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; [earth, And earth be changed to heaven, and heaven to One kingdom, joy and union without end. Mean while inhabit lax, 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, 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 armory 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, 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 staid; but, on the wings of Cherubim
Uplifted, in paternal glory rode
Far into Chaos, and the world unborn ; For Chaos heard his voice.
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, 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, Etherial, 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 pass'd 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, [praised And touch'd their golden harps, and hymning 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, 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 humor 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 error 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 Of congregated waters, he call'd' seas :' And saw that it was good; and said, 'Let the earth Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed, And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind, Whose seed is in herself upon the earth.'
He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn'd,
Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad Her universal face with pleasant green; Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd Opening their various colors; and made gay Her bosom, smelling sweet: and, these scarce blown,
« PreviousContinue » |