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