165
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 seeks
To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
Too numerous; whence,of guests, he makes them slaves,
Inhospitably, 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 unfhed 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 muft of rot and murren die;
Botches and blains muft all his flesh imbofs,
And all his people; thunder mix'd with hail,
Hail mix'd with fire,muft rend th' Egyptian sky,
And wheel on th'earth, devouring where it rolls;
What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,
A dark fome cloud of locufts fwarming down
Muft eat, and on the ground leave nothing green;
Darkness muft overshadow all his bounds,
Palpable darkness, and blot out three days;
Laft,with one midnight stroke, all the firft-born
Eee 2
185
With God, who call'd him, in ~ with ten wounds 190
Canaan he now attains; Ingth submits
Pitch'd about Sechem, :
and oft
Of Moreh; there by
Gift to his proge
From Hamath
(Things by
From He
Mount
In r
M
KBAIT,
art, but ftill as ice
er thaw, till in his rage
be late difmifs'd, the sea
wim with his hoft; but them lets pals,
land, between two crystal walls,
Dhis rescued gain their shore:
And by the rod of Mofes fo to ftand
Strous pow'r God to his faint will lend, 200
To prefent in his Angel, who fhall go
See them in a cloud, and pillar of fire,
By a cloud, by night a pillar of fire,
Teade them in their journey, and remove
Bind them, while th'obdurate king pursues: 205
All night he will pursue, but his approach
Darknefs 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 their imbattel'd ranks the waves return,
And overwhelm their war: the race elect
Safe towards Canaan from the shore advance
Through the wild defert; not the readiest way,
Left,entring on the Canaanite alarm'd,
to Egypt, choosing rather
rvitude; for life
more sweet
ere rashness leads not on.
gain by their delay
lderness, there they shall found
ernment, and their great fenate choose, 225
gh the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordain'd:
od 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 juftice, part religious rites
Of facrifice, informing them, by types
And fhadows, of that deftin'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 befeéch
That Mofes might report to them his will,
And terror cease; he grants what they befought,
Inftructed that to God is no accefs
Without mediator; whofe high office now
Mofes in figure bears, to introduce
One greater, of whofe day he shall foretel,
And all the prophets in their age the times
Of
great Meffi ah fhall fing. Thus laws and rites
Establish'd, such delight hath God in men
Of Egypt muft lie dead. Thus with ten wounds 190
The river-dragon tam'd, at length submits
To let his fojourners depart, and oft
Humbles his ftubborn heart, but ftill as ice
More harden'd after thaw, till in his rage
Pursuing whom he late dismiss'd, the sea
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 pow'r God to his faint 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: 205
All night he will purfue, 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 fea; the fea his rod obeys;
On their imbattel'd ranks the waves return,
And overwhelm their war: the race elect
Safe towards Canaan from the fhore advance
Through the wild defert; not the readiest way,
Left,entring on the Canaanite alarm'd,
War terrify them inexpert, and fear
Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather
Inglorious life with fervitude; for life
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 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 such as appertain
To civil juftice, part religious rites
Of facrifice, informing them, by types
And fhadows, of that deftin'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 befeéch
That Mofes might report to them his will,
And terror ceafe; he grants what they befought,
Inftructed that to God is no accefs
Without mediator; whofe high office now
Moses in figure bears, to introduce
One greater, of whofe day he shall foretel,
And all the prophets in their age the times
Of great Meffi ah fhall fing. Thus laws and rites
Establish'd, such delight hath God in men
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