nity were at one time different from those which are disclosed in the present treatise. Which way to get out, or which way to end I know not, unless I turn mine eyes, and with your help lift up my hands, to that eternal and propitious throne, where nothing is readier than grace and refuge to the distresses of mortal suppliants: and it were a shame to leave these serious thoughts less piously than the heathen were wont to conclude their graver discourses. Thou, therefore, that sittest in light and glory unapproachable, Parent of angels and men! next thee I implore, omnipotent King, Redeemer of that lost remnant whose nature thou didst assume, ineffable and everlasting Love! And thou, the third subsistence of divine infinitude, illumining the Spirit, the joy and solace of created things! one tripersonal Godhead! look upon this thy poor and almost spent and expiring church; leave her not thus a prey to these importunate wolves, that wait and think long till they devour thy tender flock; these wild boars that have broke into thy vineyard, and left the print of their polluting hoofs on the souls of thy servants. O let them not bring about their damned designs, that stand now at the entrance of the bottomless pit, expecting the watchword to open and let out those dreadful locusts and scorpions, to reinvolve us in that pitchy cloud of infernal darkness, where we shall never more see the sun of thy truth again, never hope for the cheerful dawn, never more hear the bird of morning sing."

'5

There is much reason for regretting that the prose works of Milton, where, in the midst of much that is coarse and intemperate, passages of such redeeming beauty occur, should be in the hands of so few readers, considering the advantage which might be derived to our literature from the study of their original and nerVous eloquence. On their first appearance, indeed, they must inevitably have been received by some with indifference, by others with dislike, by many with resentment. The zeal of the author in the cause of the Parliament, and the bitter personality with which he too frequently advocates his civil and religious opinions, were not calculated to secure him a dispassionate hearing even from his most candid opponents, But in happier times, when it is less difficult to make allowance for the effervescence caused by the heat of conflicting politics, and when the judgment is no longer influenced by the animosities of party, the taste of the age may be profitably and safely recalled to those treatises of Milton which were not written to serve a mere temporary purpose. In one re

5 Of Reformation in England. Prose Works, II. 471. See indeed the entire context of this and the preceding quotation. Compare also the eloquent conclusion of the fourth section of Animadversions upon the Re monstrant's Defence, III. 69-72.

spect indeed they will be found to differ very materially from the work now published. The latter is distinguished in a remarkable degree by calmness of thought, as well as by moderation of language. His other writings are generally loaded with ornament and illustration bordering on the poetical, rather than the argumentative style, and such is the vehemence with which he pours out his opprobrious epithets against his antagonists, that he seems to exhaust the powers of language in the bitterness of his invective. These are the characteristics in particular of his earliest works, and especially of his declamations against Morus and Salmasius. The contrast which this volume presents is singular, and if, as is probable, it was composed during his declining years it affords a pleasing picture of a mind softened by the influence of religious principle, and becoming gradually more tolerant of the supposed errors of others, as the period drew near when he must answer for his own before an unerring tribunal. Milton pursues his plan, not indeed without an occasional sally against academical institutions and ecclesiastical privileges, but without a single glance at contemporaneous politics, or a single harsh expression against religious opinions at variance with his own. His language, even where the arguments themselves are least convincing, is almost uniformly plain and temperate, and his metaphors are sparingly and judiciously introduced. Milton could never write long on any subject without being poetical or eloquent; but whoever expects to meet in the following treatise with set exhibitions either of poetry or eloquence, will be disappointed at finding that the aim of the writer has been the discussion of truth, the simple delivery of a system of Christian theology, derived from the Bible, and as much as possible couched in its very words, not the display of an imagination, almost infinitely excursive, or of learning the most profound and universal of any age or country. It would seem as if he recognized the propriety, on so grave a subject as religion, of suffering the mind to pursue its contemplations undisturbed by the flights of that vivid fancy, to which, on the ordinary topics which employed his pen, he prescribed no limits.

Milton has shewn a partiality in all his works, even on subjects not immediately connected with religion, for supporting his argument by the authority of Scripture. This practice, though agreeable to the spirit of his age, is not unfrequently carried to an extravagant length; as when he defends indiscriminate reading by the examples of Moses, Daniel, and St. Paul, who were shuful in heathen learning. To a theological treatise, however, illustrations of this kind properly belong; and it is gratifying to see the un

6

6 Areopagitica. Prose Works, II. 63.

6

bounded imagination of Milton deferring, with the simplicity of a Pascal, to the infallible grounds of Scripture."7 'Let us,' says he in the present work, discard reason in sacred matters, and follow the doctrine of Holy Scripture exclusively." Indeed its peculiar feature, in the opinion of the author, appears to have been its compilation from the Bible alone. Not that he underralued the Fathers, for in the course of his argument he alludes to the opinions of several, and frequently with commendation; nor does he refuse to notice the criticisms of modern commentators, among whom Beza, whose interpretations he often follows, seems to have been a special favourite. See especially his expla nation of Rev. i. 4, 5. p. 168, and of Philipp. iii. 15. p. 439. Even in the title of this work, however, he refers to the Bible as his sole authority, with an emphasis indicative of the importance he attached to this circumstance. The same particular is again prominently alluded to in the preface, where an interesting account is given of the manner in which he qualified himself for the execution of his task. Whereas the greater part of those who have written most largely on these subjects, have been wont to fill whole pages with explanations of their own opinions, thrusting into the margin9 the text in support of their doctrine, with a summary reference to chapter and verse; I have chosen, on the contrary, to fill my pages even to redundance with quotations from Scripture, that so as little space as possible might be left for my words, even where they arise from the context of revelation itself.'

