Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays. Others on silver lakes and rivers bath'd
Their downy breast; the swan, with archèd neck Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows Her state with oary feet: yet oft they quit The dank, and rising on stiff pennons tower The mid aërial sky. Others on ground
Walk'd firm; the crested cock, whose clarion sounds The silent hours, and the other, whose gay train Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl, Ev'ning and morn solemnized the fifth day. The sixth, and of creation last, arose
With ev'ning harps and matin; when God said, Let the earth bring forth soul living in her kind, Cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth, Each in their kind. The earth obey'd, and straight Op'ning her fertile womb teem'd at a birth
Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limb'd and full grown. Out of the ground up rose As from his lair the wild beast, where he wonns1 In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;
Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk'd; The cattle in the fields and meadows green : Those rare and solitary, these in flocks Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung. The grassy clods now calved; now half appear'd The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds, And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce, The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole
Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw In hillocks; the swift stag from under ground Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mould Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved
Vone is Saxon for to dwell, to inhabit.-See CHAUCER, Sompnoure's Tale, line 7745. 2 Leopard.
His vastness: fleeced the flocks and bleating rose, As plants: ambiguous between sea and land The river horse and scaly crocodile.
At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, Insect or worm; those waved their limber fans For wings, and smallest lineaments exact In all the liveries deck'd of summer's pride With spots of gold and purple, azure and green: These as a line their long dimension drew, Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all Minims' of nature; some of serpent kind, Wondrous in length and corpulence, involved Their snaky folds and added wings. First crept
The parsimonious emmet, provident
Of future, in small room large heart inclosed, Pattern of just equality perhaps
Hereafter, join'd in her popular tribes
Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd The female bee, that feeds her husband drone Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
With honey stored: the rest are numberless,
And thou their natures know'st, and gav'st them names, Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown
The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field, Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes And hairy mane terrific, though to thee Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
Now heav'n in all her glory shone, and roll'd Her motions, as the great First Mover's hand First wheel'd their course; earth in her rich attire Consummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth, By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk'd Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd; There wanted yet the master work, the end Of all yet done; a creature, who not prone And brute as other creatures, but indued With sanctity of reason, might erect His stature, and upright with front serene
i Something exceedingly small, a dwarf.
Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence Magnanimous to correspond with heav'n ; But grateful to acknowledge whence his good Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes Directed in devotion, to adore
And worship GoD supreme, who made him chief Of all His works: therefore the omnipotent Eternal Father, for where is not He Present ?-thus to his Son audibly spake. Let us make now man in our image, man1 In our similitude, and let them rule Over the fish and fowl of sea and air, Beast of the field and over all the earth,
And every creeping thing that creeps the ground. This said, He form'd thee, Adam, thee, O man, Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed The breath of life: in his own image he Created thee, in the image of God Express, and thou becam'st a living soul. Male he created thee, but thy consort
Female for race; then bless'd mankind, and said, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,
And every living thing that moves on the earth. Wherever thus created, for no place
Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know'st, He brought thee into this delicious grove, This garden, planted with the trees of GOD, Delectable both to behold and taste;
And freely all their pleasant fruit for food
Gave thee, all sorts are here that all th' earth yields, Variety without end; but of the tree,
Which tasted works knowledge of good and evil, Thou may'st not: in the day thou eat'st thou diest;
Death is the penalty imposed; beware,
And govern well thy appetite; lest sin
Surprize thee, and her black attendant death.
Here finish'd He, and all that He had made View'd, and behold all was entirely good; So ev❜n and morn accomplish'd the sixth day : Yet not, till the Creator from His work Desisting, though unwearied, up return'd, Up to the heav'n of heav'ns His high abode, Thence to behold this new-created world, Th' addition of His empire, how it show'd In prospect from His throne, how good, how fair, Answering His great idea. Up He rode, Follow'd with acclamation and the sound Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air
Resounded, thou remember'st, for thou heard'st; The heav'ns and all the constellations rung, The planets in their station list'ning stood, While the bright pomp ascended jubilant. Open, ye everlasting gates, they sung,1 Open, ye heavens, your living doors; let in The great Creator, from His work return'd Magnificent, His six days' work, a world: Open, and henceforth oft; for GOD will deign To visit oft the dwellings of just men Delighted, and with frequent intercourse Thither will send his wingèd messengers On errands of supernal grace. So sung The glorious train ascending: He through heav'n, That open'd wide her blazing portals, led To GOD's eternal house direct the way, A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold, And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear Seen in the galaxy, that milky way
Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest Powder'd with stars. And now on earth the seventh Ev'ning arose in Eden, for the sun
Was set, and twilight from the east came on, Forerunning night; when at the holy mount
1 Psalm xxiv. 7. This Psalm was sung by the Levites when the ark of God was carried up into the sanctuary on Mount
Sion, and is understood as a prophecy of our Lord's ascension.-From NEWTON, and Mant's "Bible."
Of heaven's high seated top, th' imperial throne Of Godhead, fix'd for ever firm and sure,
The Filial Power arrived, and sat Him down With His great Father; for He also went Invisible, yet stay'd, such privilege
Hath Omnipresence, and the work ordain'd, Author and end of all things, and from work Now resting, bless'd and hallow'd the seventh day, As resting on that day from all His work, But not in silence holy kept; the harp
Had work, and rested not; the solemn pipe
And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,
All sounds on fret by string or golden wire, Temper'd soft tunings, intermix'd with voice Choral or unison: of incense, clouds
Fuming from golden censers hid the mount. Creation and the six days' acts they sung; Great are thy works, Jehovah, infinite
Thy power; what thought can measure thee, or tongue Relate thee? greater now in thy return
Than from the giant angels; thee that day Thy thunders magnified; but to create Is greater than created to destroy. Who can impair thee, mighty King, or bound Thy empire? easily the proud attempt Of spirits apostate and their counsels vain Thou hast repell'd, while impiously they thought Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks To lessen thee, against his purpose serves To manifest the more thy might his evil Thou usest, and from thence creat'st more good. Witness this new-made world, another heav'n From heaven gate not far, founded in view On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea; Of amplitude almost immense, with stars Numerous, and every star perhaps a world * Of destined habitation; but thou know'st Their seasons: among these the seat of men, Earth, with her nether ocean circumfused,
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