In prospect, as I point them; on the shore

  Mount Carmel; here the double-founted stream

  145 Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons

  Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.

  This ponder, that all nations of the earth

  Shall in his Seed be blesséd; by that Seed

  Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruise

  150 The Serpent’s head; whereof to thee anon

  Plainlier shall be revealed. This patriarch blest,

  Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call,

  A son, and of his son a grandchild leaves,

  Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown;

  155 The grandchild with twelve sons increased, departs

  From Canaan, to a land hereafter called

  Egypt, divided by the river Nile;

  See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths

  Into the sea: to sojourn in that land

  160 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

  165 Suspected to a sequent 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

  170 Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim

  His people from enthralment, they return

  With glory and spoil back to their promised land.

  But first the lawless tyrant, who denies

  To know their God, or message to regard,

  175 Must be compelled by signs and judgements dire;

  To blood unshed the rivers must be turned,

  Frogs, lice, and flies must all his palace fill

  With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land;

  His cattle must of rot and murrain die,

  180 Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss,

  And all his people; thunder mixed with hail,

  Hail mixed 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,

  185 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

  190 Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten wounds

  The river-dragon tamed at length submits

  To let his sojourners depart, and oft

  Humbles his stubborn heart, but still as ice

  More hardened after thaw, till in his rage

  195 Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea

  Swallows him with his host, but them lets pass

  As on dry land between two crystal walls,

  Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand

  Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:

  200 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

  205 Behind them, while th’ obdúrate 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

  210 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 embattled ranks the waves return,

  And overwhelm their war: the race elect

  215 Safe towards Canaan from the shore advance

  Through the wild desert, not the readiest way,

  Lest ent’ring on the Canaanite alarmed

  War terrify them inexpért, and fear

  Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather

  220 Inglorious life with servitude; for life

  To noble and ignoble is more sweet

  Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.

  This also shall they gain by their delay

  In the wide wilderness, there they shall found

  225 Their government, and their great senate choose

  Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordained:

  God from the mount of Sinai, whose grey top

  Shall tremble, he descending, will himself

  In thunder lightning and loud trumpet’s sound

  230 Ordain them laws; part such as appertain

  To civil justice, part religious rites

  Of sacrifice, informing them, by types

  And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise

  The Serpent, by what means he shall achieve

  235 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 accéss

  240 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

  245 Established, 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 prescrípt a sanctuary is framed

  250 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

  255 Seven lamps as in a zodiac representing

  The Heav’nly 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

  260 Promised to Abraham and his seed: the rest

  Were long to tell, how many battles fought,

  How many kings destroyed, and kingdoms won,

  Or how the sun shall in mid heav’n stand still

  A day entire, and night’s due course adjourn,

  265 Man’s voice commanding, Sun in Gibeon stand,

  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.

  270 Here Adam interposed. O sent from Heav’n,

  Enlight’ner of my darkness, gracious things

  Thou hast revealed, those chiefly which concern

  Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find

  Mine eyes true op’ning, and my heart much eased,

  275 Erewhile perplexed 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

  Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.

  280 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?

  285 To whom thus Michael. Doubt not but th
at 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

  290 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

  295 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.

  300 So law appears imperfect, and but giv’n

  With purpose to resign them in full time

  Up to a better cov’nant, disciplined

  From shadowy types to truth, from flesh to spirit,

  From imposition of strict laws, to free

  305 Acceptance of large grace, from servile fear

  To filial, works of law to works of faith.

  And therefore shall not Moses, though of God

  Highly beloved, being but the minister

  Of law, his people into Canaan lead;

  310 But Joshua whom the Gentiles Jesus call,

  His name and office bearing, who shall quell

  The adversary Serpent, and bring back

  Through the world’s wilderness long wandered man

  Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.

  315 Meanwhile they in their earthly Canaan placed

  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

  320 By judges first, then under kings; of whom

  The second, both for piety renowned

  And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive

  Irrevocable, that his regal throne

  For ever shall endure; the like shall sing

  325 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

  330 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 famed,

  The clouded ark of God till then in tents

  Wand’ring, shall in a glorious temple enshrine.

  335 Such follow him, as shall be registered

  Part good, part bad, of bad the longer scroll,

  Whose foul idolatries, and other faults

  Heaped to the popular sum, will so incense

  God, as to leave them, and expose their land,

  340 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 called.

  There in captivity he lets them dwell

  345 The space of seventy years, then brings them back,

  Rememb’ring mercy, and his Cov’nant sworn

  To David, ’stablished as the days of Heav’n.

  Returned from Babylon by leave of kings

  Their lords, whom God disposed, the house of God

  350 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

  355 Endeavour peace: their strife pollution brings

  Upon the temple itself: at last they seize

  The sceptre, and regard not David’s sons,

  Then lose it to a stranger, that the true

  Anointed King Messiah might be born

  360 Barred of his right; yet at his birth a star

  Unseen before in heav’n proclaims him come,

  And guides the eastern sages, who inquire

  His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold;

  His place of birth a solemn angel tells

  365 To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;

  They gladly thither haste, and by a choir

  Of squadroned angels hear his carol sung.

