A one who in his journey bates at noon,
Tho' bent on speed: fo here th' Arch-Angel paus'd,
Betwixt the world deftroy'd and world reftor'd,
If Adam ought perhaps might interpofe:
Then with transition sweet new fpeech refumes.
Thus thou haft feen one world begin and end,
And man as from a fecond stock proceed.
Much thou haft yet to fee; but I perceive
Thy mortal fight to fail: objects divine
Muft needs impair and weary human fenfe,
Henceforth what is to come I will relate,
Thou therefore give due, audience, and attend.
This fecond fource of men, while yet
but few,
And while the dread of judgment past remains
Fresh, in their minds, fearing the Deity,
With fome regard to what is just and right
Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace;
Lab'ring the foil, and reaping plenteous crop,
Corn, wine and oil: and from the herd, or flock,
Oft facrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,
With large wine-offerings pour'd, and facred feaft,
Shall fpend their days in joy unblam'd and dwell
Long time in peace by families and tribes
Under paternal rule: till one shall rife
Of proud ambitious heart; who not content
With fair equality, fraternal state;
Will arrogate dominion undeferv'd
Over his brethren, and quite difpoffefs
Concord and law of nature from the earth;
Hunting, and men, not beasts, shall be his game, 30
With war and hoftile fnare fuch as refufę
Subjection to his empire tyrannous.
A mighty hunter thence he shall be styl'à
Before the Lord; as in defpite of Heav'n,
Of from Heav'n claiming fecond fov'reignty:
And from rebellion fhall derive his name;
Though of rebellion others he accufe.
He with a crew, whom like ambition joins
With him or under him to tyrannize, -
Marching from Eden tow'rds the weft, fhall find
The plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge
Boils out from under ground, the mouth of hell.
Of brick, and of that stuff they caft to build
A city and tow'r, whofe top may reach to Heav'n;
And get themselves a name: lest far difpers'd
In foreign lands their memory be loft;
Regardlefs wether good or evil fame.
But God, who oft defcends to visit men
Unfeen, and through their habitations walks
To mark their doings, them beholding foon,
Comes down to fee their city, ere the tow'r
Obftru&t Heav'n-tow'rs; and in derifion fets
Upon their tongues a various fpirit, to rafe
Quite out their native language: and instead
To fow a jangling noise of words unknown.
Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud
Among the builders: each to other calls
Not understood; till hoarfe, and all in rage,
As mock'd they ftorm: great laughter was in Heav'n,
And looking down, to fee the hubbub strage,
And hear the din: thus was the building left
Ridiculous; and the work Confufion nam'd.
Whereto thus Adam, fatherly difpleas'd.
O execrable fon! fo to afpire
Above his brethren; to himself affuming
Authority ufurp'd, from God not giv❜n.
He gave us only over beaft, fish, fowl,
Dominion abfolute; that right we hold
By his donation: but man over men
He made not Lord: fuch title to himself
Referving, human left from human free,
But this ufurper his encroachment proud
Stays not on man: to God his tow'r intends as le
Siege and defiance. Wretched man! What food
Will he convey up thither to fuftain
Himfelf and his rath army; where thin air!
Above the clouds will pine his entrails grofs;
And famish him of breath, if not of bread?
To whom thus Michael. Juftly thou abhorr'st
That fon, who on the quiet ftate of menos
Such trouble brought, affecting to fubdueer
Rational liberty: yet know withal,
Since by original lapfe, true liberty
Is loft, which always with right reason dwells
Twin'd, and from her hath no dividual being:
Reafon in man obfcur'd, or not obey'd, edI
Immediately inordinate defires
-And upftart paflions catch the government
From reafon; and to fervitude reduce
Man till then free. Therefore, fince he permits 90:
Within himself unworthy, pow'rs to reign
Over free reafon; God in judgment just ⠀
Subjects him from without to violent lords:
Who oft as undefervedly inthrall
His outward freedom. Tyranny must be;
Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.
Yet fometimes nations will decline fo low
From virtue, which in reason, that no wrong,
But juftice, and fome fatal curfe annex'd,
Deprives them of their outward liberty;
Their inward loft; witnefs th irreverent fon
Of him who built the Ark; who for the shame
Done to his father, heard his heavy curse,
Servant of Servants," on his vicious race.
Thus will this latter, as the former world,
Still tend from bad to worfe; till God at laft
Wearied with their iniquities; withdraw
His prefence from among them, and avert
His holy eyes; refolving from thenceforth
To leave them to their own polluted ways:
And one peculiar nation to fele&
From all the reft, of whom to be invok'd,
A nation from one faithful man to fpring:
Him on this fide Euphrates yet residing,
Bred up in idol-worship. O that men
Canft thou-believe? fhould be fo ftupid grown,
While yet the Patriarch liv'd, who fcap'd the flood, As to forfake the living God, and fall
To worthip their own work in wood and flone.
For Gods! yet him God the most High vouchfafes 120
To call by vifion from his father's houfe,
His kindred and falfe Gods, into at land.
Which he will fhew him: and from him will raife
A mighty nation! and upon him fhow'r
His benediction so, that in his feed
All nations fhall be bleft: he straight 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 foil
Ur of Chaldaea, paffing now the ford
To Haran: after him a cumbrous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous fervitude:
Not wand'ring poor, but trufting all his wealth
With God, who call'd him, in a land unknown.
Canaan he now attains; I fee his tents
Pitch'd about Sichem, 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 defert fouth;
Things by their names I call, tho yet unnam'd,
From Hermon eaft, to the great western fea;
Mount Hermon, yonder fea, each place behold
In profpect, as I point them, on the shore
Mount Carmel; here the double founted fiream,
Jordan, true limit eastward: but his fons
Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.
This ponder, that all nations of the earth
Shall in his feed be bleffed: by that feed
Is meant thy great Deliverer, who fhall bruife
The ferpent's head; whereof to thee anon
Plainlier fhall be reveal'd. This Patriarch blest,
Whom faithful Abraham due time fhall call,
A fon, and of his fon a grand-child leaves;
Like him in faith, is wifdom, and renown.
The grand-child with twelve fons increas'd depards 155
From Canaan, to a land hereafter call'd
Egypt, divided by the river Nile:
Seere where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths
Into the fea! To fojourn in that land
He comes, invited by a younger fon
In time of dearth; a fon whofe worthy deeds
Raife him to be the fecond 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
To stop their over-growth, as inmate guests
Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them flaves Inhofpitably; and kills their infant males: Till by two brethren, those two brethren call Mofes and Aaron, fent from God to claim His people from inthralment, they return With glory and fpoil back to their promis'd land. But first the lawless tyrant who denies Tho know their God, or meffage to regard, Muft be compell'd by fings and judgment 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 muft of rot and murren die: Botches and blains must all his flesh imbofs, And all his people: thunder mix'd with hail, Hail mix'd with fire, muft rend th' Egyptian ky, And wheel on th' earth, devouring where it rolls What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain, A darkfome cloud of locufts fwarming down Muft eat, and on the ground leave nothing green:
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