Milton and the drama of the soul: A study of the theme of the restoration of men in Milton’s later poetry [Reprint 2019 ed.] 9783110811483, 9789027905307

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STUDIES IN ENGLISH Volume LI

LITERATURE

MILTON AND THE DRAMA OF THE SOUL A Study of the Theme of the Restoration of Men in Milton's Later Poetry

by

GEORGE M. M U L D R O W Western Washington State

College

1970

MOUTON THE HAGUE • PARIS

© Copyright 1970 in The Netherlands. Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 76-89796

Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., Printers, The Hague.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My debts are many. Like any new study of Milton's poetry, this one has drawn on past scholarship and criticism in ways which cannot be acknowledged either in footnotes or in bibliography. To Hardin Craig, who first introduced me to the richness of English Renaissance literature, I am especially grateful. The original version of this study was my dissertation at Stanford University, and for their criticisms of that version I am indebted to Lawrence V. Ryan, the late Francis R. Johnson, and especially to George F. Sensabaugh. For his patience and his many helpful comments while I was revising the study, I wish to thank Lawrence L. Lee. For their many hours n helping to prepare the manuscript, I owe thanks to Miss Shirlee M. Riggles, Rand D. Diessner, Patrick Overcast, Mrs. Jane E. Clark, and Mrs. Mary House. The Research Advisory Committee of Western Washington State College has been most generous in helping to bring the manuscript into print. By permission of Odyssey Press, the text used in citing Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes is that edited by Merritt Y. Hughes. By permission of Columbia University Press, the text used in citing Milton's prose works is that from The Works of John Milton.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

5

Introduction

9

I. II.

"To Repair the Ruines"

17

Paradise Lost: The Internal Drama of Books X-XII

54

III.

Paradise Regained: The Virtues for the Faithful

.

108

IV.

Samson Agonistes: The Recovery of God's Grace

.

165

Conclusion: The Unity of Milton's Later Poetry . . . .

226

Appendix: A Note on the Probable Date of Samson Agonistes

240

Bibliography

263

Index

268

INTRODUCTION

Milton tells us in Of Education that the end of learning is "to repair the ruines of our first Parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the neerest by possessing our souls of true vertue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection". 1 To many readers Milton's inclusion of this definition has seemed somewhat perfunctory. His real interest, it is felt, lies in that "compleat and generous Education . . . which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully and magnanimously all the offices both private and publick of Peace and War". 2 A more accurate perspective upon the two definitions would seem to be that Milton has pointed out here the inseparable link between ethical conduct and spiritual re-birth. For Milton, the repair of the ruins of man's original parents by his restoration to God's grace was the necessary premise upon which his private and public actions had to be based. In 1644, Milton's assumption was that of the earlier Animadversions: "all creatures sigh to bee renew'd". 3 The problem at that time was to construct the kind of society which would encourage the restoration to grace of so many willing individuals and which would best protect the great reward of that restoration - Christian liberty. The lesson Milton learned from his involvement in the religious 1

The Works of John Milton, ed. Frank A. Patterson et al. (New York, 1931-38), IV, 277. The Columbia edition has been used throughout in citing Milton's prose works and hereafter will be cited as CE. * CE., IV, 280. 3 CE., Ill, 148.

10

INTRODUCTION

and political controversies of the years before 1660 is a familiar one. As Herschel Baker succinctly says, "Milton never lost his faith in the personal integrity of the individual, but his confidence in mankind steadily deteriorated." 4 Or, more recently, as Michael Fixler comments on the mood behind the composition of Milton's short epic, "Paradise Regained, with all the experience of religious delusion behind it, surely reflects Milton's conviction that if there was not first recovered the Kingdom at hand - the Paradise within which faith and obedience restored - then seeking the Kingdom of Christ on earth men would lose their souls without even gaining the world." 5 Milton's admonition towards the end of the Second Defense will serve to remind us here of that harder education, more an affair of the heart than the classroom, which Milton thought his fellow Englishmen needed. After earlier telling them that "real and substantial liberty . . . is to be sought for not from without, but within",6 he says: And as for you, citizens, it is of no small concern, what manner of men ye are, whether to acquire, or to keep possession of your liberty. Unless your liberty be of that kind, which can neither be gotten, nor taken away by arms; and that alone is such, which, springing from piety, justice, temperance, in fine, from real virtue, shall take deep and intimate root in your minds; you may be assured, there will not be wanting one, who even without arms, will speedily deprive you of what it is your boast to have gained by force of arms. Many were made greater by the war, whom the peace has again made less. If, after putting an end to the war, you neglect the arts of peace; if war oe your peace and liberty, war alone your virtue, your highest glory, you will find, believe me, that your greatest enemy is peace itself; peace itself will be by far hardest warfare, and what you think liberty will prove to be your slavery. Unless by real and sincere devotion to God and man, not an idle and wordy, but an efficacious, an operative devotion, you drive from your minds superstition, which originates in an ignorance of true and substantial religion, you will not want those who will sit upon your backs and upon your necks, as if you were beasts of burden; who, though you are the victors in the war, will sell you, though by no military auction, as their plunder to the highest 4 5 6

The Wars of Truth (Cambridge, Mass., 1952), p. 274. Milton and the Kingdoms of God (Evanston, 111., 1964), p. 274. CE„ VIII, 13.

INTRODUCTION

11

bidder; and will make an excellent market of your ignorance and superstition. Unless you banish avarice, ambition, luxury from your thoughts, and all excess even from your families, the tyrant, whom you imagined was to be sought abroad, and in the field, you will find at home, you will find within, and that a more inexorable one; yea, tyrants without number will be daily engendered in your own breasts, that are not to be borne. Conquer these first; this is the warfare of peace; these are victories, hard, it is true, but bloodless; more glorious far than the warlike and the bloody. If ye are not the victors here also, that enemy and tyrant, whom you so late have conquered in the field, you have either not conquered at all, or have conquered to no purpose.7

Action in the public arenas of life had not become, never was to become, unimportant for Milton; however, the shift in his emphasis was to the need for each individual to attain that regenerate mind which alone could give validity to man's actions. In brief, then, the polemicist who was yet to experience the disappointment of the Restoration and the poet who was yet to write the greater part of Paradise Lost and all of Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes no longer believed that almost all Englishmen were sighing to be restored to God's grace. He could no longer easily assume that the only reformation needed was one of classroom curriculum. However, this change of emphasis should not cause us to think of Milton as writing poetry of 'resignation',8 nor should we label as 'un-Miltonic' the "emphasis on private experience, on humility, obedience, faith, and divine help" 9 in the later poems. If Milton's prose is largely a record of his concern with Christian liberty and the public means to secure it for the regenerate man, then the later poems are, among other things, a record of his concern with Christian liberty and the means for the individual man to attain and keep it. The setting for 'the warfare of peace' and its victory was sometimes spectacular and exceptional, and the victory itself of highly unusual consequences. Such was that of Adam in the Garden of 7 8

CE., VIII, 239-43. W. Menzies, "Milton: The Last Poems", Essays and Studies by Mem-

bers of the English Association, X X I V (1938), 81. Douglas Bush, English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth

9

1600-1660 (Oxford, 1945), p. 382.

Century,

12

INTRODUCTION

Eden after the Fall, of Christ in the wilderness, or of Samson in the slaveyard of the mill at Gaza. The arena for warfare for most men, however, was more ordinary, even though it was both large and small. Externally, it was the world where good and evil were compounded, that battlefield which Milton describes in the wellknown passage in Areopagitica. Good and evill we know in the field of this World grow up together almost inseparably; and the knowledge of good is so involv'd and interwoven with the knowledge of evill, and in so many cunning resemblances hardly to be discern'd, that those confused seeds which were impos'd on Psyche as an incessant labour to cull out, and sort asunder, were not more intermixt. It was from out the rinde of one apple tasted, that the knowledge of good and evill as two twins cleaving together leapt forth into the World. And perhaps this is that doom which Adam fell into of knowing good and evill, that is to say of knowing good by evill. As therefore the state of man now is; what wisdome can there be to choose, what continence to forbeare without the knowledge of evill? He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly better, he is the true wayfaring Christian.10 But, within this world, it was the soul of the individual man with the power of choice which was more appropriately the real battlefield. The drama of the battle Milton found outlined in Romans 8:28-31. For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us. This Pauline formula of election, vocation, justification, sanctification, and glorification was not, of course, the property of any special group or church. It was recognized and believed by most men in the seventeenth century, no matter how the particular emphases and definitions given to the steps caused great religious 10

CE„ IV, 310-11.

INTRODUCTION

13

and political division among the men themselves. The Miltonic interpretation of this familiar scheme of man's restoration to grace, with its emphasis on justification by faith, gave man a large share of responsibility which, as he accepted it, promised him both earthly happiness and eternal salvation. The ordinary man, then, had heroic capacities; he was the wayfaring and warfaring Christian, an image repeated in countless sermons of the day; 11 and the doctrine of justification by faith centered the focus on the individual soul in its struggle for assurance of salvation as much for the Puritan Milton as it did for the Anglican Donne.12 Important to both poets was the fact that such a hero could win a victory. Full victory was reserved, it is true, for the state of perfect glorification, to be effected after the second coming of Christ and in eternity. Despite his blindness and his disappointment over the turn in English politics, however, Milton was not one to reject the temporal in favor of the eternal. He believed strongly that man could reach in this life that state in which he was filled with " A N EXPECTATION OF FUTURE GLORY", 1 3 but in neither his Christian Doctrine nor his later poetry was he as inclined to dwell at length on that ineffable joyous experience as his contemporary, Henry Vaughan. He would, of course, have recognized the truth of Vaughan's description of eternity in the opening lines of "The World", but he kept his attention more on that imperfect glorification to which the believer could arrive in this life. Imperfect glorification Milton defines in the Christian Doctrine as that state wherein, being "JUSTIFIED AND ADOPTED BY GOD THE FATHER, WE ARE FILLED WITH A CONSCIOUSNESS OF PRESENT GRACE AND EXCELLENCY, AS WELL AS WITH AN EXPECTATION OF FUTURE GLORY, INSOMUCH THAT OUR BLESSEDNESS IS IN A MANNER ALREADY BEGUN." 11

14

For discussions o n this subject see E. M. W. Tillyard, The English Epic and Its Background (New York, 1954), p. 376; and William Haller, The Rise of Puritanism (New York, 1957), p. 142. 12 See Helen White, The Metaphysical Poets (New York, 1956), pp. 49-69. 13 CE„ X V I , 67. 14 CE„ XVI, 65-67.

14

INTRODUCTION

Milton's Christian humanism shows clearly in the promise contained in the last part of the definition, that man's blessedness is in a manner already begun. Such blessedness, however, was not the natural state of fallen man, even though it was within his reach and even though an 'imperfect illumination' of the unwritten law of God "still dwells in the hearts of all mankind".15 This blessedness was the result of both man's renovation and his redemption; it was, in other words, dependent upon his restoration to God's grace. The details of that restoration, to which Milton devoted so much space in Book One of his Christian Doctrine and which I shall discuss in the following chapter, were part of God's Providence regarding man. This blessedness, then, was the victory of this life won by those wayfaring and warfaring heroes on the battlefield of the individual soul in a world of good and evil compounded. It was, in short, the fruit of the 'warfare of peace'. The present study examines the rudiments of that warfare. It examines, in other words, the theme of man's restoration to God's grace in Milton's later poetry, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. In the first chapter I outline the Miltonic scheme for man's earthly happiness and eternal salvation which Milton himself left for us in his systematic theology, the Christian Doctrine. This treatise Milton wrote in that spirit of independence which we have generally come to think of as a mark of Puritanism. Milton calls his systematic theology a 'precious aid' 16 for his faith, and tells us that "it is only to the individual faith of each that the Deity has opened the way of eternal salvation".17 Among all of his prose works he must have valued it the most highly. Then, in following chapters I attempt to demonstrate that these views on man's restoration contribute greatly to our understanding of Milton's later poetry. I devote a chapter to each of Milton's three later poems, hoping to establish that these views not only provide a better understanding of theme and structure in each of the poems but also an underlying thematic unity of all three 15 18 17

CE„ XVI, 101. CE„ XTV, 9. CE„ xrv, 5.

INTRODUCTION

15

poems. Behind this study lies an assumption that this major poetry reflects the thoughts and beliefs of Milton himself. I agree with C. S. Lewis' statement that "Milton's thought, when purged of its theology, does not exist." 18 Such an assumption does not mean, however, that we should try to read this poetry as thinly-disguised spiritual autobiography, or that we should reduce the poetry to doctrinal tracts. The Christian Doctrine and the later poetry treat, to use the words of Maurice Kelley, "a fundamental corpus of belief presented in two different and distinctive manners".19 It is a tribute to the poetic genius of Milton that he could weave these beliefs into the fabric of some of the most admired poems of English literature. If we can see that these views on man's restoration to God's grace do carry over into the later poetry and do provide a thematic unity for all three of the poems, then we shall have further confirmation of the point that however much in his later years Milton lost interest in such controversial doctrines as creatio non ex nihilo sed ex Deo he never lost interest in that liberty which the Second Defense says should take 'intimate root' in man's mind or in that battle within the soul which won him that liberty. We shall have further confirmation also for the point that disappointed though Milton was with the Restoration, he still had faith in individual restoration. The use of the views of the Christian Doctrine in an analysis of the poetry does involve at least two dangers, both of which I shall try to avoid. In the first place, there is the danger of confusing the mere existence of the doctrine of man's restoration with the effective dramatization of it; in other words, of seeing the doctrine and mistaking it for the poetry. B. A. Wright has claimed that there is far less 'undigested theology'20 in Paradise Lost than is commonly supposed. I agree, and I believe that the theological doctrine behind both Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes has been well assimilated into the poetry. The evidence for that belief will have to come later in the look at the poems themselves. For all that this study or any other may have to say 18 19 20

A Preface to Paradise Lost (London, 1942), p. 64. This Great Argument (Princeton, 1941), p. 195. Milton's "Paradise Lost' (New York, 1962), p. 42.

16

INTRODUCTION

about Milton's theology, our usual systematic way of ascertaining the details of that theology will remain the Christian Doctrine. However, considering the religious subjects of the last three poems, we, as careful readers, must respect Milton's religious views and do all we can to understand them. The views themselves are not open to criticism in a literary study. Their effective embodiment within the fabric of the poetry, even with a didactic poet like Milton, is subject to our criticism. The second danger for a study of this kind is to forget that while the restoration of man to God's grace may provide a major theme and a principle for the structure of the poems, that theme is by no means the only one. About Paradise Lost Joseph H. Summers says, "The entire poem is built upon a few themes: love, creation, battle, fall, and praise. Each theme implies its opposite (hate, destruction, peace, rise, and disdain) and each is almost endlessly repeated and varied." 21 The same holds true, I believe, for Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. The reverberations of these few themes - one of which Summers points out as 'rise', that restoration to God's grace with which this study is concerned are many and complex. They are so rich, in fact, that it is only in the reading of the poem that all of them can be brought together successfully. Criticism can only point to this complexity. My argument, then, is that the theme of man's restoration is one of the themes, an important theme but not the only one, in Milton's later poetry.

21 The Muse's Method: An Introduction to "Paradise Lost" (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), p. 177.

I "TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

Before we can look at the theme of man's restoration, especially his regeneration, in the later poems, we must know exactly what steps Milton considered as essential "to repair the ruines of our first Parents" and what definitions and special emphases he gave to the steps of that process. All of this Milton has left us in his Christian Doctrine, that systematic statement of his religious beliefs.1 In that treatise Milton devotes the greatest portion of his space to the subject of man's restoration to a state of grace. The last nineteen chapters of Book One discuss both the nature and process of restoration including man's renovation and redemption and the manifestation of renovation in the written and unwritten law of God. Book Two, in the sense that the virtues explained in it are the obligations of each believer, continues the subject throughout the treatise. With so much material at hand, no brief summary will do justice to Milton's views. I have attempted in this chapter, however, to summarize what seems essential for an understanding of Milton's doctrine of restoration, 1

Through the scholarship of such men as James Holly Hanford, "The Date of Milton's De Doctrina Christiana", Studies in Philology, XVIII (1920), 309-19; Arthur Sewall, A Study in Milton's Christian Doctrine (London, 1939); and Maurice Kelley, This Great Argument, we know almost beyond doubt that the Picard draft stood complete by the years ca. 1658-ca. 1660. A fair copy, this draft must have had behind it a wellorganized manuscript, itself the product of years of preliminary study. Although revisions were made in the Picard draft to produce the document we have today, none of these, as Kelley has demonstrated, changed the essential doctrine. What we have is a document that "stood at Milton's death as complete as any manuscript can be said to be complete before it acquires the final rigidity of print" (Kelley, p. 70).

18

" T O REPAIR THE RUINES"

leaving for discussion in later chapters many minor details, especially those from Book Two which are of value in an interpretation of Paradise Regained. The large scheme of salvation of which man's regeneration is but a part will have its end only when in eternity he has reached his state of perfect glorification. In that state man may enjoy "eternal life and perfect happiness".2 There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of Milton's belief in that happiness of another world; indeed, one of the major reasons he gives for the composition of his Christian Doctrine is that "it is only to the individual faith of each that the Deity has opened the way of eternal salvation".3 Although this final purpose cannot be forgotten, neither should it be exaggerated; for surely the emphasis in Milton's prose and poetry is on man's earthly life. Milton himself in the preface to the Christian Doctrine admits this interest when he says that only a study of the Christian religion can free "the lives and minds of men from those two detestable curses, slavery and superstition".4 But to juxtapose man's eternal happiness and his earthly comforts as if they were conflicting claims in the mind of Milton is to create a dilemma which did not exist. Let us consider again Milton's definition of imperfect glorification, the highest step that man attains in this life: IMPERFECT GLORIFICATION

is that state wherein, being

JUSTIFIED AND

ADOPTED BY GOD THE FATHER, WE ARE FILLED WITH A CONSCIOUSNESS OF PRESENT GRACE AND EXCELLENCY, AS WELL AS WITH AN EXPECTATION OF FUTURE GLORY, INSOMUCH THAT OUR BLESSEDNESS IS IN A MANNER ALREADY BEGUN. 5

This is hardly the definition to come from a man who was anxious to leave this world. True, there is the rightful 'expectation of future glory', but man's blessedness has 'in a manner already begun'. This blessedness, as we shall see, comes from the fact that in his restoration man reaches "a far more excellent state of grace and glory than that from which he had fallen". 6 This new 2 8 4 5

8

CE., XVI, 375. CE., XIV, 5. CE., XIV, 3. CE., XVI, 65-67. CE., XV, 251.

" t o r e p a i r t h e ruines"

19

state of grace does not come easily or automatically, however; for, although it depends ultimately on the free gift of God's grace and Christ's willing sacrifice of his own life, man's part in his restoration is no minor one, and the result - Christian liberty no minor victory. This liberty, the only true liberty, at once allows man full use of his natural faculties for his earthly life and makes him a willing follower in the service of God. To discuss Christian liberty here is to anticipate, however; and we need, like Milton and almost every other seventeenth century thinker, to start with fallen man. When God placed Adam in Eden, he furnished him with all that was needed to make life happy. At his creation Adam was made in the image of God, "not the body alone that was then made, but the soul of man also (in which our likeness to God principally consists)." 7 This method of creation meant that man is a living being, intrinsically and properly one and individual, not compound or separable, not, according to the common opinion, made up and framed of two distinct and different natures, as of soul and body, but that the whole man is soul, and the soul man, that is to say, a body, or substance individual, animated, sensitive, and rational; and that the breath of life was neither a part of the divine essence, nor the soul itself, but as it were an inspiration of some divine virtue fitted for the exercise of life and reason, and infused into the organic body; for man himself, the whole man, when finally created, is called in express terms "a living soul".8

Only when one speaks of the body as mere senseless stock, can one separate the body and soul; and on such occasions, Milton says, the more proper term to use for soul is spirit, "that breath of life which we inspire, or the vital, or sensitive, or rational faculty." 9 Thus, with man formed in a single nature "after the image of God, it followed as a necessary consequence that he should be endued with natural wisdom, holiness, and righteousness." 10 The whole law of nature was implanted within Adam; not only could he because of his extraordinary wisdom give 7

8 9 10

CE„ XV, 37-39.

CE„ XV, 41. CE„ XV, 39. CE., XV, 53.

20

" t o repair the ruines"

names to the whole animal creation but also, and more important, he had a natural disposition to do what was right. In Eden no works were required by God from Adam in order to maintain his happiness. Such works, in fact, would have contradicted the way in which Adam had been created. If he, created in the image of God, had a natural ability to follow the law of nature, which included a knowledge of God and a desire to worship him, then additional precepts were unnecessary. Milton says, "For since it was the disposition of man to do what was right, as being naturally good and holy, it was not necessary that he should be bound by the obligation of a covenant to perform that to which he was of himself inclined; nor would he have given any proof of obedience by the performance of works to which he was led by a natural impulse, independently of the divine command." 11 The prohibition against eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was, Milton says, not a part of the law of nature but a special divine command, concerning a matter indifferent and laid down only as a "test of fidelity . . . in order that man's obedience might be thereby manifested".12 In itself the tree could add nothing to Adam's knowledge and it was so-named the tree of knowledge of good and evil only "from the event; for since Adam tasted it, we not only know evil, but we know good only by means of evil".13 Adam's transgression, then, consisted in disobeying both a single command concerning an indifferent matter and his own rule of innate conscience. God could not be held responsible in any way for the Fall. At the Creation he had infused Adam with his proper faculties; and if among them was reason, that power to determine the good, among them also was the will, that power to choose according to the determinations of right reason. For whatever events might happen as the result of this exercise of free will by a reasonable creature God's will could not be held responsible. Milton believed that certain of God's decrees are absolute, such as that of Creation or the removal of the curse from the ground; but others 11 12 13

CE„ XV, 115. CE„ XV, 113-15. CE., XV, 115.

" t o repair t h e ruines"

21

are contingent on that liberty which he assigned to his creatures, either men or angels. Not that God does not foreknow all events, but that whatsoever "is to happen according to contingency and the free will of man, is not the effect of God's prescience, but is produced by the free agency of its own natural causes, the future spontaneous inclination of which is perfectly known to God. Thus God foreknew that Adam would fall of his own free will; his fall was therefore certain, but not necessary, since it proceeded from his own free will, which is incompatible with necessity." 14 The results of Adam's transgression were far-reaching. His disobedience Milton calls a "most heinous offence", for "what sin can be named, which was not included in this one act?" 15 Simultaneously it included distrust in the divine veracity, and a proportionate credulity in the assurances of Satan; unbelief; ingratitude; disobedience; gluttony; in the man excessive uxoriousness, in the woman a want of proper regard for her husband, in both an insensibility to the welfare of their offspring, and that offspring the whole human race; parricide, theft, invasion of the rights of others, sacrilege, deceit, presumption in aspiring to divine attributes, fraud in the means employed to attain the object, pride, and arrogance. 16

Furthermore, since Adam was the "common parent and head of all. . . [and] either stood or fell for the whole human race",17 he was responsible for the substitution of an "innate propensity to sin" 18 for man's original innate righteousness. All posterity was thus burdened not only with this common sin or evil concupiscence but also with the individual sins which they would commit because of the evil concupiscence. Finally, "after sin came death, as the calamity or punishment consequent upon it",10 and Milton distinguishes among four kinds of death. Under the heading of death must be included "all evils whatever . . . for mere bodily death, as it is called, did not follow the 14 15 18

"

18 19

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XIV, 85-87. XV, 181. XV, 181-83. XV, 183. XV, 193. XV, 203.

22

" T O REPAIR THE RUINES"

sin of Adam on the self-same day". 20 Of the four degrees of death, the second, spiritual death, is the most important for our purposes since it tells us the most about Milton's beliefs concerning the nature of man as he is born into the world. Briefly the other three deaths are these. The first "comprehends ALL THOSE EVILS WHICH . . . CAME INTO THE WORLD

IMMEDIATELY

UPON THE FALL OF MAN." Among these evils Milton lists the feelings of guiltiness with its accompanying terrors of conscience; of a forfeiture of divine protection and favor; and of shame arising from the fact that the "whole man becomes polluted" 22 at the Fall. The third degree of death, according to Milton's mortalist theory, is that of the whole man, both body and spirit. This death, he insists, "originated in sin, and not in nature". 23 The fourth death will occur, Milton says, when the world is destroyed by the final conflagration and all who are not believers are confined to eternal hell. The second degree of death is called spiritual death "by which is meant the loss of divine grace, and that of innate righteousness, wherein man in the beginning lived unto God". 2 4 This death, which took place at the very moment of the Fall, extends to all men. "All have committed sin in Adam; therefore all are born servants of sin." 25 This death affects both man's reason and his will. It "consists, first, in the loss, or at least in the obscuration to a great extent of that right reason which enabled man to discern the chief good, and in which consisted as it were the life of the understanding. . . . It consists, secondly, in that deprivation of righteousness and liberty to do good, and in that slavish subjection to sin and the devil, which constitutes, as it were, the death of the will." 26 This slavish subjection to sin carries its own punishment, since in proportion to the increasing amount of his sins, "the sinner becomes more liable to death, more miserable, more 21

CE., CE., 22 CE., 2» CE., 24 CE., 25 CE., 2« CE., 20

21

XV, XV, XV, XV, XV, XV, XV,

203. 203. 205. 217. 205. 207. 207.

"to repair the ruines"

23

vile, more destitute of the divine assistance and grace, and farther removed from his primitive glory".27 Regeneration is the means of deliverance from this death. Such, then, according to Milton, is the nature of fallen man as he is born into the world. Yet beside this description must be placed some further remarks, for Milton does not allow a condition of total depravity. He writes: It cannot be denied, however, that some remnants of the divine image still exist in us, not wholly extinguished by this spiritual death. This is evident, not only from the wisdom and holiness of many of the heathen, manifested both in words and deeds, but also from what is said in Gen. ix. 2. "the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth." . . . These vestiges of original excellence are visible, first, in the understanding. . . . Nor, again, is the liberty of the will entirely destroyed. First, with regard to things indifferent, whether natural or civil. . . . Secondly, the will is clearly not altogether inefficient in respect of good works, or at any rate of good endeavors; at least after the grace of God has called us: but its power is so small and insignificant, as merely to deprive us of all excuse for inaction, without affording any subject for boasting. 28

The last qualification in the passage above is important. Man, through his remaining small vestige of reason, still can determine in things indifferent, and he has enough free will to act in such cases; but, says Milton, this power is 'small and insignificant'.29 Man may "turn with abhorrence from some of the more atrocious crimes", 30 but the issues of salvation and the complete use of his natural faculties in daily life are other matters. Even when Milton writes regarding man's free will in the matter of good works that "there can be no doubt that for the purpose of vindicating the justice of God, especially in his calling of mankind, it is much better to allow to man (whether as a remnant of his primitive state, or as restored through the operation of the grace whereby he is called) some portion of free will",31 we must not confuse 27 28 29 30 31

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XV, XV, XV, XV, XV,

209. 209-11. 211. 213. 213.

24

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

this liberty with that which Milton saw as true liberty. Milton, of course, in allowing man sufficient free will to accept or reject the call of God, had gone beyond orthodox Calvinism; however, he saw this kind of liberty as only the beginning. A few quotations from William Pyrnne's Anti-Arminianisme may remind us here of the orthodox Calvinist position which Milton modified in earlier chapters of his Christian Doctrine. Pyrnne believed that "God from all eternity, hath by his immutable purpose and Decree, predestinated unto life: not all men; not any indefinite or undetermined, but only a certaine select number of particular men, (commonly called Elect. . .) which number can neither be augmented nor diminished; others hath hee eternally and perpetually reprobated unto death." 32 Man, by the very depravity of his nature, could do nothing to save himself; his election depended solely on the grace and 'good pleasure' 33 of God. Furthermore, Pyrnne denied that there is "any such free will, any such universal or sufficient grace communicated unto all men, whereby they may repent, beleeve, or be saved if they will themselves".34 It was this arbitrary determination of one's spiritual fate which shocked Milton. If God "inclines the will of man to moral good or evil, according to his own pleasure, and then rewards the good, and punishes the wicked, the course of equity seems to be disturbed".35 Thus, to maintain justice in the ways of God to man, Milton interpreted the divine decree called PREDESTINATION after the Arminian fashion. In the fourth chapter of Book I Milton defines that decree as that whereby GOD IN PITY TO MANKIND, THOUGH FORESEEING THAT THEY WOULD FALL OF THEIR OWN ACCORD, PREDESTINATED TO ETERNAL SALVATION BEFORE THE FOUNDATION

OF THE

WORLD

THOSE WHO SHOULD BELIEVE AND CONTINUE IN THE FAITH; FOR A MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY OF HIS MERCY, GRACE, AND WISDOM, ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE IN CHRIST. 36 32

A s quoted 1927), p. 31. 33 Larson, p. 34 Larson, p. 35 CE„ X V , '« CE., X I V ,

from Martin A . Larson, The Modernity 31. 31. 213-15. 91.

of Milton

(Chicago,

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

25

The term PREDESTINATION Milton refers to the election of believers only, not to the reprobation of men; its purpose is the salvation of those believers. God's free offer of grace extends to all men; and although it is not extended in an equal portion to all men, "there are none to whom he does not vouchsafe grace sufficient for their salvation".37 Since belief then is a condition immutably attached to the decree of predestination, there can be no particular election. It seems then that there is no particular predestination or election, but only general - or in other words, that the privilege belongs to all who heartily believe and continue in their belief - that none are predestinated or elected irrespectively; for example, that Peter is not elected as Peter, or John as John, but inasmuch as they are believers, and continue in their belief, and that thus the general decree of election becomes personally applicable to each particular believer, and is ratified to all who remain steadfast in the faith. 3 8

Furthermore, since God's grace is extended to all men, no one falls into reprobation "unless it be after the contempt and rejection of grace, and that at a very late hour".39 As Milton says: Thus much, therefore, may be considered as a certain and irrefragable truth: that G o d excludes no one f r o m the pale of repentance and eternal salvation, till he has despised and rejected the propositions of sufficient grace, offered even to a late hour, for the sake of manifesting the glory of his longsuffering and justice. So far f r o m God having anywhere declared in direct and precise terms that reprobation is the effect of his arbitrary will, the reasons which influence him in cases of this kind, are frequently stated: namely, the grievous sins of the reprobate previously committed, or foreseen before actual commission; want of repentance; contempt of grace; deafness to the repeated calls of God. For reprobation must not be attributed, like the election of grace, to the divine will alone. 40

To the orthodox Calvinist, these arguments would have seemed to detract from the glory of God, by making God dependent upon a sinful creature. Milton has answers for such criticism: I maintain . . . that, so far f r o m the doctrine of grace being impugned, it is thus placed in a much clearer light than by the theory of those 37 38 40

CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XIV, XIV, XIV, XIV,

149. 107. 157. 153.

26

" t o repair the ruines"

who make the objection. F o r the grace of God is seen to be infinite, in the first place, by his showing any pity at all for man whose fall was to happen through his own fault. Secondly, by his 'so loving the world, that he gave his only begotten Son' for its salvation. Thirdly, by his granting us again the power of volition, that is, of acting freely, in consequence of recovering the liberty of the will by the renewing of the Spirit. . . . Admitting, however, that the condition whereon the decree depends (that is to say, the will enfranchised by God himself, and that faith which is required of mankind) is left in the power of free agents, there is nothing in the doctrine either derogatory to grace, or inconsistent with justice; since the power of willing and believing is either the gift of God, or, so far as it is inherent in man, partakes not of the nature of merit or good works, but only of a natural faculty. Nor does this reasoning represent God as depending upon the human will, but as fulfilling his own pleasure, whereby he has chosen that man should always use his own will with a regard to the love and worship of the Deity, and consequently with a regard to his own salvation. 41

The effect of Milton's whole argument on predestination is liberation. In his interpretation he has taken into account the nature of fallen man who, although not deprived of all his primitive glory, stands in need of God's free grace for his salvation. Yet if man were returned to a state of grace only by God's arbitrary will, and not by reason of his own willing belief, then, Milton argues, he is "not renewed, but compelled to embrace salvation in an unregenerate state".42 Some free will must be granted to man, "whether as a remnant of his primitive state, or as restored through the operation of the grace whereby he is called",43 if he is to achieve this willing belief. The way is long, however, between this portion of free will in unregenerate man and the faith of regenerate man. That long process constitutes man's restoration and it results in real liberty. This restoration, "the act whereby man, being delivered from sin and death by God the Father through Jesus Christ, is raised to a far more excellent state of grace and glory than that from which he had fallen",44 is comprised of the redemption and renovation of man. 41 42 43 44

CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XIV, 139. XV, 373. XV, 213. XV, 251.

" T O REPAIR THE RUINES"

27

Milton defines redemption as "that act whereby CHRIST, BEING SENT IN THE FULNESS OF TIME, REDEEMED ALL BELIEVERS AT THE PRICE OF HIS OWN BLOOD, BY HIS OWN VOLUNTARY ACT, CONFORMABLY TO THE ETERNAL COUNSEL AND GRACE OF GOD THE FATHER". 4 5

Although Christ, the only Redeemer, did not come into the world until his appointed time, there was " a promise made to all mankind, and an expectation of the Redeemer, more or less distinct, even from the time of the fall". 46 Indeed, this promise was made even before man in the proper spirit of repentance had confessed his guilt and before God had passed sentence on man. That God "anticipated the condemnation of mankind by a gratuitous redemption", 47 Milton feels, is evidence of his abounding grace. For his glory God desires the salvation, not the damnation, of mankind. After this initial definition Milton devotes the remainder of his three chapters on redemption to an explanation of the Redeemer's nature and office. Christ's nature is twofold: both human and divine. In his divine nature Christ is the first begotten of all creation and the Logos "by whom afterwards all other things were made both in heaven and earth". 48 At his generation "God imparted to the Son as much as he pleased of the divine nature, nay of the divine substance itself, care being taken not to confound the substance with the whole essence". 49 At the Incarnation Christ took "upon him the human nature, and was made flesh, without thereby ceasing to be numerically the same as before". 50 The exact mode of this union in which "the divine and human nature have coalesced in one person" is, Milton says, "the greatest mystery of our religion". 51 Choosing to remain wisely ignorant, Milton says, "How much better is it for us to know merely that the Son of God, our Mediator, was made flesh, that he is called 45 48 47 48 49 50 51

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XV, XV, XV,

253. 257. 253. X I V , 181. X I V , 193. XV, 263. X V , 263.

28

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

both God and Man, and is such in reality." 52 This union of two natures does not "prevent the respective properties of each from remaining individually distinct",53 and Scripture, Milton says, "frequently distinguishes what is peculiar to his human nature".54 In this role of God-man, Christ performs his mediatorial office, "whereby AT THE SPECIAL APPOINTMENT OF GOD THE FATHER, HE VOLUNTARILY PERFORMED, AND CONTINUES TO PERFORM, ON BEHALF OF MAN,

WHATEVER

IS REQUISITE FOR

OB-

TAINING RECONCILIATION WITH GOD, AND ETERNAL SALVATION". 55

The three-fold functions are those of prophet, priest, and king. All of these functions Christ will continue to perform as long as there is need for his mediation. As prophet, Christ instructs his church in heavenly truth and declares the whole will of his Father. This function he fulfills either by his preaching or by his illumination of the individual understanding in the reading of the Scriptures. In his sacerdotal capacity Christ "ONCE OFFERED HIMSELF TO GOD THE FATHER AS A SACRIFICE FOR SINNERS, AND HAS ALWAYS MADE, AND STILL CONTINUES TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR

us". 66 This intercession Christ makes for man both by appearing in the presence of God for him and by rendering his prayers acceptable to God. In the voluntary sacrifice of his own life, Christ offered himself in both his natures but "more particularly in his human nature".57 In his kingly function Christ "GOVERNS AND PRESERVES, CHIEFLY BY INWARD LAW AND SPIRITUAL POWER, THE CHURCH WHICH HE HAS PURCHASED FOR HIMSELF, AND CON-

This doctrine of Christ's government by 'inward law and spiritual power' is extremely important for Milton. If Christ abrogated the old law and replaced it with an inner law, and if Christ himself governed his church by spiritual means, then "the weapons of those who fight QUERS AND SUBDUES ITS ENEMIES".

52 53 54

55 5« 5' 58

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XV, XV, XV, XV, XV, XV, XV,

273. 271. 279. 285. 291. 293. 297.

58

29

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES" 59

under Christ as their King are exclusively spiritual". External force becomes an improper means in the administration of the earthly church. The whole of the office of mediator Christ discharged by his humiliation and by his exaltation. His humiliation is the state in which he, as God-man, submitted himself voluntarily to the divine justice in life and in death, and in which he endured all things necessary for man's redemption. During his life on earth Christ's humiliation included such events as his circumcision, his flight into Egypt, his manual labor, his temptation in the wilderness, his poverty, and the persecutions, insults, and dangers which he underwent. At the end of his earthly life, his death "was ignominious in the highest degree".60 At that time the curse against man "was transferred to him . . . accompanied with a dreadful consciousness of the pouring out of the divine wrath upon his head". 61 All of Christ died, both body and spirit; and he died in the whole of his nature, divine as well as human. This humiliation was succeeded by his exaltation. Having triumphed over death and laid aside the form of a servant, Christ was exalted partly by his own merits and partly by the gift of the Father to a state of immortality and highest glory. This exaltation, in which both the divine and human natures participated, was of three steps: his resurrection, his ascension into heaven, and his sitting on the right hand of God. The whole ministry of mediation resulted in two effects: first, in the "satisfaction of divine justice on behalf of all men",62 and second, in "the conformation of the faithful to the image of Christ".63 The first effect is the "COMPLETE REPARATION MADE BY HIM IN HIS TWOFOLD CAPACITY OF GOD AND MAN, BY THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW, AND PAYMENT OF THE REQUIRED PRICE

FOR ALL MANKIND".64 The law referred to is the old law or the

Mosaic law, one which men could not fulfill by themselves and 59

"» 81 62 63 64

CE„ X V , 299. CE„ X V , 305. CE„ X V , 305-07. CE„ X V , 315. CE„ X V , 315. CE„ X V , 315-17.

30

" t o repair t h e ruines"

which was intended only to show them their need for the Redeemer. This law "Christ fulfilled . . . by perfect love to God and his neighbor, until the time when he laid down his life for his brethren, being made obedient unto his Father in all things".65 Later at his crucifixion Christ died for all men, not just a portion of mankind. Commenting on Matthew 28:11, "the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost", Milton argues that "Now all were lost; he therefore came to save all, the reprobate as well as those who are called elect." 66 Furthermore, the gracious call which God extends to all men for their salvation could not be made had Christ's effectual satisfaction applied only to some men. Milton knows that some will not accept the call and hence will fall into a justified reprobation, but "this does not prove that an effectual satisfaction has not been made, but that the offer has not been accepted".87 If the first effect of Christ's mediation or his satisfaction of divine justice extends to all men, the second effect is more limiting. The conformation of man to the image of Christ Milton restricts to the faithful, that is, to those who accept the call and continue in their faith. This conformation is to both Christ's state of humiliation and that of his exaltation. In fact, "as regards . . . our conformity to his humiliation, the restoration of man is of merit; in which sense those texts are to be understood which convey a notion of recompense and reward".68 Milton, however, is not supporting a doctrine of human merits. As he explains: "our conformity to the image of Christ is as far from adding anything to the full and perfect satisfaction made by him, as our works are from adding to faith: it is faith that justifies, but a faith not destitute of works: and in like manner, if we deserve anything, if there be any worthiness in us on any ground whatever, it is God that hath made us worthy in Christ." 69 Works cannot save man, but since his faith carries with it the obligation of works, the faithful must strive for the kind of works exempli"

66 67 68 69

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XV, XV, XV, XV, XV,

317. 323-25. 325. 337. 337-39.

" T O REPAIR THE

31

RUINES"

fied by the life of Christ. On the other hand, "so far as regards the election of Christ to the office of Mediator by God the Father, and our own election to life by the same Father, the restoration of man is purely of grace". 70 Actually these last two quotations summarize most of the Miltonic scheme for salvation as it has been presented thus far. Ultimately election depends on God's grace, but since Christ has made effectual satisfaction for man, God can issue a call which lies in man's power to be accepted or rejected. T o accept the call and then to continue in the faith brings salvation. This responsibility on the part of man is outlined in the second part of man's restoration, his renovation. Milton defines renovation as "that change whereby HE WHO W A S BEFORE UNDER THE CURSE, A N D OBNOXIOUS TO THE

DIVINE

is BROUGHT INTO A STATE OF GRACE". 71 Milton considers, first, the mode of this change and, then, the manifestation of renovation in the Covenant of Grace. The mode by which man is renewed is either natural or supernatural. The natural mode of renovation influences the natural affections alone, and includes the calling of natural man and the consequent change in his character. WRATH,

THE CALLING OF MAN

is that natural mode of renovation whereby

GOD

THE FATHER, ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE IN CHRIST, INVITES FALLEN MAN TO A KNOWLEDGE OF THE WAY IN WHICH HE IS TO BE PROPITIATED AND WORSHIPPED; INSOMUCH THAT BELIEVERS, THROUGH HIS GRATUITOUS KINDNESS, ARE CALLED TO SALVATION, AND S U C H A S R E F U S E T O BELIEVE ARE LEFT WITHOUT EXCUSE. 72

This calling may be either general or special. In his general call, God invites all men to a knowledge of himself; and although God makes this call in various ways, all of them are sufficient for the individuals concerned. God has even extended this call to those who have not heard the name of Christ, so that those who had faith in God even before Gospel times shared in the perfect sacrifice of Christ. In his special call God invites particular individuals to proceed in the way of salvation. This call God makes at the 7° 71 72

CE., XV, 339. CE., XV, 343. CE., XV, 345.

32

" t o repair t h e ruines"

time of his own choice, and he extends it particularly to the reprobate. The change which takes place in man as the result of these calls is a partial renewal by a divine impulse of the reason and will of man. By this partial renewal men "are led to seek the knowledge of God, and for the time, at least, undergo an alteration for the better". 73 They have now, for example, the power to will what is good, a "power.. . which, since our fall, we were incapable, except by means of a calling and renewal".74 Metaphorically, man's answer to God's call is known as a hearing or barkening, or sometimes a tasting. Two effects - repentance and a corresponding faith - result from this change in the character of man, both of them only temporary and neither efficacious in the assurance of salvation. This repentance, although it may be the beginning of conversion, is what Milton calls a secondary species since it is one in which "man abstains from sin through fear of punishment, and obeys the call of God merely for the sake of his own salvation".75 The faith corresponding to this repentance is an assent, yielded to the call of God and accompanied by a trust which is also natural and often vain. Milton enumerates three kinds of secondary faith. Historical faith is "an assent to the truth of the scripture history, and to sound doctrine",76 and although necessary to salvation such assent is not in itself saving faith. Temporary faith "is that which assents to hearing, and exercises a certain degree of trust in God, but generally of that kind only which is termed natural".77 Even a regenerate or saving faith may prove temporary, however, "owing to the remains of human frailty still inherent in us".78 The third kind of secondary faith is faith in miracles, "that whereby any one is endued with the power of working miracles in the name of God, or whereby he believes that another is endued with this power".79 73 74 75 70 77

CE., XV, CE., XV, CE., XV, CE., XV, CE., XV, ™ CE., XV, 79 CE., XV,

355. 357. 359. 361. 363. 363. 363.

" t o

repair

the

33

ruines"

This natural mode of renovation is, of course, important to Milton. Principally it means that, because of God's grace and Christ's sacrifice, man is given sufficient free will to accept the call. Yet Milton knew, from Matthew 22 : 14 as well as from personal experience, that "many are called, but few are chosen". Neither the call nor the consequent change in man's character ensures man of his salvation. For this there is supernatural renovation. The intent of this supernatural renovation is "not only to restore man more completely than before to the use of his natural faculties, as regards his power to form right judgment, and to exercise free will; but to create afresh, as it were, the inward man, and infuse from above new and supernatural faculties into the minds of the renovated".80 This supernatural renovation is also called regeneration, and "the regenerate are said to be p l a n t e d IN

CHRIST".81

What is important for us to notice about the foregoing definition is that it combines a renewal of man's natural faculties with his re-creation as a spiritual creature. As I have pointed out earlier, Milton did not dichotomize the claims of this world and the next, nor did he accept the common distinction between the body and the soul. This same tendency towards unification exists in his doctrine of regeneration. In a very real sense, the regeneration or sanctification which creates man anew in the image of God includes within it a restoration of man's natural perfection from which he had fallen. Here is Milton's definition of regeneration: REGENERATION

IS THAT CHANGE

OPERATED BY T H E

WORD

AND

THE

SPIRIT, W H E R E B Y T H E OLD MAN BEING DESTROYED, T H E I N W A R D MAN IS REGENERATED BY G O D AFTER HIS O W N IMAGE, I N ALL T H E FACULTIES O F HIS M I N D , INSOMUCH THAT H E BECOMES AS IT W E R E A N E W CREAT U R E , AND T H E W H O L E MAN IS SANCTIFIED BOTH IN BODY AND SOUL, FOR T H E SERVICE O F GOD, AND THE PERFORMANCE O F GOOD W O R K S . 8 2

Both the understanding and the will are affected in this process, and "this renewal of the will can mean nothing but a restoration 80 81 82

CE., XV, 367. CE., XV, 367. CE., XV, 367.

34

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

to its former liberty".83 If at the time of the Fall man suffered a spiritual death which affected his natural faculties, this process of regeneration was designed as a corrective. Milton writes: "For the new spiritual life and its increase bear the same relation to the restoration of man, which spiritual death and its progress . . . bear to the fall. . . . And as the power of exercising these functions was weakened and in a manner destroyed by the spiritual death, so is the understanding restored in great part to its primitive clearness, and the will to its primitive liberty, by the new spiritual life in Christ." 84 This restoration, especially of the will, is important if man is to achieve salvation. "If the choice were given us", Milton says, "we could ask nothing more of God, than that, being delivered from the slavery of sin, and restored to the divine image, we might have it in our power to obtain salvation if willing. Willing we shall undoubtedly be, if truly free; and he who is not willing, has no one to accuse but himself. But if the will of the regenerate be not made free, then we are not renewed, but compelled to embrace salvation in an unregenerate state." 85 Regeneration, however, does not mean that man becomes perfect and that he has complete knowledge of spiritual truths. Nor does the process of regeneration occur once only; it happens whenever man turns from sin to God as the highest good. Yet this change in man does allow him, through his own choice, to know and to follow all that is necessary for his salvation. In short, man's spiritual fate is closely tied to his natural faculties since it is through his proper use of his understanding and his will that he can serve God and perform good works. The effects of regeneration are of a higher species of those belonging to natural renovation. The first effect is no mere transient sorrow for past sin based only on either a fear of punishment or a concern for salvation, but is "THE GIFT OF GOD, WHEREBY THE REGENERATE MAN PERCEIVING WITH SORROW THAT HE HAS OFFENDED GOD BY SIN, DETESTS AND AVOIDS IT, HUMBLY TURNING 83 84 85

TO

GOD

CE., XV, 371. CE., XVI, 5. CE., XV, 371-73.

THROUGH

A

SENSE

OF

THE

DIVINE

MERCY,

" T O REPAIR THE

35

RUINES"

This true repentance, which always precedes the second effect, faith, is of two kinds: "either general, which is also called conversion, when a man is converted from a state of sin to a state of grace; or particular, when one who is already converted repents of some individual sin".87 Even in regenerate men, repentance is a continued process because of 'their sense of in-dwelling sin'.88 Five progressive steps may be distinguished in this repentance; they are "conviction of sin, contrition, confession, departure from evil, [and] conversion to good".89 The confession of sin is made sometimes to God alone, to men either in private or public, or to both men and God. Chastisement is often the cause of repentance. God, however, "assigns a limit to chastisement, lest we should be overwhelmed, and supplies strength for our support even under those afflictions which, as is sometimes the case, appear to us too heavy to be borne. . . . He even seems to repent of what he had done, and through his abounding mercy, as though he had in his wrath inflicted double punishment for our transgressions, compensates for our affliction with a double measure of consolation." 90 How strongly Milton in his own regeneration felt this effect of repentance is impossible to tell; that he recognized its strength and place in the total scheme of salvation seems undeniable, as I hope to show in the discussions of Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes. The second, and more important, effect of regeneration is saving faith. As to the commonly accepted division of faith into knowledge of the word, assent, and persuasion or trust, Milton says, "the two former equally belong to temporary, and even to historical faith, and both are comprehended in, or, more properly, precede a full persuasion".91 His own definition of saving faith is: AND

HEARTILY

A FULL

STRIVING

PERSUASION

TO

FOLLOW

RIGHTEOUSNESS".88

OPERATED IN US THROUGH THE GIFT

OF

GOD,

WHEREBY WE BELIEVE, ON THE SOLE AUTHORITY OF THE PROMISE IT86 87 88 8 » 80

CE„ XV, CE„ XV, CE„ XV, CE„ XV, CE„ XV, » CE., XV,

379. 385. 387. 385. 389. 399.

