Gabriel, this day by proof thou shalt behold, 130 Thou and all Angels converfant on earth

With man or mens affairs, how I begin

To verify that folemn message late,
On which I fent thee to the Virgin pure
In Galilee, that she should bear a fon

Great in renown, and call'd the Son of God;

135

Then toldst her doubting how these things could be To her a virgin, that on her should come

141

The Holy Ghoft, and the pow'r of the Highest
O'er-shadow her: this man born and now up-grown,
To show him worthy of his birth divine
And high prediction, henceforth I expose
To Satan; let him tempt and now assay
His utmost fubtlety, because he boasts.
And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng
Of his apoftafy; he might have learnt

Gabriel was fent to inform Daniel of the
famous prophecy of the feventy weeks; Ga-
briel notified the conception of John the Bap-
tift to his father Zacharias, and of our bleffed
Saviour to his virgin mother. And the Jewish
Rabbi's fay, that Michael was the minifter of
feverity, but Gabriel of mercy: and accord-
ingly our poet makes Gabriel the guardian

145

Lefs

Angel of Paradise, and employs Michael to expel our first parents out of Paradise: and for the fame reason this fpeech is directed to Gabriel in particular. And God's being reprefented as Smiling may be justified not only by the Heathen poets, as Virg. Æn. I. 254.

Olli fubridens hominum fator atque deorum:

but

Less overweening, fince he fail'd in Job,
Whose constant perfeverance overcame
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent.

He now fhall know I can produce a man

150

Of female feed, far abler to refift

All his folicitations, and at length

All his vaft force, and drive him back to Hell,
Winning by conquest what the first man lost
By fallacy furpris'd. But first I mean
To exercise him in the wilderness,

There he shall firft lay down the rudiments

Of his great warfare, ere I fend him forth

To conquer Sin and Death, the two grand foes,
By humiliation and strong sufferance:

His weakness fhall o'ercome Satanic ftrength,
And all the world, and mass of sinful flesh;
That all the Angels and ethereal Powers,

but by the authority of Scripture itself. See
Paradise Loft. V. 718.

131. Thou and all Angels converfant on earth With man or mens affairs,] This feems to be taken from the verfes attributed to Orpheus.

Αγγελοι, δισι μεμηλε βροτοις ὡς πανία τε

λατα

155

160

They

because be boafts

144. And vaunts &c] This alludes to what Satan had just before faid to his companions,

ver. 100.

I, when no other durft, fole undertook &c.
Thyer.

163. That all the Angels and ethereal Powers, &c] Not a word is faid here of the Son of God,

They now, and men hereafter may discern,
From what confummate virtue I have chose
This perfect man, by merit call'd my Son,
To earn salvation for the fons of men.

So fpake th' eternal Father, and all Heaven
Admiring stood a space, then into hymns

In fleshly tabernacle, and human form. That Chrift was perfect man is a partial truth, and ferves to keep the higher perfection of his divine nature, for the prefent, out of fight, without denying or excluding it. It is likewife very truly faid of this perfect man, that he is by merit call'd the Son of God. Juftin Martyr obferves in his fecond Apology [p. 67. Ed. Col.] that Chrift, confidered only as man, deferved for his fuperior wifdom to be called the Son of God. Ti de só Inges youε v, a 201 noves μovov avtoga, dia owplay at ú:& Des regrada. In either capacity of Ged or Man he had a clame of merit to the title. The Father, fpeaking to his eternal Word in Paradife Loft, III. 308. on his generous undertakings for mankind, faith

and haft been found

By merit more than birthright Son of God. Again, the words confummate virtue are ambi

165

Burft

guous, and may be referred to the divine nature of Christ as well as the buman. Their prefent connexion applies them directly to the buman nature: but they had a secret reference, I conceive, in the poet's meaning to the majesty of that heavenly part of him, which denominates Chrift in the holy Scriptures the wifdom of God and the power (or virtue) of God, es duwaun, Dei virtutem, Lat. Vulg. 1 Cor. I. 24. Hunc tamen folum primogenitum divini nominis appellatione dignatus est, patria fcilicet virtute, ac majestate pollentem. Effe autem fummi Dei filium, qui fit poteftate maxima præditus, non tantum voces prophetarum, fed etiam Sibyllarum vaticinia demonftrant. Laftantius. Div. Inft. Lib. IV. 6. Cum

igitur a prophetis idem manus Dei, & virtus, & fermo dicatur. ibid. 29. Paradise Lost. VI. 713.

