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By vifion, found thee in the temple', and fpake
Before the altar and the vested priest,

Like things of thee to all that present stood.
This having heard; ftrait I again revolv'd

The law and prophets, fearching what was writ 260
Concerning the Meffiah, to our fcribes

Known partly, and foon found of whom they fpake

I am; this chiefly, that my way must lie
Through many a hard affay ev'n to the death,
Ere I the promis'd kingdom can attain,
Or work redemption for mankind, whofe fins
Full weight must be transferr'd upon my head.

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Yet neither thus difhearten'd or dismay'd,

The time prefix'd I waited, when behold

The Baptift (of whofe birth I oft had heard,

270

Not knew by fight) now come, who was to come

Before Meffiah and his way prepare.

I as all others to his baptifm came,

Which I believ'd was from above; but he

Strait knew me, and with loudest voice proclam'd
Me him (for it was shown him so from Heaven) 276
Me him whofe harbinger he was; and first
Refus'd on me his baptifm to confer,

As much his greater, and was hardly won:
But as I rofe out of the laving ftream,

;

manner of intimacy or acquaintance with each other. John the Baptift fays expressly John I. 31, 33. And I knew him not; and he did not fo much as know him by fight, till our Saviour came to his baptifm and afterwards it doth not appear that they ever converfed together. And it was wifely ordered fo by Providence, that the teftimony of John might have the greater weight, and be freer from all fufpicion of any compact or collufion between them.

278. Refus'd on me his baptifm to confer,

As much his greater,] Here Milton uses the word greater in the

280 Heav'n

fame manner as he had done before, Parad. Loft. V. 172.

Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and foul, Acknowledge him thy greater.

And this, I think, is a proof that the prefent reading there is right, and that both Dr. Bentley's emendation and mine ought abfolutely to be rejected. Thyer.

280.- out of the laving fream,] Alluding, I fancy, to the phrafe laver of regeneration fo frequently applied to baptifm. It may be observed in general of this foliloquy of our Saviour, that it is not only excellently well adapted to the pre

fent

Heav'n open'd her eternal doors, from whence
The Spi'rit defcended on me like a dove,
And last the sum of all, my Father's voice,
Audibly heard from Heav'n, pronounc'd me his,
Me his beloved Son, in whom alone

285
He was well pleas'd; by which I knew the time
Now full, that I no more should live obfcure,
But openly begin, as beft becomes

fent condition of the divine fpeaker, but also very artfully introduc'd by the poet to give us a hiftory of his hero from his birth to the very fcene with which the poem is open'd. Thyer.

281. eternal doors] So in Pfal. XXIV. 7, 9. everlasting doors. 286. the time

Now full,] Alluding to the Scripture phrafe, the fulness of time. When the fulness of time was come &c Gal. IV. 4.

293. For what concerns my know ledge God reveals. ] Jefus was led by an inward impulfe to retire into the defert: and he obey'd the motion, without knowing the purpose of it, for that was not reveal'd to him by God. The whole foliloquy is form'd upon an opinion,which hath authorities enough to give it credit, viz. that Chrift was not, by virtue of the personal union of the two natures, and from the first moment of that union, pof

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Th' authority

fefs'd of all the knowledge of the
AoroE, as far as the capacity
of a human mind would admit. [See
Le Blanc's Elucidatio Status Con-
troverfiarum &c. Cap. 3.] In his
early years he increas'd in wif
dom, and in ftature. St. Luke II. 52.
And Beza obferves upon this place,
that ipfa 67n7 plenitude
manitati affumtæ infinuavit: quic-
fefe, prout & quatenus ipfi libuit, hu-
quid garriant matæologi, & novi
Ubiquitarii Eutychiani. Gerhard,
a Lutheran professor of divinity,
has the fame meaning, or none at
all, in what I am going to tran-
fcribe. Anima Chrifti, juxta
naturalem, & habitualem fcientiam
vere profecit, xóy omnifcio érép-
year fuam, quæ eft actu omnia
fcire & cognofcere, per affumtam
humanitatem non femper exerente.
[Joh. Gerhardi Loci Theol. Tom. I.
Loc. 4. Cap. 12.] Grotius employs
the fame principle, to explain St.
Mark XIII. 32. Videtur mihi,
ni meliora docear, hic locus non

Th' authority which I deriv'd from Heaven.
And now by some strong motion I am led
Into this wilderness, to what intent

I learn not yet, perhaps I need not know
For what concerns my knowledge God reveals.
So fpake our Morning Star then in his rise,
And looking round on every fide beheld
A pathlefs defert, dusk with horrid fhades;

impie poffe exponi hunc in mo-
dum, ut dicamus divinam Sapiens
tiam, menti humanæ Chrifti effec-
tus fuos impreffiffe pro temporum ra-
tione. Nam quid aliud eft, fi verba
non torquemus, Tegenomle copia,
Luc. II. 52?
And our Tillotson
approv'd the opinion." It is
not unreasonable to fuppofe, that
"the Divine Wisdom, which dwelt
" in our Saviour, did communi-
"cate itself to his human foul ac-
"cording to his pleasure, and fo
"his human Nature might at fome
"times not know fome things.
"And if this be not admitted,
"how can we understand that paf-
"fage concerning our Saviour,
"Luke II. 52. that Jefus grew in
wisdom and ftature? [Sermons
Vol. IX. P. 273.] Grotius could
find fcarce any thing in antiquity
to fupport his explication: but
there is fomething in Theodoret
very much to his purpofe, which
I owe to Whitby's Stricture Pa-
trum. P. 190. της δολα мода

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290

295

The

ons,ut videtur,] TOIDUTA NAT2 EXCI-
vo τε καιρό γινώσκεσης, ὅσα ἡ ενοι

800 DEOTHS QTenaλvfe. Non eft Dei Verbi ignorantia, fed Formæ Servi, quæ tanta per illud tem→ pus fciebat, quanta Deitas inhabi-' tans revelabat. Repreh. Anath. quarti Cyrilli, Tom. 4. P. 713. If fome things might be fuppos'd unknown to Chrift, without prejudice to the union, being not reveal'd to him by the united Word, it will follow that, till fome certain time, even the union itself might be unknown to him. This time feems to have been, in Milton's scheme, after the foliloquy; but before the forty days of fafting were ended, and the Demon enter'd upon the fcene of action: and then was a fit occafion to give him a feeling of his own ftrength, when he was juft upon the point of being attack'd by fuch an Adverfary. Calton.

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294. So fpake our Morning Star] So our Saviour is called in the Revelation XXII. 16. the bright and

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The

way

he came not having mark'd, return

Was difficult, by human steps untrod;

And he still on was led, but with fuch thoughts
Accompanied of things paft and to come

Lodg'd in his breast, as well might recommend
Such folitude before choiceft fociety.

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Full forty days he pass'd, whether on hill

Sometimes, anon in fhady vale, each night,

Under the covert of some ancient oak,

3

Or cedar, to defend him from the dew,
Or harbour'd in one cave, is not reveal'd;
Nor tafted human food, nor hunger felt
Till those days ended, hunger'd then at last

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