Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills. This ponder, that all nations of the earth Shall in his seed be blessed; by that seed Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruise The serpent's head; whereof to thee anon Plainlier shall be reveal'd. This patriarch bless'd, Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call, A son, and of his son a grandchild, leaves, Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown. The grandchild with twelve sons increas'd departs From Canaan, to a land hereafter call'd
Ægypt, divided by the river Nile;
See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths Into the sea. To sojourn in that land
He comes, invited by a younger son
In time of dearth; a son, whose worthy deeds Raise him to be the second in that realm Of Pharaoh there he dies, and leaves his race Growing into a nation, and now grown Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks
To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them
Inhospitably, and kills their infant males:
Till by two brethren, (those two brethren call Moses and Aaron,) sent from God to claim His people from enthralment, they return With glory and spoil back to their promis'd land.
155 increas'd] A Latinism, as Plaut. Trucul. ii. vi. 34.
'Cumque es aucta liberis.' Richardson.
But first the lawless tyrant, who denies To know their God, or message to regard,
Must be compell'd by signs and judgments dire; 175 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 imboss, And all his people; thunder mix'd with hail, Hail mix'd with fire, must rend th' Ægyptian 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 This river-dragon tam'd 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
177 fill] Spoil. Bentl. MS.
180 imboss] Shakesp. K. Lear, act iv. sc. 11.
A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle.' Todd.
188 Palpable] 'O darkness palpable.' Marston's Sat. ii.
191 This river-dragon] So in the first edition; in the second, it is altered to The river-dragon.' Pearce.
As on dry land between two crystal walls, Aw'd by the rod of Moses so to stand Divided, till his rescu'd gain their shore:
Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend, 200 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 Moses once more his potent rod extends Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys;
On their embattle'd 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 entering on the Canaanite alarm'd
War terrify them inexpert, and fear
Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather Inglorious life with servitude; for life
To noble and ignoble is more sweet
197 crystal walls] In Sylvester's Du Bartas, p. 363, the Red Sea
is described with 'walls of crystall.' Todd.
207 defends] i. e. forbids, keeps off: so b. xi. 86. That defended fruit; and Spens. F. Q. iv. 3. 32.
'Himself to save and daunger to defend. Todd.
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 gray top Shall tremble, he descending, will himself In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets sound Ordain them laws; part, such as appertain To civil justice; part, religious rites Of sacrifice, informing them by types
And shadows of that destin'd 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, And terror cease; he grants what they besought, Instructed that to God is no access
Without mediator, whose high office now 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. Thus 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 fram'd
238 what they besought] In the first edition, 'He grants them their desire.'
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 heavenly 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
Promis'd 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 heaven stand still A day entire, and night's due course adjourn, Man's voice commanding, 'Sun in Gibeon stand, 265 And thou moon in the vale of Aialon,
Till Israel overcome;' so call the third
From Abraham, son of Isaac, and from him His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win. Here Adam interpos'd. O sent from heaven, 270 Enlightner of my darkness, gracious things Thou hast reveal'd, those chiefly which concern Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find
Mine eyes true op'ning, and my heart much eas'd, Erewhile perplex'd with thoughts what would be-
Of me and all mankind; but now I see
His day, in whom all nations shall be bless'd, Favour unmerited by me, who sought
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