36

" T O REPAIR THE R U I N E S "

SELF, THAT WHATSOEVER

THINGS HE HAS PROMISED IN

CHRIST

ARE

OURS, AND ESPECIALLY THE GRACE OF ETERNAL L I F E . 9 2

Faith, for Milton, is not a blind assent. Those who believe only on the basis of church authority or without an adequate understanding of the objects of their hope cannot possibly have a genuine faith. The exceptions are novices "whose faith must necessarily be for a time implicit, inasmuch as they believe even before they have entered upon a course of instruction",93 and those people "who are slow of understanding and inapt to learn, but who nevertheless, believe according to the measure of their knowledge, and striving to live by faith, are acceptable to God".94 Genuine faith comes, Milton says, " T H R O U G H THE GIFT OF GOD",95 whereby he sent the Holy Spirit into the heart of the regenerate for the establishment of a full persuasion. The seat of this faith is in the will of man. Milton says that "the source from which faith originally springs, and whence it proceeds onward in its progress to good, is a genuine, though possibly in the first instance imperfect, knowledge of God; so that, properly speaking, the seat of faith is not in the understanding, but in the will".96 Since the ultimate object of this faith is not Christ the Mediator but God the Father, Milton believes that "both Jews and others, who lived before Christ, and many also who have lived since his time, but to whom he has never been revealed, should be saved by faith in God alone".97 The merits of Christ have been imputed to all believers in God the Father, and those things promised in Christ are available to them. These promises include not only the final and greatest privilege of eternal life but also aid in man's temporal life; for, as we have seen, man's conformity to the image of Christ is in his state of humiliation as well as in his state of exaltation. With regeneration and its effects comes ingrafting in Christ. "Believers are said TO BE I N G R A F T E D I N CHRIST, when they are 82 93 94 93 99

"

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XV, XV, XV, XV, XV, XV,

393. 397. 397. 393. 407. 403-05.

" T O REPAIR THE RUINES"

37

planted in Christ by God the Father, that is, are made partakers of Christ, and meet for becoming one with him." 98 Combined with regeneration, this ingrafting has two results: newness of life or self-denial, and increase. "The primary functions of the new life are comprehension of spiritual things, and love of holiness. And as the power of exercising these functions was weakened and in a manner destroyed by the spiritual death, so is the understanding restored in great part to its primitive clearness, and the will to its primitive liberty, by the new spiritual life in Christ." 99 Although in his earthly life the regenerate man cannot come to a perfect comprehension of spiritual things, he can, by God's gracious removal of his natural ignorance and the enlightenment of his understanding, learn all that is necessary for his eternal salvation and his earthly happiness. The love of holiness which comes from the new life is not merely a brotherly love or an ordinary affection for God "but one resulting from a consciousness and lively sense of the love wherewith he has loved us".100 In other words, it is man's recognition of and affection for God's grace in the restoration of man; and in consequence of this love, believers are called saints. This love causes the saints to "BECOME DEAD TO SIN, AND ALIVE AGAIN UNTO GOD, AND BRING

FORTH

For the performance of these good works, man must make proper use of his restored understanding and will. Like his comprehension of spiritual things, man's holiness can never be perfect in this life. The increase which operates in the regenerate is either absolute or relative. "Absolute increase is an increase DERIVED FROM GOD THE FATHER of those gifts which we have received by regeneration and ingrafting in Christ." 102 Among these gifts are man's restored natural faculties as well as his ability to comprehend all spiritual things necessary for his salvation. Thus, although this spiritual increase is assured by God, it, unlike physical growth, "appears to be to a certain degree in the power of the regenerate GOOD WORKS SPONTANEOUSLY AND F R E E L Y " . 1 0 1

CE., XVI, 3. »» CE., XVI, 5. 100 CE., XVI, 11. 101 CE., XVI, 9. 08

102

CE., XVI, 15-17.

38

"to repair

the

ruines"

108

themselves". Man, for example, must exercise his restored reason to discern good from evil. Hence, it is proper, Milton says, to speak of "the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit in the regenerate",104 or "against the world and Satan".105 Perfection in this life is impossible for man; nonetheless, his duty is to strive after it as "the ultimate object of [his] existence".106 Reward is assured for the faithful in this struggle. Milton says that "such as are strenuous in this conflict, and earnestly and unceasingly labor to attain perfection in Christ, though they be really imperfect, are yet, by imputation and through the divine mercy, frequently called in Scripture 'perfect', and 'blameless', and 'without sin'; inasmuch as sin, though still dwelling in them, does not reign over them".107 Here is Milton's statement on the drama of the soul. It keeps, as Milton knew he must, an emphasis on God's mercy, yet at the same time it saves for man a certain responsibility in his salvation. The promises made by God in Christ are in themselves assured and absolute. However, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ involves man in active conflict with the various forces of evil - the flesh, the world, and the devil. Man cannot be perfect in this conflict, but his regeneration has prepared him so that he may wage the warfare to the best of his ability. In his mercy, God accepts such efforts. Relative or external increase refers either to the Father exclusively or to the Father and Son conjointly. That belonging to the Father alone is called justification and adoption; that belonging to both Father and Son consists in man's fellowship and union with the Father through the Son and in his glorification after the image of Christ. Justification, Milton believes, is by faith alone. JUSTIFICATION IS THE GRATUITOUS PURPOSE OF GOD, WHEREBY THOSE WHO ARE REGENERATE AND INGRAFTED IN CHRIST ARE ABSOLVED FROM SIN AND DEATH THROUGH HIS MOST PERFECT SATISFACTION, AND AC103 104 105 106 107

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XVI, XVI, XVI, XVI, XVI,

17. 19. 19. 19. 23.

" t o

repair

the

ruines"

39

C O U N T E D JUST IN T H E SIGHT O F GOD, N O T BY T H E W O R K S O F T H E L A W , BUT T H R O U G H F A I T H . 1 0 8

Through the satisfaction of Christ, man's sins have been imputed to Christ; and, in return, Christ's merits and righteousness have been imputed to man through faith. This justification so far as man is concerned is gratuitous, since "paying nothing on his part, but merely believing, [he] receives as a gift the imputed righteousness of Christ".109 We must remember here that Milton's definition of faith is not that of mere passive assent; it begins, it is true, with the aid of the Holy Spirit in an assent of the will, but it develops through man's clearer understanding of the promises made by God. As Milton says, "faith is an action, or rather a frame of mind acquired and confirmed by a succession of actions, although in the first instance infused from above".110 Hence Milton argues that although man is justified by faith alone, this faith has "its own works",111 and without works is a dead, not living, faith. As Milton explains: "we are justified by faith without the works of the law, but not without the works of faith; inasmuch as a living and true faith cannot consist without works, though these latter may differ from the works of the written law".112 His interpretation, Milton claims, does not support any doctrine of human merit, "inasmuch as both faith itself and its works are the works of the Spirit, not our own".113 This Spirit had entered man at the time of his regeneration as a gift from God, and without this Spirit the natural man could produce no works to effect his own salvation. Neither, Milton says, does his interpretation derogate from Christ's satisfaction, "inasmuch as, our faith being imperfect, the works which proceed from it cannot be pleasing to God, except in so far as they rest upon his mercy and the righteousness of Christ, and are sustained by that foundation alone." 114 Thus, in his interpretation of justification by faith, '»8 CE., CE., 110 CE., 111 CE., 112 CE., 113 CE., 114 CE., 109

XVI, XVI, XVI, XVI, XVI, XVI, XVI,

25. 29. 35. 39. 39. 41. 43.

40

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

as we have seen elsewhere, Milton has kept the necessary emphasis on God's mercy and Christ's imputed righteousness, but in his very definition of faith he has left room for necessary action on the part of man. Adoption of the regenerate follows his justification, "ADOPTION is that act whereby GOD ADOPTS AS HIS CHILDREN THOSE WHO 115 ARE JUSTIFIED THROUGH FAITH." All men are by the nature 116 of their creation 'sons of God', but adoption refers only to those who have become "sons of God by a new generation; by the assumption, as it were, of a new nature".117 Such a new nature is the result only of regeneration. One of the principal privileges derived from this adoption is Christian liberty. Milton postpones an explanation of this liberty until his discussion of the manifestations of the Covenant of Grace in the New Testament; however, for our purposes, it can be included better here before the two final features of relative increase. The promise of man's regeneration and, at his adoption, the privilege of Christian liberty trace ultimately to God's assertion of Genesis 3 : 1 5 , "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This promise, known as the Covenant of Grace, was exhibited first in the law of Moses and then, more perfectly, in the Gospel. THE MOSAIC LAW WAS A WRITTEN CODE CONSISTING OF MANY PRECEPTS, INTENDED FOR THE ISRAELITES ALONE, WITH A PROMISE OF LIFE TO SUCH AS SHOULD KEEP THEM, AND A CURSE ON SUCH AS SHOULD BE DISOBEDIENT; TO THE END THAT THEY, BEING LED THEREBY TO AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE DEPRAVITY OF MANKIND, AND CONSEQUENTLY OF THEIR OWN, MIGHT HAVE RECOURSE TO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE PROMISED SAVIOR; AND THAT THEY, AND IN PROCESS OF TIME ALL OTHER NATIONS, MIGHT BE LED UNDER THE GOSPEL FROM THE WEAK AND SERVILE RUDIMENTS OF THIS ELEMENTARY INSTITUTION TO THE FULL STRENGTH OF THE NEW CREATURE, AND A MANLY LIBERTY WORTHY THE SONS OF GOD. 1 1 8 115 118 117

118

CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XVI, XVI, XVI, XVI,

51. 51. 55. 103-05.

" t o

repair

the

ruines"

41

This old law, then, was one of bondage and constraint; it was imposed by Moses on an unwilling people who could not fulfill its requirements. It was enacted principally "that it might call forth and develop our natural depravity; that by this means it might work wrath; that it might impress us with a slavish fear through consciousness of divine enmity, and of the handwriting of accusation that was against us; that it might be a schoolmaster to bring us to the righteousness of Christ".119 The new law or Gospel, on the other hand, is perfect; it justifies by faith, not works; it has willing followers; and mankind can fulfill its terms. T H E GOSPEL IS T H E N E W DISPENSATION O F T H E COVENANT O F GRACE, FAR M O R E EXCELLENT A N D P E R F E C T THAN T H E L A W , A N N O U N C E D FIRST OBSCURELY BY MOSES A N D T H E PROPHETS, AFTERWARDS IN T H E CLEAREST TERMS BY CHRIST H I M S E L F , AND HIS APOSTLES A N D EVANGELISTS, W R I T T E N SINCE BY T H E HOLY SPIRIT IN T H E HEARTS O F BELIEVERS, AND ORDAINED TO C O N T I N U E E V E N TO T H E E N D O F T H E W O R L D , CONTAINING A PROMISE O F ETERNAL L I F E TO ALL I N EVERY NATION W H O

SHALL

BELIEVE I N CHRIST W H E N REVEALED TO T H E M , AND A THREAT O F ETERNAL DEATH TO SUCH AS SHALL N O T B E L I E V E . 1 2 0

This new law means mainly the substitution of an inward law engraved on the heart for an external written code. Milton even argues against the orthodox position that the moral code of the decalogue remains in force as an external check on Christians. This part, Milton holds, along with the judicial and ceremonial codes, has been abrogated by Christ. Yet this abrogation of all external law in favor of a spiritual law of conscience does not mean that the end for which the Mosaic law had been instituted is abolished. That end - the love of God and our neighbor - "is by no means to be considered as 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 with this difference, that in certain precepts the Spirit appears to be at variance with the letter, namely, wherever by departing from the

120

CE„ XVI, 131. CE„ XVI, 113.

42

" T O REPAIR THE RUINES"

letter we can more effectually consult the love of God and our neighbor".121 The result of this total abrogation of the old law is Christian liberty. Milton defines this liberty as that whereby

WE ARE 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 2 2

Regenerate man is freed, then, from any external restraint, either human or divine. Yet such freedom does not mean license, nor does freedom from the old law mean that man no longer has to serve God. The old law was but a written formulation of the eternal law of God; but this eternal law of God was also unwritten and was "no other than that law of nature given originally to Adam, and of which a certain remnant, or imperfect illumination, still dwells in the hearts of all mankind; which, in the regenerate, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is daily tending towards a renewal of its primitive brightness".123 It is this law of nature which regenerate man is now free to follow, a law not, as we would say today, of the natural order, but an inner law of conscience, rational and ethical in character. Because regenerate man will freely serve under this unwritten law, without a test of his obedience such as was imposed on Adam, he is said to be in "a far more excellent state of grace and glory than that from which he had fallen".124 This obedience to an inner law is the extreme position of Christian individualism. The result which Milton intends, however, is not lawlessness and unbridled individual action. He has already said that perfection should be the ultimate object of man's existence and with Christ's Incarnation and his exemplary life and with Christian liberty "so far from a less degree of perfection 121 122 123 124

CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XVI, 143. XVI, 153-55. XVI, 101. XV, 251.

" t o repair t h e ruines"

43

being exacted from Christians, it is expected of them that they should be more perfect than those who were under the law".125 Furthermore, this near perfection covers the whole life of man, just as regeneration has restored the whole man. This concept of Christian liberty Milton extends to both the personal and public life of man and to matters both civil and religious. Naturally enough in the Christian Doctrine Milton's application of his interpretation is mainly confined to religious matters, but implications exist as to how he would apply it to other areas and we need to examine these briefly. Throughout the Christian Doctrine Milton insists that he is following Scripture as the foundation for his beliefs. Yet, he also believes that under "the Gospel we possess, as it were, a twofold Scripture; one external, which is the written word, and the other internal, which is the Holy Spirit, written in the hearts of believers, according to the promise of God, and with the intent that it should by no means be neglected".126 This internal Scripture, Milton says, is the more perfect and should serve as the final arbiter in matters of dispute regarding Scriptural interpretation. The very way in which the Gospel had been written after the time of Christ and the differing versions of it proved to Milton that God himself intended the Scripture of the heart to be the more important. Thus what authority, Milton asks, has the church or the magistrate to dictate in a matter of conscience when "on the authority of Scripture itself, every thing is to be finally referred to the Spirit and the unwritten word".127 Moreover, Milton believes, "when an acquiescence in human opinions or an obedience to human authority in matters of religion is exacted, in the name either of the church or of the Christian magistrate, from those who are themselves led individually by the Spirit of God, this is in effect to impose a yoke, not on man, but on the Holy Spirit itself." 128 Since the Scriptures, partly by reason of their own simplicity, and partly through the divine illumination of man, are 125 128 127 128

CE., XVI, CE., XVI, CE., XVI, CE., XVI,

151. 273. 281. 281.

44

"to repair the ruines"

plain in all things necessary for salvation, even the most unlearned may instruct themselves through their own diligent and constant reading. Where there is a difference of interpretation among professed believers, it is "their duty to tolerate such difference in each other, until God shall have revealed the truth to a ll" 12» Here, then, is Milton's use of Christian liberty in his plea for toleration among the sects. Milton's doctrine of Christian liberty also extends to his ideas on the structure of individual churches. These are independent congregations composed of willing believers who have the right to select their own ministers. These congregations are part of both a universal visible church which consists of all the multitude of the world, collective or individual, who have been called and openly worship God; and of the greater invisible church of which Christ is the mystical head. Christ, not any human being, is the only head of the church, and the ministers of the particular churches are called not to exercise any absolute control but to teach according to the mutual agreement of the congregation. From the civil authority, the particular church should expect protection not control; for, "if even the ecclesiastical minister is not entitled to exercise absolute authority over the church, much less can the civil magistrate claim such authority".130 It is the duty of the individual believer to join one of these independent congregations if possible, "yet such as cannot do this conveniently, or with full satisfaction of conscience, are not to be considered as excluded from the blessing bestowed by God on the churches".131 Regarding purely civil matters, the Christian Doctrine has naturally little to say. Recent critical studies have shown us, however, how important Milton's doctrine of Christian liberty was to him in his political thinking.132 All men possessed some liberty; they must, according to Milton, if they were to accept or 129

CE., XVI, 267. CE., XVII, 397. 131 CE., XVI, 235. 132 See especially William Haller, The Rise of Puritanism (New York, 1938); Arthur Barker, Milton and the Puritan Dilemma (Toronto, 1942); D. M. Wolfe, Milton in the Puritan Revolution (New York, 1941); and A. S. P. Woodhouse, Puritanism and Liberty (London, 1948). 130

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

45

reject God's call of their own will and if religion were to be willing service, not bondage, under God. Still, all men were not equal; "one thing appears certain, that though all men be dead in sin and children of wrath, yet some are worse than others; and this difference m a y . . . be perceived daily in the nature, disposition, and habits of those who are most alienated from the grace of God".133 Milton, therefore, at least on the eve of the Restoration when he wrote The Readie and Easie Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, advocated a civil government by the few for the benefit of the many. The few were those regenerate men who knew true liberty; and only by allowing these men to rule could the Christian liberty of all regenerate men be protected. "This liberty of conscience which above all other things ought to be to all men dearest and most precious, no government more inclinable not to favor only but to protect, then a free Commonwealth." 134 Since the 'inconsiderate multitude' 135 seemed only too willing to subject themselves to tyranny, "to be for ever slaves",136 Milton thought it necessary to subject them to a rule under which if they were free to go their own slavish ways at least the regenerate were free to live in willing service to God. Moreover, under this oligarchy the unregenerate might come in time, through instruction and the example of the regenerate, to recognize their own inner slavery and turn to a path of virtue. Exactly what virtues he believed the regenerate man would have, both in his private and public life, Milton has made explicit. Book Two of the Christian Doctrine is a lengthy discussion of the worship or love of God. This love "consists chiefly in the exercise of good works".137 What is of immediate concern here is not so much an enumeration of the various virtues but the way in which Christian liberty operates in the performance of these works. Milton defines good works as "THOSE WHICH WE PERFORM BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD WORKING IN US THROUGH TRUE FAITH, TO 133

134 135 138 137

CE., XIV, 129-31.

CE., VI, 142. CE., VI, 134. CE., VI, 123.

CE., XVII, 3.

46

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

THE GLORY OF GOD, THE ASSURED HOPE OF OUR OWN SALVATION,

and the purpose of Christian liberty was, let us recall, to free man so that he might AND THE EDIFICATION OF OUR NEIGHBOR", 138

"SERVE GOD IN LOVE THROUGH THE GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRIT OF

TRUTH".189 It is, therefore, in accordance with faith, not the decalogue that man performs his works. Milton argues that "it is faith that justifies, not agreement with the decalogue; and that which justifies can alone render any work good; none therefore of our works can be good, but by faith; hence faith is the essential form of good works, the definition of form being, that by which a thing is what it is." 140 And again: Since therefore under the gospel, although a man should observe the whole Mosaic law with the utmost punctuality, it would profit him nothing without faith, it is evident that good works must be defined to be of faith, not of the decalogue; whence it follows that conformity, not with the written, but with the unwritten law, that is, with the law of the Spirit given by the Father to lead us into all truth, is to be accounted the true essential form of good works. For the works of believers are the works of the Spirit itself; and though such can never be in contradiction to the love of God and our neighbor, which is the sum of the law, they may occasionally deviate from the letter even of the gospel precepts. 141

The point to be noticed from these quotations is this: the use of force, which Milton criticized in matters of church and state, he has again objected to in these matters of morality. If a good man is known by his works, then he must be free to perform them in a willing spirit, and this freedom the regenerate man has gained through the privilege of Christian liberty. The list of good habits or virtues in Book Two is long and impressive. Milton names first the general virtues which belong to the whole duty of man; these are first of the will: sincerity, promptitude, and constancy; and then of the understanding: wisdom and prudence. The special virtues are those relating to man's duty either to God or to men, the individual himself as 138 139

»» 141

CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XVH, 5. XVI, 155. XVII, 9. XVII, 9.

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

47

well as other men. In its entirety Book Two stands as Milton's ethical code, his extolling of those virtues which man might achieve through the proper use of his natural faculties. But these faculties, we must remember, were tending toward their original brightness only because man had become regenerate and had the guidance of the Holy Spirit within him. As a new spiritual creature, he was free to follow the unwritten law, the eternal law of God which he found engraved on his heart. Such, then, are the major uses which Milton saw resulting from Christian liberty, that privilege of God's adoption of man. Adoption, however, is not the last step in the plan for salvation; and, to complete it, we must turn now to that relative increase belonging to the Father and Son conjointly. This increase "consists in our UNION and FELLOWSHIP with the Father through Christ the Son, and our glorification after the image of Christ".142 This union with God through the Son means that man participates in 'the various gifts and merits of Christ',143 and thus may be said to walk in light, not darkness. Also resulting from this union are "the mutual fellowship of the members of Christ's body among themselves, called in the Apostles' Creed THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS",144 and "the mystical body called THE INVISIBLE CHURCH, whereof Christ is the head".145 The outward manifestation of this union under the Covenant of Grace is the Lord's Supper. Man's glorification is either imperfect or perfect. Perfect glorification will come only at his resurrection in the future; imperfect glorification is all that man may attain in this life. The blessedness of man's earthly life or his imperfect glorification is expressed in two ways: first, in his assurance of salvation, and second, in his final perseverance. To both ways Milton adds qualifications which demonstrate again his emphasis on the responsibility of man in winning salvation. Assurance of salvation, Milton defines as A CERTAIN DEGREE OR GRADATION OF FAITH, WHEREBY A MAN HAS A 142 143 144 145

CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XVI, XVI, XVI, XVI,

57. 59. 59. 61.

48

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

FIRM PERSUASION AND CONVICTION, FOUNDED ON THE TESTIMONY OF THE SPIRIT, THAT IF HE BELIEVE AND CONTINUE IN FAITH AND LOVE, HAVING BEEN JUSTIFIED AND ADOPTED, AND PARTLY GLORIFIED BY UNION AND FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST AND THE FATHER, HE WILL AT LENGTH MOST CERTAINLY ATTAIN TO EVERLASTING LIFE AND THE CONSUMMATION OF GLORY. 146

The qualification here is "IF HE BELIEVE AND CONTINUE IN FAIIH AND LOVE". Belief must be an active trust, not only in man's attempt to know God to the best of his individual understanding but also in his worship of God through good works, those expressions of his love towards God. The final perseverance of such believers or saints is defined as THE GIFT OF GOD'S PRESERVING POWER, WHEREBY THEY WHO ARE FOREKNOWN, ELECT AND BORN AGAIN, AND SEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, PERSEVERE TO THE END IN THE FAITH AND GRACE OF GOD, AND NEVER ENTIRELY FALL AWAY THROUGH ANY POWER OR MALICE OF THE DEVIL OR THE WORLD. 1 4 7

To this definition Milton adds the qualification: "so

LONG AS

NOTHING IS WANTING ON THEIR OWN PARTS, AND THEY CONTINUE TO THE UTMOST IN THE MAINTENANCE OF FAITH AND

LOVE". 1 4 8

God's grace is extended to man in a covenant; and although God's grace is assured, man's realization of it depends on himself. Should he believe and act to the best of his ability in accordance with the dictates of the unwritten law in his heart, then he could never fall away entirely into the power of evil. Despite the antinomian tendency of his interpretation of Christian liberty, Milton does not believe that the elect can never sin. A regenerate man can - and does - fall away from the unwritten law; but when he does, he more easily recognizes his departure from good and the more eagerly seeks to regain God's favor. Central to these qualifications is the idea of a freedom on the part of regenerate man. Moreover, as we have seen, some concept of freedom is vital to most of the issues regarding both man's happiness in this life and his eternal salvation. Freedom, especial146 147 148

CE., XVI, 71. CE., XVI, 75-77. CE., XVI, 77.

" t o repair the ruines"

49

ly as it is manifested in Christian liberty, is certainly one of two major emphases - with faith the second - which should be apparent from this summary of Milton's doctrine of man's restoration. A brief restatement of the important features in both these emphases may be helpful now before we turn to Milton's later poetry. At his creation, Adam had implanted in him the law of nature and, thus, through the use of his own natural faculties, he could rightly know and serve God. There was, however, a prohibition concerning a matter indifferent which God intended as a test of Adam's obedience and the disobedience of which brought a curse of death upon all men. This curse involved, among other things, an obscuration of those natural faculties through which Adam had been able to perceive all of the eternal law necessary for his happiness. God, however, through his infinite mercy, did not intend that man, after the Fall, should remain under the curse; even before he sentenced man, God promised to return him to a state of grace. This promise, known as the Covenant of Grace, was a contingent decree. One of the conditions, that of the satisfaction of divine justice, man himself could not hope to fulfill; rather it was fulfilled by Christ, the God-man, by his voluntary sacrifice of his own life. This Atonement, Milton believed, satisfied for the redemption of all men. Man, then, through a certain means known as regeneration, gained the opportunity to return to a state of grace. Within this regeneration Milton's concept of freedom is observable in several ways. First of all, since Milton believed that God demanded willing followers, he had to disagree with the orthodox Calvinist definition of predestination. God, Milton argued, had not predestined particular individuals to salvation, but, to promote his own glory, had predestinated any man who would believe and continue in his belief. If such were the case, and Milton felt that the great number of Biblical texts he amassed were proof of his interpretation, then either God allowed to remain in fallen man a sufficient amount of free will to accept his call or he extended this free will at the time of the calling. This freedom on man's part was only a beginning. To accept the call brought only a partial

50

" T O REPAIR THE RUINES"

renewal of man's natural faculties and a temporary alteration of his character. A full renewal of his natural faculties came when, through the grace of God alone, the Holy Spirit entered man and recreated him as a new spiritual creature. After certain effects had taken place, namely repentance and saving faith, man could be said to live again unto God as an adopted son. This adoption brought with it the great privilege of Christian liberty. For Milton, this true liberty meant that man was then free to follow the unwritten law of his heart which was no other than that law of nature originally implanted in Adam. N o external check, either human or divine, remained. The old Mosaic law had been abrogated, and man now followed the essence of that old law not by the letter but by the spirit of his heart. Even Scripture could at certain times be disregarded when the unwritten law of the heart found it at variance with the true worship of God or the love of God and one's neighbor. This interpretation of freedom of the Christian Doctrine Milton extended into matters of religion and politics as well as into man's personal and public life. Christian liberty was a privilege which man gained only after his regeneration and especially after he had achieved a saving faith. For this term faith we must distinguish between two meanings, both of which Milton uses in his Christian Doctrine. Milton begins his treatise by saying that "Christian doctrine is comprehended under two divisions: FAITH, OR THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD; and LOVE, OR THE WORSHIP OF GOD . . . . These two divisions, though they are distinct in their own nature, and put asunder for the convenience of teaching, cannot be separated in practice. . . . It must be observed, that Faith in this division does not mean the habit of believing, but the things to be habitually believed." 149 His first definition of faith, then, is a knowledge of God; and, in this sense, the doctrine of man's restoration is itself an article of belief. This knowledge of God A d a m possessed instinctively since the law of nature was implanted within him; however, because of his disobedience, his posterity had inherited only obscured natural faculties. Y e t God had either left in man or restored to him enough free will so that man might accept the call 149 CE., XTV, 23-25.

"TO REPAIR THE RUINES"

51

to return to a proper knowledge and worship. In accepting this ca}l man gained what Milton terms a secondary kind of faith. Here, we must notice, Milton is using the term to mean a habit of believing, or, in other words, the means by which man could come to a knowledge of God. It is as the habit of believing that faith is important to this study. As we have seen, Milton believed that man was justified by his faith alone, and that genuine faith followed repentance in regenerate man. With only a secondary kind of faith man might give his assent to the truth of Scripture, but saving faith surpassed this assent. For Milton, saving faith meant a "FULL PERSUASION . . . THAT WHATSOEVER THINGS [ G o d ] HAS PROMISED IN CHRIST ARE

OURS".150 By this faith, man was justified. This

highest understanding of the attributes and ways of God, man could not reach by his 'own unassisted judgment'.151 Fortunately, therefore, at his regeneration man gained a new aid, the Holy Spirit, and as man became a new spiritual creature so also did he regain to a great extent the full use of his natural faculties. With this natural healing and with the aid of the inner spirit, each man was obliged to determine for himself his fundamental beliefs. The acceptance of what others had said or what a particular church held was, Milton believed, an implicit or blind faith. In the introduction to the Christian Doctrine Milton defends the writing of his treatise as his obligation as a believer and he requests all lovers of truth, not to cry out that the Church is thrown into confusion by that freedom of discussion and inquiry which is granted to the schools, and ought certainly to be refused to no believer, since we are ordered "to prove all things", and since the daily progress of the light of truth is productive far less of disturbance to the Church, than of illumination and edification. Nor do I see how the Church can be more disturbed by the investigation of truth, than were the Gentiles by the first promulgation of the gospel; since so far from recommending or imposing anything on my own authority, it is my particular advice that every one should suspend his opinion on whatever points he may not feel himself fully satisfied, till the evidence of Scripture prevail, and persuade his reason into assent and faith.152 150 151

152

CE., XV, 393.

CE., XVI, 259-61.

CE., XIV, 9-11.

52

" t o r e p a i r t h e ruines"

That man's saving faith first came 'infused from above' 158 through the grace of God in his gift of the Holy Spirit, Milton did not deny; but, at least in the Christian Doctrine, Milton did not believe that saving faith was only a matter of passive resignation to divinely revealed truth. Man was justified before God by his faith, "but by a living, not a dead faith; and that faith alone which acts is counted living".154 Faith thus carried with it the obligation of works, not the works of the law but the works which regenerate man could perform through his obedience to the unwritten law. Under this conception of an active trust, the need became, then, for man not only to reach the 'frame of mind' 155 which Milton considered as faith, but also to maintain this faith amid the various temptations of evil in daily life. As I hope to show in the following chapters, these two struggles were those portrayed by Milton in his later poetry. Together, they were the daily warfare of the wayfaring Christian in a world where good and evil were intermixed. This was the warfare in which it was absolutely essential that fallen man first win the victory if he and other regenerate men were to reform society. Faith and freedom - these are two major emphases in the Miltonic scheme of salvation: a saving faith which goes beyond a right knowledge of and trust in God to include virtuous action, and a concept of freedom which reaches its highest formulation in Christian liberty. They are emphases of a doctrine of restoration which is part of the general providence of a God who desires the salvation, not the damnation of men. This mercy, Milton believes, is apparent in God's provision of a way for fallen man's restoration to grace. God has accepted the mediatorial ministry of Christ with its two effects: the satisfaction of divine justice and the conformation of the faithful to the image of Christ. Thus, although man is born in sin with his reason obscured and his will inclined to sinful desire, God, because of the Son's satisfaction, can extend his call to all men. Once man has accepted this invitation to return to knowledge and worship of the true Deity, God 154 155

CE., XVI, 35. CE., XVI, 39. CE., XVI, 35.

"to repair t h e ruines"

53

sends the Holy Spirit into man's heart for his complete and supernatural re-birth. This infusion of the divine spirit produces two effects: repentance and saving faith. Faith carries the obligation of works performed in obedience to the inner spirit, and the works of the faithful are acceptable to God because of their conformation to the truly perfect obedience of Christ. Man's willing obedience to God is known as Christian liberty, in which the believer has reached a state of imperfect glorification, and may enjoy on earth a prelude to the blessedness of eternal salvation. Here, then, with its emphases, is the formula to "repair the ruines of our first Parents".

II PARADISE LOST: THE INTERNAL DRAMA OF BOOKS X-XII

In the invocation to Paradise Lost Milton says that he hopes through the aid of his Muse to assert Eternal Providence And justify the ways of God to men. (I, 25-26)

These lines are the argument to the epic, and Milton must mean, of course, that he intends through his explanation of Providence to show the justice of God's treatment of men. Now, as we have seen in the previous chapter, Eternal Providence extends to man in four ways: man in his state of rectitude, in his fall, in his punishment, and in his restoration. Obviously Milton's task in his epic is enormous, and it becomes even more so when it necessarily involves him in such related matters as the fall of the rebellious angels and the Creation. Because the poem is so rich in thematic material, critics frequently have been forced to limit the scope of their analyses of it. The result has been that, in those critical studies which concern God's Providence regarding man, the first two aspects - man in his state of rectitude and his fall have received the most attention. This emphasis is understandable, since more of the poem is devoted to Adam before and at the Fall than it is to Adam after he has chosen to disobey God. Furthermore, this emphasis has been beneficial, since, mainly through the efforts of C. S. Lewis and Douglas Bush, we have come to recognize that hierarchical conception which is "the indwelling life of the whole work".1 Under this hierarchical conception God alone has no natural superior, and only unformed 1

Lewis, A Preface to Paradise Lost, p. 77.

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matter has no natural inferior. "The goodness, happiness, and dignity of every being consists in obeying its natural superior and ruling its natural inferiors." 2 No longer, then, should we think of Milton's Heaven as "a totalitarian state".3 Instead, as Bush says, the absolute sovereignty of Milton's God is "the sovereignty of right reason and the law of nature, a sovereignty comprehended by the uncorrupted right reason of man and accepted not as servitude but as the condition of true freedom".4 Yet Adam did violate this natural order, and the danger in either forgetting or slighting the Adam of Books X-XII is that we may fail to recognize fully how Milton has completed the promise of his invocation, and how these later books of the epic are a necessary part of the whole dramatic action. Milton knew, of course, that he could not tell the full story of Adam's life. He wrote in the Second Defense that "the poet, who is styled epic, if he adhere strictly to established rules, undertakes to embellish not the whole life of the hero whom he proposes to celebrate in song, but, usually, one particular action of his life".5 In Paradise Lost the 'particular action' of Adam's life is not just that of the time before the Fall and the momentous hour of the Fall. The epic also includes the actions after the Fall where Adam is at first tormented by his alienation from God and then finally overjoyed at his recovery of God's grace. This period of time, as Isabel MacCaffrey points out, represents the third stage of the mythic journey of man's life which is the subject of the whole epic.6 That third stage is the recovery of lost paradise, and thus the epic concentrates both "on loss and the reconstruction of what was lost".7 To appreciate fully the great epic, then, we must see and feel the force of its ascending as well as its descending movements. We must witness man's rise as well as his fall if Milton is to show us the reasonableness of God's ways to men. 8

Lewis, p. 72. Sir Herbert Grierson, Milton and Wordsworth (Cambridge, 1937), p. 117. 4 Paradise Lost in Our Time (Ithaca, N.Y., 1945), p. 42. 5 CE„ VIII, 253. 6 Paradise Lost as "Myth" (Cambridge, Mass., 1959), pp. 23-43. 7 MacCaffrey, p. 49. 3

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The last three books of Paradise Lost contain the story of man's recovery of God's grace. There the doctrine of his restoration, outlined briefly by the Father in lines 173-212 of Book III, is further explained by Michael for Adam's instruction and benefit. And there also, if we keep our attention on Adam as closely as we have during our reading of the earlier books, is the dramatization of that doctrine. The fact that the doctrines of love and mercy are explained in this portion of the epic and that an explanation of man's redemption is necessary for the fulfillment of Milton's epic purpose has rarely been questioned. The question which has divided readers of the epic concerns Milton's effective dramatization of man's restoration to grace. Since Addison, critics have been unable to agree on whether or not the last books make a full poetic contribution to the poem. Among remarks by earlier critics who feel a failure in the last portion of the epic, those of J. H. Hanford are typical. Hanford calls the plan for restoration only "the promise of [man's] ultimate victory". 8 Paradise Lost, he says, depicts "the cosmic strife of passion and right reason, and award[s] to the l a t t e r . . . the palm of victory. That victory, however, is an inconclusive one. No defeat of Satan can outweigh the earlier manifestation of his triumphant will; no promise to Adam of a moral Paradise within can counterbalance the tragic ruin of his innocence." 9 More recent critics continue in the same vein. William H. Marshall, for instance, claims that "only through the explanation of the poet, of God, and of Michael do we know of Man's redemption", 10 and John Peter feels that Milton's interest in the inner paradise is a 'countersubject' which "drowns the subject originally proposed". 11 My own opinion, supported I hope by an analysis of the text which will follow, is that far from a counter-subject the restoration of fallen man to grace adds a 8

"Milton and the Return to Humanism", Studies in Philology, XVI (1919), 145. • John Milton, Englishman (New York, 1949), p. 201. 10 Arthur E. Barker, ed., Milton: Modern Essays in Criticism (New York, 1965), p. 340; reprinted from William H. Marshall, "Paradise Lost: Felix Culpa and the Problem of Structure", Modern Language Notes, L X X V I (1961), 15-20. 11 A Critique of Paradise Lost (New York, 1960), p. 152.

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theme which, as Tillyard has commented in his analysis of Book X, is "intertwined with the theme of the Fall; intertwined so firmly as to be inextricable: the theme of regeneration".12 I believe also that this theme resides in the poem not as a mere doctrinal explanation but as a part in the integrated fabric of the drama. Such a claim, of course, is not a new one.13 The drama of man's restoration is a part of that 'myth' which Milton considered an historical fact and which MacCaffrey has so admirably analyzed,14 and it is embodied as part of the imagery of rise and fall, so well described by Jackson Cope.15 However, no one so far as I know has examined the last three books in the particular light of the Miltonic scheme of salvation outlined earlier from the Christian Doctrine. The following pages attempt to do so. 1.

T H E B E G I N N I N G OF REGENERATION

A brief review of the events late in Book IX may adequately introduce us to Milton's subsequent use of his doctrine of restoration, for he has used that portion of his epic to depict two of the degrees of death which followed man's disobedience.18 After their amorous play, Adam and Eve fall into a "grosser sleep / Bred of unkindly fumes" (IX, 1049-50). When they awaken, confronting them are "ALL THOSE EVILS WHICH LEAD TO DEATH, AND WHICH . . . CAME INTO THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY UPON THE FALL OF

MAN".17 Adam's feelings of guilt increase as he realizes that there are in their F a c e s evident the signs Of f o u l c o n c u p i s c e n c e (IX, 1077-78) 12

Studies in Milton (London, 1951), p. 13. See especially the following valuable studies: MacCaffrey, Paradise Lost as "Myth", pp. 41-91; Summers, The Muse's Method, pp. 176-224; Wright, Milton's Paradise Lost, pp. 190-206; Jackson Cope, The Metaphoric Structure of Paradise Lost (Baltimore, 1962), pp. 139-47; and F. T. Prince, "On the Last Two Books of 'Paradise Lost'", Essays and Studies (1958), pp. 38-52. 14 Paradise Lost as "Myth", pp. 9-43. 15 The Metaphoric Structure of Paradise Lost, pp. 72-148. 10 CE., XV, 203-15. For an excellent analysis of the drama of the Fall in Paradise Lost, see Summers, The Muse's Method, pp. 101-11. " CE., XV, 203. 13

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and that he must hide himself now before God and his angels. But if Adam is aware that he has suffered a forfeiture of divine protection, he is even more aware of "shame, the last of evils" (IX, 1079). This shame is more than that of a physical nakedness; for that the pair may gather fig leaves to cover. But for the shame that comes with spiritual death, that loss of divine grace and innate righteousness, the fig leaves no matter how large will give little protection. This spiritual death, which left them destitute of all virtue, has obscured both the reason and the will, and has subjected these faculties to the rule of the passions. Their tears count for little, since high Winds worse within Began to rise, high Passions, Anger, Hate, Mistrust, Suspicion, Discord, and shook sore Thir inward State of Mind, calm Region once And full of Peace, now toss't and turbulent: For Understanding rul'd not, and the Will Heard not her lore, both in subjection now To sensual Appetite, who from beneath Usurping over sovran Reason claim'd Superior sway. (IX, 1122-31)

To restore the natural order so that the will may act upon the dictates of reason is, of course, part of the function of man's regeneration. Milton, not content with a description of the chaos in the minds of the first parents, puts the conflict into the dramatic form of the terrible argument which closes the book. The subject of that argument is the responsibility for their estrangement from God, a responsibility which neither admits. Adam begins "thir vain contest" (IX, 1189) by accusing Eve of disregarding his advice that none should "seek needless cause to approve / The Faith they owe" (IX, 1140-41). Essentially this is good advice; there was occasion enough for them to prove their obedience to God without seeking special trial. What Adam forgets is that earlier in the morning he had qualified this advice by saying that perhaps Eve was right in thinking their company would make them less vigilant. Raphael's warning for vigilance against Satan

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in Book V had not included such a qualification. Eve reminds her husband of his earlier lenience: why didst not thou the Head Command me absolutely not to go, Going into such danger as thou said'st? (IX, 1155-57)

Eve has her point; Adam was remiss. Yet in her attempt to shift the blame Eve has forgotten that it was her duty to willingly obey her husband, and Adam must remind her that "force upon free Will hath here no place" (IX, 1174). Furthermore, Eve seems to have forgotten both her earlier confidence in her power to withstand any temptation, and her weakness in allowing herself to be overcome by Satan's flattery and in acting too incredulously on his promises. Eve's criticism incenses Adam, who replies that she should be more appreciative of his choice of death with her over immortal bliss. He even admits: perhaps I also err'd in overmuch admiring What seem'd in thee so perfet, that I thought No evil durst attempt thee. (IX, 1177-80)

Adam is right in pointing to uxoriousness as his particular weakness, and although he is repeating some of Raphael's earlier warning to him, he has omitted the essential part of that injunction. At his departure Raphael had said: Be strong, live happy, and love, but first of all Him whom to love is to obey, and keep His great command. (VIII, 633-35)

Both Adam and Eve at the end of Book IX are self-centered; in their mutual incriminations both have forgotten their great sin of disobedience to God. Adam, for instance, in his last speech blames Eve, not himself as he should. Love is to be given according to the worth of the object, and certainly Adam has forgotten that God is the greatest good. This lack of shame before God for their deed pervades all of the last of Book IX. True, both are aware of their loss of divine favor; just as Satan was conscious of a loss of his celestial bright-

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ness at his fall, so are Adam and Eve aware of the dimming in themselves of the divine image. They have covered part of their nakedness, but it very much remains for them to begin to cover their spiritual nakedness, with a true spirit of repentance. This latter change occurs in Book X. For its structural scope and its variety of topics Book X has perhaps no equal in the epic. The book ranges through the entire Miltonic cosmology, from earth to highest Heaven, and from earth through Chaos to Hell. Almost all of the important characters share in the action. The book is a reminder of the fall of the angels and the birth of Sin and Death and at the same time of the promise of "New Heav'n and Earth" (X, 647) through Christ. Such variety can only contrast with the intense and concentrated nature of Book IX and especially of its close where sin, acting as its own punishment, has left the self-centered Adam and Eve in endless argument. Yet despite its variety Book X is not disorderly; it is organized around two related ideas: first, the further consequences of the Fall, and second, the beginning of regeneration in the sinful pair. Only as Adam recognizes the magnitude of his sin will he turn to God in a sorrow appropriate to repentance. The structure of the book may be described as the effects of the Fall, first in Heaven (11. 1-238), then in Hell (11. 239-584), and finally on earth (11. 585 to the end). At the beginning of Book X the angelic guards leave earth to report the Fall in Heaven, where they are cleared of any negligence. The speech by God before the assembled angels is a much reduced version of his utterances in Book III; its points are made quickly and clearly. First, man is responsible for his own fall; God's foreknowledge had nothing to do with man's disobedience. no Decree of mine Concurring to necessitate his Fall, Or touch with lightest moment of impulse His free Will, to her own inclining left In even scale. (X, 43-47)

How concisely God has added just what is being omitted in the vain contest taking place between Adam and Eve. In Heaven, however, the cause of the Fall is only of momentary concern, for

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justice must be enacted and the sentence passed against fallen man for his transgression. This task of sentencing man belongs to Christ. Significantly, Christ is more than a judge; he is also the Mediator, so that in this earthly mission he combines both justice and mercy. God himself announces this purpose: Easy it might be seen that I intend Mercy colleague with Justice, sending thee Man's Friend, his Mediator, his design'd Both Ransom and Redeemer voluntary, And destin'd Man himself to judge Man fall'n (X, 58-62)

This double role of Christ is important because it introduces early in the book the two themes which the events will illustrate. In his Christian Doctrine Milton writes: Even before man had, properly speaking, confessed his guilt, that is, before he had avowed it ingenuously and in the spirit of repentance, God nevertheless, in pronouncing the punishment of the serpent, previously to passing sentence on man, promised that he would raise up from the seed of the woman one who should bruise the serpent's head, Gen. iii. 15. and thus anticipated the condemnation of mankind by a gratuitous redemption.18

Adam must suffer death, then, in its various degrees as the consequence of his fall, but this condemnation will be preceded by a manifestation of the Covenant of Grace in the sentence upon the serpent. The second major structural division of Book X (11. 239-548) will emphasize the destructive consequences of man's fall, while the third (11. 585 to the end) will combine both themes. What remains of the first division - a scene on earth - is a dramatic representation of God's calling of man to salvation. Since Adam is the original man, the call is combined with his sentencing; none the less, an emphasis on mercy in the episode is unmistakable. Upon hearing the voice of Christ in the garden, Adam and Eve hide. Christ chides them and orders them to appear. The complete subjection of their fallen nature is explicit in the description of Adam and Eve as they respond to his command. «

CE., XV, 253.

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Love was not in thir looks, either to God Or to each other, but apparent guilt, And shame, and perturbation, and despair, Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile. (X, 111-14)

In the confessions of guilt which follow Christ's question regarding the tree of knowledge, Eve gives much the more truthful answer. Adam replies first, and he pretends to wish to shelter Eve, but then he says: though should I hold my peace, yet thou Would easily detect what I conceal. This Woman whom thou mad'st to be my help, And gav'st me as thy perfet gift, so good, So fit, so acceptable, so Divine, That from her hand I could suspect no ill, And what she did, whatever in itself, Her doing seem'd to justify the deed; Shee gave me of the Tree, and I did eat. (X, 135-43)

Christ will have none of Adam's loquacious rationalizations; his rebuke reminds Adam that his duty was first to God, not to Eve. Eve's answer is neither so bold nor so long. She replies simply, "The Serpent me beguil'd and I did eat" (X, 162). No doubt Eve, in large part, responds so simply out of her fear of the Son and his power of punishment; however, even so, her simple honesty begins to restore in her that womanly obedience which she had disregarded in her argument with Adam before the Fall. With these confessions Christ begins the sentences. The first falls on the serpent, the instrument of Satan in the temptation, and in it is the promise of a Redeemer which, according to Milton, announced the Covenant of Grace. Between Thee and the Woman I will put Enmity, and between thine and her Seed; Her Seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel. (X, 179-81)

For Eve there is the sentence that she must submit to the will of her husband and that her children must be brought forth in sorrow, and for Adam that he must labor in the fields for his bread and must return to dust at his death. Yet despite the inevitable sternness of these sentences, Christ's attitude is one of

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pity towards the human pair, so that he at this time begins "the form of servant to assume" (X, 214). In his role as Mediator Christ first clothes the naked pair with animal skins. He is more concerned, however, with the inner man and he their inward nakedness, much more Opprobrious, with his Robe of righteousness, Arraying cover'd from his Father's sight. (X, 221-23)

Milton here is dramatizing his doctrines of Christ's redemptive power and of man's justification before God through the imputed righteousness of Christ. Nevertheless, as we know, man has his part in his restoration. Although Christ made satisfaction for all men, only the believer is justified. Adam at this point in Book X has not even begun his regeneration. Indeed, neither he nor Eve is even conscious of Christ's great charity toward them. With God's call came a sufficient restoration of free will so that man might accept the invitation to worship God aright, but Milton has wisely postponed the first really great struggle within Adam's mind until later. Adam has yet to experience the full effects of the destructive forces which his fall unleashed. These forces are the subject of the next major section of the book. Milton describes these forces - Satan, Sin, and Death - in two brief episodes, both of which remind us of the universal effects of the Fall. In one, Sin and Death build the causeway between Hell and the universe, and in the other Satan returns to his throne to proclaim a victory for his followers. Grotesqueness is the key to both episodes. Sin proposes that she and her son leave the gates of Hell, since she feels a new strength arising within her which must mean Satan's triumph on earth. Death, like a "ravenous Fowl" (X, 274) which smells the carnage of the battlefield, is only too willing to follow. Tillyard has pointed out the ironic contrast between the creation of the universe in Book VII and the building of the causeway.19 In the former Darkness profound Cover'd th' Abyss: but on the wat'ry calm His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread, 19

Studies in Milton, pp. 32-34.

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And vital virtue infus'd, and vital warmth Throughout the fluid Mass, but downward purg'd The black tartareous cold Infernal dregs Adverse to life. (VII, 233-39)

Warmth and ease are lacking, however, in the building of the causeway. Sin and Death, like birds of prey, toss up and down, and Death solidifies the dry and cold elements for his road. The "Gorgonian rigour" (X, 297) of Death's look to fix these elements in place is typical of the excessive quality of the entire episode. At the Creation, God had only to command calmly, "Silence, ye troubl'd waves, and thou Deep, peace" (VII, 216). Fittingly enough, when the pair has reached the outer shell of the universe, they meet Satan. Three ways now are clearly marked, for the completed causeway attaches to the shell at the point where the lower step of a ladder leads to Empyrean Heaven. Sin and Death depart for earth; Satan, for Hell; and Adam, representative of mankind, has yet to choose whether to take the newly constructed road or the ladder which is left available to him through God's grace. The triumph to which Satan returns in Hell, of course, is only illusory, and the turning of the devils into snakes is Milton's symbolism for the final defeat of evil. Trees grow up laden with "the bait of Eve" (X, 551), and in their hunger and thirst the devils are deceived repeatedly when they eat of this fruit. Even though it anticipates events, this symbolic defeat is perfectly appropriate in context; for it is a dramatic reminder of the Covenant of Grace which has been extended to man in the first division of the book. Christ has made the covenant with sincerity and pity; Satan's attitude towards it is one of mockery and flippancy. He mentions the curse on the serpent only at the end of a lengthy, boastful speech and then in a flippant tone. Adam, on the other hand, is not even aware of the promise made to him. Furthermore, the effects of the Fall as they have been described so far have hardly touched man. The havoc which has centered in Chaos and Hell must now descend to earth and especially into the mind of Adam. Paradise, then, is the setting for the final portion of Book X.

