There let them learn, as likes them, to despise
God, and Messiah his anointed King.

He said, and on his Son with rays direct
Shone full; he all his Father full expressed,
Ineffably into his face received;

And thus the Filial Godhead answering spake.

O Father, O Supreme of heavenly Thrones, First, Highest, Holiest, Best! Thou always seek'st To glorify thy Son, I always thee,

As is most just this I my glory account,

My exaltation, and my whole delight,

That thou in me well pleased, declar'st thy will
Fulfilled, which to fulfil is all my bliss.
Sceptre and power, thy giving, I assume,
And gladlier shall resign, when in the end
Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee
For ever; and in me all whom thou lov'st:
But whom thou hat'st, I hate, and can put on
Thy terrours, as I put thy mildness on,

Image of thee in all things; and shall soon,

Armed with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebelled;

To their prepared ill mansion driven down,

To chains of darkness and the undying worm;

That from thy just obedience could revolt,

Whom to obey is happiness entire.

Then shall thy Saints unmixed, and from the impure

Far separate, circling thy holy mount,

Unfeigned Halleluiahs to thee sing,

Hymns of high praise, and I among them Chief.
So said, he, o'er his sceptre bowing, rose

From the right hand of Glory where he sat;

And the third sacred morn began to shine,

Dawning through Heaven. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound

The chariot of Paternal Deity,

Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn, Itself instinct with Spirit, but convoyed

By four Cherubick shapes; four faces each

Had wonderous; as with stars, their bodies all,
And wings were set with eyes; with eyes, the wheels

Of beryl, and careering fires between :

Over their heads a crystal firmament,

Where, on a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure
Amber, and colours of the showery arch,
He, in celestial panoply all armed

Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought!
Ascended at his right hand Victory

Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow
And quiver, with three-bolted thunder stored;
And from about him fierce effusion rolled

Of smoke, and bickering flame, and sparkles dire:
Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,
He onward came; far off his coming shone ;
And twenty thousand (I their number heard)
Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen :
He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime
On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,
Illustrious far and wide; but by his own
First seen them unexpected joy surprised,
When the great ensign of Messiah blazed,
Aloft by Angels borne, his sign in Heaven:
Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced

His army, circumfused on either wing,
Under their Head imbodied all in one.

Before him Power Divine his way prepared;
At his command the uprooted hills retired

Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went
Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed,
And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled.
This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured,
And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,
Insensate! hope conceiving from despair.

In heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?
But (to convince the proud what signs avail,
Or wonders move the obdurate to relent)
They, hardened more by what might most reclaim,
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
Took envy; and aspiring to his highth,

Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud
Weening to prosper, and at length prevail
Against God and Messiah; or to fall
In universal ruin last: and now

To final battle drew, disdaining flight,

Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God

To all his hosts on either hand thus spake.

Stand still in bright array, ye Saints! here stand, Ye angels armed! this day from battle rest! Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause: And as ye have received, so have ye done, Invincibly. But of this cursed crew The punishment to other hand belongs : Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints.

Number to this day's work is not ordained,
Nor multitude; stand only, and behold
God's indignation on these godless poured
By me; not you, but me, they have despised;
Yet envied against me is all their rage,
Because the Father, to whom in Heaven supreme
Kingdom, and power, and glory appertains,
Hath honoured me according to his will.
Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned;
That they may have their wish, to try with me
In battle which the stronger proves; they all,
Or I alone against them; since by strength
They measure all, of other excellence
Not emulous, nor care who them excels;
Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.
So spake the Son, and into terrour changed
His countenance, too severe to be beheld,
And full of wrath bent on his enemies.

At once the Four spread out their starry wings,
With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs
Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.
He on his impious foes right onward drove,
Gloomy as night: under his burning wheels
The steadfast empyréan shook throughout;
All but the throne itself of God. Full soon
Among them he arrived; in his right hand
Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent
Before him, such as in their souls infixed
Plagues they, astonished, all resistance lost,
All courage; down their idle weapons dropt:

O'er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode
Of Thrones, and mighty Seraphim prostráte,
That wished the mountains now might be again
Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.
Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
His arrows, from the four-fold visaged Four,
Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels
Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;

One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye

Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire Among the accursed, that withered all their strength, And of their wonted vigour left them drained, Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
His thunder in mid volley; for he meant

Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven.
The overthrown he raised, and as a herd

Of goats, or timorous flock, together thronged,
Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued
With terrours, and with furies, to the bounds
And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide,
Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
Into the wasteful deep: the monstrous sight

:

Struck them with horrour backward, but far worse Urged them behind headlong themselves they threw Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

Hell heard the unsufferable noise, Hell saw Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.