Is this the Kingdom? faid the fall'n Arch-angel (z).. Is this the Soil, the Climate? This the Seat that we must exchange for Heaven? This difmal Gloom for that heavenly Light? Then be it fo; fince he who is now abfolute Sovereign can decree and bid what fhall be right; to be fartheft from him is beft, fince he whom Reason makes but equal, Force hath made fupreme above his Equals. Ye happy Fields where Joy dwells for ever! Farewell. Hail Horrors! Hail' this infernal World! and thou profoundeft Hell, fartheft from Heaven, receive me! I am thy new Poffeffor, I am one who bring a Mind which is not to be chang'd by Time or Place; for the Mind is its own Place, and can of itself make a Heaven of Hell, or a Hell of Heaven. What Matter is it where I am, if I am ftill the fame, and what I fhould be, only that I am lefs than he, whom Thunder has made greater? At leaft here we shall be free, the Thunderer hath not built this Place for his Envy, he will not drive us out from hence, we may reign fecure here, and if I am to make my Choice, I fhould think it worth my Ambition to, reign, though but in Hell; thinking it better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven. But why do we let our faithful Friends, the numerous Companions, and Copartners of our Lofs, lie thus aftonish'd on the Gulph of burning Fire, and not call them to share with us their Part alfo in this unhappy Habitation, or with reunited Arms to try what may be yet recover'd in Heaven, or what more is poffible to be loft in Hell. So fpoke SATAN, and BEELZEBUB reply'd: (z) Arch Angel, Gr. i. e. An Arch or Principal Angel, who has Power over others. See Dan. 8. 16. Luk. 1. 19. Rev. 12. 7. LEADER Here Satan. And probably he is the only Arch-Angel that is out of Heaven. LEADER of those bright Armies, which none but the Omnipotent could ever have overcome; if they but once hear that Voice, their greateft Surety of Hope in Fears, and Dangers, which they have fo often heard in the worst Extreams, and which in the hazardous Edge of Battle, and in all Affaults has been their fureft Signal, they will foon recover, take new Courage, and revive, though they now lie in extreme Mifery, and proftrate on yonder Lake of Fire, as we not long fince did, aftonifh'd and confounded, which is no Wonder, confidering that we fell from fuch a dangerous Height. He had scarce done fpeaking when the fuperior Fiend SATAN was moving towards the Shore; his heavy Shield of heavenly Workmanship, maffy, large, and round, was caft behind him; the broad Compafs of it hung on his Shoulders like the Moon, whofe Orb the TUSCAN (a) Artift (b) views through optic Mathematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; who invented thofe Glaffes whereby he discovered Spots in the Sun, Mountains, Rivers, &c. in the Moon; the Nature of the Milky-Way; the various Appearances of Saturn; many new Stars about Orion and Cancer; and 62,500 Stars, whereof 63 only appeared to the bare Eye. For thefe ufeful Difcoveries he was imprisoned five Years by the Inquifition, condemned by Pope Urban 8, forc'd to recant at 60, and died at 78 Years of Age, A. D. 1642. But that firft Invention was owing to Roger Bacon, Fellow of Martin-College of Oxford, long before Galilao. And others af cribe optic Glaffes in an Evening, from the Top of FESOLE, (c) or elfe in VALDARNO, (d) to difcover Mountains, Rivers, or new Lands on her Globe; the talleft Pine hewn on the Mountains of NORWAY, to be a Maft for the Ship of fome great Admiral, were but little in Comparison of his Spear, with which he walked to fupport his uneafy Steps over the burning Sulphur, (not like his former Steps in Heaven) and the Heat of Hell fmote on him fore befides, for it was furrounded and cover'd with Fire; nevertheless he endur'd it, 'till he came to the Brink of that inflamed Sea, where he stood and call'd his Legions, Angelick Forms, who lay intranc'd and confounded with their Fall; as thick as Leaves in Autumn, that fall into the Brooks in VALOMBROSA, (e) where the Trees cover over and