engaging Men and Women in the Battle for Truth.

Paradise Lost
John Milton
Book VI 

Line 710-718
[From the account by Raphael to Adam and Eve]
"Go then, Thou Mightiest, in thy Father's might;
Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels
That shake Heaven's basis, bring forth all my war,
My bow and thunder, my almighty arms
Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh;
Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out
From all Heaven's bounds into the utter deep:
There let them learn, as likes them, to despise
God, and Messiah his anointed King."

Line 844-866
 "Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four
Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels
Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;
One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye
Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire
Among the accursed, that withered all their strength,
And of their wonted vigor left them drained,
Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.
Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
His thunder in mid volley; for he meant
Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:
The overthrown he raised, and as a herd
Of goats or timorous flock together thronged
Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued
With terrors, and with furies, to the bounds
And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide,
Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
Into the wasteful deep: The monstrous sight
Struck them with horror backward, but far worse
Urged them behind: Headlong themselves they threw
Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath
Burnt after them to the bottomless pit." 

C. S. Lewis gives us insight into Milton's character Satan by revealing the incompatibility of self-centeredness and self-deception with clarity of vision.

From Preface to Paradise Lost by C. S. Lewis:

"But I do not know whether we can distinguish his [Satan's] conscious lies from the blindness he has almost willingly imposed upon himself... for far earlier in his career he has become more a Lie than a Liar, a personified contradiction. (Page 97)
...
What we see in Satan is the horrible co-existence of a subtle and incessant intellectual ability with an incapacity to understand anything. (Page 99)
...
The point need not be laboured. Adam, though confined to a small park on a small planet, has interests which embrace 'all the choir of heaven and all the furniture of earth.' Satan has been in the Heaven of Heavens and in the abyss of hell, and surveyed all that lies between them, and in that whole immensity has found only one thing that interests Satan. It may be said that Adam's situation made it easier for him, than for Satan, to let his mind roam. But that is just the point. Satan's monomaniac concern for himself, and his supposed rights and wrongs is a necessity of the Satanic predicament. Certainly, he had no choice. He had chosen to have no choice. He had wished to 'be himself', and to be in himself and for himself, and his wish was granted. The Hell he carries with him is, in one sense, a Hell of infinite boredom...Milton makes plain the blank unintrestingness of being Satan." (Page 102)

Blake has his own way of treating the the opposition of the forces promoting the success of light or of darkness - of the Son of Man or Satan. For him the inexorable advance of truth opening the way for the power and glory of the Son of Man to reveal the apocalypse comes through recognition, repentance and forgiveness. The battle like the tears it provokes, is an intellectual thing.

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 123, (E 392)
"The furious wind still rends around they flee in sluggish effort

They beg they intreat in vain now they Listend not to intreaty
They view the flames red rolling on thro the wide universe
From the dark jaws of death beneath & desolate shores remote
These covering Vaults of heaven & these trembling globes of Earth
One Planet calls to another & one star enquires of another  
What flames are these coming from the South what noise what dreadful rout
As of a battle in the heavens hark heard you not the trumpet
As of fierce battle while they spoke the flames come on intense roaring

They see him whom they have piercd they wail because of him  
They magnify themselves no more against Jerusalem Nor
Against her little ones the innocent accused before the Judges
Shines with immortal Glory trembling the judge springs from his throne 
Hiding his face in the dust beneath the prisoners feet & saying
Brother of Jesus what have I done intreat thy lord for me  
Perhaps I may be forgiven While he speaks the flames roll on
And after the flames appears the Cloud of the Son of Man
Descending from Jerusalem with power and great Glory" 

Songs and Ballads, The Grey Monk, (E 489)
"But vain the Sword & vain the Bow 
They never can work Wars overthrow
The Hermits Prayer & the Widows tear
Alone can free the World from fear

For a Tear is an Intellectual Thing  
And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King 
And the bitter groan of the Martyrs woe
Is an Arrow from the Almighties Bow" 

. 

PARADISE LOST 8

Wikipedia Commons
Illustrations to Milton's
Paradise Lost Illustration 8
The Creation of Eve

Genesis 2
[21] And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
[22] And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
[23] And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
 
Genesis 3
[20] And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

In his epic Paradise Lost Milton embellished the few lines in Genesis concerning the creation of Adam and Eve. He explored the characteristics of our first parents and the relationship they shared in minute detail. Milton's Adam was privileged to communicate directly with the Almighty and make his desires known. He realized that he was uniquely embodying in a limited way the characteristics of God in whose image he was created. He knew that his understanding was greater than that of the beasts although far less than that of his maker. His request for a companion with whom be could share equally was answered by God removing a part of Adam himself to make for him a being like unto himself.

