г

And filence was in Heaven: On Man's behalf
Patron or interceffour none appear'd,
Much less that durft upon his own head draw
The deadly forfeiture, and ranfsom set.

221

And now without redemption all mankind
Must have been loft, adjudg'd to Death and Hell
By doom severe, had not the Son of God,
In whom the fulness dwells of love divine, 225
His dearest mediation thus renew'd.

Father, thy word is past, Man fhall find grace;
And fhall grace not find means, that finds her way,
The speedieft of thy winged meffengers,
To vifit all thy creatures, and to all
Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unfought?

230

fit to undertake the one, as the Son of God the other. But though the filence is the fame in both places, the difference of the expreffion is remarkable. In Hell it is faid all fat mute, B. ii. 420, as there the infernal peers were fitting in council; but here it is faid they stood mute, as the good Angels were fstanding round about the throne of God. NEWTON.

Ver. 219. Patron or interceffour none] Ifaiah lix. 16. "He faw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no interceffour." GREENWOOD.

The poet alludes alfo, in ufing the word patron, to the character given of our Lord by St. John, "We have an advocate with the Father, Jefus Chrift the righteous." And see Archbishop Cranmer's Defence of the True and Catholick Doctrine of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Chrift, &c. 4to. 1550. fol. ult. "Who is before us entered into heaven, and fitteth at the right hand of his father, as patrone, mediator, &c."

Ver. 225. In whom the fulness dwells] Col. ii. 9. dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." TODD,

TODD.

"In him

Ver. 231. Comes unprevented,] Prevent from prævenire, to come before. This grace is not preceded by merit or fupplication

Happy for Man, fo coming; he her aid
Can never feek, once dead in fins, and loft;
Atonement for himself, or offering meet,
Indebted and undone, hath none to bring; 235
Behold me then: me for him, life for life
I offer; on me let thine anger fall;
Account me Man; I for his fake will leave
Thy bofom, and this glory next to thee
Freely put off, and for him laftly die
Well pleas'd; on me let Death wreak all his
rage;
Under his gloomy power I fhall not long
Lie vanquish'd; thou haft given me to poffefs

240

Itself prevents, or goes before; it is a free gift, as B. xi. 3. "Prevenient grace defcending, &c." See II Tim. i. 9. And Pfalm lxxxviii. 13 "Unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning fhall my prayer prevent thee." Here the favour, if it comes, comes not unprevented; prayer prevents, or goes before, God's goodness. RICHARDSON.

Ver. 233.

once dead &c.]

The word

Thus our
Septuag.

once is here very emphatical, fignifying once for all.
tranДators, Ps. lxxxix. 35. "Once have I fworn, &c."
*Aаž apoxa. See alfo Ps. lxii. 11. This, Suidas interprets
azePartixws xai xarteλws, once for all, peremptorily. Homer ufes
the word rat in the fame fenfe. CALLANDER.

Ver. 236. Behold me then; me for him, life for life
I offer; on me let thine anger fall ;

Account me Man ;] The frequent and vehement repetition of me, is very like Virgil, Æn. ix. 427.

"Me, me: adfum qui feci: in me convertite ferrum :" and, a little afterwards,

66

Figite me, fi qua eft pietas in me omnia tela
"Conjicite & Rutuli; me primum, &c." NEWTON,

244

Life in myself for ever; by thee I live,
Though now to Death I yield, and am his due
All that of me can die; yet, that debt paid,
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave
His prey, nor fuffer my unspotted foul
For ever with corruption there to dwell;
But I fhall rise- victorious, and fubdue
My vanquisher, fpoil'd of his vaunted fpoil;
Death his death's wound shall then receive, and
ftoop

Inglorious, of his mortal fting difarm'd.

250

Ver. 244. Life in myself for ever;] John v. 26. NEWTON. Ver. 249. with corruption there to dwell;] Pfalm xvi. 10.. "Thou wilt not leave my foul in hell, neither fuffer thine Holy one to fee corruption ;" applied to our Saviour's Refurrection by St. Peter, Acts ii. 20, 21. NEWTON.

