the Archangel Uriel's description of Creation; from Paradise Lost

Satan has escaped Hell and travelled through the void of Chaos to reach our Universe. He spots Uriel in the sun and disguises himself as a Cherub. Satan tells Uriel that he has left the choir of angels to see Earth for himself, and asks Uriel where it is. Uriel's answer:

"Fair angel, thy desire which tends to know

The works of God, thereby to glorify

The great Work-Master, leads to no excess

That reaches blame, but rather merits praise

The more it seems excess, that led thee hither

From thy empyreal mansion thus alone,

To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps

Contended with report hear only in Heav'n:

For wonderful indeed are all his works,

Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all

Had in remembrance always with delight;

But what created mind can comprehend

Their number, or the wisdom infinite

That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep.

I saw when at his word the formless mass,

This world's material mold, came to a heap:

Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar

Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined;

Till at his second bidding darkness fled,

Light shone, and order from disorder sprung:

Swift to their several quarters hasted then

The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire,

And this ethereal quintessence of heav'n

Flew upward, spirited with various forms,

That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars

Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;

Each had his place appointed, each his course,

The rest in circuit walls this universe.

Look downward on that globe whose hither side

With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;

That place is Earth the seat of man, that light

His day, which else as th' other hemisphere

Night would invade, but there the neighboring moon

(So call that opposite fair star) her aid

Timely interposes, and her monthly round

Still ending, still renewing, through mid-heav'n;

With borrowed light her countenance triform

Hence fills and empties to enlighten th' Earth,

And in her pale dominion checks the night.

That spot to which I point is Paradise,

Adam's abode, those lofty shades his bow'r. *

Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires."

Thus said, he turned, and Satan bowing low,

As to superior spirits is wont in Heav'n,

Where honor due and reverence none neglects,

Took leave, and toward the coast of Earth beneath,

Down from th' ecliptic, sped with hoped success,

Throws his steep flight in many an airy wheel,

Nor stayed, till on Niphates' top he lights. **

* - bower, n. A dwelling, habitation, abode. In early use lit. A cottage; in later use a poetical word for ‘abode’.

** - Niphates is a mountain chain in Armenia.