What we, not to explore the fecrets 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 rifing birth Of nature from the unapparent deep :
Or if the ftar of evening and the moon
Haste to thy audience, night with her will bring 105 Silence, and fleep list'ning to thee will watch; Or we can bid his abfence, till thy fong End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine. Thus Adam his illuftrious gueft befought: And thus the godlike angel anfwer'd mild. This alfo thy request with caution afk'd Obtain: though to recount almighty works What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice, Or heart of man fuffice to comprehend?
Yet what thou canft attain, which beft may ferve 115 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 defire Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain To afk, nor let thine own inventions hope Things not reveal'd, which th' invifible King, Only omniscient, hath fupprefs'd in night, To none communicable in earth or heaven : Enough is left befides to search and know. But knowledge is as food, and needs no lefs 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 hoft Of angels, than that ftar the stars among) Fell with his flaming legions through the deep Into his place, and the great Son return'd Victorious with his faints, the 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 whofe aid
This inacceffible high ftrength, the feat Of Deity fupreme, us difpoffefs'd,
He trufted to have feiz'd, and into fraud
Drew many, whom their place here knows no more :
Yet far the greater part have kept, I fee,
Already done, to have difpeopled heaven, My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair That detriment, if fuch it be, to lofe 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 themfelves at length the way Up hither, under long obedience try'd ;
And earth be chang'd to heaven, and 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; fpeak thou, and be it done:
My overshadowing Spi'rit and might with thee 165 I fend 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 uncircumfcrib'd myself retire, And put not forth my goodness, which is free To act or not, neceffity and chance 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 fwift Than time or motion; but to human ears Cannot without procéfs of fpeech 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, whose just avenging ire
Had driv'n out th' ungodly from his fight, And th' habitations of the juft; to him Glory and praife, whose wisdom had ordain'd Good out of evil to create, instead
Of fpi'rits malign a better race to bring Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse His good to worlds and
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 fpi'rits, and chariots wing'd
From th' armoury of God; where stand of old Myriads between two brazen mountains lodge'd Against a folemn day, harnefs'd at hand, Celestial equipage; and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them fpirit liv'd, Attendant on their Lord: heaven open'd wide Her ever-during gates, harmonious found 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 ftood, and from the fhore They view'd the vaft immeafurable abyfs, Outrageous as a fea, dark, wasteful, wild, Up from the bottom turn'd by furieus winds, And furging waves, as mountains, to affault Heaven's height, and with the centre mix the pole. Silence, ye troubled waves! and thou deep, peace! Said then th' emnific 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 store, to circumfcribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd Round thro' the vast profundity obfcure,
And faid, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, 230 This be thy juft circumference, O world.
Thus God the heaven created, thus the earth, Matter unform'd and void: darknefs profound Cover'd th' abyfs: but on the watry calm Y
His brooding wings the Spi'rit of God outfpread, 235 And vital virtue' infus'd, and vital warmth Throughout the fluid mafs; but downward purge'd The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs, Adverfe to life: then founded, then conglob'd Like things to like, the reft to feveral place Difparted, and between fpun out the air, And earth felf-balanc'd on her centre 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 245 To journey through the airy 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 hemisphere Divided light the day, and darkness night He nam'd. Thus was the first day ev'n and morn : Nor past uncelebrated, nor unfung
By the celestial quires, when orient light Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;
Birth-day of heaven 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 ev'ning was, and when first morn.
Again, God faid, Let there be firmament
Amid the waters, and let it divide
The waters from the waters: and God made The firmament, expanfe of liquid, pure,
Tranfparent, 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
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