"covenant with the knowing reader," to attempt ere long some poetical work, which his countrymen would not "let die." The noble promise is a pledge for the greatest performance. His aspirations amount to positive faith: Paradise Lost is seen at the end of the radiant vista. This exordium is too long to extract entire: any fragmentary anticipation of it would spoil the whole. The electrical shock which follows invariably the voice of true eloquence, and proves incontestably its power and presence, admonishes us to point, in this instance, the reader's attention to the exordium at once, and in silence. It is a sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies." 66 In the 1st chapter of the 2nd book, the author maintains that prelaty opposes the reason and end of the gospel in three ways, and first in her outward form. "Who is there that measures wisdom by simplicity, strength by suffering, dignity by lowliness? Who is there that counts it first to be last, something to be nothing, and reckons himself of great command in that he is a servant? Yet God, when he meant to subdue the world and hell at once, part of that to salvation, and this wholly to perdition, made choice of no other weapons or auxiliaries than these, whether to save or to destroy. It had been a small mastery for him to have drawn out his legions into array, and flanked them with his thunder; therefore he sent foolishness to confute wisdom, weakness to bind strength, despisedness to vanquish pride.” In the 2nd chapter it is maintained, that the ceremonious doctrine of prelaty opposeth the reason and end of the gospel. In the 3rd chapter, the thesis is, That prelatical jurisdiction opposeth the reason and end of the gospel and state. The political reasons against this obnoxious form of churchgovernment will probably be most interesting to the majority of his readers. There is an evident leaning to independency in all of the preceding works. Bishop Hall, or his son, or nephew, more witty than wise, having published "a Defence of the Humble Remonstrance," Milton's next work was " Animadversions" upon it. The preface apologizes for that harshness of style which he felt justified in adopting. This he does to satisfy tender consciences, who might shrink from the employment of such a weapon as satire in such a cause. The point is enlarged upon in the preface to the next work. In uncasing the grand imposture," he copes with his adversary, sentence by sentence, and thus vindicates truth by taking the sophist short " at the first bound." It is one of the pleasantest of the theological tracts; nor is it, although a tragi-comic dialogue between unequal competitors, less subtle or profound than any of its predecessors. We may refer to the answer to the Remonstrant's assertion in the 4th section, as one of the most splendid passages ever penned. The topic itself was a hackneyed one, even in those days, but they who are acquainted with these writings, know full well, that however unpromising a subject may appear to be, it is best to see what is made of it, lest by overlooking it we miss some of the finest things in the language. We give the conclusion of the beautiful prayer, or rather prayerode, with which the section closes. "Come therefore, O thou that hast the seven stars in thy right hand, appoint thy chosen priests according to their orders and courses of old, to minister before thee, and duly to press and pour out the consecrated oil into thy holy and ever-burning lamps. Thou hast sent out the spirit of prayer upon thy servants over all the land to this effect, and stirred up their vows as the sound of many waters about thy throne. Every one can say, that now certainly thou hast visited this land, and hast not forgotten the utmost corners of the earth, in a time when men had thought that thou wast gone up from us to the farthest end of the heavens, and hadst left to do marvellously among the sons of these last ages. O perfect and accomplish thy glorious act! for men may leave their works unfinished, but thou art a God, thy nature is perfection: shouldst thou bring us thus far on from Egypt to destroy us in this wilderness, though we deserve; yet thy great name would suffer in the rejoicing of thine enemies, and the deluded hope of all thy servants. When thou hast settled peace in the church, and righteous judgment in thy kingdom, then shall all thy saints address their voices of joy and triumph to thee, standing on the shore of that Red sea into which our enemies had almost driven us. And he that now for haste snatches up a plain ungarnished present as a thank-offering to thee, which could not be deferred, in regard of thy so many late deliverances wrought for us one upon another, may then perhaps take up a harp, and sing thee an elaborate song to generations. In that day it shall no more be said as in scorn, this or that was never held so till this present age, when men have better learnt that the times and seasons pass along under thy feet, to go and come at thy bidding; and