Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/301

 BOOK SECOND

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��Moses was in the Mount and missing long, And the great Thisbite, who on fiery wheels Rode up to Heaven, yet once again to

come. Therefore, as those young prophets then

with care

Sought lost Eliah, so in each place these Nigh to Bethabara in Jericho 20

The city of palms, JEnon, and Salem old, Macha^rus, and each town or city walled On this side the broad lake Genezaret, Or in Pera?a but returned in vain. Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek, Where winds with reeds and osiers whis- pering play, Plain fishermen (no greater men them

call),

Close in a cottage low together got, Their unexpected loss and plaints out- breathed :

" Alas, from what high hope to what re- lapse 30 Unlooked for are we fallen ! Our eyes be- held

Messiah certainly now come, so long Expected of our fathers ; we have heard His words, his wisdom full of grace and

truth.
 * Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at

hand;

The kingdom shall to Israel be restored : ' Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is

turned

Into perplexity and new amaze. For whither is he gone ? what accident Hath rapt him from us ? will he now re- tire 40 After appearance, and again prolong Our expectation ? God of Israel, Send thy Messiah forth; the time is come. Behold the kings of the earth, how they

oppress Thy Chosen, to what highth their power

unjust

They have exalted, and behind them cast All fear of Thee ; arise, and vindicate Thy glory; free thy people from their

yoke !

But let us wait; thus far He hath per- formed 49 Sent his Anointed, and to us revealed him By his great Prophet pointed at and shown In public, and with him we have conversed. Let us be glad of this, and all our fears Lay on his providence; He will not fail,

��Nor will withdraw him now, nor will re- call- Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch

him hence:

Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, re- turn." Thus they out of their plaints new hope

resume

To find whom at the first they found un- sought.

But to his mother Mary, when she saw 60 Others returned from baptism, not her

Son,

Nor left at Jordan tidings of him none, Within her breast though calm, her breast

though pure, Motherly cares and fears got head, and

raised Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs

thus clad : " Oh, what avails me now that honour

high,

To have conceived of God, or that salute, ' Hail, highly favoured, among women

blest ! '

While I to sorrows am no less advanced, And fears as eminent above the lot 70

Of other women, by the birth I bore: In such a season born, when scarce a shed Could be obtained to shelter him or me From the bleak air? A stable was our

warmth,

A manger his; yet soon enforced to fly Thence into Egypt, till the murderous king Were dead, who sought his life, and, miss- ing, filled

With infant blood the streets of Bethle- hem.

From Egypt home returned, in Nazareth Hath been our dwelling many years; his life 80

Private, unactive, calm, contemplative, Little suspicious to any king. But now, Full grown to man, acknowledged, as I

hear,

By John the Baptist, and in public shewn, Son owned from Heaven by his Father's

voice, I looked for some great change. To

honour? no;

But trouble, as old Simeon plain foretold, That to the fall and rising he should be Of many in Israel, and to a sign Spoken against that through my very soul 90

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