Victorious with his Saints, th' 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

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Drew many, whom their place knows here no more;
Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,
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 dispeopled 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 menit rais'd
They open to themselves at length the way
Up hither, under long obedience try'd,

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

One kingdom, joy and union without end.
Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye Pow'rs 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

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I send along; ride forth, and bid the deep

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Within appointed bounds be Heav'n 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 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,
Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heav'n,
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
And th' habitations of the just; to him
Glory and praise, whose wisdom hath 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

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Immense, and all his Father in him shone.
About his chariot numberless were pour'd
Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,
And Virtues, winged Spi'rits, and chariots wing'd
From th' 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: Heav'n 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.

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On heav'nly 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
Heav'n's height, and with the centre mix the pole.
Silence, ve troubled 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.
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 center'd, and the other turn'd
Round through the vast profundity obscure,
And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
Thus be thy just 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 wat'ry calm
His brooding wings the Spi'rit 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-balanc'd, 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 airy gloom began,
Spher'd in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun
Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle

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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 ev'n and morn:

Nor pass'd 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 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 occan, 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 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
Prolific humour soft'ning all her globe,
Fermented the great mother to conceive,
Satiate with genial moisture, when God said
De gather'd now, ye waters, under Heav'n
Into one place, and let dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear

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