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REVIEW. " Still pleased t) praise, yet not afraid to blame."—*Pope.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Aut . I . — Joannis Miltoni Angli de Doctrina Christiana Libri Duo Posthumi quos ex Schedis Manuscriptis deprompsit et Tt / pis man * dart primus ciiravit Carolus Ricardus Sumner , A . M > Bibliothecee Regime Prcefectus . Cantabrigice , &c . 4 to . pp . 554 . £ 2 . 10 s .
A Treatise of Christian Doctrine , compiled from the Holy Scriptures alone * By John Milton , Translated from the Original by Charles R . Sumner , M * A ., Librarian and Historiographer to his Majesty , and Prebendary of Canterbury . Cambridge , printed for Charles Knight , Pall Mall East . 4 to , ppt 410 . £ 2 .
1 0 * . IN every point of view , this is an exceedingly interesting and important publication . Any original manuscript of Milton ' s would have been a treasure ; and a manuscript containing his " Last Thoughts" on Christianity
is inestimable . There can be no doubt of the genuineness of the work . Mr . Simmer ' s history of its discovery is satisfactory , [ see Mon . Repos . XIX . 124 , ] and there is abundant internal evidence of its being rightly ascribed to the Great Writer whose name it bears .
The publication is in the highest degree honourable to His Majesty , by whose order it has been both printed and translated , [ Mon . Ropos . XIX . 253 , ] and creditable to Mr . Sumner , who is the Translator and Editor .
We propose to make our readers acquainted with the contents of the book , less in the character of reviewers than reporters . Milton , of all men that ever lived , is entitled to speak for himself .
The dedication of the work by the writer proves that he intended it for the press , and calmly calculated upon its circulation ' * throughout the world . " There is a manly but somewhat subdued tone in this Preface , which shews how much Milton was
m earnest with regard to Divine truth , and which consequently bespeaks the reader ' s solemn attention . It opens thus :
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" John Milton , to all the churches of Christ , and to all who profess the Christian faith throughout the world , peace and the recognition of the truth , and eternal salvation in God the Father , and in our Lord Jesus Christ . " Since the commencement of the last
century , when religion began to be restored from the corruptions of more than thirteen hundred years to something of its original purity , many treatises of theology have been published , conducted according to sounder principles , wherein the chief heads of Christian doctrine are
set forth , sometimes briefly , sometimes in a more enlarged and methodical order . 1 think myself obliged , therefore , to declare , in the first instance , why > if any works have already appeared as perfect
as the nature of the subject will admit , I have not remained contented with them ; or , if all my predecessors have treated it unsuccessfully , why their failure has not deterred me from attempting an undertaking C ( of a similar kind .
If I were to say that I had devoted myself to the study of the Christian religion because nothing eJse can so effectually rescue the lives and minds of men from those two detestable curses , slavery and superstition , I should seem to have acted rather from a regard to my highest earthly comforts , than from a religious motive .
< c But since it is only to the individual faith of each that the Deity has opened the way of eternal salvation , and as he requires that he who would be saved should have a personal belief of his own , I resolved not to repose on the faith or judgment of others in matters relating to God ; but , on the one hand , having taken
the grounds of my faith from divine revelation alone , and on the other , havingneglected nothing which depended on my own industry , 1 thought fit to scrutinize and ascertain for myself the several points of my religious belief , by the most careful perusal and meditation of the Holy Scriptures themselves . f
< If , therefore , I mention what has proved beneficial in . my own practice , it is in the hope that others , who have a similar wish of improving themselves , may be thereby invited to pursue the same method . I entered upon an
assiduous course of study in my youth , beginning with the books of the Old and New Testament in their original languages , and going diligently through a few of the shorter systems of divines , in imitation of whom I was in the habit of
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Review. " Still Pleased T) Praise, Yet Not Afraid To Blame."—*Pope.
REVIEW . " Still pleased t ) praise , yet not afraid to blame . "—* Pope .
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vol . xx . 4 i
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1825, page 3609, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2541/page/33/
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