The companion whom God created pleased Adam because she was both like him and different from him. Milton followed conventional wisdom in describing woman as subservient to man. However each delighted in all that the other offered, and the bonds of love grew strong between them.

In Blake's eighth illustration to Milton's Paradise Lost, he pictured Christ as the agent who drew Eve from the body of Adam. Eve like Adam was more than a physical body; both were embodied spirits. Blake emphasized this by showing Adam lying on vegetation and Eve floating on air. This picture is, however, an image of separation: the feminine, represented by the new moon, became divided from the masculine whose light she was designed to reflect.  
 
Paradise Lost
John Milton
Book VIII

Beginning at line 445
 "not good for man to be alone;
...
Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called
By Nature as in aid, and closed mine eyes.
Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell
Of fancy, my internal sight; by which,
Abstract as in a trance, methought I saw,
Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape
Still glorious before whom awake I stood:
Who stooping opened my left side, and took
From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm,
And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound,
But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed:
The rib he formed and fashioned with his hands;
Under his forming hands a creature grew,
Man-like, but different sex; so lovely fair,
That what seemed fair in all the world, seemed now
Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained
And in her looks; which from that time infused
Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,
And into all things from her air inspired
The spirit of love and amorous delight.
...
Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye,
In every gesture dignity and love.
I, overjoyed, could not forbear aloud.
This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled
Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,
Giver of all things fair. but fairest this
Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself
Before me: Woman is her name; of man
Extracted: for this cause he shall forego
Father and mother, and to his wife adhere;
And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul."
 
Beginning at line 536
  "from my side subducting, took perhaps
More than enough; at least on her bestowed
Too much of ornament, in outward show
Elaborate, of inward less exact.
For well I understand in the prime end
Of Nature her the inferior, in the mind
And inward faculties, which most excel;
In outward also her resembling less
His image who made both, and less expressing
The character of that dominion given
O'er other creatures: Yet when I approach
Her loveliness, so absolute she seems
And in herself complete, so well to know
Her own, that what she wills to do or say,
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best:
All higher knowledge in her presence falls
Degraded; Wisdom in discourse with her
Loses discountenanced,"

Beginning at line 589
"Love refines
The thoughts, and heart enlarges; hath his seat
In reason, and is judicious; is the scale
By which to heavenly love thou mayest ascend,
Not sunk in carnal pleasure; for which cause,
Among the beasts no mate for thee was found.
To whom thus, half abashed, Adam replied.
Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught
In procreation common to all kinds,
(Though higher of the genial bed by far,
And with mysterious reverence I deem,)
So much delights me, as those graceful acts,
Those thousand decencies, that daily flow
From all her words and actions mixed with love
And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned
Union of mind, or in us both one soul;"

Although Blake did not have a single way of describing the separation of the male and female, this passage is enlightening. Blake indicates that when the emanation is split from the unified man, a second division ensues. The depleted Spirit is left a Spectre, a pale image of his original substance. Blake's aim is always for everything 'To reunite in those mild fields of happy Eternity.'                                             
 
Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 84, (E 359)
[Spectre of Urthona to Enitharmon)
"To reunite in those mild fields of happy Eternity
Where thou & I in undivided Essence walkd about   
Imbodied. thou my garden of delight & I the spirit in the garden
Mutual there we dwelt in one anothers joy revolving
Days of Eternity with Tharmas mild & Luvah sweet melodious
Upon our waters. This thou well rememberest listen I will tell
What thou forgettest. They in us & we in them alternate Livd   
Drinking the joys of Universal Manhood. One dread morn
Listen O vision of Delight One dread morn of goary blood  
The manhood was divided for the gentle passions making way
Thro the infinite labyrinths of the heart & thro the nostrils issuing
In odorous stupefaction stood before the Eyes of Man   
A female bright. I stood beside my anvil dark a mass
Of iron glowd bright prepard for spades & plowshares. sudden down
I sunk with cries of blood issuing downward in the veins
Which now my rivers were become rolling in tubelike forms
Shut up within themselves descending down I sunk along, 
The goary tide even to the place of seed & there dividing
 I was divided in darkness & oblivion thou an infant woe
And I an infant terror in the womb of Enion
My masculine spirit scorning the frail body issud forth
From Enions brain In this deformed form leaving thee there 
Till times passd over thee but still my spirit returning hoverd
And formd a Male to be a counterpart to thee O Love
Darkend & Lost In due time issuing forth from Enions womb  
Thou & that demon Los wert born Ah jealousy & woe       
Ah poor divided dark Urthona now a Spectre wandering  
The deeps of Los the Slave of that Creation I created
I labour night & day for Los but listen thou my vision
I view futurity in thee I will bring down soft Vala
To the embraces of this terror & I will destroy
That body I created then shall we unite again in bliss" 

