Of heav'n's high-feated top, th' imperial throne 585 Of Godhead, fix'd for ever firm and fure, The Filial Pow'r arriv'd, and fat him down With his great Father; for he also went Invisible, yet stay'd, (such privilege
Hath Omniprefence), and the work, ordain'd, 590 Author and end of all things; and from work Now resting, bless'd and hallow'd the seventh day, As resting on that day from all his work: But not in filence holy kept; the harp Had work, and rested not; the folemn pipe, And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop, All founds on fret by string or golden wire Temper'd soft tunings, intermix'd with voice Choral or unifon: of incenfe clouds, Fuming from golden cenfers, hid the mount. Creation and the fix days acts they sung, Great are thy works, Jehovah! infinite Thypow'r! what thought can measure thee, or tongue Relate thee! greater now in thy return Than from the giant-angels: thee that day Thy thunders magnify'd; but to create Is greater than created to destroy.
Who can impair thee, mighty King, or bound Thy empire? easily the proud attempt Of spi'rits apoftate, and their counsels vain, Thou haft repell'd, while impiously they thought Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks
To lessen thee, against his purpose serves
To manifest the more thy might: his evil Thou usest, and from thence creat'st more good. Witness this new-made world, another heaven, From heaven-gate not far, founded in view On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;
Of amplitude almost immenfe, with stars Numerous, and every star perhaps a world Of destin'd habitation; but thou know'st Their seasons: among these the feat of men, Earth, with her nether ocean circumfus'd, Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy men, And fons of inen, whom God hath thus advanc'd,
Created in his image, there to dwell
And worship him; and in reward to rule Over his works, on earth, in fea, or air, And multiply a race of worthippers, Holy and just: thrice happy, if they know Their happiness, and persevere upright.
So fung they, and the empyréan rung With hallelujahs: thus was Sabbath kept. And thy request think now fulfill'd, that ask'd 635 How first this world and face of things began,
And what before thy memory was done
From the beginning, that posterity,
Inform'd by thee, might know; if else thou seek'st
Ought, not furpaffing human measure, say.
Adam inquires concerning celestial motions; is doubt. fully answered, and exhorted to search rather things more worthy of knowledge: Adam affents; and, ftill defirous to detain Raphael, relates to him what he remembered fince his own creation, his placing in Paradise, his talk with God concerning folitude and fit fociety, bis first meeting and nuptials with Eve: his discourse with the angel thereupon, who, after admonitions repeated, departs.
HF angel ended, and in Adam's ear So charming left his voice, that he a while Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to hear; Then, as new wak'd, thus gratefully reply'd. What thanks sufficient, or what recompenfe Equal have I to render thee, divine Historian, who thus largely hast allay'd The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsaf'd This friendly condescension to relate Things else by me unsearchable, now heard With wonder, but delight, and, as is due, With glory attributed to the high
Creator? Something yet of doubt remains, Which only thy solution can refolve.
When I behold this goodly frame, this world 15 Of heav'n and earth confisting, and compute Their magnitudes, this earth a spot, a grain, An atom, with the firmament compar'd, And all her number'd stars, that feem to roll Spaces incomprehenfible, (for such Their distance argues, and their swift return Diurnal,) merely to officiate light
Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot, One day and night, in all their vast survey
Useless befides; reasoning I oft admire, How Nature wife and frugal could commit Such difproportions, with fuperfluous hand
So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater fo manifold, to this one ufe,
For ought appears, and on their orbs impose Such restless revolution day by day Repeated, while the fedentary earth, That better might with far less compass move, Serv'd by more noble than herself, attains Her end without least motion, and receives, As tribute, such a sumless journey brought Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light; Speed, to defcribe whose swiftness number fails.
So spake our fire, and by his count'nance feem'd Ent'ring on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve 40 Perceiving where she sat retir'd in fight, With lowliness majestic from her feat, And grace that won who faw to with her stay, Rofe, and went forth among her fruits and flowers, To visit how they profper'd, bud and bloom, Her nursery; they at her coming sprung, And touch'd by her fair tendence gladlier grew. Yet went the not, as not with such discourse
Delighted, or not capable her ear
Of what was high: fuch pleasure she referv'd, 50
Adam relating, she sole auditress; Her husband the relator the preferr'd
Before the angel, and of him to ask
Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix
Grateful digrefsions, and folve high dispute With conjugal caresses; from his lip
Not words alone pleas'd her. O when meet now Such pairs, in love and mutual honour join'd?
With goddess-like demeanor forth the went,
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