Great things and full of wonder in our ears, Far differing from this world, thou hast reveal'd, Divine interpreter! by favour sent
Down from the empyréan, to forewarn
Us timely of what might else have been our loss, Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach; For which to the infinitely Good we owe Immortal thanks, and his admonishment Receive, with solemn purpose to observe Immutably his sovran will, the end
Of what we are. But since thou hast vouchsafed Gently, for our instruction, to impart
Things above earthly thought, which yet concern'd
Our knowing, as to highest Wisdom seem'd; Deign to descend now lower, and relate What may no less perhaps avail us known; How first began this heaven which we behold Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd Innumerable; and this which yields or fills All space, the ambient air wide interfused, Embracing round this florid earth: what cause Moved the Creator, in his holy rest Through all eternity, so late to build
In Chaos; and the work begun, how soon Absolved; if unforbid thou mayst 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:
Of if the star of evening and the moon
Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring Silence; and Sleep, listening to thee, will watch; Or we can bid his absence, 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 also thy request, with caution ask'd, Obtain; though to recount almighty works What words or tongue of seraph can suffice, Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?
Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve To glorify the Maker, and infer
Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
94. Absolved: Finished, completed. 98. And the great light of day. Mr. Thyer is of opinion that there is not a greater instance of our author's exqui
site skill in the art of poetry, than this and the following lines.
103. Unapparent: Where nothing was to be seen.
Thy hearing; such commission from above I have received, to answer thy desire Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain 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 seized, 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 changed to heaven, and heaven to earth, co One kingdom, joy and union without end.
Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye powers of heaven;
And thou, my Word, begotten Son, by thee
150. "Knowledge puffeth up."-1 Cor. viii. 1.
139. At least. Mr. Thyer suggests at last.
160. The meaning is, that Earth, inhabited by obedient creatures, would in
happiness resemble Heaven; and Heaven, by receiving such creatures, would resemble Earth, having men for inhabitants. See Rev. xxi. 3.
162. Inhabit lar. Dwell at case, the rebel angels being vanquish'd.
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, uncircumscribed 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 declared 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 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 lodged Against a solemn day, harness'd at hand, Celestial equipage; and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them spirit lived, 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 They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
210. From the shore, &c. Here is a most magnificent picture, breathing ail the powers of poetry.-BRYDGES.
Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds And surging waves, as mountains, to assault Heaven's highth, and with the centre mix the pole. Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace, Said then the 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, prepared
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he centred, 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 infused, and vital warmth, Throughout the fluid mass; but downward purged The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs, Adverse to life: then founded, then conglobed Like things to like; the rest to several place Disparted, and between spun out the air; And earth, self-balanced, 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 aery gloom began, Sphered 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 named. Thus was the first day even and morn: Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung
By the celestial quires, 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 praised God and his works; Creator him they sung, Both when first evening was, and when first morn. Again, God said, Let there be firmament
225. Compasses. See Prov. viii. 27.
256. See Job xxxviii. 4, 7.
Amid the waters, and let it divide
The waters from the waters: and God made The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, Transparent, elemental air, diffused
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 removed; 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 involved, Appear'd not: over all the face of earth Main ocean flow'd, not idle; but, with warm Prolific 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 heaved the tumid hills, so low Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep, Capacious bed of waters: thither they Hasted with glad precipitance, uproll'd, As drops on dust conglobing from the dry: Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,
For haste; such flight the great command impress'd On the swift floods: as armies at the call
Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard) Troop to their standard; so the watery 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 errour wandering, 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
274. And heaven. According to the Hebrews, there were three heavens: the first is the air, wherein the clouds move and the birds fly; the second is the starry heaven; and the third is the habitation of the angels and the seat of God's glory.
Milton is here speaking of the first heaven, as he mentions the others in other places.-NEWTON.
281. Fermented: Excited.
293. Torrent rapture: With the rapidity and violence of a torrent
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