Almighty Maker doth dispence To earthy creatures heavenly influence By it with angels swiftness are our eyes Exalted to the glory of the skies In whose bright character the light divine Which flesh cannot behold doth dimly shine Thus was the first Day made God so call'd Light Sever'd from Darkness Darkness was the Night Canto II. AGain spoke God the trembling waters move Part flie up in thick mists made clouds above Part closer shrink about the earth below But did not yet the mountains dry heads show Th' allforming Word stretcht out the Firmament Like azure curtains round his glorious Tent And in its hidden chambers did dispose The magazines of Hail and Rain and Snows Amongst those thicker clouds from whose dark womb Th' imprison'd winds in flame and thunder come Those Clouds which over all the wondrous Arch Like hosts of various formed creatures march And change the Scenes in our admiring eyes Who sometimes see them like vast mountains rise Sometimes like pleasant Seas with clear waves glide Sometimes like Ships on foaming billows ride Sometimes like mounted warriours they advance And seem to fire the smoaking Ordinance Sometimes like shady Forests they appear Here Monsters walking Castles rising there Scorn Princes your embroider'd Canopies And painted roofs the poor whom you despise With far more ravishing delight are fed While various clouds sayl o're th' unhoused head And their heav'd eyes with nobler scenes present Than your Poetick Courtiers can invent Thus the exalted waters were dispos'd And liquid Skies the solid world enclos'd To magnifie the most almighty hand That makes thin floods like rocks of crystal stand Not quenching nor drunk up by that bright wall Of fire which neighbouring them encircles all The new built Firmament God Heaven nam'd And over all the Arch his windows fram'd From whence his liberal hand at due time pours Upon the thirsty earth refreshing showers And clothes her bosome with descending Snow To cherish the young seeds when cold winds blow Hence every night his fatning dews he sheds And scatters Pearls amidst th' enamel'd beds But when presumptuous sins the bright arch scale He beats them back with terrifying hail Which like small shot amidst his foes he sends Till flaming Thunder his great Ordnance rends The clouds which big with horror ready stand To pour their burthens forth at his command But th' unpolluted air as yet had not From mortals impious breath infection got Enlightned then by a superiour ray A serene lustre deckt the second day Th' inferiour Globe was fashion'd on the third When waters at the all-commanding word Did hastily into their channels glide And the uncover'd hills as soon were dried In the same body thus distinct and joyn'd Water and earth as flesh and blood we find The late collected waters God call'd Seas Springs Lakes streams and broad Rivers are from these Brancht like life-feeding veins in every land Yet wheresoe're they seem to flow or stand As all in the vast Oceans bosome bred They daily reassemble in their head Which thorough secret conduits back conveys To every Spring the tribute that it pays So ages from th' Eternal bosome creep So lose them selves again in that vast deep So Empires so all other humane things With winding streams run to their native springs So all the goodness mortals exercise Flows back to God out of his own supplies Now the great fabrick in all parts compleat Beauty was call'd forth to adorn the seat Where Earth fixt in the Centre was the ground A mantle of light air compast it round Then first the watrie then the fiery wall And glittering heaven last involving all Earth's fair green robe vi'd with the azure skies Her proud Woods near the flaming Towers did rife The valleys Trees though less in breadth and height Yet hung with various fruit as much delight Beneath these little shrubs and bushes sprung With fair flowers cloth'd and with rich berries hung Whos 's more delightful fruits seem'd to upbraid The tall trees yielding only barren shade Then sprouted Grass and Herbs and Plants Prepar'd to feed the earth's inhabitants To glad their nostrils and delight their eyes Revive their spirits cure their maladies Nor by these are the senses only fed But th' understanding too while we may read In every leaf lectures of Providence Eternal Wisdom Love Omnipotence Which th' eye that sees not with Hells mists is blind That which regards not is of bruitish kind The various colours figures powers of these Are their Creators growing witnesses Their glories emblems are wherein we see How frail our humane lives and beauties be Even like those flowers which at the Sun-rise spread Their gawdy leaves and are at evening dead Yet while they in their native lustre shine The Eastern Monarchs are not half so fine In richer robes God clothes the dirty soyl Than men can purchase by their sin and toyl Then rather Fields than painted Courts admire Yet seeing both think both must feed the fire Only Gods works have roots and seeds from whence They spring again in grace and excellence But mens