Without dimension, where length, breadth, Half flying; behoves him now both oar and and height,
And time, and place are lost; where eldest As when a gryphon through the wilderness
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.
For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for mast'ry, and to battle bring Their embryon atoms; they around the flag Of each his faction, in their several clans, Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or slow,
Swarm populons, unnumber'd as the sands Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil,
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise Their lighter wings. To whom these most adbere,
He rules a moment; Chaos umpire sits, And by decision more embroils the fray By which he reigus next him high arbiter Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss, The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave, Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire, But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd Coufus'dly, and which thus must ever fight, Unless th' almighty maker them ordain His dark materials to create more worlds: Into this wild abyss the wary Fiend Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while, Pond'ring his voyage; for no narrow frith He had to cross. Nor was his ear less peal'd With noises loud and ruinous (to compare Great things with small) than when Bellona storms,
With all her battering engines bent to raze Some capital city; or less than if this fraine Of Heav'n were falling, and these elements In mutiny had from her axle torn
The steadfast earth. At last his sail-broad
He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke Uplifted spurns the ground; thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides Audacious; but that seat soon failing, meets A vast vacuity: all unawares
With winged course, o'er bill or moory dale, Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd The guarded gold: So eagerly the Fiend O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way, [flies: And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or At length a universal hubbub wild Of stunning sound and voices all confus'd, Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his
Fluttering his pennous vain, plump down he Directed no mean recompence it brings
To your behoof, if I that region lost, All usurpation thence expell'd, reduce To her original darkness and your sway (Which is my present journey) and once more Erect the standard there of ancient Night; Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge.
Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old, With falt'ring speech and visage incompos'd, Answer'd. I know thee, stranger, who thou
That mighty leading Angel, who of late Made head against Heav'n's king, though over- thrown.
Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour he; But he once past, soon after when man feil, Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain Following his track, such was the will of Heaven,
I saw and heard, for such a numerous host Fled not in silence through the frighted deep With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded; and Heav'n Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf
Four'd out by millions her victorious bands Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here Keep residence; if all I can will serve That little which is left so to defend, Encroach'd on still through your intestine broils,
Weak'ning the sceptre of old Night: first Hell Your dungeon stretching far and wide be- neath;
Now lately Heav'n and Earth, another world, Hung o'er my realm, link'd in a golden chain To that side Heav'n from whence your legions fell:
If that way be your walk, you have not far; So much the nearer danger; go and speed; Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain.
He ceas'd; and Satan stay'd not to reply, But glad that now his sea should find a sbore;
With fresh alacrity and force renew'd Springs upward like a pyramid of fire
Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way
Tamely endur'd a bridge of wond'rous length From Hell continued reaching the utmost orb Of this frail world; by which the Spirits perverse
With easy intercourse pass to and fro To tempt or punish mortals, except whom God and good Angels guard by special grace. But now at last the sacred influence Of light appears, and from the wall of Heaven Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night A glimmering dawn; here Nature first begins Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire As from her outmost works a broken foe With tumult less and with less hostile din, That Satan with less toil, and now with ease Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light, And like a weather-beaten vessel holds Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn;
Or in the emptier waste, resembling air, Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold Far off th' empyreal Heav'n, extended wide
Into the wild expanse, and through the In circuit, undetermin'd square or round,
Of fighting elements, on all sides round
Environ'd wins his way; harder beset
And more endanger'd, than when Argo pass'd Through Bosporus betwixt the justling
Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunn'd
With opal tow'rs and battlements adorn'd Of living sapphire, once his native seat; And fast by hanging in a golden chain This pendant world, in biguess as a star Of smallest magnitude close by the moon. Thither full fraught with mischievous re venge,
Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steer'd. || Accurs'd, and in a cursed hour he bies.
