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With him or under him to tyrannize, Marching from Eden tow'rds the weft, fhall

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Of brick, and of that ftuff they caft to

build

A city and tow'r, whose top may reach to

Heav'n;

And get themselves a name:

fpers'd

left far di

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In foreign lands their memory be lost;
Regardless wether good or evil fame.
But God, who of defcends to vilit men
Unseen, and through their habitatións walks,
To mark their doings, them beholding

Comes down to fee

foon,

Obftruct Heav'n-to heir

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city, ere the tow'r and in derision sets Upon their tongues a varions fpirit, to rafe Quite our their native language: and instead To fow a jangling nofe of words unknown. 55 Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud

Among the builders: each to other calls
Not understood; till hoarfe, and all in rage,
As mock'd they ftorm: great laughter was in
Heav'n,

And looking down, to see the hubbub ftrage,

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And hear the din: thus was the building left Ridiculous; and the work Confufion nam'd., Whereto thus Adam, fatherly difpleas'd.

O execrable fon! so to aspire

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Above his brethren; to himself assuming
Authority ufurp'd, from God not giv'n.
He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
Dominion abfolute; that right we hold
By his donation: but man over men
He made not Lord: fuch title to himself
Referving, human left from human free,
But this ufurper his encroachement proud
Stays not on man: to God his tow'r intends
Siege and defiance. Wretched man! What
food

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Will he convey up thither to sustain
Himself and his rafh army; where thin air
Above the clouds will pine his entrails grofs;
And famifh him of breath, if not of bread?

1

To whom thus Michael. Juftly thou ab-
horr'ft

That fon, who on the quiet state of men 80
Such trouble brought, affecting to fubdue
Rational liberty: yet know withal,
Since by original lapfe, true liberty

Is loft, which always with right reason dwells

Twin'd, and from her hath no dividual

being:

Reason in man obfcur'd, or, not obey'd,
Immediately inordinate defires

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And upftart paffions cateh the government
From reason; and to fervitude reduce
Man till then free. Therefore, fince he per-

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Within himself unworthy pow'rs to reign
Over free reafon; God in judgment juft
Subjects him from without to violent lords:
Who oft as undefervedly inthrall

His outward freedom. Tyranny muft be; 95
Though to the tyrant thereby no excufe.
Yet fometimes nations will decline fo low
From virtue, which in reafon, that no

wrong,

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But juftice, and fome fatal curfe annex'd,
Deprives them of their outward liberty;
Their inward loft; witnefs th' irreverent fon.
Of him, who built the Ark; who for the
fhame

Done to his father, heard his heavy curfe.
,,Servant of Servants," on his vicious race..
Thus will this latter, as the former world, 105
Still tend from bad to worfe; till God at laft
Wearied with their iniquities; withdraw
His prefence from among them, and avert
His holy eyes; refolving from thenceforth

Το leave them to their own polluted

ways:

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And one peculiar nation to felect
From all the reft, of whom to be invok❜d,
A nation from one faithful man to spring:
Him on this fide Euphrates yet refiding,
Bred up in idol-worship. O that men. 115
Canft thou believe? fhould be fo ftupid

grown,

While yet the patriarch liv'd, who fcap'd the stood,

As to forfake the living God, and fall

To worship their own work in wood and

ftone

For Gods! yet him God the most High vouch

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To caft by vifion from his father's house, His kindred and falfe Gods, into at land, Which he will fhew him: and from him will raife

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A mighty nation! and upon him show'r
His benediction so, that in his feed
All nations fhall be bleft: he ftraight obeys.
Not knowing to what land, yet firm be
lieves.

I fee him, but thou canst not, with what

faith

He leaves his Gods, his friends, and native

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Ur of Chaldaea, paffing now the ford
To Harap after him a cumbrous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous fervitude:
Not wand'ring poor, but trusting all his
wealth

With God, who cali'd him, in a land unknown.

Canaan he now attains; I fee his tents

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Pitch'd about Sichem, and the neighb'ring plain

Of Moreh. There by promife he receives
Gift to his progeny of all that land;
From Hamath northward to the desert south;
Things by their names I call, tho yet un-

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nam'd, From Hermon eaft, to the great western sea; Mount Hermon, yonder fea, each place behold

In profpect, as I point them, on the shore Mount Carmel; here the double founted ftream,

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Jordan, true limit eastward: but his fons 145
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
bruife

The ferpent's head; whereof to the anon 150
Plaiulier fhall be reveal'd. This Patriarch bleft,
Whom

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