Out of such pris'n, though Spi'rits of pureft light,
Pureft at first, now grofs by finning grown.

The reft in imitation to like arms

Betook them, and the neighb'ring hills uptore;

So hills amid the air encounter'd hills

Hurl'd to and fro with jaculation dire,

That under ground they fought in dismal fhade;
Infernal noife; war feem'd a civil game
To this uproar; horrid confufion heap'd
Upon confufion rofe: and now all Heaven

661

665

Had

Homer's battels, that they rife in horror one above another to the end of the Iliad. The fame may be faid of Milton's battels. In the first day's engagement, when they fought under a cope of fire with burning arrows, it was faid

Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread;

Had not th'almighty Father, where he fits
Shrin'd in his fanctuary of Heav'n fecure,
Confulting on the fum of things, foreseen

670

This tumult, and permitted all, advis’d:

That his great purpose he might fo fulfil,

675

To honor his anointed Son aveng'd

Upon his enemies, and to declare

All pow'r on him transferr'd: whence to his Son
Th' affeffor of his throne he thus began.

Effulgence of my glory, Son belov'd,
Son in whose face invifible is beheld

Visibly, what by deity I am,

680

And

So the Son is called in fome of the Fathers, wapedę✪ ✪eʊ, dei affeffor.

681. Son in whofe face invifible is bebeld

Vifibly, what by deity I am,] So the firft editions have pointed the fentence; and the conftruction and fenfe of it is this; Son in whose face what is invifible is beheld vifibly, viz. what I am by deity.

Pearce. Invifible here is a neuter adjective ufed for a fubftantive, and it is in allufion to these texts, Rom. I. 20. The invifible things of God are clearly

Jeen,

And in whofe hand what by decree I do,
Second Omnipotence, two days are paft,

Two days, as we compute the days of Heaven, 685
Since Michael and his Pow'rs went forth to tame
These disobedient: fore hath been their fight,
As likelieft was, when two fuch foes met arm'd;
For to themselves I left them, and thou know'ft,
Equal in their creation they were form'd, 690
Saye what fin hath impair'd, which yet hath wrought
Infenfibly, for I fufpend their doom;

Whence in perpetual fight they needs must last
Endless, and no folution will be found:

War wearied hath perform'd what war can do, 695

And

feen, and Col. f. 15. The image of deed within the compafs of this the invifible God.

one book we have all the variety of battels that can well be conceiv'd.

We have a single combat, and a general engagement. The firft day's fight is with darts and fwords, in imitation of the Ancients; the fecond day's fight is with artillery, in imitation of the Moderns; but the images in both are raifed proportionably to the fuperior nature of the beings here defcrib'd. And when the poet has briefly compris'd all that has any foundation in fact and reality, he has recourfe to the fictions of the poets in their defcriptions of, Rr

the

And to disorder'd rage let loofe the reins,

700

With mountains as with weapons arm'd, which makes
Wild work in Heav'n, and dange'rous to the main.
Two days are therefore paft, the third is thine;
For thee I have ordain'd it, and thus far
Have fuffer'd, that the glory may be thine
Of ending this great war, fince none but Thou
Can end it. Into thee fuch virtue' and grace
Immenfe I have transfus'd, that all may know
In Heav'n and Hell thy pow'r above compare;
And this perverfe commotion govern'd thus,'
To manifeft thee worthieft to be Heir

Of all things, to be Heir and to be King
By facred unction, thy deserved right.

705

Go then thou Mightieft in thy Father's might, 710
Afcend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels
That shake Heav'n's bafis, bring forth all my war,

the giants war with the Gods. And when war bath thus perform'd what war can do, he rifes ftill higher, and the Son of God is fent forth in the majefty of the almighty Father, agreeably to Scripture; fo much doth the fublimity of holy Writ tranfcend all that is true, and all that is feign'd in defcription.

My

710. Go then thou Mightieft &c.] The following lines in that glorious commiffion, which is given the Meffiah to extirpate the hoft of rebel Angels, are drawn from a fublime paffage in the Pfalms. The reader will eafily difcover many other ftrokes of the fame nature. Addi fon

The

My bow and thunder, my almighty arms

Gird on, and sword upon thy puiffant thigh;
Pursue these fons of darkness, drive them out 715
From all Heav'n's bounds into the utter deep:
There let them learn, as likes them, to despise
God and Meffiah his anointed king.

He faid, and on his Son with rays direct
Shone full; he all his Father full exprefs'd
Ineffably into his face receiv'd;

720

And thus the filial Godhead anfw'ring spake.
O Father, O Supreme of heav'nly Thrones,
First, Highest, Holiest, Beft, thou always feek'st
To glorify thy Son, I always thee,

As is most juft; this I my glory' account,
My exaltation, and my whole delight,

That thou in me well pleas'd,
Fulfill'd, which to fulfil is all

declar'ft thy will

my blifs.

725