"And hear the din: thus was the building left 65 "Above his brethren; to himself assuming 66 66 Stays not on man; to God his tower intends Siege and defiance. Wretched man! what food 75" Will he convey up thither, to sustain "Himself, and his rash army; where thin air "Justly thou abhorr'st 80 "That son, who on the quiet state of men "Is lost, which always with right reason dwells 85"Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being: "Reason in man obscur'd, or not obey'd, "Immediately inordinate desires, "And upstart passions, catch the government 90" Man, till then free. Therefore, since he permits "Within himself unworthy powers to reign "Over free reason, God, in judgment just, 66 Subjects him from without to violent lords; "Who oft as undeservedly enthral 95"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, 100 "Deprives them of their outward liberty; 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 "Their inward lost: witness the irreverent son "Thus will this latter, as the former world, "From all the rest, of whom to be invok'd- "To worship their own work in wood and stone "His kindred, and false gods, into a land "Which He will show him, and from him will raise "A mighty nation; and upon him shower "His benediction so, that in his seed "All nations shall be blest: he straight obeys- "To Haran; after him a cumb'rous train "Of herds, and flocks, and numerous servitude; "Pitched about Sichem, and the neighb'ring plain "From Hamath northward to the desert south; 66 140 (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, 145 "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 bless'd: by that seed "Is meant thy great Deliv'rer, who shall bruise 150 "The serpent's head; whereof to thee anon "Plainlier shall be reveal'd. This patriarch blest, "Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call, “A son, and of his son a grand-child, leaves; "Like him in faith, and wisdom, and renown. 155 160 165 "The grand-child, with twelve sons increas'd, departs "From Canaan, to a land hereafter call'd 66 'Egypt, divided by the river Nile : "See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths "He comes, invited by a younger son "In time of dearth; a son, whose worthy deeds "Of Pharaoh: there he dies, and leaves his race 66 Growing into a nation; and, now grown, "Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks "To stop their over-growth, as inmate guests "Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves Inhospitably; and kills their infant males; 66 "Till by two brethren (these two brethren call 170"Moses, and Aaron) sent from God to claim "His people from enthralment, they return "With glory, and spoil, back to the promis'd land. "But first the lawless tyrant, who denies X 180 "To know their God, or message to regard, 175 "Must be compelled by signs, and judgments dire; "To blood unshed the rivers must be turn'd; "Frogs, lice, and flies, must all his palace fill "With loath'd 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 th' earth, devouring where it rolls; "What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain, 185 "A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down "Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green; "Darkness must overshadow all his bounds— 190 195 66 66 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 tam'd at length submits "To let his sojourners depart, and oft "Humbles his stubborn heart, but still, as ice 200 "Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend, 205 "Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire 66 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, 210"And craze their chariot-wheels: when, by command, "Moses once more his potent rod extends 215 220 "Over the sea, the sea his rod obeys; "Safe towards Canaan, from the shore advance 66 "Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather "Untrain'd in arms, where rashness leads not on. "In the wide wilderness-there they shall found 225" Their government, and their great senate choose "Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordain'd. "God from the mount of Sinai, (whose gray top "Shall tremble, He descending,) will himself "In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets' sound, 230"Ordain them laws-part, such as appertain "To civil justice-part, religious rites 235 "Of sacrifice; informing them, by types 240"Without Mediator, whose high office now "One greater, of whose day he shall fortel; "And all the prophets in their age the times "Of great Messiah shall sing. Thus laws and rites. 245 "Establish'd, such delight hath God in men "Obedient to his will, that He vouchsafes |