Minims of nature: some of serpent-kind,
Wondrous in length and corpulence, involved Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept The parsimonious emmet, provident
Of future; in small room large heart inclosed; Pattern of just equality perhaps
Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes
Of commonalty: swarming next appeared
The female bee, that feeds her husband drone
Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
With honey stored: the rest are numberless,
And thou their natures knowest, and gavest them names, Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown
The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field, Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes And hairy mane terrific, though to thee Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
"Now heaven in her glory shone, and rolled Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand First wheeled their course: earth in her rich attire Consummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth,
By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walked, Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remained: There wanted yet the master-work, the end Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone And brute as other creatures, but endued With sanctity of reason, might erect His stature, and upright with front serene Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence Magnanimous to correspond with heaven,
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good Descends; thither with heart, and voice, and eyes, Directed in devotion, to adore
And worship God Supreme, who made him chief Of all his works: therefore the Omnipotent
Eternal Father (for where is not he
Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake: "Let us make now man in our image, man
In our similitude, and let them rule
Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
Beast of the field, and over all the earth,
And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.' This said, he formed thee, Adam, thee, O man, Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed The breath of life; in his own image he
Created thee, in the image of God
Express; and thou becamest a living soul. Male he created thee; but thy consort
Female, for race; then blessed mankind, and said, 'Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,
And every living thing that moves on the earth.' Wherever thus created, for no place
Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou knowest, He brought thee into this delicious grove, This garden, planted with the trees of God, Delectable both to behold and taste;
And freely all their pleasant fruit for food Gave thee: all sorts are here that all the earth yields, Variety without end; but of the tree,
Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil, Thou mayest not; in the day thou eatest, thou diest: Death is the penalty imposed; beware,
And govern well thy appetite; lest sin Surprise thee, and her black attendant death. "Here finished he, and all that he had made Viewed, and behold all was entirely good; So even and morn accomplished the sixth day: Yet not till the Creator, from his work Desisting, though unwearied, up returned, Up to the heaven of heavens, his high abode ; Thence to behold this new-created world, The addition of his empire, how it showed In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair, Answering his great idea. Up he rode, Followed with acclamation, and the sound Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air
Resounded (thou rememberest, for thou heardest), The heavens and all the constellations rung, The planets in their station listening stood, While the bright pomp ascended jubilant. 'Open, ye everlasting gates!' they sung, 'Open, ye heavens! your living doors; let in The great Creator from his work returned Magnificent, his six days' work, a world; Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign To visit oft the dwellings of just men, Delighted; and with frequent intercourse
Thither will send his winged messengers On errands of supernal grace.' So sung The glorious train ascending: he through heaven, That opened wide her blazing portals, led To God's eternal house direct the way; A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold, And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear Seen in the galaxy, that milky way
Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest
Powdered with stars. And now on earth the seventh
Evening arose in Eden, for the sun
Was set, and twilight from the east came on, Forerunning night; when at the holy mount Of heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne Of Godhead fixed for ever firm and sure, The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down With his great Father: for he also went Invisible, yet stayed (such privilege
Hath Omnipresence), and the work ordained, Author and End of all things; and, from work Now resting, blessed and hallowed the seventh day, As resting on that day from all his work. But not in silence holy kept: the harp Had work and rested not; the solemn pipe, And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop, All sounds on fret by string or golden wire, Tempered soft tunings, intermixed with voice Choral or unison of incense clouds,
Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount. Creation and the six days' acts they sung: 'Great are thy works, Jehovah! infinite
Thy power! what thought can measure thee, or tongue Relate thee? Greater now in thy return
Than from the giant angels: thee that day Thy thunders magnified; but to create Is greater than created to destroy.
Who can impair thee, Mighty King, or bound Thy empire? easily the proud attempt Of spirits apostate, and their counsels vain, Thou hast repelled; 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 createst 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 immense, with stars Numerous, and every star perhaps a world Of destined habitation; but thou knowest Their seasons: among these the seat of men, Earth with her nether ocean circumfused, Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy men, And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanced! Created in his image there to dwell
And worship him; and in reward to rule Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air, And multiply a race of worshippers Holy and just; thrice happy, if they know Their happiness, and persevere upright!'
"So sung they, and the empyréan rung With halleluiahs: thus was the sabbath kept.- And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked How first this world and face of things began, And what before thy memory was done From the beginning; that posterity,
Informed by thee, might know: if else thou seekest Aught not surpassing human measure, say."
Adam inquires concerning celestial motions; is doubtfully answered, and exhorted to search rather things more worthy of knowledge: Adam assents; and still desirous to detain Raphael, relates to him what he remembered since his own creation; his placing in Paradise; his talk with God concerning solitude and fit society; his first meeting and nuptials with Eve: his discourse with the angel thereupon; who, after admonitions repeated, departs.
THE angel ended, and in Adam's ear
So charming left his voice, that he a while
Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear; Then, as new-waked, thus gratefully replied: "What thanks sufficient, or what recompense Equal, have I to render thee, divine Historian, who thus largely hast allayed The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed 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 resolve. When I behold this goodly frame, this world, Of heaven and earth consisting and compute Their magnitudes; this earth a spot, a grain, An atom, with the firmament compared And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll Spaces incomprehensible (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 besides; reasoning, I oft admire How nature wise and frugal could commit Such disproportions, with superfluous hand So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater so manifold, to this one use, For aught appears, and on their orbs impose
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