as thou didst dignify our fathers' days with many revelations above all the foregoing ages, since thou tookest the flesh; so thou canst vouchsafe unto us (though unworthy) as large a portion of thy Spirit as thou pleasest: for who shall prejudice thy allgoverning will? seeing the power of thy grace is not passed away with the primitive times, as fond and faithless men imagine, but thy kingdom is now at hand, and thou standing at the door. Come forth out of thy royal chambers, O Prince of all the kings of the earth! put on the visible robes of thy imperial majesty, take up that unlimited sceptre which thy Almighty Father hath bequeathed thee; for now the voice of thy bride calls thee, and all creatures sigh to be renewed." The next section, containing the law case, is perhaps next also in excellence. The sermons are always better than the texts; and when it is recollected that this is the third work on the same subject in one year, its perusal may well excite our wonder. Next year his last work on the puritan side of the controversy came out," An Apology for Smectymnuus," in reply to bishop Hall or his son's "Modest Confutation against a scandalous and seditious Libel." The bishop's personalities may have quickened as they certainly sharpened the movements of his pen, and hastened this publication, in which he justifies at large the style and manner of his prior work; and after making his reader merry at the expense of his modest opponent's title, proceeds to vindicate his own character, and furnish us with an eloquent and interesting account of himself, his education, studies, and pursuits. We refer those who, though on our author's side, dislike his "honest way of writing," to the first section in this tract for a most interesting digression on style. He well knew what he was about when he poured his overwhelming sarcasms on his assailants. It was as much out of his power to alter or soften the style in which he wrote, and for which he has been insolently abused, as to "dissolve the ground work of nature, which God created in him." A regard to truth, the relief of his "burden," the full reflection of his very soul, whatever might be the state of its emotions on his friends or his foes, rendered it impossible for him to divest himself of it. We will quote a passage from the section we refer to. "In times of opposition, when either against new heresies arising, or old corruptions to be reformed, this cool unpassioned mildness of positive wisdom is not enough to damp and astonish the proud resistance of carnal and false doctors, then (that I may have leave to soar awhile as the poets use) Zeal, whose substance is ethereal, arming in complete diamond, ascends his fiery chariot drawn with two blazing meteors, figured like beasts, but of a higher breed than any the zodiac yields, resembling two of those four which Ezekiel and St. John saw; the one visaged like a lion, to express power, high authority, and indignation; the other of countenance like a man, to cast derision and scorn upon perverse and fraudulent seducers: with these the invincible warrior, Zeal, shaking loosely the slack reins, drives over the heads of scarlet prelates, and such as are insolent to maintain traditions, bruising their stiff necks under his flaming wheels." The most splendid part of the performance, is the eulogy on the Long Parliament; but he is always instructive, and most so when he leaves his merryman of the text, and strikes out into incidental or collateral topics. He is very severe upon the clergy, not only because their principles were in his opinion dangerous, and their practice disgraceful, but his usage at their hands was barbarous.-What can be more so than this serious saying of old or young Hall,-"You that love Christ, and know this miscreant wretch, stone him to death, lest you smart for his impunity." This is the language of a bishop, or of his son, but is it that of a Christian? Milton's spirit was a perfect contrast to Hall's. "In his whole life he never spake against a man even that his skin should be grazed." Hall's murderous advice is certainly of a piece with that pious prayer which is recorded in his Memoranda of his own Life, concerning the subtle and wily atheist, that had so grievously perplexed and gravelled him at Sir Robert Drury's, till he prayed the Lord to remove him, and his prayers were heard; for shortly after the atheist went to London, and there perished of the plague in great misery. But what can be expected from a man who in one of his epistles dares to assert that "separation from the church of England is worse than whoredom or drunkenness?" The formularies of the church as by law established, are examined in the 11th section, and severely exposed. Being taxed by his adversary with a want of acquaintance with the councils and fathers of the church, we have in the 12th section a remarkable account of his reading in, and of his opinion of, them, which concludes by advising his readers not to be deceived "by men that