To future men, and in their dwellings peace; 185 Good out of evil to create, in stead Of spirits malign a better race to bring 190 195 So sang the Hierarchies. Mean while 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 200 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: heaven open'd wide 205 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, 211 214 Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds Said then th' omnific Word, your discord end. Follow'd in bright procession to behold 220 Creation, and the wonders of his might. 225 Round through the vast profundity obscurę, And said, thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, This be thy just circumference, O world. 231 Thus GOD the heaven 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 Spirit of GOD outspread, And vital virtue infus'd and vital warmth Throughout the fluid mass, but downward purg'd 214 And] Newton would read 'In surging waves;' it seems better, says Todd, as the Doctor observes, to say of the sea, 'in surging waves,' than 'by.' 224 fervid] Hor. Od. i. i. 4. 'Metaque fervidis Evitata rotis.' Hume. The black, tartareous, cold, infernal, dregs, 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, Spher'd in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun 246 Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle Sojourn'd the while. GOD saw the light was good; 250 And light from-darkness by the hemisphere Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung By the celestial choirs, when orient light 255 Exhaling first from darkness they beheld, And touch'd their golden harps, and hymning prais'd Amid the waters, and let it divide The waters from the waters: and GOD made The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, In circuit to the uttermost convex 229 founded] Rounded. Bentl. MS. 265 Of this great round; partition firm and sure, Dividing: for as earth, so he the world 270 275 280 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, 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 heav'd 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, 285 290 295 For haste; such flight the great command imprest 300 Troop to their standard, so the wat'ry throng, And saw that it was good, and said, Let th' earth 316 He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then 302 serpent] See Strabo, ix. 424. Ap. Rhod. iv. 1541. Davies ad Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. 42. Solin. Polyhist. cxxiv. 4. x. Virg. Georg. i. 244. Senecæ Thyestes, 869. Peele's Works by Dyce, ii. 11, ed. 1829: and Sandys' Psalms, p. 170. 'With snake-like glide between the bordering hills.' 302 wand'ring] Winding. ii. 56. Bentl. MS. |