---

Скачать книгу

---

      —— Lib. v. fol. 140.

      And again the same author, and upon the same subject:

      “Brighter once amidst the host

      Of angels, than that star the stars among.”

      —— Lib. vii. fol. 189.

      The glorious figure which Satan is supposed to make among the thrones and dominions in heaven is such, as we might suppose the highest angel in that exalted train could make; and some think, as above, that he was the chief of the archangels.

      Hence that notion (and not ill-founded); namely, that the first cause of his disgrace, and on which ensued his rebellion, was occasioned upon God’s proclaiming his son generalissimo, and with himself supreme ruler in heaven; giving the dominion of all his works of creation, as well already finished, as not then begun, to him; which post of honor (say they) Satan .expected to be conferred on himself, as next in honor, majesty, and power, to God the Supreme. 3

      This opinion is followed by Mr. Milton too, as appears in the following lines, where he makes all the angels attending a general summons, and God the Father making the following declaration to them:

      “Hear all ye angels, progeny of light,

      Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers!

      Hear my decree, which unrevok’d shall stand.

      This day I have begot whom I declare

      My only Son, and on this holy hill

      Him have anointed, whom ye now behold

      At my right hand; your head I him appoint:

      And by myself have sworn, to him shall bow

      All knees in heav’n, and shall confess him Lord;

      Under his great vicegerent reign abide

      United, as one individual soul,

      For ever happy: him who disobeys,

      Me disobeys, breaks union; and that day

      Cast out from God, and blessed vision, falls

      Into utter darkness, deep ingulph’d, his place

      Ordain’d without redemption, without end.”

      Satan, affronted at the appearance of a new essence or being in heaven, called the Son of God, for God, says Mr. Milton, (though erroneously,) declared himself at that time, saying, This day have I begotten him, and that he should be set up above all the former powers of heaven, of whom Satan (as above) was the chief, and expecting, if any higher post could be granted, it might be his due; I say, affronted at this, he resolved

      “With all his legions to dislodge, and leave

      Unworship’d, unobey’d, the throne supreme,

      Contemptuous.”

      —— Par. Lost, lib. v. fol. 140.

      But Mr. Milton is grossly erroneous in ascribing those words, This day have I begotten thee, to that declaration of the Father, before Satan fell, and consequently to a time before the creation; whereas it is by interpreters agreed to be understood of the incarnation of the Son of God, or at least of the resurrection: see Pool upon Acts xiii. 33.¹

      ¹ Mr. Pool’s words are these: Some refer the words, this day have I begotten thee, to the incarnation of the Son of God, others to the resurrection; our translators lay the stress on the preposition of which the verb is compounded, and by adding again, (namely) raised up Jesus again, (Acts xiii. 33,) intended it to be understood of the resurrection; and there is ground for it in the context; for the resurrection of Christ is that which St. Paul had propounded in verse 30 of the same chapter, as his theme or argument to preach upon.

      Not that Christ at his resurrection began to be the Son of God, but that he was manifested then to be so.

      In a word, Satan withdrew with all his followers, malcontent and chagrin, resolved to disobey this new command, and not yield obedience to the Son.

      Now Mr. Milton agrees in that opinion, that the number of angels which rebelled with Satan was infinite; and suggests in one place, that they were the greatest half of all the angelic body, or seraphic host.

      “But Satan with his powers

      An host

      Innumerable as the stars of night,

      Or stars of morning, dew-drops, which the sun

      Impearls on ev’ry leaf, and ev’ry flower.”

      —— Ib. lib. v. fol. 142.

      Be their number as it is, numberless millions, and legions of millions, that is no part of my present inquiry; Satan, the leader, guide and superior, as he was author of the celestial rebellion, is still the great head and master-devil as before; under his authority they still act, not obeying, but carrying on the same insurrection against God, which they began in heaven; making war still against heaven, in the person of his image and creature, man; and though vanquished by the thunder of the Son of God, and cast down headlong from heaven, they have yet reassumed, or rather not lost, either the will or the power of doing evil.

      This fall of the angels, with the war in heaven which preceded it, is finely described by Ovid, in his War of the Titans against Jupiter; casting mountain upon mountain, and hill upon hill, (Pelion upon Ossa,) in order to scale the adamantine walls, and break open the gates of heaven; till Jupiter struck them with his thunder-bolts, and overwhelmed them in the abyss. Vide Ovid Metam., new translation, lib. i. p. 19.

      “Nor were the gods themselves secure on high;

      For now the giants strove to storm the sky:

      The lawless brood with bold attempt invade

      The gods, and mountains upon mountains laid.

      But now the bolt, enrag’d, the Father took:

      Olympus from her deep foundations shook:

      Her structure nodded at the mighty stroke,

      And Ossa’s shatter’d top o’er Pelion broke:

      They ‘re in their own ungodly ruins slain.”

      Then again speaking of Jupiter, resolving in council to destroy mankind by the deluge, and giving the reasons of it to the heavenly host, says thus, speaking of the demigods, alluding to good men below:

      “Think you that they in safety can remain,

      When me myself, who o’er immortals reign,

      Who send the lightning, and heaven’s empire sway,

      The stern Lycaon* practis’d to betray.”

      Ib. p. 10.

      * Satan.

      Since then so much poetic liberty is taken with the Devil, relating to his most early state, and the time before his fall, give me leave to make an excursion of the like kind, relating to his history immediately after the fall, and till the creation of man; an interval which I think much of the Devil’s story is to be seen in, andf which Mr. Milton has taken little notice of; at least it does not seem completely filled up; after which I shall return to honest prose again, and pursue the duty of an historian.

      Satan, with hideous ruin thus supprest,

      Expell’d the seat of blessedness and rest,

      Looked back, and saw the high eternal mound,

      Where all his rebel host their outlet found,

      Restored impregnable: the breach made up,

      And garrisons of angels ranged a-top

      In front an hundred

---

Скачать книгу