Shall spend 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 ftate,
Will arrogate dominion undeferv'd
Over his brethren, and quite difpoffefs
Concord and law of nature from the earth;

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Hunting (and men,not beafts fhall be his game) 30
With war and hoftile fnare such as refuse
Subjection to his empire tyrannous:

A mighty hunter thence he shall be stil'd
Before the Lord, as in defpite of Heaven,
Or from Heav'n claming second sovranty;
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 towards the west, shall find 40
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, whose top may reach to Heaven
And get themselves a name; left, far difpers'd
45
In foreign lands, their memory be loft,
Regardless whether good or evil fame.
But God,who oft descends to visit men
Unseen, and through their habitations walks

35

T

50

To mark their doings, them beholding soon,
Comes down to fee their city, ere the tower
Obftruct Heav'n-tow'rs, and,in derision,sets
Upon their tongues a various spi rit 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 hoarse, and all in rage,
As mock'd they ftorm; great laughter was in Heaven,
And looking down, to see the hubbub strange, 60
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 so to aspire
Above his brethren, to himself assuming
Authority ufurp'd, from God not given:
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 himself
Reserving, human left from human free.
But this ufurper his encroachment proud
Stays not on man; to God his tow'r intends
Siege and defiance: Wretched man! what food
Will he convey up thither to sustain
Himself and his rash army, where thin air,
Above the clouds, will pine his entrails grofs,

55

65

70

75

And

And famifh him of breath, if not of bread?

To whom thus Michael. Juftly thou abhorr'st That fon, who on the quiet ftate of men 80 Such trouble brought, affecting to fubdue Rational liberty; yet know withal, Since thy original lapse, true liberty Is loft, which always with right reason dwells Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being: 85 Reason in man obscur'd, or not obey'd, Immediately inordinate defires

And upftart paffions catch the government
From reason, and to fervitude reduce

Man,till then free. Therefore fince he permits 90
Within himself unworthy pow'rs to reign
Over free reason, God, in judgment juft,
Subjects him from without to violent lords;
Who oft, as undeservedly, inthrall
His outward freedom: tyranny must be,
Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.
Yet fometimes nations will decline fo low
From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,
But justice, and fome fatal curse annex'd,
Deprives them of their outward liberty,
Their inward loft: Witness th' irreverent fon
Of him who built the ark, who for the shame
Done to his father, heard this heavy curse,
Servant of fervants, on his vicious race.
Thus will this latter, as the former world,

95

100

IC

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; resolving from thenceforth
To leave them to their own polluted ways;
And one peculiar nation to select

From all the rest, of whom to be invok'd;

110

A nation from one faithful man to spring:

Him on this fide Euphrates yet residing,

Bred up in idol-worship; O that men
(Canft thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,
While yet the patriarch liv'd, who fcap'd the flood,
As to forfake the living God, and fall

115

To worship their own work in wood and stone
For Gods! yet him God the most High vouchsafes 120
To call by vifion, from his father's house,

His kindred and false Gods, into a land

Which he will show him, and from him will raise
A mighty nation, and upon him shower

His benediction fo, that in his feed
All nations shall 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 foil,
Ur of Chaldæa, paffing now the ford

To Haran, after him a cumbrous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous fervitude;
Not wand'ring poor, but trusting all his wealth
Eee

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130

With

141

With God, who call'd him, in a land unknown.
Canaan he now attains; I fee his tents
135
Pitch'd about Sechem, 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 desert south,
(Things by their names I call, though yet unnam'd)
From Hermon eaft to the great western sea;
Mount Hermon, yonder sea, each place behold
In prospect, as I point them; on the shore
Mount Carmel; here the double-founted ftream
Jordan, true limit eaftward; 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 blessed; by that feed
Is meant thy great deliverer, who shall bruise
The Serpent's head; whereof to thee anon
Plainlier fhall be reveal'd. This patriarch blest,
Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call,
A fon, and of his fon,a grand-child leaves,
Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown;
The grand-child,with twelve fons increas'd,departs
From Canaan, to a land, hereafter call'd
Egypt, divided by the river Nile;

See where it flows, difgorging at sev'n mouths
Into the fea: to fojourn in that land

He comes invited by a younger fon,

In time of dearth; a son whose worthy deeds

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