Happy 400th Birthday, John Milton!

It is not miserable to be blind; it is miserable to be incapable of enduring blindness.-John Milton

We read not that Christ ever exercised force but once; and that was to drive profane ones out of his Temple, not to force them in. - John Milton (1608-1674)

Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. - John Milton

Antichrist is Mammon's son. - JOHN MILTON

He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain and yet distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly better, he is the true wayfaring Christian. I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat. Assuredly we bring not innocence into the world, we bring impurity much rather; that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary. - Milton , Areopagitica

Cromwell, -, who through a cloud,
Not of war only, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,
To peace and truth thy glorious way has ploughed
And on the neck of crowned fortune proud
Has reared God's trophies, and his work pursued,
While Darwen stream with blood of Scots imbrued,
And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud,
And Worcester's laureate wreath. Yet much remains
To conquer still; peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war: new foes arise,
Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains:
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Of hireling wolves whose gospel is their maw.
John Milton, Sonnet XV1, To the Lord General Cromwell.

All is best, though we oft doubt
What the unsearchable dispose
Of Highest Wisdom brings about,
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

Time, the subtle thief of youth.-John Milton (1608-1674) _On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three_ [1631]

How charming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets
Where no crude surfeit reigns.
John Milton (1608-1674) _Comuso_ [1634], Line 476

But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt,
And by their vices brought to servitude,
Than to love bondage more than liberty
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

But patience is more oft the exercise
Of saints, the trial of their fortitude,
Making them each his own deliverer,
And victor over all
That tyranny or fortune can inflict.
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

But what is strength without a double share
Of wisdom?
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

Beholding the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies. -John Milton (1608-1674) _The Reason of Church Government_ [1641], Book II, "Introduction"

Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men,
Unless there be who think not God at all.
If any be, they walk obscure;
For of such doctrine never was there school,
But the heart of the Fool,And no man therein doctor but himself.
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

for God(Nothing more certain) will not long defer
To vindicate the glory of his name
Against all competition, nor will long
Endure it doubtful whether God be Lord
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

Believe not these suggestions, which proceed
From anguish of the mind, and humours black
That mingle with thy fancy.
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

ALL is best, though we oft doubt,
What th' unsearchable dispose
Of highest wisdom brings about,
And ever best found in the close.
Oft he seems to hide his face,
But unexpectedly returns
And to his faithful Champion hath in place
Bore witness gloriously; whence Gaza mourns
And all that band them to resist
His uncontroulable intent.
His servants he with new acquist
Of true experience from this great event
With peace and consolation hath dismist,
And calm of mind all passion spent.
John Milton (1608-1674)_Samson Agonistes_ [1671]

Many are the sayings of the wise,
In ancient and in modern books enrolled,
Extolling patience as the truest fortitude,
And to the bearing well of all calamities,
All chances incident to man's frail life,
Consolatories writ
With studied argument, and much persuasion sought,
Lenient of grief and anxious thought.
But with the afflicted in his pangs their sound
Little prevails, or rather seems a tune
Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint,
Unless he feel within
Some source of consolation from above,
Secret refreshings that repair his strength
And fainting spirits uphold.
John Milton. (1608 -1674). Samson Agonistes

The childhood shows the man,
As morning shows the day.
John Milton (1608-1674)_Paradise Regained_ [1671], Book IV, Line 220

Nothing of all these evils hath befallen me
But justly; I myself have brought them on;
Sole author I, sole cause.
John Milton. (1608-1674). Samson Agonistes

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.
John Milton. Paradise Lost Line 677

Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign
Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man,
Anointed universal King; all power
I give thee, reign forever, and assume
Thy merits; under thee as Head Supreme
Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions I reduce:
All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide
In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell.
John Milton, Paradise Lost [3.315-22]

Effulgence of my Glory, Son belov'd,
Son in whose face invisible is beheld
Visibly, what by Deity I am.
John Milton, Paradise Lost BookoBook VI, 680 - 82

Let us make now Man in our image, Man
In our similitude.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book VII, 519 - 20

When night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 500.

