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Yet neither thus difhearten'd or dismay'd,

The time prefix'd I waited, when behold

The Baptist (of whose birth I oft had heard, 270 Not knew by fight) now come, who was to come Before Meffiah and his way prepare.

I as all others to his baptism came,

Which I believ'd was from above; but he

Strait knew me, and with loudest voice proclam'd
Me him (for it was shown him fo from Heaven) 276
Me him whofe harbinger he was; and first
Refus'd on me his baptifm to confer,

As much his greater, and was hardly won:
But as I rofe out of the laving stream,

manner of intimacy or acquain-
tance with each other. John the
Baptift fays expressly John I. 31,
33. And I knew him not; and he
did not fo much as know him by
fight, till our Saviour came to his
baptifm; and afterwards it doth
not appear that they ever con-
verfed together. And it was wifely
ordered fo by Providence, that the
teftimony of John might have the
greater weight, and be freer from
all fufpicion of any compact or
collufion between them.

278. Refus'd on me his baptifm to
confer,

As much his greater,] Here Milton ufes the word greater in the

280 Heav'n

fame manner as he had done before, Parad. Lost. V. 172.

Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and foul, Acknowledge him thy greater. And this, I think, is a proof that the prefent reading there is right, and that both Dr. Bentley's emendation and mine ought abfolutely to be rejected. Thyer.

280.-out of the laving ftream,] Alluding, I fancy, to the phrafe laver of regeneration fo frequently applied to baptifm. It may be obferved in general of this foliloquy of our Saviour, that it is not only excellently well adapted to the

pre

Heav'n open'd her eternal doors, from whence
The Spirit defcended on me like a dove,
And laft the fum of all, my Father's voice,
Audibly heard from Heav'n, pronounc'd me his,
Me his beloved Son, in whom alone
285
He was well pleas'd; by which I knew the time
Now full, that I no more fhould live obfcure,
But openly begin, as beft becomes

prefent condition of the divine fpeaker, but alfo very artfully introduc'd by the poet to give us a hiftory of his hero from his birth to the very scene with which the poem is open'd. Thyer.

281. eternal doors] Šo in Pfal. XXIV.7,9. everiafting doors. 286.

-the time

Now full,] Alluding to the Scripture phrafe, the fulness of time. When the fulness of time was come &c Gal. IV. 4.

293. For what concerns my knowledge God reveals.] Jesus was Jed by an inward impulfe to retire into the defert: and he obey'd the motion, without knowing the purpofe of it, for that was not reveal'd to him by God. The whole foliloquy is form'd upon an opini on, which hath authorities enough to give it credit, viz. that Chrift was not, by virtue of the perfonal union of the two natures, and from the first moment of that. union, pof

Th' authority

fefs'd of all the knowledge of the AOгOE, as far as the capacity of a human mind would admit. [See Le Blanc's Elucidatio Status Controverfiarum &c. Cap. 3.] In his early years he increas'd in wifdom, and in ftature. St. Luke II. And Bezaobferves upon this place, ipfa Θεότητα plenitudo fefe, prout & quatenus ipfi libuit,

that

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52.

humanitati affumtæ infinuavit :

quicquid garriant matæologi, & novi Ubiquitarii Eutychiani. Gerhard, a Lutheran profeffor of divinity, has the fame meaning, or none at all, in what I am going to tranfcribe.-Anima Chrifti, juxta naturalem, & habitualem fcientiam vere profecit, óy omnifcio ipyua fuam, quæ eft actu omnia fcire & cognofcere, per affumtam humanitatem non femper exerente, [Joh. Gerhardi Loci Theol. tom. I. Loc.4.Cap. 12.] Grotius employs the fame principle, to explain St. Mark XIII. 32.· Videtur mihi, ni meliora docear, hic locus non

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Th' authority which I deriv'd from Heaven.
And now by some strong motion I am led
Into this wilderness, to what intent

I learn not yet, perhaps I need not know;
For what concerns my knowledge God reveals.
So fpake our Morning Star then in his rife,
And looking round on every fide beheld

A pathlefs defert, dufk with horrid fhades;