Jerusalem, Plate 92, (E 252)
"Los answerd swift as the shuttle of gold. Sexes must vanish & cease 
To be, when Albion arises from his dread repose O lovely Enitharmon: 
When all their Crimes, their Punishments their Accusations of Sin: 
All their Jealousies Revenges. Murders. hidings of Cruelty in Deceit 
Appear only in the Outward Spheres of  Visionary Space and Time. 
In the shadows of Possibility by Mutual Forgiveness forevermore 
And in the Vision & in the Prophecy, that we may Foresee & Avoid 
The terrors of Creation & Redemption & Judgment." 
.

PARADISE LOST 9

Wikipedia Commons
Illustrations to Milton's Paradise Lost Illustration 9
The Temptation and Fall of Eve

Genesis 3
[2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
[3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
[4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
[5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Romans 7
[18] For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
[19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
[20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
[21] I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Paradise Lost
John Milton
Book I
Lline 34

"The infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
The mother of mankind,"

Book VIII
Line 366
"Trial will come unsought.
Wouldst thou approve thy constancy, approve
First thy obedience; the other who can know,
Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?
But, if thou think, trial unsought may find
Us both securer than thus warned thou seemest,
Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more;
Go in thy native innocence, rely
On what thou hast of virtue; summon all
For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine.
So spake the patriarch of mankind; but Eve
Persisted; yet submiss, though last, replied.
With thy permission then, and thus forewarned
Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words
Touched only; that our trial, when least sought,
May find us both perhaps far less prepared,
The willinger I go, nor much expect
A foe so proud will first the weaker seek;
So bent, the more shall shame him his repulse.
Thus saying, from her husband's hand her hand
Soft she withdrew; and, like a Wood-Nymph light,
Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train,
Betook her to the groves;

Line 404
 Oh much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve,
Of thy presumed return event perverse!
Thou never from that hour in Paradise
Foundst either sweet repast, or sound repose;
Such ambush, hid among sweet flowers and shades,
Waited with hellish rancor imminent
To intercept thy way, or send thee back
Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss.
For now, and since first break of dawn, the Fiend,
Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come;
And on his quest, where likeliest he might find
The only two of mankind, but in them
The whole included race, his purposed prey.

Line 494
"So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed
In serpent, inmate bad, and toward Eve
Addressed his way: not with indented wave,
Prone on the ground, as since; but on his rear,
Circular base of rising folds, that towered
Fold above fold, a surging maze, his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes;
With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect
Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass
Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape
And lovely; never since of serpent-kind
Lovelier,"
 
Line 643
 So glistered the dire Snake, and into fraud
Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe;
Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
Serpent, we might have spared our coming hither,
Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess,
The credit of whose virtue rest with thee;
Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects.
But of this tree we may not taste nor touch;
God so commanded, and left that command
Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live
Law to ourselves; our reason is our law."

Line 685
  "ye shall not die:
How should you? by the fruit? it gives you life
To knowledge; by the threatener? look on me,
Me, who have touched and tasted; yet both live,
And life more perfect have attained than Fate
Meant me, by venturing higher than my lot.
Shall that be shut to Man, which to the Beast
Is open? or will God incense his ire
For such a petty trespass?"

Line 705
"He knows that in the day
Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
Opened and cleared, and ye shall be as Gods,
Knowing both good and evil, as they know.

Line 776
  "Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,
Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
Of virtue to make wise: What hinders then
To reach, and feed at once both body and mind?
So saying, her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate.
Earth felt the wound; and nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,
That all was lost."

