Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coaft, whofe waves o'erthrew.
Abject and loft lay these, cov'ring the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow deep Of hell refounded. Princes, potentates,
Warriours, the flow'r of heav'n, once yours, now loft,.
If fuch aftonishment as this can feize
Eternal fpi'rits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toil of battle to repofe
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find To flumber here, as in the vales of heaven? Or in this abject pofture have ye fworn To' adore the conqueror? who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood. With scatter'd arms and enfigns, till anom His fwift 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 abafh'd, and up they fprung: 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 fignal giv'n, th' uplifted fpear Of their great Sultan waving to direct Their courfe, in even balance down they light On the firm brimftrone, and fill all the plain; A multitude, like which the populous north Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pafs 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 ftood Their great commander; godlike fhapes and forms Excelling human, princely dignities,
And pow'rs that erft in heaven fat on thrones; 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 trial of man, By falfities and lies the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forfake God their Creator, and th' invifible
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 Rous'd from the flumber, on that fiery couch, [laft, At their great emperor's call, as next in worth Came fingly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promifcuous croud ftood yet aloof. The chief were those who from the pit of hell Roaming to feek their prey on earth, durst fix 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 curfed things His holy rites and folemn feafts profan'd And with their darkness durft affront his light.. First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'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 Worshipp'd in Rabba and her watry plain, In Argob and in Bafon, to the stream.
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with fuch Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest 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 pleafant 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 Hafebon. And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flow'ry dale of Sibma, clad with vines, And Eleälé, to th' Afphaltic 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 enlarg'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 bord'ring flood Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names Of Baälim and Afhtaroth; those male,
Thefe feminine. For fpirits when they pleafe Can either fex affume, or both; fo foft
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 chufe Dilated or condens'd, bright or obscure,
Can execute their airy purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
For thofe 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 battle, funk before the spear Of defpicable foes. With these in troop Came Aftoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Aftarte, queen of heav'n, with crescent horns; To whofe bright image nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs; In Sion alfo not unfung, where ftood Her temple on th' offenfive mountain, built By that uxorious king, whofe heart, tho' large,
Beguil'd by fair idolatreffes, fell
To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, Whofe annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damfels, to lament his fate. In amorous ditties all a fummer's day; While fmooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the fea, fuppos'd with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale Infected Sion's daughters with like heat; Whofe wanton paffions in the facred porch Ezekiel faw, when, by the vifion led, His eye furvey'd the dark idolatries Of alienated Judah. Next came one,
Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive ark Maim'd his brute image, head and hands lopt off In his own temple, on the grunfel edge,
Where he fell flat, and fham'd his worshippers: Dagon his name, fea-monster, upward man
And downward fish: yet had his temple high Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded thro' the coaft
Of Palestine, in Gath, and Afcalon,
And Accaron, and Gaza's frontier bounds.
Him follow'd Rimmon, whofe delighful feat Was fair Damafcus, on the fertile banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid ftreams. He also 'against the house of God was bold: A leper once he loft, and gain'd`a king, Ahaz, his fottish conqu'ror, whom he drew God's altar to difparage, and difplace, For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn His odious offerings, and adore the gods Whom he had vanquish'd. After these appear'd A crew, who, under names of old renown,
Ofiris, Ifis, Orus, and their train,
With monstrous fhapes and forceries abus'd
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