The fmelling Gourd, up ftood the Corny Reed Embattell'd in her Field: and the humble Shrub, And Bufh with frizl'd Hair implicit : last Rofe as in Dance the ftately Trees, and spread Their Branches hung with Copious Fruit; or gem'd Their Bloffoms: with high Woods the Hills were (crown'd,
With Tufts the Valleys, and each Fountain fide, With Borders long the Rivers. That Earth now Seem'd like to Heav'n,a Seat where Gods might dwell Or wander with Delight, and love to haunt Her Sacred Shades: though God had yet not rain'd Upon the Earth, and Man to Till the Ground None was, but from the Earth a dewy Mift Went up and water'd all the Ground, and each Plant of the Field, which e're it was in th' Earth God made, and every Herb, before it grew On the green Stem; God faw that it was Good. So Ev'n and Morn recorded the third Day.
Of the Sun, Moon, and Stars:
A Gain th' Almighty pake: let there be Lights High in th' expanfe of Heav'n to divide
The Day from Night; and let them be for Signs, For Seafons, and for Days, and circling Years, And let them be for Lights as I ordain Their Office in the Firmament of Heav'n To give Light on the Earth; and it was fo.
And God made Two great Lights, great for their use To Man, the greater to have Rule by Day, The lefs by Night altern and made the Stars,
And fet them in the Firmament of Heav'n T'illuminate the Earth; and Rule the Day In their Viciffitude, and Rule the Night, And Light from Darkness to divide. God faw, Surveying his great Work, that it was Good : For of Celestial Bodies firft the Sun
A mighty Sphere he fram'd, unlightsome first, Though of Ethereal Mold: then form'd the Moon Globofe, and every magnitude of Stars
And fow'd with Stars the Heav'n thick as a Field: Of Light by far the greater Part he took, Tranfplanted from her cloudy Shrine, and plac'd In the Sun's Orb, made porous to receive And drink the liquid Light, firm to retain Her gather'd Beams, great Palace now of Light. Hither as to their Fountain other Stars Repairing in their Golden Urns draw Light, And hence the Morning Planet guilds her Horns; By Tincture or Reflection they augment Their fmall peculiar, though from humane Sight So far remote, with Dimunition feen. Firft in his Eaft the Glorious Lamp was feen, Regent of Day, and all th' Horizon round Invested with bright Rays, jocund to run
His Longitude through Heav'ns high Road; the grey Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd Shedding fweet Influence: lefs bright the Moon, But oppofite in level'd Weft was fet
His mirrour, with full Face borrowing her Light From him, for other Light fhe needed none In that Afpeft, and ftill that Distance keeps Till Night, then in the Eaft her Turn fhe Shines; Revolv'd on Heav'ns great Axle; and her Reign "With Thousand leffer Lights dividual holds, With thousand thousand Stars that then appear'd Dangling the Hemifphere; then first adorn'd
With the bright Luminaries that fit, and rofe, Glad Evening and glad Morn crown'd the fourth day.
AND God faid, let the Waters generate Reptile with Spawn abundant, living Soul: And let Fowl fly above the Earth, with Wings. Difplay'd on th open Firmament of Heav'n. And God created the great Whales, and each Soul Living, each that crept, which plenteously The Waters generated by their Kinds, And every Bird of Wing after his Kind; And faw that it was Good, and blefs'd them, faying Be fruitful, multiply, and in the Seas
And Lakes, and running Streams the Waters fill;. And let the Fowl he multiply'd on th' Earth, Forthwith the Sounds and Seas, each Creek and Bay With Frie innumerable Swarm, and Shoals Of Fish that with their Finns and fhining Scales Glide under the Green Wave, in Sculls that oft Bank the mid Sea: part fingle or with Mate Graze the Sea-Weed their Pafture, and thro' Groves Of Coral ftray, or fporting with quick Glance Shew to the Sun their wav'd Coats dropt with Gold, Or in their Pearly Shells at eafe, attend
Moift Nutriment, or under Rocks their Food In joynted Armour watch: on fimooth the Seal And bended Dolphins play: part huge of bulk Wallowing unweildie, enormous in their Gate Tempest the Ocean: there Leviathan
Hugest of Living Creatures, on the Deep Stretch'd like a Promontory Sleeps or Swims,
And seems a moving Land, and at his Gills Draws in, and at his Trunk (pouts out a Sea.
Ean while the Tepid Caves,and Fens and Shores Their Brood as numerous Hatch, from th' Egg (that foon
Burfting with kindly Rupture forth disclos'd Their callow young, but feather'd foon and fledg'd They fun'd their Pens, and foaring th' Air sublime With clang defpis'd the Ground, under a Cloud- In Profpect; there the Eagle and the Stork On Cliffs and Cedar Tops their Eyries build: Part loofly wing the Region, part more wife In common, rang'd in Figure wedge their way, Intelligent of Seafons, and fet forth
Their airy Caravan high over Seas
Flying, and over Lands with mutual Wing Eafing their Flight; fo fteers the prudent Crane Her annual Voyage, born on Winds: the Air Floats, as they pafs,fann'd with unnumber'd Plumes From Branch to Branch the fmaller Birds with Song Solac'd the Woods, and fpread their painted Wings Till Ev'n, nor then the folemn Nightingale
Ceas'd Warbling, but all Night tun'd her foft lays; Others on filver Lakes and Rivers bath'd Their downy Breaft; the Swan with arched Neck Between her white Wings mantling proudly, rows Her state with Gary Feet: yet oft they quit The Dank, and rifing on ftiff Pennons, towre The mid Aereal Sky: Others on ground
Walk'd firm; the crefted Cock whofe Clarion founds The filent Hours, and th' other whofe gay Train Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue
Of Rainbows and Starr-Eyes. The Waters thus With Fish replenish'd, and the Air with Fowl, Ev'ning and Morn folemniz'd the fifth Day.
'HE Sixth, and of Creation laft arofe
With Evening Harps and Matin, when God faid, Let th' Earth bring forth Fowl living in her Kind, Cattel and creeping Things, and Beast of th' Earth, Each in their Kind. The Earth obey'd, and ftrait Op'ning her fertile Womb teen'd at a Birth Innumerous Living Creatures, perfect Forms, Limb'd and full grown: Out of the ground up rofe. As from his Lair, the wild Beast where he wons In Forrest wild, in Thicket, Brake or Den; Among the Trees in Pairs they rofe, they walk'd: The Cattel in the Fields and Meadows green : Those rare and folitary, these in Flocks
Pafturing at once, and in broad Herds up fprung, The graffy Clods now calv'd, now half appear'd The tawny Lyon, pawing to get free
His hinder Parts, then Springs as broke from Bonds, And rampant fhakes his brinded Main; the Ounce, The Libbard and the Tygre, as the Moal Rifing, the crumbl'd Earth above them threw In Hillocks: the swift Stag from under ground Bore up his Branching Head: fcarce from his mold Behemoth biggest Born of Earth upheav'd
His vaftnefs: Fleec'd the Flocks and bleating rofe,
« PreviousContinue » |