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Difcord, to fend her among the Pagans, and finds her in a Convent of Friars where Peace should Reign, which indeed is fine Satyr; and Satan in Tajo, excites Solyman to an Attempt by Night on the Christian Camp, and brings an Holt of Devils to his Affistance; yet the Arch-Angel, in the former Example, when Difcord was reftive, and would not be drawn from her belov'd Monaftery with fair Words, has the whip-hand of her, drags her out with many Stripes, fets her, on God's-name, about her Bufinefs; and makes her know the difference of Strength betwixt a Nuncio of Heaven, and a Minister of Hell: The fame Angel, in the latter Inftance from Tao (as if God had never another Meffenger belonging to the Court, but was confin'd like Jupiter to Mercury, and Juno to Iris,) when he fees his time, that is, when half of the Chriftians are already kill'd, and all the rest are in a fair way of being routed, ftickles betwixt the Remainders of God's Hoft, and the Race of Fiends; pulls the Devils backwards by the Tails, and drives them from their Quarry; or otherwise the whole Bufinefs had mifcarry'd, and Jerufalem remain❜d untaken. This, fays Boileau, is a very unequal Match for the poor Devils, who are fure to come by the worst of it in the Combat ; for nothing is more easy, than for an Almighty Power to bring his old Rebels to Reason, when he pleases. Confequently, what Pleasure, what Entertainment can be rais'd from fo pitiful a Machine, where we fee the Succefs of the Battle from the very beginning of it; unless that, as we are Chriftians, we are glad that we have gotten God on our fide, to maul our Enemies, when we cannot do the work our felves? For if the Poet had given the Faithful more Courage, which had coft him nothing, or at

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leaft have made him exceed the Turks in Number, that he might have gain'd the Victory for us Chriftians, without interefting Heaven in the Quarrel; and that with as much ease, and as little Credit to the Conqueror, as when a Party of 100 Soldiers defeats another which confifts only of 50.

This, my Lord, I confefs, is fuch an Argument against our Modern Poetry, as cannot be answer ed by those Mediums which have been us'd. We cannot hitherto boast, that our Religion has furnifh'd us with any fuch Machines, as have made the Strength and Beauty of the Ancient Buildings.

But what if I venture to advance an Invention of my own, to fupply the manifeft Defect of our new Writers: I am fufficiently fenfible of my Weakness; and 'tis not very probable that I fhou'd fucceed in fuch a Project, whereof I have not had the least hint from any of my Predeceffors, the Poets, or any of their Seconds, and Coadjutors, the Critiques. Yet we fee the Art of War is improv'd in Sieges, and new Inftruments of Death are invented daily: Something new in Philofophy and the Mechanicks is difcover'd almost every Year: And the Science of former Ages is improv'd by the fucceeding. I will not detain you with a long Preamble to that, which better Judges will, perhaps, conclude to be little worth.

'Tis this, in fhort, That Chriftian Poets have not hitherto been acquainted with their own Strength. If they had fearch'd the Old Teftament as they ought, they might there have found the Machines which are proper for their Work; and those more certain in their effect, than it may be the New Teftament is, in the Rules fufficient for Salvation. The perufing of one Chapter in the Prophecy of Daniel, and

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accommodating what there they find, with the Principles of Platonique Philofophy, as it is now Chriftianiz'd, wou'd have the Ministry of Angels as ftrong an Engine, for the working up Heroique Poetry, in our Religion, as that of the Ancients has been to raise theirs by all the Fables of their Gods, which were only receiv'd for Truths by the most ignorant and weakest of the People.

