Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim

His people from inthralment, they return

With glory and spoil back to their promised land.
But first the lawless tyrant, who denies
To know their God, or message to regard,
Must be compell'd 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 th' Egyptian sky,
And wheel on th' earth, devouring where it rolls;
What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,
A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down
Must eat, and 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'd 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 th' 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

210

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, ent'ring on the Canaanite, alarm'd,
War terrify them inexpert, and fear

215

Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather
Inglorious life with servitude; for life

220

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, and their great senate choose

225

Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordain'd.
God from the mount of Sinai, whose grey top

Shall tremble, he descending, will himself

In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets sound,

Ordain them laws; part such as appertain

230

To civil justice, part religious rites

Of sacrifice, informing them, by types

And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise
The Serpent, by what means he shall achieve
Mankind's deliverance. But the voice of God
To mortal ear is dreadful! They beseech
That Moses might report to them his will,

235

And terror cease. He grants what they besought,
Instructed that to God is no access

Without Mediator, whose high office now

240

Moses in figure bears, to introduce

One greater, of whose day he shall foretell;
And all the prophets in their age the times

Of great Messiah shall sing. The laws and rites
Establish'd, such delight hath God in men
Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes
Among them to set up his tabernacle,
The Holy One with mortal men to dwell.
By his prescript a sanctuary is framed
Of cedar, overlaid with gold, therein
An ark, and in the ark his testimony,
The records of his covenant; over these
A mercy-seat of gold between the wings
Of two bright Cherubim; before him burn
Seven lamps, as in a zodiac, representing
The heav'nly fires; over the tent a cloud
Shall rest by day, a fiery gleam by night,
Save when they journey; and at length they come,
Conducted by his Angel, to the land
Promised to Abraham and his seed.
Were long to tell, how many battles fought,
How many kings destroy'd, and kingdoms won,
Or how the sun shall in mid Heav'n stand still
A day entire, and night's due course adjourn,

The rest

245

250

255

260

Man's voice commanding, Sun in Gibeon stand,
And thou moon in the vale of Aijalon,
Till Israel overcome; so call the third
From Abraham, son of Isaac, and from him

265

His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.
Here Adam interposed: O sent from Heav'n,
Enlight'ner of my darkness, gracious things
Thou hast reveal'd, those chiefly which concern
Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find

270

Mine eyes true opening, and my heart much eased,

Erewhile perplex'd with thoughts what would become
Of me and all mankind; but now I see

275

His day, in whom all nations shall be blest,
Favour unmerited by me, who sought
Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.
This yet I apprehend not, why to those

280

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

210

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

215

Through the wild desert, not the readiest way,
Lest, ent'ring on the Canaanite, alarm'd,
War terrify them inexpert, and fear

Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather

Inglorious life with servitude; for life.

220

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, and their great senate choose

225

Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordain'd.
God from the mount of Sinai, whose grey top

Shall tremble, he descending, will himself

In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets sound,

Ordain them laws; part such as appertain

230

To civil justice, part religious rites
Of sacrifice, informing them, by types

And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise
The Serpent, by what means he shall achieve
Mankind's deliverance. But the voice of God
To mortal ear is dreadful! They beseech
That Moses might report to them his will,

235

And terror cease. He grants what they besought,
Instructed that to God is no access

Without Mediator, whose high office now

240

Moses in figure bears, to introduce

One greater, of whose day he shall foretell ;

And all the prophets in their age the times

Of great Messiah shall sing. The laws and rites
Establish'd, such delight hath God in men
Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes
Among them to set up his tabernacle,
The Holy One with mortal men to dwell.
By his prescript a sanctuary is framed
Of cedar, overlaid with gold, therein
An ark, and in the ark his testimony,
The records of his covenant; over these
A mercy-seat of gold between the wings
Of two bright Cherubim; before him burn
Seven lamps, as in a zodiac, representing
The heav'nly fires; over the tent a cloud
Shall rest by day, a fiery gleam by night,
Save when they journey; and at length they come,
Conducted by his Angel, to the land
Promised to Abraham and his seed.

The rest

Were long to tell, how many battles fought,
How many kings destroy'd, and kingdoms won,
Or how the sun shall in mid Heav'n stand still
A day entire, and night's due course adjourn,

245

250

255

260

Man's voice commanding, Sun in Gibeon stand,
And thou moon in the vale of Aijalon,
Till Israel overcome; so call the third
From Abraham, son of Isaac, and from him

265

His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.
Here Adam interposed: O sent from Heav'n,
Enlight'ner of my darkness, gracious things
Thou hast reveal'd, those chiefly which concern
Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find

270

Mine eyes true opening, and my heart much eased,

Erewhile perplex'd with thoughts what would become
Of me and all mankind; but now I see
His day, in whom all nations shall be blest,
Favour unmerited by me, who sought
Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.
This yet I apprehend not, why to those

275

280