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Teri Hyrkas's avatar

At the close of Book 3 there is a conversation between Satan and the Archangel, Uriel. With compliments and cunning, Satan coaxes the angel to tell him the location of man among all the stars and planets. (660) I find Milton's description of the give-and-take of this conversation in lines 680-690 to be very enlightening. "So spake the false dissembler unperceived; For neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible, Except to God alone, by his permissive will, through heaven 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..." Hypocrisy can beguile even angels, apparently, and only God can see through hypocrisy's invisibility cloak. A very relevant warning.

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Adsum Try Ravenhill's avatar

Having received my copy a week late, it took until now to catch up! In order to do so, I had to make a commitment to stop underlining every passage along the way. Once I crossed that hurdle, I then had to constrain myself to reading only one short passage aloud per page, rather than the entirety of the book. I feel like a child again, picking up Shakespeare's plays for the first time.

With that said, it is Milton's use of silence that most affected me.

Man cannot save himself, but can lose himself. Once-heavenly beings can lead him to the path of damnation, and escort him down it, but they cannot—and will not—turn him away from it. The souls of the Elect (184) require one perfect redeemer, who can dwell among them, live a life contrary to theirs and yet beset by all of its temptations and trials, and then die in their place.

God seeks such a one:

"He asked, but all the Heavenly Choir stood mute,

and silence was in Heaven; on man's behalf

Patron or intercessor none appeared."

— III. 217-219

Milton's poetic license covers a very different vehicle here than a clergyman's license ever could, and so he uses all the horsepower at his disposal to drive the point home. This event never happened, but the effects remain the same. No created being in heaven or earth could redeem the breaking of the world, and all the effects that ricocheted off as a result. The fall damns the man.

But...

I am sure others will cover the following passages and so I'll end there. Milton's silence struck me, because that very same silence stands before every salvation. Andrew Peterson sums this up beautifully:

"Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole?

Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave

He was David's root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave"

We realise our guilt, are confronted by our shame, our sin covering our hands and feet. Suddenly, we ask, can anyone take this from me? Can anyone save me?

If you're reading this, and you're wondering.

There is. Run to him.

Grace and Peace,

Adsum Try Ravenhill

P.S. Goodness me, that was longer than I intended. Thank you so much Karen for putting this together. What a terrific read.

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