So he with difficulty and labour hard
God sitting on his throne sees Satan flying towards this world, then newly created; shews him to the Son who sat 'at his right hand foretels the success of Satan in perverting mankind; clears his own justice and wisdom from all imputation, having created Man free and able enough to have withstood his tempter; yet declares his purpose of grace towards him, in regard he fell not of his own malice, as did Satan, but by him seduced. The Son of God ren. ders praises to his Father for the manifestation of his gracious purpose towards Man; but God again declares, that grace cannot be extended towards Man without the satisfaction of divine justice; Man hath offended the majesty of God by aspiring to Godhead, and therefore with all his progeny devoted to death must die, unless some one can be found sufficient to answer for his offence, and undergo his punishment. The Son of God freely offers himself a ransom for Mau: the Father accepts him, ordains his incarnation, pronounces his exaltation above all names in Heaven and Earth; commands all the Angels to adore him; they obey, and hymning to their harps in full quire, celebrate the Father and the Son. Mean while Satan alights upon the bare convex of this world's outermost orb; where wandering he first finds a place, since called the Limbo of Vanity; what persons and things fly up thither; thence comes to the gate of Heaven, described ascending by stairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it: His passage thence to the orb of the Sun; he finds there Uriel the regent of that orb, but first changes himself into the shape of a meaner Angel; and pretending a zealous desire to behold the new creation, and Man whom God had placed here, inquires of him the place of his babitation, and is directed; alights first on Mount Niphates.
HAIL, holy Light, offspring of Heav'n first- Nightly Lvisit: nor sometimes forget
Or of th' Eternal coeternal beam
May I express thee unblam'd? Since God is light,
And never but in unapproached light Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, Bright effluence of bright essence increate. Or hear'st thou rather pure ethereal stream, Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun, Before the Heav'ns thou wert, and at the voice Of God, as with a mantle didst invest The rising world of waters dark and deep, Won from the void and formless infinite. Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing, Escap'd the Stygian pool, though long des- tain'd
In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight Through utter and through middle darkness
With other notes than to th' Orphean lyre I sung of Chaos and eternal Night, Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down The dark descent, and up to re-ascend, Though hard and rare: thec 1 revisit safe, Aud feel thy sov'reign vital lamp; but thou Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn ; So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs,
Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill, Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief Thee, Sion, and the flow'ry brooks beneath, That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Those other two equall'd with me in fate, So were I equal'd with them in renown, Blind Thamyris and blind Mæonides, And Tiresias and Phineus prophets old: Theu feed on thoughts that voluntary move Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year
Seasons return, but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or mora, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the book of Knowledge fair Presented with an universal blank Of Nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. So much the rather thou celestial Light, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight.
Now had the almighty Father from above, From the pure empyréan where he sits High thron'd above all height, bent down his
His own works and their works at once to view:
About him all the sanctities of Heav'n Stood thick as stars, and from his sight re ceiv'd
BEAUTIES OF THE BRITISH POETS.
Beatitude past utterance; on his right The radiant image of his glory sat, His only Son; on earth he first beheld Our two first Parents, yet the only two Of mankind, in the happy garden plac'd, Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, Uninterrupted joy, unrival'd love, In blissful solitude; he then survey'd Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there Coasting the wall of Heav'n on this side Night In the dun air sublime, and ready now
To stoop with wearied wings and willing feet On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd Firm land imbosom'd, without firmament, Uncertain which, in ocean or in air. Him God beholding from his prospect high, Wherein past, present, future, he beholds, Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake :
Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage Transports our adversary? whom no bounds Prescrib'd, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss' Wide interrupt can hold; so bent he seems On desperate revenge, that shall redound Upon his own rebellious head.
Through all restraint broke loose he wings his
Not far off Heav'n, in the precincts of light, Directly tow'rds the new created world, And man there plac'd, with purpose to assay If him by force he can destroy, or worse, By some false guile pervert; and shall per- vert,
For Man will hearken to his glozing lies, And easily transgress the sole command, Sole pledge of his obedience: so will fall, He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault? Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me All he could have; I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such 1 created all th' eternal powers
And spirits, both them who stood and them who fail'd;
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have giv'o sincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith or love, Where only what they needs must do appear'd, Not what they would? what praise could they receive?
What pleasure I from such obedience paid, When will and reason (reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd, Made passive both, had serv'd Necessity, Not me? They, therefore, as to right belong'd, So were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, As if predestination over-rul'd
Their will, dispos'd by absolute decree
Of high foreknowledge; they themselves de- creed
Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no less prov'd certain unfore- known.
