envy, will not drive us hence:/ Here we may reign secure, and in my choice/ to reign is worth ambition though in hell:/ Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.”1 In Milton’s poetic depiction, the devil imagines God as “over against” creatures, dominating them by power and force; and likewise the devil imagines freedom to be simply having power and dominion. As the poet knew, this perversion—which is so often our perversion as well—completely inverts the reality of God. Blinded by pride and