Eternal King; thee Author of all being,
Fountain of Light, thy self invisible
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou fit'st
Thron'd inacceffible, but when thou fhad'ft
The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud
Drawn round about thee like a radiant Shrine,
Dark with exceffive bright thy fkirts appeer, 380
Yet dazle Heav'n, that brightest Seraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil thir
Thee next they fang of all Creation first,
Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,
In whose confpicuous count'nance, without cloud
Made visible, th' Almighty Father shines,
Whom elfe no Creature can behold; on thee
Imprefst the effulgence of his Glorie abides,
Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests.
Hee Heav'n of Heavens and all the Powers therein
By thee created, and by thee threw down
Th' afpiring Dominations: thou that day
Thy Fathers dreadful Thunder didst not spare,
Nor stop thy flaming Chariot wheels, that shook
Heav'ns everlasting Frame, while o're the necks
Thou drov'st of warring Angels disarraid.
Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaime
Thee only extold, Son of thy Fathers might,
To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,
Not fo on Man; him through their malice fall'n,
Father of Mercie and Grace, thou didst not doome
So ftrictly, but much more to pitie encline:
No fooner did thy dear and onely Son
Perceive thee purpos'd not to doom frail Man
So ftrictly, but much more to pitie enclin❜d,
He to appease thy wrauth, and end the ftrife
Of Mercy and Justice in thy face discern'd,
Regardless of the Bliss wherein hee fat
Second to thee, offerd himself to die
For mans offence. O unexampl❜d love,
Love no where to be found less then Divine!
Hail Son of God, Saviour of Men, thy Name
Shall be the copious matter of my Song
Henceforth, and never fhall my Harp thy praise
Forget, nor from thy Fathers praise disjoine.
Thus they in Heav'n, above the starry Sphear,
Thir happie hours in joy and hymning spent.
Mean while upon the firm opacous Globe
Of this round World, whofe first convex divides
The luminous inferior Orbs, enclos'd
From Chaos and th' inroad of Darkness old,
Satan alighted walks: a Globe farr off
It seem'd, now feems a boundless Continent
Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night
Starless expos'd, and ever-threatning storms
Of Chaos bluftring round, inclement skie;
Save on that fide which from the wall of Heav'n
Though distant farr som small reflection gaines
Of glimmering air less vext with tempest loud:
Here walk'd the Fiend at large in fpacious field.
As when a Vultur on Imaus bred,
Whose snowie 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
Of Ganges or Hydafpes, Indian streams; [Springs
But in his way lights on the barren plaines
Of Sericana, where Chinefes drive
With Sails and Wind thir canie Waggons light:
So on this windie Sea of Land, the Fiend
Walk'd up and down alone bent on his prey,
Alone, for other Creature in this place
Living or liveless to be found was none,
None yet, but store hereafter from the earth
Up hither like Aereal vapours flew
Of all things tranfitorie and vain, when Sin
With vanity had filld the works of men :
Both all things vain, and all who in vain things
Built thir fond hopes of Glorie or lasting fame,
Or happiness in this or th' other life;
All who have thir reward on Earth, the fruits
Of painful Superftition and blind Zeal,
Naught feeking but the praise of men, here find
Fit retribution, emptie as thir deeds;
All th' unaccomplisht works of Natures hand,
Abortive, monftrous, or unkindly mixt,
Diffolvd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
Till final diffolution, wander here,
[dreamd; Not in the neighbouring Moon, as some have Those argent Fields more likely habitants, Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold Betwixt th' Angelical and Human kinde : Hither of ill-joynd Sons and Daughters born First from the ancient World thofe Giants came With many a vain exploit, though then renownd: The builders next of Babel on the Plain Of Sennaar, and still with vain defigne
New Babels, had they wherewithall, would build: Others came fingle; hee who to be deemd.
A God, leap'd fondly into Etna flames,
Empedocles, and hee who to enjoy
Plato's Elyfium, leap'd into the Sea,
Cleombrotus, and many more too long,
Embryos and Idiots, Eremits and Friers
White, Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie.
Here Pilgrims roam, that ftray'd fo farr to seek
In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heav'n;
And they who to be fure of Paradife
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,
Or in Francifcan think to pass disguis'd;
They pass the Planets feven, and pass the fixt,
And that Crystalline Sphear whose ballance weighs
The Trepidation talkt, and that first mov'd;
And now Saint Peter at Heav'ns Wicket seems
To wait them with his Keys, and now at foot
Of Heav'ns afcent they lift thir Feet, when loe
A violent cross wind from either Coast
Blows them transverse ten thousand Leagues awry
Into the devious Air; then might ye fee
Cowles, Hoods and Habits with thir wearers tost
And flutterd into Raggs, then Reliques, Beads,
Indulgences, Difpenfes, Pardons, Bulls,
The sport of Winds: all these upwhirld aloft
Fly o're the backfide of the World farr off
Into a Limbo large and broad, fince calld
The Paradife of Fools, to few unknown
Long after, now unpeopl'd, and untrod;
All this dark Globe the Fiend found as he pafs'd,
And long he wanderd, till at last a gleame
Of dawning light turnd thither-ward in hafte 500
His travell'd steps; farr diftant hee descries
Afcending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of Heaven a Structure high,
At top whereof, but farr more rich appeerd
The work as of a Kingly Palace Gate
With Frontispice of Diamond and Gold
Imbellisht, thick with sparkling orient Gemmes
The Portal fhon, 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 Esau fled
To Padan-Aram in the field of Luz,
Dreaming by night under the open Skie,
And waking cri'd, This is the Gate of Heav'n.
Each Stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There alwaies, but drawn up to Heav'n fomtimes
Viewless, and underneath a bright Sea flow'd
Of Jafper, or of liquid Pearle, whereon
Who after came from Earth, fayling arriv'd, 520
Wafted by Angels, or flew o're the Lake
Rapt in a Chariot drawn by fiery Steeds.
The Stairs were then let down, whether to dare
The Fiend by easie afcent, or aggravate
His fad exclufion from the dores of Blifs.
Direct against which op'nd from beneath,
Juft o're the blissful feat of Paradise,
A paffage down to th' Earth, a paffage wide,
Wider by farr then that of after-times
Over Mount Sion, and, though that were large,
Over the Promis'd Land to God fo dear,
By which, to visit oft those happy Tribes,
On high behefts his Angels to and fro
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