accomplish'd, when JESUS (c), the Son of MARY, (who is the fecond EV E) faw SATAN the Prince of the Air, fall down from Heaven like Lightning; then rifing from his Grave, having fpoiled Principalities and Powers, he made a Show of them, openly, triumphing over them, and with bright Afcenfion led Captivity captive through the Air, the very Realm fo long ufurped by SATAN, whom he fhall tread at laft under our Feet; even he, who at this Time foretold his fatal Bruife; and to the WOMAN he gave Sentence thus: I WILL greatly multiply thy Sorrow by thy Conception; in Sorrow fhalt thou bring forth Children; unto thy Husband's Will thine fhall fubmit, for he fhall rule over thee. LASTLY UPON ADAM he thus pronounced Judgment: Because thou haft hearkened to the Voice of thy Wife, and haft eaten of the Tree of which I commanded thee, faying, thou shalt not eat it, curfed be the Ground for thy Sake; in Sorrow fhalt thou eat of it all the Days of thy Life; Thorns alfo and Thiftles it fhall bring forth to thee, and thou fhalt eat of the Herb of the Field. In the Sweat of thy Face fhalt thou eat Bread, 'till thou return unto the Ground, for thou waft taken out of the Ground Duft thou art, and unto Duft thou fhalt return again. So he judg'd MAN, being fent forth Judge and Saviour, and put far off the present Sentence of DEATH, which was pronounced on that Day: Then pitying them, to fee how they ftood before him, expofed to the naked Air; (that now was likewife about to fuffer Change, he did not difdain, thenceforth, to affume the Form of a Servant: As when he washed his Servants Feet; fo now, as the Father of his Family, he covered their Nakedness with the Skins of Beafts; which either had flain one another, fas fince the Fall they began to do) or elfe were fuch as had been fhed by Snakes, or fuch Creatures as change their old Skins for new ones, and did not think much to cloath his Enemies; nor did he only cloath their Nakedness with the Skins of Beafts, but arraying their inward Nakednefs (which was much more fhameful) with his Robe of Righteoufnefs, cover'd it from the Sight of his FATHER. With fwift Afcent he returned up to him, into his blifsful Bofom, fitting in Glory as of old; and to the omnifcient FATHER, now appeaffed, recounted all that pafed with MAN, mixing fweet Interceffion. CHA P. II. Sin and Death make a Bridge over Chaos, and travel from Hell to Earth: Satan arrives at Pandemonium, and in full Affembly relates bis Success against Man. M EAN while, before ADAM and Eve had finned, and had Sentence paffed on them on Earth, SIN and DEATH fat within the Gates of Hell on either Side, oppofite to each other; the Gates fince SATAN paffed through had flood wide open, belching outragious Flames into the CHA OS, SIN having open'd them; who now thus began to fay to DEATH: O SON! why do we fit here idly viewing each other, while our great Author SATAN thrives in other Worlds, and provides a happier Seat for us his dear Offspring? It can't be otherwife than that Succefs attends him: Had he met with Misfortune, he had returned before this Time, furiously driven by the Minifters of Vengeance; fince no Place can be fo fit for his Punishment or their Revenge, as this is. Methinks I feel new Strength rife within me, Wings growing, and large Dominion given me beyond this deep Hell; whatever it be that draws me on, or whether it be Sympathy, or the Force of fome natural Power, to unite Things of like Nature at the greatest Distance, by fecret Attraction and Conveyance. Thou who art my Shadow and infeparable from me, muft go along with me, for there is no Power that can feBut, left perchance the parate DEATH from SIN. Difficulty of paffing back, keeps him from returning over this Gulph, through which there is no Paffage, let us try (a difficult Piece of Work! yet not improper for thee and me, nor ill fuited to our Power) to make a Path over the Abyfs from Hell to that new World, where SATAN has now got Footing; a Monument of high Merit to all the Infernal Hoft, making their Paffage eafy, backward and forward from hence, or for them to quit Hell