rs call
it; he, perhaps, thinking himself the senior Officer, and disdaining to
submit to any but to his former immediate Sovereign; in short, he threw
up his Commission, and, in order not to be compel'd to obey, revolted
and broke out in open Rebellion.

All this part is a Decoration noble and great, nor is there any
objection to be made against the invention, because a deduction of
probable Events; but the Plot is wrong laid, as is observ'd above,
because contradicted by the Scripture account, according to which Christ
was declared in Heaven, not then, but from Eternity, and not declared
with power, but on Earth, (_viz._) in his victory over Sin and Death, by
the Resurrection from the dead: so that Mr. _Milton_ is not orthodox in
this part, but lays an avow'd foundation for the corrupt Doctrine of
_Arius_, which says, there was a time when Christ _was not_ the Son of
GOD.

But to leave Mr. _Milton_ to his flights, I agree with him in this part,
_viz._ that the wicked or sinning Angels, with the great Arch-angel at
the head of them, revolted from their obedience, even in Heaven it self;
that _Satan_ began the wicked defection, and being a Chief among the
heavenly Host, consequently carry'd over a great party with him, who all
together rebel'd against God; that upon this Rebellion they were
sentenc'd, by the righteous judgment of GOD, to be expel'd the holy
Habitation; this, besides the authority of Scripture, we have visible
testimonies of, from the Devils themselves; their influences and
operations among us every day, of which Mankind are witnesses; in all
the merry things they do in his name, and under his protection, in
almost every scene of life they pass thro', whether we talk of things
done openly or in Masquerade, things done in--or out of it, things done
in earnest or in jest.

But then, what comes of the long and bloody War that Mr. _Milton_ gives
such a full and particular account of, and the terrible Battles in
Heaven between _Michael_ with the royal Army of Angels on one hand, and
_Satan_ with his rebel Host on the other; in which he supposes the
numbers and strength to be pretty near equal? but at length brings in
the _Devil_'s Army, upon doubling their rage and bringing new engines of
war into the field, putting _Michael_ and all the faithful Army to the
worst; and, in a word, defeats them? For tho' they were not put to a
plain flight, in which case he must, at least, have given an account of
two or t