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Sin is now there "to dwell / Habitual habitant" (X, 587-88). Behind her is Death, who sighs that God's plenteous creation seems all too little to satisfy his appetite. Sin attempts to pacify her son by telling him to gorge himself on nature until she has infected more of mankind for his "last and sweetest prey" (X, 609). From above God watches the pair as they separate for their destructive work. He even co-operates with them by sending his own angelic forces to make nature subject to mutability. His co-operation, however, is ironic; it is but a part of a larger plan to bring good out of evil. What Sin and Death do not know, God tells the Son, is that: I call'd and drew them thither My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff and filth Which man's polluting Sin with taint hath shed On what was pure, till cramm'd and gorg'd, nigh burst With suckt and glutted offal, at one sling Of thy victorious Arm, well-pleasing Son, Both Sin, and Death, and yawning Grave at last Through Chaos hurl'd, obstruct the mouth of Hell For ever, and seal up his ravenous Jaws. Then Heav'n and Earth renew'd shall be made pure To sanctity that shall receive no stain: Till then the Curse pronounc't on both precedes. (X, 629-40)

The ensuing disorder, ranging from planetary changes which bring "pinching cold and scorching heat" (X, 691) through the "fierce antipathy" (X, 709) which seizes animal life, at length culminates in the mind of Adam. As he watches some of the growing disorder around him, he reveals his own tortured mind in a speech of great despair. His speech is important, for at its end Adam has begun the long process of regeneration. He has taken the first step of the five which Milton lists in his Christian Doctrine as comprising man's repentance: he becomes convinced of his own guilt. Adam opens his soliloquy with an awareness that evil has come into the world and that he, the "Glory of that Glory" (X, 722), has had to hide from the face of God. For the moment he is even willing to admit he has deserved and can bear the misery he now feels. However, not quite the self-centered man he was earlier,

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Adam suddenly recalls that all his progeny must also suffer under the curse. O voice once heard Delightfully, Increase and multiply, Now death to hear! for what can I increase Or multiply, but curses on my head? Who of all Ages to succeed, but feeling The evil on him brought by me, will curse My Head? Ill fare our Ancestor impure, For this we may thank Adam; but his thanks Shall be the execration. (X, 729-37) The prospect of such endless woe causes A d a m to retract his early admission of guilt, and to rebel against the justice of his punishment. H e bases his argument on the fact that he did not ask to be created and even claims that the terms of his agreement with God at creation were too hard. To this objection A d a m first answers himself by saying: yet to say truth, too late, I thus contest; then should have been refus'd Those terms whatever, when they were propos'd: Thou didst accept them; wilt thou enjoy the good, Then cavil the conditions? (X, 755-59) Such an answer is not really satisfactory to Adam, though, for it does not show the justice of God's conditions. Only when he admits that he had the free will to serve God, does he again accept the justice of his own punishment. God made thee of choice his own, and of his own To serve him, thy reward was of his grace, Thy punishment then justly is at his Will. (X, 766-68) With such acceptance, the punishment of death seems only too welcome. Adam, like Milton in his Christian Doctrine, dismisses the idea that his spirit will not perish with his body. H e says: it was but breath Of Life that sinn'd; what dies but what had life And sin? the Body properly hath neither. All of me then shall die. (X, 789-92)

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His conclusion seems to involve God in a contradiction, and Adam questions next: How can he exercise Wrath without end on Man whom Death must end? Can he make deathless Death? (X, 796-98)

Adam's reason tells him that God cannot contradict himself, and suddenly he realizes that death is not to be a single stroke, a mere physical death, but will include all the miseries of man. One of the worst of these is the sort of spiritual corruption or death into which all men must now be born. But, despair as Adam does over this point, he still accepts the justice of this part of his punishment: But from mee what can proceed, But all corrupt, both Mind and Will deprav'd, Not to do only, but to will the same With me? how can they then acquitted stand In sight of God? (X, 824-28)

As Milton says in the Christian Doctrine: "For Adam being the common parent and head of all, it follows that, as in the covenant, that is, in receiving the commandment of God, so also in the defection from God, he either stood or fell for the whole human race." 20 Mankind is not guiltless then, and spiritual death is part of the general sentence upon man. Adam closes his arguments with himself by accepting his own guilt. Him after all Disputes Forc't I absolve: all my evasions vain And reasonings, though through Mazes, lead me still But to my own conviction: first and last On mee, mee only, as the source and spring Of all corruption, all the blame lights due; So might the wrath. (X, 828-34)

This conviction does not carry with it any peace. Exhausted, Adam lies down on the ground and pleads for death. His conscience represents all things before him "with double terror" (X, 850). But where despair is blinding Adam, it should not blind 2 ® CE., XV, 183.

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Milton's reader to the progress which Adam has made towards recovery. There is something encouraging about the end of Adam's soliloquy. He has admitted that he must take the blame as the source of all corruption, and he wishes he might be able to take upon himself the wrath. He cannot, of course; but has he not already asked the most important question within the Christian scheme of salvation? He has cried: how can they then acquitted stand In sight of God? (X, 827-28)

The answer is: through the satisfaction of Christ; and his promise has been implied in the sentence upon the serpent. It is only natural that Adam should not have thought of that promise now, but in all his agony he has at least recognized the need for a reconciliation with God. In a short discussion of this speech by Adam, Tillyard comments in a note: "As we read this speech we are meant to recall Satan's great speech on Mount Niphates at the beginning of Book Four. Both speakers are tortured, both admit God's justice. But Satan ends in a resolve to do evil, Adam in self-accusation." 21 The comparison between the two speeches is valid, and what I should like to point out beyond Tillyard's general conclusion is the use Milton makes of the entire cycle of repentance in Satan's speech. First, both a conviction and a confession of sin are expressed in Satan's address to the Sun: to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name 0 Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams That bring to my remembrance from what state 1 fell, how glorious once above thy Sphere; Till Pride and worse Ambition threw me down Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchless King. (IV, 35-41)

Satan, like Adam, admits the justice of God's ways; and, in the following lines in which Satan is probably as contrite as his nature allows him to be, he fully confesses against the freedom of his own choice. He is comparing himself to the good angels. 21

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Hadst thou the same free Will and Power to stand? Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse, But Heav'n's free Love dealt equally to all? Be then his Love accurst, since love or hate, To me alike, it deals eternal woe. Nay curs'd be thou; since against his thy will Chose freely what it now so justly rues. Me miserable! (IV, 66-73) Satan then considers the possibility of a departure from evil. is there no place Left for Repentance, none for Pardon left? None left but by submission; and that word Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame Among the spirits beneath, whom I seduc'd With other promises and other vaunts Than to submit, boasting I could subdue Th' Omnipotent. (IV, 79-86) Both Satan and Adam are concerned with their followers, but Adam's concern is for the wrath which must come to them on his account, while Satan's concern is only for the reproach which would come to him from the other devils. Moreover, Satan knows that God has not extended grace to him for repentance since the angels fell "self-tempted" (III, 130). But, even if he could, he would not repent, and Satan's is a rejection of good, not evil. But say I could repent and could obtain By Act of Grace my former state; how soon Would highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay What feign'd submission swore: ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void. For never can true reconcilement grow Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc'd so deep: Which would but lead me to a worse relapse, And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear Short intermission bought with double smart. This knows my punisher; therefore as far From granting hee, as I from begging peace. (IV, 93-104) The final step of the cycle, then, is another inversion; it is the famous line, "Evil be thou my Good" (IV, 110). As Tillyard

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says, "Satan ends in a resolve to do evil, Adam in self-accusation." 22 Yet, more important, Adam has not resolved to do anything; and although he has reached reconciliation with himself in his conviction of guilt, he thinks himself cut off from any possibility for action. Ironically, it is through a passionate outburst against Eve that he at length comes to his first truly constructive action. The outburst beginning, "Out of my sight, thou Serpent" (X, 867), has too frequently been read with the poet in mind instead of the speaker. Whether or not the speech reflects Milton's attitude toward his own marriage experience is unimportant, since within the context it is perfectly appropriate. In his long soliloquy Adam had lamented the future corruption of his offspring; he had recognized that his own future must be shared with 'that bad Woman' (X, 837); and in his short speech while lying on the ground he had painfully recalled the beauty of Eden. And when added to this list of miseries is the fact that he sees no possibility for a reconciliation with God, his despair seems reason enough for the bitterness against Eve. Bitter he is, too, for his scorn is against women in general as well as Eve in particular. Yet the attack on women is a forceful reminder for us that the chaos turned loose early in the book has destroyed not only the happiness of individual minds but also 'household peace' (X, 908). In shifting the blame for his fall entirely on Eve, Adam is momentarily forgetting his own conviction of guilt. He tells Eve: But for thee I had persisted happy, had not thy pride And wand'ring vanity, when least was safe, Rejected my forewarning, and disdain'd Not to be trusted, longing to be seen Though by the Devil himself, him overweening To over-reach, but with the Serpent meeting Fool'd and beguil'd, by him thou, I by thee, To trust thee from my side, imagin'd wise, Constant, mature, proof against all assaults, And understood not all was but a show Rather than solid virtue. (X, 873-84) 22

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This is the last time, however, that Adam will forget his own weakness in the Fall, and the violence of his accusation may indicate the beginning of his search for action. Fortunately, Eve does not remind Adam - as Christ had earlier upon such an outburst - of his uxoriousness. Eve is persistent, though, and is genuinely humbled as she falls at Adam's feet and begs for his comfort. Eve is afraid, for she too has inwardly felt the miseries of death which, she thinks, may cut them down within "one short hour perhaps" (X, 923). What is important about her speech is her recognition of her part in the sin of the Fall as being "in the woman a want of proper regard for her husband". 23 She has learned that she cannot bear the tortures of her mind by herself, and that her 'only strength and stay' (X, 921) is in Adam. In short, in an act of redemptive love,24 Eve is beginning to restore the natural order of family life which she had flouted at the Fall, and it is only fitting that she take the initiative since she had been responsible earlier for bringing the apple to Adam. She ends her plea with a confession of sin: both have sinn'd, but thou Against God only, I against God and thee, And to the place of judgment will return, There with my cries importune Heaven, that all The sentence from thy head remov'd may light On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe, Mee mee only just object of his ire. (X, 930-36)

Eve, of course, is too eager; while her confession of sin as one against both God and Adam is accurate, she cannot, as she wishes, take on all the blame. None the less, her courage is admirable, and for the moment she has surpassed Adam by rising against their slothful ways. The effect of her plight on Adam is immediate. He still loves her, and her pleas for help remind him of his duty towards her, the weaker of the two. He cannot again be weak as he had be23

CE„ XV, 183. See Summers, The Muse's Method, pp. 176-85, for an analysis of the role of Eve in Book X. Summers claims, rightly, I think, that "Milton insisted that the redeemer's was the only truly heroic role" (p. 180). His analysis clearly demonstrates that Eve is a type of redeemer. 24

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fore the Fall in not holding to counsel which he knew right by reason. He relents, and his words to Eve at once admonish her over-zealous attitude and confess his own guilt. He says: Unwary, and too desirous, as before, So now of what thou know'st not, who desir'st The punishment all on thyself; alas, Bear thine own first, ill able to sustain His full wrath whose thou feel'st as yet least part, And my displeasure bear'st so ill. If Prayers Could alter high Decrees, I to that place Would speed before thee, and be louder heard, That on my head all might be visited, Thy frailty and infirmer Sex forgiv'n, To me committed and by me expos'd. (X, 947-57)

Through their mutual confession, love has returned; and replacing their vain argument, love may help to lighten the burden which Death, 'a slow-pac't evil' (X, 963), has brought. In her absence from Adam, Eve, too, has thought about their progeny; and Adam's suggestion, that love might lighten not only their present burden but also that of their seed, recalls to her two ideas of her own. She wonders if it might not be possible for them to defeat their misery either by remaining childless or by taking their own lives. Adam is quick to see her mistake. He has already admitted the justice of God's ways in his punishment, and he does not intend to let himself be led into a second disobedience by Eve. To seek to avoid the punishment would only bring a double punishment. Adam now recalls the promise contained in the sentence upon the serpent. Perhaps, he reasons, if they cannot escape the punishment by themselves, God has provided a way for them through his mercy. He says: Then let us seek Some safer resolution which methinks I have in view, calling to mind with heed Part of our Sentence, that thy Seed shall bruise The Serpent's head; piteous amends, unless Be meant, whom I conjecture, our grand Foe Satan, who in the Serpent hath contriv'd Against us this deceit. (X, 1028-35)

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To follow either of Eve's suggestions, he reasons, would be to cut themselves off from hope, and even worse to rebel again "against God and his just yoke / Laid on our Necks" (X, 1045-46). He recalls also the mildness with which Christ had passed the sentences, and clothed them "unworthy, pitying while he judg'd" (X, 1059). Surely, if they pray, Adam says, God will show them further how to live in their fallen state. True, Adam believes that the instruction he will receive will concern his physical comforts, how to build a better shelter and how to use fire; but his attitude of humility is the important thing. He says: What better can we do, than to the place Repairing where he judg'd us, prostrate fall Before him reverent, and there confess Humbly our faults, and pardon beg, with tears Watering the ground, and with our sighs the Air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign Of sorrow unfeign'd, and humiliation meek. Undoubtedly he will relent and turn From his displeasure; in whose look serene, When angry most he seem'd and most severe, What else but favour, grace, and mercy shone? (X, 1086-96)

Eve fully agrees; and, in a spirit of repentance, they go to seek God's pardon. Milton's description of their actions in lines 10981104 is a near repetition of Adam's own words, and the repetition emphasizes the importance of the step now being taken. Milton's further comment on their action opens Book XI: Thus they in lowliest plight repentant stood Praying, for from the Mercy-seat above Prevenient Grace descending had remov'd The stony from thir hearts, and made new flesh Regenerate grow instead. (XI, 1-5)

With this emphasis on God's grace, it is only fitting that Book XI should transfer the scene of action from earth to Heaven. Book X, then, dramatizes beautifully the scene of reconciliation between Adam and Eve and between them and God, and, as Louis L. Martz says, does much to justify the ways of God to men "in the supple powers of recovery here displayed by Adam

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and Eve". If not the 'crisis' of the poem, as Tillyard has argued,26 these scenes do provide a fine dramatization of the fact that in his search for the recovery of God's grace man retains a memory of his lost paradise which urges "the soul upward".27 Yet, despite all this, there is - at least in the ideas presented - something lacking in the book, and Martz seems mistaken when he says that the scenes of reconciliation "bring to the poem a sense of fulfillment and completion".28 Turning to the Christian Doctrine, we would find that the two last steps of repentance (departure from evil, and conversion to good) are missing as is the other effect of regeneration, saving faith. Perhaps it is easy enough to make that discovery without the systematic theology. Certainly Adam has advanced to a proper attitude toward God, and he will tell Michael of this new attitude late in Book XII; yet the Adam of the two books is not the same man. The Adam of Book X has barely begun to recover from the Fall; he knows little of the life before him and actually nothing of the way in which that life is to be lived. He has begun to recover his faith through a sort of unknowing trust in the promise contained in the curse upon the serpent, but he knows nothing of the conditions imposed on him by that faith. Indeed, the whole conception of God's great mercy is almost foreign to him, although he seems adequately aware of God's justice. To correct this ignorance, and to give Adam a way in which to exercise his new attitude is, at least in large part, the purpose of the last two books.

2.

T H E REJECTION OF EVIL

As Book XI opens, the two subordinate members of Milton's Trinity are at work to make the prayers of the contrite pair acceptable to God. First, the Holy Spirit is responsible for the 25

The Paradise Within (New Haven, 1964), p. 140. Studies in Milton, p. 10. See also Millicent Bell, "The Fallacy of the Fall in Paradise Lost", Publications of the Modern Language Association, LXVII (1953), 863-83. 27 MacCaffrey, p. 24. 28 The Paradise Within, p. 140. 26

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inspiration and transmission of their prayer to Heaven. Adam and Eve sighs now breath'd Unutterable, which the Spirit of prayer Inspir'd, and wing'd for Heav'n with speedier flight Than loudest Oratory. (XI, 5-8)

The term spirit of prayer is vague, but a definition from Milton's Christian Doctrine clearly identifies it with the Holy Spirit: "SUPPLICATION is that act whereby UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WE REVERENTLY ASK OF GOD THINGS LAWFUL, EITHER FOR OURSELVES OR OTHERS, THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST". 29

Milton does not dwell on this function of the Holy Spirit here, and rightly so. It is a minor function compared to that in connection with Christian liberty, an idea which Milton is hardly ready to treat in this part of the epic. Furthermore, the Mediator is responsible for actually presenting the prayers to his Father. This task of appearing in the presence of God in behalf of man and of "rendering [his] prayers agreeable to God" 30 is part of Christ's sacerdotal function. In his words to God, the Son even hints at the possibility of man's fall being a fortunate one. See Father, what first fruits on Earth are sprung From thy implanted Grace in Man, these Sighs And Prayers, which in this Golden Censer, mixt With Incense, I thy Priest before thee bring, Fruits of more pleasing savour from thy seed Sown with contrition in his heart, than those Which his own hand manuring all the Trees Of Paradise could have produc't, ere fall'n From innocence. (XI, 22-30)

Yet if these fruits or contrite prayers are 'of more pleasing savour', God himself has been the one mainly responsible for making them possible. The words thy implanted Grace recall a portion of God's great decree of Book III. Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will, Yet not of will in him, but grace in me 29

30

CE., XVII, 81. CE., XV, 295.

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Freely voutsaf't; once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthrall'd By sin to foul exorbitant desires; Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand On even ground, against his mortal foe, By me upheld, that he may know how frail His fall'n condition is, and to me owe All his deliverance, and to none but me. (Ill, 173-82)

We have seen how in Book X after the call of God through Christ's veiled announcement of the Covenant of Grace, Adam and Eve have proceeded in their repentance through contrition and confession of sin by prayer. Adam's intellect seems to be clearing in his recognition of the mistakes of Eve's plans for life after the Fall. Man's regeneration can take place only, however, because God's justice has been satisfied. As God has said in Book III: He with his whole posterity must die, Die hee or Justice must; unless for him Some other able, and as willing, pay The rigid satisfaction, death for death. (Ill, 209-12)

The rest of Christ's speech at the beginning of Book XI is a reminder, to the reader if not to God, that Christ has already accepted this function. He asks his Father that he may be man's Advocate, and then says: all his works on mee Good or not good ingraft, my Merit those Shall perfet, and for these my Death shall pay. (XI, 34-36)

Through this ingrafting, man might live on earth in reconcilement with God and be brought eventually to "dwell in joy and bliss" (XI, 43). Two effects, according to the Christian Doctrine, follow the ingrafting of man in Christ: a newness of life and increase. Under his new life man can comprehend spiritual truths necessary for salvation and happiness in life, and Michael's mission to earth is that of informing Adam of such truths. Under the effect of increase there was the pledge that the gifts of the regenerated reason and will of man were assured, and man was to use these gifts in

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the daily struggle towards perfection. It is this emphasis on man's part in his restoration which God stresses in his reply to Christ. After granting Christ's requests for man, God announces that man can no longer stay in Paradise. Through his own free will, man has lost the gift of happiness, and the sentence of death has provided an end to his immortality which otherwise would but 'eternize woe' (XI, 60). To regain either of the blessings of happiness or eternal life, man must now live a life Tri'd in sharp tribulation, and refin'd By Faith and faithful works. (XI, 63-64)

It is, of course, this doctrine of justification by faith not void of works which Adam knows nothing about and which God sends Michael to explain. Thus, although Michael's first duty is to announce perpetual banishment from Eden to Adam and Eve, he is also, and more importantly, to Dismiss them not disconsolate; reveal To Adam what shall come in future days, As I shall thee enlighten, intermix My Cov'nant in the woman's seed renew'd; So send them forth, though sorrowing, yet in peace. (XI, 113-17)

Here again, then, is the combination of Justice and Mercy which we have seen earlier in Christ's mission in Book X. As the scene shifts again to Paradise, we find that Adam and Eve are also concerned with the subject of faith. Rising from their prayers they have found 'Strength added from above' (XI, 138). Adam, commenting on this new strength, says that it is easy to believe that the good which they enjoy descends from Heaven, but still he does not understand how his prayers have produced this good. His missing knowledge is that of the efficacy of Christ's satisfaction for fallen man; yet even of this knowledge there at least is a hint. Since he has sought God through humility, Adam feels that God has heard his prayers, and he tells us: persuasion in me grew That I was heard with favour; peace return'd Home to my Breast, and to my memory His promise, that thy Seed shall bruise our Foe;

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Which then not minded in dismay, yet now Assures me that the bitterness of death Is past, and we shall live. (XI, 152-58)

The kind of faith expressed by Adam here is appropriate to the chronology of the epic. Adam cannot be expected to give more than assent to the promise of God. Still it is not the kind of active faith which Milton calls saving faith. For one thing, more knowledge must be added about the way of life after the Fall, and, then, that knowledge must be acted upon. Eve, surely in a naive manner, expresses the latter of these additions when she suggests that they now return to work. She, too, is pleased about the promise, but she reminds Adam that "the Field / To labour calls us now with sweat impos'd". (XI, 171-72) She is right in insisting that they return to work, but she mistakenly believes that the work is to be done in the fields of Paradise. Adam senses that his own knowledge is incomplete when he sees an eagle stalking two beautiful birds, and a lion chasing a hind toward the eastern gate of Paradise. He tells Eve that some further change awaits them. Also, in the sky he sees the light which signals the approach of Michael. Such a visitor, Adam says, may bring tidings which will "impose / New Laws to be observ'd" (XI, 227-28). True to his charge from God that he console the pair, Michael opens his speech with words of encouragement: Adam, Heav'n's high behest no Preface needs: Sufficient that thy Prayers are heard, and Death, Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress, Defeated of his seizure many days Giv'n thee of Grace, wherein thou mayst repent, And one bad act with many deeds well done May'st cover: well may then thy Lord appeas'd Redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim; But longer in this Paradise to dwell Permits not; to remove thee I am come, And send thee from the Garden forth to till The ground whence thou wast tak'n, fitter Soil. (XI, 251-62)

Only the closing words have meaning for Adam and Eve. Eve, hearing Michael's words, cries out in protest against leaving such joys as flowers which grow no where else. Adam more willingly

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submits to the justice of God's decree of banishment, yet he laments that he must be deprived of God's 'blessed count'nance' (XI, 317). Michael reassures Adam that all the earth belongs to God, and, that although he must leave Paradise, there are means of living with God elsewhere. Even outside of the Garden, Michael tells Adam, he will find God's 'goodness and paternal Love' (XI, 353). Michael then drenches the eyes of Eve with sleep, and leads Adam up a high hill to begin the revelation of future events. This revelation of the future, first by visions in Book XI and then by narration in Book XII, covers almost all of the remainder of the epic. The task at hand for Michael is enormous.31 First, according to his own words, he must show Adam what shall c o m e in future days T o thee and to thy Offspring. (XI, 3 5 7 - 5 8 )

He even indicates the substance of this story which will cover the six eras of history. He says: g o o d with bad Expect to hear, supernal Grace contending W i t h sinfulness of M e n . (XI, 3 5 8 - 6 0 )

Thus he announces to Adam the drama of the soul: God's grace, the only means of salvation, contending with the innate propensity to sin which all men will justly inherit from Adam. However, this revelation of the future has a purpose beyond merely recounting the consequences of the Fall. From it Adam may hope to learn True patience, and to temper joy with fear A n d pious sorrow, equally inur'd 31

The following articles are of interest in their discussions of the function of Michael in the last two books of Paradise Lost: William Marshall, "Paradise Lost: Felix Culpa and the Problem of Structure", Modern Language Notes, LXXVI (1961), 15-20; George Williamson, "The Education of Adam", Modern Philology, LXI (1963), 96-109; H. V. S. Ogden, "The Crisis of Paradise Lost Reconsidered", Philological Quarterly, XXXVI (1957), 1-19; and Lawrence A. Sasek, "The Drama of Paradise Lost, Books XI and XII", Studies in English Renaissance Literature, ed. W. F. McNeir (Louisiana State University Studies: Humanities Series), N o . 12 (1962), 181-96.

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Both ethical and doctrinal truths must therefore be revealed to Adam. The question now arises: How well does Michael (or Milton) succeed in this large task? Although the last two books of the epic have had such fine defenders as F. T. Prince and Joseph H. Summers, in general, modern critics have been inclined to answer, not very well.32 There is, many feel, too much use of precept and too little use of dramatic example. C. S. Lewis, for example, calls the books an "untransmuted lump of futurity, coming in a position so momentous for the structural effect of the whole work".33 Others, such as B. Rajan, say that the precept is 'bleak and barren' 34 because of Milton's disillusionment with the turn of political events in England, and they are dismayed by the dark tone, especially of Book XII. Sir Herbert Grierson has even called the whole of the last two books an 'after-thought'. He says: "The least interesting part of the poem is doubtless the visions and narrative of the last books when Michael descends to continue the instruction of Adam which Raphael had begun before the disaster. This was an after-thought, for in the earlier planned drama the consequences of the Fall were to have been presented in a symbolic Masque." 35 Grierson's comparison between the epic and Adam Unparadis'd raises an interesting point, one which may provide some insight on the structure and purpose of the last two books.38 Adam Unparadis'd is the fourth draft of a 32

The critics most severe in their statements are Peter, A Critique of Paradise Lost, pp. 138-58; Martz, The Paradise Within, pp. 141-67; and J. B. Broadbent, Some Graver Subject: An Essay on Paradise Lost (New York, 1960), pp. 269-86. 33 A Preface to Paradise Lost, p. 125. 34 Paradise Lost and the Seventeenth Century Reader (London, 1947), p. 79. 35 Milton and Wordsworth, p. 120. 38 For a complete discussion of Milton's Adam Unparadis'd and its relationship to Paradise Lost, see Grant McColley, Paradise Lost: An Account of Its Growth and Major Origins with a Discussion of Milton's Use of Sources and Literary Patterns (Chicago, 1940), pp. 269-93.

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tragedy on the Fall as Milton, probably in the early 1640s, outlined it in the Cambridge Manuscript. In that drama, Milton had planned to have Adam repent only after a lesson by Justice in Act IV, an intimidation by an intervening Chorus, and a masque of evils in Act V. Milton describes the fifth act of his proposed tragedy in this way: the Angel [Gabriel] is sent to banish them out of paradise but before causes to passe before his eyes in Shapes a mask of all the evills of this life & world he is humbl'd relents, dispaires. at last appeares Mercy comforts him promises the Messiah, then calls in faith, hope & charity, instructs him he repents gives god the glory, submitts to his penalty the chorus breifly concludes.37

Adam's confession of guilt, then, it would seem, was to have come largely through fear. Now, as we know, in the epic Adam's confession comes at the end of Book X, and it comes of his own free will after having been subdued by his own misery. The purpose of the last two books, then, from the point of view of Adam, must serve some new purpose beyond confession. A return to Michael's words is helpful. When Michael first arrives in the Garden, he tells Adam that through God's grace he has been granted a reprieve from death wherein he may repent and cover his act of disobedience with good deeds. Adam's repentance has proceeded only through a confession of guilt, and the surprise announcement of banishment from Eden makes it necessary for him to have new knowledge before he can proceed any further. Michael says that he has come with such knowledge, and he mentions this function in connection with another which, so far as I can discover, has not been noticed before. Michael says, concerning the knowledge he brings, Which that thou may'st believe, and be confirm'd, Ere thou from hence depart. (XI, 355-56)

The last phrase, "Ere thou from hence depart", is important; it means, I believe, that Adam's mental attitude is still to be the subject of the last two books. Michael is still obligated to review «

CE., XVIII, 232.

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the events of the future, but he is doing so with the purpose of completing Adam's regeneration. Belief or saving faith seems to be the goal toward which Michael is working. The point is this: If we keep our attention on Adam, we may find that the growth of his spiritual character is the subject of the last two books, and that the review of history and the doctrinal truths are meant to serve a dramatic purpose and are not merely an addition which Milton knew was necessary to complete the scope of his epic. Indeed, we may find that Milton has abandoned the pictorial method of Book XI for the good reason that Adam has rejected the evils which so dominate the pageants presented in this book, and is then ready for some more positive precepts which he may accept for his conversion to good. With any statement expressing a new faith, Milton will have carried Adam as far as he could in this poem, since the whole process of regeneration was one which had to recur frequently during man's earthly life. Adam willingly follows his celestial guide up the hill, for although he realizes the experience to come will be a chastening one, he still hopes that from his suffering he may at last 'earn rest' (XI, 375). Milton compares the hill in Paradise to the one from which Christ later views the glory of the kingdoms of the world. Like Christ, the second Adam, Adam will reject the evil he views from this hill. Before he can see these visions, his eyes must be cleared through divine aid of that film which the "false Fruit that promis'd clearer sight / Had bred" (XI, 413-14). The visions which follow in Book XI cover the first era of history, the time of Adam through the Flood. 38 The point of the visions of this book is to illustrate the battle between man's vileness and God's power to redeem him. The first three visions, furthermore, seem prefatory to the last two; the first three illustrate man's innate corruptness after the Fall, while the last two illus38

Regarding the material contained in these visions, McColley writes: "Throughout the seven hundred and fifty verses which began with Adam's first vision of Book XI, and closed with Michael's first revelation of Book XII, Milton's narrative has followed such a pattern as that employed in the Divine Weeks" (p. 199). Du Bartas may well have provided one of the patterns for the organization of this material; however, McColley does not discuss the dramatic purposes to which Milton put that material.

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trate the power of God's grace to save. Michael tells Adam to open his eyes on the first vision and to behold Th' effects which thy original crime hath wrought In some to spring from thee, who never touch'd Th' excepted Tree, nor with the Snake conspir'd, Nor sinn'd thy sin, yet from that sin derive Corruption to bring forth more violent deeds. (XI, 424-28)

Before Adam's eyes come Cain and Abel, the immediate offspring. Their story clearly illustrates the point that both Sin and Death have come into the world because of the Fall. Both brothers make sacrifices to God; and when only Abel's is accepted, Cain, through envy, slays his brother. Adam's first reaction is against the act itself. "Is Piety thus and pure Devotion paid?" (XI, 452) Man, Adam learns, no longer worships God as he should. In "True religion . . . God is worshipped with sincerity" 39 and not with "an hypocritical worship, in which the external forms are duly observed, but without any accompanying affection of the mind". 40 But if Adam laments the cause of the deed, he is also frightened by his experience of witnessing a death: have I now seen Death? Is this the way I must return to native dust? (XI, 462-63)

Michael's reply is unpleasant; physical death will take many shapes, and from fratricide the visions expand to include death through diseases caused by intemperance, through old age, through war, and finally through God's punishment of evil by the Flood. The very increase in the enormity of physical death is one of the ways Milton holds the visions together. An improper external worship of God is not the only unnatural event resulting from the Fall; man has also forgotten how to respect the image of God in which he was made. In the next two visions, Adam seems in fact to echo Milton's thoughts of the Christian Doctrine, where it is stated that God is often best worshipped by internal worship or the cultivation of devout affec39 40

CE., XVII, 75. CE., XVII, 77.

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tions. In the second vision, Adam is first appropriately shocked by the physical decay he sees in the Lazar-house, and he is told by Michael that 'th' inabstinence of Eve' (XI, 476) has caused such misery. The scene at the Lazar-house is enough to bring tears to Adam's eyes; when he recovers his manly bearing, he laments: Can thus Th' Image of God in Man created once So goodly and erect, though faulty since, To such unsightly sufferings be debas't Under inhuman pains? Why should not Man, Retaining still Divine similitude In part, from such deformities be free, And for his Maker's Image sake exempt? (XI, 507-14)

Michael's reply is a lesson in temperance, in the need for the reason to govern the appetites of men. Man's major resemblance to God is in his reason; and if man chooses to forsake his reason, then the resulting decay of the body is not a disfigurement of God's image but man's own. Once men have allowed the appetites to gain control, then they pervert pure Nature's healthful rules To loathsome sickness, worthily, since they God's Image did not reverence in themselves. (XI, 523-25)

Man, Michael admits, can avoid such a painful method of death by 'the rule of not too much' (XI, 531), but even then he must not expect old age to be without its own kind of misery, a change which will leave man 'wither'd weak and gray' (XI, 540). The vision has its proper effect on Adam, for he rejects the evil of intemperance and promises to live patiently through his numbered days. Michael adds the reminder that these days must be lived well. The third vision, that of the Sons of God on the spacious plain, contrasts to the second. Where the second treats the bodily destruction brought about by the passions' control of the reason, the third treats the destruction of the Image of God through the willful choice of wrong. Where the sins of the second vision are "

CE., XVII, 195.

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'inductive mainly to the sin of Eve' (XI, 519), those of the third are caused by 'Man's effeminate slackness' (XI, 634). These men of the third vision, descendants of the race of Cain, seem at first to Adam to be worthy men; they appear hardworking and even interested in the arts; and Adam is pleased with their marriages among a 'Bevy of fair Women' (XI, 582). Nature seems to be taking its proper course. Michael thus must explain what Adam seems to have forgotten: one should not judge by appearances. Studious though these men appear, they are 'unmindful of thir Maker, though his Spirit / Taught them (XI, 611-12). Although they have made use of God's gifts, they have failed to acknowledge God as the source of their strength. Like Adam at the Fall, they eventually put 'that fair female Troop' (XI, 614) above God. Certainly with the theme of man's innate corruptness throughout the three visions Adam has found nothing for rejoicing. His posterity has forgotten how to worship God properly, and even how to respect what remains of the divine image in man's fallen state. The appetites will overwhelm the reason to bring physical death, and the will frequently acts against the reason's better judgment. Michael does not continue with this theme of innate corruption alone in the next two visions; to it he adds that of God's power to redeem. Moreover, as he adds this new theme, he employs a new stylistic device, that of character types, which he will carry over into his later narrative when he halts the parade of visions before Adam. The two character types of good are Enoch and Noah, men whom Summers accurately calls 'heroes of faith in the visions of Book XI', 42 and they are presented in the contrasting situations of war and peace. Yet the contrast between the two visions is not that which Adam says he expected to see. I had hope When violence was ceas't and War on Earth, All would have then gone well, peace would have crown'd With length of happy days the race of man; But I was far deceiv'd. (XI, 779-83)

The carnage of the battlefield, the pillaging, and the besieging of 42

The Muse's Method,

p. 198.

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cities all seem Milton's concrete presentation of the sin of theft and the invasion of the rights of others which he lists among the manifold sins of the Fall in his Christian Doctrine.13 Men of such inhuman practices Adam rejects as 'Death's Ministers, not Men' (XI, 676). These scenes, however, are replaced by no more pleasant ones in peace. 'Luxury and riot, feast and dance' (XI, 715) become the common pastimes, and 'civil Broils' (XI, 718) take up the fighting of the battlefields. Men's values, Adam discovers, during both peace and war are wrong. The giants are admired only for their physical strength, and their fame rests upon the destruction they bring. Such fame, 'of true virtue void' (XI, 790), may mean high titles and wealth for the conquerors, but during peace this fame soon turns these men into slaves to 'pleasure, ease, and sloth' (XI, 794). Even the conquered people will lose their zeal as they become time-servers. In the end, all shall turn degenerate, all deprav'd, Justice and Temperance, Truth and Faith forgot. (XI, 806-807)

This degeneration at last causes God to reject the evil he sees and to destroy the world by the Flood. Enoch and Noah are the true contrasts to the chaos similar to both peace and war: Enoch against the oppression of the warlords, and Noah against the licentiousness of their progeny. Both are derided by their fellow men for their advice to repent. Enoch is beset With Foes for daring single to be just, And utter odious Truth, that God would come To judge them with his Saints. (XI, 703-705)

And Noah preached Conversion and Repentance, as to Souls In Prison under Judgments imminent: But all in vain. (XI, 724-26)

Yet their own faith and their championship of God's cause are observed by God, and their reward is from Him. About to be «

CE„ XV, 183.

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harmed by the giants, Enoch is rescued by the personal intervention of God. Michael interprets this part of the fourth vision for Adam: Him the most High Rapt in a balmy Cloud with winged Steeds Did, as thou saw'st, receive, to walk with God High in Salvation and the Climes of bliss, Exempt from Death; to show thee what reward Awaits the good. (XI, 705-10)

Noah, the 'one just Man alive' (XI, 818), is selected by God to be the head of the new race which will people the earth after the Flood. Adam himself rejoices that among so many wicked men there is one 'so perfet, and so just' (XI, 876). I have suggested that Adam's reactions to the visions constitute his rejection of evil. Through the vision of the Flood, his rejection is of a negative sort, coming mainly through his laments at the horrors of death and the sinfulness of man. His full realization of the terrible consequences of the Fall comes just at the time when, in the chronology of the vision, God tires of man's sinful ways and punishes him by the Flood. Adam's lament, after the vision of the Flood, is the longest of the book and the one most filled with contrition. Adam begins: O Visions ill foreseen! better had I Liv'd ignorant of future, so had borne My part of evil only, each day's lot Anough to bear; those now, that were dispens't The burd'n of many Ages, on me light At once, by more foreknowledge gaining Birth Abortive, to torment me ere thir being, With thought that they must be. Let no man seek Henceforth to be foretold what shall befall Him or his Children, evil he may be sure, Which neither his foreknowing can prevent, And hee the future evil shall no less In apprehension than in substance feel Grievous to bear. (XI, 763-76)

Adam does not question the ways of God; he accepts the justice of the punishment which God has inflicted on the world, and he admits that his own sin has brought the burden of sin into the

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world. All is not complete despair, though, for Adam sees in the last vision a rainbow which Michael tells him betokens 'peace from God, and Cov'nant new' (XI, 867). He rejoices that God will raise another world and will promise to forget his anger. It is, then, against this background of hope now mingling with almost overwhelming sorrow that Adam, at the beginning of Book XII, makes his real rejection of evil. Going beyond a mere lament, this rejection comes in the indignation at and the condemnation of Nimrod. It is the concept of tyranny which Adam rejects. Michael's lengthy description and interpretation of Nimrod's actions may well be Milton's own comment on the events of English political history. In Eikonoklastes, Milton had suggested that the bishops might have told King Charles I "that Nimrod, the first that hunted after Faction is reputed, by ancient Tradition, the first that founded Monarchy".44 The definition of a tyrant from The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates as one who "whether by wrong or by right coming to the C r o w n . . . [and] regarding neither Law nor the common good, reigns onely for himself and his faction",45 fits the description of Nimrod as one who shall rise Of proud ambitious heart, who not content With fair equality, fraternal state, Will arrogate Dominion undeserv'd Over his brethren, and quite dispossess Concord and law of Nature from the Earth. (XII, 25-29) King Charles, too, had attempted to rise above the law, for, according to Milton in Eikonoklastes, King Charles himself hath many times acknowledg'd to have no right over us but by Law; and by the same Law to govern us: but Law in a Free Nation hath bin ever public reason, the enacted reason of a Parlament; which he denying to enact, denies to govern us by that which ought to be our Law; interposing his own privat reason, which to us is no Law.46 44 45 46

CE., V, 185. CE., V, 18. CE., V, 83.

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Milton and Michael also agree on the reasons for man's submission to this tyranny. Michael explains, first, that right reason and liberty are inseparable, and, then, that since man permits Within himself unworthy Powers to reign Over free Reason, God in Judgment just Subjects him from without to violent Lords; Who oft as undeservedly enthral His outward freedom: Tyranny must be, Though to the Tyrant thereby no excuse. (XII, 91-96) Milton opens The Tenure with this same argument: If men within themselves would be govern'd by reason, and not generally give up thir understanding to a double tyrannie, of Custom from without, and blind affections within, they would discerne better, what it is to favour and uphold the Tyrant of a Nation. But being slaves within doors, no wonder that they strive so much to have the public State conformably govern'd to the inward vitious rule, by which they govern themselves.47 Christ had come that men might be freed from such inward tyranny; Christ, "by being born, and serving, and dying, under tyrants, has purchased all rightful liberty for us." 48 Yet, Milton also believed, most men will prefer not to exercise the responsibility coming with the liberty derived from regeneration. He says, in A Defence of the English People: I confess there are but few, and those men of great wisdom and courage, that are either desirous of liberty or capable of using it. Far the greatest part of the world prefers just masters - masters, observe, but just ones. As for masters unjust and unbearable, neither was God ever so much an enemy to mankind as to constrain our submission to them, nor was there ever any people so destitute of all sense and sunk into such depth of despair as of its own accord to impose so cruel a law upon itself and its posterity.49 Yet, at the Restoration, Milton found that men did not know how to value true liberty, and he must record a portion of that dismay at the English people in Michael's statement: « 48 49

CE., V, l. A Defence of the English CE., VII, 75.

People,

CE., VII, 145.

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Yet sometimes Nations will decline so low From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong, But Justice, and some fatal curse annext Deprives them of thir outward liberty, Thir inward lost. (XII, 97-101)

Be that as it may, the section of the epic on Nimrod is not an interruption on Milton's part, but a necessary structural part in the spiritual growth of Adam. For some time after the Flood, Michael tells Adam, men lived in 'joy unblam'd' (XII, 22); with a remembrance of God's punishment for wickedness, they labored in the fields, governed themselves peacefully under paternal rule, and dutifully held days of sacrifice to God. Such peace continued until the tyrannic rule of Nimrod, who is the human counterpart of the angelic rebel, Satan. Both are rebels against the just ways of God, and both for the same reason, pride and ambition. Neither of them understands the meaning of the word jreedom. Satan tells his followers that service under God is slavery, and Abdiel's challenge to that definition means nothing to the evil angels. Abdiel says: Apostate, still thou err'st, nor end wilt find Of erring, from the path of truth remote: Unjustly thou deprav'st it with the name Of Servitude to serve whom God ordains, Or Nature; God and Nature bid the same, When he who rules is worthiest, and excels Them whom he governs. This is servitude, To serve th' unwise, or him who hath rebell'd Against his worthier, as thine now serve thee, Thyself not free, but to thyself enthrall'd; Yet lewdly dar'st our minist'ring upbraid. (VI, 172-82)

Nimrod puts into practice the very kind of servitude which Abdiel detects in Satan's plan, and he does it by force. Claiming a second sovereignty from God, Nimrod breaks the law of nature which should guide men in public life, and through war subjugates those who refuse 'his Empire tyrannouse' (XII, 32). Moreover, like Satan, who in public tells his followers that their revolt will gain them the imperial titles they deserve, Nimrod vies with God by building the Tower of Babel. In the end, neither attempt is

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successful; Satan is greeted with the hissing of snakes at his return to Pandemonium, and Nimrod by the 'jangling noise of words unknown' (XII, 55). Adam's reaction to Michael's narrative concerning Nimrod is more than a lament; quick and perceptive, it is a condemnation of the tyrant. O excrable Son so to aspire Above his Brethren, to himself assuming Authority usurpt, from God not giv'n: He gave us only over Beast, Fish, Fowl Dominion absolute; that right we hold By his donation; but Man over men He made not Lord; such title to himself Reserving, human left from human free. But this Usurper his encroachment proud Stays not on Man; to God his Tower intends Siege and defiance: Wretched man! what food Will he convey up thither to sustain Himself and his rash Army, where thin Air Above the Clouds will pine his entrails gross, And famish him of Breath, if not of Bread? (II, 64-78)

The sin which Adam rejects here is disobedience against the law of nature. Men should not be required by force to live under the domination of other men whose concerns and motives for government are not those dictated by right reason. Nor should anyone attempt to encroach upon or assume the divinity of God. The law of nature demands that man worship God, not that he be God. However, belatedly and ironically, Adam is thinking of his former powers which had allowed him to understand and follow the law of nature perfectly, and Michael has to remind him of his spiritual death. In short, Adam has rejected a well-chosen concrete embodiment of an evil for which his original disobedience is responsible. True liberty which Adam had when his will followed the dictates of his reason is no longer: Since thy original lapse, true Liberty Is lost, which always with right Reason dwells Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being: Reason in man obscur'd, or not obey'd, Immediately inordinate desires

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"PARADISE LOST" And upstart Passions catch the Government From Reason, and to servitude reduce Man till then free. (XII, 83-90)

As a consequence man may have to suffer the rule of a tyrant, and, as Michael has explained, this outward loss of freedom is only indicative of the upset in the balance of man's natural faculties. 3.

THE RENEWAL OF FAITH

With this rejection of evil and Michael's reminder of man's spiritual death, Adam is hardly in a more comfortable situation than he was before the visions began. The question now becomes: Can man hope to regain his lost liberty? Can he hope ever again to resemble the pair whom Satan saw in Paradise 'in true filial freedom plac't' (IV, 294)? The answer, as we have seen from the Christian Doctrine, is yes; he may through adoption by God in Christ. This answer provides a key to the remainder of the epic. At the beginning of Book XII, the visions cease, and, I think, for good reason. Adam no longer needs to be impressed by the consequences of the Fall as much as he does to be instructed in positive precepts of the way which God has provided for man to regain his true liberty. Michael is no longer concerned, then, with all the events of history, but only those within the five remaining eras which gradually work toward the re-establishment of the law of nature in man. It is time for Adam to see inwardly, through his reason, the vision of man's redemption, to understand more fully the meaning of the Covenant of Grace, which he knows now only obscurely through the promise contained in the curse upon the serpent. Readers of Paradise Lost need not regret that Milton replaced the visions of the events of the first era with a narration of the remaining five, for his new technique will emphasize more easily the subject of freedom now raised by the Nimrod episode. As Maurice Kelley has pointed out, much of Michael's narration is a rapid blank verse summary of the doctrines of Chapters 14 through 32 of the Christian Doctrine.™ What is important here is 50

This Great Argument, p. 193.

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not so much to point out these numerous parallels as to attempt to show how the emphasis which Michael places on the various episodes leads Adam towards his conversion to good and his saving faith. The first of these episodes important to man's recovery of true liberty is the calling of Abraham. Life after the Flood, Michael tells Adam, tended 'from bad to worse' (XII, 106) until at last God resolved to leave most men to their own slavish ways, and to cause his 'Nation from one faithful man to spring' (XII, 113). This one faithful man is Abraham, by tradition the father of the Jewish people, and, according to the Christian Doctrine, 'an idolater' at the time of his calling.51 Abraham's faith in God is emphasized repeatedly throughout Michael's narration. At the command to leave his native land in order that God may establish a new nation, Abraham obeys and 'firm believes' (XII, 127), even though he does not know his destination. With his followers, Abraham wanders, trusting in God, until he comes to the land of Canaan. The significance of Abraham's obedience and faith lies in the fact that through his chosen band God will raise one who shall bless all nations. At first Michael only alludes to the Redeemer when he repeats God's promise to Abraham that from him will raise A mighty Nation, and upon him show'r His benediction so, that in his Seed All Nations shall be blest. (XII, 123-26)

But, lest Adam has missed this reference, Michael clearly explains it as the Abraham episode ends: This ponder, that all Nations of the Earth Shall in his Seed be blessed; by that Seed Is meant thy great deliverer, who shall bruise The Serpent's head. (XII, 147-50)

With this emphasis on man's Redeemer, then, it is hardly surprising that Michael selects a portion of the story of Moses for the central episode of the third era of history. Moses, as both the epic and treatise point out, is a type of mediator foreshadowing Christ. The two events Michael selects from the life of Moses are his 51

CE.,

XV, 351.

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leading the Jewish people from Egyptian captivity and his receiving the tablets from God on Mount Sinai; they are related by their contrast of the idea of service. With the death of Joseph, the Jewish people find themselves slaves in Egypt. The new Pharaoh, like Nimrod, is a tyrant, who ignores God's command for the freedom of his people. He disregards the messages of Moses from God and complies only after the ten plagues; he becomes more sinful as he hardens his heart against the just demands of God, and his death in the Red Sea is punishment for his failure to heed God. Freed from physical slavery, the Jewish people are led by God into the wilderness. There they receive from Moses the laws under which they must live in service under God. Part of these laws pertain to civil affairs, and another to religious rites. The sacrifices of these rites all foreshadow the greater Sacrifice to come which will mean 'Mankind's deliverance' (XII, 235). In explaining these laws to the people Moses begins his task as a mediator. Surely these lines: But the voice of God To mortal ear is dreadful; they beseech That Moses might report to them his will, And terror cease; he grants what they besought, Instructed that to God is no access Without Mediator, whose high Office now Moses in figure bears, to introduce One greater, of whose day he shall foretell, And all the Prophets in thir Age the times Of great Messiah shall sing (XII, 235-44)

are the poetic counterpart of the Christian Doctrine's statement that the "name and office of mediator is in a certain sense ascribed to Moses, as a type of Christ".52 Under these laws the people return to a proper worship of God, and begin the struggles to regain the Promised Land. At this point in the narrative, Adam interrupts. He is confused, but not by Michael's refusal to relate all the battles engaged in by the Jewish people. Rather he questions the need for so many laws. Adam must recall that in Eden he has lived under no 52

CF.., X V , 287.

