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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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vine purpose of composing the differences , allaying the jealousies and uniting the affections of the whole Christian , world . For , agreeably to his own energetic lines , addressed by the archangel Michael to our primeval ancestor ,
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his shrine * how worthless soever n > av be the offering" which we bring to it While this book lies on our table we seem to be contemporaries of the great poet . We are transported a hundred and fifty years back : we can
almost fancy that we are visiting him in his small lodging-, that we see him sitting at the old organ beneath the faded green hangings , that we can catch the quick twinkle of his eyes rolling in vain to find the day , that
we are reading in the lines of his noble countenance the proud and mournful history of his glory and his affliction We image to ourselves the breathless silence in which we should listen to his slightest word , the passionate veneration with which we should kneel
to kiss his hand and weep upon it ; the earnestness with which we should endeavour to console him , if , indeed , such a spirit could need consolation for the neglect of an age unworthy
of his talents and his virtues , the eagerness with which we should contest with his daughters , or with his Quaker friend , Elwood , the privilege of reading Homer to him , or of taking down the immortal accents which flowed
from his lips . These are , perhaps , foolish feelings ; yet we cannot be ashamed of them , nor shall we he sorry if what we have written shall in any degree excite them in other minds . We are not much in the habit of idolizing the living or the dead . And we think that there is no more certain
indication of a weak and ill-regulated intellect than that propensity which , for want of a better name , we will venture to christen Bostvellism . But there arc a few characters which have
stood the closest scrutiny and the severest tests , which have been tried in the furnace , and have proved pure , which have been weighed in the balance and have not been found
wanting , which have been declared sterling by the general consent of mankind , and which are visibly stamped with the linage and superscription of the Most High ! These great men we trust that we know how to prize , and of these was Milton . The sight ot
his books , the sound of his name refreshing to us . His thoughts resemble those celestial fruits and ilowers which the virgin martyr of JM assengei sent down from the gardens ot Paradise to the earth , distinguished troin
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730 Estimate of Milton ' s Theological Work .
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on earth , Who against faith and conscience can be heard Infallible ? Yet many will presume ; Whence heavy persecution shall arise On all , who in the worship persevere
Of spirit and truth : the rest , far greater part , Will deem , in outward rites and specious forms , lleligion satisfied : truth shall retire , Bestuck with slanderous darts , and works of faith
Karely be found . So shall the world go on , To good malignant , to bad men benign ; Under her own weight groaning \ ' till the day Appear of respiration to the just ,
And vengeance to the wicked : at return Of him so lately proniis'd to thy aid , The woman ' s seed , obscurely then foretold , Now amplier known thy Saviour and thy Lord , Last in the clouds , from heaven to be reveal'd
In glory of the Father , to dissolve Satan , with his perverted world ; then raise From the conflagnmt mass , purg'd and refni'd , New heavens , new earth , ages of endless date
. Founded in righteousness and peace and love , To bring forth fruits , joy and eternal bliss ! I beg- pardon , Mr . Editor , for
detaining- so long your attention , but the subject lay near my heart . Never before have I met with a theological work whose pages , however checkered by peculiarities of sentiment , so deeply involve the present and everlasting interests of mankind .
" We must conclude / ' to adopt the parting declaration of the Edinburgh Review , the most enlightened journal of the age , " and yet we can scarcely tear ourselves away from the subject .
The days immediately following the publication of this relic of Milton appear to be peculiarly set apart and consecrated to his memory . And we shall scarcely be censured if on this hits festival we be found lingering near
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1826, page 730, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2555/page/30/
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