Tow'ards either throne they bow, and to the ground With folemn adoration down they sast Their crowns, inwove with amarant and gold;
Immortal amarant, a flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,
Began to bloom; but foon for man's offence To heav'n remov'd, where first it grew, there grows, And flowers aloft shading the fount of life,
And where the riv'r of bliss through midst of heav'n
Rolls o'er Elyfian flow'rs her amber stream :
With these, that never fade, the spirits elect Bind their refplendent locks, inwreath'd with beams, Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
Pavement, that like a fea of jafper shone,
Impurpled with celestial roses smil'd.. Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took: Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their fide Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet Of charming fymphony they introduce Their facred fong, and waken raptures high; No voice exempt, no voice but well could join 370 Melodious part, fuch concord is in heaven.
Thee, Father, first they fung omnipotent, Immutable, immortal, infinite, Eternal King; thee Author of all being, Fountain of light, thyfelf invifible Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt'st Thron'd inaccessible; but when thou shad'st The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine, Dark with excefive bright thy skirts appear; Yet dazzle heaven, that brightest seraphim Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes. Thee next they fang of all creation first,
Begotten Son, divine fimilitude,
In whose confpicuous-count'nance, without cloud 385
Made vifible, th' almighty Father shines, Whom else no creature can behold; on thee Impress'd th' effulgence of his glory' abides, Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests.
He heav'n of heav'ns, and all the powers therein, 390 By thee created; and by thee threw down Th' afpiring dominations: thou that day Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare, Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook Heav'n's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks 395 Thou drov'it of warring angels disarray'd. Back from pursuit thy pow'rs with loud acclaim Thee only' extoll'd, Son of thy Father's might, To execute fierce vengeance on his foes.
Not so on man: him through their malice fall'n, 400 Father of mercy' and grace, thou didst not doom So strictly, but much more to pity' incline: No fooner did thy dear and only Son Perceive thee purpos'd not to doom frail man So strialy, but much more to pity' inclin'd, He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife Of mercy' and justice in thy face difcern'd,
Regardless of the bliss wherein he fat
Second to thee, offer'd himself to die For man's offence. O unexampled love! Love no where to be found less than divine! Hail Son of God, Saviour of men! thy name Shall be the copious matter of my fong Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin. Thus they in heav'n, above the starry sphere, Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent. Mean while upon the firm opacous globe Of this round world, whose first convex divides The luminous inferior orbs inclos'd
From Chaos, and th' inroad of darkness old.
Satan alighted walks: a globe far off It seem'd, now seems a boundless continent Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of night Starless expos'd, and ever-threat'ning storms Of Chaos blust'ring round, inclement sky; Save on that fide which from the wall of heav'n, Though distant far, some small reflection gains Of glimm'ring air, less vex'd with tempest loud. Here walk'd the fiend at large in spacious field: 430 As when a vulture on Imaus bred,
Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, Diflodging from a region scarce of prey,
To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids, On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs
Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;
But in his way lights on the barren plains
Of Sericana, where Chineses drive
With fails and wind their cany wagons light. So on this windy fea of land, the fiend Walk'd up and down alone, bent on his prey; Alone, for other creature in this place, Living or lifeless, to be found was none; None yet, but store hereafter from the earth Up hither like aërial vapours flew Of all things tranfitory' and vain, when fin With vanity had fill'd the works of men; Both all things vain, and all who in vain things Built their fond hopes of glory' or lasting fame, Or happiness in this or th' ether life; All who have their reward on earth, the fruits Of painful fuperftition and blind zeal, Nought feeking but the praise of men, here find Fit retribution, empty as their deeds; All th' unaccomplish'd works of Nature's hand, 455
Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mix'd, Diffolv'd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
Till final diffolution, wander here; Not in the neighb'ring moon, as fome have dream'd;.
Those argent fields more likely habitants, Tranflated faints, or middle spirits hold Betwixt th' angelical and human kind: Hither of ill-join'd fons and daughters born First from the ancient world those giants came With many a vain exploit, tho' then renown'd: 465 The builders next of Babel on the plain
Of Sennaar, and still with vain design
New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build : Others came fingle; he who to be deem'd
A god, leap'd fondly into Ætna flames, Empedocles; and he who to enjoy Plato's Elyfium, leap'd into the sea, Cleombrotus; and many more too long, Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friers White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery. 475 Here pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to seek In Golgotha him dead, who lives in heav'n; And they who, to be fure of Paradise, Dying put on the weeds of Dominic, Or in Francifcan think to pass difguis'd; They pass the planets seven, and pass the fix'd, And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs
The trepidation talk'd, and that first mov'd; And now Saint Peter at heav'n's wicket seems
To wait them with his keys, and now at foot Of heav'n's afcent they lift their feet, when lo A violent cross wind from either coaft
Blows them tranverse, ten thousand leagues awry
Into the devious air; then might ye fee
Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tost 490 And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads,
Indulgences, difpenfes, pardons, bulls,
The sport of winds: all these upwhirl'd aloft
Fly o'er the backfide of the world far off Into a limbo large and broad, fince call'd The Paradife of Fools, to few unknown Long after, now unpeopled and untrod. All this dark globe the fiend found as he pass'd; And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam Of dawning light turn'd thitherward in haste 500 His travell'd steps: far distant he descries, Afcending by degrees magnificent.. Up to the wall of heav'n, a structure high; At top whereof, but far more rich, appear'd The work as of a kingly palace-gate, With frontispiece of diamond and gold Embellish'd; thick with sparkling orient gems The portal shone, inimitable on earth By model, or by fhading pencil drawn. The stairs were fuch as whereon Jacob faw Angels afcending and defcending, bands Of guardians bright, when he from Efau fled To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz Dreaming by night under the open sky, And waking cry'd, This is the gate of heav'n. Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood. There always, but drawn up to heav'n sometimes Viewless; and underneath a bright fea flow'd Of jafper, or of liquid pearl, whereon Who after came from earth failing arriv'd, Wafted by angels, or flew o'er the lake Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds. The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
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The fiend by easy' afcent, or aggravate His fad exclufion from the doors of bliss: Direct against which open'd from beneath, Just o'er the blissful feat of Paradise, A paffage down to the earth, a passage wide, Wider by far than that of after-times
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