have none like hasty lightning they Flash out and so for ever pass away This fair Creation finisht the third day In whose end God did the whole work survey The Seas the Skies the Trees and less plants view'd And by his approbation made them good In all the plants did living seeds enclose Whence their successive generations rose Gave them those powers which in them still remain Whereby they man and beast with food sustain Thrice had the day to gloomy night resign'd And thrice victorious o're the darkness shin'd Before the mediate cause of it the Sun Or any star had their creation For with th' Omnipotent it is all one To cause the day without or by the Sun God in the world by second causes reigns But is not tied to those means he ordains Let no heart faint then that on him depends When the means fail that lead to their wisht ends For God the thing if good will bring about With instruments we see not or without The fourth Light having now expell'd the shade God on that day the Luminaries made And plac'd them all in their peculiar sphears To measure out our days and months and years Which by their various motions are renew'd And heat and cold have their vicissitude So Springs and Autumns still successive be Till ages lose them in Eternity The Sun whom th' Hebrews Gods great servant call Plac'd in the middle Orb as Lord of all Is in a radiant flaming chariot whirl'd And dayly carried round abut the world By the first Movers force who in that race Scatters his light and heat in every place Yet not at once Now in the East he shines And then again to'the Western deep declines Seeming to quench his blazing taper there While it enlightens the
other Hemisphere Thus he their share of day and night divides Unto each world in their alternate tides But then its Orb by its own motion roll'd Varies the seasons brings in heat and cold As it projects its rays in a straight line Or more obliquely on the Earth doth shine And thus doth he to the low world dispense Life-feeding and engendring influence This Lord of Day with his reflected light Guilds the pale Moon the Empress of the night Whose dim Orb monthly wastes and grows Doth at the first sharp pointed horns disclose Then half then her full shining Globe reveals Which waining she by like degrees conceals The other glittering Planets now appear Each as a King enthron'd in his own Sphear Then the eighth heaven in fuller lustre shines Thick set with stars All these were made for signs That mortals by observing them might know Due times to cultivate the earth below To gather fruits plant trees and sow their seed To cure their herds and let their fair flocks breed Into safe harbours to retire their ships Again to launch out into the calm deeps Their wandring vessels in broad seas to guide When the lost shores no longer are descried Physicians to direct in their great art And other useful knowledge to impart Nor were they only made for signs to shew Fit opportunities for things we do But in their various aspects too we read Various events which shall in time succeed Droughts inundations famines plagues and wars By several conjunctions of the Stars At least shewn if not caus'd through the strong powers And workings Astral bodies have on ours Which as above they variously are joyn'd So are their subjects here below enclin'd To sadness mirth dread quiet love or hate All that may calm or trouble any state Yet are they but a second cause which God Shakes over sinners as a flaming rod And further manages in his own hands To scourge the pride of all rebellious lands Falsely and vainly do blind mortals then To them impute the fates and ills of men When their sinister operations be Only th' effects of mens iniquitie Which makes the Lord his glittering hosts thus send To execute the just threats they portend Nor are they characters of wrath alone They sometimes have Gods grace to mankind shown Such was that new Star which did heaven adorn When the great King of the whole word was born Such were those stars that fought for Israel When Jabins vanquisht host by Gods host fell Even those Stars which threaten misery and woe To wicked men to Saints deliverance show For when God cuts the bloody Tyrant down He will their lives with peace and blessings crown Thus the fourth evening did the fourth day close And where the Sun went down the Stars arose New triumph now the fifth day celebrates The perfum'd morning opes her purple gates Through which the Suns Pavilion doth appear And he array'd in all his lustre there Like a fresh Bridegroom with majestique grace And joy diffusing vigour in his face Comes gladly forth to greet his virgin bride Trick'd up in all her ornaments and pride Her lovely maids at his approach unfold Their gaudie vests on which he scatters gold Both chearing and enriching every place Through which he passes in his glorious race But though he found a noble Threatre As yet in it no living creatures were Though flowry carpets spread the whole Earths face And rich embroideries the upper Arch did grace And standards on the mountains