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written laws and under only one divine prescript, and he asks Michael: This yet I apprehend not, why to those Among whom God will deign to dwell on Earth So many and so various Laws are giv'n; So many Laws argue so many sins Among them; how can God with such reside? (XII, 280-84)

Adam's question is a good one, for it allows Michael to remind Adam again of the serious consequences of the Fall and at the same time to continue his explanation of how man may regain his liberty. Because of his fallen nature, man can and still does sin, Michael replies. Indeed, the effect of the Law, he says, is not to free man from sin but only make him aware of his sin. The Mosaic Law, as Milton writes in the Christian Doctrine, is 'a schoolmaster to bring us to the righteousness of Christ'.53 Michael's poetic version is: therefore was Law given them to evince Thir natural pravity, by stirring up Sin against Law to fight; that when they see Law can discover sin, but not remove, Save by those shadowy expiations weak, The blood of Bulls and Goats, they may conclude Some blood more precious must be paid for Man, Just for unjust. (XII, 287-94)

The Law cannot justify men before God; neither can the blood of the ceremonial sacrifices equal the blood of Christ, nor can man ever fulfill all the moral laws. Under the Law, man is justified only by his belief in God's promise of a great Deliverer. Thus, since the Law cannot justify, it appears imperfet, and but giv'n With purpose to resign them in full time U p to a better Cov'nant, disciplin'd From shadowy Types to Truth, from Flesh to Spirit, From imposition of strict Laws, to free Acceptance of large Grace, from servile fear To filial, works of Law to works of Faith. (XII, 300-306) 53

CE„ XVI, 131.

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This imperfection in the Law is manifested in the person of Moses; the Christian Doctrine says, "for Moses, who was a type of the law, could not bring the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, that is, into eternal rest; but an entrance was given to them under Joshua, or Jesus".64 This comment explains the lines by Michael: And therefore shall not Moses, though of God Highly belov'd, being but the Minister Of Law, his people into Canaan lead; But Joshua whom the Gentiles Jesus call His Name and Office bearing, who shall quell The adversary Serpent, and bring back Through the world's wilderness long wander'd man Safe to eternal Paradise of rest. (XII, 307-14)

Michael is most concerned with this second Joshua, the Redeemer, through whom man may pass from under the yoke of the imperfect Law to his freedom. As a result, Michael hurries through the next two eras. Of the events before the birth of Christ, Michael dwells on those of dissension, both political and religious. Of the various judges and kings, he speaks favorably only of David and Solomon. To David a promise is made that from his stock shall rise A Son, the Woman's Seed to thee foretold, Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust All Nations, and to Kings foretold, of Kings The last, for of his Reign shall be no end. (XII, 327-30)

About the other kings, "Part good, part bad, of bad the longer scroll" (XII, 336), Michael has to report that for their own and their people's sins, God will punish them with seventy, years of Babylonian captivity. Against this background of strife and 'barr'd of his right' (XII, 360) to the throne of David, Christ is born into the world. The description of Christ's birth lacks the lyrical beauty of Milton's earlier Nativity Ode. None the less, Adam is pleased at 54

CE., XVI, 111.

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the announcement, for it has been, he says, "What oft my steadiest thoughts have searcht in vain" (XII, 377). Neither he nor Michael questions the matter of the Incarnation, and their speeches reflect Milton's own quiet acceptance of the union of Christ's human and divine natures in one person as 'the greatest mystery of our religion'.55 Michael merely reports: A Virgin is his Mother, but his Sire The Power of the most High (XII, 368-69)

and Adam repeats him: Virgin Mother, Hail High in the love of Heav'n, yet from my Loins Thou shalt proceed, and from thy Womb the Son Of God most High; So God with man unites. (XII, 379-82)

Adam is so pleased with the announcement of Christ's birth that he asks Michael to continue and to describe for him the battle to take place between Christ and Satan. Michael's reply is significant, for it states in unequivocal terms not a physical warfare but a spiritual one, the drama of the soul. Michael says: Dream not of thir fight As of a Duel, or the local wounds Of head or heel: not therefore joins the Son Manhood to Godhead, with more strength to foil Thy enemy; nor so is overcome Satan, whose fall from Heav'n, a deadlier bruise, Disabl'd not to give thee thy death's wound: Which hee, who comes thy Saviour, shall recure, Not by destroying Satan, but his works In thee and in thy Seed. (XII, 386-95)

The rest of Michael's speech, which in its entirety runs seventynine lines, is an explanation of Christ's mediation. Doctrinally, the speech contains many parallels with the chapters of the Christian Doctrine on redemption; Maurice Kelley lists some twenty-six of them.50 In tone the passage reflects the somewhat legalistic manner in which Milton views the Atonement; there is 55 58

CE„ XV, 263. This Great Argument, pp. 268-69.

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no lyrical outburst as the Crucifixion is reported as we might expect from a more evangelical Christian poet. Still, the passage is dramatically appropriate. The major emphasis of Book XII thus far has been on the need for faith, and the major purpose of Michael's mission is to give such knowledge so that Adam may 'believe, and be confirmed'. It seems only appropriate, then, that with the story of Christ's satisfaction of divine justice Michael should include also some stress on man's obligation in his restoration. Indeed, Michael cannot drop his emphasis on faith without destroying the very point toward which he has been working. True, Adam must come to realize that his restoration depends on Christ's satisfaction, but he must also realize that justification is through faith. Milton gives us a key to understanding Michael's speech when he writes in the Christian Doctrine, "The effect and design of the whole ministry of mediation is, the satisfaction of divine justice on behalf of all men, and the conformation of the faithful to the image of Christ." 57 This conformation of the faithful is to both Christ's state of humiliation and his exaltation. Only through the mediation of Christ, Michael tells Adam, "can high Justice rest appaid" (XII, 401) and the works of Satan be destroyed in man. In his state of humiliation, Christ, first, will fulfill the Law of God, Both by obedience and by love, though love Alone fulfil the Law. (XII, 403-404)

This Law of God includes both the unwritten law originally engraved on Adam's mind at his creation and the later written law expressed in the law of Moses. Man has been able to keep neither; Adam by willfully choosing wrong brought about man's spiritual death which, in turn, keeps his progeny from being able to fulfill the written law. Christ can fulfill both through his obedience and love. Next, Christ will accept the penalty of man's disobedience and will die on the cross. Now, although these two actions are enough to satisfy for the redemption of all men, faith is required «

CE., XV, 315.

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on their part if their attempts at obedience are to be perfected by Christ and if their sins are to die through Christ. As Michael explains to Adam: thy punishment He shall endure by coming in the Flesh To a reproachful life and cursed death, Proclaiming Life to all who shall believe In his redemption, and that his obedience Imputed becomes theirs by Faith, his merits To save them, not thir own, though legal works. (XII, 404-10)

On the cross with Christ will be the old Law and the sins of all mankind, Never to hurt them more who rightly trust In this his satisfaction. (XII, 418-19)

Man's conformity to the image of Christ extends beyond the humiliation, however, to the exaltation. This exaltation includes Christ's resurrection, his ascension, and his sitting at the right hand of God, and the believer may follow in these steps. First, Christ's crucifixion has cancelled the doom of an eternal death, and as Christ was resurrected so will man be after his 'temporal death' (XII, 433). The resurrection offers new life to as many as Neglect not, and the benefit embrace By Faith not void of works. (XII, 426-27)

Whereas Michael reports Christ's resurrection as on the third day after his death, he leaves indefinite the date of man's resurrection from his 'death like sleep' (XII, 434). Christ's ascension and his return to God come immediately after his leaving earth. Man's union with God must wait the Last Judgment. At that indefinite date Christ will come to judge both quick and dead, To judge th' unfaithful dead, but to reward His faithful, and receive them into bliss, Whether in Heav'n or Earth, for then the Earth Shall all be Paradise, far happier place Than this of Eden, and far happier days. (XII, 460-65)

These lines close Michael's explanation of the ministry of Christ,

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and they bring the narration of the events of history down to what Milton calls 'the World's great period' (XII, 467). More important, the speech as a whole links the theme of man's restoration with the theme of the Fall. For the imputed sin of one man, all mankind was justly condemned; now through the imputed righteousness of a greater Man, all mankind has the benefit of redemption. Yet - and this is an important point of Michael's speech - man must choose for himself to accept this imputed righteousness. Just as Adam was free to stand or to fall, his progeny are free to accept or reject God's mercy. Surely at this point in the epic Milton intends for us to recall God's words of Book III where God explains: in Mercy and Justice both, Through Heav'n and Earth, so shall my glory excel, But Mercy first and last shall brightest shine. (Ill, 132-34)

Because Christ will satisfy God's justice, man may feel God's mercy. God has promised to clear man's darkened senses sufficiently so that he may choose to return to God in a spirit of repentance. Ultimately, then, man's restoration depends on God's grace; but men must possess a faith not void of works and must follow the Umpire Conscience, whom if they will hear, Light after light well us'd they shall attain, And to the end persisting, safe arrive. (Ill, 195-97)

This faith man wills for himself through his restored faculties, and these he must use in his daily perseverance against evil. God's Providence has indeed been kind to fallen man, and in the end, good has come out of evil. Adam recognizes how the victory of Christ demonstrates God's Providence, and he says as Michael finishes his speech: O goodness infinite, goodness immense! That all this good of evil shall produce, And evil turn to good; more wonderful Than that which by creation first brought forth Light out of darkness! full of doubt I stand, Whether I should repent me now of sin

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By mee done and occasion'd, or rejoice Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring, To God more glory, more good will to Men From God, and over wrath grace shall abound. (XII, 469-78)

These lines reflect Adam's recognition of the irony which prevades the entire epic; they also may be called the beginning of his conversion to good, the last step of his repentance. Satan has succeeded in tempting all mankind, through Adam, to sin; and he believes that their transgression, like his own, will result in complete ruin. But Satan has overlooked the nature of the two falls, as God has not. The angels, God says, by thir own suggestion fell, Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls deceiv'd By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace, The other none. (Ill, 129-32)

Both the angels and men were created with free will, and in the fall of neither can God be held responsible, even in his foreknowledge of their falls. Once Satan has fallen, God allows his existence in the world; but the irony of Satan's existence is that he will bring destruction upon himself and good to man, at least to fallen man. The chapter on Providence in the Christian Doctrine tells us that God does not "make that will evil which was before good, but the will being already in a state of perversion, he influences it in such a manner, that out of its own wickedness it either operates good for others, or punishment for itself, though unknowingly, and with the intent of producing a very different result." 58 Furthermore, "the end which a sinner has in view is generally something evil and unjust, from which God uniformly educes a good and just result, thus as it were creating light out of darkness".69 Satan has announced that evil is his 'sole delight' (I, 160), and thus for him there is no hope of God's grace; he is corrupt throughout, and his punishment will be complete. The case for Adam is different. He is not totally responsible for his fall, since he was 'deceiv'd'. That he must suffer some punishment 59 59

CE„ XV, 73-75. CE., XV, 75.

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is inevitable, and we have seen how he suffers the consequences of the Fall. Yet, as we know, God has promised that his "mercy first and last shall brightest shine", and with the satisfaction of God's justice, man has been restored the use of free will so that he may again, if he chooses, follow good. Adam even questions whether he should lament the Fall. Quite rightly, he does not admit that he had the right to disobey God's commandment, but he does rejoice that through God's grace he and the human race are in a position to once more willingly choose to obey God. The happy issue of the Fall, as Michael will explain later, is that man has gained within himself a happier Paradise than the external one which he must now leave. Before Michael announces the Paradise within, however, he has another question to answer. Michael has told Adam that for his great redemptive mission Christ will be slain. Adam, therefore, perceptively questions: if our deliverer up to Heav'n Must reascend, what will betide the few His faithful, left among th' unfaithful herd, The enemies of truth; who then shall guide His people, who defend? (XII, 479-83)

Undoubtedly, into Michael's reply comes some of the disillusionment Milton must have felt regarding the religious controversies of his day, for the reply presents a rather unpleasant picture. The clergymen will become corrupt; Michael calls them 'grievous Wolves' (XII, 508), who will profane religion by their greed and ambition and who, with superstition and tradition, will taint the truth which is 'by the Spirit understood' (XII, 514). Secular power will try to force its way on the church which should be ruled by Christ alone. The people will pervert religion by turning to the worship of forms and idols. The sum of all this is, Michael says, that truth will be slandered and "works of Faith / Rarely be found" (XII, 536-37). And, what is surely worse, so shall the World go on, To good malignant, to bad men benign, Under her own weight groaning. (XII, 537-39)

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Michael, of course, makes no charge in this reply which Milton himself had not made, especially in the two tracts, A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes and The Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church, both of which appeared just before the Restoration. What is unfortunate is that some of the hopeful tone of the tract Of True Religion, which appeared several years later (1673), could not have been included here, too. Despite its tone, however, the passage does have a purpose, and I cannot agree with Rajan, who says the "whole scene does nothing".60 In the first place, it introduces the last bit of information on restoration that Adam needs to know. With the coming of Gospel times and the satisfaction of Christ, God has promised to send the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers. Under the guidance of this spirit of truth, man can truly become free. Michael reports that this Spirit shall dwell within believers, and the Law of Faith Working through love, upon thir hearts shall write, To guide them in all truth, and also arm With spiritual Armor, able to resist Satan's assaults, and quench his fiery darts, What Man can do against them. (XII, 488-93)

Technically the Adam of Eden cannot share in this particular blessing of Gospel times, but as representative of humanity, Adam must have the information to complete his understanding of God's Providence, and to realize fully how man's restoration has brought good out of evil. But the scene does more than this; it emphasizes again the principle already illustrated in the Nimrod episode. That is, inner corruption exhibits itself outwardly. Here the example is the corruption of the organized church, where before it was tyranny in government. And this is an excellent place for Michael to remind Adam of the need for self-government. Adam has learned so far that, by God's grace, man has regained the use of his rational faculties, especially his will. But the very men, Michael's example seems to say, who should be teaching Christ's words to 60

Paradise Lost and the Seventeenth Century Reader, p. 84.

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the world are failing because of self-corruption. How much more careful then must the layman be. The emphasis is exactly where Michael wants it. If there is a victory to be won, the battle must first successfully be fought within the individual soul. New Heav'ns, new Earth, Ages of endless date Founded in righteousness and peace and love. (XII, 549-50)

These must await the final conflagration. In the meantime the Paradise Adam must leave can be found only in the soul, and the struggle to keep that Paradise will be struggle enough. In short, the episode emphasizes man's responsibility in his salvation in a way which is not possible during Michael's account of the life of Christ. There man's moral responsibility is subordinate to Christ's actions, those great manifestations of divine love. In this second episode, the important feature is man's responsibility, his need to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and it is unfortunate that certain men, according to Michael, had made such poor use of the privilege of Christian liberty. These ideas of God's grace and man's responsibility are clearly the ones which stand out in all Michael's visions and narration. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, all these are recipients of God's grace because each in his way has demonstrated his faith in God and his willingness to follow God's ways. Indeed, these two ideas are central in Milton's justification of God's ways to fallen man, and Milton uses both in the closing speeches of Adam and Michael on the hill. These well-known speeches divide the lesson of the epic between them. Adam's emphasis is on obedience, on the need for man to depend on God's love and grace. In disobeying God's commandment, Adam had attempted to go beyond the knowledge which God had set as a limit for the happiness of man, and Adam's speech is, in a sense, another confession of sin. Yet the speech is also his conversion to good, for in it he asserts his regenerate will and expresses his renewal of faith in God through Christ. All he has learned and gained 'in peace of thought' (XII, 558), he says, is by his example whom I now Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest. (XII, 572-73)

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Michael, it is true, gives the formal name to what Adam does willingly when the angel says, "add Faith" (XII, 582); but it is entirely appropriate for the angelic guide to have the last word. Adam should not at this point boast of his own responsibilities in the scheme of salvation, but should offer his recognition of man's dependence on God. To stop there, however, would be to leave man's faith a passive thing. Therefore, it falls the duty of Michael to add man's responsibilities, and he reminds Adam of the need for works to accompany his faith and of the ethical values which must guide his life. Yet Adam has himself reached the state of mind to which Michael had hoped to bring him before the pair's departure from Eden. His later progeny, first through the imperfect written law and then through the Scriptures with the aid of the Holy Spirit, will have to come to a similar confession of faith. Here Adam's saving knowledge has come through Michael, and Eve's, we discover, through a dream. Their expressions of trust are enough, then, to send them out east of Eden and to equip them to maintain the 'paradise within' (XII, 587).

4.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BOOKS X-XII

Such, then, are the details of Books X, XI, and XII, which Milton has used to dramatize his doctrine of regeneration with its two effects of repentance and saving faith. What happens to Adam and Eve in Book X and to Adam in Books XI and XII must happen to every man; he must repent his sins in a spirit of contrition and must return to God through faith. Taken as a unit, the last three books are the drama of the soul, and the method allows Milton to explain further the consequences of the Fall, to relate important events of the history of the world, and to give by precept the details of saving knowledge. Yet all of these are bound together for the purpose of bringing Adam to the proper state of mind to leave Eden. In a sense, what has happened to Adam in these books is merely a dramatic presentation of the process Adam describes in his closing speech as,

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good Still overcoming evil, and by small Accomplishing great things. (XII, 565-67)

The regeneration of an individual soul, in other words, is sufficient to defeat the great active force of Satan, and God's plan that his "Mercy first and last shall brightest shine" has been accomplished in the original man. The import of this interpretation of the last three books is to make Adam quite clearly the hero of the epic and the reconciliation with God his great heroic action. Against him and for him are working two great forces, Satan and Christ respectively, neither of whom is the hero of the epic. Satan and Adam choose to disobey a decree from God. Satan rebels against the elevation of Christ to his kingly duties, and thus breaks a union with God which was designed to keep the angels 'as one individual Soul' (V, 610). Adam of course, disobeys the prohibition placed on the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Both Satan's and Adam's acts of disobedience are attempts to go beyond the limits which God has assigned them in the great hierarchy of order, and punishment is justly due to both. Satan's punishment comes as he and his followers turn into serpents to await their destruction by the Son. The justice of such punishment, furthermore, lies in Satan's own admission that he would not repent his action even had grace been extended to him. His is a permanent and innate refusal to recognize that true wisdom and freedom come in an understanding and following of the Law of God. Against such total disobedience is Christ's perfect obedience to the Law of God; yet the Son is no more the hero of the epic than is Satan. Christ's fulfillment of the law through obedience and love and his suffering of death for man merely mean that God's justice has been satisfied and that God may now extend his grace to man by inviting him again to service. Christ, in other words, has opened the way for Adam to return to God; the choice, however, remains with Adam, now sufficiently restored in his rational faculties to accept God's call. Adam's reconciliation with God comes after he has felt the misery of disorder and of isolation from God and after he has learned both from personal experience and from Michael's teaching the

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process of regeneration. This reconciliation comes through the marked stages of his repentance and his renewal of faith. It signals a great victory appropriate to the end of Milton's epic, for, as Jackson Cope says, God "has in a second creation made spiritual light emerge from the darkness of the fallen soul".61 The repentance of past disobedience and the submission once more to eternal law which Satan announces he would not make even if he could, Adam can and does make. Whatever the evaluation of the poetry of some sections of these last books of Paradise Lost, their theme - man's regeneration - must be recognized as completing the promise Milton makes in Book I to assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men. (I, 25-26)

61

The Metaphoric Structure of Paradise Lost, p. 147.

Ill PARADISE REGAINED: THE VIRTUES FOR THE FAITHFUL

The first seven lines announce the subject of Milton's brief epic, Paradise Regained: I who erewhile the happy Garden sung, By one man's disobedience lost, now sing Recover'd Paradise to all mankind By one man's firm obedience fully tried Through all tempation, and the Tempter foil'd In all his wiles, defeated and repuls't, And Eden rais'd in the waste Wilderness. (I, 1-7) The reference to Paradise Lost implies that in some sense the new poem is a sequel to the earlier one. However, the brief epic is certainly not a continuation necessary to complete an account of history from the Creation to the Last Judgment. Michael's narration in Book X I I of the long epic carries the events of the world down through the final division of all men into the saved and the damned. Nor is Paradise Regained a continuation in the sense that it offers an explanation of God's general scheme for man's restoration which is omitted in the earlier poem. In Book III of Paradise Lost God tells the angelic hosts that he intends to extend his grace to fallen man, and he accepts Christ's offer of the sacrifice of his life in place of man's. Later Michael narrates to A d a m the manifestation of this divine love when he says that Christ has been 'slain for bringing Life' (XII, 414). Also, in the interpretation suggested in the last chapter, we have seen A d a m act out two important signs of his own regeneration, repentance and renewal of faith, signs of a restoration to God's grace made possible because of the Son's intercession on behalf of fallen man. A reader familiar

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with Paradise Lost, then, should not expect the brief epic merely to continue a story broken off with the Fall, nor should he expect a repetition of an account of one of what Milton considers in the Christian Doctrine the two functions of Christ's whole ministry, "the satisfaction of divine justice on behalf of all men". 1 Still the subject of the brief epic is one with which readers of Paradise Lost are already familiar: the recovery of Paradise, that inner paradise which Michael promised to Adam and which Adam himself achieved by the time he went into the wilderness of this world. The hero of the new epic, however, is another person in the wilderness, Christ, who, acting largely in his human capacity,2 defeats Satan and establishes his kingdom, mainly a spiritual one, on earth. As Barbara K. Lewalski has pointed out, the subject of Paradise Regained is "Christ's heroic achievement and mission in its deepest significance and broadest ramifications".3 Because of her analysis and other recent studies we know a good deal about the significance and ramifications of the Son's mission, and we have found the brief epic both richer in theme and more dramatic than has been generally supposed. No longer can we consider the two major characters of the poem simply "abstract principles of good and evil, two voices who hold a rhetorical disputation through four books and two thousand lines",4 nor the action of the poem simply an argument between "Reason and Passion discussing who shall win in man". 5 The characters are more alive and the issues at stake are more important than that. Throughout the poem there is the attempt by Satan to learn for certain the meaning of the term 'Son of God' and the identity of the man in the wilderness, and there is the self-realization by the Son of his own nature and the nature and meaning of his mission, which, as Arnold Stein says,6 prepares the 1

CE., X V , 315. For a thorough discussion of the problem of Christ's nature see Barbara K. Lewalski, Milton's Brief Epic: The Genre, Meaning, and Art of Paradise Regained (Providence, R. I., 1966), pp. 133-63. 3 Milton's Brief Epic, p. 325. 4 Mark Pattison, Milton ( N e w York, 1899), pp. 189-90. 5 D e n i s Saurat, Milton, Man and Thinker ( N e w York, 1925), p. 233. 6 Heroic Knowledge (Minneapolis, 1957). Stein describes Christ as the "Illuminator of the individual seeking to know himself" (p. 14), and says 2

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Son for his active role within the world. On one level, then, Christ as public figure establishes the three-fold office of the Mediator.7 The temptations by Satan allow Christ as the true Prophet to defeat the Father of Lies on the first day; on the second day for the true King to defeat the Prince of This World; and on the third for the suffering Priest to overthrow the Prince of Darkness and the Prince of Air. On another level, Christ as private man overcomes the three-fold temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil which tradition associated with Satan's temptations of Christ. Taking the St. Luke order, which Milton follows, the temptations were: the flesh or the die ut lapides, the world or the offer of kingdoms, and the devil or the scene upon the tower. Furthermore, according to the tradition which Mary Elizabeth Pope has so carefully examined,8 these three temptations corresponded both to all the sins of the world and to the sins committed by Adam at the Fall. The result was a sort of triple equation among the sins committed by Adam and later by all men, but overcome by the Redeemer. The tradition carried with it the belief that Christ's rejection of evil was an example for all mankind, and also that his temptation was the actual beginning of his work of redemption in the world.9 The present examination of Paradise Regained, admittedly limited in its scope, will stress the exemplary quality of the Son's mission. In doing so I hope to show that the virtues illustrated in the poem have definite theological connections with Milton's doctrine of man's restoration, and to add some new insight into the themes and dramatic movement of the poem. Support for that the poem is "a dramatic definition of 'heroic knowledge', not of heroic rejection; and that the contest is a preparation for acting transcendence in the world, by uniting intuitive knowledge with proved intellectual and moral discipline" (p. 17). 7 In her analysis Mrs. Lewalski (pp. 164-321) stresses all three of Christ's roles: Prophet, Priest, and King. On the other hand, Michael Fixler in Milton and the Kingdoms of God emphasizes the role of Kingship. Paradise Regained, he says, "deals largely with the elusive reality of a metaphor, the Kingdom and Kingship of Christ" (p. 225). 8 Paradise Regained: The Tradition and the Poem (Baltimore, 1947). » Pope, pp. 27-41.

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such an approach to the theme of the poem can be found in the Christian Doctrine. One of the functions of Christ's ministry, mentioned above, is "the satisfaction of divine justice on behalf of all men". Yet there is another function of Christ's ministry, one which pertains to regenerate man alone. Milton writes, "The second object of the ministry of the Mediator is, THAT WE MAY BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST, AS WELL IN HIS STATE

The incident Milton chooses for Paradise Regained is one suffered by Christ in his humiliation. Under his humiliation in this life Milton lists Christ's circumcision, his flight into Egypt, his childhood submission to his parents, his manual labor, his baptism, his temptation by Satan, his poverty, and his suffering of persecutions, insults, and finally death. All of these Christ undertook chiefly in his human nature. Now the traditions which viewed the temptation episode as that time during which Christ not only overcame all of the temptations of the world but also actually established the threefold office of the Mediator do much to explain why Milton chose this episode from among those Christ suffered in his humiliation. Still at least a part of Milton's choice must be based on his belief in the second function of Christ's ministry, the conformation of the faithful to the image of Christ. As we have seen both in the Christian Doctrine and in Paradise Lost, Milton stresses two ideas of his doctrine of restoration: man's need for God's grace, and the need for action on his own part. The great lesson which Adam expresses in Paradise Lost is his dependence on God, but, as Michael says, man is not merely a passive agent. Through God's grace certain gifts are bestowed upon man as his rational faculties return to a primitive brightness and as he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. With his regeneration man is said to be a partaker of Christ, and this ingrafting in Christ produces the significant effect of a new life for man. The primary functions of this new life, Milton says, "are comprehension of spiritual things, and love of holiness. And as the power of exercising these functions was weakened and in a manner destroyed by the spiritual death, so is the understanding restored in great part to its primiw CE„ XV, 333. OF

HUMILIATION

AS

OF

EXALTATION." 10

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tive clearness, and the will to its primitive liberty, by the new spiritual life in Christ." 11 Both these functions of the new life are important to Paradise Regained. Under the comprehension of things spiritual "THE NATURAL IGNORANCE OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND ARE INGRAFTED IN CHRIST IS REMOVED, AND THEIR UNDERSTANDINGS ENLIGHTENED FOR THE PERCEPTION OF HEAVEN-

LY THINGS".12 The believer, then, may learn all that is necessary for eternal salvation and the true happiness of life. This process is exactly that which Christ describes in the climax of the poem when he insists that true wisdom must come through a light from above. The other effect of the new life is the holiness which comes to men when they "BECOME DEAD TO SIN, AND ALIVE AGAIN UNTO GOD, AND BRING FORTH GOOD WORKS

SPONTANE-

Of course, Christ is perfect, and his works alone are perfect. Yet because the believer has been freed from his spiritual death, he must attempt to follow the example of Christ. His justification depends on a faith not void of works. Hence, it is proper, Milton says, that the believer should think of his earthly life as a struggle for perfection. Those who "are strenuous in this conflict, and earnestly and unceasingly labor to attain perfection in Christ, though they be really imperfect, are yet, by imputation and through divine mercy, frequently called in Scripture 'perfect', and 'blameless', and 'without sin'; inasmuch as sin, though still dwelling in them, does not reign over them".14 This freedom from sin which the regenerate man won as a soldier under the banner of Christ designated him as a true son of God and entered him in that Kingdom of Grace at hand and gave him relative assurance, as he continued in the battle against Satan, of his future entry into the millenial Kingdom of Glory. His imitation of Christ's exemplary action of complete obedience to the will of God as his greatest good was, to use Northrop Frye's words, 'the genuinely heroic act' 1 5 of his life. Or, to use Milton's OUSLY AND FREELY". 13

11 12 13 14 15

CE., X V I , 5. CE., X V I , 7. CE., X V I , 9. CE., X V I , 23. Arthur E. Barker, ed., Milton:

Modern

Essays in Criticism

( N e w York,

"PARADISE REGAINED"

words, the wayfaring hero had

113

"CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF

CHRIST . . . IN HIS STATE OF HUMILIATION".

With not only such a rich tradition behind the story of Christ's temptation in the wilderness but also such a strong personal belief in man's part in his restoration, it is hardly surprising to find Milton choosing that episode from those of Christ's humiliation for the subject of his brief epic. On the one hand, Christ is the perfect man who can free other men from all the degrees of death and whose own death will be accepted by the Father as satisfaction for the redemption of all mankind. Within the poem the Father says, however, that before he will send his Son to "conquer Sin and Death the two grand foes" (I, 159), he intends that Christ should first "lay down the rudiments / Of his great warfare" (I, 157-58). Christ in his earlier meditations about his mission has come to realize that his "way must lie / Through many a hard assay even to the death" (I, 263-64). At the end of the poem, after his complete victory over the temptations by Satan, the angelic choir hails the Son as 'Queller of Satan' and announces that he should on his "glorious work / Now enter and begin to save mankind" (IV, 634-35). As the Father intended, the Son has demonstrated his 'consummate virtue' (I, 165) and his right to the title of Son of God before both the angelic forces now and 'men hereafter' (I, 164). Thus, on the other hand, Christ is the man who can undertake trials identical to those of men and can show men how to meet them successfully, as well as prepare himself for the whole of his role as Mediator. This theme of preparation should keep us from reading Paradise Regained as a story of renunciation and withdrawal. Adam had to be prepared for the world east of Eden; Christ now must prepare himself for his mission in the world. A common theme of the two epics is the need for obedience, the need for each individual to unite his will with God's before undertaking anything else. A major difference is that Paradise Regained treats the exalted Man, one whose obedience will suffice for the redemption of all men and which must be imitated by all regenerate men. Christ's obedience is 1965), p. 435; reprinted from Northrop Frye, "The Typology of Regained", Modern Philology, LII (1956), 227-38.

Paradise

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instructive, then, not only to clergymen, as Howard Schultz has pointed out,16 but, more important, to individual men who are, as Michael calls them in Paradise Lost, God's living Temples, built by Faith to stand, Thir own Faith not another's. (XII, 527-28)

Both of Milton's epics treat the theme of man's restoration to God's grace. If they are to be truly sons of God, all men, like Adam, must repent and profess a belief in Christ, but they must also, like Christ, accept the responsibilities and trials of this life. Paradise Lost emphasizes more the need by man for God's grace, and the last three books dramatize the return of fallen man to a state of grace; Paradise Regained emphasizes the need for man's responsibility in maintaining his faith once he has become aware of his need for God's grace, and the poem dramatizes that battle with Satan which is man's daily struggle. The scheme for man's salvation is the same in the two poems; it is the difference in the dramatization of the parts of that scheme which makes Paradise Regained the sequel to Paradise Lost. 1.

MILTON'S CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE PARADISE REGAINED

AND

My earlier summary of the major features of Milton's doctrine of man's restoration omitted a detailed discussion of Book II of the Christian Doctrine. If we are to see the way in which Paradise Regained dramatizes man's responsibilities in his restoration, especially the kind of works required by faith, then it is time to consider that portion of the systematic theology. Book II, consisting of seventeen chapters, outlines the duties of regenerate man in his personal and public life. One must not overlook the theological doctrines which support this discussion of ethical values, for Milton has been careful to introduce the book by stating the links between it and Book I. The subject of the first book is Faith or knowledge of God, while that of the 16

Schultz, "Christ and Antichrist in Paradise Regained", Publications of the Modern Language Association, LXVII (1952), 790, calls the poem "a parable for the church".

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second is Love or the worship of God, which "consists chiefly in the exercise of good works".17 The theological links between the two books are these. Man, as we have seen, is justified before God by a faith not void of works. These works are not those performed under the letter of the Law, but those performed in the spirit of Christian liberty. Christ, as Prophet, brought internal illumination to the mind and the external promulgation of divine truth. One part of man's duty, then, was to search the Scriptures for divine truth. But Christ also brought freedom. This freedom or Christian liberty man gained when Christ fulfilled the letter of the Law of Moses and substituted for it the unwritten law of faith in the heart of regenerate man. This Christian liberty was not unknown in pre-Gospel times; there man, though he was under the obligation of the works of the Law, was justified by his faith in the prophesied Redeemer. However, he was more a servant than a son of God. With the coming of Christ and the true word of the Gospel, man became free from the works of the Law; and, as all men were free to accept or reject Christ as the redeemer, so was the believer now free to perform good works. As Milton says in the first chapter of Book II: Since therefore under the gospel, although a man should observe the whole Mosaic law with the utmost punctuality, it would profit him nothing without faith, it is evident that good works must be defined to be of faith, not of the decalogue, whence it follows that conformity, not with the written, but with the unwritten law, that is, with the law of the Spirit given by the Father to lead us into all truth, is to be accounted the true essential form of good works.18

It is this idea of Christian liberty, which regenerate man gains through his adoption of God in Christ, that connects Milton's discussion of good works to the rest of his systematic theology. Just as man's saving faith was a voluntary expression, so must his works be performed spontaneously and freely. This Christian liberty is important for an interpretation of Paradise Regained, for it is with this concept that Paradise Regained goes beyond its predecessor. True, Michael has explained 17 18

CE„ CE„

xvn, 3. xvn, 9.

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Christian liberty for Adam, and his explanation Adam accepts and believes. Yet Michael does not show him an example of man in action under his liberty. In Paradise Regained, Milton presents the perfect Man, the Man by whose very mediatorial mission it was possible for fallen man to regain his liberty. Of course, the time of the brief epic is prior to Christ's actual preaching in the world, but this setting must have seemed to Milton the most appropriate to show how man's obedience to the Spirit within him shall also arm him With spiritual Armor, able to resist Satan's assaults, and quench his fiery darts. (P.L., XII, 491-92)

After all, the Paradise which Michael promises is one within, and the victory which he tells Adam the Son will inflict on Satan is not that of a physical struggle. The kind of heroism defined at the end of Paradise Lost and portrayed in Christ's actions in Paradise Regained is an internal action. Michael tells Adam, "Dream not of thir fight / As of a Duel" (XII, 386-87), and Milton opens Paradise Regained with the promise that he will sing of 'deeds / Above Heroic' (I, 14-15). The point here is that these deeds - these virtues which Christ exemplifies in the spiritual warfare - are performed in Christian liberty. Christ freed man from the bondage of the old Law but not from the Law of Faith, which was then written on man's heart by the Spirit. This 'new bondage' is what Milton calls Christian liberty. Strong though Milton's belief in reason is, then, and in man's need to use his restored faculties, we must not forget his further belief that man's thoughts and actions were acceptable to God only when they conformed to the inner spiritual law which came as God's gift to the regenerate man through faith. The second chapter of Book II opens Milton's discussion of the good habits or virtues which are the proximate causes of good works and which comprise "the whole of our duty towards God and man". 19 This whole duty of man corresponds to the sum of the Mosaic law; the difference lies in the method of performing it, for the regenerate man of Gospel times performs it willingly in «

CE„ XVII, 27.

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117

his Christian liberty. These virtues are "partly general, or such as pertain to the whole duty of man; and partly special, or such as apply to the particular branches of that duty".20 The general virtues belong to the understanding and the will. Those of the understanding, with their definitions, are "WISDOM . . . WHEREBY WE EARNESTLY SEARCH AFTER THE WILL OF GOD, LEARN IT WITH ALL DILIGENCE, AND GOVERN ALL OUR ACTIONS ACCORDING 21

and "PRUDENCE . . . by which we discern what is proper to be done under the various circumstances of time and place".22 The general virtues which belong to the will are sincerity, promptitude, and constancy. Sincerity, "which is also called integrity, and a good conscience, consists in acting rightly on all occasions, with a sincere desire and a hearty mental determination".23 Promptitude or alacrity is "that which excites us to act with a ready and willing spirit".24 Constancy is the virtue "whereby we persevere in a determination to do right, from which nothing can divert us".25 The Christ of Paradise Regained provides a perfect example of these general virtues. Rather than "prying into hidden things, after the example of our first parents, who sought after the knowledge of good and evil contrary to the command of God",26 he has been diligent since childhood to learn God's will, since he thinks of himself as born to promote public good and truth. In his search for wisdom, he has read the written Law of God and talked with the teachers of that law. Furthermore, he has, with prudence, considered the special circumstances in the performance of his mission. He had at first thought of victorious physical deeds to free the Israelites from Roman rule, but he has decided that it is TO ITS RULE";

20 21 22 28 21 25

28

more humane, more heavenly, first By winning words to conquer willing hearts, And make persuasion do the work of fear. (I, 221-23) CE., XVII, 27. CE., XVII, 27. CE., XVII, 37. CE., XVII, 39. CE., XVII, 45. CE., XVII, 47. CE., x v n , 33.

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Satan will question both Christ's prudence and wisdom; he will offer not only arms for force but also a new definition of wisdom, one of 'human or carnal wisdom'.27 Satan also tempts Christ to violate the virtues of the will. Christ knows that he must act and that the time may be near for him to begin his mission, yet he refuses to act unless the way conforms to his authority derived 'from Heaven' (I, 289). Action is necessary, then, but of no avail unless done in the proper spirit. As the Son at one point tells Satan: All things are best fulfill'd in their due time, And time there is for all things, Truth hath said. (Ill, 182-83)

Towards the close of the poem Satan sends a storm in the hope of terrifying Christ into disobedience and tells him that the storm portends the troubles ahead unless he accepts the offered aid. Christ is unimpressed by the storms, recognizing that they come as false portents sent by Satan. In his action here, as in many others, Christ is merely persevering "in a determination to do right, from which nothing can divert" 28 him. In short, throughout Paradise Regained Christ refuses to accept Satanically conceived attitudes towards the establishing of his kingdom. Instead he models his behavior and attitudes on those general virtues which are the whole of regenerate man's duty. 2.

THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE FIRST AND THIRD DAYS

The next five chapters of Book II of the Christian Doctrine discuss those special virtues relating to man's duty to God, which consists of his internal and external worship. "Internal worship consists mainly in the acknowledgment of one true God, and in the cultivation of devout affections towards him." 29 These devout affections are love, trust, hope, gratitude, fear, humility, patience, and obedience. There is no need to repeat all Milton's definitions of these affections here; their common emphasis is the depend"

CE., XVII, 35. CE., XVII, 47. 2 » CE., XVII, 51. 28

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119

ence of man on God. For instance, with hope, "we expect with certainty the fulfilment of God's promises"; 30 in gratitude "we acknowledge his goodness in conferring benefits upon creatures so unworthy as ourselves"; 81 and in patience "we acquiesce in the promises of God, through a confident reliance on his divine providence, power, and goodness, and bear inevitable evils with equanimity, as the dispensation of the supreme Father, and sent for our good". 32 Milton has used both aspects of man's internal worship in Paradise Regained. It would be very surprising indeed if Christ at some time did not make an acknowledgment of the one true God, and it comes on the second day after Satan's offer of the kingdoms of the world. Satan has withheld the price he demands for these gifts until after Christ's refusals. Then he announces that their price is Christ's worship of him as 'thy superior Lord' (IV, 167). Christ replies that he has endured patiently Satan's offers but that now, with Satan's motive apparent, he even more abhors the gift. He says: It is written The first of all Commandments, Thou shalt worship The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve. (IV, 175-77) Examples can also be found of the devout affections. Consider, for instance, gratitude, the opposite of which, ingratitude, Milton lists among the manifold sins of the Fall. God, in Paradise Lost, accuses Adam of this sin by calling him 'ingrate' (III, 97). In Paradise Regained, Christ uses the definition of gratitude above to refute Satan's argument that since God seeks glory and that since man should resemble God, man should also seek glory. Christ replies: But why should man seek glory? who of his own Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs But condemnation, ignominy, and shame? Who for so many benefits receiv'd Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and false, 30 31 32

CE., XVH, 57. CE., XVII, 59. CE., XVII, 67.

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And so of all true good himself despoil'd, Yet, sacrilegious, to himself would take That which to God alone of right belongs; Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace, That who advance his glory, not thir own, Them he himself to glory will advance. (Ill, 134-44)

Of these devout affections towards God, I wish to emphasize one in particular - trust - because it is important to the structure of the poem. Like the other definitions, that of trust stresses man's dependence on God. Trust, Milton says, is "a part of internal worship, whereby we wholly repose on him".33 Among its four opposites are distrust of God and 'an overweening presumption'.34 A Scriptural text used to illustrate presumption is Matthew 4 : 7 , "thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God". This is exactly what Christ, perilously placed atop the tower, says to Satan. In the triple equation of the tradition the temptation of the devil was generally regarded as that of vainglorious presumption, and in the St. Luke order it came on the third day. Miss Pope, in her study of the tradition, argues that Milton has already used this temptation during the second day.35 Towards the end of his speech in which Christ refuses to worship Satan rather than God, he says: And dar'st thou to the Son of God propound To Worship thee accurst, now more accurst For this attempt bolder than that on Eve, And more blasphemous? (IV, 178-81)

The corrective to Eve's sin, then, which Milton lists within the manifold sin of the Fall as 'presumption in aspiring to divine attributes',36 has already been provided; and, Miss Pope argues, it would be an artistic flaw in the poem for Milton to repeat the temptation of presumption. Instead, she says, the scene on the tower "is not even a temptation in the ordinary sense at all",37 and the "whole e p i s o d e . . . has become simply a last desperate 33

CE., XVII, 53.

34

CE.,

35 38 37

x v n , 55.

Pope, pp. 94-107. CE., XV, 183. Pope, p. 94.

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test of identity, Milton's resolution of the doubt motif". Now the last episode certainly serves the dramatic function of finally convincing Satan of Christ's identity, but the poem need not suffer from the repetition of the important concept of trust. Furthermore, as I shall point out shortly, Milton uses the Scriptural text in question to illustrate a point regarding the external worship of God as well as to illustrate the sin of presumption in the reference cited by Miss Pope. First let us see how the concept of trust is important to the structure of the poem. That man stood in need of a remedy for distrust is clear from both the Christian Doctrine and Paradise Lost. In the systematic theology, Milton begins his list of the sins committed by Adam with "distrust in the divine veracity, and a proportionate credulity in the assurances of Satan".39 In Paradise Lost, man is seduced And flatter'd out of all, believing lies Against his Maker. (X, 42-43)

Now, in Paradise Regained, the essence of the first day's temptation is distrust. Milton here is following the Protestant version of that temptation which made distrust rather than gluttony the sin which Christ would have committed in turning the stones to bread. In effect, Satan has suggested to Christ that, since God through his love has not provided for him in the wilderness, Christ must forsake his confidence in God and provide for himself. Clearly recognizing the nature of Satan's temptation, Christ says: Why dost thou then suggest to me distrust. Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art? (I, 355-56)

Had Christ complied with Satan's suggestion, he would then, like Eve, have been subject to a 'proportionate credulity in the assurances of Satan',40 assurances, we may note, of the validity of the means offered to him during the second day of his temptation. He might then have been further guilty of 'fraud in the means 38

39 40

Pope, p. 94.

CE., XV, 181. CE., XV, 181.

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employed to attain the object',41 another aspect of the manifold sin of the Fall. However, Christ withstands these temptations, and Satan on the third day resorts to violence. During the temptations of the second day Christ is most clearly the exemplar of reason; he examines the goods offered by Satan, in all cases detects the fallaciousness behind the offers, and in most cases suggests a positive use of the gifts offered. On the third day Christ's reliance is again quite firmly on God's providence. But where on the first day Christ is tempted to fall through a deficiency, distrust, on the third day he is tempted to commit an excess, overweening presumption. The choice Satan offers in the last scene is not that between falling and standing, but between falling or casting himself down safely. Christ follows neither of Satan's alternatives; instead, for the first time in the poem, he complies with a suggestion by Satan, the suggestion to stand, which Satan ironically does not believe possible. Yet Christ commits no sin in standing; instead he is obedient to God. In commenting on the proper external adoration of God, Milton writes in the Christian Doctrine, that man is forbidden both to invoke the aid of angels and to tempt God unnecessarily. A proof-text given for the latter is Christ's reply to Satan, the same as the one given for the sin of presumption.42 Milton, then, has used this last scene to illustrate what he may have considered Christ's first participation in a miracle as well as to give the last great example in the poem of the trust in God needed by man. This interpretation results in the repetition of the temptation of the sin of presumption; however, the idea of trust and obedience is an important one in Milton's thinking and can bear repetition especially in different dramatic circumstances. When Christ first refuses to commit presumption through the worship of the devil, he has yet fully to express his convictions regarding his mission on earth; he comes to that when, in his rejection of classical knowledge, he defines true wisdom. After that he is ready to begin his mission, and the scene on the tower provides both a brilliant dramatic finish and an enforcement of Milton's plan to sing of 41 42

CE., XV, 183.

CE., XVII, 149.

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one man's firm obedience fully tried Through all temptation. (I, 4-5)

If this interpretation is just, what Milton has done is to combine a feature of the internal worship of God (trust with its opposite, presumption) with a feature of the external worship of God (the adoration of God with its opposite, the tempting of God). Milton sanctions such practice in the Christian Doctrine when he says that external worship "is commonly denominated RELIGION; not that internal worship is not also religion, but that it is not usually called so, except as it manifests itself in outward actions. Although external worship is, for the convenience of definition, distinguished from internal, it is our duty to unite them in practice, nor are they ever separated, except by the impiety of sinners".43 Needless to say, Christ is no sinner; in his inner trust in God, Christ refuses to tempt God unnecessarily. Furthermore, by keeping the action of the third day a temptation rather than only a revelation of identity, this interpretation returns us to a recognition of man's need for obedience and trust in God. The events of the second day, as we shall see, center mainly on man's duties to himself, and the lengthy treatment of these duties may leave us with an inappropriate evaluation of the efficacy of human reason, even though the last temptation of that day clearly states the connection between human reason and God's grace. For Milton, then, to return to the virtue of trust in God on the third day is not only to round out his poem structurally but to return thematically to the one great source of man's strength, God. With one exception, so far as I can determine, the other topics discussed in the chapters on external worship have no immediate connection with Paradise Regained. The exception is Milton's chapter on zeal. Milton writes that an "ardent desire of hallowing the name of God, together with an indignation against whatever tends to the violation or contempt of religion, is called ZEAL". 4 4 Christ is named as one of the examples of this zeal. The name of God is hallowed both in word and in deed, "when our actions «

44

CE., XVII, 73-75. CE., XVII, 153.

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correspond with our religious profession".45 As Edward Dowden once remarked, "Satan's best hopes are founded on the liability of a heroic leader, bent upon disinterested ends, to overlook the legitimacy of the means by which such ends may be attained, and on the impatience of that zeal which would hasten the tasks of love." 46 Although Dowden does not quote this speech by Satan, he surely must have it in mind: If Kingdom move thee not, let move thee Zeal And Duty; Zeal and Duty are not slow, But on Occasion's forelock watchful wait. They themselves rather are occasion best, Zeal of thy Father's house, Duty to free Thy Country from her Heathen servitude; So shalt thou best fullfil, best verify The Prophets old, who sung thy endless reign, The happier reign the sooner it begins, Reign then; what canst thou better do the while? (Ill, 171-80)

Christ, however, is guilty of neither a 'lukewarmness' 47 or a 'too fiery zeal' 48 in his earthly mission, and he awaits a sign from his Father for his reign to begin. As he awaits the proper time for action, he defends the true worship of God before Satan. Milton turns next to those virtues included in man's duty to men which must also be "considered as serving God, so long as they are done in obedience to the divine command".49 These duties are sometimes of even more importance than the external worship of God "inasmuch . . . as God is best served by internal worship, whereas man stands more in need of outward attention, the external service even of God is sometimes to be postponed to our duties towards men".50 The virtues of this duty are partly those which he owes to other men. The first group, the virtues man owes to himself, is the important one in an interpretation of Paradise Regained. 45

CE., XVII, 165. Edward Dowden, Puritan and Anglican: Studies in Literature (London, 1900), p. 189. 47 CE, XVII, 153. 48 CE., XVII, 155. 48 CE., XVII, 193. 50 CE., XVII, 195. 46

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The two general virtues belonging to this class are love and righteousness. The love of man towards himself "consists in loving himself next to God, and in seeking his own temporal and eternal good". 51 Adam, in Paradise Lost, exhibits both opposites to this love. At the Fall, he is obsessed with an 'extravagant selflove' 52 in which he prefers "himself more than G o d " ; 5 3 his mistake is in loving Eve more than God. After the Fall, he is guilty of a 'perverse hatred of self' 5 4 in which he prays for death. Righteousness towards oneself "consists in a proper method of self-government",55 and righteousness is the fountain from which "the special virtues in general derive their origin; inasmuch as under the head of righteousness towards ourselves are included, first, the entire regulation of the internal affections; secondly, the discriminating pursuit of external good, and the resistance to, or patient endurance of, external evil". 58 Under righteousness "is frequently included the observance of the whole law". 67 In his mission, we may recall, Christ fulfilled in perfection the whole law. This concept of self-government is basic to both the systematic theology and Milton's later poems. Man in the beginning, according to the Christian Doctrine, had been created in the image of God so that through his innate righteousness he might fulfill the whole Law of God. When Adam fell, he suffered a spiritual death which "meant the loss of divine grace, and that of innate righteousness, wherein man in the beginning lived unto God". 5 8 To recover from this spiritual death was to be regenerated. Man could only recover because Christ, of his own accord, paid the ransom of man's sins and effected expiation. Man, on his part, by "merely believing, receives as a gift the imputed righteousness of Christ". 58 Furthermore, the works which man performs in the 51 53 54 55

50

"

58 59

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

CE., CE.,

CE., CE.,

XVII, 201. XVII, 201. XVII, 201. XVII, 201. XVII, 203. XVn, 203. XVII, 199. XV, 205. XVI, 29.

