Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

And thus the Godlike Angel answer'd mild.
This also thy request with caution ask'd
Obtain: though to recount aimighty worl.s
What words or tongue of Seraph cans mice,
Or heart of man sullice to comprehend?

110

Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
To glorify the Maker, and inter

Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
Thy hearing, such commission from above
I have receiv'd, to answer thy desire

Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain 120
To ask, nor let thine own inventions hope
Things not reveal'd, which th' invisible King,
Only omniscient, hath suppress'd in night,
To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:
Enough is left besides to search and know.
But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
Her temp'rance over appetite, to knɔw
Or measure what the mind may well contain;
Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
Wisdom to folly', as nourishment to wind.
Know then, that after Lucifer from Heaven
(So call him, brighter once amidst the host
Of Angels, than that star the stars among)
Fell with his flaming legions through the deep
Into his place, and the great Son return'd
Victorious with his Saints, th' omnipotent
Eternal Father from his throne beheld

Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake.

130

At least our envious foe hath fail'd, who thought

[blocks in formation]

All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
This inaccessible high strength, the seat
Of deity supreme, us dispossess'd,

He trusted to have seiz'd, and into fraud

140

159

Drew many, whom their place knows here no more
Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,
Their station, Heav'n yet populous retains
Number sufficient to posses her realms
Though wide, and this high temple to frequent
With ministeries due and solemn rites :
But lest his heart exalt him in the harm
Already done, to have dispeopled Heaven,
My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair
That detriment, if such it be to lose
Self-lost, 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 Heaven,
And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee
This I perform, speak thou, and be it done :
My overshadowing Spi'rit and might with thee
I send along; ride forth and bid the deep
Within appointed bounds be Heav'n and Earth,
Boundless the deep, because I am who fill

160

i

Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.
Though I uncircumscrib'd myself retire,

And put not forth my goodness which is free
To act or not, necessity and chance
Approach not me, and what I will is fate,
So spake th' Almighty, and to what he spake
His Word, the filial Godhead, gave effect.
Immediate are the acts of God, more swift
Than time or motion, but to human ears
Cannot without procéss of speech be told,
So told as earthly notion can receive.

170

Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven, 180
When such was heard declar'd the Almighty's will;
Glory they sung to the most High, good-will
To future men, and in their dwellings peace :
Glory to him, whose just avenging ire

Had driven out the ungodly from his sight
And th' habitations of the just; to him
Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd
Good out of evil to create, instead

ages infinite.

Of Spi'rits malign a better race to bring
Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse
His good to worlds and
So sang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son
On his great expedition now appear'd,
Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd
Of majesty divine; sapience and love
Immense, and all his Father in him shone.
About his chariot numberless were pour'd
Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,

190

And Virtues, winged Spi'rits, and chariots wing'd
From th' armoury of God, where stand of old 200
Myriads between two brazen mountains lodg'd
Against a solemn 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
Her ever-duri. g gares, harmonious sound
On golden hinges moving, to let forth
The King of Glory in his powerful Word
And Spirit coming to create new worlds.

209

On heav'nly ground they stood, 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 surging waves, as mountains, to assault
Heav'n's height, and with the centre mix the pole.
Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace,
Said then th' omnific Word, your discord end :
Nor stay'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 procession to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might..
Then stay'd the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepar'd
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd

2209

231

Round through the vast profundity obscure,
And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
This be thy just circumference, O world.
Thus God the Heav'n created, thus the Earth,
Matter unform'd and void: Darkness profound
Cover'd th' abyss: but on the wat’ry calm
His brooding wings the Spi'rit of God outspread,
And vital virtue' infus'd, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid mass, 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
Disparted, and between spun out the air,
And Earth self-balanc'd on her centre hung.

240

Let there be light, said God, and forthwith light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure Sprung from the deep, and from her native east To journey through the airy gloom began, Spher'd in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle

Sojourn'd the while. God saw the light was good; And light from darkness by the hemisphere

Divided light the day, and darkness night

:

250

He nam'd. Thus was the first day ev'n and morn; Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung

By the celestial quires, when orient light

Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;

Birth-day of Heav'n and Earth; with joy and shout The hollow universal orb they fill'd,

And touch'd their golden harps, and hymnning prais'd

« AnteriorContinuar »