stood between Bearing festoones like pillars wreath'd with green The velvet couches and the mossy seats The open walks and the more close retreats Were all prepar'd Yet no foot trod the woods Nor no mouth yet had toucht the pleasant floods No weary creature had repos'd its head Among the sweet perfumes of the low bed The air was not respir'd in living breath Throughout a general stilness reign'd like death The King of day came forth but unadmir'd Like unprais'd gallants blushingly retir'd As an uncourted beauty Nights pale Queen Grew sick to shine where she could not be seen When the Creator first for mute herds calls And bade the waters bring forth animals Then was all shell-fish and each Scaly race At once produc'd in their assigned place The crooked Dolphins great Leviathan And all the Monsters of the Ocean Like wanton kids among the billows play'd Nor was there after on the dry land made Any one beast of less or greater kind Whose like we do not in the waters find Where every greater fish devours the less As mighty Lords poor Commoners oppress Next the Almighty by his forming Word Made the whole plumie race and every bird It s proper place assign'd while with light wings All mounted heaven some o're the lakes and springs Some over the vast Fens and Seas did flie Some near the ground some in the cloudy skie Some in high trees their proud nests built some chose The humble shrubs for their more safe repose Some did the marshes some the rivers love Some the Corn-fields and some the shady grove That silence which reign'd every where before It s universal Empire held no more Even night and darkness its own dear retreat Could not preserve it in their reign compleat The Nightingales with their complaining notes Ravens and Owls with their ill-boding throats And all the birds of night shrill crowing Cocks Whose due kept times made them the worlds first clocks All interrupted it even in the night But at the first appearance of the light A thousand voyces the green woods whole quire With their loud musick do the day admire The Lark doth with her single carol rise To welcome the fair morning in the skies The amorous and still complaining Dove Courts not the day but woes her own fair love The Jays and Crows against each other rayl And chattering Pies begin their gossips tale Thus life was carri'd on which first begun In growth of plants in fishes motion And next declar'd it self in living sound Whilst various noise the yielding air did wound Various instincts the Birds by nature have Which God to them in their creation gave That unto their observers do declare The storms and calms approaching in the air That teach them how to build their nests at spring And hatch their young under their nursing wing To lead abroad and guard their tender brood To know their hurtful and their healing food To feed them till their strength be perfect grown And after teach them how to feed alone Could we the lessons they hold forth improve We might from some learn chaste and constant love Conjugal kindness of the paired Swans Paternal Bounty of the Pelicans While they are prodigal of their own blood To feed their chickens with that precious food Wisdome of those who when storms threat the Skie In thick assemblies to their shelter flie And those who seeing devourers in the air To the safe covert of the wing repair
with strangers for the souls surprize And let all life-perturbing passions in Which with tears sighs and groans issue again Nor do those Labyrinths which like brest-works are About those secret Ports serve for a Bar To the false Sorcerers conducted by Mans own imprudent Curiosity There is an Arch i' the middle of the face Of equal necessary use and grace For there men suck up the life-feeding air And panting bosomes are discharged there Beneath it is the chief and beauteous gate About which various pleasant graces wait When smiles the Rubie doors a little way Unfold or laughter doth them quite display And opening the Vermillion Curtains shows The Ivory piles set in two even rows Before the portal as a double guard By which the busie tongue is helpt and barr'd Whose sweet sounds charm when love doth it inspire And when hate moves it set the world on fire Within this portals inner vault is plac't The palate where sense meets its joys in tast On rising cheeks beauty in white and red Strives with it self white on the forehead spread Its undisputed glory there maintains And is illustrated with azure veins The Brows Loves bow and beauties shadow are A thick set grove of soft and shining hair Adorns the head and shews like crowning rays While th'airs soft breath among the loose curls plays Besides the colours and the features we Admire their just and perfect Symmetrie Whose ravishing resultance is that air That graces all and is not any where Whereof we cannot well say what it is Yet Beauties chiefest excellence lies in this Which mocks the Painters in their best designs And is not held by their exactest lines But while we gaze upon our own fair frame Let us remember too from