No More Learning

Milton, _Par. Lost_, i. 74.

PAGE =264=, l. 442. _For it is both the object and the wit. _ God, the
Idea of Good, is the source of both being and knowing--the ultimate
object of knowledge and the source of the knowledge by which Himself
is known.

ll. 445-6. _'Tis such a full, and such a filling good;
Had th' Angels once look'd on him they had stood. _

After discussion Aquinas concludes (I. lxiii. 5) that the devil was
not evil through fault of his own will in the first instant of
his creation, because this would make God the cause of evil: 'Illa
operatio quae simul incipit cum esse rei est ei ab agente a quo habet
esse . . .
Agens autem quod Angelos in esse produxit, scilicet Deus, non
potest esse causa peccati. ' He then considers whether there was any
delay between his creation and his fall, and concludes that the most
probable conclusion and most consonant with the words of the Saints
is that there was none, otherwise by his first good act he would have
acquired the merit whose reward is the happiness which comes from
the sight of God and is enduring: 'Si diabolus in primo instanti,
in gratia creatus, meruit, statim post primum instans _beatitudinem_
accepisset, nisi statim impedimentum praestitisset peccando. ' This
'beatitudo' is the sight of God: 'Angeli beati sunt per hoc quod
Verbum vident. ' And endurance is of the essence of this blessedness:
'Sed contra de ratione beatitudinis est stabilitas, sive confirmatio
in bono. ' Thus, as Donne says, 'Had th' Angells,' &c. _Summa_ lxii. 1,
5; lxiii. 6.

PAGE =265=, l. 479. _Apostem_: i. e. Imposthume, deep-seated abscess.

PAGE =266=, l. 509. _Long'd for, and longing for it, &c.