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Into his place, and the great Son return'd
Victorious with his saints, th' Omnipotent
Eternal Father from his throne beheld

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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

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This inaccessible high strength, the seat

Of Deity supreme, us dispossest,

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,

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Their station; Heav'n yet populous retains
Number sufficient to possess 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 dispeopl'd Heav'n
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

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They open to themselves at length the way

Up hither, under long obedience tri'd,

And Earth be chang'd to Heav'n, and Heav'n to Earth,

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One kingdom, joy and union without end.

Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye powers of Heav'n,

And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee
This I perform, speak thou, and be it done:
My overshadowing Spirit 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.

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Though I uncircumscrib'd myself retire,

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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 process of speech be told,
So told as earthly notion can receive.

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Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heav'n

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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 th' ungodly from his sight

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And th' habitations of the just; to him

Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd
Good out of evil to create, instead

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Immense, and all his Father in him shon.
About his chariot numberless were pour'd
Cherub and seraph, Potentates and Thrones,
And Virtues, winged spirits, and chariots wing'd,
From th' armoury of God, where stand of old
Myriads between two brazen mountains lodg'd
Against a solemn day, harnest at hand,
Celestial equipage; and now came forth
Spontaneous, for within them spirit liv'd,
Attendant on their Lord; Heav'n op'nd wide
Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound
On golden hinges moving, to let forth
The King of Glory in his powerful Word
And Spirit coming to create new worlds.

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On Heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore

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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'ns highth, and with the centre mix the pole.

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"Silence, ye troubl'd 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.

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Then stay'd the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepar'd

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In God's eternal store, to circumscribe

This universe, and all created things:

One foot he centr'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.

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Matter unform'd and void: darkness profound
Cover'd th' abyss: but on the watry calm

His brooding wings the Spirit 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

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Like things to like, the rest to several place

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Disparted, and between spun out the air,
And Earth self-balanc't 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

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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

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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;

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

And touch't their golden harps, and hymning prais'd
God and his works, Creator him they sung,
Both when first ev'ning was, and when first morn.

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Amid the waters, and let it divide

Again, God said, "Let there be firmament

The waters from the waters:" and God made
The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffus'd

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In circuit to the uttermost convex

Of this great round: partition firm and sure,
The waters underneath from those above

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Dividing for as Earth, so he the World
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule
Of Chaos far remov'd, lest fierce extremes
Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:
And heav'n he nam'd the firmament: so Ev'n

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And Morning chorus sung the second day.

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'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 humour soft'ning all her globe,
Fermented the great Mother to conceive,
Satiate with genial moisture, when God said,
"Be gather'd now ye waters under heav'n
Into one place, and let dry land appear."
Immediately the mountains huge appear

Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave

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Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky:
So high as heav'd the tumid hills, so low
Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters: thither they
Hastened with glad precipitance, uproll'd
As drops on dust conglobing from the dry;
Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,

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For haste; such flight the great command impress'd
On the swift floods: as armies at the call

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Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast 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 serpent error wandring, found their way,
And on the washy ooze deep channels wore ;
Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,
All but within those 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 Seas:

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And saw that it was good, and said, "Let th' Earth

Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,

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And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind;
Whose seed is in herself upon the Earth."

He scarce had said, when the bare Earth, till then
Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn'd,

Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad
Her universal face with pleasant green,

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Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flow'rd,
Op'ning their various colours, and made gay
Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown.
Forth flourish't thick the clustring vine, forth crept
The smelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
Embattl'd in her field: and the humble shrub,
And bush with frizzl'd hair implicit last
Rose as in dance the stately trees, and spread

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