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spirit of faith "cannot be pleasing to God, except in so far as they rest upon his mercy and the righteousness of Christ, and are sustained by that foundation alone." 60 These are strong statements regarding man's dependence on God for his salvation; yet as we have seen, they do not mean that man must merely resign himself to passivity. Far from that; as he regained the use of his natural faculties, his duty was to constantly pursue the good, as concerned both his temporal and external existence. Christ had shown the way, and man was to emulate the example.

3.

THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE SECOND DAY

So far my discussion has emphasized those virtues which show the need for man's dependence on God. In one way or another the first and third temptations stress the virtue of trust. However, by far the greatest amount of space is devoted to the temptations of the second day. These temptations, as Hanford has remarked, involve almost 'all human moral issues'.81 The possible danger is that we might concentrate too much on them alone without seeing them in the context of the poem. Christ is at his exemplary best as reason during the second day, but the lessons of trust and faith which surround this use of reason must not be forgotten. Regenerate man could use his restored reason only after he had turned his will towards God through faith. With this warning, let us turn to an examination of how the chapters on man's duty to himself may guide us in understanding Paradise Regained. There can be little doubt, judging from Paradise Lost, that one of the lessons man most needed was in self-discipline. In Book VIII, Raphael offers advice which, although its immediate application regards Adam's attitude towards Eve, is nevertheless relevant in the choice of any good. Raphael counsels: «» CE„ XVI, 43. 61 J. H. Hanford, "Samson Agonistes and Milton in Old Age", Studies in Shakespeare, Milton and Donne (University of Michigan Publications in Language and Literature, 1925), I, 170.

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For what admir'st thou, what transports thee so, An outside? fair no doubt, and worthy well Thy cherishing, thy honouring, and thy love, Not thy subjection: weigh with her thyself; Then value: Oft-times nothing profits more Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right Well manag'd. (VIII, 567-73)

That Adam did not value properly the way in which he was created in the image of God is apparent from the admonition which Christ gives him after the Fall. Christ says of Eve: Adorn'd She was indeed, and lovely to attract Thy love, not thy Subjection, and her Gifts Were such as under Government well seem'd, Unseemly to bear rule, which was thy part And person, hadst thou known thyself aright. (X, 151-56)

His advice is the same as that of the Christian Doctrine, when Milton says that self-government includes "first, the entire regulation of the internal affections".62 The definitions of these affections (love, hatred, joy, sorrow, hope, fear, and anger) are each based on proportion. Love, for example, "is to be so regulated, that our highest affections may be placed on the objects most worthy of them; in like manner, hatred is to be proportioned to the intrinsic hatefulness of the object".63 Or, in another definition, "joy ought to be so regulated, that we may delight in things essentially good in proportion of their excellence, and in things indifferent so far only as is consistent with reason".64 As these internal affections are regulated, man will then engage properly in 'the discriminating pursuit of external good' 65 and 'the resistance to, or patient endurance of, external evil'.68 The theme of self-discipline is introduced in Paradise Regained in God's speech to the assembled angels. He reminds them that through the fact of the Incarnation there is now a perfect 82 63 84

65 86

CE„ XVII, 203. CE„ XVII, 203. CE„ XVII, 205. CE„ x v n , 203. CE„ XVII, 203.

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Man who will earn salvation for men. First, however, God intends To exercise him in the Wilderness; There he shall first lay down the rudiments Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth To conquer Sin and Death the two grand foes, By Humiliation and strong Sufferance. (I, 156-60)

On his part, Christ follows the strong intuitive motion which leads him into the wilderness even though he does not understand its purpose. He goes in the spirit of obedience, trusting that God will reveal to him whatever knowledge is necessary. There, under the temptations by Satan, he actually does 'lay down the rudiments' of his warfare. There, besides the trials of trust, Christ meets successfully all the trials involving the goals of human happiness, and the trial of fortitude. Christ, in his first soliloquy, says that he has already thought about the means of establishing his kingdom; but his encounter with Satan acts as the opportunity, as it were, for him to reassure himself of his goals and means. On the second day Satan offers Christ a series of gifts arranged in ascending order which he claims will be of use in Christ's mission. In turn, Christ rejects the gifts of pleasure, riches, power, and knowledge, or, more properly, he rejects them as offered by Satan. All of these gifts, except learning, are discussed briefly in the Christian Doctrine under those special virtues which arise from righteousness or self-government. A temptation suggested by Belial but rejected by Satan, and another rejected by Christ at the banquet scene are named first among the excesses of those special virtues relating to 'our desire for external advantages'.67 These desires relate either "to bodily gratifications, or to the possessions which enrich and adorn life".68 Under the virtue of temperance, which "prescribes bounds to the desire of bodily gratification",89 are listed sobriety, chastity, modesty, and decency. Sobriety consists in the abstinence from immoderate eating and drinking; one of its opposites is gluttony, listed by Milton among the sins committed by Adam and as87

99 89

CE„ XVII, 213. CE„ x v n , 213. CE„ XVII, 213.

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sociated by tradition with the temptation of the flesh. Chastity "consists in temperance as regards the unlawful lusts of the flesh'. 70 Modesty and decency are matters of personal decorum, and their opposites find examples in the sons of Belial. With modesty, a person refrains "from all obscenity of language or action", 71 and with decency, "from indecorum or lasciviousness in dress or personal appearance". 72 Belial's suggestion to set women before Christ is made at the second counsel of the evil forces. Satan's experience of the first day has convinced him that he has met a man far greater than Adam and perhaps even one who can over-match the powers of Satan himself. In his fear, Satan asks for advice from his troops. Belial's response opens the theme of sensuality which dominates the temptation that Satan does use on the second day. Belial believes that beautiful women have the power to soft'n and tame Severest temper, smooth the rugged'st brow, Enerve, and with voluptuous hope dissolve, Draw out with credulous desire, and lead At will the manliest, resolutest breast. (II, 163-67) Whether or not one agrees with Saurat that this passage as well as the others on women provides "the loveliest part of Paradise Regained",13 the speech is a convincing one. Convincing, that is, in the sense that Satan recognizes Belial as captive of his passions. Christ will not, Satan rightly argues, fall victim to even the most beautiful of physical objects, for he is 'of more exalted mind' (II, 206) and seeks the accomplishment of 'greatest things' (II, 208). In this scene Milton has provided the corrective to the sin of 'excessive uxoriousness', 74 which the Christian Doctrine names as the special sin in the man at the Fall; and it is not surprising that both Christ's admonition in Paradise Lost and Satan's rejection of Belial's advice in Paradise Regained are similar. Christ 70 71 72 73 71

CE., x v n , 217. CE., XVII, 221. CE., x v n , 223. Saurat, p. 234. CE., XV, 183.

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shows the fallacy of Adam's excuse that Eve's outward beauty somehow justified his own eating of the apple by replying, "Was shee thy God?" (X, 145) Satan, in the brief epic, emphasizes that enthrallment by physical beauty is the first step in the degradation of the mind. Rejecting Belial's plan of attack, Satan presents his own: Therefore with manlier objects we must try His constancy, with such as have more show Of worth, of honour, glory, and popular praise; Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd; Or that which only seems to satisfy Lawful desires of Nature, not beyond; And now I know he hungers where no food Is to be found, in the wide Wilderness; The rest commit to me. (II, 225-33)

Hunger is the link between the temptation of the first day and the banquet temptation of the second; yet this link does not mean, as has been argued, 75 that Milton is merely repeating a temptation. That Milton uses Christ's hunger in two different ways only keeps the poem in a forward motion and stresses the human side of Christ's nature. There can be little doubt of Christ's hunger at the time of the first temptation; during the forty days in the wilderness Christ has not tasted human food, nor hunger felt Till those days ended, hunger'd then at last. (I, 308-309)

Yet the sin which Satan tempts Christ to commit on that day can hardly be that of gluttony; the eating of bread by a man forty days without food can hardly equal the sin of inabstinence of which Michael accuses Eve in Paradise Lost. So far as it concerns Christ's hunger, the temptation of the first day is based mainly on the need for the staples of life. Satan says: But if thou be the Son of God, Command That out of these hard stones be made thee bread; So shalt thou save thyself and us relieve With Food, whereof we wretched seldom taste. (I, 342-45) 75

T. H. Banks, "The Banquet Scene in Paradise Regained", Publications of the Modern Language Association, XLV (1940), 773-76.

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As I interpret this passage, Satan has at least two motives. First, he is asking Christ for proof that he is the Son of God who will finally overcome the forces of evil. This proof would be forthcoming as Christ performed the miracle. Second, he is asking Christ to distrust the God under whose care he had placed himself in coming into the wilderness. Christ refuses to do either; and his brief reply cuts through to the essence of the temptation: "Why dost thou then suggest to me distrust?" (I, 355) He recalls that both Moses and Elijah had gone for forty days without food, and that his own needs are no more than theirs. The ethical virtue which Christ seems to exemplify here Milton calls contentment, "that virtue whereby a man is inwardly satisfied with the lot assigned him by divine providence".76 In his trust in God, Christ refuses to commit either of the opposites of this virtue, 'anxiety respecting the necessaries of life' 77 or 'a murmuring against the wisdom in making provision for the wants of this life'.78 In the banquet scene the food in question is far beyond that of the simple necessities, and Christ's appetite is more clearly involved in this temptation. On the evening of the first day Christ comments on his hunger as if the earlier episode has called his attention to something of which he has not been fully aware. His soliloquy reflects the trust expressed in the earlier temptation. He suggests that in some divine way God has supported him without food during the forty days. Now, he says, I hunger, which declares Nature hath need of what she asks; yet God Can satisfy that need in some other way, Though hunger still remain; so it remain Without this body's wasting, I content me, And from the sting of Famine fear no harm, Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts that feed Mee hung'ring more to do my Father's will. (II, 252-59)

In other words, Christ longs for food, but he does not actually need it. Still he dreams during the night of "meats and drinks, 77 78

CE„ XVII, 223. CE„ XVII, 227. CE., XVH, 231.

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Nature's refreshment sweet" (II, 265). He is, as Miss Pope has pointed out,79 in a situation similar to that of Eve who at the time she took the apple was hungry but did not need the fruit of the forbidden tree to satisfy that hunger. For Christ, then, to yield to Satan's offer would be for him to commit the sin of gluttony. Upon returning the second day dressed as a courtier, Satan does not mention the sensuous nature of the banquet which he places before Christ. Instead he claims that the forces of Nature have offered tribute to the Son of God. Satan seems to be working from the facts gained from his first encounter. There he learned that Christ would not break trust with his Father by creating for himself the staple of bread; here Satan pretends that Nature herself has become troubled by Christ's hunger and that she has brought food to honor him. Christ refuses the delicacies, saying that when there is a real need for physical nourishment, angels will minister to him. As Satan causes the banquet table to vanish, he admits that his purpose in the temptation was against Christ's temperance. He says: By hunger, that each other Creature tames, Thou art not to be harm'd, therefore not mov'd; Thy temperance invincible besides, For no allurement yields to appetite, And all thy heart is set on high designs, High actions. (II, 406-11)

Christ, then, as Satan admits, is not to be dissuaded from his high purpose with any goal connected so purely with sensuous pleasure. Christ, like every man, has need of nourishment, but beyond the natural fulfillment of the desires of the body he cannot be persuaded to go. If Satan has anything further to offer Christ, he should not expect it to be connected with Christ's bodily gratification. The banquet scene represents the lowest in the ascending order of the temptations of the second day; but had Christ, like Eve, been caught in an unnatural physical desire, Satan would have had to go no further. Bodily gratification, however, is only one of the external ad79

Pope, pp. 73-74.

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vantages which the righteous man will know how to govern properly. Special virtues also govern man's desire for the 'possessions which enrich and adorn life'.80 Moderation which "manifests itself in the virtues of contentment, frugality, industry, and a liberal spirit" 81 is the key to the proper enjoyment of temporal possessions. These possessions, the Scriptural texts explain, are to be both honestly attained and wisely used. Milton does not take an ascetic point of view toward these temporal goods; his attitude rather is that of Ecclesiastes 5 : 18, "it is good and comely for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all the labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life which God giveth him, for it is his portion". Milton's warning is that "we are forbidden to glory in riches, or to put our confidence in them".82 Man is enjoined to avoid expense and waste, and to provide 'the means of comfortable living'.83 The temperate use of these honest acquisitions of 'food and raiment, and of the elegancies of life' 84 is called liberality, and opposed to it is the sin of luxury. If man is of a high station in life, two virtues 'more peculiarly appropriate' 85 to him are 'lowliness of mind and magnanimity'.86 Milton mentions Christ several times as an example of these virtues which he must have had in mind in describing the temptations after that of the banquet scene. Lowliness of mind "consists in thinking humbly of ourselves, and in abstaining from selfcommendation, except where occasion requires it".87 True honor comes alone to the humble, for "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted". As a Christian, Milton probably regarded this text from Matthew 23 : 12 more as a redundance than as a paradox. Allied with this lowliness of mind or humility is "the love of an unspotted reputation, and of the praises of good men, with a proportionate contempt for those of the wicked".88 Opposed to 8» CE., 81 CE., 82 CE., 83 CE., 84 CE., 85 CE., 88 CE., 87 CE., 88 CE.,

XVII, XVII, XVII, XVII, XVII, xvn, XVII, XVII, XVH,

213. 223. 227. 231. 233. 235. 235. 235-237. 239.

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this virtue of humility are arrogance, a desire of vain glory, boasting, a hypocritical extenuation of our own merits for the purpose of gaining greater praise, and a glorying in iniquity and ill deeds. Magnanimity, the other special virtue appropriate to men of high station, "is shown, when in the seeking or avoiding, the acceptance or refusal of riches, advantages, or honors, we are actuated by a regard to our own dignity, rightly understood".89 It was in this spirit, Milton writes, that Christ acted in "rejecting the empire of the world",90 "in despising riches",91 and "in accepting honors".92 Every true Christian, moreover, is to let this spirit of magnanimity guide him "in his estimate of himself".98 To seek for one's glory is to be filled with an 'ambitious spirit';94 and to value oneself when there is no merit or when there is overpraise of one's merit is to be filled with pride. These virtues, then, are those which in a righteous man "regulate [his] desire of external good".95 Before returning to the temptations of the second day, we need to see the other class of special virtues which Milton assigns to the righteous man; for man had to know not only how to choose properly and use wisely the goods of this life but also how to meet misfortune. Patience and fortitude are those virtues "exercised in the resistance to, or the endurance of evil".98 Patience consists in "the endurance of misfortunes and injuries".97 This virtue is of especial importance in Milton's definition of a 'good temptation', which is "that whereby God tempts even the righteous for the purpose of proving them, not as though he were ignorant of the disposition of their hearts, but for the purpose of exercising or manifesting their faith or patience . . . or of lessening their self-confidence, and reproving their weakness, that both 8» CE., 90 CE., 91 CE., 92 CE., 83 CE., 94 CE., 95 CE., 98 CE., 97 CE.,

xvn, XVII, XVn, XVII, XVH, XVII, XVII, XVII, XVH,

241. 243. 243. 243. 243. 245. 247. 247. 253.

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135

they themselves may become wiser by experience, and others may profit by their example".98 God, in Paradise Regained, seems to have this definition in mind when he says of Christ: this man born and now upgrown, To show him worthy of his birth divine And high predication, henceforth I expose To Satan. (I, 140-43)

Fortitude is "chiefly conspicuous in repelling evil, or in regarding its approach with equanimity';99 the great pattern of fortitude, Milton says, is Christ, "throughout the whole of his life, and in his death".100 The opposites of this virtue are timidity and "rashness, which consists in exposing ourselves to danger unnecessarily".101 Christ by his example taught man to avoid this sort of rashness. Both Milton's discussion of the two classes of special virtues in the Christian Doctrine and his definitions of those virtues are brief. Nonetheless, it should become apparent as we return to the poem that Milton has used them as his general guide in the portrayal of Christ's character. Furthermore, as we shall see, after the temptation of the banquet Milton's emphasis shifts more and more to the inner man and the kind of Paradise which each individual can build for himself. The image of food, as Stein points out,102 links the first two temptations of the second day. Money, according to Satan, is the real food by which Christ may hope to gain his retinue or to feed 'the dizzy Multitude' (II, 420) at his heels. In rejecting the banquet, Christ has said that he is "hung'ring more to do my Father's Will' (II, 259). Satan in his new offer turns to a means by which he claims Christ may achieve this high design. How can Christ, with neither friends nor money, hope to aspire to greatness without great riches. Only those, Satan says, who accept his gift of wealth can sit on thrones; others, no matter how virtuous, are destined to obscurity. He boasts: »8 CE„ XV, 87-89. »» CE„ XVII, 247. CE„ x v n , 249. 101 CE., XVH, 251. 102 Heroic Knowledge, p. 61.

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They whom I favour thrive in wealth amain, While Virtue, Valour, Wisdom sit in want. (II, 430-31)

Christ patiently replies, and his reply is a comment on the last line of Satan's speech, quoted above, Christ says: Yet Wealth without these three is impotent To gain dominion or to keep it gain'd. (II, 433-34)

In their height wealthy empires have fallen, and men endued with virtue, valor, and wisdom have succeeded even though poor. As examples Christ cites Gideon and Jephthah, both champions of the Israelites and, as we shall see in Samson Agonistes, both exemplars of faith; and Christ questions why he cannot accomplish as much or more than they. Indeed wealth is likely to trap and enslave the mind of the wise man and prove an impediment rather than an aid, by causing him to forget virtue and by prompting him in vices. Wealth, therefore, is the toil of fools hardly the proper goal for a leader; instead, the crown of a leader is his responsibility to his people: therein stands the office of a King, His Honour, Virtue, Merit and chief Praise, That for the Public all this weight he bears. (II, 463-65)

The great weight which Christ as Redeemer bears is, of course, the sin of all mankind. Indeed, Christ argues, is not every man entitled to the name 'king' if he rules himself well; certainly no public ruler is fit for that title until he has learned self-government. Christ says: Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules Passions, Desires, and Fears, is more a King; Which every wise and virtuous man attains: And who attains not, ill aspires to rule Cities of men, or headstrong Multitudes, Subject himself to Anarchy within, Or lawless passions in him, which he serves. (II, 466-72)

It is an inner kingdom that Christ has come to establish as well as his external kingdom of the church. We may, with Stein, simply call this inner kingdom 'the kingdom of the mind',103 but we 103

Heroic Knowledge, p. 94.

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104

should, as Michael Fixler does, recognize it as that liberty of conscience which Milton thinks of as Christian liberty. Man, delivered from his spiritual death through regeneration, was free to use his restored natural faculties in willing service to God. As it was 'more Kingly' (II, 476) in Christ to guide Nations in the way of truth By saving Doctrine, and from error lead To know, and knowing worship God aright. (II, 473-75)

so it was the duty of each regenerate man to follow Christ in the spirit of truth, and "To know, and knowing worship God aright." Milton composed the whole of his Christian Doctrine around these two poles, Faith or knowledge of God, and Love or the worship of God. Such a task, Christ tells Satan, attracts the Soul, Governs the inner man, the nobler part. (II, 476-77)

while the gathering of riches o'er the body only reigns, And oft by force, which to a generous mind So reigning can be no sincere delight. (II, 478-80)

Christ, then, as the second book of Paradise Regained closes, has announced to Satan a kingdom within man. As to the establishment of this inner kingdom Christ believes that to give a Kingdom hath been thought Greater and nobler done, and to lay down Far more magnanimous than to assume. (II, 481-83)

Christ is responsible for establishing this inner kingdom which every man must guard now not only from servitude to bodily gratification but also from such snares of the mind as an undue concern with wealth. If regenerate man is "actuated by a regard to [his] own dignity, rightly understood", 105 he will not swerve from a worship of God to a worship of Mammon; and if he is a true public leader, he will be more concerned with his selfgovernment so that he can better exercise his public duties than 104 105

Milton and the Kingdoms of God, p. 108. CE„ XVII, 241.

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he will be with the enjoyment of his kingship because of the wealth it may bring him. Christ's description of an inner kingdom based on self-government leaves Satan mute for a time. When he does speak again, he makes no specific proposal. The offer of the kingdoms does not begin until after a bit of exploratory footwork, during which Satan must think he has found the proper way to offer his gifts. His initial discussion with Christ concerns fame or glory, and Christ's attitude is a poetic repetition of what Milton has written regarding that 'lowliness of mind and magnanimity'loa which guide every regenerate man in his estimation of himself. Satan begins with flattery of Christ, who, he says, is a man whose actions accord with his words and thoughts, and whose heart is the perfect shape of justice, wisdom, and goodness. This perfection could conquer all the world in battle and should serve as the counsel for kings and nations. With so many God-like virtues, Christ should not be in the obscurity of the wilderness. Why, Satan asks, does Christ deprive All Earth her wonder at thy acts, thyself The fame and glory, glory the reward That sole excites to high attempts the flame Of most erected Spirits, most temper'd pure Ethereal, who all pleasures else despise, All treasures and all gain esteem as dross, And dignities and powers, all but the highest?

(Ill, 24-30)

Such flattery Satan had heaped on Eve before the Fall when he said that all good and fair things seemed to be gathered in her. Christ, unlike Eve, is not to be caught in his self-glorification. Christ's reply dwells on two points, the proper recipient and the proper source of praise. The proper source is either other good men, or, for true glory, God. Christ denies that the 'miscellaneous rabble' (III, 50) is any source at all, for these people praise and "admire they know not what" (III, 52). Misguided in their values, the masses are hardly likely to praise the few wise and good men. God's approval constitutes true glory and renown, and in Heaven God points out the righteous man to His angels. Christ 108

CE„ XVII, 235.

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139

also denies that the men mentioned by Satan who seek fame as a reward are worthy of it. Most often such men have counted it glorious to subdue By Conquest far and wide, to overrun Large Countries, and in field great Battles win, Great Cities by assault. (Ill, 71-74)

They may be called conquerors by the mob, but Christ insists that their misdeeds make them 'scarce men' (III, 85), since they are inwardly captive, "Rolling in brutish vices, and deform'd" (III, 86). Death will be their due reward, and surely Christ must be thinking of all degrees of death including that of eternity. Instead, the kind of hero whom God glorifies is the man, like Job, who has disciplined himself. These heroes, among whom Christ wishes to be placed, seek not their own glory but rather their Maker's, whose image they reflect. Therefore, they are known by their deeds of peace and by their wisdom, patience, and temperance, rather than by their inward slavery to passion or by their acts of violence. In his rebuttal Satan reveals his own vainglorious foolishness as he argues that the Son, like his Father, should revel in glory. The Father, Satan claims, seeks glory And for his glory all things made, all things Orders and governs, nor content in Heaven By all his Angels glorifi'd, requires Glory from men, from all men. (Ill, 111-14)

Since Satan's attack is against God, Christ's reply comes with zealous indignation. Christ corrects Satan's view that God has created "for glory as prime end" (III, 123) by saying that God's purpose in creation was to demonstrate his goodness. For such goodness, shown to man by his creation in the image of God, what else could be expected of man, Christ says, but that he should return thanks to God. Such gratitude is an easy recompense on man's part, but instead he frequently renders, as Adam had done, "Contempt. . . dishonor, obloquy" (III, 131). The first man by turning 'recreant to God' (III, 138) despoiled himself of the right to any glory; yet, as Christ points out, God is merciful, and

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so much bounty is in God, such grace, That who advance his glory, not thir own, Them he himself to glory will advance. (Ill, 142-44)

Here is the Scriptural text cited by Milton under the virtue of lowliness of mind: "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted". To seek the humble and virtuous way is the only way for man to gain glory; to seek for glory is to commit the error of ambition and to be struck, as Satan is struck, "With guilt of his own sin" (III, 147). Glory, then, Christ says, is God's reward for virtuous effort, the effort of the new kind of heroism. After Christ refuses glory for its own sake, Satan bases his argument on what he construes to be Christ's major role, his public duty to rule. Satan's view is limited, since he cannot understand a kingdom in any sense other than a purely physical one. The kingdom to which Christ is the rightful heir is under a Roman rule which has violated both the civil and religious rights of the Jewish people. Therefore, Satan argues that zeal and duty should motivate Christ in immediate action. Satan's argument is that of the opportunist who cannot understand the patient saint who trusts "in the promises of God, through a confident reliance on his divine providence, power, and goodness".107 Christ, however, is not to be lured into the errors of either haste or apathy. His reply: time there is for all things, Truth hath said: If of my reign Prophetic Writ hath told That it shall never end, so when begin The Father in his purpose hath decreed, He in whose hand all times and seasons roll (III, 183-87)

shows again his perfect trust in the Father. Then Christ reverts to a point he has already made but to which Satan seems to have been deaf. Earlier, Christ had defined a king as one who best knows how to govern himself. Here, in repeating that definition, Christ puts it in terms of the temptations which he is undergoing. If the drama at which we are looking is one of self-realization, we should expect Christ at some point to reach a recognition of that fact. Here he does, for he asks Satan: 107

CE„ x v n , 67.

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141

What if he [God] hath decreed that I shall first Be tried in humble state, and things adverse, By tribulations, injuries, insults, Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence, Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting Without distrust or doubt, that he may know What I can suffer, how obey? who best Can suffer, best can do; best reign, who first Well hath obey'd; just trial e'er I merit My exaltation without change or end. (Ill, 188-97)

Satan does not reply to this exposure of his motives; instead his next speech is an explanation as to why he is concerned with Christ's beginning his reign even though it will mean Satan's destruction. His explanation, despite some rather brilliant maneuvering which includes even a pretended desire for reconciliation with goodness, is a simple one. No hope for grace remains for him, and he claims that he wishes to reach as quickly as possible his port, "My harbour and my ultimate repose" (III, 210). Such a wish is entirely contradictory to the kind of reckless hope (perhaps better called despair, the opposite of hope) in which he makes the temptations. As he has already told his followers in Book I, he does fear the worst and, in his way, he has prepared them for it. Did he not fear the worst, he would hardly be attempting to subvert God's plans. Here, however, he feigns indifference to his own fate in the hope of tempting Christ into hasty action. He summarizes his reasoning by saying: If I then to the worst that can be haste, Why move thy feet so slow to what is best, Happiest both to thyself and all the world, That thou who worthiest art shouldst be thir King? (Ill, 223-26)

Certainly the answer must be, according to Satan, that Christ in his inexperienced state is not certain of his means. These means Satan believes he can offer through the kingdoms of Parthia or Rome; and as he takes Christ to the mountain top to view the two kingdoms, his hope must be that he can entice the Son to forget his plan to work through persuasion and to revert to his earlier plan of worldly means in the establishment of his kingdom.

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The 'external advantages' 108 which Christ rejects as means in these two kingdoms are, first, military force, and, second, political and worldly power in the most luxurious city of the ancient world. In the Parthian kingdom is all the naked brute force needed for military conquests, whereas in the Roman empire is all the material grandeur of a great nation. The Parthian empire is the younger and the more active, but it lacks the 'Civility of Manners, Arts' (IV, 83) and 'long Renown' (IV, 84) of Rome. The Roman empire, in fact, comes closest to rivaling the kingdom of Athens, which will be Satan's last offer of the day. Satan begins his argument by attempting to frighten Christ. Even if Christ could regain the kingdom of Judea by 'free consent of all' (III, 358), Satan says that Christ could not reign securely between the two enemy powers, Rome and Parthia. If the prediction of his kingdom is to be realized, Satan argues, Christ must accept one of these powers. Christ answers simply and effectively this challenge of his fortitude. He says: Means I must use thou say'st, prediction else Will unpredict and fail me of the Throne: My time I told thee (and that time for thee Were better farthest off) is not yet come; When that comes think not thou to find me slack On my part aught endeavouring. (Ill, 394-99)

It is interesting to note how short and simple are Christ's comments on the two means themselves. The 'luggage of war' (III, 401) represented by Parthia he dismisses quickly as argument of "human weakness rather than of strength" (III, 402). Of Rome's grandeur, he simply says: Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show Of luxury, though call'd magnificence, More than of arms before, allure mine eye, Much less my mind. (IV, 110-13)

However, if we have paid close attention to the repeated emphasis on inner freedom and to the present details of Satan's offer of the two kingdoms, Christ's brief replies on the two means should not surprise us. In his acceptance of the two kingdoms, 108

CE„ XVII, 213.

"PARADISE REGAINED"

143

Satan has suggested, Christ will be performing charitable actions to enslaved people, and to this suggestion Christ devotes the bulk of his replies. In both cases Christ denies that it is his responsibility to free the enslaved people by accepting Satan's offers. Considered together, the two examples splendidly illustrate the principle that true liberty is internal; considered separately, they illustrate the means of gaining and of holding this liberty. The enslaved people who can be freed if Christ chooses Parthia are those whom Satan calls Christ's brethren, the ten northern tribes of the Israelites now in captivity under Parthia. Their captivity, Christ replies, is their just punishment for their sins, especially their sin of the worship of idols instead of God. Even conquered, they have refused to humble themselves or to seek their true God in the spirit of repentance; and as the older members of the tribes have died, only 'Circumcision vain' (III, 425) distinguishes the young members from their captors. This token of obedience to the Law is worthless, however, unless one's heart is set on God. God alone, Christ says, can return these captive people to their freedom; for God, in his time and at his own pleasure, by some wond'rous call May bring them back repentant and sincere. (Ill, 434-35) The great contrast between Satan's plan for armed force to bring freedom and Christ's trust in the persuasive effect of God's call to man is surely an effect which Milton intended in this episode. And by having Christ draw the contrast in his reply, Milton shows us that Christ is working out for himself his assurance in the more heavenly means he has decided upon for the establishment of his kingdom. But if God ultimately is responsible for man's inner freedom, man can help to retain that freedom by avoiding the enslavement of his own body and mind. This individual responsibility is the point of Christ's reply to Satan's suggestion that the Son free the politically enslaved people of Rome. The Roman people are now under the 'servile yoke' (IV, 102) of the emperor Tiberius, who has withdrawn to Capri to enjoy his 'horrid lusts' (IV, 94) and has left his public duties in the hands of his favorite. Christ

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declines the honor of either replacing the aging emperor or freeing the Roman citizens. Regarding Tiberius, Christ says, "For him I was not sent" (IV, 131). In fact, his mission is to 'expel a Devil' (IV, 129) who made the emperor a 'brutish monster' (IV, 128). Nor is it Christ's duty to free those people victor once, now vile and base, Deservedly made vassal, who once just, Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquer'd well, But govern ill the Nations under yoke, Peeling thir Provinces, exhausted all By lust and rapine; first ambitious grown Of triumph, that insulting vanity; Then cruel, by thir sports to blood inur'd Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd Luxurious by thir wealth, and greedier still, And from the daily Scene effeminate. (IV, 132-42)

How much of the lesson for every man that Christ has been exemplifying is summarized in this Roman kingdom. Bodily lust in Tiberius, greed and ambitious pride in the Roman conquerors; the temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil in one nation. All of the outward grandeur of Rome makes inward slaves, and Christ quite rightly summarizes his refusal to free them in this question. What wise and valiant man would seek to free These thus degenerate, by themselves enslav'd, Or could of inward slaves make outward free? (IV, 143-45)

Early in the day Christ had defined the true king as one 'who reigns within himself' (II, 466) and that thought he has carried with him and applied to each of the temptations. Here, the thought reaches its fullest expression so far, and ironically it is made in relation to the most magnificent of the kingdoms of the world. By the time Christ has rejected both the kingdoms, he has acted out for us his own earlier rejection of 'Brute violence and proud Tyrannic pow'r' (I, 219) and has provided, as he did not in Book I, the reasons why he cannot accept these means. More important, he has defined an inner kingdom and has shown

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every regenerate man the kind of values and virtues which he must possess to gain and keep this inner kingdom. Once Christ has refused the kingdoms of the world, Satan announces his price on them. He tells Christ that he holds this condition, if thou wilt fall down, And worship me as thy superior Lord, Easily done, and hold them all of me. (IV, 166-68)

I have already pointed out that Christ's reply illustrates the proper external worship of God, the open acknowledgment of the one true God, and that it provides a corrective to man's original sin of ingratitude. Satan, however, surely does not expect Christ to accept this condition after he has already refused the kingdoms themselves. His hope probably is that, in the possible anger of his reply, Christ will reveal some of the exact details of the coming of his kingdom. Since the reply tells him nothing, Satan must continue to live in that fear of eventual defeat which breeds his reckless courage, a kind of hope which is the opposite of that a regenerate man experiences through an assurance of the coming of Christ's kingdom. All that Satan may learn about the specific timing of Christ's kingdom the Son has already told him in saying: Know therefore when my season comes to sit On David's Throne, it shall be like a tree Spreading and overshadowing all the Earth, Or as a stone that shall to pieces dash All Monarchies besides throughout the world. (IV, 146-50)

4.

THE CLIMAX OF THE POEM: THE TEMPTATION OF LEARNING

When Satan drops the subject of the worldly kingdoms and passes to his last offer of the day, we reach the climax of the poem. At last, we feel, Satan will speak to Christ on the terms which the Son himself has been insisting on so long, that is, on the terms of a disciplined inner kingdom. If the temptations of the second day have involved a series of rational choices regarding the goods of this life, the final temptation is one against the mind itself, the

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very means by which the other goods have been reviewed. This fact increases the drama; for, as Satan opens the discussion of wisdom, we are undoubtedly meant to recall the thoughts of the young Christ who, having rejected force as his means, had decided to 'make persuasion do the work of fear' (I, 223), and to recall that the angels have sung that the Son is engaged in a great duel 'to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles' (I, 175). It is as if Milton considers the last temptation of a noble mind to be one of learning, not of fame as he had thought in Lycidas. Be that as it may, from the point of view of the poem, Satan's temptation of wisdom is his last hope to cause Christ to make a wrong choice. If Christ, so insistent on an inner kingdom, truly understands this kind of kingdom, then certainly he has prepared himself for his mission on earth, and Satan is left with only physical torments as a means of thwarting that mission. Satan begins by telling Christ not to be offended by his naming of the price of the kingdoms. These, he says, are his to offer since his subordinate devils rule the four elements and since man through his blindness to truth has made Satan 'God of this world' (IV, 203). His offer of them, he claims, has been only an attempt to understand in what special sense Christ holds the title, 'Son of God'. Having missed this aim, as well as that which he does not mention - to tempt Christ to sin - Satan nonchalantly dismisses the transitory kingdoms of the world. Satan prefaces the temptation of wisdom with a reminder to Christ of his childhood studies and preparations. He recalls to Christ the time when he was found by his parents among the rabbies 'Teaching not taught' (IV, 220), and concludes quite pointedly by saying: the childhood shows the man, As morning shows the day. (IV, 220-21) If in his earlier temptations Satan has failed to cause Christ to revert to his own rejected plan for the use of force, now, he must think, he may trap Christ in his desire for wisdom. Let us listen to the opening arguments of the temptation itself. Satan says:

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Be famous then By wisdom; as thy Empire must extend, So let extend thy mind o'er all the world, In knowledge, all things in it comprehend. All knowledge is not couch't in Moses' Law, The Pentateuch or what the Prophets wrote; The Gentiles also know, and write, and teach To admiration, led by Nature's light; And with the Gentiles much thou must converse, Ruling them by persuasion as thou mean'st, Without thir learning how wilt thou with them, Or they with thee hold conversation meet? How wilt thou reason with them, how refute Thir Idolisms, Traditions, Paradoxes? Error by his own arms is best evinc't. (IV, 221-35)

Surely the worst error Satan commits in this passage is not his suggesting that Christ needs universal knowledge and then showing him only the kingdom of Athens. Milton, according to Miss Pope's study, is the first writer in the tradition "to place learning among the glories of the world".109 Structurally, this vision of Athens completes those begun under the temptation of glory, and Satan chooses the best available example of learning to fit that vision, even though he is logically wrong in implying that the wisdom and eloquence of Athens are alone those of the Gentiles. In his reply, Christ even seems to agree that the wisdom of Athens is the best of the pagan world. However, if not concerned with this error, Christ is concerned with the limitations of the wisdom of Athens and with the assumption made by Satan that "Error by his own arms is best evinc't." These two points are related; for if Christ has a higher kind of wisdom for mankind than that represented by Athens, he will hardly admit to Satan that anything other than that truth will be his major weapon in persuading men. Divine truth alone will conquer falsehood, will make men free, and will allow them once more to be sons of God, not a thorough knowledge of classical wisdom. Satan's temptation is actually a temptation for Christ to retreat in his mission: to fail in his external role as Prophet in 'the promulgation 109

Paradise Regained: The Tradition and the Poem, p. 67.

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of divine truth' 110 by reverting to and persuading men on the basis of wisdom which is inadequate to his mission. The interesting fact is that, should Christ fail in this external role, he would never be able to fulfill the internal role, 'the illumination of the understanding'.111 If Christ is sincere and wise regarding his mission, Satan has hardly made suggestions which will influence the hero. The accomplishments of the 'famous wits' (IV, 241) that Satan chooses as examples of Athenian culture are all selected to show Christ how influential that wisdom and eloquence have been in history. Every specific benefit mentioned by Satan is connected with the idea of wisdom as power. To set his stage for this impressive list, Satan delivers a beautiful descriptive passage on the city itself. It is almost as if Satan himself has learned something about the art of poetry from the classical masters and has attempted to charm the mind of Christ with his eloquence. Once he has directed Christ's view within the walls of the city, he begins his enumeration of the famous men. Christ has already rejected military power as a means, but Satan does not let him forget that even such a great conqueror as Alexander had received his earliest training at Aristotle's Lyceum. From the poets Christ might learn the secret power Of harmony in tones and numbers hit By voice or hand, and various-measur'd verse. (IV, 254-56)

Under the writers of tragic drama he might sit with teachers best Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd In brief sententious precepts. (IV, 262-64)

And from the orators he might learn the techniques of 'resistless eloquence' (IV, 268). Nor is the concept of power missing from the benefit to be derived from philosophy; from the mouth of Socrates, the 'Wisest of men' (IV, 276), has come forth Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools Of Academics old and new, with those 110 111

CE„ XV, 289. CE„ XV, 289.

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Surnam'd Peripatetics, and the Sect Epicurean, and the Stoic severe. (IV, 277-80)

All these, Satan says, Christ may study either in Athens or at home; but, no matter the place, their study will render thee a King complete Within thyself, much more with Empire join'd. (IV, 283-84)

These two lines close Satan's temptation, and they are a wonderfully direct declaration that through the best of existing wisdom Christ may gain that inner kingship upon which he has been so insistent. Christ's reply is his second longest speech in the poem, the longest being his opening soliloquy. This length and the fact that the speech comes at the end of the temptations of the second day can only indicate its importance. The substance of the reply has long disturbed those readers who feel that Milton, through his hero, is rejecting that classical learning which had been so much a part of his earlier life. Here I shall confine myself to the speech as it appears within the context as the climax of the poem and also as it agrees with and poetically repeats ideas on man's restoration from the Christian Doctrine. If each of Christ's reactions to the various temptations provides some example for every man, this last temptation of the second day should be no exception. My point is, in brief, that Christ as the prophet of divine truth is here showing man that it is through God, not through his own fallen nature, that true wisdom comes. Such an insistence on God as the source of all genuine wisdom merely repeats, it seems to me, that of the definition of wisdom in the systematic theology. There Milton says that wisdom is "THAT WHEREBY WE EARNESTLY SEARCH AFTER THE WILL OF GOD, LEARN IT WITH ALL DILIGENCE, AND

GOVERN

ALL OUR

ACTIONS

ACCORDING

TO

ITS

RULE". 1 1 2

Moreover, such an insistence would seem to agree with that statement in Of Education which serves as a basic premise for Milton's proposed educational system: "The end then of Learning is to repair the ruines of our first Parents by regaining 112

CE., x v n , 27.

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to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the neerest by possessing our souls of true vertue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection." 113 In his refutation of a contention that man cannot come to a perfect knowledge of God without obedience to the old Law, Milton writes in the Christian Doctrine that "the will of God is best learnt from the gospel itself under the promised guidance of the Spirit of truth, and from the divine law written in the hearts of believers".114 Then he explains this idea by saying further that "Christ writes the inward law of God by his Spirit on the hearts of believers, and leads them as willing followers." 115 It is this idea of freedom - the freedom of willing followers of God's law as they found it engraved on their hearts - that so interested Milton throughout his chapters on regeneration in the Christian Doctrine. His concluding words in the definition of Christian liberty succinctly express the idea: the effect of Christian liberty is that "WE MAY SERVE GOD IN LOVE THROUGH THE GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH". 116

Now the Gospel as a vital part of Scripture from which man may learn the will of God is not mentioned in Paradise Regained. Dramatically Milton must have considered it inappropriate for his story of Christ's preparation for a ministry which was to serve as the basis for the teachings of that part of Scripture. Even when Christ answers the temptation of learning, he does not oppose the yet-to-be-written Gospel with the classical writings as the sole source of truth. Such a contrast would have provided too great an opposition for one so greatly indebted to classical learning in his thinking, and indebted to classical literature not only in the poem he was writing but also in the one to follow. Furthermore, and this surely is the important fact for Paradise Regained, Milton does not consider the written Scripture the final authority for the guidance of men's lives. Written Scripture must be read with a 113 114 115 118

CE., IV, 277. CE., XVI, 149. CE., XVI, 151. CE., XVI, 155.

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mind capable of receiving its truth, and indeed this inner spirit is to be taken as the final authority when conscience disagrees with human authority on matters of interpretation. Milton writes in his chapter on the Scriptures, "Thus, even on the authority of Scripture itself, every thing is to be finally referred to the Spirit and the unwritten word." 117 The process of regenerate man's belief in Scripture as truth illustrates quite well Milton's conviction that each individual, with the aid of divine guidance, must build his own faith. He writes: The process of our belief in the Scriptures is, however, as follows: we set out with a general belief in their authenticity, founded on the testimony either of the visible church, or of the existing manuscripts; afterwards, by an inverse process, the authority of the church itself, and of the different books as contained in the manuscripts, is confirmed by the internal evidence implied in the uniform tenor of Scripture, considered as a whole; and, lastly, the truth of the entire volume is established by the inward persuasion of the Spirit working in the hearts of individual believers.118

Thus, in any final consideration of man's search after truth, Milton finds it is the regenerate mind guided by the divine Spirit which is important; and it is this emphasis that Milton gives to Christ's reply to Satan in the temptation of learning. The discussion of the other temptations of the second day has shown how, in rejecting the various goods offered by Satan, Christ has stressed the need for and importance of an inner kingdom. Besides this emphasis in these scenes, however, two earlier episodes in the poem clearly anticipate the coming of some new law. They are the dialogue between Christ and Satan after the temptation of the first day, and the lament of Simon and Andrew at the beginning of Book II. By briefly recalling these episodes, we may prepare ourselves for understanding the positive content of Christ's reply on wisdom as the climax of Paradise Regained. Perhaps Satan's most egotistical speech is the one he makes after Christ reveals his trust in God on the first day. Admitting that he is the leader of the fallen angels, Satan boasts that he still 117 118

CE„ XVI, 281. CE., XVI, 279.

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has his freedom and that he even acts as a willing servant of God. Did not God, he asks, give up Job into his hands "To prove him, and illustrate his high worth" (I, 370), and did not he undertake the downfall of Ahab when God's angels hesitated in that mission. Satan even pretends to an admiration of goodness and virtue although he himself is "lost / To be belov'd of God" (I, 378-79). This admiration, he claims, is the reason he wishes to hear Christ's wisdom and to behold his 'Godlike deeds' (I, 386). Nor is he envious of men, but rather their helper. He boasts he lends them aid through oracles, portents and dreams, Whereby they may direct their future life. (I, 395-96)

Christ will accept none of Satan's boasts; and he counters each of them. Satan, Christ says, comes into Heaven now not as a willing follower of God but as a 'spectacle of ruin' (I, 415) since he performs God's will out of either slavish fear or his own sinful desire to do ill deeds. Malice, not pleasure in serving God, was his motive in tempting Job, and God allowed Satan a part in the downfall of Ahab since he alone could "be a liar in four hundred mouths" (I, 428). That Satan is responsible for oracles to which man listens is true enough; but truth, Christ adds, is not the substance of the oracles. But Satan's abuse of man is at an end. There is now a new Oracle to which man may listen if he will. Christ says: No more shalt thou by oracling abuse The Gentiles; henceforth Oracles are ceast, And thou no more with Pomp and Sacrifice Shalt be inquir'd at Delphos or elsewhere, At least in vain, for they shall find thee mute. God hath now sent his living Oracle Into the World to teach his final will, And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell In pious Hearts, an inward Oracle To all truth requisite for men to know. (I, 455-64)

It is, of course, the 'living Oracle' or Christ whom we see in action in Paradise Regained preparing to teach God's message of the Covenant of Grace. But because of this mission, man will be

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able to rely on the 'inward Oracle'. As Milton writes in the Christian Doctrine, "since the ascension of Christ, the 'pillar and ground of the truth' has not uniformly been the church, but the hearts of believers, which are properly 'the house and church of the living God' ". U9 And it is because "the mind of Christ is in him" 120 and because he has the "means of that Holy Spirit promised to all believers" 121 that every regenerate man is a church of the living God and has the right to interpret Scripture for himself. Coming as it does, then, early in the poem, this reference to an inward Oracle arouses an expectation of some further comment on it. Satan misses the reference, but we should not. Within the poem, the need for a new and liberating law is expressed dramatically through the lament of Andrew and Simon Peter, who are worried by the absence of Christ. Neither of them mentions an inner kingdom; instead they speak of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. God of Israel, Send thy Messiah forth, the time is come; Behold the Kings of th' Earth how they oppress Thy chosen, to what height thir pow'r unjust They have exalted, and behind them cast All fear of thee; arise and vindicate Thy Glory, free thy people from thir yoke! (II, 42-48)

Their misconception about the nature of Christ's kingdom is, of course, ironic; but the important fact is that these men emphasize the need for a Messiah. In that respect they are typical of men living under the old Law, the purpose of which was to bring men to a recognition of the need for a Redeemer and his righteousness. Under the Law, man was still saved by his faith in God, even though bound by the works of that law; and Milton must intend the conclusion of their lament as their expression of faith. God will not fail them; God will, they are certain, return to them the Man whom they believe their promised Messiah. »» CE., XVI, 279. CE., XVI, 265. CE., XVI, 261.

120 121

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"PARADISE REGAINED"

Let us be glad of this, and all our fears Lay on his Providence; he will not fail Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall, Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence; Soon we shall see our hope, our joy return. (II, 53-57)

The important freedom which will come to such men as these, of course, is not a physical release from captivity but an inner freedom. This liberty, moreover, is to be granted to all believers, not just to the Jewish people, and, if we can trust Milton's later poetry as expressions of his own beliefs, this individual liberty must come before any larger reformation, civil or ecclesiastical, can take place. Milton has done much, then, to prepare us for Christ's reply to Satan at the end of the second day. He has hinted quite early in the poem at the great benefit God gives to man, 'an inward Oracle'; he has shown us two men wrong in their interpretation of the kind of kingdom Christ will bring but right in their trust in God's promise of a Redeemer who will bring freedom; and he has given to Christ's speeches of the second day an emphasis on this inner kingdom. The final temptation of learning, therefore, hardly seems an accidental addition to those of the second day. The logical outgrowth of ideas already expressed in the poem, it is necessary to round out the doctrinal content of the poem, and to bring the poem to its climax. Christ refuses both the philosophy and the rhetorical and poetic art of Athens for the same reason, that is, because neither of them has been inspired by a divine source. Christ already knows all that these philosophers knew: Think not but that I know these things; or think I know them not; not therefore am I short Of knowing what I ought. (IV, 286-88)

However, he finds this knowledge insufficient for true wisdom, and he explains the reason for this insufficiency when he adds: he who receives Light from above, from the fountain of light, No other doctrine needs, though granted true. (IV, 288-90)

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"PARADISE REGAINED"

This light from above, Milton believes, is the gift of God at the time of man's regeneration. In the Christian Doctrine, he writes: The intent of SUPERNATURAL RENOVATION is not only to restore man more completely than before to the use of his natural faculties, as regards his power to form right judgment, and to exercise free will; but to create afresh, as it were, the inward man, and infuse from above new and supernatural faculties into the minds of the renovated.122

This renewal of man's reason and will now under the guidance of the Holy Spirit meant that man once again was capable of the comprehension of spiritual truth. THE COMPREHENSION OF SPIRITUAL THINGS IS A HABIT OR CONDITION OF MIND PRODUCED BY GOD, WHEREBY THE NATURAL IGNORANCE OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND ARE INGRAFTED IN CHRIST IS REMOVED, AND THEIR

UNDERSTANDINGS

ENLIGHTENED

FOR

THE

PERCEPTION

OF

HEAVENLY THINGS, SO THAT, BY THE TEACHING OF GOD, THEY KNOW ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR ETERNAL SALVATION AND THE TRUE HAPPINESS OF LIFE. 1 2 3

The essential knowledge which man needs, Christ, with Milton, would have called Christian doctrine: "that DIVINE REVELATION disclosed in various ages by CHRIST (though he was not known under that name in the beginning) concerning the nature and worship of the Deity, for the promotion of the glory of God, and the salvation of mankind".124 This doctrine, both Milton and Christ believe, is not to be obtained "from the schools of the philosophers, nor from the laws of man, but from the Holy Scriptures alone, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit".125 Beside such wisdom to be gained from obedience to these divine sources, the Greek philosophy is false, or little else but dreams, Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm. (IV, 291-92)

It is, then, the foundation upon which the Greek philosophers built their theories of human nature and of man's position in the 122 123 124 125

CE., XV, 367. CE., XVI, 7. CE., XIV, 17. CE., XIV, 19.

