Milton

Milton's Paradise Lost.
Quotes

The audio book is on itunes
the spark notes are online
the book can be found in Norton Literature Books

The author calls Milton’s image of angels and devils the basis for Christian novels.

The mind is its own place, and in itself

Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n.

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Not by destroying Satan, but his works

In thee and in thy seed; nor can this be,

But by fulfilling that which thou didst want,

Obedience to the law of God,

Storyline:

St. Michael is explaining the prophesy from Genesis 3:15 about striking the serpent’s head and he tells Adam not to expect another angelic war. The Son’s victory over Satan will come by doing what Adam and his descendants so often failed to do. Victory would come through obedience.

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Was she thy God,

lovely to attract

Thy love, not thy subjection

Storyline:

Adam and Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit and they are being questioned by God. As in the book of Genesis, everyone has passed the blame. Adam tells God that this woman whom He made to be his help gave him the fruit. How could such evil be expected from one so fair? God tells Adam that his fall was not Eve’s doing, but his personal choice and responsibility.

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do they only stand

By ignorance, is that their happy state,

The proof of their obedience and their faith?

Storyline:

Satan has entered God’s new creation and has found it more wonderful than he imagined. With a certain amount of effort he must persuade himself to continue his mission to corrupt earth. When he sees Man and overhears God’s warning about the Tree of Life, Satan reflects on his own lost state of bliss and suggests that God uses Man’s ignorance to keep them subservient. What riles Satan is that they are rewarded for their imposed obedience with happiness and immortality.

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Works Cited 

The quotes and the story lines is written by Thinker Series.

This article brought to you by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.  

Written by James Rutherford.