  A virgin is his mother, but his sire

  The power of the Most High; he shall ascend

  370 The throne hereditary, and bound his reign

  With earth’s wide bounds, his glory with the Heav’ns.

  He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy

  Surcharged, as had like grief been dewed in tears,

  Without the vent of words, which these he breathed.

  375 O prophet of glad tidings, finisher

  Of utmost hope! now clear I understand

  What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain,

  Why our great expectation should be called

  The Seed of Woman: virgin mother, hail,

  380 High in the love of Heav’n, yet from my loins

  Thou shalt proceed, and from thy womb the Son

  Of God Most High; so God with man unites.

  Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise

  Expect with mortal pain: say where and when

  385 Their fight, what stroke shall bruise the Victor’s heel.

  To whom thus Michael. Dream not of their fight,

  As of a duel, or the local wounds

  Of head or heel: not therefore joins the Son

  Manhood to Godhead, with more strength to foil

  390 Thy enemy; nor so is overcome

  Satan, whose fall from Heav’n, a deadlier bruise,

  Disabled not to give thee thy death’s wound:

  Which he, who comes thy Saviour, shall recure,

  Not by destroying Satan, but his works

  395 In thee and in thy seed: nor can this be,

  But by fulfilling that which thou didst want,

  Obedience to the law of God, imposed

  On penalty of death, and suffering death,

  The penalty to thy transgression due,

  400 And due to theirs which out of thine will grow:

  So only can high justice rest apaid.

  The law of God exact he shall fulfil

  Both by obedience and by love, though love

  Alone fulfil the law; thy punishment

  405 He shall endure by coming in the flesh

  To a reproachful life and curséd death,

  Proclaiming life to all who shall believe

  In his redemption, and that his obedience

  Imputed becomes theirs by faith, his merits

  410 To save them, not their own, though legal works.

  For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,

  Seized on by force, judged, and to death condemned

  A shameful and accursed, nailed to the cross

  By his own nation, slain for bringing life;

  415 But to the cross he nails thy enemies,

  The law that is against thee, and the sins

  Of all mankind, with him there crucified,

  Never to hurt them more who rightly trust

  In this his satisfaction; so he dies,

  420 But soon revives, death over him no power

  Shall long usurp; ere the third dawning light

  Return, the stars of morn shall see him rise

  Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light,

  Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems,

  425 His death for man, as many as offered life

  Neglect not, and the benefit embrace

  By faith not void of works: this Godlike act

  Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldst have
died,

  In sin for ever lost from life; this act

  430 Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength

  Defeating Sin and Death, his two main arms,

  And fix far deeper in his head their stings

  Than temporal death shall bruise the Victor’s heel,

  Or theirs whom he redeems, a death like sleep,

  435 A gentle wafting to immortal life.

  Nor after resurrection shall he stay

  Longer on earth than certain times to appear

  To his disciples, men who in his life

  Still followed him; to them shall leave in charge

  440 To teach all nations what of him they learned

  And his salvation, them who shall believe

  Baptizing in the profluent stream, the sign

  Of washing them from guilt of sin to life

  Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befall,

  445 For death, like that which the Redeemer died.

  All nations they shall teach; for from that day

  Not only to the sons of Abraham’s loins

  Salvation shall be preached, but to the sons

  Of Abraham’s faith wherever through the world;

  450 So in his seed all nations shall be blest.

  Then to the Heav’n of Heav’ns he shall ascend

  With victory, triúmphing through the air

  Over his foes and thine; there shall surprise

  The Serpent, prince of air, and drag in chains

  455 Through all his realm, and there confounded leave;

  Then enter into glory, and resume

  His seat at God’s right hand, exalted high

  Above all names in Heav’n; and thence shall come,

  When this world’s dissolution shall be ripe,

  460 With glory and power to judge both quick and dead,

  To judge th’ unfaithful dead, but to reward

  His faithful, and receive them into bliss,

  Whether in Heav’n or earth, for then the earth

  Shall all be Paradise, far happier place

  465 Than this of Eden, and far happier days.

  So spake the archangel Michaël, then paused,

  As at the world’s great period; and our sire

  Replete with joy and wonder thus replied.

  O goodness infinite, goodness immense!

  470 That all this good of evil shall produce,

  And evil turn to good; more wonderful

  Than that which by creation first brought forth

  Light out of darkness! full of doubt I stand,

  Whether I should repent me now of sin

  475 By me done and occasioned, or rejoice

  Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring,

  To God more glory, more good will to men

  From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.

  But say, if our Deliverer up to Heav’n

  480 Must reascend, what will betide the few