“O shame to men! Devil with devil damnedFirm concord holds, men only disagreeOf creatures rational, though under hopeOf heavenly grace: and God proclaiming peace,Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strifeAmong themselves, and levy cruel wars,Wasting the earth, each other to destroy:As if (which might induce us to accord)Man had not hellish foes enough besides,That day and night for his destruction wait.”
“While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps,Between us two let there be peace, both joining,As joined in injuries, and enmityAgainst a foe by doom express assigned us,That cruel serpent.”
“And of the sixth day yet remainedThere wanted yet the master work, the endOf all yet done: a creature who not prone And brute as other creatures but enduedWith sanctity of reason might erect His stature and, upright with front serene,Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thenceMagnanimous to correspond with Heaven, But grateful to acknowledge whence his good Descends, thither with heart and voice and eyesDirected in devotion to adore And worship God supreme who made him chiefOf all His works.”
“When I consider how my light is spentEre half my days in this dark world and wide,And that one talent which is death to hideLodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and presentMy true account, lest he returning chide,"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"I fondly ask. But Patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies: "God doth not needEither man's work or his own gifts: who bestBear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His stateIs kingly; thousands at his bidding speedAnd post o'er land and ocean without rest:They also serve who only stand and wait.”
“Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss”
“Abash'd the Devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is,.....”
“No man [...] can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free, being the image and resemblance of God himself.”