What within Eden, or without, was done Before his memory; as one whose drouth Yet scarce allay'd still eyes the current stream, Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites, Proceeded thus to ask his Heavenly guest.
"Great things, and full of wonder in our ears, Far differing from this world, thou hast reveal'd, Divine interpreter! by favor sent
Down from the empyrean, to forwarn
Us timely of what might else have been our loss, Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach; For which to the infinitely good we owe Immortal thanks, and his admonishment Receive, with solemn purpose to observe Immutably his sov'reign will, the end
Of what we are. But since thou hast vouchsafed Gently, for our instruction, to impart
Things above Earthly thought, which yet concern'd Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seem'd Deign to descend now lower, and relate What may no less perhaps avail us known, How first began this Heaven which we behold Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd Innumerable; and this which yields or fills All space, the ambient air wide interfused Embracing round this florid Earth; what cause Moved the Creator, in his holy rest Through all eternity, so late to build In Chaos; and, the work begun, how soon Absolved; if unforbid thou mayst unfold What we, not to explore the secrets ask Of his eternal empire, but the more To magnify his works, the more we know. And the great light of day yet wants to run Much of his race though steep; suspense in Heaven, Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, And longer will delay to hear thee tell
His generation, and the rising birth
Of nature from the unapparant Deed: Or if the star of evening and the moon
Haste to thy audience, night with her will bring Silence; and sleep, listening to thee, will watch; Or we can bid his absence, till thy song End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine.
Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought: And thus the Godlike Angel answer'd mild: "This also thy request, with caution ask'd Obtain; though to recount Almighty works What words or tongue of seraph can suffice, Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?
Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
To glorify thy maker, and infer
Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
Thy hearing; such commission from above
I have received, to answer thy desire
Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope Things not reveal'd which the invisible King; Only omniscient hath suppress'd in night; To none communicable in Earth or Heaven Enough is left besides to search and know. But knowledge is as food, and needs no less Her temperance over appetite, to know In measure what the mind may well contain; Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind. Know then, that, after Lucifer from Heaven (So call him, brighter once amidst the host Of Angels than that star the stars among,) Fell with his flaming legions through the deep Into his place; and the great Son return'd Victorious with his saints, the Omnipotent Eternal Father from his throne beheld
Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake :
At least our envious foe hath fail'd, who thought All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
This inaccessible high strength, the seat Of deity supreme, us dispossess'd,
He trusted to have seized, into fraud
Dew many, whom their place knows here no more Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,
Their station; Heaven, yet populous, retains their Number sufficient to possess her realms
Though wide, and this high temple to frequent With ministeries due and solemn rites; But, lest his heart exalt him in the harm Already done, to have dispeopled Heaven, My damage foundly deeme'd I can repair That detriment, if such it be to lose Self-lost; and in a moment will create Another world, out of one man a race Of men innumerable, there to dwell, Not here: till, by degrees of merit raised, They open to themselves at length the way, Up hither, under long obedience tried ;
And Earth be changed to Heaven, aud Heaven to Earth One kingdom, joy and union without end. Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye powers of Heaven; And thou my Word, begotten son, by thee This I perform; speak thou, and be it done! My overshadowing spirit and might with thee Is end along; ride forth, and bid the deep Within appointed bounds be Heaven and Earth; Boundless the deep, because I am who fill Infinitude, nor vacuous the space, Though I, uncircumscribed myself, retire, And put not forth my goodness, which is free To act or not, necessity and chance Approach not me, and what I will is fate.
So spake the Almighty, and to what he spake His word, the filial Godhead, gave effect.
Immediate are the acts of God, more swift Than time or motion, but to human ears Cannot without process of speech be told, So told as Earthly notion can receive. Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven, When such was heard declared the Almighty's will: Glory they sung to the Most High, good will To future men, and in their dwelling peace; Glory to Him whose just avenging ire Had driven out the ungodly from his sight And the habitations of the just; to Him Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd Good out of evil to create; instead
Of Spirits malign, a better race to bring Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse His good to worlds and ages infinite.
So sang the hierarchies: meanwhile the Son On his great expedition now appear'd Girt with Omnipotence, with radiance crown'd Of Majesty Divine; sapience and love Immense, and all his Father in him shone. About his chariot numberless were pour'd Cherub, and Seraph, Potentates, and Thrones, And virtues, wing'd Spirits, and chariots wing'd From the armory of God; where stand of old Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodged Against a solemn day, harness'd at hand, Celestial equipage, and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them spirit lived, Attendant on their Lord: Heaven open'd wide Her ever during gates, harmonious sound, On golden hinges moving, to let forth The King of Glory, in his powerful word
And spirit coming to create new worlds.
On Heavenly ground they stood; and from the shore They view'd the vast immeasureable abyss
Outrageous as a sea, dark wastful, wild,
Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds
And surging waves; as mountains, to assault
Heaven's heighth, and with the centre mix the pole, Silence; ye troubled waves; and, thou deep, peace. Said then the Omnific Word; your discord end! Norstain'd; but on the wings of cherubim
Uplifted, in paternal glory rode
Far into chaos, and the world unborn; For chaos heard his voice: Him all his train Follow'd in bright procession, to behold Creation, and the wonders of his might. Then stain'd the fervid wheels, and in his hand He took the golden compasses, prepåred In God's eternal store; to circumscribe This universe, and all created things: One foot he centred, and the other turn'd Round through the vast profundity obscure; And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bound This be thy just circumference, O world! Thus God the Heaven created, thus the Earth Matter unform'd and void: darkness profound Cover'd the abyss, but on the watery calm His brooding wings the Spirits of God outspread, And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth Troughout the fluid mass; but downward purged The black tartareous cold infernal dregs, Adverse to life: then founded, then conglobed Like things to like; the rest to several place Disparted, and between spun out the air: And Earth self-balanced on her centre hung.
Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure,
Sprung from the deep; and from her native east, To journey through the aery gloom began,
Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the Sun Was not; she in a clondv tabernacle
Sojourn'd the while. God saw the light was good; And light from darkness by the hemisphere
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