TWO PICTURES FROM PARADISE LOST.

Two PICTURES FROM PARADISE LOST.

The next two picturers are by an artist whose fame will never die, who, though old and poor and blind, painted grander scenes than the world had ever beheld. Of the many that he caused to glow upon his canvas, there is not one so grand and awful in its strength as that of Satan in sight of Paradise.

.

"He

In shape and gesture proudly eminent

Stood like a tower; his form had not yet lost

All its original brightness, nor appeared

Less than archangel ruined, and the excess
Of glory obscured."

In his countenance, envy, remorse, despair, contend for mastery, as he sees Adam and Eve wandering through the beautiful Garden of Eden in the glory of the early day. While he looks, the words of their grand morning hymn are borne upon the air; and he cannot help but listen :

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,

Almighty! thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable, who sit'st above these heavens
To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought and power divine;
Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,
Angels; for ye behold him, and with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle his throne rejoicing; ye in Heaven:
On Earth join all ye creatures to extol

Him first, him last, him midst, and without end."

As our first parents thus pour forth their souls in prayer, Satan thinks of those happy days when his voice joined in the heavenly chorus of praise to the Creator; and a great wave of remorse sweeps over him, for he realizes that had it not been for the curse of ambition, which had made him desire equality with God, he might still enjoy his peaceful home in Heaven, might still be Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, instead of Satan, the Enemy of Mankind. His past life comes up before him, and he recalls that dark day when there was war in Heaven; how the crystal floor opened, and he and his rebel angels were cast down, down into the burning lake below.

Again he feels the horrible agony that seized him when he awoke from his long sleep, and saw, lying around him, the prostrate forms of his companions.

In imagination, he sees arise from the lake the splendid palace of Pandemonium, where he and his friends held their hateful council. He remembers their vow, "to execute fierce vengeance on God," and that he has been sent here to thwart the divine will by tempting Adam and Eve from the path of right.

Shall he do it? and again he looks at the pure beings before him. O that he were as innocent as they, and had never rebelled against his Heavenly Father! His mind is tortured with shame and remorse. In his anguish, he cries out :—

"Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still threatening to devour me, opens wide,

To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven."

Something within him whispers: "Repent, and

ask forgiveness of God."

forbids, for he dreads the

But his wicked pride

contempt of "the spirits

beneath," whom he has seduced by promises that