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Son of God became a man among men and sacrificed himself; the life of Christ as told in the Gospels is literally true. But that would have no value if, at the same time, or rather from all time, Christ had not made himself into the regenerate part of each of the elect, recreating them in him. This second creation takes place through the will of the creatures,

them who renounce

Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,
And live in Thee transplanted.

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The last five lines give a key to the "double vision of the whole poem of Paradise Lost: the drama takes place not only in the outside world—in Paradise for the Fall, in Jesus's life for the Regeneration — but also in each of us; at every moment of our lives Satan is "hellish hate," Christ is "heav'nly love." In the last two lines, God transcends the time of the action, which is the beginning of the world, and speaks from the higher sphere of his divinity, above time, for all times:

and still destroys

In those who, when they may, accept not grace.

The poet is in the seventeenth century. Even like the twin expressions, "A Paradise within thee " and "myself am hell," these two lines transfer the whole drama into man's consciousness, and make it eternally present. Thus Milton believes (when he thinks fit) in the letter, and yet considers the facts as symbols of spiritual realities.

God causes man's will to be accomplished. Therein lies destiny. This is true in psychology as in politics. After the Fall, man may have the will, but he has no

longer the power to carry out his will. But to God, will is sufficient; he will give the power: that is grace. Thus will predestines to salvation; Christ gives the possibility. God says,

All hast thou spoken as My thoughts are, all
As My eternal purpose hath decreed:

Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will;
Yet not of will in him, but grace in Me
Freely vouchsaf'd; once more I will renew

His lapsed pow'rs, though forfeit, and enthrall'd
By sin to foul exorbitant desires.19

The power of man is small, for evil even as for good. Therefore God, even as he helps the good in their virtue, will help the wicked in their evil:

But hard be hard'nd, blind be blinded more
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall.20

And thus for Satan:

the will

And high permission of all-ruling Heaven
Left him at large to his own dark designs;
That with reiterated crimes he might

Heap on himself damnation.21

But none is predestined to perdition; predestination must always be understood with reference to election," 22 by the will of the elect, who are parts of God fulfilling themselves. For each may carry out the will that is in him; in him take place his fall and his regeneration.

19 P. L., III, 171–77.

20 Ibid., III, 200-01; and Treatise, IV, 50-51, where Pharaoh's heart is hardened by God.

21 P. L., I, 211-15.

22 Treatise, IV, 45, and the whole of chapter IV.

I

CHAPTER V
POLITICS

T is finally, in applying his ideas to the affairs of men, that Milton tries to justify the ways of God. On that ground the question originally arose; here the whole philosophy of Milton reaches its ends.

Milton, in his system of politics, sets down the principles of what man ought to be, claiming complete liberty for regenerated man, and delivering into the avenging forces of destiny unregenerate men and nations.

I. LIBERTY

Christian liberty is that whereby we loosed as it were by enfranchisement, through Christ our deliverer, from the bondage of sin, and consequently from the rule of the law and of man; to the intent that being made sons instead of servants, and perfect men instead of children, we may serve God in love through the guidance of the Spirit of Truth.1

Paul expressly asserts that "the law is not made for a righteous man," I Tim. i. 9. Gal. v. 22, 23.2

Such is the basis of liberty; since Christ is in the elect, the laws of men do not apply to them.

A. Moral liberty: no law

The old moral law, the Mosaic decalogue, is abolished: .. the entire Mosaic law was abolished. . . . we are therefore absolved from subjection to the decalogue as fully as to the rest of the law.3

The spirit of the law abides in each of us:

1 Treatise, IV, 398-99; cf. the whole of chapter XXVII.
2 Ibid., IV, 391.

8 Ibid., IV, 387.

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the end for which the law was instituted, namely, the love of God and our neighbour, is by no means to be abolished; it is the tablet of the law, so to speak, that is alone changed, its injunctions being now written by the Spirit in the hearts of believers.

Consequently the judgment will take place according to an individual rule for each: "the rule of judgment will be the conscience of each individual.” 6

A curious application of this theory, which is a claim for the legitimacy of the instincts of each regenerated man, is the admission of polygamy. Milton had probably come to consider, from his own experience, that having three wives successively came to much the same thing as having them simultaneously. He demonstrates at length that polygamy was allowed to the Hebrews and ends with the aphorism, "The practice of the saints is the best interpretation of the commandments.""

B. Religious liberty; no priests

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Every believer has a right to interpret the Scriptures for himself, inasmuch as he has the Spirit for his guide, and the mind of Christ is in him.8

Scripture is the sole judge of controversies; or rather, every man is to decide for himself through its aid, under the guidance of the Spirit of God."

. the same Spirit which originally dictated them, enlightening us inwardly, through faith and love.10

And Scripture itself is

not but by the Spirit understood.11

Christ is in each of us; Christ is in the communion of the Saints, and governs his Church directly, without need of any other government:

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Christ hath a government of his own, sufficient of itself to all his ends and purposes in governing his church, but much different from that of the civil magistrate . . . it deals only with the inward man and his actions, which are all spiritual, and to outward force not liable.12

The consequence is the suppression of the ecclesiastical ministry. Professional priests are not only useless, but harmful:

A man may be a heretic in the truth; and if he believes things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy.13

All the members of the Church are priests, and the socalled "priests" are usurpers:

And this all Christians ought to know, that the title of clergy St. Peter gave to all God's people, till pope Higinus and the succeeding prelates took it from them, appropriating that name to themselves and their priests only; and condemning the rest of God's inheritance to an injurious and alienate condition of laity, they separated from them by local partitions in churches. . . . Although these usurpers could not so presently overmaster the liberties and lawful titles of God's freeborn church; but that Origen, being yet a layman, expounded the Scriptures publicly. . . .14

C. Intellectual liberty: no censors

Liberty is equally essential to the operations of the mind. Each man is to search for truth in his own way, for all we can know is made up of fragments of truth, and therefore the search must proceed in all directions. We need but set down a few arguments from the Areopagitica.

12 Treatise of Civil Power, in Prose Works, II, 533.

13 Areopagitica, in Prose Works, II, 85.

14 Reason of Church Government, in Prose Works, II, 493. See above, pp. 77-78, for the development of these ideas.

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