Ver. 252. Death his death's wound shall then receive,] I am very forry to obferve, that the quaint conceit in this line is very inconfiftent with the character of the fpeaker, and unworthy of the majefty of the reft of the fpeech. Milton might perhaps be led into it by a witticifm of the fame kind in Seneca, who, fpeaking of the terrour Pluto was in from the wound he received from Hercules, fays, Herc. Fur. ver. 568.

"Effugit tenui vulnere faucius,

"Et mortis dominus pertimuit mori." THYER.

Or he might remember Donne, who abounds in quaint conceits, Poems, 4to. 1633. p. 36.

"And death fhall be no more; death, thou shalt die."

But Milton ufes a fimilar conceit in his earlier poem, In Ob. Præf. Elien. ver. 24.

I through the ample air in triumph high
Shall lead Hell captive, maugre Hell, and fhow
The Powers of darkness bound.) Thou, at the

fight

256

Pleas'd, out of Heaven fhalt look down and fmile,
While, by thee rais'd, I ruin all my foes,
Death laft, and with his carcass glut the grave:
Then, with the multitude of my redeem'd, 260
Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return,
Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud
Of anger shall remain, but peace affur'd
And reconcilement; wrath fhall be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy prefence joy entire. 265
His words here ended, but his meek afpect
Silent yet fpake, and breath'd immortal love

Ver. 254. I through the ample air in triumph high &c.] Pfalm lxviii. 18. "Thou haft afcended on high, thou haft led captivity captive." Col. ii. 15. "And, having spoiled Principalities and Powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." NEWTON.

Ver. 259. Death last,] I Cor. xv. 26. that shall be destroyed, is Death." HUME.

Ver. 265.

"The last enemy,

but in thy prefence joy entire.] Pfalm xvi. 11. "In thy prefence is the fulness of joy." TODD.

Ver. 266. His words here ended, but his meek afpect

Silent yet Spake, &c.] What a charming and lovely picture has Milton given us of God the Son confidered as our Saviour and Redeemer ? not in the leaft inferiour in its way to that grander one in the 6th book, where he defcribes him clothed with majefty and terrour, taking vengeance of his enemięs. Before he represents him speaking, he makes divine compaffion, love without end, and grace without measure, vifibly to ap

To mortal men, above which only shone
Filial obedience: As a facrifice

Glad to be offer'd, he attends the will

1

270

Of his great Father. Admiration feis'd All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend,

Wondering; but foon the Almighty thus replied.

O thou in Heaven and Earth the only peace Found out for mankind under wrath! O thou 275 My fole complacence! well thou know'ft how dear To me are all my works, nor Man the least,

pear in his face, v. 140, and, carrying on the fame amiable picture, makes him end it with a countenance breathing immortal love to mortal men. Nothing could be better contrived to leave a deep impreffion upon the reader's mind, and I believe one may venture to affert, that no art or words could lift the imagination to a stronger idea of a good and benevolent being. The mute eloquence which our author has fo prettily exprefed in his filent yet Spake, is with no lefs beauty described by Taffo at the end of Armida's fpeech to Godfrey, C. 4. ft. 65.

"Ciò detto tace, e la risposta attende

"Con atto, ch'en filentio hà voce, e preghi." THYER. As a facrifice &c.] An allufion to

Ver. 269.

Pfalm. xl. 6, and the two following verfes. NEWTON.

Ver. 274.

"He is our peace." GILLIES.

Ver. 277.

the only peace] Ephef. ii. 14.

nor man the least,

Though laft created;] The leaft dear; fomewhat

like Shakspeare's Lear to Cordelia, A. i. S. i.

"Now, our joy,

Although the laft, not least.”

And Anthony to Trebonius, Jul. Caf. A. iii. S. i.

Though laft, not leaft in love." NEWTON,