Nor ftay'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 proceffion,to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might.
Then flay'd the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepard
In God's eternal ftore, to circumfcribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd
Round through the vast profundity obscure,
And faid, thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, 230
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' abyfs: but on the watry calm
His brooding wings the Spi rit of God outspread, 235
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, felf-balanc'd,on her center 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 245
To journey through the aery gloom began,
Spher'd in a radiant cloud; for yet
Was not; fhe in a cloudy tabernacle
Sojourn'd the while. God faw 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 unfung
By the celestial quires, when orient light
Exhaling firft from darkness they beheld;
Birth-day of Heav'n and Earth; with joy and fhout The hollow universal orb they fill'd,
And touch'd their golden harps, and,hymning,prais'd God and his works, Creator him they fung,
Both when first evening was, and when first morn. 260 Again, God faid, Let there be firmament
Amid the waters, and let it divide
The waters from the waters: and God made
The firmament, expanfe of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffus'd
In circuit to the uttermoft convex
Of this great round: partition firm and sure,
The waters underneath from those above
Dividing: for as earth, fo he the world
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
Crystallin ocean, and the loud mifrule
Of Chaos far remov'd; left fierce extremes,
Contiguous, might diftemper the whole frame:
And Heav'n he nam'd the firmament: So even
And morning chorus fung the second day.
The earth was form'd, but in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon, immature,involv'd,
Appear'd not: over all the face of earth
Main ocean flow'd; not idle, but with warm
Prolific humor foft'ning all her globe,
Fermented the great mother to conceive,
Satiate with genial moisture; when God faid
Be gather'd now ye waters under Heaven
Into one place, and let dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky:
So high as heav'd the tumid hills, fo low
Down funk a hollow bottom, broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters: thither they
Hafted,with glad precipitance, uproll'd
As drops on duft conglobing from the dry;
Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,
For hafte; fuch flight the great command impress'd
On the swift floods: as armies at the call
Of trumpet (for of armies thou haft heard)
Troop to their standard; so the watry throng,
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,
Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill,
But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With ferpent error wand'ring, found their way,
And on the washy oose deep channels wore;
Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,
All but within thofe banks, where rivers now
Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.
The dry land, earth, and the great receptacle
Of congregated waters, he call'd feas:
And saw that it was good, and said, Let th' earth
Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding feed, 310
And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind,
Whofe feed is in herself upon the earth.
He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then
Defert and bare, unfightly, unadorn'd,
Brought forth the tender grafs, whofe verdure clad 315
Her univerfal face with pleasant green;
Then herbs of every leaf, that fudden flow'rd,
Opening their various colors, and made gay
Her bosom smelling fweet: and these scarce blown,
Forth florifh'd thick the cluftring vine, forth crept 320
The smelling gourd, up ftood the
corny reed
Imbattel'd in her field; and th' humble fhrub,
And bush with frizled hair implicit: last
Rose, as in dance,the ftately trees, and spread
Their branches, hung with copious fruit, or gemm'd
Their blossoms: with high woods the hills were crown'd,
With tufts the valleys,and each fountain side,
With borders long the rivers: that earth now
Seem'd like to Heav'n, a feat where Gods might dwell,
Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
Her facred fhades: though God had yet not rain'd
Upon the earth, and man to till the ground
None was; but from the earth a dewy mist
Went up,and water'd all the ground, and each
Plant of the field; which,ere it was in th'earth, 335
God made, and every herb, before it grew
On the green stem; God saw that it was good:
So ev❜n and morn recorded the third day.
Again th' Almighty spake, Let there be lights,
High in th' expanse of Heaven, to divide
The day from night; and let them be for signs,
For seasons, and for days, and circling years;
And let them be for lights, as I ordain
Their office,in the firmament of Heaven,
To give light on the earth; and it was fo.
And God made two great lights, great for their use
To Man, the greater to have rule by day,
The lefs by night, altern; and made the stars,
And fet them in the firmament of Heaven
To illuminate the earth, and rule the day
In their viciffitude, and rule the night,
And light from darkness to divide. God faw,
Surveying his great work, that it was good:
For of celeftial bodies,firft the fun,
A mighty sphere, he fram'd, unlightsome first,
Though of ethereal mold: then form'd the moon, Globofe, and every magnitude of stars,
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