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"PARADISE REGAINED"

universe that Christ criticizes. How, he argues, could their doctrine be anything but false when the men themselves were Ignorant of themselves, of God much more, And how the world began, and how man fell Degraded by himself, on grace depending? (IV, 310-12)

The knowledge Satan has proposed as a means of persuading the Gentiles may be the very best of 'human or carnal wisdom',126 but it can hardly be used to persuade men of the truth. Man cannot stand alone on his own human faculties, and these philosophers, Christ says, in themselves seek virtue, and to themselves All glory arrogate, to God give none, Rather accuse him under usual names, Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite Of mortal things. (IV, 314-18)

God, Milton believes, had created man for the manifestation of his power and his goodness; through his love God had created man in his own image, the principal resemblance being that of the mind. Man, however, had turned from this love to self-worship, and in the Fall had suffered a degrading spiritual death. Only through God's grace could the faithful return to the original image in which man was created; only when man's trust meets the love of God, who is not, like Fortune, "regardless quite / Of Mortal things", could man be truly free and again a son of God. Furthermore, Christ says, men do not learn wisdom from books unless they bring to the books a mind capable of receiving wisdom. However, many books Wise men have said are wearisome; who reads Incessantly, and to his reading brings not A spirit and judgment equal or superior (And what he brings, what needs he elsewhere seek) Uncertain and unsettl'd still remains, 126 CE„ XVII, 35. Mrs. Lewalski (p. 291) says: "In assuming a radical distinction between knowledge (scientia), which derives from the study of things of the world, and wisdom (sapientia), which comes only from above, Milton's Christ is defending a Christian commonplace prevalent from Augustine's time through the seventeenth century."

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157

Deep verst in books and shallow in himself, Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys, And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge. (IV, 321-29)

In other words, the spirit and judgment man cannot gain from books, for these are gifts from above to those who are aware of their dependence on God and of their position in God's scheme. The man who possesses these gifts has within himself the endowments for wisdom, and books, of the classical philosophers or otherwise, cannot provide the measure of truth which is within. To seek for wisdom elsewhere is to be as "Children gathering pebbles on the shore" (IV, 330). The arts of Greece Christ rejects as inferior to those of the Hebrews because they, like the philosophy, lack the divine inspiration. Where, he asks, but in his native language can he best find the literature to delight his 'private hours' (IV, 331). The Greek poets loudest sing The vices of thir Deities, and thir own In Fable, Hymn, or Song, so personating Thir Gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame. (IV, 339-42)

Only when a poet understands himself aright and is 'from God inspir'd' (IV, 350) will he sing of God-like men and thus win the approval of 'true tastes' (IV, 347). Certain of the moral portions, however, Christ will allow to be of 'profit or delight' (IV, 345). Even the Greek orators, who Christ admits are statesmen and patriots, are far beneath the Hebrew prophets who are As men divinely taught, and better teaching The solid rules of Civil Government In thir majestic unaffected style Than all the Oratory of Greece and Rome. In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt, What makes a Nation happy, and keeps it so, What ruins Kingdoms, and lays Cities flat; These only, with our Law, best form a King. (IV, 357-64)

The injunctions of 'our Law' or the old Law were love of God and love of neighbor, under which, as we have seen, Milton includes a proper love of oneself. With the coming of Christ these

158

"PARADISE REGAINED"

injunctions were written on the hearts of willing believers so that they sought after and followed the will of God in a restored freedom. It is this definition of true wisdom as the will of God and the means of fulfilling that will - 'the light from above' - which the classical writers lack. The sum of Christ's reply, then, as I understand it, is that man for his eternal salvation and true happiness of life cannot trust in his own natural faculties until he has recognized his fallen nature, turned to God's love, and through his grace been regenerated. Man at his fall lost his innate righteousness and thus cannot achieve happiness through his own strength; and any philosophy is false which omits the fact that God's grace is now necessary for man's restoration. Where there is obedience to this light from above, true wisdom will never be lacking; for man will know and worship God aright, which after all is the only doctrine man needs to know. The message for every man seems to be that he must, in faith, unite his will to God's will. The message is an excellent warning coming as it does at the end of a long series of temptations where rational choice has been so extolled. Regenerate man, like Christ, is free to use his restored faculties, but he must never forget as he weighs the various external advantages of this life that his real earthly happiness, as well as his eternal salvation, lies in following the will of God. The warning, however, does not mean that happiness is an easy goal to obtain. Man, like Christ, must meet the temptations to sin; and, like Christ, he must study both written and unwritten law in order to arrive at a faith or knowledge of God of his own. But the warning does set the limit for the kind of wisdom he must seek, and obey. Christ's reply, proof that his will is united with that of God, leaves Satan "at a loss, for all his darts were spent" (IV, 366). Satan's persuasive techniques have failed to tempt a mind in full control of itself, and his fear begins to show itself more openly in ridicule and threats. He asks: What dost thou in this World? The Wilderness For thee is fittest place; I found thee there, And thither will return thee; yet remember What I foretell thee, soon thou shalt have cause

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159

To wish thou never hadst rejected thus Nicely or cautiously my offer'd aid. (IV, 372-77)

Satan's power is not yet expired, and in the two scenes which follow Christ's return to the wilderness, Satan attempts to conquer Christ through physical violence. Both scenes are short, and dramatically their action provides a welcome newness and interest after the long debates. More important is the way in which they re-enforce the warning of the temptation of wisdom, for both episodes again stress trust in God. Into them, besides the virtue of trust, Milton has incorporated that of fortitude, one of the special virtues "exercised in the resistance to, or the endurance of evil".127 The opposites of this virtue are "first, timidity",128 and "secondly, rashness, which consists in exposing ourselves to danger unnecessarily".129 During the night Satan sends dreams of 'Infernal Ghosts, and Hellish Furies' (IV, 422) to disturb the sleep of Christ. A storm sweeps the wilderness with such velocity that the tallest trees are felled. Through both the storm and the grisly Specters, which the Fiend has rais'd To tempt the Son of God with terrors dire (IV, 430-31)

Christ sits unappalled. When Satan returns on the third morning, he claims that the terrors of the night signify the dangers and physical pain lying ahead for Christ unless he accepts the aid of Satan. Christ refuses to be led into either timidity or superstitious belief. The storm has left him no 'worse than wet' (IV, 486), and the signs he recognizes as false ones, not sent from God but Satan. Christ even taunts Satan about this use of violence and tells him: desist, thou are discern'd And toil'st in vain, nor me in vain molest. (IV, 497-98)

The command to desist is also command for Satan to admit his defeat. This Satan, 'now swoln with rage' (IV, 499), will not do; 127 128

120

CE., XVH, 247. CE., x v n , 251.

CE., XVII, 251.

160

"PARADISE REGAINED"

and his own rashness in the final temptation of the poem is his undoing. Satan is shrewd even in anger, and he clouds the temptation of the sin of presumption with his last attempt to discover in what sense Christ deserves the title 'Son of God'. From the time of the beginning of the poem Satan has 'suspected' that Christ has been "rais'd / To end his Reign on Earth so long enjoy'd" (I, 124-25). Here, all other efforts exhausted, he believes he has a way in which even if he cannot tempt Christ to sin at least he can discover whether or not his adversary is under divine protection. The essence of his next speech is to ask: What proof have you that you are the Son of God? a question which every elect saint certainly must ask himself. Satan has watched Christ since his birth; yet, he says, from that day through these of temptation, the title "Son of God to me is yet in doubt" (IV, 501). He is even rash enough, standing in irrecoverable grace as he is, to claim that title for himself. The Son of God I also am, or was, And if I was, I am; relation stand; All men are Sons of God; yet thee I thought In some respect far higher so declar'd. (IV, 518-21)

Conveniently Satan forgets here what he has already admitted, that in his fall he placed himself beyond the efficacy of God's grace. Nor, as Satan claims, are all men 'Sons of God'. Fallen man could claim that title only when he was justified by his faith in God and living again in that Christian liberty which made men "SONS INSTEAD OF SERVANTS, AND PERFECT MEN INSTEAD OF

CHILDREN".130 Satan should know the title 'Son of God' belongs only to those who submit in willing obedience to God's will since Christ has tried to define the essence of true wisdom for him on the previous day. Stein has suggested that the dramatic purpose of Satan in the scene at the tower is to provide the opportunity for Christ to act out the process of wisdom believing in itself.131 To this I would add that theologically the scene represents once more 1S

° CE„ XVI, 153-55. Heroic Knowledge, p. 126.

131

"PARADISE

REGAINED"

161

the need which man has for God's grace. The scene is Christ's last example of the obedience which truly makes a man the son of God. Satan continues his speech by saying that he refuses to accept Christ's reactions to the temptations of the past two days as more than those which any good and wise man could perform. H e admits that he has found Christ firm against temptation To th'utmost of mere man both wise and good, Not more; for Honours, Riches, Kingdoms, Glory Have been before contemn'd, and may again: Therefore to know what more thou art than man, Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heav'n, Another method I must now begin. (IV, 535-40) This method is to carry Christ to a spire of a temple where it is humanly impossible to stand. Should he try, he will be asserting his will in an impossible task. H e must fall or cast himself down safely; in either way he will show Satan whether or not he is under special divine protection. Even if Satan cannot then claim power over the Son by causing him to sin, he will at least have discovered something that he wants to know about the Son's identity. There on the highest Pinnacle he set The Son of God, and added thus in scorn. There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand upright Will ask thee skill; I to thy Father's house Have brought thee, and highest plac't, highest is best, Now show thy Progeny; if not to stand, Cast thyself down; safely if Son of God: For it is written, He will give command Concerning thee to his Angels, in thir hands They shall up lift thee, lest at any time Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone. (IV, 549-59) Christ stands, but not in compliance with Satan's scornful suggestion that he do so. Christ says: also it is written Tempt not the Lord thy God. (IV, 560-61) T o tempt God the Father is the most futile of experiments; and in

162

"PARADISE REGAINED"

his obedience to the written law, Christ participates in a miracle, one involving him in no act on his own behalf. Christ's trust in God is complete, and by God's grace the miracle is performed. With this long-awaited demonstration of Christ's divinity "Satan smitten with amazement fell" (IV, 562), and God's angelic hosts lift Christ 'from his uneasy station' (IV, 584). In their hymns of praise to the Son's merits, it is almost as if Milton were pushing ahead Christ's exaltation, which in the Christian Doctrine he places after the Crucifixion. THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST IS THAT BY WHICH, HAVING TRIUMPHED OVER DEATH, AND LAID ASIDE THE FORM OF A SERVANT,

HE WAS

EXALTED BY GOD THE FATHER TO A STATE OF IMMORTALITY AND OF THE HIGHEST GLORY, PARTLY BY HIS OWN MERITS, PARTLY BY THE GIFT OF THE FATHER, FOR THE BENEFIT OF MANKIND. 1 3 2

Of course, the Christ whom the angelic hosts exalt with praise is only now to begin his earthly mission, yet we have witnessed a triumph by the Son over evil, due partly to his own merit, his faith and obedience, and partly to the gift of God, his grace as manifested in the miracle. The specific circumstances of this temptation, as with that of the first day, undoubtedly have little to do with those of the daily life of every man; yet the example here, as with the examples provided by the second day's temptations where the circumstances are more like those of daily life, is quite applicable to every man. Adam has said at the end of Paradise Lost that to obey is best, And love with fear the only God. (XII, 561-62)

and, if I understand Paradise Regained, Milton has concluded his story of "Recover'd Paradise" (I, 3) with the same injunction.

THE MESSAGE OF PARADISE

REGAINED

Let us glance briefly now at a portion of the hymn in which the angels praise the Son at the end of the poem. Recalling first the 132

CE„ XV, 309-11.

"PARADISE REGAINED"

163

earlier heavenly battle between the Son and Satan, the angels then proclaim that Christ now hast aveng'd Supplanted Adam, and by vanquishing Temptation, hast regain'd lost Paradise, And frustrated the conquest fraudulent: He never more henceforth will dare set foot In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke: For though that seat of earthly bliss be fail'd, A fairer Paradise is founded now For Adam and his chosen Sons, whom thou A Savior art come down to reinstall, Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be Of Tempter and Temptation without fear. (IV, 606-17)

Their claims return us to a question raised earlier: In what sense is Paradise Regained a sequel to Paradise Lost? Here, with the examination of Christ's exemplary function behind us, let me summarize my answer. The kingdom which Christ has come to establish for the individual man is a kingdom of grace. There is, in the future, a kingdom of glory, but man's entry into that kingdom will depend on his acceptance of the kingdom of grace. However, according to Milton's statements of the Christian Doctrine, man's happiness or blessedness does not have to await his final glorification. Even in his imperfect glorification man is filled with such "A CONSCIOUSNESS OF PRESENT GRACE AND EXCELLENCY, AS WELL AS WITH AN EXPECTATION OF FUTURE GLORY"

that his blessedness "is IN A MANNER ALREADY BEGUN". 1 3 3 Paradise Regained, I believe, is not a story of renunciation of this world, and it is more than a story of the correction of the sins committed by Adam at the Fall. It is, on one level of meaning, a more detailed explanation of how man must act in this world in order for blessedness to be his. Accepting Christ as the great exemplar for mankind, we may say that Milton's explanation is faith not void of works. Man in his fallen nature must first recognize that God in his love extends his grace to him, and that man's only proper response to such love is, like that of Christ in the first and third temptations, trust or faith in God. Adam and, as 133

CE„ XVI, 65-67.

164

"PARADISE REGAINED"

we shall see, Samson come to such a response through repentance; Christ, the perfect Man, begins here. Yet mere assent to God's will is not faith; true faith is exercised in good works. These works Milton shows in Paradise Regained mainly during the temptations of the second day where the offers rejected by Christ cover the various goods which man will be tempted to substitute for true happiness. In his proper evaluation of these goods, man is obligated to use his restored natural faculties, now under the guidance of that inner oracle which is God's gift to man. It is, then, as the story of every man's struggle to keep the inner Paradise promised by Michael that we may read Paradise Regained. The benefit of man's restoration, Christian liberty, was a great one, and Christ's explanation of it is the climax of the poem; yet we must remember that, for Milton, Christian liberty meant not the freedom for man to use his natural faculties as he wished, but rather the freedom to use them in the service of God as a true son. The pattern for the return to the service of God provides a dramatic structure for the closing books of Paradise Lost; the pattern for man's service under God provides a dramatic structure for Paradise Regained. Individual obedience to the will of God is the message of both.

IV SAMSON AGONIST ES: THE RECOVERY OF GOD'S GRACE

Saurat's high praise of Samson Agonistes may well reflect a more common personal preference among Milton's readers than is generally expressed. Referring to Paradise Lost, he says, "Did not the majestic proportions of the epic forbid all comparisons, one might be tempted, sacrilegiously, to give Samson the first rank among Milton's works." 1 Whatever its rank may be, Samson Agonistes has received a large share of critical attention, mainly because it is such a fine work. However, part of this interest, which relies on the generally accepted belief that the tragedy is the last of Milton's major poems,2 has come from a tendency to associate the hero of the poem with Milton himself in his last days, and to view the drama as a vindication of Milton's part in the troublesome earlier two decades. The dangers of this approach are obvious, and surely to regard the drama as "a piece of autobiography . . . set forth in magnificent verse" 3 is to misread it badly. Also, although the poem does tell us a good deal about the beliefs of Milton's later life, these are, I think, his views on man's restoration which we have been examining and not those which can be classified merely as 'personal woes'.4 Still another part of this critical attention probably derives from the fact that admirers of the drama have smarted under the charges of ignorance and bigotry. Behind these charges is Dr. Samuel Johnson, whose 1

Milton, Man and Thinker, p. 236. My own discussion of the probable date of Samson Agonistes is found in the Appendix. 3 Max Beerbohm, "Samson Agonistes and Zaza", Saturday Review of Literature, LXXXIX (1900), 489. 4 E. H. Visiak, Milton Agonistes (London, 1922), p. 18. 2

166

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

criticism of Samson Agonistes always stands in the background of all later studies on the quality of its dramatic movement. Dr. Johnson asserted that the play has a beginning and ending "which Aristotle himself could not have disapproved",5 but he found no satisfactory middle. "Samson Agonistes must be allowed to want a middle, since nothing passes between the first act and the last, that either hastens or delays the death of Samson. The whole drama, if its superfluities were cut off, would scarcely fill a single act; yet this is the tragedy which ignorance has admired, and bigotry applauded." 6 Dr. Johnson has not been without his more recent supporters; however, most critics have given rebuttals, attempting to show that the play is "a whole, the structural union of the parts being such that, if any one of them is displaced or removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed".7 As is usual in Milton's poetry, rich traditions lie behind the thought and form of Samson Agonistes. Of the two major traditions - the Greek and the Christian - the latter has been the more fully explored, and this despite Saurat's statement that by the time of Samson Agonistes we must look for the 'central fixed point' 8 of Milton's thought in philosophy, not in his religious beliefs. Most critics would seem to agree with W. R. Parker's conclusion regarding the Greek tradition that Samson Agonistes is "more than just an imitation of Greek tragedy",9 and they have found a meaningful portion of that 'more' in the tradition of Christian humanism. The fact that Milton's Christian beliefs simply cannot be so easily overlooked or lightly taken as we once thought holds in our reading of the play. It is not surprising, then, since the central issue of the Christian tradition concerns the drama of man's soul, that most critics have agreed that the central action of the play is an internal one - one which, as Miss Una Ellis-Fermor says, "takes place entirely in the 'theatre of the s

The Rambler, N o . 139, in The Works (London, 1820), p. 436. The Rambler, p. 436. 7 Aristotle, Poetics, trans. S. H. Butcher (New York, 1948), p. 12. 8 Milton, Man and Thinker, p. 239. 9 Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in Samson Agonistes (Baltimore, 1937), p. 249. 6

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

167

10

soul' ". 'Regeneration' is the word most frequently used to describe the process of psychological growth which comes to completion within Samson by the time of his successful, yet tragic, action off-stage. Very early in the play Samson cries out that he is committed T o live a life half dead, a living death, A n d buried; but O y e t m o r e miserable! Myself m y Sepulcher, a m o v i n g grave, Buried, yet n o t e x e m p t B y privilege of death and burial F r o m worst of other evils, pains and wrongs, But m a d e hereby o b n o x i o u s m o r e T o all the miseries of life, L i f e in captivity A m o n g inhuman foes. ( 1 0 0 - 1 0 9 )

It is from this state of spiritual death that Samson must move in his regeneration, and various qualities of mind have been suggested as the most important in the regeneration of this despairing Samson. Recently, for instance, A. B. Chambers has argued that Samson's regeneration is complete only when he achieves sapientia et fortitudo, only when wisdom becomes the necessary corollary to bravery which Christian humanists thought it to be. The movement, then, is "from presumptuous fool to genuine hero" 11 who is at once both wise and brave. William O. Harris, on the other hand, uses the tradition of Christian humanism to point out that it is patience which was thought of as the highest manifestation of fortitude and which was considered the bulwark against despair.12 Once Samson has won the spiritual victory of patience - the second and better of the two paths to victory discussed by the Chorus in lines 1268-99 - he is prepared to act courageously in his physical victory. However, no matter the particular virtue selected for emphasis,13 it is clear that the middle 10

The Frontiers of Drama (London, 1945), p. 24. "Wisdom and Fortitude in Samson Agonistes", Publications of the Modern Language Association, LXXVII (1963), 318. 12 "Despair and 'Patience as the Truest Fortitude' in Samson Agonistes", Journal of English Literary History, X X (1963), 107-20. 13 Other valuable insights on Samson's regeneration are found in J. H. Hanford, "The Temptation Motive in Milton", Studies in Philology, X V 11

168

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

of the play consists of Samson's preparation for an heroic act, and that his heroic act depends upon his ability to achieve a virtuous state of mind. Tillyard has claimed that to insure his regeneration Samson has only to persist in a refusal to blame God for the disasters of blindness and slavery. "The fact is that Samson is from the very beginning of the play a 'saved' man." 14 In a sense, Tillyard's statement is accurate. Milton, according to his Christian Doctrine, believed: THE FINAL PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS is THE GIFT OF GOD'S PRESERVING POWER, WHEREBY THEY WHO ARE FOREKNOWN, ELECT AND BORN AGAIN, AND SEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, PERSEVERE TO THE END IN THE FAITH AND GRACE OF GOD, AND NEVER ENTIRELY FALL AWAY THROUGH ANY POWER OR MALICE OF THE DEVIL OF THE WORLD, SO LONG AS NOTHING IS WANTING ON THEIR OWN PARTS, AND THEY CONTINUE TO THE UTMOST IN THE MAINTENANCE OF FAITH AND LOVE. 1 5

It is Milton's phrase "so LONG AS NOTHING IS WANTING ON THEIR OWN PARTS" which must qualify Tillyard's statement that Samson is from the first episode a 'saved man', and which illustrates again Milton's insistence on man's responsibilities in his restoration of God's favor. In examining the speeches and events which must occasion or stimulate "that progress of the mind which constitutes the real action of the play",16 most critics have viewed the play as "a drama of temptation and its conquests".17 They have worked within the structure provided by the various temptations of the four visitors (Manoa, Dalila, Harapha, and the Officer) whose discussions with Samson make up the middle of the play. Recently Miss Ann Gossman summarized general opinion when she said, "Temptation is the means of causing Samson to assert and manifest his virtue and intelligence and thereby to be regenerated." 18 (1918), 176-94; E. M. W. Tillyard, Milton (London, 1930), pp. 337-45; F. Michael Krouse, Milton's Samson and the Christian Tradition (Princeton, 1949), pp. 124-32; and Stein, Heroic Knowledge, pp. 137-213. » Milton, p. 337. 15 CE., XVI, 75-77. 16 Una Ellis-Fermor, p. 24. 17 Tillyard, Milton, p. 337. 18 "Milton's Samson as the Tragic Hero Purified by Trial", Journal of English and Germanic Philology, LXI (1962), 535.

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

169

From the psychological struggle involved in each of these episodes Samson comes to greater self-knowledge and regains his strength, his awareness of his returning strength increasing with each psychological victory; and, as Parker has pointed out, each episode involves an irony, each visitor having the opposite effect on Samson than he or she intends. Now the temptation motif does provide, I think, an adequate answer to Dr. Johnson's criticisms of the dramatic structure. However, there is another, and complementary, way of viewing the dramatic structure of Samson Agonistes, and in this chapter I intend yet another investigation of that subject. Like other recent studies, mine finds the most meaningful approach to the thematic structure through the Christian tradition, and it agrees that the middle of the play dramatizes the spiritual growth of a fallen man. My particular emphasis, however, will be on Samson's repentance and faith and the way in which that repentance and faith lead to a state of spiritual freedom which allows Samson to act heroically after he leaves the mill. Samson, in other words, is one of those regenerate faithful with whom Milton is concerned in his last three poems. The general pattern for the development of Samson's restoration to grace I have taken from that portion of Milton's Christian Doctrine in which he outlines the five steps of repentance: "conviction of sin, contrition, confession, departure from evil, [and] conversion to good".19 This same general pattern we have already seen dramatized in the last three books of Paradise Lost. Both Adam and Samson have sinned by disobeying God's commands; both suffer in their separation from God; but both recover God's grace through repentance and faith. My hope, then, is that we may have here further evidence that the dramatic structure of Samson Agonistes is not a haphazard, unmotivated series of episodes and that instead it is far richer and more complex than Dr. Johnson found. We shall also find that in theme Samson Agonistes fits harmoniously with the two earlier poems. Many of the motifs which we 19

CE., XV, 385.

170

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

have already seen at work in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained - self-mastery, temptation, the acquisition of wisdom, and the freedom of individual conscience - are repeated in the tragedy. The play makes such use of the details of Milton's doctrine of man's restoration to grace that Hanford's statement that 'theologically' Samson Agonistes "has no relation to its predecessors" 20 seems clearly unjustified. Moreover, although Saurat is right in saying that the drama makes no direct mention of original sin or salvation through Christ, he is wrong, I think, in arguing that these omissions mean that Milton has given up the whole system of theological doctrine which earlier had provided solutions to the problems in his thought. The revisions to the Christian Doctrine which Milton continued to make late in his life reflect no lack of interest in that set of theological beliefs; and, as the whole of this study indicates, the subject of man's restoration to grace provides a thematic unity among the last three major poems, making the last of them, Samson Agonistes, 'a religious complement to Paradise Lost',21 the first of them. The need for fallen man's recovery of God's favor and the responsibilities of man in the struggle to regain and to keep that favor were ideas in which Milton believed to the end of his life and which served him well in his art. T H E P A T T E R N O F SAMSON'S

REGENERATION

Episode One: Conviction of Sin, Contrition A Philistine holiday honoring Dagon has given Samson a day of freedom from his work at the mill in Gaza. Ironically, this same holiday will give him his spiritual freedom and will find him turning celebration into disaster. The struggle for spiritual freedom begins in an unfrequented place with a contrite Samson seeking relief mainly for his shame and physical torment; it ends in a noisy, crowded temple with a regenerate Samson fulfilling God's will. The reader in Milton's time, who knew the associa20 21

Studies in Shakespeare, Krouse, p. 13.

Milton,

and Donne,

I, 171.

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171

tions of the Samson story, must have found the opening lines filled with foreshadowing. The reader today, who unfortunately may not even know the bare outline of that story, may still sense in these lines matters that seem to extend beyond the present situation: A little onward lend thy guiding hand To these dark steps, a little further on; For yonder bank hath choice of Sun or shade, There I am wont to sit, when any chance Relieves me from my task of servile toil, Daily in the common Prison else enjoin'd me, Where I a prisoner chain'd, scarce freely draw The air imprison'd also, close and damp, Unwholesome draught: but here I feel amends, The breath of Heav'n fresh-blowing, pure and sweet, With day-spring born; here leave me to respire. (1-11)

The imagery of the 'breath of Heav'n' introduces the theme of recovery. The contrast between the 'air imprison'd' and air of Heaven 'fresh-blowing, pure and sweet' is immediate and forceful as it suggests the need for change on Samson's part. True, the relief Samson seeks at the moment is mainly physical, but he will grow beyond this concern. Even now Samson is aware that the wholesome air will not ease his tortured mind. His restless thoughts remind him of "Times past, what once I was, and what am now" (22). He recalls the promises made at his birth that he should perform some great act for the Hebrew people and that he should be trained 'As of a person separate to God' (31). Why then, he questions, should he now be betrayed by his own people and captive in the hands of God's enemies? There may be even a touch of his old weakness, pride, in his description of himself as 'this great Deliverer' (40), but if there is, it is soon overcome by his conviction of his own guilt. Yet stay, let me not rashly call in doubt Divine Prediction; what if all foretold Had been fulfill'd but through mine own default, Whom have I to complain of but myself? (43-46)

Samson speaks now in terms of what he most fully recognizes, his

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enslavement and his loss of a divinely appointed role. Not until the motif of personal freedom has been further explored will it merge with that of national liberation; not until Samson is once more spiritually free will he be champion of God's chosen people. Yet he also speaks in terms which remind us of Milton's description of the various degrees of death. One of these includes such evils as guiltiness, "a commencement or prelude of death dwelling in us, by which we are held as by a bond, and rendered subject to condemnation and punishment". 22 Accompanying this guiltiness are terrors of conscience and a recognition of a forfeiture of divine protection. Beyond these evils is man's spiritual death, that obscuration of his right reason and his wilful subjection to sin. The worst punishment is sin itself; "sin in itself alone is the heaviest of all evils, as being contrary to the chief good, that is, to God; whereas punishment seems to be at variance only with the good of the creature, and not always with that". 23 At this early point, Samson is certainly aware of guiltiness, and his reason is not so obscured that he does not recognize and admit his own faults. Shortly he describes his condition as that of 'a living death' (100). Samson's brief but important statement on his own guilt turns his mind to his former sin, and he laments that he revealed his secret to Dalila. He adds: O impotence of mind, in body strong! But what is strength without a double share Of wisdom? Vast, unwieldy, burdensome, Proudly secure, yet liable to fall By weakest subtleties, not made to rule, But to subserve where wisdom bears command. (52-57)

Samson, as a son of Adam, shares with all men an innate propensity to sin and, as he admits, his sensuality has led him into Dalila's trap. However, he also questions the value of his great strength 'without a double share / Of wisdom' (53-54). Wisdom, as we have seen in Paradise Regained, means to "EARNESTLY 22 23

CE., XV, 203. CE., XV, 209.

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AFTER

THE WILL

OF

GOD,

LEARN

IT WITH

ALL

DILI-

GENCE AND GOVERN ALL OUR ACTIONS ACCORDING TO ITS RULE". 2 1

Sensuality has its part in the departure of Samson from the will of God, but his pride in physical strength has its share, too; here Samson is guilty of two sins in his worship of God. To trust God is to 'wholly repose on him',25 rather than in 'carnal reliance'.24 And to fear God is to reverence him and 'dread offending him above all things';27 the opposite is to delight foolishly in 'carnal security'.28 God even had warned him, Samson says, against this sort of prideful security. God, when he gave me strength, to show withal How slight the gift was, hung it in my Hair. (58-59)

Exactly what use God intended for this strength Samson admits he does not know. But peace, I must not quarrel with the will Of highest dispensation, which herein Haply had ends above my reach to know. (60-62)

It is sufficient for him, he says, to know that his own former pride in his strength is the source of his present miseries. What is important is that Samson has again interrupted himself with admissions of his own guilt. Samson concludes his opening soliloquy with a great lyrical outburst on blindness. We are not unprepared for the long passage beginning, "O loss of sight, of thee I most complain!" (67) Samson's thoughts have been turning inward as he checks his questionings of God's ways through the admissions of guilt. Neither should we read the speech as that of a completely desperate man. Patience is the virtue under which man bears the inevitable evils, and "sensibility to pain, and even lamentations, are not inconsistent with true patience".29 Considered as such a lamen24

CE., CE., 2 ® CE., « CE., 2 ® CE., 29 CE., 25

XVII, XVII, XVII, XVII, XVII, XVII,

27. 53. 57. 61. 63. 253.

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tation, the passage seems a necessary utterance on Samson's part. It turns on the purely personal, on the exile of Samson from the Light of day. Samson cries out that he is committed To live a life half dead, a living death, And buried; but O yet more miserable! Myself my Sepulcher, a moving Grave, Buried, yet not exempt By privilege of death and burial From worst of other evils, pains and wrongs, But made hereby obnoxious more To all the miseries of life, Life in captivity Among inhuman foes. (100-109)

Yet if this is the first speech of purely personal lamentation, it is also the last. Even when Samson's spirits reach their lowest ebb, his concerns are greater than here. There is, of course, reason to fear that such personal concern may cause him to doubt the justice of God's ways and to throw over hope, that virtue "by which we expect with certainty the fulfilment of God's promises".30 Samson's hope has not yet been challenged; he simply does not see how God's promises can be fulfilled and he confines his thoughts to a conviction of his own failure. Fortunately he mentions the means by which he will finally unite himself with God. He says: Since light so necessary is to life, And almost life itself, if it be true That light is in the Soul, She all in every part; why was the sight To such a tender ball as th' eye confin'd? (90-94)

The means is the inner light of the soul, but the reference is passed over in his immediate concern for physical sight. What Samson needs is some external force to bring him from self-pity. As he ends his speech he hears the approaching Chorus. The members of the Danite Chorus have taken advantage of Samson's holiday to bring him consolation. At first, in disbelief, they stand apart from Samson and comment on the changed 30

CE., XVII, 57.

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condition of their once p werful hero. As the Chorus recalls the hero of past physical feats and compares him to the slave it now sees, we, too, become more aware of the contrast of strong man and slave. For the help of the Chorus in supplying the facts of Samson's past exploits, we may be grateful; however, we need not accept its evaluation of Samson's present spiritual condition: See how he lies at random, carelessly diffus'd, With languish't head unpropt, As one past hope, abandon'd, And by himself given over. (118-21)

The Chorus has the peculiarly human way of judging by externals. It is, for instance, much more impressed by the boldness of the sometime strong Samson than by the inner strength which gave him the boldness to perform his deeds. It mentions only in passing that strength must have virtue as 'her mate' (173). It, too, laments that inward light, alas, Puts forth no visual beam (162-63)

without mentioning that perhaps inner light has its own visual beam which may be a greater consolation than the delight of physical sight. The remark, then, that Samson is 'one past hope, abandoned' seems quite contrary to the two gestures toward moral responsibility which we have heard from Samson. This ability to evaluate one's own actions, which Milton calls conscience, and to pass approving or disapproving judgment on them indicates a stage far from that of abandonment. Samson at first believes his visitors to be enemies who have come to mock him. When he learns the Chorus to be friendly, his self-pity begins to leave him. He probably is over-stating his feelings, but he says he finds consolation in his physical blindness. Yee see, O friends; How many evils have enclos'd me round; Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me, Blindness. (193-96)

The Chorus must see for itself, however, the physical hardships and ignominies of the enslaved Samson. The evils which concern

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Samson now are his feelings of guiltiness and those terrors from a conscience which disapproves of its past decisions. Samson's lament is now before his friends, and his expressions of his conviction of sin in public surely require more strength than that available to an 'abandon'd' man. As Samson moves away from his misfortunes on the personal level in a new concern for his reputation in the community, he asks the Chorus if he is not proverbed as a fool. He compares himself to the pilot of a ship trusted to him 'from above' (199) who has wrecked his vessel through disobedience of the divine commands of the captain. The reason Samson gives is the one we have already heard: the disproportion between wisdom and strength. Immeasurable strength they might behold In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean; This with the other should, at least, have pair'd, These two proportion'd ill drove me transverse. (206-209)

The temptation to doubt the justice of God's ways, now arising again, is answered this time by the Chorus who repeats Samson's earlier words by saying, "Tax not divine disposal" (210). However, Samson's sin of disobedience the Chorus is inclined to view in a more human way, merely man's weakness with woman; and by doing so it provides the opportunity for Samson to rationalize his sin. The Chorus says: wisest Men Have err'd, and by bad Women been deceiv'd; And shall again, pretend they ne'er so wise. Deject not then so overmuch thyself. (210-13)

This consolation and the curiosity which the Chorus shows in Samson's marriage choices give Samson fresh opportunity to explain his sin. In his marriage with the woman of Timnath, Samson says: I motion'd was of God; I knew From intimate impulse, and therefore urg'd The Marriage on; that by occasion hence I might begin Israel's Deliverance, The work to which I was divinely call'd. (222-26)

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Of this much he is certain; but when his first wife had proved false, he took to wife Dalila, 'That specious Monster, my accomplish snare' (230). This act he thought lawful from my former act, And the same end; still watching to oppress Israel's oppressors. (231-33)

His argument by analogy leaves the possibility that Samson may have been more moved by Dalila's beauty than he can now admit. Even so, the important admission is made, and he does not follow the temptation of the Chorus to blame Dalila. of what now I suffer She was not the prime cause, but I myself. (233-34)

The Chorus grants that in seeking the means to conquer Israel's enemies, Samson was not remiss, but, it adds, "Israel still serves with all his Sons" (240). This responsibility Samson cannot accept. His people had witnessed the feats which his God-given strength allowed him to perform and which he performed without ambition. The leaders, however, persisted deaf, and would not seem To count them things worth notice. (249-50)

When the Philistines entered the land seeking Samson, the Hebrew leaders, in fear, had persuaded him to yield himself to the enemies. Samson had gone with the Philistines only because he found a new opportunity to fulfill his chosen role. Breaking his bonds, he had slain the choicest Philistine youth. Had his people acted then, they would now be free. As a nation, Samson charges, his people have grown corrupt, are bound by their love of ease into servitude, and will not fight for liberty when God, through a chosen leader, provides the time. This involvement of political liberty with individual character we have seen in the epics. Adam's most spirited outburst comes when he hears of the tyranny of Nimrod; Michael's rejoinder is that when man separates himself from God and allows unworthy passions to rule within, then tyranny over man on the political level is inevitable, although inexcusable. Christ, in Paradise

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Regained, refuses the offer of Parthian might on the same grounds. The Hebrews are captive because they are 'Unhumbl'd, unrepentant, unreform'd' (III, 429), and until they are regenerate as individuals, they are not worthy of national freedom. Here, Samson's accusations against his people provide the high point of the first episode. Neither he nor God is to blame for the political misfortunes of the Hebrews; and Samson is not sunk so deep in despair that he will accept guilt which does not belong to him or that he will allow the imputation of guilt to fall upon God. Hearing the Chorus associate him with Gideon and Jephthah, he says: Of such examples add mee to the roll, Mee easily indeed mine may neglect, But God's propos'd deliverance not so. (290-92)

The reproach, then, which Samson has for the Hebrews is not so much for their desertion of him personally, but for their desertion of God and his ways. This statement is surely the most objective he has made yet. In its passage closing this episode, the Chorus admits that Samson was right in his marriage choices and that he is not responsible for Israel's political subjection. It says: Just are the ways of God, And justifiable to Men. (293-94)

When God works through a chosen individual, he may dispense with the usual laws which he has prescribed for his people, and he did so in prompting Samson in his marriages among the 'unclean' (321). The approach of Manoa closes the first episode. In the episode Samson has taken the first important steps in his regeneration. Feelings of guiltiness, those symptoms of his spiritual death, have convinced him of his sin. His grief has been expressed to a large extent in terms of his physical suffering but it has not engulfed him to the point that he will blame God for his misfortunes. He has met the temptation, provided first by himself and then by the Chorus, to shift the responsibility of his sin. Nor is his grief so strong that his reason will fail to distinguish between his own

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disobedience to God and that of the Hebrew leaders. His punishment he recognizes as the result of his sin, although he does not know how it may serve him in any constructive way; indeed, that issue is not raised until the visit by Manoa. Only when it is raised can Samson make the more complete confession of sin. Episode Two:

Confession

For the unity of the drama, Manoa is the logical next visitor after the Chorus. He has taken advantage of Samson's day of rest to tell his son of a plan for ransom. Only his lagging feet 'cast back with age' (336) have kept him from arriving at the same time as the Chorus. Moreover, since the action is mainly internal, we need Manoa's presence at this time. Thus far the Chorus has caused Samson to examine his past relationship with God; and Samson, convinced of his guilt, recognizes the necessity of his punishment. As a father Manoa can introduce the new questions of Samson's present relationship with God and of the justice of the punishment. The high point of this episode will be the most comprehensive confession of sin that Samson makes in the drama. Manoa speaks with a force which immediately disturbs the calm of the choral justification of God's way to man. Like the Chorus, he quickly sees the change in Samson, but his reaction to it is much more personal and critical. That reaction is appropriately his as Samson's father. He raises, in reverse order, the two points on which Samson opened the first episode. First, the Samson he likes to remember is that 'invincible Samson' (341), the dread of all Israel's foes; and he is critical of that Samson who became 'proudly secure' (55) in his strength. Then, like Samson at the beginning, he recalls that this strength was to be used in a great role. Once he had prayed for and been given a son, but now he questions: O wherefore did God grant me my request, And as a blessing with such pomp adorn'd? Why are his gifts desirable; to tempt Our earnest Prayers, then, giv'n with solemn hand As Graces, draw a Scorpion's tail behind? (356-60)

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For a while Samson had been 'Select, and Sacred' (363); then in an hour he had been 'Ensnar'd, assaulted, overcome' (365). Such a sudden change is more like that attributable to Fortune than to a merciful God. The Chorus has already introduced us to a Samson who is a mirror of our fickle state, Since man on earth unparallel'd! The rarer thy example stands, By how much from the top of wondrous glory, Strongest of mortal men, To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n. (164-69)

Manoa now does much to associate the God to whom he had prayed with the sort of deity described by the Chorus. Manoa closes his opening speech by lamenting: Alas! methinks whom God hath chosen once To worthiest deeds, if he through frailty err, He should not so o'erwhelm, and as a thrall Subject him to so foul indignities, Be it but for honor's sake of former deeds. (368-72)

Milton would not, and Samson does not accept the implications against God's ways. True, after the Fall man inherited an innate propensity to sin, but God is no 'respecter of persons' 31 and there either remained in all men or was distributed by God's grace to all men enough free will so that man, if he chose, could return to God. The degree of predestination was general, not special, in that it applied to all men who would believe. Furthermore, "the gift of reason has been implanted in all, by which they may of themselves resist bad desires, so that no one can complain of, or allege in excuse, the depravity of his own nature compared with that of others".32 Yet even the believer might fall; and when he did, he must accept the punishment which would come as the necessary consequence of sin. From such punishment might come repentance, and repentance was one of the marks of regeneration. Manoa's remarks, then, provide a new temptation for Samson to 31 S2

CE., XIV, 127. CE., XIV, 131.

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blame God for his fall. Samson's reply comes with the kind of calm dignity which he had exhibited in defending himself against the false charges of the Chorus. Here he is defending God. His speech is the first of two long confessions of sin which can only come after his gestures toward moral responsibility in the first episode. Samson opens his first confession of sin with an unequivocal acknowledgment of his own responsibility. He says: Appoint not heavenly disposition, Father, Nothing of all these evils hath befall'n me But justly; I myself have brought them on, Sole Author I, sole cause. (373-76)

There can be no question of the necessity of his punishment, and his remark that if aught seem vile, As vile hath been my folly (376-77)

seems to echo Milton's belief that "sin in itself alone is the heaviest of all evils, as being contrary to the chief good, that is, to God; whereas punishment seems to be at variance only with the good of the creature, and not always with that".33 But the major issue of this speech is not the punishment consequent upon the sin but the nature of the sin itself. Samson speaks with a conscience which not only disapproves of the sin but which can also outline the folly with more detail. At first he describes his sin in terms of disobedience to a divine command, of profaning his vow to God by betraying it to 'A Canaanite, my faithless enemy' (380). To have revealed this secret is, Samson feels, the very height of impious folly. Especially so since he had been warned of betrayal by his experience with his first wife who had wrested from him the secret of the riddle. That secret though, one of Samson's own devising, was a minor matter when compared to the secret entrusted from God. Three times, Samson recalls, he had been able to repel Dalila's approaches to learn the divine source of strength. Finally, wearied, Samson had revealed the secret. All of these 113

CE„ XV, 209.

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details prepare us to meet Dalila later, and we cannot forget the accurate analysis of his sin which Samson offers in closing his first confession. His was a sin of self-betrayal. foul effeminacy held me yok't Her Bondslave; O indignity, A blot To Honour and Religion! servile mind Rewarded well with servile punishment! The base degree to which I now am fall'n, These rags, this grinding, is not yet so base As was my former servitude, ignoble, Unmanly, ignominious, infamous, True slavery, and that blindness worse than this, That saw not how degenerately I serv'd. (410-19)

These remarks bring together much that has been at work in the drama thus far. True liberty begins on an individual level and rests with an individual conscience in learning and following the will of God. Samson had the even larger responsibility of a special command from God. He feels, therefore, that his fall is the greater since he has destroyed the promise which God has made through him. His physical enslavement counts for little beside this greater enslavement of his soul and his violation of his special role in God's Providence. He is still unaware of how his individual regeneration may help him in fulfilling his special role. However, such an admission shows how far Samson has come from his early poignant outcry against physical blindness. Manoa pays little attention to Samson's remarks on individual, spiritual freedom. He engages briefly in paternal admonition of Samson's marriage choices; and although he pleads "I state not that" (424), he seems to question whether his son's will had actually been in agreement with God's at the time of the two marriages. Regarding Samson's past actions, Manoa knows for certain only that 'the sacred trust of silence' (428) lay within Samson's power to keep and that in breaking that trust his son is paying bitterly. Then Manoa leaves the subjects of the past, for a 'worst thing yet remains' (433). He reminds us of the reason for Samson's day of rest; the Philistines are holding a feast to celebrate their victory over Samson. Their praises will be for Dagon, and that false god

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shall be magnified, and God, Besides whom is no God, compar'd with Idols, Disglorifi'd, blasphem'd. (440-42) For this public dishonor of the true God, Samson must take the blame, and of all his sufferings think it 'the heaviest' (445). Samson's reply is his second confession of sin. "Father", he says to Manoa, I do acknowledge and confess That I this honor, I this pomp have brought To Dagon, and advanc'd his praises high Among the Heathen round; to God have brought Dishonor, obloquy, and op't the mouths Of Idolists, and Atheists. (448-53) He has been guilty of the sin of ingratitude, a form of which Milton defines as "the bestowing on idols, or on created things, that gratitude which we owe to God".34 However, Samson goes even further than Manoa in defining his sin. Although he cannot accept the responsibility for Israel's political servitude, he does realize that he, by his example, has stirred doubt In feeble hearts, propense enough before To waver, or fall off and join with Idols. (455-56) This dishonor, he confesses, is his chief anguish. Still there is hope; in any contest which pits Dagon with the true God only one outcome is possible. Samson says: all the contèsi is now 'Twixt God and Dagon-, Dagon hath presum'd, Me overthrown, to enter lists with God, His Deity comparing and preferring Before the God of Abraham. He, be sure, Will not connive, or linger, thus provok'd, But will arise and his great name assert: Dagon must stoop, and shall ere long receive Such a discomfit, as shall quite despoil him Of all these boasted Trophies won on me, And with confusion blank his Worshippers. (461-71) Samson's words have a terrible irony. All that he says will happen, 34

CE., x v n , 61.

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but Samson assumes that he will have no part in the strife between God and Dagon. He sees himself as withdrawn from that contest because of his past error; nevertheless he does not doubt that God's Providence will assert itself without him. To distrust God is the largest temptation that Samson has faced. His situation is, in a sense, comparable to that of Christ during his first temptation. Exactly why he is in the wilderness or how he is to sustain his body without food Christ does not know. Still, he cannot accept the suggestion of Satan that he turn the stones to bread without distrusting God. Manoa, of course, is not Satan; his fatherly concern for his son is not intended to draw Samson into new sin. However, his remarks open questions which Samson must answer. We have reached the highest moral plateau of the first two episodes. Samson's faith in God is strong; his reason seems little obscured by any false idea about his sin and his responsibility for it, but his will to act is negligible. Indeed, there has not even been the possibility for action; this, too, Manoa begins to provide. Manoa accepts Samson's words on the contest between Dagon and God as prophetic. He must be pleased to hear Samson express such hope, and no doubt he is attempting to cheer his son when he asks, "But for thee what shall be done?" (478) The question obviously looks toward the future, and Manoa's answer to it is his plan for ransom. He has already heard his son admit that the "strife / With mee hath end" (460-61), and he must feel that his plan is the only common sense approach to a remedy. He tells Samson: Thou must not in the meanwhile here forgot Lie in this miserable loathsome plight Neglected. I already have made way To some Philistian Lords, with whom to treat About thy ransom: well they may by this Have satisfied thir utmost of revenge By pains and slaveries, worse than death inflicted On thee, who now no more canst do them harm. (479-86)

Manoa's mind is more limited than Samson's. He is thinking mainly of Samson's physical torments, and his plan is designed

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as a remedy for these. Even when he mentions the possibility of Samson's return to God's favor, he feels the return will be miraculous and not through Samson's efforts. Samson does not share his father's hope for a recovery of God's lost favor, although there are signs of his recognition of the need for it. More important, for the moment, is Samson's awareness that a return to the comforts and kindness of his home will do nothing to relieve his spiritual death. The rest of the speeches in this episode reveal in Samson a mood of resignation and helplessness. He even says: Nor am I in the list of them that hope; Hopeless are all my evils, all remediless. (647-48)

This statement is not a reversal of the expression of hope Samson has already made. He is not saying that the outcome of the contest between Dagon and God is uncertain, but rather that he has no part in it. He cannot hope that God's promises to him will be fulfilled. Such moods of resignation alarm us, for they deter the catastrophe. Nevertheless, these moods should not surprise us. If we have already passed the high point of this episode, we should expect some descent. It is as if the objectivity of his confessions has quite exhausted Samson and he must again gather new strength. Samson's first response to his father's plan is not a sharp rebuff such as will greet Dalila's proposal; respectfully Samson says: Spare that proposal, Father, spare the trouble Of that solicitation; let me here, As I deserve, pay on my punishment; And expiate, if possible, my crime, Shameful garrulity. (487-91)

There is, it seems, the possibility of even more punishment; certainly there is the acceptance of his present punishment as entirely just and the recognition of the possibility of expiation. Then Samson tries again to explain to Manoa the difference between his crime and those committed by ordinary men. To expose the secrets of a human friend is heinous enough, deserving the contempt and scorn of other men; but Samson has revealed God's secret. Even the parables of the Gentiles, Samson remarks, have

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condemned such offenders against divine rule. Manoa ignores the distinction, and in his concern for Samson's physical welfare believes that Samson is being 'self-rigorous' (513). The kindly old man even fears that his son will commit suicide, a thought which has not entered Samson's mind even though he does look upon physical death as the only end for his torments. Who knows, Manoa argues, but that his plan to relieve Samson's physical discomforts is not God's plan to return Samson Home to thy country and his sacred house, Where thou mayst bring thy off'rings, to avert His further ire, with prayers and vows renew'd. (518-20)

Manoa's arguments have their cogency, and Samson is unable to answer them except in repeated confessions of sin. Pardon, he realizes, he must seek; but he questions any further purpose in his life. Life once had meaning when he could perform 'acts indeed heroic' (527). That meaning disappeared, however, when he became presumptuous, over-confident, 'swoll'n with pride' (532), and walked about 'like a petty God' (529). The Chorus, in what at first seems a digression, recalls those early days and praises Samson's abstinence from 'wine and all delicious drinks' (541). The words of the Chorus, no doubt intended as consolation, only bring from Samson another confession of sin. Samson may have been able to resist one of the vices of bodily gratification, but, he adds: what avail'd this temperance, not complete Against another object more enticing? (558-59)

Its words, however, serve another purpose in that they suggest to us that Samson is now undergoing a new period of moral preparation. Fountains of 'the cool Crystalline stream' (546) had once sprung up under divine direction; they may again if Samson, now a sinner and not a willing follower of God, recognizes that his only source of aid is still divine not human. For the moment Samson knows only that his growing hair is a 'vain monument of strength' (570), and that since he can be of no further use to God or to his people, he does not want to sit idle before the hearth. It

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is better to earn his daily bread through the work imposed upon him by the Philistines and to await the relief of death. Nothing Manoa can say convinces Samson otherwise. The shallowness of Manoa's plan becomes apparent in his last speeches. He proposes a life at home bedrid, not only idle, Inglorious, unemploy'd, with age outworn. (579-.80)

as better than that at the mill in service to the Philistines which, as we know, Samson accepts as the kind of physical enslavement inevitably following spiritual slavery. Moreover, Manoa can assign only natural psychological causes to the feelings of helplessness which Samson utters. Then, realizing that his plan calls him elsewhere and after instructing the Chorus to continue with its encouragements to Samson, Manoa leaves. Whatever else we may think of Manoa, he is not corrupt. His temptation to Samson to withdraw from the scene of his punishment is based on genuine feelings of fatherly concern. His emphasis on relief of Samson's physical pains and enslavement is both understandable and human. What he cannot understand is that Samson's pains have a deeper source than natural humours and that the relief for these pains is not human solace. Samson's speech after the departure of Manoa brings us to an impasse in the moral drama. Actually, there is little new in the speech except the more complete articulation of that last evil coming with the punishment of death which Milton describes as "the sensible forfeiture of the divine protection and favor; whence results a diminution of the majesty of the human countenance, and a conscious degradation of mind".35 In the drama Samson says that God now hath cast me off as never known, And to those cruel enemies, Whom I by his appointment had provok't, Left me all helpless with th' irreparable loss Of sight, reserv'd alive to be repeated The subject of thir cruelty, or scorn. (641-46) 35

CE„ XV, 205.

