343

"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 wander'd man
"Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.

"Meanwhile they, in their earthly Canaan plac'd,

66

Long time shall dwell and prosper, but when1 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

2

"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
"Wand'ring, 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,
"Heap'd 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.

efficacy of the divine injunction, repeated the stroke. Numb. xx. and xxvii. But Millon treating the history as typical, represents Moses as debarred by reason of the imperfection of his human nature, and not from any particular act, from the privilege of leading the chosen race to the happy promised laud. Jesus is called Joshua, Acts vii. 45, and Heb. iv. 8. The names are the same in Hebrew and Greek.

1 I. e. Except (or unless) when.

» Here and in the next eight lines the commentators say Milton has digested (he substance of the following texts of Scripture, Gen. iii, 15; xxii.lt; j Sam. vii. i6; Psalın lxxxix. 31—36; Isaiah xi. 10; Luke i. 32, 33.- H., N.)

• It is not staled that he saw them; he only heard a part of the angel's narration. He could not see Abraham, v<28,) though he saw places, (142, 158.) Abraham had net then existed, but those places had; whereas Babylon was not built for many years after. We must not therefore understand the expression literally; for verbs o! teeing are often extended beyond the bare act, and are applied to other senses and other faculties of the mind. (See N.)

377

"There in captivity He lets them dwell

"The space of seventy years; then brings them back,
"Remembering mercy, and his covenant sworn

"To David,1 'stablished 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;
"Then lose it to a stranger, that the true
"Anointed king Messiah might be born
"Barr'd of his right: yet at his birth a star,
"Unseen before in heaven, 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
"To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;
"They gladly thither haste, and by a quire
"Of squadron'd angels hear his carol sung.
"A virgin is his mother; but his sire

4

"The Power of the Most High: he shall ascend

"The throne hereditary, and bound his reign

"With earth's wide bounds, his glory with the heavens!
He ceas'd, discerning Adam with such joy

Surcharg'd, as had like grief been dew'd in tears,
Without the vent of words; with these he breath'd:

"0 prophet of glad tidings, finisher

"Of utmost hope! now clear I understand

"(What oft my steadiest thoughts have search'd in vain)

l Jer. xxxlii. 20; Psalm Ixxxix. 39.—(T.)

* See Ihe first book of Esdras for an account of the restoration of the temple after lha seventy years' Babylonish captivity.

"Re

3 It was chiefly through the contests of Jason and Menelaüs, high priests, that the temple was polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes, ( see 2 Maccab. v. and Pridiaux.) "They seize the sceptre." Arislobolus, eldest son of Hyrcanus the high priest, was the lirst who assumed the title of king after the Babylonish captivity; before Christ 107. gard not David's sons." None of that family having had the government since Zerubbabel. "Then lose it to a stranger." To Herod, who was an ldumæan, in whose reign Christ was born. See Josephus and Prideaux.-(N.)

As if sent on a solemn embassy.—(B.)

En. i. 287:—

"Imperlum oceano, famam qui termtnet aftris."(H.)

See Psalm ii. 8; Isaiah ix. l.—'Jl., Up(.)

410

"Why our great Expectation should be call'd
"The seed or woman.1 Virgin mother, hail !
"High in the love of heaven! 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 bruiseJ
"Expect with mortal pain: say, where and when
"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
"Thy enemy; nor so is overcome

"Satan, whose fall from heaven (a deadlier bruise)
"Disabled not to give thee thy death's wound;3
"Which he, who comes thy Saviour, shall recure,4
"Not by destroying Satan, but his works
"In thee and in thy seed: 5 nor can this be
"But by fulfilling that which thou didst want—
"Obedience to the law of God, impos'd

"On penalty of death, and suff ring death—
"The penalty of thy transgression due,

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

"So only can high justice rest appaid.