would overawe your ears with big names and huge tomes, that contradict and repeal one another, because they can cram a margin with citations. Do but winnow their chaff from their wheat, ye shall see their great heap shrink and wax thin past belief." We have a remarkable testimony to the character of the nonconformists. "We hear not of any, which are called nonconformists, that have been accused of scandalous living; but are known to be pious, or at least sober, men." After answering a few more impertinent points, his adversary having said that he had met with "such a volley of expressions, as he would never desire to have them better clothed." "For me, readers," says the ingenuous apologist, "I cannot say that I am utterly untrained in those rules which best rhetoricians have given, or unacquainted with those examples which the prime authors of eloquence have written in any learned tongue; yet true eloquence I find to be none, but the serious and hearty love of truth: and that whose mind soever is fully possessed with a fervent desire to know good things, and with the dearest charity to infuse the knowledge of them into others, when such a man would speak, his words (by what I can express) like so many nimble and airy servitors trip about him at command, and in well-ordered files, as he would wish, fall aptly in their own places." The remainder of this discourse is devoted to the further castigation of his adversary, recommends the total removal of prelaty, the due distribution of church property, and predicts that when their coffers are emptied their voices will be dumb. This is the last time he drew his pen for the presbyterians,—or rather, not so much for presbyterianism, as for liberty; and in her behalf we shall soon find that he had to wage war against his former allies, whose recreant steps led them at last to fight against her under the prelatical banner. The bishops fell, and Milton went on, and took no more notice of them, except in conjunction with the puritan apostates, whose perilous battle he fought, and whose victory was soon abused. He thus refers to these works in his narrative,-" On this occasion it was supposed that I brought a timely succour to the ministers, who were hardly a match for the eloquence of their opponents; and from that time I was actively employed in refuting any answers that appeared. When the bishops could no longer resist the multitude of their assailants, I had leisure to turn my thoughts to other subjects; to the promotion of real and substantial liberty ; which is rather to be sought from within than from without; and whose existence depends not so much on the terror of the sword, as on sobriety of conduct, and integrity of life. When therefore I perceived that there were three species of liberty, which are essential to the happiness of social life; religious, domestic, and civil; and as I had already written concerning the first, and the magistrates were strenuously active concerning the third, I de termined to turn my attention to the second, or the domestic species. As this seemed to involve three material questions, the condition of the conjugal tie, the education of children, and the free publication of thought, I made them objects of distinct consideration." We now come to his Four Treatises on the subject of Marriage and Divorce. The circumstances of his marriage are well known. Its imprudence is astonishing, but it is less so to find that his wife's wanton outrage should have been the occasion of these extraordinary productions. It is true they originated in his own misfortune, yet in such times there must have been numbers in the same predicament with himself; and his honest pleadings on behalf of domestic liberty, were perhaps as seasonable, as they are, whatever we may think of his principles, undoubtedly eloquent; and their effect was far from inconsiderable. He evidently regarded them as not the least of his labours on behalf of liberty. “I explained my sentiments, not only on the solemnization of the marriage, but the dissolution, if circumstances rendered it necessary; and I drew my arguments from the divine law, which Christ did not abolish, or publish another more grievous than that of Moses. I stated my own opinions, and those of others, concerning the exclusive exception of fornication, which our illustrious Selden has since, in his Hebrew Wife, more copiously discussed: for he in vain makes a vaunt of liberty in the senate or in the forum who languishes under the vilest servitude to an inferior at home. On this subject therefore I published some books, which were more particularly necessary at that time, when man and wife were often the most inveterate foes, when the man often staid to take care of his children at home, while the mother of the family was seen in the camp of the enemy, threatening death and destruction to her husband." This was his case,-his wife's friends were royalists, and she deserted him only one month after marriage, on the plea of revisiting them. He