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impie poffe exponi hunc in modum, ut dicamus divinam Sapientiam, menti humanæ Chrifti effectus fuos impreffiffe pro temporum ratione. Nam qui daliud eft, fi verba non torquemus, πроεnole copia, Luc. II. 52? And our Tillotson approv'd the opinion." It is not unreasonable to fuppofe, that "the Divine Wisdom, which dwelt **in our Saviour, did communi"cate itfelf to his human foul açcording to his pleasure, and fo *his human Nature might at fome "times not know fome things. And if this be not admitted, "how can we understand that paffage concerning cur Saviour, "Luke II. 52. that Jefus grew in "wisdom and ftature? [Sermons Vol. IX. P. 273.] Grotius could find scarce any thing in antiquity to fupport his explication but there is fomething in Theodoret very much to his purpofe, which I owe to Whitby's Stricture Patrum. P. 190. της [δέλες μορφ

290

295

The

Pas, ut videtur,] TOIKUTA NAT" EKEIVO т8 xaps you wousons, doan X Non eft Dei

orng aTenakupe. Verbi ignorantia, fed Formæ Ser vi, quæ tanta per illud tempus fciebat, quanta Deitas inhabitans revelabat. Repreh. Anath. quarti Cyrilli, Tom. 4. P. 713. If fome things might befuppos'd unknown to Chrift, without prejudice to the union, being not reveal'd to him by the united Word, it will follow that, till fome certain time, even the union itself might be unknown to him. This time feems to have heen, in Milton's scheme, after the foliloquy; but before the fortydays of fafting were ended, and the Demon enter'd upon the scene of action: and then was a fit occafion to give him a feeling of his own ftrength, when he was just upon the point of being attack'd by fuch an Adverfary. Calton.

294. So pake our Morning Star] So our Saviour is called in the Revelation XXH. 16. the bright and

morning

The

way he came not having mark'd, return Was difficult, by human steps untrod;

300

And he still on was led, but with fuch thoughts
Accompanied of things past and to come
Lodg'd in his breast, as well might recommend
Such folitude before choiceft fociety.

Full forty days he pafs'd, whether on hill
Sometimes, anon in fhady vale, each night
Under the covert of fome ancient oak,

Or cedar, to defend him from the dew,
Or harbour'd in one cave, is not reveal'd;
Nor tafted human food, nor hunger felt
Till thofe days ended, hunger'd then at last

morning far: and it is properly applied to him here at his first rifing. 302. Such folitude before choiceft fociety.] This verte is of the fame measure as one in the Paradife Loft, IX. 249. and is to be fcann'd in the fame manner.

For folitude fometimes is beft I folciety.

Such folitude before choifceft folciety.

Or we must allow that an Alexandrine verfe (as it is called) may be admitted into blank verfe as well as into rime.

307.- -one cave] Read-fome Fortin.

cave,

305

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Among wild beasts: they at his fight grew mild, 310
Nor fleeping him nor waking harm'd, his walk
The fiery ferpent fled, and noxious worm,
The lion and fierce tiger glar'd aloof.

5314

But now an aged man in rural weeds,
Following, as feem'd, the queft of fome ftray ewe,
Or wither'd sticks to gather, which might ferve
Against a winter's day when winds blow keen,
To warm him wet return'd from field at eve,
He saw approach, who first with curious eye
Perus'd him, then with words thus utter'd spake.320

Sir, what ill chance hath brought thee to this place So far from path or road of men, who pass

wafte wilderness. But the word worm, tho' joined with the epithet noxious, may give too low an idea to fome readers: but as we obferved upon the Paradife Loft, IX. 1068, where Satan is called false worm, it is a general name for the reptil kind, and a ferpent is called the mortal worm by Shakespear. 2 Henry VI. Act III. and fo likewife by Cowley in his Davideis. Book I.

With that fhe takes
One of her worst, her beft be-

loved fnakes,
Softly dear worm, foft and unfeen
(faid fhe).

In

314. But now an aged man &c] As the Scripture is entirely filent about what perfonage the Tempter affum'd, the poet was at liberty to indulge his own fancy; and nothing, I think, could be better conceived for his prefent purpose, or more likely to prevent fufpicion of fraud. The poet might perhaps take the hint from a defign of David Vinkhoon's, where the Devilis reprefented addressing himself to our Saviour under the appearPance of an old man. It is to be met with among Vifcher's cuts to the Bible, and is ingrav'd by Landerfelt. Thyer.

323. In

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