Fulfil'd, which to fulfil is all my bliss
Sceptre and power, thy giving, I assume,
And gladlier shall resign, when in the end
Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee
For ever; and in me all whom thou lovest;
But whom thou hatest I hate, and can put on,
Thy terrors, as I put thy mildness on,
Image of thee in all things; and shall soon,
Arm'd with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebell'd:
To their prepared ill mansion driven down,
To chains of darkness, and the undying worm;
That from thy just obedience could revolt,
Whom to obey is happiness entire.
Then shall thy saints unmix'd, and from the impure
Far separated, circling the holy mount,
Unfeigned Hallelujahs to be sung,
Hymns of high praise, and I among them chief.
So said, he, o'er his sceptre bowing, rose
From the right hand of glory where he sat ;
And the third sacred morn began to shine,
Dawning though Heaven. Forth rush'd with whirl wind sound,
The chariot of paternal Deity,
Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,
Itself instinct with spirit, but convoy'd
By four cherubic shapes; four faces each
Had wondrous; as with stars, their bodies all
And wings were set with eyes; with eyes the wheels
Of beryl, and careering fires between ;
Over their hands a crystal firmament,
Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure
Amber, and colours of the showery arch.
He, in celestial panoply all arm'd
Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought,
Ascended; at his right hand victory
Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow
And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored;
And from about him fierce effusion roll'd
Of smoke and bickering flame and sparkles dire :
Attended with ten thousand thousand saints,
He onward came; far off his coming shone;
And twenty-thousand (I their number heard)
Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen;
He on the wings of Cherub robe sublime.
On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,
Illustrious far and wide; but by his own
First seen; them unexpected joy surprised,
When the great ensign of Messiah blazed
Aloft by Angels born, his sign in Heaven;
Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
His army, circumfused on either wing,
Under their head embodied all in one.
Before him power Divine his way prepared;
At his command the uprooted hills retired
Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went
Obsequious; heaven his wonted face renew'd,
And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled.
This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured,
And to rebellious fight rallied their powers,
Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.
In Heavenly spirits could such perverseness dwell?
But to convince the proud what signs avail,
Or wonders move the obdurate to relent?
They, harden'd more by what might most reclaim,
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
Took envy; and, aspiring to his heighth,
Stood re-embattled fierce, by force of fraud
Weening to prosper, and at length prevail
Against God and Messiah, or to fall
In universal ruin last; and now
To final battle drew, disdaining flight,
Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God
To all his host on either hand thus spake :
Stand still in bright array, ye saints; here stand,
Ye Angels arm'd; this day from battle rest: Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause; And as ye have received, 30 have ye done, Invincibly but of this cursed crew The punishment to other hand belongs; Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints : Number to this day's work is not ordain'd, Nor multitude; stand only, and behold God's indignation on these Godless pour'd By me; not you, but me they have despised, Yet envied; against me is all their rage, Because the Father, to whom in Heaven supreme Kingdom and power and glory appertains, Hath honor'd me, according to his will. Therefore to me their doom he hath assign'd; That they may have their wish, to try with me In battle which the stronger proves; they all, Or I alone against them; since by strength They measure all, of other excellencies Not emulous, nor care who them excels; Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe. So spake the Son, and into terror changed His countenance too severe to be beheld, And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
At once the four spread out their starry wings With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs Of his fierce chariot roll'd, as with the sound Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host. He on his impious foes right onward drove, Gloomy as night; under his burning wheels The stedfast empyrean shook throughout, All but the throne itself of God. Full soon Among them he arrived; in his right hand Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent Before him, such as in their souls infix'd Plagues: they, astonish'd, all resistance lost,
All courage; down their idle weapons dropp'd;
O'er shields and helms and helmed heads he rode
Of thrones and mighty seraphim prostrate,
That wish'd the mountains now might be again
Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.
Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged four
Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels
Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;
One spirit in them ruled; and every eye
Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire
Among the accursed, that wither'd all their strength,
And of their wonted vigour left them drain'd,
Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.
Yet half his strength he put not forth, but check'd
His thunder in mid volley; for he meant
Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:
The overthrown he raised; and, as a herd
Of goats or timorous flock together throng'd,
Drove them before him thunderstruck, pursued
With terrors, and with furies, to the bounds
And crystal wall of Heaven: which, opening wide
Roll'd inward and a spacious gap disclosed
Into the wasteful deep: the monstrous sight
Struck them with horror backward, but far worse
Urged them behind: headlong themselves they threw
Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath
Burn'd after them to the bottomless pit.
Hell heard the unsufferable noise, Hell saw
Heaven running from Heaven, and would have fled
Affrighted: but strict fate had cast too deep
Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.
Nine days they fell: Confounded Chaos roar'd,
And felt ten fold confusion in their fall
Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout
Encumber'd him with ruin: Hell at last
Yawing received them whole, and on them closed;
Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire
Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.
Disburden'd Heaven rejoiced, and soon repair'd
Her moral breach, returning whence it roll'd;
Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes,
Messiah his triumphal chariot turn'd:
To meet him all his saints, who silent stood
Eye-witnesses of his Almigty acts,
With jubilee advanced; and, as they went,
Shaded with branching palm, each order bright
Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,
Son Heir and Lord, to him dominion given,
Worthiest to reign: He, celebrated, rode
Triumphant through mid Heaven, into the courts
And temple of his mighty Father throned
On high; who into glory him received,
Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.
Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on Earth,
At thy request, and that thou mayest beware
By what is pass'd, to thee I have revealed
What might have else to human race been hid;
The discord which befel, and war in Heaven
Among the angelic powers, and the deep fall
Of those too high aspiring, who rebell'd
With Satan; he who envies how thy state,
Who now is plotting how he may seduce
Thee also from obedience, that, with him
Bereaved of happiness, thou mayest partake
His punishment, eternal misery;
Which would be all his solace and revenge,
As a despite done against the Most High,
Thee once to gain companion of his wo.
But listen not to his temptation's, warn
Thy weaker let it profit thee to have heard,
By terrible example the reward
Of disobedience; firm they might have stood,
Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.
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