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These enemies are the torments of Samson's mind. The statement is not a complaint or an open accusation against God; it seems more an acknowledged fact just as are the feelings of guilt. It comes in a period of darkness which the play has not seen before, in a period in which Samson's one prayer is for death. Yet coming as it does after so many repeated confessions of sin, the statement does seem part of a general review of his present condition in which Samson has been engaging. No longer is Samson concerned with his physical ills. Indeed, he wishes that such ills were his only ones. If there were no such ills as spiritual ones, then perhaps Manoa's plan might be the suitable remedy. But for these torments of the mind there seems 'no redress' (619) and they remain 'wounds immedicable' (620). They must fester until physical death relieves him of life. When Samson recalls the high promise under which he had once lived, he also admits that these enemies were the ones that he himself 'had provok't' (643). This confession of sin is the last made in this episode, and it is made not when he is struggling to reach a clear position regarding his responsibility but when he has already reached that position and he has also realized his separation from God. The mood of resignation will have to pass before the catastrophe can take place, and in a way he is further from the catastrophe than he was when he took the first steps of his repentance. What is needed now is not the miraculous sort of divine intervention which Manoa has suggested might occur with Samson at home, but for Samson to discover within himself some new light marking God's acceptance of the steps which he has been taking. Despite this feeling of helplessness, the clarity and objectivity which Samson has shown in accepting his guilt and its consequences have won him the right to face the new trial provided by Dalila. If Samson does not question God's justice, the Chorus does. Significantly, before it does, the Chorus mentions what Milton must have considered the proper solution to Samson's mental torments. This solution combines both the human and divine. Realizing that any sayings about "Patience as the truest fortitude" (654) will not have any effect on Samson, the Chorus admits that patience little aids a man enduring misfortune,

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Unless he feel within Some source of consolation from above; Secret refreshings, that repair his strength, And fainting spirits uphold. (663-66)

Had Milton done other than have the Chorus suggest this proper way he would have included a chorus of preachers. As it is, the suggestion is enough to make us aware of what we shall see acted out before us as the drama moves forward, and to recall Samson's own earlier awareness of the need for the 'breath of Heav'n' (10). And, as it is, the Chorus has the function here of raising the great challenge to God's justice which we must see answered before the tragedy ends. Its question, "God of our Fathers, what is man!" (667) is a natural one, judging by what the Chorus has witnessed during two episodes. Earlier it had concluded that God's ways were just in that he could dispense with his own laws. Here, however, the Chorus cannot understand God's treatment of his heroes. God, the Danites charge, ignores both his past favors to men above 'the common rout' (674) and their services to him. Their fall, furthermore, seems to have brought unduly severe punishment. Whatever associations the speech may have to the post-Restoration period, that made by the Chorus is to Samson. So deal not with this once thy glorious Champion, The Image of thy strength, and might minister. What do I beg? how hast thou dealt already? Behold him in this state calamitous, and turn His labours, for thou canst, to peaceful end. (705-709)

It is too much to claim that Dalila's entrance at this moment is God's answer to the choral plea. Dalila has sufficient reasons of her own for coming to see Samson on this holiday. However, her visit will provide Samson a new opportunity to grow in strength.

Episode Three: Departure from Evil Dalila is one of Milton's most interesting creations, and part of that interest hangs on what W. C. Curry has called her myste-

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riousness. She comes, she says, in repentance paid for in tears, and she begs reconciliation with her husband. She uses more arguments than any other of the visitors, and some students of Milton have accepted them as sincere, if shallow, marks of her own repentance. Don Cameron Allen, for instance, labels himself as advocatus Dalilae?1 Since the structural pattern which I am suggesting labels this third episode as the 'departure from evil', I am obliged to give my reasons for believing, with Samson, that Dalila is truly 'that specious Monster' (230). She is, as her arguments and her motive in coming will show, a woman with an evil conscience, that is one which "judges erroneously or with a wrong bias, and not according to the light derived from nature or grace".38 She has come for the most sinister of reasons, to enslave the soul of another. It is a crime of which she is already guilty and for which Samson is now paying. The contrast between two 'repentant' sinners is surely intentional on Milton's part, and we are given a chance to judge for ourselves the sincerity of Samson's repentance through his reaction to the trial he now faces. Her offer of the comforts of her home and body is the new temptation for Samson to lose his individual liberty, that liberty of conscience which makes each man a willing son of God and which Samson must have if he is to fulfill any larger special role. Perhaps Milton's contemporary readers would have been less puzzled by Dalila. Krouse has shown us that Dalila had a bad name in the tradition which was still alive and intact; she was well known from poem, broadside, and sermon as a deceitful, a treacherous, a dangerously clever sort of woman, skillful in blandishment and importunity. The readers for whom Milton w r o t e . . . were prepared for a Devil equipped with what appear on the surface to be the best of arguments.39

That tradition has faded, and today we must rely on the suggestions of it in reconstructed form which he in the poem. The first hint that Milton wished to retain her bad name comes in the 39 37 38 39

"Samson Agonistes Yet Again", Sewanee Review, XXXII (1924), 102. The Harmonious Vision (Baltimore, 1954), p. 89. CE., XVH, 43. Milton's Samson and the Christian Tradition, p. 102.

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opening lines of the episode. The choral description of Dalila and her description of herself are at odds. Here the Chorus, as it did in first viewing Samson, does not openly pass judgment on the mood of the person involved; it merely describes physical actions, and although it describes them by metaphor, the implied associations are left to us to draw. The Chorus says: But who is this, what thing of Sea or Land? Female of sex it seems, That so bedeckt, ornate, and gay, Comes this way sailing Like a stately Ship Of Tarsus, bound for th' Isles Of Javan or Gadire With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, Sails fill'd, and streamers waving, Courted by all the winds that hold them play, An Amber scent of odorous perfume Her harbinger, a damsel train behind; Some rich Philistian Matron she may seem, And now at nearer view, no other certain Than Dalila thy wife. (710-24)

The figure of a 'stately Ship', rigged with its finery and courting every wind, does little to suggest the approach of a repentant woman. Samson's reaction to Dalila's entrance is immediate; he calls her 'my Traitress' (725) and asks the Chorus to prevent her approach. As Dalila comes closer, the Chorus reports to Samson: but now, with head declin'd Like a fair flower surcharg'd with dew, she weeps And words addrest seem into tears dissolv'd, Wetting the borders of her silk'n veil; But now again she makes address to speak. (727-31)

Dalila's physical beauty is her constant feature; however, the 'but now' indicates that Dalila has been caught off guard and that she adopts a more hesitant approach than that of a stately ship. She herself will say: With doubtful feet and wavering resolution I came, still dreading thy displeasure, Samson. (732-33)

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If she is not guilty of hypocrisy in her repentance, certainly she is guilty of indecorum in her prideful entrance and in her choice of fine clothes, no doubt purchased with the gold of the betrayal money. In her opening speech, Dalila confesses her sin; for it she has merited the displeasure of Samson and for it she is 'without excuse' (734). Indeed she is guilty of bringing down more evil than she foresaw. She claims contrition, saying that her tears are her penance. The progress of her repentance, it seems, is at least as far along as Samson's and perhaps even further, since she wishes now to perform good deeds. She has come to aid Samson; through love she may even be able to relieve the torments of his mind. Her crowded opening speech is not without a semblance of humility; yet she must hope that Samson will accept without question her confession of guilt and become interested only in her offer of aid. She has not come without at least some thought of justifications for her crime, however, as she will reveal when Samson forces her to examine her sin more closely. For Samson is not in the least interested now in her proffered solace. In his response, Samson is both harsh and unreasonable. Confronted by Dalila - the occasion, if not the cause, of his own sin and wearied by his candour of the earlier episodes, Samson is natural enough in these responses; he will grow calmer and more certain of himself as he talks. Here he brusquely dismisses her claim to repentance as deceptive art without even hearing her reasons, and in his hastily aroused anger at confronting her he forgets the generous principle of forgiveness. She uses, he says, the arts of every woman false like thee, To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray, Then as repentant to submit, beseech, And reconcilement move with feign'd remorse, Confess, and promise wonders in her change, Not truly penitent, but chief to try Her husband, how far urg'd his patience bears, His virtue or weakness which way to assail. (749-56)

Too many husbands are entangled in new sin because they have easily been fooled by seemingly repentant wives. He will not for-

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give her, and his opening command, "Out, out, Hyaena" (748), still stands. Dalila, however, quietly requests an audience. All that she wishes is his pardon; and although she makes claims to the contrary, she presents reasons for deserving that pardon which sound more like excuses for the betrayal itself. In any event she will not be satisfied to leave the scene with the pardon which Samson finally bestows on her. She makes two persuasive speeches to air these reasons, presenting herself first as the frightened wife and then as the frightened Philistine. In the first of these, Dalila tells Samson not to think that she will endeavor To lessen or extenuate my offense, But that on th' other side if it be weigh'd By itself, with aggravations not surcharg'd, Or else with just allowance counterpois'd, I may, if possible, thy pardon find The easier towards me, or thy hatred less. (767-72)

Her request is reasonable, but no sooner does she make it than she turns more to insult and taunt than to argument. Did not Samson indulge in the common female fault of telling secrets? Recognition of this weakness, she says, may cause Samson to be less severe in judging her own. After all, she says: To what I did thou show'd'st me first the way. But I to enemies reveal'd, and should not. Nor shouldst thou have trusted that to woman's frailty: Ere I to thee, thou to thyself wast cruel. (781-84)

Eve had used the same argument after the Fall to justify her disobedience. However, both women use the argument of 'by thy example' when they have lost the right to use it. If there were a recognition of weakness on the husband's part, the time for admonition was at the time of his mistake, not after the wife had followed his example. Still, the sting of Dalila's charge is there, and Samson is candid enough to say: bitter reproach, but true, I to myself was false ere thou to me. (823-24)

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Weakness is no excuse; and Samson continues: Such pardon therefore as I give my folly, Take to thy wicked deed. (825-26)

Of course, Samson does not pardon his own sin, and he means that Dalila should seek none for hers; she, too, must accept the responsibility of her own weaknesses. Dalila has another reason in her first speech, one which properly marks her as the frightened wife. What, she says almost forgetting that she has promised not to extenuate her offence, if love caused her to do what she did. She recalls Samson's desertion of his first wife, accusing him of being 'mutable / Of fancy' (793-94) but overlooking the betrayal as reason for that desertion; then she says that she had sought by all means therefore How to endear, and hold thee to me firmest: N o better way I saw than by importuning To learn thy secrets, get into my power The key of strength and safety. (795-99)

She anticipates a question, and hastily adds that she had revealed the secret to the Philistine leaders only because she had been assured nothing harmful was designed against him. It was because of her love for Samson that she deprived him of his liberty which would draw him out to dangerous adventure, and because of her fear of a 'widow'd bed' (806). There is something disturbing in Dalila's concept of love, for it is more like the medieval courtly love than the married love instituted by God. A wife was given to man by God as 'his help and solace and delight',40 not his captor. Dalila seeks the power to enjoy Samson day and night Mine and Love's prisoner, not the Philistines', Whole to myself. (807-809)

To this Samson poses only the maxim, "Love seeks to have Love" (837). How could she hope to retain his love by betraying him to his enemies. Love, as Adam said in Paradise Lost, is a 'Union of Mind' (VIII, 604) and it came from Eve through 40

CE„ XV, 163.

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those graceful acts, Those thousand decencies that daily flow From all her words and actions, mixt with Love. (VIII, 600-602)

Samson can hardly call the means Dalila has chosen to show her love one of 'decencies'. Instead he calls her love a lust and says that she now is attempting to cover a former shame with a new one. The desire for power is becoming more clearly the main motive for Dalila's appearance. Dalila must sense the new strength in Samson from his refusal to gloss over his own error and from his determination to allow 'weakness for no plea' (843). She must turn to another justification. Power is again the theme of her second speech; but here Dalila reveals herself not as a frightened wife seeking power over her husband but as a Philistine citizen frightened by the power of her national rulers and priests. These fears, she claims, would cause even the strongest of men to yield. She hopes to associate her case with that of Samson who has been moved by concern for country and religion. This approach she might have advanced with less certainty had she been present at the earlier interview between Samson and the Chorus when he had criticized his own people. As it is, Dalila tells how the Magistrates And Princes of my country came in person, Solicited, commanded, threat'n'd, urg'd, Adjur'd by all the bonds of civil Duty And of Religion, press'd how just it was, How honourable, how glorious to entrap A common enemy, who had destroy'd Such numbers of our Nation: and the Priest Was not behind, but ever at my ear, Preaching how meritorious with the gods It would be to ensnare an irreligious Dishonourer of Dagon. (850-61)

Against such arguments Dalila could press only her great personal love for Samson. It was not gold, as Samson has charged, which Dalila says caused her to betray him but rather realization that

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she must submit to highest wisdom. Hers, she says, was the virtuous way, and she argues: to the public good Private respects must yield, with grave authority. (867-68)

Samson will have none of her explanations. All of her wiles have ended where he thought they would, "In feign'd Religion, smooth hypocrisy" (872). She contradicts herself, he points out. Professing as she has her great love, how can she call him an enemy. She had taken him as a husband, knowing him her country's professed foe and in her marriage she had left parents and country to receive the protection of her husband and his country. If then aught against my life Thy country sought of thee, it sought unjustly, Against the law of nature, law of nations, No more thy country, but an impious crew Of men conspiring to uphold thir state By worse than hostile deeds, violating the ends For which our country is a name so dear; Not therefore to be obey'd. (888-95)

Nor is the God of her husband her former god. To please thy gods thou didst it; gods unable To acquit themselves and prosecute their foes But by ungodly deeds, the contradiction Of thir own deity, Gods cannot be: Less therefore to be pleas'd, obey'd, or fear'd. (896-900)

Samson is arguing from more than the matrimonial injunction that wives should be obedient to their husbands. He is talking about a larger moral obedience. In effect his replies question when public good and public wisdom are to be heeded. His answer is: when these are in accord with individual conscience, and when that conscience is in accord with God. His criticism is of Dalila's implicit faith in the reasonableness and justice of Philistine political and religious morality. Loss of freedom, according to Milton, occurred first on the individual level when a person became caught in his slavish desires. Samson has already accused his own leaders of being 'by thir vices brought to servitude' (269). Furthermore, he has accused himself of 'foul ef-

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feminacy' and has passed unequivocal judgment on his own violation of conscience. Here, he is accusing Dalila of covering with more pleasant names her own vices of lust and greed in a pretense of repentance, of not really confessing her true guilt, and therefore of being quite capable of accepting the urgings of the Philistine leaders. Samson, of course, is not arguing against the existence of public good and wisdom; he merely wants to show that only a free individual, acting in obedience to God, can discover that existence. An enslaved conscience yields all too quickly to the so-called wisdom suggested by 'an impious crew / Of men' (891-92). These are arguments we have heard before in both Milton's later poetry and in his Christian Doctrine. In his prose, perhaps the most eloquent expression of the idea occurs toward the close of his Second Defense: And as for you, citizens, it is of no small concern, what manner of men ye are, whether to acquire, or to keep possession of your liberty. Unless your liberty be of that kind, which can neither be gotten, nor taken away by arms; and that alone is such, which, springing from piety, justice, temperance, in fine, from real virtue, shall take deep and intimate root in your minds; you may be assured, there will not be wanting one, who, even without arms, will speedily deprive you of what it is your boast to have gained by force of arms. . . . Unless you banish avarice, ambition, luxury from your thoughts, and all excess even from your families, the tyrant, whom you imagined was to be sought abroad, and in the field, you will find at home, you will find within, and that a more inexorable one; yea, tyrants without number will be daily engendered in your own breasts, that are not to be borne. Conquer these first; this is the warfare of peace; these are victories, hard, it is true, but bloodless; more glorious far than the warlike and the bloody.41

The hard but glorious victory of spiritual freedom is one which we are seeing Samson win. Dalila, on the other hand, seems never to have realized that an unequivocal admission of sin is a necessary step in her repentance. As Samson concludes his reply, she must realize the seeming irony of their respective positions. For all of his talk, Samson is a blind captive at the mill; she is free «

CE., VIII, 239-43.

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and wealthy. She cannot yet reveal how much she glories in her position, for she feels she still has a means to regain Samson as well as retaining her gold and glory. Dalila had perhaps not wished to have the circumstances of her sin reviewed, and now in defeat she admits: In argument with men a woman ever Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause. (903-904)

Still, as her opening speech had indicated, Dalila has something more to say. Refusing to see herself as responsible for her sin but only as misguided, she offers to care for Samson at home. She does not doubt that the Philistine lords would give their consent for Samson's return. Her temptation is clearly sensual in its appeal. though sight be lost, Life yet hath many solaces, enjoy'd Where other senses want not their delights At home in leisure and domestic ease, Exempt from many a care and chance to which Eyesight exposes daily men abroad. (914-19)

Her suggestion that Samson's blindness may be a blessing is bad enough, but her crowning insult is her statement, "That what by me thou hast lost thou least shalt miss" (927). It is a terrifying invitation for Samson to forget his sin and to fall victim once more to the power of Dalila's concept of love. She seems to have understood nothing of Samson's repentance. Samson's reply - his departure from evil - begins with a quiet refusal and works its way to a brief but powerful statement on freedom. Of his physical blindness and enslavement, Samson's least concerns, Dalila is to take no care; "It fits not; thou and I long since are twain" (929). If this is Samson's pronouncement of divorce, we know the reason; there has not been a union of like minds. He will not be, he says, so unwary or accurst To bring my feet again into the snare Where once I have been caught. (930-32)

All of her charms have lost their power over him. Although he may be like a helpless child, he has no intention of descending

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lower in the natural scale to a brutish existence. Life under her power would be 'perfect thraldom' (946). Samson says: This Gaol I count the house of Liberty To thine whose doors my feet shall never enter. (949-50)

He refuses to let her even touch him with her hand. If it is for his forgiveness that she has come, then he will give her that at a distance. However, his remarks are ironic instructions to her, given as they are in that hatred which Milton called proper concerning "even our dearest connections, if they endeavour to seduce or deter us from the love of God and true religion".42 Samson still does not see how he can be of service to his God; but in identifying 'This Gaol' with his 'house of Liberty' he at least refuses to submit again to spiritual slavery. Dalila may make what reputation she wishes, but he will not be the fool twice for the same disobedience to God. Dalila naturally does not like the tag of 'Matrimonial treason' (959) by which Samson says she will be remembered. She has been scorned; she has discovered that her beauty is repellent to Samson; and she turns on him with the fury of defeated beauty. From this fury the Chorus is to reason: a manifest Serpent by her sting Discover'd in the end, till now conceal'd. (997-98)

Fame, she tells Samson, has a double mouth, and it is only among his people that her name will stand defamed. Among her own people she will be remembered among the most famous of women. Moreover, what she once called a misdeed becomes now an act of piety. Nor shall I count it heinous to enjoy The public marks of honor and reward Conferr'd upon me, for the piety Which to my country I was judg'd to have shown. (991-94)

One wonders exactly how necessary the Philistine leaders had found it to urge the betrayal of Samson. 42

CE„ XVII, 259.

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In my remarks on Dalila I may be guilty of too little of the 'chivalrous indulgence' which Allen urges.43 He has written: Shallow though she is, Dalila visits Samson out of contrition and remorse, her kind of contrition and remorse, but Samson himself knows that these emotions are but thinly part of her and that the real impulsion is lechery. . . . By rejecting her, Samson expiates, among other evils, his own history of lechery. 44

Yet it is more than an issue of lechery, important though that is. The 'real impulsion' is Dalila's desire for power. Like Satan, she wants control of another's soul. With her selfish kind of love, she is perfectly willing to sacrifice the individuality of another to satisfy her own desires. A slave to herself, she does not, indeed cannot, question or accurately judge any tyrants of higher position. Like Satan, she has fallen because she has usurped a power which does not rightfully belong to her. It is to her advantage, not having accepted the responsibility of her own sin, to assume the marks of repentance as she makes the new second attempt upon Samson's soul. She has lost. Samson shows no surprise at Dalila's sudden revelation of character. He seems ashamed at ever having allowed himself to lose his individual liberty to her. He says only that God has sent Dalila to him at this time to debase him. He does not speak of his rejection of evil, although he must recognize it as such. He has talked of Dalila's 'snare' (931) and his need to avoid it again. Perhaps, besides his shame, he also feels a sense of modesty which prevents him from boasting. He had been guilty of pride before, and he cannot afford to commit that sin again. The Chorus, however, does see his interview with Dalila as a successfully-met temptation, and it praises Samson for his present courage. Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offence returning, to regain Love once possest, nor can be easily Repuls't without much inward passion felt And secret sting of amorous remorse. (1003-1007) 43 44

The Harmonious Vision, p. 89. The Harmonious Vision, p. 88.

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Then, as if still in praise of Samson's victory, the Chorus gives its concluding ode to the scene. It is that of a masculine chorus expressing its inability to understand women. No virtues seem able to hold the love of women. Even the wisest have married only to find their wives 'a thorn / Intestine' (1037-38) and themselves 'enslavd / With dotage' (1041-42). Yet, the Chorus concludes, surely with its eye on Samson's recent rejection of evil, God most favors not the man who luckily chooses a virtuous wife but the man whose virtue breaks through all opposition, And all temptation can remove. (1050-51)

The Chorus has expressed our feelings, at least to the extent of offering Samson due credit for overcoming the wiles of Dalila. In all, the episode has proved encouraging. Some of the feeling of utter helplessness has been relieved, and Samson's spirits are raised. Still, the importance of this departure from evil is not so much in itself as in what it may lead to. It remains for Samson to feel that he again has divine favor and for him to act willingly in a virtuous cause.

Episode Four: Conversion to Good With the approach of Harapha, the drama begins to move from its spiritual level of action to that of a drama of event. Whatever may be Dalila's motive in visiting Samson, Harapha's seems clearer. He is a much less complex character than she, less reliant on the wiles of persuasive argument and more, like Satan when his resources have been exhausted, on physical force and fear. As a boastful warrior and as a respected champion of the Philistines, Harapha will serve as a dramatic foil for Samson. The distinct difference between them is that Samson is no longer 'proudly secure' in mere physical strength. Harapha has temporarily left the day's festivities in his curiosity to see the great enemy warrior whose captivity has occasioned the celebration. He is honest enough when he says that he has

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come to see of whom such noise Hath walk'd about, and each limb to survey, If thy appearance answer loud report. (1088-90)

He reveals himself, it is true, to be a blusterer and a coward; and therefore he may, as has been argued, have something in common with the braggart warriors of literature.45 However, he can hardly be said to serve as comic relief for the drama. To see him as comic is to make Milton commit the "Poet's error of intermixing Comic stuff with Tragic sadness and gravity".48 Moreover, Milton has described Harapha's type before, and he is never comic. He is of the kind whom Milton called in Paradise Lost men First seen in acts of prowess eminent And great exploits, but of true virtue void. (XI, 789-90)

And he is of the kind, in Paradise Regained, whose reliance on physical power and objects of warfare Christ labels a weakness rather than a strength. We must, then, watch Samson pierce and destroy such a weak shield. If, moreover, we are still interested in Samson's spiritual progress, comic relief is the very thing we do not want at this time. Samson has made remarkable recovery, principally, in the clarity of reasoning which he has gained through analysis of his sin and through refusal to commit his soul to evil for a second time. Should he go to the temple now, we might still have tragedy in the sense of great waste of human potential, but we should not have a motivated catastrophe. For that we need something to cause Samson to want to act; this Harapha provides through his boasting. Also we should like to see Samson believe that he is recovering God's lost favor and that he is acting not merely as another strong man but as God's champion. This, too, Harapha provides through his questioning of the source of Samson's strength. And finally, in order to have the greatest catastrophe, we should expect that the theme of Samson's individual regeneration should be drawing closer to the theme of Samson's fulfillment of his chosen role. 45

Daniel C. Boughner, "Milton's Harapha and Renaissance Comedy", Journal of English Literary History, XI (1944), 297-306. 46 The Preface to Samson Agonistes.

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Samson is less shaken after Dalila's departure than he was after Manoa's. The choral announcement of Harapha's approach brings only a brief reply. The Chorus warns that 'a rougher tongue' (1066) than Dalila's draws near. To this, Samson says only, "Or peace or not, alike to me he comes" (1074). For the moment one wonders whether the reply reflects the helplessness and weariness present at the end of the second episode, or the self-mastery which the Chorus says has been necessary to meet the temptation of Dalila. Harapha introduces himself with a sort of Satanic pride, "Not to know mee argues yourselves unknown" (P. L., IV, 830), and says that he comes with no friendly intern. He finds the reports of Samson's strength incredible and laments that he has not met Samson in battle before. Now he can only use his eyes to see if Samson's appearance answers its report. "The way", Samson counters, "to know were not to see but taste" (1091). It is an honest answer, promptly made and courageously. If it is also a bit too prideful, the correction to that will come shortly. It comes as something of a surprise, yet a reader who has been following closely the progress of Samson's regeneration should not be unprepared for it. The particular circumstances upon which Samson's will can act seem at hand. The challenge - and that is what the response amounts to does surprise Harapha. He had thought that shackles and work at the mill had tamed Samson. His lament is ever the greater now. O that fortune Had brought me to the field where thou art fam'd To have wrought such wonders with an Ass's Jaw; I should have forc'd thee soon wish other arms, Or left thy carcase where the Ass lay thrown. (1093-97)

That honour for his reputation is now lost, prevented by Samson's blindness. That blindness, the cause of the first long speech in the poem, here evokes only another brief challenge. Boast not of what thou wouldst have done, but do What then thou wouldst, thou seest it in thy hand. (1104-1105)

Even more than before, Samson demands action. If he is dirty and blind, Harapha may lay that to his treatment by the Philistine

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lords. If, here, he is in danger of overlooking his own responsibility in this usage, that too will be corrected. The important point is that Samson has completely come to terms with his physical misfortunes. Blindness is no longer a problem for him; in his imagination he sees the sort of combat grounds in which he again can act. He says: Therefore without feign'd shifts let be assign'd Some narrow place enclos'd, where sight may give thee, Or rather flight, no great advantage on me; Then put on all thy gorgeous arms, thy Helmet And Brigandine of brass, thy broad Habergeon, Vant-brace and Greaves, and Gauntlet, add thy spear A Weaver's beam, and seven-times-folded shield, I only with an Oak'n staff will meet thee, And raise such outcries on thy clatter'd Iron, Which long shall not withhold me from thy head, That in a little time, while breath remains thee, Thou oft shalt wish thyself at Gath to boast Again in safety what thou wouldst have done To Samson, but shalt never see Gath more. (1116-29) There is an element of humor in this description, and with this wealth of detail, Samson becomes something of a blusterer himself. But even if his picture is only of one strong man bludgeoning another until the better man wins, it contains nothing of that earlier feeling of helplessness. Inadvertently Harapha will cause the contest between them to rise to higher levels. Harapha cannot believe that anyone, especially a combatant, would disparage 'glorious arms' (1130). Samson's confidence in victory must mean that he possesses the power of 'some Magician's Art' (1133). The insult now is against God and his power; Samson's reply eliminates any fear that he is still proudly secure in his own strength. His speech is important. I know no spells, use no forbidden Arts; My trust is in the living God who gave me At my Nativity this strength, diffus'd No less through all my sinews, joints and bones, Than thine, while I preserv'd these locks unshorn, The pledge of my unviolated vow.

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For proof hereof, if Dagon be thy god, Go to his Temple, invocate his aid With solemnest devotion, spread before him How highly it concerns his glory now To frustrate and dissolve these Magic spells, Which I to be the power of Israel's God Avow, and challenge Dagon to the test, Offering to combat thee his Champion bold, With th' utmost of his Godhead seconded: Then thou shalt see, or rather to thy sorrow Soon feel, whose God is strongest, thine or mine. (1139-55)

The comic, so fleetingly present, is gone. The issues are beyond those of a mere combat, and Samson is close to a conversion to good, that is, a joining of his will with that of God. The first sentence of Samson's answer (1139-44) is perhaps all we had a right to expect. He is completely truthful in his answer that his trust is in God; he has demonstrated this already by his acceptance of his punishment. And he is truthful in saying that his locks provided his source of divine strength while he preserved them 'unshorn, / The pledge of my unviolated vow'. But this speech is not another confession of sin, for Samson pushes beyond. His answer to Harapha's charge does not require that Samson make the contest one between Dagon and God. Such a contest, as Samson prophesied in the interview with Manoa, has only one outcome. But there Samson had said that he could not be part of that contest. Here, he is offering himself as 'proof' of the outcome. 'Proof', let us notice, after his locks have been shorn, after the vow has been violated. It is time for Samson to tell what has been happening to him this day. Harapha, in his way, raises the question. Harapha feels that he has adequate grounds to question Samson's claim that he will be proof of God's strength. He has only to glance around him at the prison grounds. How can Samson claim God's favor when he is enslaved, rejected by his nation, and blinded by his captors? Although he has not heard Samson say earlier: as for life, To what end should I seek it? (521-22)

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he thrusts the question back for an answer, saying that Samson is good only for a life among slaves. In a stinging reminder of Samson's sin, he says that the locks are 'no worthy match' (1164) for a valiant sword; they are 'by the Barber's razor best subdu'd' (1167). I quote the whole of Samson's reply: All these indignities, for such they are From thine, these evils I deserve and more, Acknowledge them from God inflicted on me Justly, yet despair not of his final pardon Whose ear is ever open; and his eye Gracious to re-admit the suppliant; In confidence whereof I once again D e f y thee to the trial of mortal fight, By combat to decide whose god is God, Thine or whom I with Israel's Sons adore. (1168-77)

It is a speech of remarkable condensation, and it must be delivered by Samson with a great dignity. Harapha probably does not understand how much of the day's events are reflected in it, but we, as readers, have an advantage there. First, Samson again acknowledges his sin and the justice of God's punishment. Such an acknowledgment provides nothing new. Next there is an expression of trust in God's mercy, and this is new. At least, such faith has not been so openly expressed. It is that kind of 'full persuasion' that Milton calls saving faith. Hints of God's mercy, of course, have appeared before. Samson himself opens the drama talking of the amends which the 'breath of Heav'n' can make. The Chorus, to close the second episode, remarks that some 'source of consolation from above' is needed by every man facing patiently the trials of evil, and Samson has said that he must remain at the mill to expiate his crime. And, as the third episode closes, the Chorus has said that God favors most those who successfully meet their temptations. Here, then, in the reply to Harapha, Samson seems to sense the relationship between what has gone before and his own present standing with God. He does not brag of being a saved man, but he can in confidence of God's mercy once again challenge Harapha to combat. The speech is made by a Samson who is a regenerate man and a man willing to act as God's champion.

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Samson's confidence convinces Harapha of some great source of strength above his own, and he evades Samson's challenge by name calling. Samson, he charges, is 'A Murderer, a Revolter, and a Robber' (1180). To these indignities, all connected with his actions at the time of his first marriage, Samson responds from the basic idea that he was no private but a person rais'd With strength sufficient and command from Heav'n To free my Country. (1211-13)

He is neither a murderer nor a robber. His defense that his marriage to a Philistine wife argued him no foe seems treacherous since earlier he has admitted that he only sought occasion hence I might begin Israel's Deliverance, The work to which I was divinely call'd. (224-26)

His point now seems that the occasion came sooner than he expected and through not his but the Philistine lords' instigation. His slaughter and robbing of the thirty men was only payment in their own coin. He is on firmer ground in refuting the charge of league-breaker. The Philistines had conquered by force, and their tyranny may be overthrown by force. That his countrymen did not support him is their fault. To this defense of his actions Samson adds his third challenge to Harapha for single combat. This challenge brings a flat refusal from Harapha, who says that his code forbids his fighting with a slave. Then, as Samson moves towards him, saying, "My heels are fetter'd, but my fist is free" (1235), Harapha retreats. The Chorus is delighted with Samson's show of recovered strength and with the victory measured by Harapha's 'less unconsci'nable strides' (1245). But it also fears what may come from Harapha's parting threat that Samson's 'insolence other kind of answer fits' (1236). To this fear, Samson has practical answers. Harapha cannot report the insults without either accepting or refusing the challenge. If he 'allégé some cause' (1253) and the Philistines inflict new physical harm upon Samson, then they will lose his profitable services at the m i l l . He concludes:

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come what will, my deadliest foe will prove My speediest friend, by death to rid me hence, The worst that he can give, to me the best. (1262-64)

The wish for death is startling, re-emerging as it does from an earlier background of helplessness. It re-emerges with a difference, however, after a period in which Samson has said nothing about death, and in which so much has happened in Samson's recovery that its force seems negligible. Moreover, there is no mention of suicide which Manoa thought possible or of the slow lingering death which Samson foresaw. Rather it is death in action. Samson remarks: Yet so it may fall out, because thir end Is hate, not help to me, it may with mine Draw thir own ruin who attempt the deed. (1265-67)

"The end which a sinner has in view", both Samson and Milton know, "is generally something evil and unjust, from which God uniformly educes a good and just result, thus as it were creating light out of darkness." 47 That in the end Samson will suffer death as the Philistines do is the greatest tragic irony of the drama. The point now is that Samson is prepared for death, and that he is prepared to harm God's enemies as he dies. It is certainly not a death contemplated in a period of helplessness but in one of. We have passed a high point in the drama. Samson, in offering himself as proof of God's strength, has stated his conviction that he once again has God's favor. His individual regeneration, brought about through his repentance, has reached the stage of faith. God, through his grace, will 're-admit the suppliant'. However, since Samson's willingness to serve God actively has been thwarted by Harapha's refusal to fight the contest between God and Dagon, Samson must await new opportunity. The Philistine messenger is not long in coming. Before he arrives, the Chorus briefly comments on the present position of Samson. Two ways, it says, seem possible for God's servants. The first is that for the chosen Hero. He With plain Heroic magnitude of mind And celestial vigour arm'd (1279-80) "

CE„ XV, 75.

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may defeat the mighty. None of the stratagems or machines of men can equal his strength when allied with God's. Through him 'Tyrannic power' (1275) falls before Truth, and his actions revive 'the Spirits of just men long opprest' (1269). But there is another way, that open to God's Saints; it is the way of patience. But patience is more oft the exercise Of Saints, the trial of thir fortitude, Making them each his own Deliverer, And Victor over all That tyranny or fortune can inflict. (1287-91)

The Chorus says that either of these ways is Samson's lot, but I should think a more accurate observation would be that both ways might be. Certainly Samson has already achieved the second way, for as the Chorus remarks to him: This Idol's day hath been to thee no day of rest, Labouring thy mind More than the working day thy hands. (1297-99)

And, because of this 'labouring' which has enlisted him already among the Saints, he has now won the right to fulfill his larger role of God's Champion on earth. In a sense, the Philistine summons will draw the two ways together, but it can only because Samson's will is ready for the two roles to be brought together. The officer comes to take Samson for his preparation to appear at the temple. Manoa has already announced the reason for the holiday's celebration, and the officer now gives a specific reason for Samson's appearance before the lords. Thy strength they know surpassing human rate, And now some public proof thereof require To honor this great Feast. (1313-15)

Surely Samson is aware that the officer's relating of a demand for public proof echoes his own demand upon Harapha. Whether or not he also realizes that his appearance might be the opportunity for the great act of benefit to the Israelites promised to him by God is debatable. At any rate, Samson presents quite good reasons for refusing to go, and they would seem to bring him to another impasse. His immediate response to the officer's message

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is a flat refusal based on his conscientious understanding of the Law; as a Hebrew, he cannot appear at idolatrous religious rites. When the officer presses the command, Samson questions the motives of the Philistine lords. Do they merely intend to make him their major attraction among their 'Gymnic Artists' (1324)? Samson's question is entirely human. He does not want to see himself in 'a game of my calamities' (1331). Should he be refusing the command on this basis alone he would be guilty of refusing to accept the highest indignity of his punishment. Yet that reason comes squeezed between his brief remark on religious rites and the longer one, quoted below. To the prompting of the officer for him to regard his best interests, Samson replies: Myself? my conscience and internal peace. Can they think me so broken, so debas'd With corporal servitude, that my mind ever Will condescend to such absurd commands? Although thir drudge, to be thir fool or jester, And in my midst of sorrow and heart-grief To show them feats, and play before thir god, The worst of all indignities, yet on me Join'd with extreme contempt? I will not come. (1334-42) The refusal to play the fool is still in the speech, but Samson has also raised the decision to one of a matter of conscience. The worst indignity of all is to play before a false god and hence to bring honor to him. The issue of conscience needs further exploration, but the officer does not wait to hear it. Helpful here, as the Chorus begins its warning, are Milton's distinctions on conscience. They are listed, we may recall, under the virtue of sincerity. Sincerity, Milton writes, "which is also called integrity, and a good conscience, consists in acting rightly on all occasions, with a sincere desire and a hearty mental determination".48 He then adds, as if more adequately to show the relationship between reason and will, another definition of good conscience. "Properly speaking, however, a good conscience is not in itself sincerity, but rather an approving judgment of the mind respecting its own actions, formed according to the light «

CE„

xvn, 39.

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which we have received either from nature or from grace, whereby we are satisfied of our inward sincerity." 49 Opposed are two kinds of evil conscience. First, "allowing some latitude of signification to the word", is "the judgment of each individual mind concerning its own bad actions, and its consequent disapproval of them, according to the light enjoyed from nature or grace; which may be more properly called a consciousness of evil'. 50 Then, "strictly s p e a k i n g . . . an evil conscience is one which judges erroneously or with a wrong bias, and not according to the light derived from nature or grace". 6 1 All three kinds of conscience appear in Samson Agonistes. True, Samson, as he comes on stage, possesses a 'consciousness of evil' rather than an 'evil conscience'. However, his sinful action with Dalila is never far removed in the play, and the scene with Dalila is the struggle to keep from judging again 'erroneously or with a wrong bias'. His conviction of his guilt and consequently his confessions of sin spring from his judgment on his past true evil conscience. Finally, in this scene when he calls himself a suppliant for God's grace, he is using his good conscience. Here he is not being asked to pass judgment on a past evil action but to explain his reasons for refusing to commit new sin. The revival of strength which the Chorus had hailed earlier is more glorious than the Danites understand. The officer gone, the Chorus expresses its fears for Samson. The officer, by distorting Samson's words, may add new cause for inciting the Philistine lords. Samson, the Chorus warns, can only expect another command " M o r e Lordly thund'ring than thou well wilt bear" (1353). A s readers, we are awaiting another kind of 'thund'ring' command and from another kind of Lord. In reply, Samson gives the same staunch answer on the illegality of a Hebrew's appearance at idolatrous services, but he does so in a new and interesting way. He says: Shall I abuse this Consecrated gift Of strength, again returning with my hair 48 50 51

CE„ XVII, 41. CE„ XVII, 43. CE., XVH, 43.

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After my great transgression, so requite Favor renew'd, and add a greater sin By prostituting holy things to Idols; A Nazarite in place abominable Vaunting my strength in honour to thir Dagoril (1354-60)

Samson has spoken of his growing hair before, but then it was 'robustious to no purpose' (569). And Manoa has expressed the easy hopeful thought that Samson's locks will eventually be used in God's service. But, in the passage above, Samson for the first time associates his returning strength with 'Favour renew'd', as if in recognition of his regeneration. What he has won so hard through his own effort he does not intend to lose in the same way. Quickly dispensing with the choral argument that he now uses that strength at the mill by saying that his service is to 'thir civil power' (1367) and for his own daily bread, Samson tackles its new argument that, "Where the heart joins not, outward acts defile not" (1368). This is true only when physical force carries the participant into such idolatrous rites. Quite a different matter, and a sinful decision, is a willing obedience to an illegal command. He points out: If I obey them, I do it freely; venturing to displease God for the fear of Man, and Man prefer, Set God behind: which in his jealousy Shall never, unrepented, find forgiveness. (1372-76)

This passage, so expressive of the kind of individualism which Milton had put into his theological treatise, also reflects the kind of Christian liberty which is an important part of Milton's later poetry. For historical accuracy and for the more important reason that Samson Agonistes is a drama not a theological treatise, Milton does not speak of the Holy Ghost which in post-Gospel times entered the hearts of willing believers at the time of regeneration and which served as their infallible guide. But, Milton says, this liberty "was not unknown during the time of the law",52 and 'prophecy, dreams, and visions'53 may represent the equiva«53 CE„ XVI, 153. CE„ XVI, 119.

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lent of the Holy Spirit. The truly vital point of Milton's Christian liberty is in the passage, however; Samson recognizes that a true son of God serves him willingly and that with a good conscience in accord with God's will he is "freed from the yoke of human judgments, much more of civil decrees and penalties in religious matters".64 Actually, I anticipate the rest of the passage. Samson continues: Yet that he may dispense with me or thee Present in Temples at Idolatrous Rites For some important cause, thou needst not doubt. (1377-79)

Samson's position is this: He wishes to serve God, but he knows that, unless he is forced physically to the temple, his obedience to the Philistine lords is willful disobedience to God. But God had once spoken to Samson before he had to be re-admitted to his grace and had prompted him in an action inadmissible through the reason's interpretation of the Law. God had urged the marriages with unclean women. Now, because Samson has been readmitted into God's grace, there is the new prompting. Milton describes in his argument to the drama how Samson is 'persuaded inwardly' to go to the temple. In the drama itself Samson says: Be of good courage, I begin to feel Some rousing motions in me which dispose To something extraordinary my thoughts. I with this Messenger will go along, Nothing to do, be sure, that may dishonor Our Law, or stain my vow of Nazarite. If there be aught of presage in the mind, This day will be remarkable in my life By some great act, or of my days the last. (1381-89)

We need not object to this entrance of God into the drama; God is only indirectly the motivation for Samson's going to the temple. Samson responds with his regenerated will to a 'presage' of his mind which comes from God. The important point is that Samson through his own efforts has won the right to again receive such prophecies from God and to act upon them. The themes of in54

CE.. XVI, 157.

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dividual regeneration and Samson's promised role are joined. We cannot speak, then, of Samson's easy resignation to the will of God unless, as we do, we recognize the arduous process of individual struggle which precedes this example of willing obedience to God in faith. The drama has reached its climax. Samson "is SANCTIFIED BOTH IN BODY AND SOUL, FOR THE SERVICE OF GOD, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF GOOD WORKS".55 A great act is about to be per-

formed; Samson does not know what it is yet, or whether his own death is imminent. But he is ready to act, "THE INWARD MAN . . . REGENERATED BY GOD AFTER HIS OWN IMAGE".58 The officer returns, hurling at Samson insulting epithets from the Philistine lords: 'our Slave, / Our C a p t i v e . . . our drudge' (1392-93). The command to appear is brief; if he does not come willingly, they will find physical means to drag him away. Samson feigns submission: I could be well content to try thir Art, Which to no few of them would prove pernicious. Yet knowing thir advantages too many, Because they shall not trail me through thir streets Like a wild Beast, I am content to go. Masters' commands come with a power resistless To such as owe them absolute subjection; And for a life who will not change his purpose? (1399-1406)

He is going, he pretends, in the very spirit of sinful disobedience which he has just rejected before the Chorus. Yet despite the irony of these lines when applied to the Philistine lords, there is in them the moral of the play: willing obedience to the true Master. Samson engages in a grim sort of joke, but he has earned that right. Suggesting that for their safety the Danites remain behind and assuring them: Happ'n what may, of me expect to hear Nothing dishonourable, impure, unworthy Our God, our Law, my Nation, or myself, (1423-25) 55 58

CE„ XV, 367. CE„ XV, 367.

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Samson goes with the officer. May the 'Holy One / of Israel' (1427-28) be with Samson, the Chorus prays.

Episode Five: Faith Not Void of Works From this climax the play goes to its tragic ending. The quality of that tragic ending has been questioned by several critics, but perhaps Miss Una Ellis-Fermor best states the reasons of all of them. She writes: Few of us, if thinking in terms of experience and not of names, are content to call Samson's triumphant death a tragic catastrophe. How could we, indeed when 'nothing is here for tears'? We are accustomed to associate with tragedy a balance between conflicting moods, between the sense of pain, grief, or terror on the one hand and, on the other, something which triumphs and illuminates. But in Milton's play we find instead a progression towards triumph and illumination which gradually subdues the sense of pain, grief, and loss and at the end transcends and utterly destroys it. Here is clearly something other than the balance of tragedy. Milton oversets the balance in the direction of positive interpretation; by justifying the ways of God to man he leaves no room for tragic ecstasy and substitutes an ecstasy of another kind. He has written, that is, a play that belongs to the rare category of religious drama, a kind which, by the nature of some of its basic assumptions, cannot be tragic.57 Paull Baum has much the same feelings when he says that there is a gulf between the spirit of tragedy and the spirit of the final chorus, and he claims that "a deep religious feeling paramount . . . and a high tragic spirit are antithetical".58 Granting the largest possible view, I think these critics may be correct; tragedy with its sense of waste in the death of a noble person is probably antithetical to a truly Christian spirit with its promises of eternal salvation and final rest from this world. Yet to take this broad point of view is to remove oneself too far from an immediate reaction to the drama. One can think later about the final chorus, 57

The Frontiers of Drama, p. 17. "Samson Agonistes Again", Publications sociation, XXXVI (1921), 370. 58

of the Modern Language

As-

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'All is best', and can agree with it; even at the time, we can understand how Samson's death fits into the larger scheme of God's Providence and can feel the edification of the moral of the drama. Yet, at the same time, we cannot totally forget the suffering which Samson has undergone. Obviously the structural pattern which I have been urging for the drama is one of a progression towards triumph, but the exultation comes from an awareness of greater struggle than Miss Ellis-Fermor allows in her analysis of the middle of the play. Certainly I cannot agree with Baum's statement that the final reconciliation of Samson and God "is merely a foregone conclusion momentarily lost sight of'. 5 0 It may be that Milton's adherence to the unity of time forces more attention to the act of recovery than would a play in which one sees the tragic mistake and then the recovery. Certainly in this sense the Oedipus at Colonus which Samson Agonistes resembles so much is less tragic than the earlier Oedipus Rex. Samson's fall, however, is never very far removed from the play, and its consequence, punishment, is always present. The Samson of early days is not the one on whom the play opens but the one upon whom Manoa remarks: Samson hath quit himself Like Samson, and heroicly hath finish'd A life Heroic. (1709-11)

The recovery of God's lost favor is surely a triumph, but it is won, we must remind ourselves, as part of what Milton would have called 'the victorious agonies of Martyrs and Saints'.80 Then at the very moment when Samson has, through his own efforts, won a victory, he dies. He should, as Hanford has said, "have gone on from one glad triumph to another and emerged unscathed".61 My study of Samson's recovery does nothing to destroy the tragic sense of waste at the end of the drama, but rather should contribute toward a greater understanding of the process of that recovery upon which Manoa and the Chorus comment in 59 60 81

"Samson Agonistes Again", p. 369. The Reason of Church Government, CE., Ill, 238. Hanford, Studies in Shakespeare, Milton, and Donne, I, 183.

