John Milton: The distinction between good and evil

Text / John Milton

The good and evil as we know it always grow together and are inseparable within this earthly realm, and the knowledge of good and evil is so intricately intertwined and habitually described as cool, and the degree of confusion in the middle may be even greater than that of the mixed breeds that are constantly sorted by Cee as a long period of hard labor. Who would have guessed that the twin brothers, who are closely interdependent in the knowledge of good and evil, jumped into the world from the skin of a eaten apple. This may also be the same calamity that Adam once fell into in the past years—the distinction between good and evil, or the knowledge of good through evil. Therefore, since mankind has become the situation it is today, how will wisdom choose without knowledge of evil, and how can perseverance be practiced? The kind of person who can grasp sin and all its bait and pleasure in his hands, examine it carefully, and still know what is going to be avoided, but still be able to distinguish between right and wrong, and still be able to choose the good and follow the good, this kind of person is worthy of being a truly warlike Christian. As for the morality of escapism that does nothing to the virtues and does not show anything, the morality that never rushes to kill the enemy, but only flees the battle, I dare not praise it; it must be known that the garland of immortality can rarely be obtained without being prepared for extreme hardship. Obviously, what we bring into this world is not a piece of innocence, and the innocence we bring is all kinds of impurities; to the pure one is a test, and the test is to borrow the opposite...

Just as in the physical aspect, when a person's blood is alive, the essence of the yuan qi in the basic organs and mental faculties is pure and vigorous, and these functions are restored to the skillful wisdom of his mind in the use of his dexterity and liveliness, it can often show that the condition of the body is exceptionally good and the organization is unusually good, just as when a nation is in a cheerful mood and is happy, not only can it have more than enough to guarantee its own freedom and safety, but also can combine all kinds of solid and lofty controversies and inventions with spare energy, which will also show us that it has not regressed Instead of falling into a state of stagnation, he shed the wrinkled skin of decay and corruption, experienced the pain and regained his youth, and from then on he entered the glorious and smooth path of truth and virtue that was enough to be modeled on the present. I felt as if I had glimpsed in my own mind a noble and courageous country, like a strong man, rising from its deep slumber, and the wind was awe-inspiring. I felt as if I had caught a glimpse of it as a goshawk, vibrating off the health of its infancy, its fleeting eyes burning red from the midday sun, and then sweeping down its long-deceived gaze, overlooking the clear spring itself that rippled with heavenly brilliance, while the countless cowardly birds, and the birds of the dim sex, were making a noise, flying up and down, amazed by the actions of the goshawks, and this vicious chirping of the birds would herald the factions of the coming year.