As one who, in his journey, baits at noon,
Tho' bent on speed ; so here the Archangel paused,
Betwixt the world destroy'd, and world restored ;
If Adam aught, perhaps might interpose :
Then, with transition sweet, new speech resumes.
"Thus thou hast seen one world begin, & 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, & attend.
This second source of men, while yet but few,
And while the dread of judgment pass'd remains
Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,
With some regard to what is just and right,
Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace,
Labouring the soil, & reaping plenteous crop,
Corn, wine, & oil: & from the herd or flock,
Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid.
With large wine-offerings pour'd, & sacred feast,
Shall spend their days in joy, unblamed, & 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 undeserved,
Over his brethren, and quite dispossess
Concord and law of nature from the earth;
Hunting, & men, not beasts, shall be his game,
With war and hostile snare, such as refuse
Subjection to his empire tyrannous :
A mighty hunter thence he shall be styled
Before the Lord, as in despite of Heaven,
Or from Heaven claiming second sovereignty;
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 tyrannize,
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 & tower, whose top may reach to Heaven;
And get themselves a name, lest, far dispers’d
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 tower
Obstruct Heaven's towers; and in derision, sets
Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase
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 Heaven,
And looking down, to see the hubbub strange,
And hear the din : thus was the building left
Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named."
Whereto thus Adam, fatherly displeased.
“O execrable son, so to aspire
Above his brethren, to himself assuming
Authority, usurp'd from God, not given !
He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
Dominion absolute; that right we hold
By his donation; but man
He made not lord : such title to himself
Reserving, human left from human free.
But this usurper his encroachment proud
Stays not on man: to God his tower 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 abhor'st
That son, who on the quiet state of men
Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue
Rational liberty; yet know withal,
Since thy original lapse, true liberty
Is lost, which always with right reason dwells
Twin'd, and from her hath no dividual being :
Reason in man obscured, or not obey'd,
Immediately inordinate desires,
And upstart passions, catch the government
From reason, and to servitude reduce
Man, till then free. Therefore, since he permits,
Within himself, unworthy powers to reign
Over free reason, God, in judgment just,
Subjects him, from without, to violent lords :
Who oft, as undeservedly, inthrall
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 loss. Witness the 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 whom to be invoked ;
A nation, from one faithful man to spring :
Him, on this side Euphrates yet residing,
Bred up in idol-worship.
Ő that men,
Canst thou believe? should be so stupid grown,
While yet the patriarch lived, who 'scap'd the flood.
As to forsake the living God, and fall
To worship their own work, in wood and stone,
For gods! Yet him God the Most High vouchsafes
To call, by vision, from his father's house,
His kindred, and false gods, into a land
Which he will show him, & from him will raise
A mighty nation, and upon him shower
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, & native soil,
Ur of Chaldea; passing now the ford
To Haran, after him a cumbrous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude;
Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth
With God, who call’d him, in a land unknown.
Canaan he now attains; I see his tents
135
Pitch'd about Sechem, and the neighb'ring plain
Of Moreb; there, by promise, he receives
Gift to his progeny of all that land,
From Hamath northward to the desert south,
Things by their names I call, though yet unnamed, 140
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
145 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
150 Plainlier shall be reveal’d. This patriarch bless'd, Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call, A son, and of his son a grandchild leaves, Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown : The grandchild, with twelve sons increased, departs 155 From Canaan, to a land hereafter call’d Egypt, divided by the river Nile; See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths Into the sea : to sojourn in that land He comes, invited by a younger son
160 In time of dearth ; a son, whose worthy deeds Raise him to be the second in that realm Of Pharaoh ; there he dies, & leaves his race Growing into a nation; and now grown Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks
165 To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves, Inhospitably, and kills their infant males : Till by two brethren, those two brethren call Moses and Aaron, sent from God, to claim
170 His people from enthralment, they return With glory & spoil, back to their promised land. But first the lawless tyrant, who denies To know their God, or message to regard, Must be compellid, by signs & judgments dire ; 175 To blood unshed the rivers must be turn'd; Frogs lice, and flies, must all his palace hill, With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land :
His cattle must of rot and murrain die;
Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss,
And all his people; thunder mix'd with hail,
Hail mix'd with fire, must rend the Egyptian sky,
And wheel on the earth, devouring where it rolls;
What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,
A darksome cloud of locusts, swarming down,
Must eat, & on the ground leave nothing green ;
Darkness must overshadow all his bounds,
Palpable darkness, and blot out three days ;
Last, with one midnight stroke, all the first born
Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus, with ten wounds,
The river-dragon tamed, at length submits
To let his sojourners depart, and oft
Humbles his stubborn heart, but still, as ice
More harden'd after thaw; till, in his rage,
Pursuing whom he late dismiss'd, the sea
Swallows him with his host; but them lets pass,
As on dry land, between two crystal walls,
Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand
Divided, till his rescued gain their shore ;
Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend,
Though present in his Angel; who shall go
Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire,
By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire,
To guide them in their journey, and remove
Behind them, while the obdurate king pursues :
All night he will pursue; but his approach
Darkness defends between, till morning watch :
Then through the fiery pillar and the cloud
God looking forth, will trouble all his host,
And craze their chariot-wheels : when, by command,
Moses once more his potent rod extends
Over the sea ; the sea his rod obeys.
On their embattled ranks the waves return,
And overwhelm their war, The race elect,
Safe towards Canaan, from the shore advance,
Through the wild desert; not the readiest way,
Lest entering on the Canaanite alarmed,
War terrify them, inexpert, and fear
Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather
Inglorious life, with servitude; for life,
To noble and ignoble, is more sweet
Untrain'd in arms, where rashness leads not on.
This also shall they gain, by their delay
In the wide wilderness ; there they shall found
Their government, & their great senate choose
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