once for all, which of these shall happen to be their Lot: Nor can I mifs the Way, finding myself fo ftrongly drawn by Inftinct, and this new felt Attraction. To whom the meagre Shadow, DEATH, foon gave Answer: Go, whither Fate and strong Inclination lead thee on; I fhall not lag behind, nor miss the Way, thou being my Guide: I draw fuch a Scent of Mortality, Prey innumerable! and tafte the Savour of DEATH from all Things that lie there: Nor fhall I be wanting to the Work thou art taking in Hand, Q ૧ 2 but but give all the Affiftance that lies in my Power. And fo faying, he fnuffed with great Delight the Smell of the mortal Change upon Earth: As when a Flock of ravenous Birds of Prey come flying, against the Day of Battle, where Armies lie encamp'd, though from the Distance of many a League, drawn by the Scent of living Carcaffes, defign'd for DEATH the next Day in bloody War; fo the grim King of Terrors fnuffed and turn'd up his Noftrils into the tainted Air, fmelling his Prey from afar. Then both he and SIN flew different Ways from out the Gates of Hell, into the wafte, wild, and confufed CHAOS, damp and dark; and with Power (for their Power was great) hovering upon the Waters, drove, crowded together, (as if it were toffed up and down in a raging Sea) all that they met with, folid or flimy, driving it in Shoals on each Side, towards the Mouth of Hell: As when two Polar Winds, blowing adverfe upon the CR ONIAN (1) Sea, drive together Mountains of Ice, that ftop the imagined Way beyond-PETSORA (*), Eastward to the rich Coaft of CATHAY (). DEATH › smote (i) Cronian, of Crones or Cranus; Lat. Gr. i. e. Time. A Name of Saturn, the God of Timeand all cold Things. Here, the Frozen Northern Ocean, under the Influence of the Planet Saturn; which is a cold Planet, according to the Aftrologers; being far from us. (k) Petfora or Petzorka ; Ruff. A Province in the North of Muscovy, under the Artic Circle upon the Icy Sea, on the Weft Side of the River Oby; fo called from the Capital City, which ftandeth in a Lake of the fame Name; there is a River fo called, which falleth into that Ocean, at the Mouth of the Waygats of it. (Cathay or Catge. A Province of Tartary, having the Frozen Ocean on the North, and China on the South. It is called Cara Kitaia and Ava, by the Tartars, i. e. Black China: because the Inhabitants were Sun-burnt; whereas those of China, at least in the Northern Provinces, are White. It confilled of the fix Northern Provinces of China, to called from the fmote what they had gathered together with his petrifying Mace, and fixed it as firm as DELOS now is fixed, which was faid once to have floated; the reft the Rigour of his Look bound: They faftened all with Slime, broad as the Gate, and deep as the Bottom of Hell, and built an immenfe and high-arched Pile over the foaming Deep; a Bridge of prodigious Length, joining to the Wall of this World, now defencelefs and forfeited to DEATH: From hence making a broad, eafy, inoffenfive Paffage down to Hell: So (if great Things may be compared to fmall) XERXES (m), to bring under Subjection the Liber ty of GREECE, came from the Royal Palace of SuSA (7) to the Seth and making a Bridge over the HELLE the arcient Cati of Tartary, who (m) Xerxes; Perf. i. e. The Name) i. e. One that defeats the Schemes of another Man. and Nephew of Cyrus the Great (i. e. the Sun) Xerxes reduced Egypt, and in the fifth Year of his Reign, fet out from Sufa with the molt numerous and formidable Army that ever the World law before or fince, to invade Greece: which amounted to five Millions of Souls and a bove. Herodot. L. 7. c. 187. A. M. 3470. But was fhamefully defeated, and hardly ef caped with his Life, in a little Cock-boat. A juft Chattifement for his Infolence. He is called Abafuerus, Eft. 1. (n) Suja; Hel. i. e A Lil. ly: becaufe many Lillies grow thereabout. So Jericho is cal led the City of Palm Trees, Deut. xxxiv 3. And Florence, in Italy, from Abundance of Flowers there. It is called Shulban; and there Ahasuerus held his Court, Efther i. 2. And hence the whole Country was called Sufiana. |