True Magnanimity, Daring, Doing, or Suffering, be a Hero, IX. 31. XI. 697.

579 in Heav'n, Aire, Earth or Sea, Heaven Here ftands for Fire, the Region of that Element, judg'd by the Ancients to be above That of the Air; the Greeks and Latins are Here Imitated. Ovid Met. I. 22.

Nam Cælo Terras, & Terris abfcidit Undas, Et Liquidum Spillo fecrevit ab Aere Cælum. So v. 26.

Ignea convexi vis & fine pondere Cæli. See also Aristid. Orat. I. p. 5.

581

Only add

Deeds to thy Knowledge Answerable, though Good Principles are the Root of all Piety and Vertue, Thefe are of no Avail without Practice. Faith without Works is Dead, Jam. ii. 20. This Leffon Milton referv'd for the Angel to give.

582

add Faith,

by Faith Here must be Meant Truth, Honesty, Integrity, Sincerity. Faith in the Other Senfe is That to which This Faith is to be Added. This with what follow, Vertue, Patience, Temperance and Love, includes all our Duties to Our Neighbours and our Selves,

583

add Love,

by Name to come call'd Charitie, the Soul of all the reft:

Mm

Charity

Charity from Charitas (Lat.) is Dearness. See IV. 756. Love to the Poor is shown by Alms, to All Men by putting the most Favourable Conftruction on their Words and Actions; but Charity has a more Noble and Extenfive Signification or it could not be faid to be the Soul of all the Other Vertues, nor would St. Paul have Wrote to Tim. (1 Ep. i. 5.) Now the End of the Commandment is Charity out of a Pure Heart, and of a Good Confcience, and of Faith Unfeigned. So 1 Cor. xiii. 13. And now Abideth, Faith, Hope, Charity, thefe Three, but the Greatest of Thefe is Charity. That Here Intenbut let Milton Speak for

ded then must be

Himself, He had done it Long before he Wrote This in his Tetrachordon, 'tis in p. 331. of his Profe Works. "Chrift having Cancell'd "the Hand-Writing of Ordinances which was against us, Colo. ii. 14, and interpreted the Fullfilling of All through Charity, hath in "That refpect fet us Over Law, in the Free Cuftody of his Love, and left us Victorious "under the Guidance of his Living Spirit,

cr

not under the Dead Letter; to follow That "which moft Edifys, moft Aids and furthers

66

a Religious Life, makes us Holiest, and Li"keft to his Immortal Image, not that which "makes Us moft Conformable and Captive to "Civil and Subordinate Precepts; whereof the "Stricteft Obfervance may Oft-times prove "the Destruction, not only of many Innocent "Perfons and Families, but of whole Nation's.

or from Heav'n can bind against the Good "of Man, so that to Keep them Strictly against "That End is all one with to Break them. he goes on, and Quotes Cicero in his Book of Invention faying, that All Law we ought to re-. fer to the Common Good, and Interpret by That, not by the Scrowle of Letters. No Man ObJerves Law for Law's Sake, but for the Good of them for Whom it was made. whether Milton's Interpretation of the Word Charity is Right or No, 'tis His, and we Think Applicable to the Paffage we are upon; Further is not Our Concern, who are, not giving Our Own Meaning, but our Anthors as far as we are Able; at least St. Paul is Right, whom let Every one Interpret in the Sincerity of his Heart.

585

then wilt thou not be loath to leave This Paradise, but shalt poffefs a Paradife Within thee, Happier farr. St. Paul's Farewel to the Corinthians at the Clofe of his fecond Epiftle is much in the Stile of the Angel Here. Finally Brethren, Farewell, be Perfect, be of good Comfort, be of One Mind, Live in Peace, and the God of Love and Peace fhall be with you. Adam had declar'd his Principles, Michael Approves them, but preffes Practical Religion, which he gives an Epitome of, and Epitomizes That in One Word Charity, Concluding All with Comfort, That the Man of God may be Perfect throughly Furnished unto all Good Works. And Now Retor'd Man, Regenerated Man, is Happier Mm 2

than

than in Native Innocence, because More Secure; Safe in Everlasting Arms, Pure in Imputed Righteoufnefs. O Death where is thy Sting? O Grave, where is thy Victory? Such a Man waits not the Day of Refpiration to the Juft, 'tis Come with him, for to the Pure all things are Pure; and the Spirit it Self beareth Witness with Our Spirit that we are the Children of God.

588

of Speculation;

this top

it was a Hill, XI. 377. So Parad. Reg. IV. 233. this Specular Mount.

589

-for the hour precife

Precife, from Præcifus, Cut off, Ended, Determin'd; That Hour, fo ended, Exacts our Departure, Demands it Peremtorily.

592

Flaming Sword

See the Note on v. 643.

600 the Great Deliverance by Her Seed to come (for by the Womans Seed) on all Mankind. Another of the Many Inftances of Milton's Concifenefs; however 'tis Sufficiently Intelfigible, and That is the Main Ufe of Words. the Deliverance was to be Effected by the Seed of the Woman, Gen iii. 15. x. 181.

620 This further Confolation yet Secure 1 carry bence;

She

She is Secure of this yet Further Confolation befides His Company, and the Propitious Dreams, v. 611,595, XI. 367.

626

and from the Other Hill

That mention'd XI. 210. for This fee

629 Gliding Meteorous

377.

as a Meteor, Aloft uewe So the Word Signifies, Gliding above the Surface, in Oppofition to the Black, Low-Creeping Mist in which Sathan Wrapt himself, IX. 180. the Simile relates to the Gliding Motion of the Angels, as a Mist in That refpect, not as Gathering Ground at the Labourer's heel; the Words Explain it So.

634

Torrid Heat,

and Vapour as the Libyan Air Aduft, Aduft, Scorch'd, Dry'd. Vapour, a Sultry Steam. Latin. Hor. Epod. III. 15.

Nec tantus unquam fiderum infedit Vapor
Siticulofa Apuliæ.

637 in either hand

Gen. xix. 16. and while he Lingered the Men laid hold upon bis Hand, and upon the hand of bis Wife, and upon the Hand of his two Daughters, the Lord being Merciful unto him: And they brought him forth.

643 Flaming Brand

as v. 633. and XI. 120, This Word Brand im plies