Receive with folemn purpose to observe
Immutably his fovran will, the end
Of what we are. But fince thou haft vouchsaf'd 80
Gently for our instruction to impart
Things above earthly thought, which yet concern'd Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seem'd, Deign to defcend now lower, and relate, What may no less perhaps avail us known, How first began this Heav'n which we behold Distant fo high, with moving fires adorn'd Innumerable, and this,which yields or fills All space, the ambient air,wide interfus'd, Embracing round this florid earth; what cause Mov'd the Creator in his holy rest, Through all eternity, fo late to build
In Chaos; and the work begun, how foon Abfolv'd; if unforbid thou may'st unfold What we, not to explore the secrets ask Of his eternal empire, but the more To magnify his works, the more we know.
And the great light of day yet wants to run Much of his race, though steep; suspense in Heaven, Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, And longer will delay to hear thee tell
His generation, and the rising birth
Of nature from the unapparent deep:
Or if the ftar of evening and the moon
Haste to thy audience, night with her will bring 105
Silence, and fleep, lift'ning to thee,will watch; Or we can bid his abfence, till thy song End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine. Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought: And thus the Godlike Angel answer'd mild. This alfo thy requeft,with caution ask'd, Obtain: though to recount almighty works What words, or tongue of Seraph can suffice, Or heart of man fuffice to comprehend? Yet what thou canst attain, which best To glorify the Maker, and infer Thee also happier, shall not be withheld Thy hearing; fuch commiffion from above I have receiv'd, to answer thy desire Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain 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 befides to fearch and know. But knowledge is as food, and needs no lefs Her temp'rance over appetite, to know In measure what the mind may well contain; Oppreffes else with surfeit, and foon 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 ftar the flars among) Ff
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 fpake.
At least our envious foe hath fail'd, who thought
All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
This inacceffible high ftrength, the feat
Of deity fupreme, us dispossess'd,
He trufted to have feis'd, and into fraud
Drew many, whom their place knows here no more; Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,
My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair That detriment, if fuch it be to lose Self-loft, 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 Spirit and might with thee 165 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 uncircumfcrib'd myself retire, And put not forth my goodness, which is free To act or not; neceffity and chance Approach not me; and what I willis 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 process of speech be told, So told as earthly notion can receive.
Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven, When fuch was heard declar'd th' Almighty's will;
Glory they fung to the moft High, good will
To future men, and in their dwellings peace:
Glory to him, whose just avenging ire
Had driven out th' ungodly from his sight,
And th' habitations of the juft; to him Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd Good out of evil to create; instead
Of Spirits malign a better race to bring
Into their vacant room; and thence diffuse His good to worlds and ages infinite.
So fang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son On his great expedition now appear'd, Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd Of majesty divine; fapience and love
Immense, and all his Father in him fhone. About his chariot numberlefs 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 folemn day, harness'd at hand, Celestial equipage; and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them Spirit liv'd,
Attendent on their Lord: Heav'n open'd wide 205 Her ever during gates, harmonious found On golden hinges moving, to let forth The King of Glory in his pow'rful Word
And Spirit coming to create new worlds.
On heav'nly ground they flood, and from the fhore 210 They view'd the vast,immeasurable abyss, Outrageous as a fea, dark, wafteful, wild, Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds And furging waves, as mountains, to affault Heav'n's highth, and with the center mix the pole. 215 Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace, Said then th'omnific Word, your discord end:
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