To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope Things not reveal'd, which the 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 temperance over appetite, to know In 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, the 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; Heaven, 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 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 raised,
They open to themselves at length the way Up hither, under long obedience tried;
And Earth be chang'd to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth. One kingdom, joy and union without end. Meanwhile inhabit lax,1 ye Powers 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 I send along ride forth, and bid the Deep Within appointed bounds be Heaven 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 the 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, 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 the habitations of the just; to Him Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd 'Inhabit lax:' i. e., dwell more at large.
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 sang the Hierarchies: Meanwhile 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 Spirits, and chariots wing'd From the armoury of God; where stand of old 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: Heaven open'd 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.
On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shore 210 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
Heaven's highth, and with the center mix the pole. Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, peace, Said then the Omnifick Word; your discord end! Nor staid; 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 staid 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 Heaven created, thus the Earth, Matter unform'd and void: Darkness profound Cover'd the abyss: but on the watery 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 Like things to like; the rest to several place Disparted, and between spun out the air; And Earth self-balanced 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 To journey through the aery 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 even and morn : Nor pass'd uncelebrated, nor unsung By the celestial choirs, when orient light Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;
Birth-day of Heaven and Earth; with joy and shout The hollow universal orb they fill'd,
And touch'd their golden harps, and hymning prais'd God and his works; Creator him they sung, Both when first evening was, and when first morn. Again, God said, Let there be firmament
Amid the waters, and let it divide
The waters from the waters; and God made The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, Transparent, elemental air, diffus'd
In circuit to the uttermost convex
Of this great round; partition firm and sure, The waters underneath from those above 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 Heaven he named the Firmament: So even And morning chorus sung 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 Prolifick humour softening all her globe, Fermented the great mother to conceive, Satiate with genial moisture; when God said, 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, so low Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
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