Or from Heav'n claiming second Sov'reignty;
And from Rebellion fhall derive his name,
Though of Rebellion others he accuse.
He with a crew, whom like Ambition joyns
With him or under him to tyrannize,
Marching from Eden towards the Weft, fhall find
The Plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge
Boiles out from under ground, the mouth of Hell;
Of Brick, and of that Stuff they caft to build
A City and Tow'r, whose top may reach to Heav'n;
And get themselves a name, left far disperst
In foreign Lands their memory be loft,
Regardless whether good or evil fame.
But God who oft defcends to visit men
Unseen, and through their habitations walks
To mark their doings, them beholding foon,
Comes down to see their City, ere theTow'r
Obftru&t Heav'n'sTow'rs, and in derifion fets
Upon their Tongues a various Spirit to rase
Quite out their Native Language, and instead
To fow a jangling noise of words unknown :
Forthwith a hideous gabble rifes loud
Among the Builders; each to other calls
Not understood, till hoarfe, and all in rage,
As mockt 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.
execrable Son fo to afpire
Above his Brethren, to himself assuming
Authority ufurpt, from God not giv'n:
He gave us only over Beast, Fish, Fowl,
Dominion abfolute; that right we hold
By his donation; but Man over men
He made not Lord; fuch title to himfelf
Reserving, human left from human free.
But this Ufurper his encroachment proud
Stays not on Man; to God his Tow Pintends
Siege and defiance. Wretched man! what food
Will he convey up
thither to fuftain
Himself and his rath Army, where thin
Above the Clouds will pine his entrails grofs,
And famifh him of Breath, if not of Bread?
To whom thus Michaël. Justly thou abhorr'ft
That Son, who on the quiet state of men
Such trouble brought, affecting to fubdue
Rational Liberty; yet know withal,
Since by original lapfe, true Liberty
Is loft, which always with right Realon dwells
Twin'd, and from her hath no dividual being:
Reason in man obfeur dy or not obey'd,
His outward freedom: Tyranny must be,
Though to the Tyrant thereby no excuse.
Yet fometimes Nations will decline fo low
From virtue, which is Reafon, that no wrong,
But Juftice, and fome fatal curfe annext
Deprives them of their outward liberty,
Their inward loft: Witness th' irreverent Son
Of him who built the Ark, who for the shame
Done to his Father, heard his heavy curfe,
Servant of Servants, on his vicious Race.
Thus will this latter, as the former World,
Still tend from bad to worse, till God at laft
Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw
His presence from among them, and avert
His holy Eyes; refolving from thenceforth
To leave them to their own polluted ways;
And one peculiar Nation to felect
From all the reft, of whom to be invok'd,
A Nation from one faithful man to spring:
Him on this fide Euphrates yet refiding,
Bred up in Idol-worship. O that
(Canft thou believe?)fhould be
While yet the Patriarch liv'd, who fcap'd the Flood,
As to forfake the living God, and fall
To worship their own work in Wood and Stone
For Gods! yet him God the most High voutsafes
To call by Vision from his Father's house,
His kindred and falfe Gods, into a Land
Which he will fhew him, and from him will raife
A mighty Nation, and upon him shower
His benediction fo, that in his Seed
All Nations fhall be bleft; he strait obeys,
Not knowing to what Land, yet firm believes:
I fee him, but thou canst not, with what faith
He leaves his Gods, his Friends, and native Soil
Ur of Chaldea, paffing now the ford
To Haran, after him a cumbrous train
Of Herds and Flocks, and numerous Servitude;
Not wandring poor, but trusting all his wealth
With God, who call'd him, in a Land unknown.
Canaan he now attains, Í fee his Tents
Pitcht about Sechem, and the neighbouring Plain
Of Morch; there by promife he receives
Gift to his Progeny of all that Land;
From Hamath Northward to the Desert South
(Things by their names 1 call, tho yet unnam❜d)
From Hermon Eaft to the great Western Sea,
Mount Hermon, yonder Sea, each place behold
In profpect, 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 bleffed; by that Seed
Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruife
The Serpent's head; whereof to thee anon
Plainlier fhall be reveal'd. This Patriarch bleft,
Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call,
Like him in faith, in wifdom, and renown.
From Canaan, to a Land hereafter call'd
Egypt, divided by the River Nile;
A Son, and of his Son a Grand-child leaves,
The Grand-child with Twelve Sons increaft, departs
See where it flows, difgorging at seven mouths
Into the Sea to fojourn in that Land
He comes invited by a younger Son
In time of dearth, a Son whofe worthy deeds
Raife him to be the second in that Realm
Of Pharaoh: there he dies, and leaves his Race
Growing into a Nation, and now grown
Sufpected to a fequent King, who feeks
Toftop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them flaves
Inhospitably, and kills their infant Males :
Till by two brethren (those two brethren call
Mofes and Aaron) fent from God to claim
His people from Enthralment, they return
With glory and spoil back to their promis'd Land.
But firft the lawless Tyrant, who denies
To know their God, or message to regard,
Must be compell'd by Signs and Judgments dire;
To blood unfhed the Rivers must be turn'd,
Frogs, Lice and Flies must all his Palace fill
With loath'd intrufion, and fill all the land;
His Cattle muft of Rot and Murren die,
Botches and blaines must all his flesh imboss,
And all his People; Thunder mixt with Hail,
Hail mixt with fire muft rend th' Egyptian Sky
And wheel on th' Earth, devouring where it rolls.
|