Scepter and pow'r, thy giving, I affumé,

And gladlier shall refign, when in the end
Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee
For ever, and in me all whom thou lov'ft:
But whom thou hat'ft, I hate, and can put on
Thy terrors, as I put thy mildness on,

736

735

Image of thee in all things; and shall foon,
Arm'd with thy might, rid Heav'n of these rebell'd,
To their prepar'd ill manfion driven down,
To chains of darkness, and th' undying worm,
That from thy juft obedience could revolt,

732. Thou shalt be all in all, &c.] We may fill obferve that Milton generally makes the divine Perfons talk in the file and language of Scripture. This paffage is manifeftly taken from 1 Cor. XV. 24 and 28. Then cometh the end when he fhall have delivered up the kingdom to God: And when all things fhall be fubdued unto him, then shall the Son alfo himself be fubject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. And immediately afterwards when it is faid

I in thee

740 Whom

they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they alfo may be one in us. ver. 21. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou haft loved them, as thou haft loved me. ver. 23. And when it is added

But whom thou hat'ft, I hate,

is not this an allufion to Pfal. CXXXIX. 21. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee, &c? And there are feveral other inftances, which the pious reader will perhaps

For ever, and in me all whom be better pleas'd to recollect him

thou lov'it:

this is plainly in allufion to several expreflions in John XVII. That

felf, than to have them pointed

out to him.

Whom to obey is happiness entire.

Then shall thy Saints unmix'd, and from th'impure Far feparate, circling thy holy mount

Unfeigned Halleluiahs to thee fing,

Hymns of high praise, and I among them chief. 745

So faid, he o'er his fcepter bowing, rofe

From the right hand of glory where he fat;
And the third facred morn began to fhine,
Dawning through Heav'n: forth rufh'd with whirl-

wind found

The chariot of paternal Deity,

Of thefe rebellious, of these who have rebell'd; a remarkable expreffion.

746. So faid, he o'er his Scepter

bowing, rofe &c.] The defcription of the Meffiah's going out against the rebel Angels is a fcene of the fame fort with Hefiod's Jupiter against the Titans. They are both of them the moft undoubted inftances of the true fublime; but which has exceeded it is very difficult to determin. There is, I think, a greater profufion of poetical images in that of the latter; but then the fuperior character of a Chriftian Meffiah, which Milton has with great judgment and majesty fupported in this part of his work, gives a certain air of

750 Flashing

Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn, Itself instinct with Spirit, but convoy'd

eyes the wheels

By four Cherubic fhapes; four faces each
Had wondrous; as with ftars their bodies all
And wings were set with eyes, with
Of beril, and carreering fires between;
Over their heads a crystal firmament,
Whereon a faphir throne, inlaid with

756

pure

760

Amber, and colors of the fhow'ry arch.
He in celeftial panoply all arm'd
Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought,
Afcended; at his right hand victory
Sat eagle-wing'd; befide him hung his bow
And quiver with three-bolted thunder ftor'd,
And from about him fierce effufion roll'd 765
Of smoke and bickering flame and sparkles dire:

Attended

Aaron's breaftplate; what they
were critics and commentators are
by no means agreed; but the word
Urim fignifies light and Thummim
perfection; and therefore Milton
very properly gives the epithet of
radiant to Urim.
It is most pro-
bable that Urim and Thummim were
only names given to fignify the
clearnefs and certainty of the di-
vine anfwers, which were obtain'd
by the high-prieft confulting God
with his breaft-plate on, in contra-
distinction to the obfcure, enigma-
tical, uncertain and imperfect an-
fwers of the Heathen oracles.

765. And from about him furce effufion rella

Of Smoke and bickering flame and

Sparkles dire:] A furious tempeft pouring forth fmoke and fighting flame round about him. Bickering, fighting and thence deftroying, of the Welsh Bicre a combat There went up a smoke out of his noftrils, and fire out of Rr 4 bis

Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,

He onward came, far off his coming fhone;

And twenty thousand (I their number heard)
Chariots of God, half on each hand were feen: 779
He on the wings of Cherub rode fublime
On the crystallin sky, in faphir thron'd,
Illuftrious far and wide, but by his own
First seen; them unexpected joy furpris'd,
When the great enfign of Meffiah blaz'd
Aloft by Angels borne, his fign in Heaven;
Under whofe conduct Michael foon reduc'd

His army, circumfus'd on either wing,

775

Under their Head imbodied all in one.
Before him pow'r divine his way prepar'd;

789

At his command th' uprooted hills retir'd

Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went