The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him. -John Milton

God is decreeing to begin some new and great period in His Church, even to the reforming of Reformation itself. What does He then but reveal Himself to His servants, and as His manner is, first to His Englishmen? -John Milton Areopagitica

If I foreknew,
Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book III, 117 - 18

None can love freedom heartily but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license which never hath more scope than under tyrants.- John Milton, 1649

I form'd them free, and free they must remain,
Till they enthral themselves.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book III, 124 - 25

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to my conscience, above all liberties. -- John Milton

Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,
In every gesture dignity and love.
John Milton Paradise Lost

Good, the more
Communicated, more abundant grows.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book v. Line 71.

The first sort by thir own suggestion fell,
Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls deceiv'd,
By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,
The other none.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book III, 129 - 32

A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round
As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Serv'd onely to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed
With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd:
Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd
For those rebellious, here thir Prison ordain'd
In utter darkness, and thir portion set
As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n
As from the Center thrice to th'utmost Pole.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book i 61-74

Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book I, 17 - 18

For neither Man nor Angel can discern
Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks
Invisible, except to God alone,
By his permissive will, through Heav'n and Earth.
And oft though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps
At wisdom's Gate, and to simplicity
Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill
Where no ill seems.
John Milton, PARADISE LOST, Book III, 682-89.

Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men;
Unless there be who think not God at all.
John Milton. Paradise Regained. Book ii. Line 293.

The Tree of Knowledge grew fast by,
Knowledge of Good bought dear by knowing ill.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book IV, 221 - 222

Loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named, not good.- John Milton (1608-1674)

[If] there be any difference among professed believers as to the sense of Scripture, it is their duty to tolerate such difference in each other, until God shall have revealed the truth to all. John Milton (1608-1674)

He who reigns within himself, and rules passions, desires, and fears, is more than a king. John Milton

No worthy enterprise can be done by us without continual plodding and wearisomeness to our faint and sensitive abilities.-- John Milton.

I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.-- John Milton Areopagitica.

Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do ingloriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple: who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? -John Milton Areopagitica.

That power
Which erring men call chance.
John Milton, Comus ,1637

When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
`Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?'
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: `God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.
John Milton, On His Blindness

This the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heaven's Eternal King,
Of wedded maid and virgin mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

That glorious form, that light insufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze majesty,
Wherewith he wont at Heaven's high council-table
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity
He laid aside, and, here with us to be.
Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.
John Milton ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY (Composed - 1629)

Be strong, live happy, and love, but first of all
Him whom to love is to obey.
John Milton, Paradise Lost Book VIII, 633 - 34

Heav'nly love shall outdoo Hellish hate. John Milton, Paradise Lost [3.298]

Capricious, wanton, bold, and brutal lust
Is meanly selfish; when resisted, cruel;
And, like the blast of pestilential winds,
Taints the sweet bloom of nature's fairest forms.
Milton (1608-1674)

For one restraint, Lords of the World besides. John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book i 32

Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring. John Milton Paradise Lost Line 750

Sleep on,
Blest pair; and O yet happiest if ye seek
No happier state, and know to know no more.
John Milton, Paradise Lost Book IV, 773 - 75

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 1.

Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th'upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
Illumin, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book i, 17-26

In discourse more sweet;
For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense.
Others apart sat on a hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high
Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,
Fix'd fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute;
And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 555.

What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
That Glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book I, 105 - 12

His Will though free,
Yet mutable.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book V, 236 - 37

Abash'd the Devil stood,
And felt how awful goodness is, and saw
Virtue in her shape how lovely.
John Milton, "Paradise Lost", bk III, st. 1.

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in hell:
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
John Milton, 1608-74, Paradise Lost, Book 1

Laws can discover sin, but not remove it.-- John Milton John Milton, 1608-74, Paradise Lost, Book 1

Man's disobedience] brought into this World a world of woe,
Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery,
Death's Harbinger.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book IX, 11 - 13

Subtle he needs must be, who could seduce Angels.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book IX, 307 - 08

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
John Milton, Paradise Lost

Servant of God, well done, well hast thou fought
The better fight, who single hast maintain'd
Against revolted multitudes the Cause
Of Truth, in word mightier than they in Arms;
And for the testimony of Truth hast borne
Universal reproach, far worse to bear
Than violence.
John Milton. 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. Book VI, 29 - 35

Beholding the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies.- John Milton The Reason of Church Government. Introduction, Book ii.

Peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war.
John Milton To the Lord General Cromwell.