730 Fulfill'd, which to fulfil is all my blifs. 735 Image of thee in all things; and shall soon, Arm'd with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebell'd; To their prepar'd ill mansion driven down, Then fhall thy Saints unmix'd, and from the impure Ver. 732. Thou shalt be all in all,] We may ftill observe, that Milton generally makes the Divine Perfons talk in the style and language of Scripture. This paffage is manifeftly taken from 1 Cor. xv. 24, and 28. Immediately afterwards, when it is faid, "I in thee "For ever, and in me all whom thou lov'ft;" this is an allufion to John xvii. 21, and 23. And, when it is added, “But whom thou hat'ft, I hate," the allufion is to Pfalm cxxxix. 21. Ver. 737. NEWTON. rebeil'd;] Of these re NEWTON. bellious, of thefe who have rebell'd; a remarkable expreffion. Ver. 739. To chains of darknefs,] 11 Pet. ii. 4, "God fpared not the angels that finned, but caft them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness." TODD. Ibid. undying worm,] Mark, ix. 44. "Thei. porm dyeth not." HUME, Far feparate, circling thy holy mount, So faid, he, o'er his scepter bowing, rofe From the right hand of Glory where he fat; And the third facred morn began to fhine, 744 Ver. 746. So faid, he, o'er his fcepter bowing, rofe &c.] The description 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 most undoubted instances of the true fublime; but which has exceeded it is very difficult to determine, There is, I think, a greater profufion of poetical images in that of the latter; but then the fuperiour character of a Christian Meffiah, which Milton has, with great judgement and majesty, fupported in this part of his work, gives a certain air of religious grandeur, which throws the advantage on the fide of the English poet. THYER. Ver. 748. And the third facred morn &c.] Milton, by continuing the war for three days, and referving the victory upon the third for the Meffiah alone, plainly alludes to the circumstances of his death and refurrection. Our Saviour's extreme fufferings on the one hand, and his heroick behaviour on the other, made the contest seem to be more equal and doubtful upon the first day; and on the fecond Satan triumphed in the advantages he thought he had gained, when Chrift lay buried in the earth, and was to outward appearance in an irrecoverable state of corruption: But as the poet reprefents the Almighty Father fpeaking to his Son, ver. 699. "Two days are therefore past, the third is thine; "Have fuffer'd, that the glory may be thine "Of ending this great war, fince none but Thou Which he most gloriously did, when the third sacred morn began to Dawning through Heaven. Forth rufh'd with whirlwind found The chariot of Paternal Deity, 750 Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn, Itself instinct with Spirit, but convoy'd By four Cherubick shapes; four faces each wheels eyes; with eyes the 755 Rom. i. 4, "He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the refurrection from the dead." GREENWOOD. Ibid. - — facred morn began to fhine,] Homer, Il. xi. 84. αίξετο ἱερὸν ἦμαρ. BowLE. Ver. 749. Forth rush'd with whirlwind found The chariot &c.] Ezek. i. 4. "And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire enfolding itself." Or perhaps Milton here drew Ifaiah likewife to his affiftance, lxvi. 15. "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind." NEWTON. Ver. 751. wheel within wheel undrawn, &c.] As in Ezek. i. 5, 16, 19, 20. "Alfo out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures, and their appearance was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel: And, when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; for the Spirit of the living creature was in the wheels." NEWTON. Had wonderous: &c.] As in Ezek. i. 6. "And every one had four faces" Again, ch, x. 12. "And their whole body, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes round about." NEWTON. Of beryl, and careering fires between ;] The beryl Of beryl, and careering fires between; Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought, 760 is a precious ftone of a fea-green colour, and careering fires are lightnings darting out by fits, a metaphor taken from the running in tilts: See Ezek. i. 16, and 13. "The appearance of wheels and their work was like a beryl: And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning." NEWTON. Milton has again described this part of the prophetick vision, and with additional fublimity, ver. 848. "One Spirit in them rul'd, and every eye “Glar'd lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire "Among the accurs'd-" This is like the bold and tremendous painting of Efchylus, Prom. Vinc. v. 356, edit. Schütz. Ἐξ ὀμμάτων δ ̓ ἄτραπτε γοργωπὸν σέλας. TODD. Ver. 757. Over their heads a crystal firmament, &c.] See Ezek. i. 22, 26, 27, 28. "And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creatures, was as the colour of the terrible cryftal, ftretched forth over their heads above: And above the firmament, that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a fapphire ftone: And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain." NEWTON. Ver. 760. He, in celeftial panoply &c.] An allufion to Ephef." vi, 11. "Put on the whole armour (waveñdíav) of God;" and to the contexture of gems in Aaron's breaft-plate, Exod. xxviii. See alfo the notes, v. 527. Fenton reads, and points the two preceding lines as follows: "Where, on a fapphire throne, (inlaid with pure "He, in celeftial panoply &c." TODD. Afcended; at his right hand Victory Ver. 762. at his right hand Victory 765 Sat eagle-wing'd;] Victory is thus perfonified by Shakspeare, Rich. III. A. v. S. iii. "Victory fits on our helms." And by Beaumont and Fletcher, who join the epithet winged: in the Fulfe One, A. S. i. "the tent, on which wing'd Victory "Shall make a certain ftand." The fame phrafe is employed in the Prophetess, A. iv. S. iv. And in Sylvefter's Du Bartas, P. 4. D. 3. W. 2. "Winged Victory "Shaking her laurels.". The expreffive epithet eagle-winged is applied by Shakspeare to the "pride of fky-afpiring and ambitious thoughts," K. Rich. II. A. i, S. iii. TODD. Ver. 764. with three-bolted thunder ftor'd;] So, in his Epigram, In inventorem bombardæ. "Et trifidum fulmen furripuiffe Jovi." TODD. Ver. 765. And from about him fierce effufion roll'd Of Smoke, and bickering flame, &c.] A furious tempeft pouring forth smoke and fighting flame round about him. Bickering, fighting and thence destroying, of the Welsh bicre, a combat. See Pfalm xviii. 8. "There went up a fmoke out of his noftrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured." And Pfalm 1. 3. "A fire fhall devour before him, and it fhall be very tempeftuous round about him." HUME. See the expreffion of Tryphiodorus, noticed by Merrick, pecpráμessor up. And obferve alfo Milton's own explanation of the word bickering, in his Eiconoclaftes, ch. iv. "If they discover not withal the true reafon why he departed, only to turn his flashing |