Flow'd from their lips, in profe, or numerous verfe:
More tunable, than needed lute, or harp,
To add more fweetness; and they thus began.
These are Thy glorious works, Parent of Good!
Almighty! Thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair; Thy felf how wondrous then!
Unspeakable! who fitt'ft above these heav'ns, 156
To us invifible, or dimly feen
In these Thy lowest works: yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and pow'r divine.
Speak ye who beft can tell, ye fons of light, 160
Angels! for ye behold Him, and with songs,
And choral fymphonies, day without night,
Circle His throne rejoicing; ye in heav'n:
On earth join all ye creatures, to extol
Him first, Him laft, Him midst, and without end!
Faireft of ftars, laft in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn,
Sure pledge of day, that crown'ft the fmiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise Him in thy fphere
While day arifes, that sweet hour of prime. 170
Thou fun! of this great world both eye and foul,
Acknowledge Him thy greater; found His praise
In thy eternal courfe, both when thou climb'ft,
And when high noon haft gain'd,and when thou fall'ft.
Moon! that now meet'ft the orient fun, now fly'st
With the fix'd stars, fix'd in their orb that flies; 176
And ye five other wandring fires! that move
In myftic dance not without fong, refound
His praife, who out of darkness call'd up light.
Air, and ye elements! the eldest birth
Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run
Perpetual circle, multiform; and mix,
And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
Vary to our Great Maker still new praise.
Ye mifts, and exhalations! that now rife
From hill, or fteaming lake, dusky, or grey,
Till the fun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honor to the world's great Author rife:
Whether to deck with clouds th' uncolor'd sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling fhow'rs, 190
Rifing, or falling, ftill advance His praife.
His praise, ye winds! that from four quarters blow,
Breathe soft, or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines !
With every plant, in fign of worship wave.
Fountains! and ye that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs! warbling tune His praife.
Join voices all ye living fouls! ye birds,
That finging up to heaven-gate afcend,
Bear on your wings, and in your notes, His praife!
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep!
Witness if I be filent, morn or even,
To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh fhade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught His praife.
Hail Univerfal Lord! be bounteous ftill
To give us only good: and if the night
Have gather'd ought of evil, or conceal'd,
Difperfe it, as now light difpels the dark!
So pray'd they innocent, and to their thoughts
Firm peace recover'd foon, and wonted calm. 210
On to their morning's rural work they haste,
Among fweet dews, and flow'rs; where any row
Of fruit-trees, over-woody, reach'd too far
Their pamper'd boughs, and needed hands to check
Fruitless embraces: or, they led the vine 215
To wed her elm; fhe fpous'd, about him twines
Her marriageable arms, and with her brings
Her dow'r, th' adopted clusters, to adorn
His barren leaves. Them thus employ'd beheld
With pity heav'n's high King, and to Him call'd
Raphael, the fociable spirit, that deign'd
To travel with Tobias, and fecur'd
His marriage with the seven-times wedded maid.
Raphael, faid He, thou hear'ft what ftir on earth
Satan, from hell scap'd through the darksome gulf,
Hath rais'd in Paradife, and how disturb'd
This night the human pair, how he designs
In them at once to ruin all mankind :
Go therefore, half this day, as friend with friend
Converse with Adam, in what bow'r or shade
Thou find'st him, from the heat of noon retir'd,
To refpit his day-labor with repast,
Or with repofe: and such discourse bring on,
As may advise him of his happy state,
Happiness in his pow'r left free to will,
Left to his own free will; his will, though free,
Yet mutable: whence warn him to beware
He swerve not, too fecure. Tell him withal
His danger, and from whom; what enemy,
Late fall'n himself from heav'n, is plotting now 240
The fall of others from like state of blifs:
By violence? no: for that shall be withstood:
But by deceit, and lies: this let him know,
Left wilfully tranfgreffing, he pretend
Surprifal, un-admonish'd, un-forewarn'd.
So fpake th' Eternal Father, and fulfill'd All justice: nor delay'd the winged faint, After his charge receiv'd; but from among Thousand cœleftial Ardors, where he stood Veil'd with his gorgeous wings, up-fpringing light, Flew thro' the midst of heav'n: th' Angelic Choirs, On each hand parting, to his speed gave way Through all th' empyreal road; till at the gate Of heav'n arriv'd, the gate felf-open'd wide, On golden hinges turning; as by work Divine, the fov'reign architect had fram'd. From hence (no cloud, or, to obstruct his fight, Star interpos'd,) however small, he fees (Not unconform to other shining globes)
Earth, and the gard'n of God, with cedars crown'd
Above all hills. As when by night the glass 261
Of Galileo, lefs affur'd, obferves
Imagin'd lands, and regions, in the moon:
Or pilot, from amidst the Cyclades,
Delos, or Samos, first appearing kens
A cloudy fpet. Down thither prone in flight
He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
Sails between worlds and worlds: with steddy wing Now on the polar winds; then, with quick fan
Winnows the buxom air: till within foar
Of tow'ring eagles, t'all the fowls he seems
A phoenix, gaz'd by all, as that fole bird,
When to infhrine his reliques in the fun's
Bright temple, to Ægyptian Thebes he flies.
At once on th' eastern cliff of Paradise
He lights, and to his proper shape returns,
A Seraph wing'd: fix wings he wore, to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breast With regal ornament: the middle pair
Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins, and thighs, with downy gold,
And colors dip'd in heav'n: the third, his feet
Shadow'd from either heel with feather'd mail,
Sky-tinctur'd grain! Like Maia's fon he stood, 285
And shook his plumes, that heav'nly fragrance fill'd
The circuit wide. Strait knew him all the bands
Of Angels under watch; and to his state,
And to his message high, in honor rife;
For on fome message high they guefs'd him bound.
Their glitt'ring tents he pass'd, and now is come
Into the blissful field, through groves of myrrh,
And flow'ring odors, caffia, nard, and balm;
A wilderness of fweets! for Nature here
Wanton'd, as in her prime, and plaid at will 295
Her virgin-fancies, pouring forth more sweet,
Wild above rule, or art, enormous blifs!
Him through the spicy foreft onward come
Adam difcern'd, as in the door he fat
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