Thus Adam his illuftrious guest befought; And thus the Godlike Angel anfwer'd mild. This alfo thy requeft with caution afk'd Obtain: though to recount Almighty works What words or tongue of Seraph can fuffice, Or heart of man fuffice to comprehend?
Yet what thou can't attain, which beft may ferve 115 To glorify the Maker, and infer
Thee alfo 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 omnifcient, hath fupprefs'd in night,
To none communicate in Earth or Heav'n:
Enough is left befides to fearch and know.
But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
Her temp❜rance over appetite, to know
In measure what the mind may well contain;
Oppreffes elfe with furfeit, and foon turns
Wifdom to folly', as nourishment to wind.
Know then, that after Lucifer from Heav'n
(So call him, brighter once amidst the host
Of Angels, than that far the ftars among)
Fell with his flaming legions through the deep
Into his place, and the great Son return'd
Victorious with his faints, th' Omnipotent
Eternal Father from his throne beheld
Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake.
At laft 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 trusted to have feiz'd, and into fraud
Drew many, whom their place knows here no more:
Yet far the greater part have kept, I fee,
Their ftation: Heav'n yet populous retains
Number fufficient to poffefs her realms
Though wide, and this high temple to frequent
With minifteries due and folemn rites;
But left his heart exalt him in the harm
Already done, to have difpeopled heav'n,
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 themselves at length the way
Up hither, under long obedience try'd;
And earth be chang'd to Heav'n, and Heav'n to Earth
One kingdom, joy and union without end.
Mean while inhabit lax, ye Pow'rs of Heav'n;
And thou my word, begotten Son, by thee
This I perform: fpeak thou, and be it done;
My overshadowing Sp'rit and might with thee
Ifend along; ride forth, and bid the deep
Within appointed bounds be heav'n 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 Gov, more fwift
Than time or motion; but to human ears
Cannot without procefs of fpeech be told,
So told as earthly motion can receive.
Great triumph and rejoicing was in heav'n,
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 dwelling peace;
Glory to him, whofe juft avenging ire
Had driv'n out th' ungodly from his fight,
And th' habitations of the juft; to him
Glory and praise, whofe wifdom had ordain'd
Good out of evil to create, inftead
Of fp'rits malign a better race to bring
Into the vacant room, and thence diffufe
His good to worlds and ages infinite.
So fang the Hierarchies. Mean while the Son On his great expedition now appear'd, Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd Of majefty 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, wing'd Spirits, and Chariots wing'd From th' armoury of God; where stand of old 200 Myriads between two brazen mountains lodg'd Against a folemn day, harness'd at hand, Celestial equipage; and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them spirit liv'd, Attendant on their LORD: heav'n open'd wide 205 Her ever during gates, harmonious found On golden hinges moving, to let forth. The King of Glory in his pow'rful Word And Spirit coming to create new worlds. On heav'nly ground they ftood, and from the shore They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss, Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild, Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds, And furging waves, as mountains,
Heav'n's height, and with the centre mix the pole. 215
Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace,
Said then th' omnific 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 ftore, to circumfcribe
This universe, and all created things;
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd
Round through the vaft profundity obfcure,
And faid, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, 230 This be thy juft circumference, O world!
Thus God the Heav'n created, thus the Earth Matter unform'd and void; darkness profound
Cover'd th' abyfs; but on the wat'ry calm
His brooding wings the fp'rit of GOD outfpread, 235
And vital virtue infus'd, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid mafs; but downward purg'd
The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs,
Adverse to life: then founded, then conglob'd
Like things to like, the rest to several place
Difparted, and between spun 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. Gop faw the light was good;
And light from darkness by the hemifphere
Divided light the day, and darkness night
He nam'd Thus was the firft day ev'n and morn :
Nor paft uncelebrated, nor unfung
By the celestial quires, when orient light
Exhaling firft from darkness they beheld;
Birth-day of heav'n 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 firft ev'ning was, and when first morn. 260
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 uttermost convex ›
Of this great round: partition firm and fure,
The waters underneath from thofe above
Dividing; for as earth, fo he the world
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
Crystalline ocean, and the loud mifrule
Of Chaos far remov'd, left fierce extremes
Contiguous might diftemper the whole frame:
And heav'n he nam'd the firmament: fo ev'n
And morning chorus fung the fecond day.
The earth was form'd, but in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon immature involv❜d,
Appear'd not over all the face of earth
Main ocean flow'd; not idle, but with warm
Prolific humour foft'ning all her globe,
Fermented the great mother to conceive,
Satiate with genial moisture; when God faid,
Be gather'd now ye waters under Heav'n
Into one place, and let dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Into the clouds, their tops afcend the fky:
So high as heav'd the tumid hills, fo low
Down funk a hollow bottom, broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters; thither they
Hafted with glad precipitance, uproli'd
As drops on duft conglobing from the dry;
Part rife in cryftal wall, or ridge direct,
For hafte; fuch flight the great command imprefs'd
On the swift floods: as armies at the call
Of trumpet (for of armies thou haft heard)
Troop to their standard, fo the wat'ry throng,
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
If fteep, with torrent rapture, if through plain
Soft ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill,
But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With ferpent error wand'ring found their way,
And on the washy oofe deep channels wore;
Eafy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,
All but within thofe banks, where rivers now
Stream and perpetual draw their humid train.
The dry land, earth, and the great receptacle
Of congregated waters, he call'd feas;
And faw that it was good; and said, Let th' earth Put forth the verdant grafs, herb yielding feed, 310 And fruit tree yielding fruit after her kind,
Whofe feed is in herfelf upon the earth.
He fcarce had faid, when the bare earth, till then
Defert and bare, unfightly, unadorn'd,
Brought forth the tender grafs, whofe verdure clad 315
Her univerfal face with pleasant green ;
Then herbs of ev'ry leaf, that fudden flow'r'd
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