'Tis a Doctrine almost univerfally receiv'd by Christians, as well Proteftants as Catholicks, That there are Guardian Angels appointed by God Almighty,as his Vicegerents, for the Protection and Government of Cities, Provinces, Kingdoms, and Monarchies; and thofe as well of Heathens, as of true Believers. All this is fo plainly prov'd from those Texts of Daniel, that it admits of no farther Controverfie. The Prince of the Perfians, and that other of the Grecians, are granted to be the Guardians and Protecting Minifters of those Empires. It cannot be deny'd, that they were oppofite, and refifted one another. St. Michael is mention'd by his Name, as the Patron of the Jews, and is now taken by the Chriftians, as the Protector General of our Religion. Thefe Tutelar Genii, who prefided over the feveral People and Regions committed to their Charge, were watchful over them for good, as far as their Commiffions cou'd poffibly extend. The general Purpose, and Defign· of all, was certainly the Service of their Great CREATOR. But 'tis an undoubted Truth, that for Ends best known to the Almighty Majefty of Heaven, his Providential Designs for the Benefit of his Creatures, for the Debafing and Punishing of fome Nations, and the Exaltation and Temporal Reward of others, were not wholly known to thefe his Ministers; elfe why those factious Quar

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rels, Controverfies, and Battels, amongst themfelves, when they were all united in the fame Defign, the Service and Honour of their Common Mafter? But being inftructed only in the general, and zealous of the main Defign; and as Finite Beings, not admitted into the Secrets of Government, the last Reforts of Providence, or capable of discovering the final Purposes of GOD, who can work Good out of Evil, as he pleases; and irrefiftably sways all manner of Events on Earth, directing them finally for the beft, to his Creation in general, and to the ultimate end of his own Glory in particular: They must of neceflity.be fometimes ignorant of the Means conducing to thofe Ends, in which alone they can jar and oppofe each other. One Angel, as we may fuppofe the Prince of Perfia, as he is call'd, judging, that it would be more for God's Honour and the Benefit of his People, that the Median and Perfian Monarchy, which deliver'd them from the Babylonish Captivity, fhou'd still be uppermoft: And the Patron of the Grecians, to whom the Will of God might be more particularly reveal'd, contending on the other fide, for the Rife of Alexander and his Succeffors, who were appointed to punish the Backfliding Jews, and thereby to put them in mind of their Offences, that they might repent, and become more Virtuous, and more obfervant of the Law reveal'd. But how far these Controverfies and appearing Enmities of those glorious Creatures may be carry'd; how thefe Oppofitions may best be manag'd, and by what Means conducted, is not my Butinefs to fhew or determine: These things must be left to the Invention and Judgment of the Poet: If any of so happy a Genius be now living, or any future Age can produce a Man who being converfant in the Philofophy

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of Plato, as it is now accommodated to Christian Ufe; for (as Virgil gives us to understand by his Example) he is the only proper Perfon, of all others for an Epique Poem, who to his Natural Endowments, of a large Invention, a ripe Judgment, and a strong Memory, has join'd the Knowledge of the Liberal Arts and Sciences, and particularly Moral Philofophy, the Mathematicks, Geography and Hiftory, and with all these Qualifications is born a Poet; knows, and can practise the variety of Numbers, and is Master of the Language in which he writes; if fuch a Man, I fay, be now arifen, or fhall arife, I am vain enough to think, that I have propos'd a Model to him, by which he may build a Nobler, a more Beautiful, and more Perfect Poem, than any yet extant fince the Ancients.

There is another part of these Machines yet wanting; but by what I have faid, it wou'd have been easily fupply'd by a Judicious Writer. He ou'd not have fail'd to add the oppofition of ill Spirits to the good; they have alfo their Defign, ever oppofite to that of Heaven; and this alone has hitherto been the practice of the Moderns: But this imperfect Syftem, if I may call it fuch, which I have given, will infinitely advance and carry farther that Hypothefis of the Evil Spirits contending with the Good. For being fo much weaker fince their Fall, than thofe Bleffed Beings, they are yet fuppos'd to have a permitted Power of God, of acting ill, as from their own deprav'd Nature they have always the Will of defigning it. A great Teftimony of which we find in Holy Writ, when God Almighty fuffer'd Satan to appear in the Holy Synod of the Angels, (a thing not hitherto drawn into Example by any of the Poets,) and alfo gave him Power over all things belonging to his Servant Job, excepting only Life. Now

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