Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring.

These lines come from John Milton’s epic poem *Paradise Lost*, spoken by Adam in Eden as he reflects on the newly created bond between himself and Eve. In Book IV, Milton lingers over the prelapsarian world—its innocence, harmony, and the divinely instituted order of nature. Adam’s exclamation “Hail wedded love” functions as a hymn-like celebration of marriage before the Fall, presenting it not as a merely social contract but as a sacred ordinance embedded in creation. The passage participates in Milton’s broader theological and political interest in marriage, companionship, and the right ordering of human desire.

Milton frames “wedded love” as both “mysterious” and lawful: marriage is at once a divine mystery (rooted in God’s creative purpose) and a regulating principle that channels human sexuality toward generative, communal ends. By calling it the “true source / Of human offspring,” the speaker elevates procreation within marriage as natural and legitimate, contrasting it implicitly with lust or disorderly desire. In *Paradise Lost*, this praise also underscores what will later be imperiled by sin: the harmony between love, reason, and divine command. The lines thus idealize marital union as foundational to human society and to Eden’s moral ecology.