Lest it again dissolve, and show'r the earth?
To whom th' Archangel: Dextrously thou aim'st: So willingly doth God remit his ire, Though late repenting him of man deprav'd, Griev'd at his heart, when looking down he saw The whole earth fill'd with vi'lence, and all flesh Corrupting each their way; yet those remov'd, Such grace shall one just man find in his sight, That he relents, not to blot out mankind, And makes a covenant never to destroy The earth again by flood, nor let the sea Surpass his bounds, nor rain to drown the world With man therein or beast; but when he brings Over the earth a cloud, will therein set His triple colour'd bow, whereon to look, And call to mind his cov'nant: day and night, Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary frost, Shall hold their course, till fire purge all things new, Both Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell.
THE ARGUMENT. The Angel Michael continues from the food to relate what shall succred;
then, in the mention of Abraham, com:. by degrees 10 explain the that seel of the woman shall le, which was promisel Adam and Et in the fall; his incarnation, death, resurrection, ans ascension; the scale of the church till his second coming. Asan greatly satisfied and re-comforted by these relations an.I promers, descends the hil with Michael ; wakens Eve, who all ihis while had skpt, but with gentle dreams composed 19 quietness of mind and submission. Michad in vi her hand leads them out of Parudise, he fiery sword u aving behind them, and the Cherubin rak eng iheir stations to guard the place,
A Sone who in his journey baits at noon, (pausd A Though bent on speed; so here th Archangel, twixt the world destroy'd and world restor'd, 13
mm aught perhaps might interpose: *
Then with transition sweet new speech resumes: ..
Thus thou hast seen one world begin and end;
And Man as from a second stock proceed.
Much thou hast yet to see; but I perceive
Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine
Must needs impair and weary human sense: .
Henceforth what is to come I will relate,
Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.
This second source of men, while yet but few,
And while the dread of judgment past remains
Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,
With some regard to what is just and right
Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace;
Lab'ring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,
Cørn, wine, and oil, and from the herd or flock,
Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,
With large wine-offerings pour'd, and sacred feast,
Shall spend their days in joy unblam'd, and dwell
Long time in peace, by families, and tribes,
Under paternal rule; till one shall rise
of proud ambitious heart, who, not content
With fair equality, fraternal state,
Will arrogate dominion undeservd
Over his brethren, and quite dispossess
Concord and law of nature from the earth,
Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)
With war and hostile snare such as refuse
Subjection to his empire tyrannous:
A inighty hunter thence he shall be styl'd
Before the Lord, as in despite of Heav'n,
Or from Heav'n claiming second soy'reignty;
And from rebellion shall derive his name,
Though of rebellion others he accuse.
He with a crew, whom like ambition joins
With him or under him to tyrandize,
Marching from Eden towards the west, shall find
The plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge
Boils out from under ground, the mouth of hell:
Of brick, and of that stuff they cast to build
A city and tow'r, whose top may reach to Heav'n;
: - Det d. 14 M 5 : ;
And get themselves a name; lest far dispersed
In foreign lands their memory be lost,
Regardless whether good or evil fame.
But God, who oft descends to visit men
Unseen, and through their habitations walks
To mark their doings, them beholding soon,
Comes down to see their city, ere the tow'r
Obstruct Heav'n-tow'rs, and in derision sets
Upon their tongues a various sp'rit, to raze
Quite out their native language, and instead
To sow a jangling noise of words unknown.
Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud
Among the builders, each to other calls
Not understood, till hoarse, and all in rage,
As mock'd they storm; great laughter was in Heav'n,
And looking down to see the hubbub strange,
And hear the din; thus was the building left
Ridiculous, and the work Confusion nam'd.
Whereto thus Adam fatherly displeas'd:
O execrable son, so to aspire
Above his brethren, to himself assuming
Authority usurp'd from God not giv'n:
He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
Dominion absolute: that right we hold
By his donation: but man over men
He made not lord; such title to himself
Reserving, human left from humaa free.
But this usurper his incroachment proud
Stays not on man; to God his tow'r intends
Siege and defiance. Wretched man! what food
Will he convey up thither to sustain
Himself and his rash army, where thin air
Above the clouds will pine his entrails gross,
And famish him of breath, if not of bread?
To whom thus Michael: Justly thou abhorr'st
That son, who on the quiet state of men
Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue
Rational liberty; yet known withal,"
Since thy original lapse, true liberty
Is lost, which always with right reason dwells
Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being:
Reason in man obscur’d, or not obey'd, ; . is
Immediately inordinate desires
And upstart passions catch the goveroment i :
From reason, and to servitude reduce
Man till then free. Therefore, since he permits
Within himself unworthy pow'rs to reign
Over free reason, God, in judgment just,
Subjects him from without to violent lords;
Who oft as undeservedly inthral
His outward freedom: tyranny must be,
Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.
Yet sometimes nations will decline so low
From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,
But justice, and some fatal curse annex d,
Deprives them of their outward liberty,
Their inward lost: witness th' irreverent son
Of him who built the ark, who, for the shame
Done to his father, heard this heavy curse,
Servant of servants, on his vicious race.
Thus will this latter, as the former world,
Still tend from bad to worse, till God at last,
Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw
His presence from among them, and avert
His holy eyes, resolving from thenceforth
To leave them to their own polluted ways;
And one peculiar nation to select
From all the rest, of whoin to be invok'd,
A nation from one faithful man to spring:
Him on this side Euphrates yet residing:
Bred up in idol worship: O that men
(Canst thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,
While yet the patriarch liv'd, who scap'd the flood,
As to forsake the living God, and fall
To worship their own work in wood and stone
For gods! get him God the inost High vouchsafes
To call by vision from his father's house,
His kindred and false gods, into a land
Which he will show him, and from hin will raise
A mighty nation, and upon him show'r
His benediction so, that in his seed
All nations shall be bless'd; he straight obeys,
Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes.
I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith
He leaves his gods, his friends, and native soil,
Ur of Chaldea, passing now the ford.
To Haran, after him a cumb'rous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude;
Not wand'ring poor, but trusting all his wealth
With God, who calld him in a land unknown.
Canaan he now attains; I see his tents
Pitch'd about bechem, and the neighb'ring plain
Of Moreh; there by promise he receives
Gift to his progeny of all that land,
From Hamath northward to the desart south,
(Things by their names I call, though yet unnam'd)
From Hermon east to the great western sea;
Mount Hermon, yonder sea, each place behold
In prospect, as I point them; on the shore
Mount Carmel: here the double-founted stream,
Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons
Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.
This ponder, that all nations of the earth
Shall in his seed be blessed : by that seed
Is meant thy great deliverer, who shall bruise
The serpent's head; whereof to thee anon
Plainlier shall be reveald. This patriarch blessd,
Whom faithful Abraham due time sball call,
A son, and of his son a grandchild leaves,
Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown.
The grandchild, with twelve sons increas'd, departs
From Canaan, to a land hereafter call'd
Egypt, divided by the river Nile::
See where it flows, disgorging at sev'n mouths
Into the sea. To sojourn in that land
He comes, invited by a younger son
In time of dearth; a son, whose worthy deeds
Raise him to be the second in that realm :
Of Pharaoh: there he dies and leaves his race
Growing into a nation, and now grown
Suspected to a sequent king who seeks t
A To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests (slaves Too numerous ; whence of guests be makes them
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