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Воок XII.—127-159]
PARADISE LOST.
299
Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes. I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith He leaves his gods, his friends, and native soil, Ur of Chaldea, passing now the ford To Haran; after him a cumbrous train Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude; Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth With God, who called him, in a land unknown. Canaan he now attains. I see his tents Pitched about Sechem, and the neighbouring plain Of Moreh. There, by promise, he receives Gift to his progeny of all that land, From Hamath, northward to the desert south-Things by their names I call, though yet unnamed-From Hermon east, to the great western sea; Mount Hermon, yonder sea; each place behold In prospect, as I point them. On the shore, Mount Carmel; here, the double-founted stream,1 Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons Shall dwell to Senir,2 that long ridge of hills. This ponder, that all nations of the earth Shall in his seed be blessed. By that seed Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruise The Serpent's head; whereof to thee anon Plainlier shall be revealed. This patriarch blest, Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call, A son, and of his son a grandchild, leaves, Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown. The grandchild, with twelve sons increased, departs From Canaan to a land hereafter called Egypt, divided by the river Nile. See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths Into the sea: to sojourn in that land
north of Cæsarea Philippi, the other about eighteen miles south of that spot. Senir. The Amorities gave this name to Mount Hermon.
In his seed all nations shall be blest .- "Now thee Lord had said unto Abram, Get the out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. xii. 1, 2.)
The double-founted stream.—The Jordan has its origin in two fountains or springs—the one about twenty miles