Fix'd their immov'd abode, and there prefent
An endless landscape of created things
To fight celeftial, where angelic eyes
Are loft in profpect; for the fhiny range,
Boundless and various, in its bofom bears
Millions of full-proportion'd worlds, beheld
With stedfaft eyes, 'till more arise to view,
And farther inward fcenes ftart up unknown.
Myriads of feraphs in long feries wait
About the throne, and as it moves, proceed
In numerous order, to celeftial fong.
Above, the fymphony of mellow flutes,
And harps, by flying angels gently touch'd,
•Relieve the trumpet's rage, and fitly blend
The folemn founds in harmony divine;
Such as might tune new worlds, and give the laws
To globes on high, and the juft figure guide
Of planets forming all their airy dance.
Below, the blazing wheels drive bounding o'er
The starry pavement; ftars and hills of light
Double their glories where the chariot rolls
With rattling found; and th' empyræum vaft
Down to its stedfaft axis, groans throughout
Under the burning tracts, 'til now it refts
Upon the gaping brink of heaven; and there
With open pomp, fills the vast empty space.
Silence enfues; a deep and aweful pause
More terrible, all expectation held
In horror: now wrath imminent amaz'd
With dreadful precipice, to all it seems
More formidable near; then from the throne
A vocal thunder roll'd the sense of God,
Majestically long, repugnant all
To princes' customs here; their judgments flash
On guilt, with words concife, and fudden blaze.
Quite otherwise, the God's enlarged speech
Set wide the fate of things; that all around
Might take full profpects of their coming doom.
Servants of God! and Virtues great in arms We approve your faithful works, and you return Blefs'd from the dire pursuit of rebel foes ; Refolv'd, obdurate, they have try'd the force Of this right hand, and known Almighty pow'r; Transfix'd with lightning down they funk, they fell Into the fiery gulph, and deep they plunge Below the burning waves, to hide their heads In fhelter from my vengeance bellowing hence More fierce, and scorching with more dreadful fires.
There let 'em find their doom, that durft defy
Omnipotence, and flight his proffer'd grace;
Rolling in flames, and ne'er to find a dawn
Of heavenly day; instead, the mind imbibes
Eternal gloom, and fing'd with constant flames,
Can find no eafe; while fierce their boiling rage
Eats through th' impyreal mould, and glows within
With endless pain; not one repentant thought
Shall cool the breast, but proud in horrid crime,
The foul anneals and hardens in the fire..
But you commiffion'd by commands divine,
Have wifely fill❜d your truft, and clos'd 'em all
Within the fervid lake, left any roam
Into the dark abyfs to fhun their doom,
And in the womb immense of things unborn
Should feek annihilation; you must rise
Among the shining Virtues more fublime;
On lofty thrones preferr'd for lofty deeds.
For you, ye guilty throng! that lately join'd
In this fedition, fince feduc'd from good,
And caught in trains of guile, by fpirits malign,
Superior in their order; you accept,
Trembling, my heavenly clemency and grace.
When the long æra once has fill'd its orb,
You fhall emerge to light, and humbly here
Again fhall bow before his favouring throne,
If your own virtue fecond my decree :
But all must have their manes first below,
So stands th' eternal fate, but smoother yours
Than what loft angels feel; nor can our reign,
Without just dooms, the peace of heav'n fecure;
For forms celestial new erect in glory
Would totter, dazzled with the heights of power,
Did not the nerves of justice fix their fight.
See, where below in Chaos wond'rous deep
A fpeck of light dawns forth, and thence throughout
The fhades, in many a wreath, my forming power
There swiftly turns the burning eddy round,
Absorbing all crude matter near its brink;
Which next, with fubtle motions, takes the form
I please to stamp, the feed of infant worlds
All now in embryo, but ere long shall rife
Variously scatter'd in this vast expanse,
Involv'd in winding orbs, until the brims
Of outward circles brush the heavenly gates.
The middle point a globe of curling fire
Shall hold, which round it sheds its genial heat;
Where'er I kindle life the motion grows
In all the endless orbs, from this machine;
And infinite viciffitudes fhall roll
About the reftlefs center; for I rear,
In those meanders turn'd, a dusty ball,
Deform'd all o'er with woods, whofe fhaggy tops
Inclose eternal mifts, and deadly damps
Hover within their boughs, to choak the light;
Impervious scenes of horror, 'till reform'd
To fields, and graffy dales, and flow'ry meads,
By your continual pains. The torrid zone
Here fries with conftant heat, the fwarthy world;
Parching the plains where hideous monsters glare,
And dusty mountains, tumbled by the winds,
Stretch their uncertain heaps; no less the froft
At either end fhall rage, and high fhall raise
Firm promontories; vaft the ruins feem
Of defart nature, and th' eternal piles
Load all the dreary coaft, and thick in ice,
Arm either pole, that yearly peeps afkance
On coming light, but feels no gentle ray
Unbind the frozen chain. Between these lie
The changeful climes, alternately they burn,
And chill again by turns; for both extremes
Make their incurfions here; and this my
will
Unchangeable ordains your doleful feat.
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