The waters from the waters: and God made
The firmament, expanfe of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffus'd
In circuit to the uttermoft convex
Of this great round: partition firm and fure,
The waters underneath from those above
Dividing for as earth, fo he the world
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
Chryftallin ocean, and the loud mifrule
Of Chaos far remov'd, left fierce extremes
Contiguous might diftemper the whole frame:
And Heav'n he nam'd the firmament: So even
And morning chorus fung the fecond day.
The earth was form'd, but in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon immature involv'd,
Appear'd not over all the face of earth
Main ocean flow'd, not idle, but with warm
Prolific humor foft'ning all her globe,
Fermented the great mother to conceive,
Satiate with genial moisture, when God faid,
Be gather'd now ye waters under Heaven
Into one place, and let dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Into the clouds, their tops afcend the sky:
So high as heav'd the tumid hills, fo low
Down funk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters: thither they
Hafted with glad precipitance, uproll'd
As drops on duft conglobing from the dry;
Part rife in cryftal wall, or ridge direct,
For hafte; fuch flight the great command impress'd
On the swift floods: as armies at the call
Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)
Troop to their standard, fo the watry throng,
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
If fteep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,
Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill,
But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With ferpent error wand'ring, found their way,
And on the washy oofe deep channels wore;
Eafy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,
All but within those banks, where rivers now
Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.
The dry land, earth, and the great receptacle
Of congregated waters he call'd feas:
And saw that it was good, and said, Let th' earth
Put forth the verdant grafs, herb yielding feed,
And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind,
Whose feed is in herself upon the earth.
He scarce had faid, when the bare earth, till then
Defert and bare, unfightly, unadorn'd,
Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad 315
Her univerfal face with pleafant green,
Then herbs of every leaf, that fudden flow'r'd
Opening their various colors, and made gay
Her bofom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown,
Forth florish'd thick the cluftring vine, forth crept 320
The smelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
Imbattel'd in her field, and th' humble fhrub,
And bush with frizled hair implicit : laft
Rofe as in dance the ftately trees, and fpread
Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemm'd
Their bloffoms: with high woods the hills were crown'd,
With tufts the valleys, and each fountain fide,
With borders long the rivers: that earth now
Seem'd like to Heav'n, a feat where Gods might dwell,
Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
Her facred fhades though God had yet not rain'd
Upon the earth, and man to till the ground
None was, but from the earth a dewy mist
Went up and water'd all the ground, and each
Plant of the field, which ere it was in th' earth
God made, and every herb, before it grew
On the green stem; God faw that it was good:
So ev❜n and morn recorded the third day.
Again th' Almighty fpake, Let there be lights
High in th' expanfe of Heaven, to divide
The day from night; and let them be for figns,
For feafons, and for days, and circling years,
And let them be for lights as I ordain
Their office in the firmament of Heaven
To give light on the earth; and it was fo.
And God made two great lights, great for their use
To Man, the greater to have rule by day,
The lefs by night altern; and made the stars,
And fet them in the firmament of Heaven
To illuminate the earth, and rule the day
In their viciffitude, and ru'e the night,
And light from darkness to divide. God faw,
Surveying his great work, that it was good:
For of celeftial bodies firft the fun
A mighty sphere he fram'd, unlightsome first,
Though of ethereal mold: then form'd the moon
Globofe, and every magnitude of stars,.
And fow'd with stars the Heav'n thick as a field:
Of light by far the greater part he took,
Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and plac'd 360
In the fun's orb, made porous to receive
And drink the liquid light, firm to retain
Her gather'd beams, great palace now of light.
Hither as to their fountain other stars
Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,
And hence the morning planet gilds her horns;
By tincture or reflection they augment
Their fmall peculiar, though from human fight
So far remote, with diminution feen.
First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,
Regent of day, and all th' horizon round
Invested with bright rays, jocond to run
His longitude through Heav'n's high road; the gray Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd
Shedding fweet influence: less bright the moon 375
But oppofit in level'd weft was fet
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light
From him, for other light she needed none
In that aspéct, and still that distance keeps
Till night, then in the east her turn she shines,
Revolv'd on Heav'n's great axle, and her reign
With thousand leffer lights dividual holds,
With thoufand thousand ftars, that then appear'd
Spangling the hemifphere: then first adorn'd
With their bright luminaries that set and rose,
Glad evening and glad morn crown'd the fourth day.
And God faid, Let the waters generate
Reptil with spawn abundant, living foul:
And let fowl fly above the earth, with wings
Display'd on the' open firmament of Heaven.
And God created the great whales, and each
Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously
The waters generated by their kinds,
And every bird of wing after his kind;
And faw that it was good, and blefs'd them, faying, Be fruitful, multiply, and in the feas
And lakes and running ftreams the waters fill;
And let the fowl be multiply'd, on th' earth.
Forthwith the founds and feas, each creek and bay
With fry innumerable fwarm, and fhoals
Of fish that with their fins and fhining scales
Glide under the green wave, in fculls that oft
Bank the mid fea: part fingle or with mate
Graze the fea weed their pasture, and through groves
Of coral ftray, or fporting with quick glance
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Show to the fun their wav'd coats dropt with gold,
Or in their pearly fhells at eafe, attend
Moist nutriment, or under rocks their food
In jointed armour watch: on smooth the feal,
And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk
Wallowing unwieldy', enormous in their gate
Tempeft the ocean: there leviathan,
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