whence it came And that by sin corrupted now it must Return to its originary dust How undecently doth pride then lift that head On which the meanest feet must shortly tread Yet at the first it was with glory crown'd Till Satans fraud gave it the mortal wound This excellent creature God did Adam call To mind him of his low Original Whom he had form'd out of the common ground Which then with various pleasures did abound The whole Earth was one large delightful Field That till man sin'd no hurtful briars did yield But God enclosing one part from the rest A Paradise in the rich spicie East Had stor'd with Natures wealthy Magazine Where every plant did in its lustre shine But did not grow promiscously there They all dispos'd in such rich order were As did augment their single native grace And perfected the pleasure of the place To such a height that th' apelike art of man Licentious Pens or Pencils never can With all th' essays of all presuming wit Or form or feign ought that approaches it Whether it were a fruitful Hill or Vale Whether high Rocks or Trees did it impale Or Rivers with their clear and kind embrace Into a pleasant Island form'd the place Whether its noble scituation were On Earth in the bright Moon or in the Air In what forms stood the various trees and flowers The disposition of the walks and bowers Whereof no certain word nor sign remains We dare not take from mens inventive brains We know there was pleasant and noble shade Which the tall growing Pines and Cedars made And thicker coverts which the light and heat Ev'n at noon day could scarcely penetrate A crystal River on whose verdant banks The crowned fruit-trees stood in lovely ranks His gentle wave thorough the garden led And all the spreading roots with moysture fed But past th' enclosure thence the single stream Parted in four four noble floods became Pison whose large arms Havilah enfold A wealthy land enricht with finest gold Where also many precious stones are found The second river Gihon doth surround All that fair land where Chus inhabited Where Tyranny first rais'd up her proud head And led her blood-hounds all along the shore Polluting the pure stream with crimson gore Edens third river Hiddekell they call Whose waters Eastward in Assiria fall The fourth Euphrates whose swift stream did run About the stately walls of Babylon And in the revolution of some years Swell'd high fed with the captiv'd Hebrews tears God in the midst of Paradise did place Two trees that stood up drest in all the grace The verdure beauty sweetness excellence With which all else could tempt or feast the sense On one apples of knowledge did abound And life-confirming fruit the other crown'd And now did God the new created King Into the pleasures of his earthly palace bring The air spice balm and amber did respire His ears were feasted by the Sylvan Quire Like country girls grass flowers did dispute Their humble beauties with the high born fruit Both high and low their gawdy colours vied As Courtiers do in their contentious pride Striving which of them should yield most delight And stand the finest in their Soveraigns sight The shrubs with berries crown'd like precious gems Offer'd their supreme Lord their Diadems Which did no single sense alone invite Courting alike the eyes and appetite Among all these the eye-refreshing green Sometimes alone sometimes in mixture seen O're all the banks and all the flat ground spread Seem'd an embroider'd or plain velvet bed And that each sense might its refreshment have The gentle air soft pleasant touches gave Unto his panting limbs whenever they Upon the sweet and mossie couches lay A shady Eminence there was whereon The noble creature sate as on his throne When God brought every Fowl and every Brute That he might Names unto their natures suit Whose comprehensive understanding knew How to distinguish them at their first view And they retaining those names ever since Are monuments of his first excellence And the Creators providential grace Who in those names left us some prints to trace Nature mysterious grown since we grew blind Whose Labyrinths we should less easily find If those first appellations as a clue Did not in some sort serve to lead us through And rectifie that frequent gross mistake Which our weak judgements and sick senses make Since man ambitious to know more that sin Brought dulness ignorance and error in Though God himself to man did condescend Though his knowlege to all natures did extend Though heaven and earth thus centred in his mind Yet being the only one of his whole kind He found himself without an equal mate To whom he might his joys communicate And by communication multiply Too far out of his reach was God on high Too much below him bruitish creatures were God could at first have made a humane pair But that it was his will to let man see The need and sweetness of societie Who though he were his Makers Favourite Feasted in Paradise with all delight Though all the creatures paid him homage yet Was not his unimparted joy compleat While there was not