In his epic poem, "Paradise Lost," John Milton captured the majestic drama of the fall and rise of humanity amidst the never-failing love and power of God's presence in the world. In the fourth book of the poem, Satan approaches the Garden of Eden, resolved to bring down Adam and Eve precisely because they have become a focus of God's love and tender care. As he enters the garden, Satan is stunned and overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the paradise that the Lord has created and bestowed upon the human family.
But where once such overpowering loveliness would have turned his heart to God, now the very beauty of paradise reminds Satan only of his own alienation from the creator, and he despises the majesty of creation, just as he despises its creator. Speaking to the sun, Satan cries out in pain.
O Thou, that with surpassing glory crowned,
Lookest from thy sole dominion like the lord
Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars
Hide their diminished heads, to thee I call,
But with not with friendly voice, and add thy name
O sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
That bring to my remembrance from what state
I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;
Til pride and worse ambition threw me down.
The lament of Satan is forged by his very estrangement from the world of incomprehensible magnificence which God had created and which Satan had deformed.
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