Season 2 Podcast 56 Precious Bane Pt I

A New Voice of Freedom

Season 2 Podcast 56 The Precious Bane Part I

In Book I of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Satan and his angels are cast out of heaven. Satan in awful majesty rises out of the lake of fire and exclaims:

Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,

Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat

That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom

For that celestial light? Be it so, since he

Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid

What shall be right: farthest from him is best

Whom reason hath equaled, force hath made supreme

Above his equals. Farewell happy Fields

Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail

Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell

Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings

A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time.

In trying to make a heaven of hell, Mammon, one of the chief devils, builds the city Pandemonium.

Mammon led them on,

Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell

From heav'n, for ev'n in heav'n his looks and thoughts

Were always downward bent, admiring more

The riches of Heav'ns pavement, trod'n Gold,

Then aught divine or holy else enjoy'd

In vision beatific: by him first

Men also, and by his suggestion taught

Ransack'd the Center, and with impious hands

Rifl'd the bowels of their mother Earth

For Treasures better hid. Soon had his crew

Op'nd into the Hill a spacious wound

And dig'd out ribs of Gold. Let none admire

That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best

Deserve the precious bane.

In this and the next podcast I use the term “precious bane” to represent anything that can be both a blessing and a curse. It is the idea that a curse can be turned into a blessing or a blessing can be turned into a curse. We have a choice, a thing that is denied Satan and his fallen angels.

A familiar scripture related to the concept of ‘precious bane’ is found in the last verses of Matthew 11:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

When we think of a yoke, we often think of a yoke of oxen and consider the analogy of two oxen yoked together pulling a heavy burden. When reading the above scripture, almost immediately comes to a Christian’s mind, ‘bearing the cross of Christ.

Christ said, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27)

When the rich young man came to Christ and asked, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” The Savior answered,

“One thing thou lakest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” The postscript was, “And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10: 17-22)