7

6

"The law of God exact he shall fulfil
"Both by obedience, and by love; though love
"Alone fulfil the law: thy punishment

"He shall endure, by coming in the flesh
"To a reproachful life, and cursed death;

66

Proclaiming life to all who shall believe

"In his redemption; and that his obedience,

66

Imputed, becomes theirs by faith; his merits

8

"To save them, not their own (though legal) works.

l Luke i. 28.—(Gti.)

"Capital" is here used in the Latin sense, from caput the head.

A comma placed after the word "disabled," in Todd's and other editions, render! the passage quite incomprehensible. But remove the comma, and the passage will be quite plain. "Whose fall from heaven did not disable him from giving Adam his death's wound."

* Remedy.

5 See 1 John iii. 8.—(N.)

G Satisfied, repaid.

7 So Rom. xiii. 10.—(B.)

8 This passage has puiiled the commentators. Beniley proposes to read "do save them." Pearce says "the only sense 1 can make of it is this, which redemption and obedience are hii merili to save them, and not their own works, though legal ones, and conformable to the law.'" Newton says the verb "believe" governs the rest nf the sen

447

"For this he shall live hated; be blasphem'd;
"Seiz'd on by force; judg'd, and to death condemn'd—
"A shameful and accurs'd! nail'd to the cross
"By his own nation; slain for bringing life;
"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,

66

"But soon revives; death over him no power
"Shall long usurp : 2 ere the third dawning light
Return, the stars of morn shall see him rise
"Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light,
"The ransom paid, which man from death redeems,
"His death for man—as many as ofler'd life

"Neglect not, and the benefit embrace

5 By faith not void of works. This god-like act
"Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldst have died,
"In sin for ever lost from life: this act

"Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength,

66

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—*
"A gentle wafting to immortal life :

"Nor after resurrection shall he stay

66

Longer on earth, than certain times to appear
"To his disciples, men who in his life

"Still follow'd him; to them shall leave in charge
"To teach all nations what of him they learn'd,
"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 befal,
"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

ence, "proclaiming life to all who shall believe in his redemption; and shall believe (hat his obedience, imputed, becomes theirs by Faith; and shall believe his merits to save them, not their own, though legal works." Another critic, of no small note, though anonymous, in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xlviii. p. 466, proposes to read "merits " with an elision. "Merit's," t. e. hit merit it to (or must) save them. No doubt there are many instances of this elision and mode of writing in all poetry. But is it called for here? i Alluding to Col. ii. li.—(N.)

Rom. vi. a; Rev. i. 18.—(Gil., T.)

"Sleep" implies that we shall awake, "death" that we shall rise again to life. In some late editions the compound "deathlike" was improperly introduced.—(T.)

488

"Salvation shall be preach'd, but to the sons
"Of Abraham's faith, wherever through the world:
"So in his seed all nations shall be blest.

"Then to the heaven of heavens he shall ascend
"With victory, triumphing through the air
"Over his foes and thine; there shall surprise
"The serpent, prince of air, and drag in chains

66

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 heaven; and thence shall come,
"When this world's dissolution shall be ripe,

"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 heaven, or earth; for then the earth
"Shall all be Paradise, far happier place
"Than this of Eden, and far happier days!"
So spake th' archangel Michael; then paus'd,
As at the world's great period: and our sire,
Replete with joy and wonder, thus replied:

"0 Goodness infinite, Goodness in mense!
"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 t stand,
"Whether I should repent me now of sin,

"By me done, and occasion'd; 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 Deliv'rer up to heaven

"Must re-ascend, what will betide the few
"His faithful, left among th' unfaithful herd,
"The enemies of truth? Who then shall guide
"His people? who defend? Will they not deal
"Worse with his followers, than with him they dealt?"
"Be sure they will," said th' angel; "but from heaven
"He to his own a Comforter will send,

The promise of the Father, who shall dwell

4

"His Spirit within them; and the law of faith,

i Gal. iii. 7; Bom. iv. 16.—(T.)

» Eph. i. 20.—(H.)

32 Cor. iv. 15; Rom. v. 20.—(J.)

There is much unnecessary criticism on these words. It is * classical structure and