"Into the world, to teach his final will; "And sends his Spirit1 of truth henceforth to dwell "In pious hearts,—an inward oracle, "To all truth requisite for men to know." So spake our Saviour; but the subtle Fiend, Though inly stung with anger and disdain, Dissembled, and this answer smooth returned: 465 66 Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke, "And urged me hard with doings, which not will, Where 470 475 "Smooth on the tongue discoursed, 3 pleasing to the ear, "And tuneable as sylvan pipe or song. 480 "What wonder then if I delight to hear "Her dictates from thy mouth? Most men admire "Virtue, who follow not her lore: permit me "To hear thee when I come, (since no man comes), 485 "And talk at least, though I despair to attain. 166 Thy Father, who is holy, wise, and pure, "Suffers the hypocrite, or atheous priest1 "To tread his sacred courts, and minister "About his altar, handling holy things, "Praying or vowing; and vouchsafed his voice 490 men." The tempter is made to suspect and to make a feigned acknowledgment that Christ might be himself the Living Oracle, 1. 475--477. 1 His Spirit...an inward oracle.-Compare John xiv. 17, 26. 2 Insisted,-"dwelt" on rebuke. The smoothness and hypocrisy of this speech are admirably in character. 3 Smooth on the tongue discoursed, &c.-Compare Comus, 1. 476-480. 4 Atheous priest,-how many practical atheists were there among the Jews, who made the law of God void by their traditions; and how many such may there be, even in all religions, who practically disbelieve even what they teach to others. "To Balaam reprobate,-1 a prophet yet To whom our Saviour, with unaltered brow: Thy coming hither-though I know thy scope"I bid not, or forbid; do as thou findst "Permission from above; thou canst not more." His gray dissimulation, disappeared, The desert; 2 fowls in their clay nests were couched ; 495 500 1 To Balaam reprobate,-the reader who wishes to appreciate Milton's judicious use of the history of Balaam, is referred by Dunster to Bishop Butler's Sermon on the character of Balaam; and Shuckford's Connexion of Sacred and Profane History. 2 To double-shade the desert;-Compare Comus, 1. 335. "In double night of darkness and of shades." The images here are taken from the place where the scene is laid. It is not a description of night at large, but night in a desert.-N. BOOK II. THE ARGUMENT. THE disciples of Jesus, uneasy at his long absence, reason amongst them. MEANWHILE the new-baptized,1 who yet remained Him (whom they had so late expressly called Jesus), Messiah, Son of God declared, And on that high authority had believed, And with him talked, and with him lodged; I mean With others though in Holy Writ not named; 5 1 The new-baptized,-referring to Andrew and Simon, 1. 7. See John i. 19-42, for the facts on which the opening of this poem is grounded. Now missing him, their joy so lately found,— 10 And, as the days increased, increased their doubt. 15 And the great Thisbite, who on fiery wheels Rode up to Heaven-yet once again to come. The city of palms, Ænon, and Salem old, Where winds with reeds and osiers whispering play, Their unexpected loss and plaints out breathed: "Alas, from what high hope to what relapse "Unlooked for are we fallen! our eyes beheld "Messiah certainly now come,— -so long Expected of our fathers; we have heard 1 See Exod. xxxii. 1, &c. The great Thisbite,—after the Latin form of the word, for Tishbite, Elijah, the prophet. Yet once again to come,—that is destined to come again, in spirit and power, in the person of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. Luke i. 17, compared with Matt. xi. 14; Mark ix. 12, 13. Newton, however, thinks that Milton alludes to the views of Mede, founded on Mal. iv. 5, and Matt. xvii. 11, that a great prophet, in the spirit and power of Elijah, is yet to appear to usher in our Lord's second coming. 2 Sought lost Elijah,-See 2 Kings ii. 17. 3 Jericho, the city of palms,—so called, Deut xxxiv. 3, from the abundance of palm trees which historians describe as growing in its vicinity. Salem old, not Jerusalem, but a town or village near Schechem or Sychar, the site of which has been recently identified by Robinson and Wilson. In Gen. xxxiii. 18, it is called Shalem, for which the ancient Greek version, known as the Septuaguint, has Salem. Macharus,-a castle in the mountainous part of Perca, or the country beyond Jordan. Genezaret,--the Lake Tiberias, or Sea of Galilee, through which the Jordan flows in its course. "His words-his wisdom-full of grace and truth:1 "Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is turned "For whither is he gone? what accident 35 "Hath rapt him from us? will he now retire 40 66 "Send thy Messiah forth; the time is come! 66 By his great prophet, pointed at and shown "In public, and with him we have conversed: "Let us be glad of this, and all our fears "Lay on his providence; he will not fail, 45 50 "Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall, 55 "Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence: "Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, return." Thus they, out of their plaints, new hope resume To find whom at the first they found unsought: Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure, 60 Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs thus clad: 65 1 Full of grace and truth:-John i. 14. 2 Now-now, for sure-deliverance is at hand;-See Luke xxiv. 21. 3 Behold the kings of the earth, &c.-See Psalm ii. 2; lxviii. 1. Acts iv. 27. But, to his mother Mary...within her breast...motherly cares and fears got head,-a purely Latin construction for "within Mary's breast, cares got head." The foreign idiom calls attention more expressly to Mary's anxieties. |