On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the fhore
They view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss
Outragious as a Sea, dark, wafteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds
And furging waves, as Mountains to affault
Heav'ns heighth, and with the Center mix the Pole.
Silence, ye troubl'd waves, and thou Deep, peace,
Said then th' Omnific Word, your difcord end:
Nor ftaid, 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 ftaid the fervid Wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden Compaffes, prepar'd
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 vaft profundity obscure,
And faid, thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, 230
This be thy juft Circumference, O World.
Thus God the Heav'n created, thus the Earth,
Matter unform'd and void: Darkness profound
Cover'd th' Abyss: but on the watry calm
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outfpred, 235
And vital virtue infus'd, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid Mafs, but downward purg'd-
The black tartareous cold Infernal dregs
Adverfe to life: then founded, then conglob'd
Like things to like, the rest to several place 240 Difparted, and between spun out the Air,
And Earth felf ballanc'd on her Center hung.
Let there be Light, faid God, and forthwith Light Ethereal, firft of things, quinteffence pure Sprung from the Deep, and from her Native Eaft 245 To journey through the aerie gloom began, Sphear'd in a radiant Cloud, for yet the Sun 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 Eev'n and Morn: Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung
By the Celestial Quires, when Orient Light
Exhaling first from Darkness they beheld;
Birth-day of Heav'n and Earth; with joy and shout
The hollow univerfal 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 Eevning was, and when first Morn.
Again, God faid, 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 uttermoft convex
Of this great Round: partition firm and fure,
The Waters underneath from thofe above
Dividing for as Earth, fo he the World.
Built on circumfluous Waters calm, in wide
Crystallin Ocean, and the loud misrule
Of Chaos far remov'd, left fierce extreams
Contiguous might diftemper the whole frame:
And Heav'n he nam'd the Firmament: So Eev'n
And Morning Chorus fung the fecond Day.
275
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 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 Heav'n
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 afcend 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, uprowl'd
As drops on duft conglobing from the dry;
Part rife in cryftal Wall, or ridge direct,
For hafte; fuch flight the great command imprefs'd
On the fwift floods as Armies at the call
Of Trumpet (for of Armies thou hast heard)
Troop to their Standard, fo the watry throng,
Wave rowling after Wave, where way they found,
If fteep, with torrent rapture, if through Plain,
Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them Rock or Hill, zec
But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With Serpent error wandring, found their way,
And on the washy Oofe deep Channels wore;
Eafie, e'er 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:
And faw that it was good, and faid, Let th' Earth
Put forth the verdant Grafs, Herb yielding Seed, 310
And Fruit Tree yielding Fruit after her kind;
Whofe Seed is in her felf upon the Earth.
He fcarce had faid, when the bare Earth, till then
Defert and bare, unfightly, unadorn'd,
Brought forth the tender Grafs, whofe verdure clad
Her Univerfal Face with pleafant green,
Then Herbs of every leaf, that fudden flour'd
Op'ning their various colours, and made gay
Her bofom fmelling fweet: and these scarce blown,
Forth flourish'd thick the cluftring Vine, forth crept
The smelling Gourd, up ftood the corny Reed 321
Embattell'd in her field: and the humble Shrub,
And Bush with frizl'd hair implicit : laft.
Rofe as in Dance the ftately Trees, and spred 324
Their branches hung with copious Fruit; or gemm'd
Their bloffoms: with high woods the hills were
With tufts the vallies and each fountain fide,[crown'd,
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
pon the Earth, and man to till the ground
None was, but from the Earth a dewy Mit
Went up and water'd all the ground, and each
Plant of the field, which e'er it was in the Earth 335
God made, and every Herb, before it grew
On the green stem; God faw that it was good.
to Eev'n and Morn recorded the Third Day.
Again th' Almighty fpake: Let there be Lights
High in th' expanfe of Heav'n 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 Heav'n
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 alterne: and made the Stars,
And fet them in the Firmament of Heav'n
To illuminate the Earth, and rule the Day 350
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 Celestial Bodies firft the Sun
A mighty Sphere he fram'd, unlightsom first, Tho' of Ethereal Mould: then form'd the Moon Globofe, and every magnitude of Stars,
And fow'd with Stars the Heav'n thick as a field: Of Light by far the greater part he took,
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