So without least impulse or shadow of fate, Or ought by me immutably forescen, They trespass, authors to themselves in all Both what they judge and what they chuse;
All Heav'n, and in the blessed spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd: Beyond compare the Son of God was seen Most glorious; in him all bis Father shone Substantially express'd; and in his face Divine compassion visibly appear'd,
Love without end, and without measure
Which uttering thus he to his father spake:
O Father! gracious was that word which [grace; clos'd Thy sov'reign sentence, that Man should find For which both Heav'n and Earth shall high
Incompass'd shall resound thee ever blest. For should Man finally be lost, should Man, Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest son, Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd
With his own folly? that be from thee far, That far be from thee, Father, who art judge Of all things made, and judgest only right. Or shall the Adversary thus obtain His end, and frustrate thine shall be fulfil His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought, Or proud return, though to his heavier doom, Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to Hell Draw after him the whole race of Mankind,
By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself Abolish thy creation, and unmake For him, what for thy glory thou hast made? So should thy goodness and thy greatness both [fence. Be question'd and blasphem'd without de- To whom the Creator thus reply'd: O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, Son of my bosom, Son who art alone My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all As my eternal purpose hath decreed:
Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely vonchsard; once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit and in- thrall'd
By sin to foul exorbitant desire; Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand On even ground against his mortal foe, By me upheld, that he may know how frail His fall'n condition is, and to me owe All his deliverance, and to none but me. Some I have chosen of peculiar grace Elect above the rest; so is my will:
The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd Their sinful state, and to appease hetimes Th' incensed Deity, while offer'd grace Invites ; for I will clear their senses dark What may suffice, and soften stony hearts To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. To pray'r, repentance, and obedience due, Though but endeavour'd with sincere intent, Mine ears shall not be slow, mine eyes not shut.
And I will place within them as a guide, My umpire Conscience, whom if they will hear,
Light after light well ns'd they shall attain, And to the end persisting, safe arrive. This my long suff'rance and my days of grace, They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;
But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more, That they may stumble on, and deeper fall; And none but such from mercy I exclude. But yet all is not done; Mau disobeying, Disloyal breaks his fealty, aud sins Against the high supremacy of Heav'n, Affecting Godhead, and so losing all, To expiate his treason hath nothing left, But to destruction, sacred and devote, He with his whole posterity must die; Dis he or Justice must; unless for bim Some other able, and as willing, pay The rigid satisfaction, death for death. Say, heav'nly Pow`rs, where shall we find such
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem Man's mortal crime, and just th' unjust to 'save?
Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?
He ask'd, but all the heav'nly quire stood mute,
And silence was in Heav'n on Man's behalf Patron or intercessor none appear'd, Much less that durst upon his own head draw The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set. And now without redemption all Mankind Must have been lost, adjudg'd to Death and Hell
By doom severe, had not, the Son of God, In whom the fulness dwells of love divine, His dearest meditation thus renew'd.
Father, thy word is past, Man shall find grace; [way, And shall Grace not find means, that finds her The speediest of the winged messengers, To visit all thy creatures, and to all Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought? Happy for Man, so coming; he her aid Can never seek, once dead in sius and lost; Atonement for himself or offering meet, Indebted and undone, hath none to bring: Behold me then; me for him, life for life I offer; on me let thine anger fall; Account me Man; I for his sake will leave Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee Freely put off, and for him lastly die Well pleas'd; ou me let Death wreck all his rage;
Under his gloomy power I shall not long Lie vanquish'd; thou hast giv'n me to pos-
Life in myself for ever; for thee I live, Though now to Death I yield, and am his due All that of me can die, yet that debt paid, Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome
His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul For ever with corruption there to dwell; But I shall rise victorious, and subduc My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil; Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop
Inglorious of his mortal sting disarm'd. I through the ample air, in triumph bigb, Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and [the sight The powers of darkness bound. Thou, at Pleas'd, out of Heav'n shalt look down and
While by thee rais'd I ruin all my foes, Death last, and with his carcase glut the
Then with the multitude of my redeem'd Shall enter Heav'n long absent, and return
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