As a textuary, Milton is not free from the fault of taking passages of Scripture in an over-literal acceptation. But the digest of texts which his biblical knowledge brings to bear on the question he is discussing, is always to the point, and his quotations are produced with a careful attention to logical accuracy. In his argument he is clear; and in following it up, he never loses sight in his reasoning of the object in view. He seems to have held the subtleties of the schools in abhorrence, and, as might be expected, is a thinker of too independent a class to shew any subserviency to the authority of a name.

7 Prose Works, III. 280. For my own part, &c.- -Scripture,' post, PP. 8. 9.

6 Page 87. See also a beautiful and most instructive paragraph, p. 289. Since then this mystery is so great the bounds of propriety in its Investigation.'

9 Milton speaks in the most contemptuous terms of these 'marginal stuffings,' in The Reason of Church Government, &c. Prose Works, II. 814. See also An Apology for Smectymnuus, Ibid. III. 247. And elsewhere he says of Prynne, that he may be known by his wits lying ever beside him in the margin, to be ever beside his wits in the text.' Likeliest Means to remove Hirelings, &c. III. 17. See also III. 435.

In the course of so long a work, embracing such a variety of topics, many opportunities would often occur for allusion to the politics of the times, in which religion bore so important a part. To have abstained from any reference to these subjects, is no ordinary proof of discretion in one who had dedicated his time and talents with such unwearied zeal to promote the objects of his party. Scarcely a sentence, however, will be found, in which local or temporary interests can be suspected of having influenced the mind of the author. Sometimes indeed he lays a stress on certain particulars, to which the subjects then in dispute between the conflicting religious parties gave more importance than they now possess. The power of the keys, for instance, claimed by the Pope, was then a familiar topic of discussion. Hence he takes occasion to bring proof from Scripture, that the administration of ecclesiastical discipline is not committed exclusively to Peter and his successors, or to any individual pastor specifically, but to the whole particular church, whether consisting of few or of many members. The subjects of Episcopacy and covenants might have furnished him with the opportunities not only of lashing the Royalists in general, but of renewing those attacks which he had formerly directed so pertinaciously against King Charles himself. It may be worth while to contrast his manner of treating the subject of Covenants in his political tracts, with some corresponding remarks on the following treatise. He says in his Eiconoclastes, Neither was the 'covenant superfluous, though former engagements, both religious and legal, bound us before;' but was the practice of all churches heretofore intending reformation. All Israel, though bound enough before by the law of Moses to all necessary duties,' yet with Asa their king entered into a new covenant at the beginning of a reformation: and the Jews after captivity, without consent demanded of that king who was their master, took solemn oath to walk in the commandments of God. All Protestant churches have done the like, notwithstanding former engagements to their several duties.'2 Compare with this passage the observations to the same effect, in the beginning of the chapter on Church Discipline in this volume, where, although the events of his own times could not but have been present to his mind during the composition of a passage so similar, he nevertheless entirely abstains even from the remotest reference to them. It is a prudent as well as a pious. custom, to solemnize the formation or re-establishment of a particular church by a public renewal of the covenant, as was frequently done in the reformations of the Jewish church, Deut. xxix. 1. The same took Page 471. See also the 'Casting of Lots.' Book II. chap. v. 2 Prose Works, I. 423.

place under Asa, Ezra, Nehemiah, and others. So also, when an individual unites himself to a particular church, it is requisite that he should enter into a solemn covenant with God and the church to conduct himself in all respects, both towards the one and the other, so as to promote his own edification, and that of his brethren. Again, speaking of the penitential meditations and vows of Charles at Holmby, Milton says, in the same treatise which has been already quoted, 'It is not hard for any man who hath a Bible in his hands, to borrow good words and holy sayings in abundance; but to make them his own is a work of grace only from above.'4 A sentiment precisely similar occurs in this work, but not the most covert allusion is added which can recal to the mind of the reader the charge of insincerity formerly advanced against the unfortunate monarch in nearly the same language. He is equally cautious where he argues that marriage is only a civil contract, an opinion acted upon by his party during the Interregnum. In p. 597, a favourable_opportunity presented itself for inveighing against Archbishop Laud's consecration of churches, at that time one of the favourite topics of abuse among the Puritanical party, and probably alluded to in Paradise Lost.

God attributes to place

No sanctity, if none be thither brought

.By men who there frequent, or therein dwell. XI. 836.

But neither in this place, nor in his remarks on the sanctification of the Sabbath, another of the controverted subjects of his day, and not avoided by the author in his political writings (see Eiconoclastes, I. 323), is a single expression employed which can expose him to the charge of substituting the language of the polemic for that of the divine, or of forgetting the calmness befitting the character of an inquirer after religious truth, to indulge in a second triumph over a political adversary.

Many doubts hitherto entertained respecting the real opinions of Milton on certain subjects are removed by the present treatise, to which, as originally intended for a posthumous work, no suspicion of insincerity can attach. Some of them will be seen to depart so far from received opinions, that they could not have been promulgated at the period when they were written, consistently with the safety of the author. High church principles were then at the zenith of their popularity, and it would have been the height of imprudence for him to have provoked the animosity of that party in the state to whose lenity he already owed his life and fortune. Some of his dogmas too are such as, Prose Works, I. 462.

3 Page 470.