Although a disaster may seem to happen suddenly, it is more likely the result of a chain of occurrences which was allowed to continue instead of being broken by wise decisions and strong resolve. In Milton's Paradise Lost, Eve's bite of the apple began long before she accepted the fruit from the serpent. First Adam requested a companion with a separate existence different from himself and outside of himself. The being whom God provided was dependent on Adam but tended to be absorbed in her own autonomy. She was accustomed to having Adam instruct her and guide her but failed to learn for herself the conduct which he was trying to impart. Instead she wanted to be freer and wiser than she had been instructed to be. She was susceptible to flattery and to promises of extravagant benefits. Although it was not inevitable that she would fall, she failed to avoid it by exercising good judgment.

It seems evident from Milton's life script that he may have identified with Eve as he puzzled over his part in the overthrow of King Charles, the rise and fall of Cromwell's government, and the restoration of monarchy. His decisions and those of his associates had consequences which were meant to do good but often led to suffering of the nation and her people. In developing his character Eve in Paradise Lost, Milton seems to have been confessing his own flaws or the failings of Britain. 

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 87, (E 369)
"But Los stood on the Limit of Translucence weeping & trembling
Filled with doubts in self accusation beheld the fruit  
Of Urizens Mysterious tree For Enitharmon thus spake

When In the Deeps beneath I gatherd of this ruddy fruit 
It was by that I knew that I had Sinnd & then I knew
That without a ransom I could not be savd from Eternal death
That Life lives upon Death & by devouring appetite
All things subsist on one another thenceforth in Despair
I spend my glowing time but thou art strong & mighty  
To bear this Self conviction take then Eat thou also of
The fruit & give me proof of life Eternal or I die

Then Los plucked the fruit & Eat & sat down in Despair
And must have given himself to death Eternal But
Urthonas spectre in part mingling with him comforted him  
Being a medium between him & Enitharmon   But This Union
Was not to be Effected without Cares & Sorrows & Troubles
Of six thousand Years of self denial and of bitter Contrition" 

Songs of Experience, Song 47, (E 27)  
"The Human Abstract. 

Pity would be no more,          
If we did not make somebody Poor:
And Mercy no more could be,
If all were as happy as we;

And mutual fear brings peace;
Till the selfish loves increase.
Then Cruelty knits a snare,
And spreads his baits with care. 

He sits down with holy fears,
And waters the ground with tears:
Then Humility takes its root
Underneath his foot.

Soon spreads the dismal shade
Of Mystery over his head;
And the Catterpiller and Fly,
Feed on the Mystery.

And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
Ruddy and sweet to eat; 
And the Raven his nest has made
In its thickest shade.

The Gods of the earth and sea,
Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree
But their search was all in vain:
There grows one in the Human Brain"

. 

PARADISE LOST 10

Wikipedia Commons
Illustrations to Milton's Paradise Lost
Illustration 10
So Judged He Man

Genesis 3
[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
...
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
[7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
[8] And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
...
[14] And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
[15] And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
[16] Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
[17] And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

First John 2
[1] My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
[2] And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.


Paradise Lost
John Milton
Book IX

Line 816
"But to Adam in what sort
Shall I appear? shall I to him make known
As yet my change, and give him to partake
Full happiness with me, or rather not,
But keeps the odds of knowledge in my power
Without copartner? so to add what wants
In female sex, the more to draw his love,
And render me more equal; and perhaps,
A thing not undesirable, sometime
Superior; for, inferior, who is free
This may be well: But what if God have seen,
And death ensue? then I shall be no more,
And Adam, wedded to another Eve,
Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;
A death to think! Confirmed then I resolve,
Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:  
So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could endure, without him live no life."

Line 888
  "On the other side Adam, soon as he heard
The fatal trespass done by Eve, amazed,
Astonied stood and blank, while horror chill
Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;
From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve
Down dropt, and all the faded roses shed:
Speechless he stood and pale, till thus at length
First to himself he inward silence broke.
Oh fairest of creation, last and best
Of all God's works, Creature in whom excelled
Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,
Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet,  
How art thou lost! how on a sudden lost,
Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote!
Rather, how hast thou yielded to transgress
The strict forbiddance, how to violate
The sacred fruit forbidden? Some cursed fraud
Of enemy hath beguiled thee, yet unknown,
And me with thee hath ruined; for with thee
Certain my resolution is to die:
How can I live without thee? how forego
Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,
To live again in these wild woods forlorn?"