determined to repudiate her, and to justify his resolution, published in the year 1644 his "Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, restored to the good of both sexes," and dedicated it to the parliament and the Assembly of Divines, in order that, as they were busy about the general reformation of the kingdom, they might also take this matter into consideration. "If the wisdom, the justice, the purity of God, be to be cleansed from the foulest imputations, which are not to be avoided, if charity be not to be degraded, and trodden down under a civil ordinance, if matrimony be not to be advanced like that exalted perdition, above all that is called God,' or goodness, nay, against them both, then I dare affirm, there will be found in the contents of this book that which may concern us all." He declares his object to be to prove, first, That other reasons of divorce besides adultery were, by the law of Moses, and are yet to be, allowed by the christian magistrate, as a piece of justice, and that the words of Christ are not hereby contraried: next, That to prohibit absolutely any divorce whatever, except those which Moses excepted, is against the reason of law. The grand position is this: That indisposition, unfitness, or contrariety of mind, arising from a cause in nature, unchangeable, hindering, and ever likely to hinder, the main benefits of conjugal society, which are solace and peace; is a greater reason of divorce than adultery, or natural frigidity, provided there be a mutual consent for separation. He makes out a strong primá facie case; but in so nice and difficult an argument, conducted so learnedly, by so splendid a casuist, and in the due and orderly method of division and subdivision so punctiliously observed in his time, analysis would be both ridiculous and useless. It will be read, were it merely for the sake of quickening and sharpening the mind by its prodigious subtlety and acuteness, as an intellectual exercise; but it will be found much easier to deny his conclusions than to refute his arguments. Never was a greater mass of learning brought to bear upon a point, a mere point, of dispute. The context of the Scriptures, the letter and the spirit, and the scope of every passage touching the topic in hand, the laws of the first Christian emperors, the opinions of reformers, are adduced, for the purpose of demonstrating that by the laws of God, and by the inferences drawn from them by the most enlightened men, the power of divorce ought not to be rigidly restricted to those causes which render the nuptial state unfruitful, or taint it with a spurious offspring. Regarding mutual support and comfort as the principal objects of this union, he contends that whatever defrauds it of these ends, vitiates the contract, and must necessarily justify the dissolution. "What therefore God hath joined, let no man put asunder."- But here the Christian prudence lies, to consider what God hath joined. Shall we say that God hath joined error, fraud, unfitness, wrath, contention, perpetual loneliness, perpetual discord? Whatever lust, or wine, or witchery, threat or enticement, avarice or ambition, have joined together, faithful with unfaithful, Christian with anti-christian, hate with hate, or hate with love, shall we say this is God's joining?" This book kindled the fury of the presbyterians; and the bigots, unmindful of his services in the common cause, attempted to fix the most serious charges on his character, and bring him under the censure of parliament. He was actually summoned before the house of lords, but was honourably dismissed. This was not the way to put John Milton down. The parliament preachers rated at him, and his opponents grew more clamorous. He therefore published the "Tetrachordon, or Exposition of the four chief places in Scripture which treat of Nullities in Marriage," and dedicated it to parliament; confirming by explanation of Scripture, by testimony of ancient fathers, of civil law in the primitive church, of famousest protestant divines, and lastly, by an intended act of the parliament and church of England in the last year of Edward IV. the doctrines of his former book. The clamour with which this and the preceding work were received by his quondam associates, led to the following sonnets. A book was writ of late call'd Tetrachordon, And woven close, both matter, form, and style; Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek, Thy age, like our's, O soul of Sir John Cheek, Hated not learning worse than toad or asp, When thou taught'st Cambridge, and King Edward, Greek. I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs, As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs And still revolt when truth would set them free. The next piece he published on this subject was " The Judgment of the famous Martin Bucer touching Divorce." Bucer exactly agrees with Milton, though the latter had not seen his book till after the publication of his own. Paulus Fagius, Peter Martyr, Erasmus, and |