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Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee fend
The fummoning Arch-Angels to proclame
Thy dread tribunal; forthwith from all winds
The living, and forthwith the cited dead
Of all paft ages, to the general doom

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Shall haften, such a peal shall rouse their sleep.
Then all thy faints affembled, thou shalt judge 330
Bad men and Angels; they arraign'd shall fink
Beneath thy fentence; Hell, her numbers full,
Thenceforth shall be for ever fhut. Mean while
The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring

334. The world fall burn, &c.] The Heavens being on fire fhall be diffolved, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat; nevertheless we, according to his promife, look for new

Heavens, and a new Earth, where

in dwelleth righteoufnefs, 2 Pet. III.

12, 13.

335. New Heav'n and Earth, Dr. Bentley reads Heav'ns; for (he fays) Heav'n is the feat of God,

Heav'ns are the visible ones, all not beyond the fixed ftars: but I find Milton almost always ufing the known Jewish phrafe of Heaven and Earth to exprefs the whole creation by. See inftances in VII. 62, 167, 232, 256, 617. VIII. 15, zo. X, 638, 647. XI. 66, gọi.

Pearce. The last verse cited by Dr. Pearce is almoft the fame as this we are here confidering.

New New Heav'n and Earth, wherein

the juft fhall dwell. Both Heav'n and Earth, wherein

the juft fhall dwell. We may add too, that tho' St. Peter fays new Heavens and a new Earth, yet St. John, Rev. XXI. 1. and Earth. And I faw a new Heamakes ufe of the phrafe of Heaven Heaven and the firft Earth were ven and a new Earth, for the firft passed away.

337. See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,]

Toto furget gens aurea mundo.

Virg. Ecl. IV. 9. Hume.

341. God fhall be all in all.] According to 1 Cor. XV. 28. And when all things fhall be fubdued unto him, then hall the Son alfo himfelf be fubject unto him, that put all

New Heav'n and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell, And after all their tribulations long

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See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,

With joy and love triumphing, and fair truth.
Then thou thy regal scepter fhalt lay by,

For regal fcepter then no more fhall need,
God fhall be all in all. But all

But all ye Gods,

Adore him, who to compass all this dies;
Adore the Son, and honor him as me.

No fooner had th' Almighty ceas'd, but all
The multitude of Angels, with a shout

340

345 Loud

things under him, that God may be this divine dialogue with the

all in all.

--

341. But all ye Gods, Adore him.] From Pfal. XCVII. 7. Worship him, all ye Gods, that is all ye Angels; and fo it is tranflated by the Seventy, and fo it is cited by St. Paul, Heb. I. 6. And let all the Angels of God worship him.

343. Adore the Son, and honor him as me.] That all men Should honor the Son, even as they bonor the Father. John V. 23.

344. No fooner had th' Almighty ceas'd, &c.] The clofe of this divine colloquy, with the hymn of Angels that follows upon it, are fo wonderfully beautiful and poetical, that I fhould not forbear inferting the whole, if the bounds of my paper would give me leave.

Addifon. If the reader pleases to compare

fpeeches of the Gods in Homer and Virgil, he will find the Chriftian poet to tranfcend the Heathen, as much as the religion of the one furpaffes that of the others. Their deities talk and act like men, but Milton's divine Perfons are divine Perfons indeed, and talk in the language of God, that is in the language of Scripture. He is fo very fcrupulous and exact in this particular, that perhaps there is not a fingle expreffion, which may not be juftify'd by the authority of holy Writ. We have taken notice of feveral, where he feems to have copied the letter of Scripture, and the fpirit of Scripture breathes in all the reft.

345. The multitude of Angels, &c.] The construction is this, All the multitude of Angels uttering joy with

Loud as from numbers without number, fweet

As from bleft voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung
With jubilee, and loud Hofanna's fill'd

Th'eternal regions: lowly reverent

Tow'ards either throne they bow, and to the ground

With folemn adoration down they caft

Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold;
Immortal amarant, a flow'r which once

a fhout loud as &c. Heav'n rung, &c. where the first words are put in the ablative cafe abfolutely. Pearce.

down they caft

351. Their crowns] So they are reprefented Rev. IV. 10. The four and twenty elders fall down before him that fat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and caft their crowns before the throne.