Into thee fuch virtue and grace Immenfe I have transfus'd.

Chrift fhow'd his heavenly wifdom upon every trial: but his divine virtue broke out, to the amazement of the tempter, in the laft. Note that the præpofition from

-

From what confummate virtue is used here as úπo and præ, to fignify for or because of.

Calton.

168. So fpake th' eternal Father, and all Heaven Admiring ftood a space,] We cannot but take

notice

Burft forth, and in celeftial measures mov'd,
Circling the throne and finging, while the hand
Sung with the voice, and this the argument.

Victory' and triumph to the Son of God
Now entring his great duel, not of arms,
But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles.

notice of the great art of the poet in fetting forth the dignity and importance of his fubject. He reprefents all beings as interested one way or other in the event. A council of Devils is fummon'd; an affembly of Angels is held upon the occafion. Satan is the speaker in the one, the Almighty in the other. Satan expreffes his diffidence, but still refolves to make trial of this Son of God; the Father declares his purpose of proving & illustrating his Son. The infernal crew are distracted and furpris'd with deep difmay; all Heaven ftands a while in admiration. The fiends are filent thro' fear and grief; the Angels burst forth into finging with joy and the affured hopes of fuccefs. And their attention is thus engaged, the better to engage the attention of

the reader.

170

175 The

I have fometimes indulg'd a fufpicion, that the poet dictated,

while the barp

'Sung with the voice; but the few authorities alledged put the present reading out of queftion. Calton.

174. Now entring his great duel,] There is, I think, a meanness in the customary sense of this term that makes it unworthy of these fpeakers and this occafion; and yet it is obfervable, that Milton in his Paradife Loft makes Michael ufe the very fame word where he is fpeaking to Adam of the fame thing. XII. 386.

To whom thus Michael.
their fight,
As of a duel, &c.

Dream not of

The Father knows the Son; therefore fecure
Ventures his filial virtue, though untry'd,
Against whate'er may tempt, whate'er feduce,
Allure, or terrify, or undermine.

Be fruftrate all ye ftratagems of Hell,
And devilish machinations come to nought.

So they in Heav'n their odes and vigils tun'd:
Mean while the Son of God, who yet fome days.
Lodg'd in Bethabara where John baptiz'd,
Mufing and much revolving in his breast,

176. The Father knows the Son; therefore fecure

Ventures bis filial virtue, though untry'd, ] Could this have been faid by the Angels, if they also had known this Son to be the eternal Word, who created all things; and who had before driven this Tempter, and all his Powers out of Heaven? The incarnation was generally believed by the Fathers to have been a fecret to Angels, till they learned it from the Church. See Huetii Origeniana. Lib. 2. Cap. 2. Quæft. 5. 18. As to the time and means of their information, Milton feems to be particular. Calton.

182. So they in Heav'n their odes and vigils tun'd:

180

185 How

Mean while the Son of God-] How nearly does the poet here adhere to the fame of way fpeaking he had used in Paradife Loft on the fame occafion. III 416.

Thus they in Heav'n above the starry spher
Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.
Mean while &c. Thyer.

182. their odes and vigils tun'd:] This is a very uncommon expreffion, and not easy to be understood, unless we suppose that by vigils the poet meant thofe fongs which they fung while they kept their watches. Singing of hymns is their manner of keeping their wakes in Heaven. And I fee no reason why their evening service may not be called vigils, as the morning fervice is called mattins. Mr. Sympfon propofes a flight alteration, their odes in vigils tun'd,

that is, each watch when reliev'd fung so and fo: