Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast Of fome great ammiral, were but a wand, He walk'd with to support uneasy steps Over the burning marle, not like those steps `On Heaven's azure, and the torrid clime Smote on him fore befides, vaulted with fire. Nathless he fo indur'd, till on the beach Of that inflamed fea he stood, and call'd His legions, Angel forms, who lay intranc'd Thick as autumnal leaves that ftrow the brooks In Vallombrofa, where th' Etrurian shades High over-arch'd imbow'r; or fcatter'd fedge Aflote, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coaft, whose waves o'erthrew Bufiris and his Memphian chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursued The fojourners of Gofhen, who beheld From the fafe shore their floting carcafes And broken chariot wheels: fo thick bestrown Abject and loft lay these, covering the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow deep Of Hell refounded. Princes, Potentates, Warriors, the flow'r of Heav'n, once your's, now loft, If fuch aftonishment as this can feife
Eternal Spi'rits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toil of battel to repofe
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find To flumber here, as in the vales of Heaven? Or in this abject pofture have ye fworn
To' adore the conqueror? who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood With fcatter'd arms and enfigns, till anon His swift purfuers from Heav'n gates difcern Th' advantage, and defcending tread us down Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf. Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abafh'd, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and beftir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their general's voice they foon obey'd Innumerable. As when the potent rod
Of Amram's fon, in Egypt's evil day, Wav'd round the coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud Of locufts, warping on the eastern wind, That o'er the realin of impious Pharaoh hung Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nile: So numberless were those bad Angels feen Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding fires; Till, as a fignal giv'n, th' up-lifted fpear Of their great Sultan waving to direct Their courfe, in even balance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain; A multitude, like which the populous north Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous fons Came like a deluge on the fouth, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan fands. Forthwith from every fquadron and each band The heads and leaders thither hafte where stood Their great commander; Godlike fhapes and forms Excelling human, princely Dignities,
And Pow'rs that erst in Heaven fat on thrones ; Though of their names in heav'nly records now Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd By their rebellion from the books of life.
Nor had they yet among the fons of Eve
Got them new names, till wand'ring o'er the earth, Through God's high fufferance for the trial of man, By falfities and lies the greatest part Of mankind they corrupted to forfake God their Creator, and th' invisible Glory of him that made them to transform Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd With gay religions full of pomp and gold, And Devils to adore for Deities:
Then were they known to men by various names, And various idols through the Heathen world. Say, Mufe, their names then known, who first, who last Rous'd from the flumber, on that fiery couch, At their great emp'ror's call, as next in worth Came fingly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof. The chief were those who from the pit of Hell Roaming to feek their prey on earth, durft fix VOL. I.
Their feats long after next the feat of God, Their altars by his altar, Gods ador'd Among the nations round, and durft abide Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd Within his fanctuary itfelf their fhrines, Abominations; and with curfed things His holy rites and folemn feafts profan'd, And with their darkness durft affront his light. First Moloch, horrid king, befmear'd with blood Of human facrifice, and parents tears,
Though for the noife of drums and timbrels loud Their childrens cries unheard, that pafs'd through fire 'Fo his grim idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipt in Rabba and her watry plain, In Argob and in Bafan, to the ftream Of utmoft Arnon. Nor content with fuch Audacious neighbourhood, the wifeft heart Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
His temple right againft the temple' of God On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove The pleafant valley' of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the type of Hell. Next Chemos, th' óbfcene dread of Moab's fons, From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild Of fouthmoft Abarim; in Hefebon And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond The flow'ry dale of Sibma clad with vines, And Eleälé to the Afphaltic pool.
Peor his other name, when he entic'd
Ifrael in Sittim on their march from Nile
To do him wanton rites, which coft them woe. Yet thence his luftful orgies he inlarg'd Ev'n to that hill of fcandal, by the grove Of Moloch homicide, luft hard by hate; Till good Jofiah drove them thence to Hell. With thefe came they, who from the bord'ring flood Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names Of Baälim and Afhtaroth, thofe male, Thefe feminine. For Spirits when they please Can either fex affume, or both; fo foft And uncompounded is their effence pure,. Not ty'd or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle ftrength of bones, Like cumbrous flefh; but in what fhape they choofe Dilated or condens'd, bright or obfcure,
Can execute their aery purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
For those the race of Ifrael oft forfook
Their living ftrength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down To beftial Gods; for which their heads as low Bow'd down in battel, funk before the spear Of defpičable foes. With thefe in troop Came Aftoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Aftarte, queen of Heav'n, with crefcent horns; To whofe bright image nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs, In Sion alfo not unfung, where food C 2
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