fhade the Stream; or like fcatter'd Sedge afloat, when ORION, (f) attended with boisterous Winds, hath vexed the Coast of the RED-SEA, (g) C whofe -cribe it to Mr. James Metius of Amfterdam. But Galila o brought it to vaft Perfection. (c) Fefola; vulg. Fiesole and Fiezzole; call'd Feffale by Tit. Livius, Pliny, and Silius Italicus. It was an antient City of Tuscany near Florence, the Refidence of the Tufcan Augurs, who taught the old Romans their fuperftitious Divinations, Sacrifices, &c. Here the great Galilao refided, and made his Astronomical Obfervations from the Top of the Towers thereof. (d) Valdarno; Ital. from the Lat. i. e. The Valley on the River Arnus. It is a fruitful Vale on the River Arno, which runs through Tuscany and by Florence into the Tuscan Sea. (e) Vallombrofa; Ital. Lat、 whofe Waves overthrew BUSIRIS (b) and his MEMPHIAN (1) Horfemen and Chariots, while with treacherous Hatred they purfu'd the ISRAELITES, who from the fafe Shore beheld their Carcafes floating, and their broken Chariot Wheels; fo thick lay thefe, abject and loft, in a Manner covering the Flood, and in the utmoft Confternation and Amazement at their hideous and unhappy Change. call'd it Rythra, i. e. Red, which the Greeks turned into Erythra or Erythras, and the Latins into Mare Erythraum, i. e. The Red Sea. But in the Hebrew it is called Suph, i. e. The Sea of Sedge or Weeds, which grow and float upon it in Abundance. This Sea parts Egypt from Arabia, and therefore it is called alfo the Arabian Gulf. (b) Bufiris; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. A Manager of Oxen; because he butcher'd Men like Oxen. A cruel Tyrant of Egypt in the Time of Mofes, who under a Pretence of intreating Strangers, facrificed them upon his Altars, He built the famous City of Zoan or Tanais, and made it the Seat of his Kingdom. This Fable fignifies that Pharaoh, who put the Ifraelites to a very hard Slavery like Oxen; for which Hercules, the true Mofes, deftroy'd him and all his Attendants in the Red-Sea. Some call him Amenophis, but others Cenchres. (i) Memphian; of or belonging to Memphis; Heb. i. e. A populous Country or great City. In Heb. it's called Moph and Noph, which the Greeks turned into Memphis. This great City was built, as fome fay, a little before the Flood; and being afterwards repair'd and enlarg'd, it became the Royal City of Egypt, 'till the Time of the Ptolomies, who refided at Alexandria ; because it was built by Alexander the Great. It was a great City, feven Leagues in Circuit; because in Length of Time four Cities became one; and stood on the Weft Side of the Nile. It was destroy'd by the Arabs, as the Prophets foretold; and out of its Ruins they built another on the other Side of the River, call'd Alcair, Heb. i. e. The City; which the French call Grand Cairo, i. e. The Great City. Here it is taken for the whole People of Egypt, in the Days of Bufiris. СНАР, CHA P. II. Satan awakens all his Legions, who lay 'till then confounded; they rife. Their Numbers. Array of Battle. Their chief Leaders nam'd, according to the Idols known in Canaan and the Countries adjoining. S ATAN call'd fo loud, that his Voice refounded through all the hollow Deep of Hell. PRINCES, (k) Potentates, () Warriors, chief Powers of Heaven, which once was yours, but now is loft; if fuch an Aftonishment as this can feize eternal Spirits, or rather have you chofe this Place to repose your weary'd Virtue in, after the Fatigues of the Battle, for the Eafe you find to flumber here, as if it were in the bleffed Manfions of Heaven; or have ye fworn in this abject Manner to worship the Conqueror, who even this Minute beholds Cherubim and Seraphim rowling in the Flood, with their Banners and Enfigns - fcatter'd, 'till perhaps e'er long, those who purfu'd us out of Heaven difcern the Advantage, and defcend→ ing from above, thus drooping as we are, tread us down; or with Thunder-bolts link'd together, transfix us to the very Bottom of this Gulph: Therefore awake, arife now, or elfe be for ever fallen! |