353. Immortal amarant,] Amarant Audean Greek, for unfading, that decayeth not; a flower of a purple velvet color, which tho' gather'd, keeps its beauty, and when all other flowers fade, recovers its luftre by being sprinkled with a little water, as Pliny affirms, Lib. 21. c. 11. Our author feems to have taken this hint from 1 Pet. I. 4. To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, apaeglov: and 1 Pet. V. 4. Ye hall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away, auagalo: both relating to the name of his ever

I

I

351

In

lafting amarant, which he has finely fet near the tree of life. Amarantus flos, fymbolum eft immortalitatis. Clem. Alexand. Hume.

357. the fount of life, ana

river of bliss] The abundant happiness and immortal joys of Heaven are in Scripture generally exprefs'd by the fountain of life and rivers of pleasure: So, Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleafures, for with thee is the fountain of life, Pfal. XXXVI. 8, 9. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne fhall feed them, and fall lead them unto living fountains of waters, Rev. VII. 17. and Rev. XXII. 1. He showed me a pure river of water of life.

Hume.

359. Rolls o'er Elyfian flow'rs

her amber ftream;] Dr. Bentley reads Rolls o'er relucent gems &c. because (he fays) it is not well conceiv'd that flow'rs grow at the bottom of a river. But (as Dr. Pearce replies) Milton's words don't neceffarily imply fo much; the river

In Paradise, faft by the tree of life,
Began to bloom; but foon for man's offense

To Heav'n remov'd, where first it grew,

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there grows,

And flow'rs aloft fhading the fount of life,

And where the riv'er of bliss through midst of Heaven Rolls o'er Elyfian flow'rs her amber stream;

With these that never fade the Spirits elect

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Bind their refplendent locks inwreath'd with beams,

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et decrefcentia ripas Flumina prætereunt, roll by and within their banks. But if we understand the paffage as it is express'd, there is no kind of abfurdity in it; for we frequently fee grafs and weeds and flowers growing under water: and we may therefore fuppofe the finest flowers to grow at the bottom of the river of bliss, or rather the river to roll over them fometimes, to water them. The author feems to intend much the fame thing that he has exprefs'd in IV. 240. where Speaking of the brooks in Paradife he fays they

Now

Ran nectar, vifiting each plant, and fed

Flow'rs worthy of Paradise.

And as there they are flow'rs worthy of Paradife, fo here they are worthy of Elyftum, the region of the Bleffed: and he makes ufe of the fame expreffion in his poem call'd L'Allegro,

From golden flumber on a bed Of heap'd Elysian flow'rs. And then as to his calling it amber ftream, it is only on account of its clearness and transparency, and not at all on account of its color, that he compares it to amber. The clearness of amber was proverbial among the Ancients; Callimachus in his hymn to Ceres, ver. 29. has aλexterov ufwp; and in like manner Virgil fays of a river, Georg. III. 522.

Purior electro campum petit amnis.

360. With thefe that never fade] Dr. Bentley reads with this that

Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright Pavement, that like a fea of jafper shone,

Impurpled with celeftial rofes fmil'd.

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Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took,

Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their fide
Like quivers hung, and with preamble fweet
Of charming symphony they introduce
Their facred fong, and waken raptures high;

No voice exempt, no voice but well could join 370
Melodious part, fuch concord is in Heaven.

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Or perhaps thefe may more probably refer to Elyfian flow'rs mention'd in the verfe preceding. It is more natural and easy, and agrees better with what follows, with their being thrown off in loofe garlands,

which it is better to understand of flow'rs than of crowns, which are themselves garlands: but then there must be no parenthesis, as there is none in Milton's own editions.

363.like a fea of jafper fhone,] Jafper is a precious ftone of fe veral colors, but the green is moft efteem'd, and bears fome fimilitude and resembl nce to the fea.

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372. Thee, Father, firft they fung &c.] This hymn feems to be compofed fomewhat in the fpirit and manner of the hymn to Hercules in the 8th book of the Eneid; but is as much fuperior as the fubject of the one tranfcends that of the other.

377. Thron'd

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