Line 1070 "since our eyes
Opened we find indeed, and find we know
Both good and evil; good lost, and evil got;
Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know;
Which leaves us naked thus, of honor void,
Of innocence, of faith, of purity,"
 
Line 1087
"Thus they in mutual accusation spent
The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning;
And of their vain contest appeared no end." 
Book XLine 55
  "But whom send I to judge them? whom but thee,
Vicegerent Son? To thee I have transferred
All judgment, whether in Heaven, or Earth, or Hell.
Easy it may be seen that I intend
Mercy colleague with justice, sending thee
Man's friend, his Mediator, his designed
Both ransom and Redeemer voluntary,
And destined man himself to judge man fallen.
So spake the Father;"

Line 192
  "And to the Woman thus his sentence turned.  
Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply
By thy conception; children thou shalt bring
In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will
Thine shall submit; he over thee shall rule.
On Adam last thus judgment he pronounced.
Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife,
And eaten of the tree, concerning which
I charged thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof:  
Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thou in sorrow
Shalt eat thereof, all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth
Unbid; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
Till thou return unto the ground; for thou
Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth,
 For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.
So judged he man, both Judge and Savior sent;"
 
Milton's Eden before the fall was the state of innocence: a state in which only the most isolated and protected could exist. (Think of life in the womb.) Most would choose to venture forth from a condition so static and predictable. Both Eve and Adam were offered something different from the comfort and obedience that they knew. The unknown was more inviting to them than the status quo. They ate the forbidden fruit and suffered the consequences. 

Christ, who was delegated to judge the serpent, Adam and Eve, set the conditions of their probation. The serpent (Satan) would continue to have the role of tempter and tester in the more challenging world they would enter. Eve would endure the woe of of bearing, raising children and sending them forth into a world she could not enter. Adam was assigned the task of finding work which would provide for his family and make his environment productive.

At the top of Illustration ten we meet again Sin and Death who were pictured in the second illustration. They are separated from Adam, Eve and Christ but are prepared to release their poisons when the disobedient pair are forced out of Eden. Most severe of the punishment was that the lifespan of humans would be limited by death and that the consciousness of sin will be always with them.

Milton in his telling of the tale had been careful to indicate that Adam and Eve had not been condemned to unremitting suffering and hopelessness. The judgment had been both just and merciful because it was made by God's son who was sent to save the world. But Adam and Eve would not return to their earlier status without experiencing a world which demanded that they develop beyond a childlike state.

Jerusalem, Plate 42, (E 189)
"Thus Albion sat, studious of others in his pale disease:
Brooding on evil: but when Los opend the Furnaces before him:
He saw that the accursed things were his own affections,
And his own beloveds: then he turn'd sick! his soul died within him
Also Los sick & terrified beheld the Furnaces of Death           
And must have died, but the Divine Saviour descended
Among the infant loves & affections, and the Divine Vision wept
Like evening dew on every herb upon the breathing ground"

Jerusalem, Plate 42, (E 189)
"In every Individual Man, and the limit of Opakeness,             
Is named Satan: and the limit of Contraction is named Adam.
But when Man sleeps in Beulah, the Saviour in mercy takes
Contractions Limit, and of the Limit he forms Woman: That
Himself may in process of time be born Man to redeem"

Jerusalem, Plate 62, (E 213)
"Shall Albion arise? I know he shall arise at the Last Day!
I know that in my flesh I shall see God: but Emanations
Are weak. they know not whence they are, nor whither tend.

Jesus replied. I am the Resurrection & the Life.
I Die & pass the limits of possibility, as it appears
To individual perception. Luvah must be Created                  
And Vala; for I cannot leave them in the gnawing Grave.
But will prepare a way for my banished-ones to return
    
Come now with me into the villages. walk thro all the cities.
Tho thou art taken to prison & judgment, starved in the streets
I will command the cloud to give thee food & the hard rock       
To flow with milk & wine, tho thou seest me not a season
Even a long season & a hard journey & a howling wilderness!
Tho Valas cloud hide thee & Luvahs fires follow thee!
Only believe & trust in me, Lo. I am always with thee!

So spoke the Lamb of God while Luvahs Cloud reddening above      
Burst forth in streams of blood upon the heavens"

.