What words or tongue of Seraph can fuffice, Or heart of man fuffice to comprehend? Yet what thou canst attain, which best may To glorify the maker, and infer
Thee also happier, fhall not be withheld Thy hearing, fuch commiffion from above I have receiv'd, to answer thy desire Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abftain To afk, nor let thine own invention hope Things not reveal'd, which th' invisible King, Only omniscient, hath fupprefs'd in night, To none communicable in Earth or Heaven: Enough is left befides to fearch and know. But knowledge is as food, and needs no less Her temp'rance over appetite, to know In measure what the mind may well contain; Oppreffes elfe with furfeit, and foon 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, th' omnipotent Eternal Father from his throne beheld
Their multitude, and to his Son thus fpake.
At least our envious foe hath fail'd, who thought
All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
This inacceffible high strength, the feat
Of deity fupreme, us difpoffefs'd,
He trusted to have feiz'd, and into fraud
Drew many, whom their place knows here no more; Yet far the greater part have kept, I fee
Already done, to have difpeopled Heav'n, My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair That detriment, if fuch it be to lose Self-loft, 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 rais'd They open to themselves at length the way Up hither, under long obedience try'd,
And Earth be chang'd to Heav'n, and Heav'n to Earth, One kingdom, joy and union without end.
Mean while inhabit lax, ye Pow'rs of Heaven. And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee This I perform, fpeak thou, and be it done: My overshadowing Spi'rit and might with thee. I send along; ride forth, and bid the deep Within appointed bounds be Heav'n and Earth, Boundless the deep, because I am who fill Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.
Approach not me, and what I will is fate.
So fpake th' 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 procéfs of speech be told, So told as earthly notion can receive.
Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven,
When fuch was heard declar'd th' Almighty's will;
Glory they fung to the most High, good-will
To future men, and in their dwellings peace: Glory to him, whofe juft avenging ire
Had driven out th' ungodly from his fight And th' habitations of the just; to him Glory and praife, whofe 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 diffufe
His good to worlds and ages infinite.
So fang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son On his great expedition now appear'd,
Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd Of majesty divine; fapience and love
Immenfe, and all his Father in him fhone. About his chariot numberlefs were pour'd Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones, And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots wing'd From th' armoury of God, where stand of old Myriads between two brazen mountains lodg'd Against a folemn day, harness'd at hand, P 3
Celestial equipage; and now came forth
Spontaneous, for within them Spirit liv'd, Attendant on their Lord: Heav'n open'd wide Her ever during gates, harmonious found On golden hinges moving, to let forth The King of Glory in his pow'rful Word And Spirit coming to create new worlds.
On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore 210 They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild, Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds And furging waves, as mountains, to affault Heav'n's highth, and with the center mix the pole. Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace, Said then th' omnific Word, your discord end: Nor ftay'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 proceffion to behold Creation, and the wonders of his might. 'Then ftay'd the fervid wheels, and in his hand He took the golden compaffes, prepar'd
In God's eternal ftore, to circumfcribe This univerfe, and all created things: One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd Round through the vaft profundity obfcure,
And faid, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, 230 This be thy juft circumference, O world.
Thus God the Heav'n created, thus the Earth,
Matter unform'd and void: Darkness profound Cover'd th' abyss: but on the watry calm
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outfpread, 235 And vital virtue' infus'd, and vital warmth Throughout the fluid mass, but downward purg'd The black tartareous cold infernal dregs Adverse to life: then founded, then conglob'd Like things to like, the rest to several place Difparted, and between spun out the air, And Earth felf-balanc'd on her center hung. Let there be light, faid God, and forthwith light Ethereal, firft of things, quinteffence pure Sprung from the deep, and from her native east To journey through the acry gloom began, Spher'd in a radiant cloud, for yet the fun Was not; fhe in a cloudy tabernacle
Sojourn'd the while. God faw the light was good; And light from darkness by the hemifphere Divided: light the day, and darkness night
He nam'd. Thus was the first day ev'n and morn: Nor paft uncelebrated, nor unfung
By the celestial quires, when orient light Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;
Birth-day of Heav'n and Earth; with joy and fhout The hollow univerfal orb they fill'd,
And touch'd their golden harps, and hymning prais'd God and his works, Creator him they fung,
Both when first evening was, and when first morn, 260 Again, God faid, let there be firmament
Amid the waters, and let it divide
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