Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the maft Of some great ammiral, were but a wand, He walk'd with to fupport uneasy steps Over the burning marle, not like those steps On Heaven's azure, and the torrid clime Smote on him fore besides, vaulted with fire: Nathless he so indur'd, till on the beach Of that inflamed fea he stood, and call'd His legions, Angel forms, who lay intranc'd
Thick as autumnal leaves that ftrow the brooks
In Vallombrofa, where th' Etrurian fhades
High over-arch'd imbow'r; or scatter'd fedge
Aflote, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coaft, whose waves o'erthrew
Bufiris and his Memphian chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
The fojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the fafe shore their floting carcafes And broken chariot wheels: so thick bestrown Abject and loft lay thefe, covering the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow deep Of Hell refounded. Princes, Potentates,
Warriors, the flow'r of Heav'n, once your's, now loft, If fuch astonishment as this can seise
Eternal Spi'rits; or have ye chos'n this place After the toil of battel to repofe
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the vales of Heaven? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
To' adore the conqueror? who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood
With scatter'd arms and enfigns, till anon
His swift purfuers from Heav'n gates difcern
Th' advantage, and defcending tread us down Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abash'd, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch
On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and beftir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their general's voice they foon obey'd Innumerable. As when the potent rod Of Amram's fon, in Egypt's evil day, Wav'd round the coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud Of locufts, warping on the eastern wind, That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nile : So numberless were those bad Angels feen Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell "Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding fires; Till, as a signal giv'n, th' up-lifted spear Of their great Sultan waving to direct Their course, in even balance down they light On the firm brimftone, and fill all the plain; A multitude, like which the populous north Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous fons Came like a deluge on the fouth, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan fands.
Forthwith from every squadron and each band The heads and leaders thither hafte where stood Their great commander; Godlike shapes and forms Excelling human, princely Dignities,
And Pow'rs that erft in Heaven fat on thrones; 360 Though of their names in heav'nly records now Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd
By their rebellion from the books of life.
Nor had they yet among the fons of Eve Got them new names, till wand'ring o'er the earth, Through God's high fufferance for the tri'al of man, By falfities and lies the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forfake God their Creator, and th' invisible Glory of him that made them to transform Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd With gay religions full of pomp and gold, And Devils to adore for Deities;
Then were they known to men by various names, And various idols through the Heathen world. Say, Mufe, their names then known, who first, who last, Rous'd from the flumber, on that fiery couch, At their great emp'ror's call, as next in worth Came fingly where he ftood on the bare ftrand, While the promifcuous croud ftood yet aloof. The chief were those who from the pit of Hell Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix VOL. X.
Their feats long after next the feat of God, Their altars by his altar, Gods ador'd Among the nations round, and durft abide Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd Within his fanctuary itself their fhrines, Abominations; and with cursed things His holy rites and folemn feafts profan'd, And with their darkness durft affront his light. First Moloch, horrid king, befmear'd with blood Of human facrifice, and parents tears,
Though for the noife of drums and timbrels loud Their childrens cries unheard, that pafs'd through fire To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipt in Rabba and her watry plain, In Argob and in Bafan, to the stream Of utmoft Arnon. Nor content with fuch Audacious neighbourhood, the wifeft heart Of Solomon he led by fraud to build His temple right against the temple' of God. On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove The pleasant valley' of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the type of Hell.
Next Chemos, th' obfcene dread of Moab's fons,
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
Of fouthmoft Abarim; in Hefebon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, And Eleälé to the Asphaltic pool.
Peor his other name, when he entic'd
Ifrael in Sittim on their march from Nile
To do him wanton rites, which coft them woe.
Yet thence his luftful orgies he inlarg'd
Ev'n to that hill of fcandal, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide, luft hard by hate;
Till good Jofiah drove them thence to Hell.
With these came they, who from the bordʼring flood Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names Of Baälim and Afhtaroth, those male,
These feminine. For Spirits when they please Can either fex affume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their effence pure, Not ty'd or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose
Dilated or condens'd, bright or obfcure,
Can execute their aery purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
For those the race of Ifrael oft forfook
Their living ftrength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
To beftial Gods; for which their heads as low Bow'd down in battel, funk before the spear Of despicable foes. With thefe in troop Came Aftoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Aftarte, queen of Heav'n, with crescent horns; To whose bright image nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs, In Sion also not unfung, where stood.
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