A mighty nation, and upon him shower
His benediction so, 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, passing 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
With God who call'd him, in a land unknown.
Canaan he now attains; I see his tents
Pitch'd about Sechem, and the neighb'ring plain
Of Moreh; thereby promife he receives
Gift to his progeny of all that land,
From Hamath northward to the defart fouth,
(Things by their names I call, though 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 stream
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 blessed by that feed
Is meant thy great deliverer, who shall bruise
The Serpents head; whereof to thee anon
Plainlier shall 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, disgorging at seven mouths
Into the fea: to sojourn in that land
He comes invited by a younger son
In time of dearth, a fon whose worthy deeds
Raise him to be the fecond in that realm
Of Pharaoh: there he dies, and leaves his race
Growing into a nation, and now grown
Suspected to a fequent king, who feeks
To stop their overgrowth, as immate guests
Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them
Inhofpitably', and kills their infant males;
Till by two brethren (those two brethren call
Mofes and Aaron) fent from God to clame
His people from inthralment, they return
With glory' and spoil back to their promis'd 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; 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 cattel must of rot and murren 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' Egyptian sky,
And wheel on the 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 190
The river dragon tam'd at length submits
To let his fojourners depart, and oft
Humbles his stubborn heart, but ftill as ice
More harden'd after thaw, till in his rage
Pursuing whom he late dismiss'd, the fea
Swallows him with his hoft, but them lets pass
As on dry land between two crystal walls,
Aw'd by the rod of Moses so to stand
Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:
Such wondrous power God to his Saint will lead, 200
Though present in his Angel, who shall go
Before them in a cloud, and pill'ar of fire.
By day a cloud, by night a pill'ar of fire,
To guide them in their journey, and remove
Behind them, while the obdurate king pursues 205
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
Mofes once more his potent rod extends
Over the fea; the fea his rod obeys;
On there imbattled ranks the waves return,
And overwhelm their war: their race elect
Safe towards Canaan from the shore advance
Through the wild defart, not the readiest way,
Lest entring on the Canaanite alarm'd
War terrify them inexpert, and fear
Return them back to Egypt, choofing rather
Inglorious life with servitude; for life
To noble and ignoble is more sweet
Untrain'd in arms, where rasiness leads not on.
Thus also shall they gain by their delay
In the wide wilderness, there shall found
Their government, and their great fenate 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 found
Ordain them laws; part fuch as appertain
To civil justice, part religious rites
Of facrifice, informing them, by types
And shadows, of that destin'd Seed to bruise
The Serpent, by what means he shall atchieve
Mankind's deliverance. But the voice of God
To mortal ear is dreadful; they befeech
That Mofes might report to them his will,
And terror cease; he grants what they befought
Instructed that to God is no access
Without Mediator, whose high office now
Mofes in figure bears, to introduce
One greater, of whose day he shall foretell,
And all the prophets in their age the times
Of great Meffiah shall fing. Thus laws and rites
Establish'd, such delight hath God in men
Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes
Among them to fet up his tabernacle,
The Holy One with mortal men to dwell:
By his prefcript a fanctuary is fram'd
Of cedar, overlaid with gold, therein
An ark, and in the ark his teftimony
The records of his covenant, over these
A mercy-feat of gold between the wings
Of two bright Cherubim; before him burn
Sev'n lamps as in a zodiac representing
The heav'nly fires; over the tent a cloud
Shall reft 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 feed: the rest
Were long to tell, how many battels fought,
How many kings destroy'd, and kingdoms won,
Or how the fun shall in mid Heav'n 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 Ifrael overcome; so call the third
From Abraham, fon of Ifaac, and from him
His whole defcent, who thus shall Canaan win.
Here Adam interpos'd. O fent from Heaven,
Inlightner of my darkness, gracious things
Thou haft reveal'd, those chiefly which concern
Just Abraham and his feed: now first I find
Mine eyes true opening, and my heart much eas'd,
Erewhile perplex'd with thoughts what would become
Of me and all mankind; but now I fee
His day, in whom all nations shall be blest,
Favour unmerited by me, who fought
Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.
This yet I apprehend not, why to those
Among whom God will deign to dwell on earth
So many and fo various laws are giv'n;
So many laws argue so many fins
Among them; how can God with fuch refide?
To whom thus Michael. Doubt not but that fin 285
Will reign among them, as of thee begot;
And therefore was law given them to evince
Their natural pravity, by stirring up
Sin aginst law to fight that when they fee
Law can discover fin, but not remove,
Save by these shadowy expiations weak,
The blood of bulls and goats, they may conclude
Some blood more precious must be paid for man.
Just for unjust, that in such righteousness
To them by faith imputed, they may find
Juftification towards God, and peace
Of confcience, which the law by ceremonies
Cannot appease, nor man the moral part
Perform, and not performing cannot live.
So law appears imperfect, and but given
With purpose to resign them in full time
Up to a better covenant, disciplin'd
From shadowy types to truth, from flesh to spirit,
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