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. But first the lawless tyrant, who denies To know their God, or message to regard, Must be compell'd, by signs and judgments dire; 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 emboss, And all his people; thunder mixt with hail, Hail mixt with fire must rend th' Egyptian 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 The river-dragon tam'd at length submits To let his sojourners depart, and oft Humbles his stubborn heart, but still as ice More hard'nd after thaw; till in his rage Pursuing whom he late dismiss'd, the sea Swallows him with his host; 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 rescu'd gain their shore: Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend, 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 embattl'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
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
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 Establisht, such delight hath God in men Obedient to his will, that he voutsafes Among them to set up his tabernacle, The Holy One with mortal men to dwell: By his prescript a sanctuary is fram'd Of cedar, overlaid with gold; therein An ark, and in the ark his testimony, The records of his cov'nant; 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 Heav'n stand still A day entire, and night's due course adjourn, Man's voice commanding, “Sun, in Gibeon stand, And thou Moon, in the vale of Ajalon," 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 Heav'n, Enlight'ner 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 perplext with thoughts what would become Of me and all Mankind: but now I see His day, in whom all nations shall be blest; Favour unmerited by me, who sought Forbidd'n knowledge by forbidd'n means. This yet I apprehend not, why to those
Among whom God will deign to dwell on Earth
So many and so various laws are giv'n;
So many laws argue so many sins
Among them; how can God with such reside?'
To whom thus Michael. 'Doubt not but that sin
Will reign among them, as of thee begot;
And therefore was law given them to evince
Their natural pravity, by stirring up
Sin against law to fight; that when they see
Law can discover sin, but not remove, Save by those 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 Justification towards God, and peace Of conscience, which the law by ceremonies Cannot appease, nor man the moral part Perform, and not performing cannot live. So law appears imperfect, and but giv'n With purpose to resign them in full time Up to a better cov'nant, disciplin'd
From shadowy types to truth, from flesh to spirit,
From imposition of strict laws, to free
Acceptance of large grace, from servile fear
To filial, works of law to works of faith.
Long time shall dwell and prosper, but when sins
National interrupt their public peace,
Provoking God to raise them enemies;
From whom as oft he saves them penitent
By judges first, then under kings; of whom The second, both for piety renown'd And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive Irrevocable, that his regal throne
For ever shall endure; the like shall sing All prophecy, that of the royal stock Of David (so I name this king) shall rise A son, the Woman's Seed to thee foretold, Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust All nations; and to kings foretold, of kings The last, for of his reign shall be no end. But first a long succession must ensue;
And his next son, for wealth and wisdom fam'd, The clouded ark of God till then in tents Wandring, shall in a glorious temple enshrine. Such follow him as shall be register'd,
Part good, part bad, of bad the longer scroll, Whose foul idolatries, and other faults, Heapt to the popular sum, will so incense God, as to leave them, and expose their land, Their city, his temple, and his holy ark With all his sacred things, a scorn and prey
To that proud city, whose high walls thou saw'st
Left in confusion, Babylon thence call'd.
There in captivity he lets them dwell
The space of seventy years, then brings them back,
Remembring mercy, and his cov❜nant sworn
To David, stablisht as the days of Heav'n.
Return'd from Babylon by leave of kings
Their lords, whom God dispos'd, the house of God They first re-edify, and for a while
In mean estate live moderate, till grown
In wealth and multitude, factious they grow;
But first among the priests dissension springs, Men who attend the altar, and should most Endeavour peace: their strife pollution brings Upon the temple itself; at last they seize The sceptre, and regard not David's sons,
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