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the last episode and which is responsible for the noble hero who dies gloriously and tragically. In terms of the experience of victorious agonies, I think we have the right to call Samson's triumphant death a tragic catastrophe. In the time before the catastrophe, Manoa returns. His conversation with the Chorus does more than maintain the appropriate space of time before Samson's death; it also continues, albeit on quite a different level, the theme of freedom. In contrast to Samson's concern for his freedom of individual conscience is Manoa's for Samson's release from Philistine captivity. Despite the contrast, Manoa's plan does not sound as shallow as it did earlier. In the second episode his plan provided a temptation for Samson to rely on human relief in his sufferings and to escape his punishment. By refusing that temptation, and by successfully meeting the temptation of evil, he has come to see himself as a suppliant to God's mercy and has regained his will to act in God's cause. Perhaps, we feel, with such recovery, Samson's punishment is over; and after helping himself, through God's grace, he may now accept the help of his father and return among his own people to await new chance to serve God's cause. Manoa returns to tell the Chorus of his progress. He has petitioned the Philistine lords with his tears and has found some ready to act magnanimously if 'some convenient ransom were propos'd' (1471). Interestingly, just as Manoa is reporting his humiliation before the Philistines, they are enjoying the final act of Samson's humiliation. A shout interrupts Manoa's speech and the Chorus comments: Doubtless the people shouting to behold Thir once great dread, captive, and blind before them, Or at some proof of strength before them shown. (1473-75) The shout should remind us, even if it does not Manoa, of Samson's punishment and of his acceptance of this final indignity at the hands of the Philistines. Manoa has already said that he did not go to the temple for fear of seeing Samson 'forc't to things unseemly' (1451), and as he hastens to tell his own plans, he may be only trying to forget such sights as would bring this shout. In

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his love, he is willing to forego all his patrimony and to accept the unusual responsibility of an aged father's attendance upon his son. There is room, he feels, for an even greater hope. And I persuade me God had not permitted His strength again to grow up with his hair Garrison'd round about him like a Camp Of faithful Soldiery, were not his purpose To use him further yet in some great service. (1495-99)

Significantly, even as Manoa speaks, Samson is pulling down the temple. His strength is no longer useless, but its restoration has not come easily and miraculously as Manoa believes it will. The strength comes of God only when Samson is ready to serve. Only when he proves himself in the camp of the faithful does he go beyond the role of patient saint to enroll in the 'Camp / Of faithful Soldiery', where he realizes his faith in a final good work. The catastrophe occurs off-stage; and Milton must move us towards it, let us experience it, and then back away for a moment of explanation. The approach is made slowly amid confusion. There are feelings of horror and pain expressed by all; of fear for Samson's life, by Manoa; and of possible victory without Samson's death, by the Chorus. Even when the Hebrew messenger arrives, he gives the waiting Chorus and Manoa only the briefest description: All of the Sons of Gaza have been overwhelmed by Samson, who is now dead. Then in explanation of how Samson died at his own hands, the messenger introduces one of the final ironies of the play. Samson's death came out of Inevitable cause At once both to destroy and be destroy'd; The Edifice where all were met to see him Upon thir heads and on his own he pull'd. (1587-90)

The Philistines have brought on their own destruction. The long speech by the messenger brings us into the tragic experience itself. As Arnold Stein has pointed out, the messenger's speech is 'an extraordinarily successful dramatic poem'.62 For purposes here, we must concentrate on those details which pro82

Heroic Knowledge, p. 195.

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vide the Chorus and Manoa with the means of justifying God's ways to man. The Philistines are at their height of power. Their scheme of bribery and coercion upon a willing Dalila has brought a momentarily weak Samson into their hands, and Dagon is now to be honored in public recognition of Samson's and his God's defeat. By noon the Philistine hearts are drunk in the blood of sacrifices and on wine. They are ready to witness the feats of the captive Samson. The high point of their entertainment is also that of Samson's punishment. Dressed in a public retainer's uniform and surrounded by Philistine might, Samson is led into the arena. 'Patient but undaunted' (1623), he performs the required feats. When he is allowed an intermission of rest, he has completed the expiation of his sin, completed it by accepting and conquering it in his patience. Then as he rests, he places his arms about the two columns supporting the roof above the nobility. There is a moment of dedication: with head a while inclin'd, And eyes fast fixt he stood, as one who pray'd, Or some great matter in his mind revolv'd. (1636-38)

Where once he had been 'proudly secure' in his strength, now he is returning to his source of strength, God. His dedication eliminates the slightest trace of pride. When at last he raises his head, he speaks: Hitherto, Lords, what your commands impos'd I have perform'd, as reason was, obeying, Not without wonder or delight beheld. Now of my own accord such other trial I mean to show you of my strength, yet greater; As with amaze shall strike all who behold. (1640-45)

His obedience is no longer the pretended obedience to false masters, but the willing obedience of a faithful son of God. The gift of superhuman strength is his, earned by his own efforts; and, as it is used willingly, it brings his tragic death. In its comments, the Chorus must first clear Samson of the possible charge of suicide. It praises Samson for his fulfillment of his promised role. Now Samson

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li'st victorious Among thy slain self-kill'd Not willingly, but tangl'd in the fold Of dire necessity, whose law in death conjoin'd Thee with thy slaughter'd foes in number more Than all thy life had slain before. (1663-68)

Exactly what Milton means by 'the fold / Of dire necessity' I am not certain. The reference, however, must be to some law of inevitable physical causation and not to any mysterious power of fate in the universe. In his argument to the poem Milton states that Samson's death is 'by accident'. Perhaps, then, the kind of necessity meant in the poem is that which Milton calls 'compulsory necessity'63 in the Christian Doctrine. The term is used in Milton's argument against the position that God's fore-knowledge is responsible for the actions of free agents. He writes that "nothing happens of necessity because God has foreseen it; but he foresees the event of every action, because he is acquainted with their natural causes, which, in pursuance of his own degree, are left at liberty to exert their legitimate influence. Consequently the issue does not depend on God who foresees it, but on him alone who is the object of his foresight." 84 Only two kinds of necessity, Milton explains, are admitted by reason: that is to say, when the efficient either causes some determinate and uniform effect by its own inherent propensity, as for example, when fire burns, which kind is denominated physical necessity; or when the efficient is compelled by some extraneous force to operate the effect, which is called compulsory necessity, and in the latter case, whatever effect the efficient produces, it produces per accidens. Now any necessity arising from external causes influences the agent either determinately or compulsorily; and it is apparent that in either alternative his liberty must be wholly annihilated.65

This latter kind of necessity would seem to fit Samson's action. The decision to pull down the building still lies in Samson's power and comes from his regenerate mind. However, once the decision initiates the physical action of tumbling the columns, Samson is 64 85

CE., XIV, 73. CE., XIV, 83.

CE., XIV, 71-73.

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

221

caught by an external force which must work itself to an inevitable result. The first Semichorus takes up the death of the Philistines. 'Primitive',88 an adjective used to describe the emotions in the passage, is a good one; but such feelings of hate are only appropriate, coming as they do from Hebrews who are commenting on the death of their enemies. Tillyard may be right also in saying "that Milton expresses a personal sympathy with them and that if King Charles II with his Court and counsellors had been similarly overwhelmed Milton would have experienced not less savage jubilation".67 However that may be, the passage goes beyond the autobiographical and beyond the immediacy of the Hebrew nationalism to offer an explanation of one of God's ways with men. In essence the speech says: The Philistines have chosen to remain in a state of spiritual death, and by their own obstinacy have brought on their own destruction; evil has been responsible for its own downfall. The passage in its entirety reads: While thir hearts were jocund and sublime, Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with Wine, And fat regorg'd of Bulls and Goats, Chaunting thir Idol, and preferring Before our living Dread who dwells In Silo his bright Sanctuary: Among them hee a spirit of frenzy sent, Who hurt thir minds, And urg'd them on with mad desire To call in haste for thir destroyer; They only set on sport and play Unwittingly importun'd Thir own destruction to come speedy upon them. So fond are mortal men Fall'n into wrath divine, As thir own ruin on themselves to invite, Insensate left, or to sense reprobate, And with blindness internal struck. (1669-86)

Some remarks from Milton's Christian Doctrine are helpful here. In speaking of God's general government of the whole creation, 68 87

Stein, p. 199. Milton, p. 334.

222

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

Milton writes that God concerns himself with the production of evil in one of two ways: "either, first, he permits its existence by throwing no impediment in the way of natural causes and free agents . . . or, secondly, he causes evil by the infliction of judgments, which is called the evil of punishment'.68 In the matter of sin, moreover, "God's providence finds its exercise, not only in permitting its existence, or in withdrawing his grace, but also in impelling sinners to the commission of sin, in hardening their hearts, and in blinding their understandings." 69 Yet in such cases, Milton believes, God is not the author of sin. For it is not the human heart in a state of innocence and purity, and repugnance to evil, that is induced by him to act wickedly and deceitfully; but after it has conceived sin, and when it is about to bring forth, he, in his character of sovereign disposer of all things, inclines and biases it in this or that direction, or towards this or that object . . . Nor does God make that will evil which was before good, but the will being already in a state of perversion, he influences it in such a manner, that out of its own wickedness it either operates good for others, or punishment for itself, though unknowingly, and with the intent of producing a very different result. 70

Thus God, as it were, creates 'light out of darkness',71 and he does so in order that man may gain "thorough insight into the latent wickedness of his own heart, that he may either be induced thereby to foresake his sins, or if not, that he may become notorious and inexcusable in the sight of all".72 This hardening of the heart of the sinner is usually "the last punishment inflicted on inveterate wickedness and unbelief in this life".73 The Philistines, then, are near a state of final reprobation. They have persisted in the worship of a false deity; they have enslaved themselves through intemperance; and they have used force to rule the consciences of others and have established their own institutionalized moral code as law. Dalila is typical of them. She seeks a Satanic self-glorification beside which her lust, love of money, and petty 98

CE., »» CE., 70 CE., 71 CE., 78 CE., 7S CE.,

XV, XV, XV, XV, XV, XV,

67. 69. 73-75. 75. 77. 83.

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

223

honors are only dim evils. In this intoxication of self-glory, the Philistines have urged their 'own destruction to come speedy upon them' (1681). God himself has impelled them to their last sin by sending a 'spirit of frenzy' (1675) which has 'hurt thir minds' (1676) and left them 'with blindness internal struck' (1686). They have had eyes, but they could not see. What though of Samson? How do his actions illustrate another of God's ways to man? The second Semichorus says: But he though blind of sight, Despis'd and thought extinguish't quite, With inward eyes illuminated His fiery virtue rous'd From under ashes into sudden flame, And as an ev'ning Dragon came, Assailant on the perched roosts, And nests in order rang'd Of tame villatic Fowl; but as an Eagle His cloudless thunder bolted on thir heads. So virtue giv'n for lost, Deprest, and overthrown, as seem'd, Like that self-begott'n bird In the Arabian woods embost, That no second knows nor third, And lay erewhile a Holocaust, From out her ashy womb now teem'd Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most When most unactive deem'd, And though her body die, her fame survives, A secular bird ages of lives. (1687-1707)

This is the way of spiritual rebirth, of restoration and recovery. I need not repeat here the steps of that recovery which I have been tracing throughout this section. Suffice it to say that Samson has risen from the ashes of his own destruction to return in obedience to God. Because he has not persisted in inveterate evil and hardened his heart to God, but rather has accepted his punishment without denying God's justice, he has returned to God's favor. Manoa expresses it this way: And which is best and happiest yet, all this With God not parted from him, as was fear'd, But favoring and assisting to the end. (1718-20)

224

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

Samson has brought eternal fame to his own name, and to Israel Honor hath left, and freedom, let but them Find courage to lay hold on this occasion. (1715-16)

The Miltonic emphasis on the requirement of individual conduct is unmistakable. Samson has fulfilled God's promise, but the Israelites themselves must be worthy of this freedom. It is, then, this contrast between the way of self-destruction and individual regeneration which the Chorus has in mind when it closes the play by saying: All is best, though we oft doubt, What th' unsearchable dispose Of highest wisdom brings about, And ever best found in the close. Oft he seems to hide his face, But unexpectedly returns And to his faithful Champion hath in place Bore witness gloriously; whence Gaza mourns And all that band them to resist His uncontrollable intent; (1745-54)

and mankind, his servants, God with new acquist Of true experience from this great event With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind, all passion spent. (1755-58)

Yet, we must admit, this lesson in faith is our property only after the tragic experience. The last speech is not meant to suggest that Samson has escaped his tragic death; it proclaims only the means by which he has overcome his own sin, a means lying within each man's power. Surely, if we have followed with any involvement whatever the struggles of Samson to reach his moment of greatest triumph, we will, even if briefly, feel his tragedy before we content ourselves with the choral consolation. That consolation is the necessary and valuable addition which Milton, dramatist and man, needed for the completion of his drama; but it does not cancel completely, especially at the moment, our awareness of Samson's pain and struggle no matter how necessary they have been.

"SAMSON AGONISTES"

225

Manoa's last remarks do much to keep us in the immediacy of the tragedy. He speaks of the future, but it is in terms of a monument to Samson's virtue which may prove exemplar to his nation and not in terms of the Last Judgment. Although there is "Nothing . . . here for tears, nothing to wail" (1721) since Samson "heroicly hath finish'd / A life Heroic" (1710-11), Manoa and the Danite Chorus must still attend to the affairs of cleaning and burying the body. As they perform these very human details, I should think that our recognition that God in his Providence makes no distinction "between the righteous and the wicked, with regard to the final issue of events, at least in this life",74 would be working itself into the recognition of the larger point of view of the necessity for individual regeneration and obedience to God.

74

CE„ XV, 61.

CONCLUSION: T H E UNITY OF MILTON'S LATER POETRY

When, at the beginning of Paradise Lost, Milton said that he hoped to assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men (I, 25-26) he, with his readers, knew that the "Providence of God as regards mankind, relates to man either in his state of rectitude, or since his fall". 1 We have examined only a portion of that providence, that which concerns the restoration of fallen man to a state of grace. In his concern for this change in man from a state of nature to a state of grace, Milton is in agreement with one of the intellectual endeavors of his age; for, as Herschel Baker has remarked: to describe the change from its inception through all its most minute stages to its consummation in glory became one of the favorite tasks of Puritan divines. The drama of man's election, vocation, justification, sanctification, and glorification was one of endless fascination and unutterable significance. As a drama in which every single man could be the protagonist, it represented the agony and triumph of Puritan theology.2 Milton's doctrine of man's restoration is an article of his faith, the full body of which is contained in his Christian Doctrine. There is little indication that Milton ever lost interest in this document which he calls his 'richest possession' 3 for every amanuensis who worked on the Picard draft added statements and proof-texts to 1 2 3

CE„ XV, 113. The Wars of Truth, p. 207. CE„ XIV, 9.

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227

almost every major subject, including that of the duty of every Christian to determine for himself in matters of his faith. Support of a belief that Milton in his later poetry utilized this doctrine of man's restoration, especially those portions involving man's own responsibility, has been a major purpose in the critical interpretations suggested in the three preceding chapters. In concluding now, I shall restate what seem to be the important features of Milton's application of this doctrine in Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. In doing so, I hope to establish more firmly at least one of the major ways in which a thematic unity exists for this later poetry. Man once, in Adam, stood "furnished.. . with whatever was calculated to make life happy", 4 having been created in the image of God. When Adam willfully chose a lesser good than God, both he and all posterity fell from God's favor. Nevertheless, God in his mercy provided a way by which man could be restored to his favor. In its effects, Milton's interpretation of this way, with its two parts of regeneration and redemption, is at once both liberating and demanding. God's decree of predestination Milton interpreted as 'the effect of his mercy, and love, and grace, and wisdom in Christ' and not of 'his absolute and secret will'.6 This meant that the privilege of election belonged to all believers. "Mercy first and last", God announces in Paradise Lost, is the attribute which he wishes to 'brightest shine' (III, 134). Therefore, man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will, Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely voutsaf't. (Ill, 173-75)

Both the repenting Adam and Samson admit their need for God's mercy. In Paradise Lost, Adam tells Eve: What better can we do, than to the place Repairing where he judg'd us, prostrate fall Before him reverent, and there confess Humbly our faults, and pardon beg. (X, 1086-89) 4 5

CE„ XV, 113. CE„ XIV, 105.

228

CONCLUSION

As the epic closes, Adam pledges that he will ever observe the providence of God, who is 'Merciful over all his works' (XII, 565). In the tragedy, Samson during the Harapha episode describes his God as one who will give final pardon since his ear is ever open; and his eye Gracious to re-admit the suppliant. (1172-73)

Such a liberating decree of election was possible, however, only because of Christ's satisfaction of divine justice by the payment of the required price for all mankind. Christ's mission on earth, Milton believed, "REDEEMED ALL BELIEVERS AT THE PRICE OF HIS OWN BLOOD, BY HIS OWN VOLUNTARY ACT, CONFORMABLY TO THE ETERNAL COUNSEL AND GRACE OF GOD THE FATHER". 6

In Paradise

Lost the Son is told by God: Be thou in Adam's room The Head of all mankind, though Adam's Son. As in him perish all men, so in thee As from a second root shall be restor'd, As many as are restor'd, without thee none. (Ill, 285-89)

The Christ of Paradise Regained is clearly aware that his mission of redemption will end with the willing sacrifice of his life. Early in Book I Christ remarks that his way lies through 'many a hard assay even to the death' (I, 264), before he can bring redemption. Of Milton's two other heroes, only Adam mentions the Son. After having heard Michael's account of the Covenant of Grace and the Resurrection, Adam closes his last speech with an acknowledgment of Christ as his Redeemer. Since there is 'no allusion, no prophecy on the subject of Christ in Samson','' Saurat concludes that Milton had given up the idea of salvation through Christ. Milton's emotional response to the Atonement was never that of an enthusiast; in his theology the Atonement stood more as a legal fact which was necessary to give man greater responsibility in his salvation. Yet it does seem unsafe to argue that Milton in Samson Agonistes had given up a belief in the Atonement. In one of his speeches late in the drama, Samson says, « CE„ XV, 253. 7 Milton, Man and Thinker, p. 238.

CONCLUSION

229

"My trust is in the living God" (1140). This expression of faith, or trust as Milton said it was called in pre-Gospel times, is perfectly in keeping with the views of the Christian Doctrine. The ultimate object of faith, Milton wrote, was God the Father alone, and "it ought not to appear wonderful if many, both Jews and others, who lived before C h r i s t . . . should be saved by faith in God alone; still however through the sole merits of Christ, inasmuch as he was given and slain from the beginning of the world, even for those to whom he was not known, provided they believed in God the Father". 8 As this study has shown, Samson is another of those Old Testament saints justified before God by their faith, a position to which man could arrive through his own efforts. Since Milton has kept the essential doctrine of faith in God, the omission of references to Christ would seem more likely to have come through Milton's sense of literary decorum than through a changing religious belief. If the decree of election was an effect of God's merciful acceptance of the Son's redemptive mission, nevertheless it was a conditional decree. Man was justified finally by his own faith. Man's efforts in his restoration began with the vocation; for, according to Milton, man by the grace of God had the free will to either accept or reject a call to return to favor. As God in Paradise Lost says: I will clear thir senses dark, What may suffice, and soft'n stony hearts To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. (Ill, 188-90)

To accept this call, as both Adam and Samson do, meant to start on a path which would lead to eventual salvation; not to accept could lead only to hardness of heart and deserved damnation. The Philistines, as we have seen, are among those who bring on their own destruction through 'blindness internal' (1686). This initial liberty, however, was not the greatest conceived in the Miltonic scheme for salvation. True liberty was Christian liberty, one in which the divine inner spirit placed in the heart of regenerate man was the only guide for him to follow. In Paradise s

CE., XV, 403-05.

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CONCLUSION

Lost, Michael begins his last bit of narration by instructing Adam that Christ to his own a Comforter will send, The Promise of the Father, who shall dwell His Spirit within them, and the Law of Faith Working through love, upon thir hearts shall write, To guide them in all truth. (XII, 486-90)

In Paradise Regained, the means to wisdom which Christ so brilliantly defends at the end of the second day is that of the inner conscience, divinely guided. Christ reminds Satan that the man who receives Light from above, from the fountain of light, N o other doctrine needs, though granted true. (IV, 288-90)

Finally, the repentant Samson refuses to go with the Philistine officer because he cannot violate his 'conscience and internal peace' (1334). This greater liberty, however, was only the privilege of the regenerate. The gradual process of regeneration was recognized mainly by the signs of true repentance and saving faith. Man's justification, as Michael tells us, depends on 'Faith not void of works' (XII, 427). This faith or full persuasion in the truth of the promises made by God through Christ is first expressed in Paradise Lost by Adam when he tells Eve after their prayer to God that persuasion in me grew That I was heard with favour; peace return'd Home to my Brest, and to my memory His promise, that thy Seed shall bruise our Foe; (XI, 152-55)

And then again more completely in his last speech he re-pledges obedience to God after having heard Michael's account of the promises of the Covenant of Grace. In the tragedy Samson, 'at length persuaded inwardly' 9 that his rousing motions are from God, decides to go with the Philistine officer even though Hebrew law forbad his appearance at idolatrous rites. Interestingly, the kind of trust in God which both Adam and Samson express to9

The Preface to Samson Agonistes.

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231

ward the end of the poems Christ expresses at the beginning of Paradise Regained. He tells us that he is led by some strong motion Into this Wilderness, to what intent I learn not yet; perhaps I need not know; For what concerns my knowledge God reveals; (I, 291-93)

and the first temptation which he successfully overcomes is to distrust in God's care of him in that wilderness. However, for Milton, faith was not simply a passive acceptance of God's truth; faith was not void of works. For the performance of these works regenerate man was "SANCTIFIED BOTH IN BODY AND SOUL, FOR THE SERVICE OF GOD".10 AS Michael explains, the spirit within not only provides the way to discover the truth but also will arm regenerate man With spiritual Armor, able to resist Satan's assaults, and quench his fiery darts. (XII, 491-92)

In other words, regenerate man still had to struggle to maintain God's favor. The perfect pattern for such a struggle against the flesh, the world, and the Devil was that waged by Christ, who as perfect Man was the only one able to fulfill the entire divine law. Man's duty, however, was to try. God, in Paradise Regained, states this exemplary function of his Son for regenerate man when he gives the reason for the temptation in the wilderness. God says: first I mean To exercise him in the Wilderness That all the Angels and Ethereal Powers They now, and men hereafter, may discern From what consummate virtue I have chose This perfect Man, by merit call'd my Son, To earn Salvation for the Sons of men. (I, 155-56;163-67)

If, as the discussion above indicates, Milton's belief in his general scheme of man's restoration was a continuing one during his later years, we should expect some common theme to emerge for the 10

CE., XV, 367.

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CONCLUSION

later poetry and some more particular use of that doctrine within the specific poems. An important point to notice from the general use of the doctrine is this, that although the benefit of man's restoration was great - a liberty of conscience which allowed no external constraint, human or divine - so also was the struggle both to gain that liberty and to keep it. Furthermore, it was a liberty which meant willing obedience to God. That such obedience on the part of the believer was the highest happiness seemed certain for Milton since it meant the way to the best possible earthly life, a sort of blessedness which could be called imperfect glorification or, as Michael calls it, the Paradise within, as well as to eternal salvation and perfect glorification. This necessity for man's obedience to God is the common, linking theme of Milton's later poetry. In the first line of his long epic Milton announces that he will sing of 'Man's First Disobedience', and he has Adam, Man as well as the specific hero of his poem, conclude the epic with its message: "Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best" (XII, 561). Paradise Regained continues the theme through Milton's announced intention to sing: Recover'd Paradise to all mankind, By one man's firm obedience fully tried Through all temptation. (I, 3-5) In Samson Agonistes, disobedience to God is the tragic flaw and the cause of the spiritual misery in which Samson finds himself. As he tells us: if aught seem vile, As vile hath been my folly, who have profan'd The mystery of God giv'n me under pledge Of vow, and have betray'd it to a woman, A Canaanite, my faithless enemy. (376-80) The lesson of the tragedy, although applied ironically in these lines to the Philistine command, is that: Masters' commands come with a power resistless To such as owe them absolute subjection. (1404-05) Surely the theme which Addison pointed out so early in criticism of Paradise Lost can be legitimately applied to Paradise Regained

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and Samson Agonistes as well. Addison wrote that the great moral "which reigns in Milton is the most universal and most useful that can be imagined; it is in short this, that Obedience to the Will of God makes Men happy, and that Disobedience makes them miserable. This is visibly the Moral of the principal Fable which turns upon Adam and Eve, who continued in Paradise while they kept the Command that was given them, and were driven out of it as soon as they had transgressed." 11 Such obedience, according to the Christian Doctrine, was the highest wisdom to which man could attain, for wisdom "is THAT WHEREBY WE EARNESTLY SEARCH AFTER THE WILL

OF GOD,

LEARN IT WITH ALL DILIGENCE,

AND

Once man had regained God's favor through such obedience, that is, through faith and the proper exercise of his Christian liberty, he had gained what Michael calls the Paradise within. If my interpretations of the poems are accurate, then two of Milton's poems have been structured around the individual struggle to regain God's favor, and the other on the struggle to maintain that favor. In each case the dramatic action takes place within the soul of the hero, each of whom reaches the same moral conclusion, that obedience to God is best. GOVERN ALL OUR ACTIONS ACCORDING TO ITS R U L E " . 1 2

It is the last three books of Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes which tell of individuals who are striving to regain lost favor. Having broken divinely-imposed vows, the heroes of both works are sinners who become aware of their need for restoration through the miseries of their isolation from God. Both gain in stature, however, as they admit their own responsibility for such misery, and both work toward a spirit of faith which will allow them to serve God actively once more. These struggles have been structured around the five steps of repentance outlined in the Christian Doctrine. These steps begin with a conviction of sin and end with a conversion to good. Significantly, both heroes depart from evil during discussions of individual conscience. In Paradise Lost, A d a m throughout Book X I has witnessed a series of visions

11

The Spectator, No. 369 in The Works (London, 1882), III, 282.

12

CE„ XVII, 27.

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CONCLUSION

which adequately illustrate "supernal Grace contending / With sinfulness of Men" (359-60). The last fully-developed example of sinful man is the tyrant Nimrod. Such tyranny is possible, Michael explains in answer to Adam's lament, since true liberty Is lost, which always with right Reason dwells Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being. (XII, 84-85)

After this episode Michael turns his attention to an explanation of how Adam, or man, may regain this true liberty. The way offered, and at length accepted by Adam, is that of an individual faith which acts always in accord with the will of God. In Samson Agonistes, the hero's departure from evil comes in his refusal to submit his will to any but God. Dalila, herself enslaved to her own passions and to the institutionalized wisdom of the Philistines, fails to tempt Samson into captivity for a second time. At the end of both works, then, the heroes are prepared through their faith to serve once more as Sons of God. Adam is prepared for life east of Eden, Samson for his role as God's champion at the Philistine celebration. This pattern of individual struggle to regain lost divine favor also helps us towards a solution to certain problems in each poem. In Paradise Lost, Adam becomes more clearly the hero of the epic, and the important heroic action of the poem becomes his recovery of a state of righteousness. This reconciliation with God, moreover, extends past the close of Book X, at which point Adam is fully aware of his personal misery and has turned to God through prayer, to the close of the epic at which point, through the instruction of Michael, he has reached a full persuasion in the promises for a new life outside of Eden. The last two books are necessary not only to complete the justification of God's ways to men by adding the theme of mercy to that of justice but also to complete the dramatic action of the poem. That the action becomes that of a development within Adam's mind is only in keeping with the conclusion of the epic that the external Eden is now replaced by a Paradise within. In Samson Agonistes, the pattern provides a middle to a drama in which the action is again internal. Each of Samson's visitors has his own reasons for

CONCLUSION

235

coming to him on the Philistine holiday, but our interest in these people is for their effect on preparing Samson for the catastrophe. The poem moves from Samson's conviction of guilt and his acceptance of the justice of his punishment to his persuasion that he may receive God's mercy and may act again in his former strength. Each of the incidents, then, is important to the structural and thematic unity of the drama. The poem which treats the individual struggle to maintain God's favor is Paradise Regained. The hero is no ordinary human; he is the Redeemer of mankind. Here, in structuring his poem, Milton seems to have used what he considered the two effects of the whole ministry of Christ. First, surrounding the poem is the idea that the effect of Christ's sacrifice will suffice for the redemption of all men. God says at the beginning of the poem that he has chosen This perfect Man, by merit call'd my Son, To earn Salvation for the Sons of men. (I, 166-67) As the poem ends, the angels say to Christ: Hail Son of the most High, heir of both worlds, Queller of Satan, on thy glorious work Now enter, and begin to save mankind. (IV, 633-35) However, the bulk of the poem treats the second effect, the conformation of the faithful to the image of Christ. The incidents or temptations illustrate the struggle which every regenerate man must undergo in maintaining God's favor. Christ is exemplary for every faithful man in that he is acting under the very principle of Christian liberty which, as Redeemer, he established as a benefit of regeneration. As I have pointed out, the virtues or causes of good works which are illustrated on the three days are those taken from the discussion in the Christian Doctrine of the duties which man owes to God and to himself. The virtue of trust in God, shown during the temptations of the first and third days, surrounds the virtue of righteousness or self-discipline in the long series of offers on the second day. The moral for every believer from this second day is that no lesser good is ever to be chosen above God. In making his daily choices, the regenerate

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CONCLUSION

man has the guidance of the inner spirit which as a means towards wisdom is explained by Christ at the end of the second day. It is, then, as the story of regenerate man's struggle to maintain God's favor through the proper use of his inner conscience that Paradise Regained becomes a sequel to Paradise Lost. The gift of the supernatural spirit at the time of man's regeneration is explained by Michael and accepted by Adam as an article of his faith in Paradise Lost', however, it took Paradise Regained for Milton to show fully by example what use regenerate man was to make of this gift. To misuse this gift, that is, to choose any good less than God as the highest good, is to revert to the struggle to regain God's favor depicted in the last quarter of Paradise Lost and in Samson Agonistes. These two related individual struggles would seem to be the same as those mentioned by Milton himself in the plea to his countrymen which closes the Second Defense. There, after warning that true liberty is within man not without, he wrote: Do you, therefore, who have the wish to continue free, either begin with being wise, or repent without delay. If it be hard, if it be against the grain, to be slaves, learn to obey right reason, to be masters of yourselves; in fine, keep aloof from factions, hatreds, superstitions, injuries, lusts, and plunders. Unless you do this to the utmost of your power, you will be thought neither by God nor man, not even by those who are now your deliverers, to be fit persons in whose hands to leave liberty, the government of the commonwealth, and what you arrogate to yourselves with so much eagerness, the government of others, when like a nation in pupillage, you would then want rather a tutor, and a faithful and courageous superintendent of your own concerns. 13

Only the regenerate man, however, could begin, as Christ did, 'with being wise'; if man's will was not in accord with God's, as Adam's and Samson's were not after their disobedience, man should 'repent without delay' so that he might become regenerate. As Milton was to discover after 1654, the English people were to need 'a tutor'. Instead of the voice of a noble, reformed England 13

CE., v m , 251.

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237

such as that envisioned in the Areopagitica, Milton on the eve of the Restoration heard only the clamorings of the multitude for the return of the monarchy. Instead of a people needing only reformed ecclesiastical and civil institutions, Milton found a people who needed reformation within themselves. As a careful study of his prose works will reveal, Milton gradually became disappointed in mankind even though he never lost faith in the integrity of the individual. Not only did Milton change alliance within the various religious and political groups of his day as they seemed to offer protection to the highly individual kind of liberty he championed but he also changed his view on the ability and willingness of mankind to get and keep Christian liberty. It is the difference between the Milton of either the Animadversions, who saw all Englishmen sighing to be renewed by God, or the Areopagitica, who argued that the licensing of the press was a censuring of the common people as 'giddy, vitious, and ungrounded'; 14 and the Milton either of 1660 who believed that a rule by a few, perpetually elected regenerate men should be forced on the mass in order to insure the liberty of all regenerate men or of 1673 who wrote that if most men were asked: they would be loath to set earthly things, wealth, or honour before the wisdom of salvation. Yet most men in the course and practice of their lives are found to do so; and through unwillingness to take the pains of understanding their Religion by their own diligent study, would fain be sav'd by a Deputy. Hence comes implicit faith, ever learning and never taught, much hearing and small proficience, till want of Fundamental knowledg easily turns to superstition or Popery.15

There is little in his later poetry to indicate that Milton overcame this disappointment in the general mass of humanity. Michael, Christ, and Samson, all are critical of the populace. The far greater part of men, Michael says, Will deem in outward Rites and specious forms Religion satisfi'd; (XII, 534-35)

and those who have true liberty will have to suffer the per14 15

CE„ IV, 328. Of True Religion,

CE., VI, 175-76.

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secution of those who attempt to impose their own beliefs as dogma for all. If men are 'inward slaves', both Christ and Samson agree, it is impossible to make them 'outward free' (P. R., IV, 145). Milton still does believe that only after the individual is regenerate can society itself be reformed. Christ offers the sound advice of self-government before one attempts to govern others; and Manoa suggests that Israel may gain its independence if the people will act after the heroic example of his own son. However, such hope or plans for societal reform are only a small part of the later poetry. The greater problem is the individual struggle for the Paradise within which Michael promises, which Adam and Samson must earn the right to have, and which Christ so perfectly illustrates. Only that inner Paradise can replace the external one which Adam lost for mankind. Such, then, is the sense of unity which a recognition of Milton's use of his doctrine of man's restoration may give to his later poetry. Standing alone, Paradise Lost represents the entire Christian saga from Creation to Last Judgment. Within this saga, the single fact which interested Milton the most in his later years was the recovery by fallen man of God's favor. This theme as it appears in his three last poems seems neither unexpected nor 'unMiltonic'.16 To the end of his life Milton thought of himself as the teacher-poet of a high calling; and if he could not once instruct his countrymen on the ways in which to fit liberty of conscience into a reformed societal pattern and later sing of the glory of that nation, then in his later years he could at least instruct them in the sort of fundamental knowledge which he felt they lacked. For Milton, the lesson from his practical experience with the promotion "of real and substantial liberty; which is to be sought for not from without, but within" 17 seems to have been that the mass of men was neither ready to accept such a strenuous concept of liberty nor able to live under it, once obtained. In all probability this disillusionment forced Milton, as Douglas Bush suggests, into "the need of a closer walk with God"; 1 8 and the 18

"

18

Bush, English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth Century, p. 383. Second Defense, CE., VIII, 131. English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth Century, p. 383.

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writing and constant revising of the Christian Doctrine must certainly reflect a more truly, although a highly individual, religious faith on his part during the later years. Even so, neither his disillusionment nor his deeper religious emphases on humility, obedience, and faith rob man of an essential individual dignity. The later poems, therefore, seem pessimistic only in their lack of hope for a large, enlightened mass and not in their demands for the personal responsibility which his doctrine of restoration imposed on the individual, war-faring Christian. Ultimately, this restoration was 'by God the Father through Jesus Christ'.19 Yet, with his Arminian interpretation of God's election and with his conception that faith not void of works is the basis for man's justification, Milton makes clear that this final dependence on God still left man an important role to play in his restoration. This individual struggle - both to regain God's favor and to retain it through all temptation - is the great central issue of the last quarter of Paradise Lost as well as of Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.

18

CE., X V , 251.

APPENDIX: A NOTE ON THE PROBABLE DATE OF SAMSON AGONISTES

Until new and unexpected external evidence is discovered, the date of Milton's composition of Samson Agonistes must remain more a matter of subjective discussion than we would probably like. Few modern scholars have questioned a post-Restoration composition date, and it is generally assumed that Samson Agonistes was written sometime in the period between 1667, the date of publication for Paradise Lost, and 1670 when, on July 2, Milton licensed Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. As with Paradise Regained, no manuscript of the tragedy survives to help in its dating. With only internal evidence then, the warning by Edward Phillips still remains in effect: "It cannot certainly be concluded when he wrote his excellent tragedy entitled Samson Agonistes." 1 Working with internal evidence, few scholars have attempted to disturb a ca. 1667 date. Even those who reject the autobiographical approach to the drama have to admit that a strong parallel exists between the story of Samson's last days and situations in which Milton found himself after the return of Charles II. The many well-known passages which parallel the experience of Milton after 1660 do not require repetition here. It is sufficient to say that to overlook such passages as the choral speech beginning "God of our fathers" and the later choral description of the celebrating Philistines is to go out of one's way to maintain an objective approach to the poem. Even the two major dissenters 1 The Life of Milton in John Milton, Prose Selections, ed. Merritt Y. Hughes (New York, 1947), clxxvi.

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from the traditional date, W. R. Parker and A. S. P. Woodhouse,3 base their arguments on a belief that the tone of the poem agrees more with that of the works of other periods, and that the introspection of the poem fits more easily with other periods of Milton's life. Parker wishes to break the composition of Samson into two major periods, 1646-48 and 1652-53, with a possible revision in 1664-65. Woodhouse argues for the period May, 1660, to the spring of 1661. To their arguments for these dates, I shall return shortly. Whatever the date of the tragedy, Milton's interest in Samson as a figure began in the early 1640's. About 1641 Milton jotted down in the Cambridge Manuscript a large number of Biblical subjects for possible dramas. Among them were episodes from the life of Samson, one of them the "Dagonalia", the subject of Samson Agonistes. The other entry regarding Samson reads: "Samson pursophorus or Hybristes, or Samson marriing or in Ramath Lechi Jud. 15." 4 What use Milton might have made of these early incidents in Samson's life is impossible to say. Since both entries are recorded without annotation, they become lost among the detailed entries. The most that can be said from this manuscript is that Milton has recognized quite early the poetic possibility of the Samson story. More important are the scattered references to Samson in the prose works, since all of them to some degree show Milton's awareness of the Nazarite as the symbol of a national ideal. In 1641 Milton still had hope for reformation under the monarchy, and he concluded The Reason of Church Government with a favorable comparison between Samson and Charles I: 1 cannot better liken the state and person of a King then to that mighty Nazarite Samson; who being disciplined from his birth in the precepts and the practice of Temperance and Sobriety, without the strong drink of injurious and excessive desires, grows up to a noble 2

"The Date of Samson Agonistes", Philological Quarterly, XXVII (1949), 145-66. s "Samson Agonistes and Milton's Experience", Transactions of the Royal Society in Canada, XLIII (June, 1949), 157-75. 4 CE., XVIII, 236.

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strength and perfection with those his illustrious and sunny locks and laws waving and curling about his godlike shoulders.5

After this, Milton twists the story of Samson's life so that it becomes a parable against the Anglican prelates. Through the "strumpet flatteries of prelates" Samson is shorn of his locks, but once the "golden beams of law and right" have grown again Samson can bring "ruin upon the heads of those his evil counsellors." 6 By 1645, Milton's hopes were placed in Parliament; and in the peroration to Areopagitica the Samson figure represents not the king, but the English nation. "Methinks," Milton says: I see in my mind a noble and puissant Nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks: Methinks I see her as an Eagle muing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazl'd eyes at the full midday beam; purging and unsealing her long abused sight at the fountain itself of heav'nly radiance.7

The imagery of renewal in the passage is interesting; but, we must notice, it is used in connection with a national resurgence of power, an existing but minor theme in Samson Agonistes. Indeed, as Chapter Four shows, this theme of national rebirth contrasts sharply with that of individual rebirth. Only in 1651, in his Defense of the English People, does Milton invest his Samson figure with any significant similarity to his tragic hero. Here Samson is listed among those national heroes who dared to act for the good of their country even when their countrymen preferred submission to tyranny: Samson, that renowned champion, though his countrymen blamed him (Judg. 15, 'Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us?'), yet made war singlehanded against his rulers; and whether instigated by God or by his own valor only, slew not one, but many at once of his country's tyrants. And as he had first duly prayed to God to be his help, it follows that he counted it no wickedness, but a duty, to kill his masters, his country's tyrants, even though the greater part of his countrymen refused not slavery.8

Samson is no longer the Areopagitica's symbol of possible na5

•

7 8

CE., Ill, 276.

CE., Ill, 276-77.

CE., TV, 344. CE., VII, 219.

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tional unity but a lonely, rejected champion for the right. Yet the theme of national freedom is a part of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained as much as it is of Samson Agonistes. All three poems stress the relationship between individual and national liberty, and Samson undoubtedly would have agreed with Michael's statement to Adam that since man allows Within himself unworthy Powers to reign Over free Reason, God in Judgment just Subjects him from without to violent Lords; Who oft as undeservedly enthral His outward freedom: Tyranny must be, Though to the Tyrant thereby no excuse. (XII, 91-96)

If we assume the traditional date for the drama, this reference in the Defense is the last except for the brief comparison between Adam and Samson in Paradise Lost. In the epic, Samson's national significance is gone. Milton's interest in Samson, however, is not altogether in his and Adam's common betrayal by women but rather in the kind of spiritual death which both suffer because of their disobedience to God. When Adam and Eve awake from the sleep following their lustful play, they arise bereft of confidence, righteousness, and honour; they are "naked left / To guilty shame" (IX, 1057-58). And Milton says: So rose the Danite strong Herculean Samson from the Harlot-lap Of Philistean Dalilah, and wak'd Shorn of his strength, They destitute and bare Of all thir virtue. (IX, 1059-63)

Both men overcome their despair and recover their lost strength through the same steps of repentance. It is this Samson, the sinner against God's commandment, who has more in common with the hero of the tragedy than does the Samson of the Defense. It is in the period immediately after the Defense and before the writing of the Second Defense that Parker believes Milton wrote a large portion of Samson Agonistes. Parker's argument rests largely on his belief that the idea of "solemnly elected" leaders of a nation gradually fades from Milton's poetry after 1652, whereas

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the sonnets of 1652 and the prose works of the period 1648-54 are "eloquent with the idea".9 Milton's first work on the poem Parker would date as early as 1646-48. In this period when Milton first realized that blindness threatened and when he was under condemnation for his views on marriage and divorce, he may have first wondered how Samson managed to rise above his troubles and fulfill a divine mission. The time when Milton first considered Samson's spiritual regeneration, Parker writes, was "the moment at which the drama was conceived." 10 Furthermore, Parker contends, the tone of the paraphrases of the Psalms (8088, during April, 1648; and 1-8, during August, 1653) resembles that of the tragedy. Parker's arguments deserve attention, for his article is valuable to Milton scholarship. Here I shall try to explain why I believe that the composition is post-Restoration and why a late post-Restoration date is perhaps the likeliest. My remarks may best be gathered around two points: one, the theme of solemnly elected ones, and, second, the conditions out of which the tragedy must have grown in Milton's mind. Parker writes: To the last Milton may have thought of himself as "solemnly elected" to some great task, but the emphasis upon this idea, as an idea, gradually disappears from his writing. Neither Paradise Lost nor Paradise Regained contains such an emphasis; but the Samson contains it, reiterates it, insists upon it, and dramatically gives it illustration."

This theme of God's unexpected return to aid and to bear witness gloriously to his own, Parker feels, is the prophetic strain of Milton's poetry in the 1640's and in the early 1650's and is replaced in the period of the epics by a rational justification of God's ways to man. Now certainly Psalms 80-88, paraphrased during 1648, express this theme. For the most part they are prayers made on behalf of individuals and the Hebrew nation for God's help in a time of spiritual darkness. Yet the Psalms of 1653 seem much broader in theme; the notion of chosen ones for great tasks is missing, and instead the Psalmist is concerned with the » "The Date of Samson Agonistes", 153. 10 "The Date of Samson Agonistes", 163. 11 "The Date of Samson Agonistes", 113.

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differences between the good and the wicked, the just and the unjust. Milton, of course, would have insisted that those who are solemnly elected for great tasks must be good and just men, but as an idea the theme of the elect for great works is not in the Psalms paraphrased in 1653. Furthermore, I find it difficult to reconcile Parker's statement that Samson Agonistes "contains [the idea of elect ones for great tasks], reiterates it, insists upon it, and dramatically gives it illustration" with his earlier arguments in his admirable study Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in Samson Agonistes. One of the values of this book is that it corrects the extremely nationalistic interpretation which Sir Richard Jebb had placed on the poem. Jebb had claimed that the central idea of the drama is that "of a national champion, first victorious, then abased, then finally triumphant, in a national cause." 12 The drama, for Jebb, reaches its climax when "Jehovah has prevailed over Dagon [and] Israel is avenged on Philistia." 13 Jebb, then, would seem to agree with an earlier statement by Edward Dowden that "the protagonist is in truth not Samson but Jehovah." 14 This point of view Parker, in 1937, countered with his arguments that it is Samson as an individual, and not as a national champion, with whom we are most concerned in the play. Race and nation, he argued, become unimportant, since Milton "in harmony with the Greek ideal of characterization" 15 has focused attention on his protagonist "as a man".16 It is the suffering of Samson, not "the incidental contest" 17 between God and Dagon, which should absorb us; and it is the fate of Samson, not the Hebrew nation, which is important at the close of the play. Such arguments, I believe, are not compatible with Parker's later insistence, in dating the tragedy, on a theme of a God-chosen hero. 12 "Samson Agonistes and the Hellenic Drama", Proceedings of the British Academy, III (1908), 346. » Jebb, 343. 14 Puritan and Anglican: Studies in Literature (London, 1900), p. 194. 15 Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in Samson Agonistes (Baltimore, 1937), p. 232. 16 Parker, Milton's Debt, p. 114. 17 Parker, Milton's Debt, p. 114.

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There is a way to retain the theme of an elect one in Samson Agonistes; however, this way requires that membership among the "elect" not be confined to the nationally chosen heroes of the prose works of the 1640's, but that it be expanded to include the faithful elect of the two epics. As many recent critics of the play have agreed, its theme is regeneration. Parker himself says, "The theme of Samson Agonistes, then, is the hero's recovery and its result. In other words, it is regeneration and reward." 18 With this theme, I believe, comes a broadening of the term elect to include its religious meanings, those which Milton gave in his Christian Doctrine. There Milton emphasizes his Remonstrant views which can be summarized by the following quotation from the chapter on predestination: If God have predestined us "in Christ," as has been proved already, it certainly must be on condition of faith in Christ. 2 Thess. ii, 13. "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth," whence it appears that it is only those who will believe that are chosen. Tit. i. 1. "according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness." Heb. xi. 6. "without faith it is impossible to please God," and thus become one of the elect; whence I infer that believers are the same as the elect, and that the terms are used indiscriminately.19 Moreover, Milton believes, even those who never heard of Christ or who lived in pre-Gospel times were saved through faith in God. Milton writes: The ultimate object of faith is not Christ the Mediator, but God the Father; a truth, which the weight of scripture evidence has compelled divines to acknowledge. For the same reason it ought not to appear wonderful if many, both Jews and others, who lived before Christ, and many also who have lived since his time, but to whom he has never been revealed, should be saved by faith in God alone; . . . Hence honorable testimony is borne to the faith of the illustrious patriarchs who lived under the law, Abel, Enoch, Noah, &c. though it is expressly stated that they believed only in God, Heb. xi.20 18

19 20

Parker, Milton's Debt, p. 239. CE., XIV, 117. CE., XV, 404-05.

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The term elect, then, meant for Milton the believer or the faithful. This definition applies to Samson Agonistes. In fact, this broader concept does not disappear in the later poetry but is one of the major links among Milton's three long poems. One of the most valuable studies in this connection is that by Krouse of the tradition behind the Samson figure. Krouse's cond i t i o n on the Samson figure of Milton's day is important; it reads: During Milton's own lifetime Samson was remembered by many as a tragic lover; as a man of prodigious strength; as the ruler and liberator of Israel; as a great historical personage whose downfall was caused by the treachery of a woman, and therefore as an example of the perils of passion; as a sinner who repented and was restored to grace; as the original of Hercules; as a consecrate Nazarite; as a saint resplendent in unfailing faith; as an agent of God sustained by the Holy Spirit; and as a figure of Christ. 21

My concern here is with Samson as an example of the faithful or of a saint, albeit a saint who fell but who was restored to grace. During the Renaissance and early seventeenth century the tendency in both secular and hermeneutic literature was to stress the later life of Samson, thus throwing the emphasis on his renewed strength. Krouse believes that Milton accepts Samson as a saint; he bases his belief on three points: (1) Milton's use of the theme of repentance; (2) Milton's use of divine inspiration as justification for Samson's deeds; and (3) Milton's inclusion of the comparison between Samson and Jephthah and Gideon. 22 Certainly repentance is a major theme in the tragedy. During his captivity Samson has been humbled through shame of his former weaknesses. Even at the beginning when he is in his greatest misery, Samson acknowledges his guilt, and this admission is repeated in all the episodes. However much Samson is aware of his guilt, he at the same time never loses his confidence in God, although this confidence is revealed gradually. By the time of the Harapha episode Samson can say that he believes he has God's pardon. This theme of repentance and confidence was 21

F. Michael Krouse, Milton's Samson and the Christian (Princeton, 1949), pp. 78-79. 22 Krouse, pp. 88-108.

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already a part of the Samson tradition, but I do not believe that tradition was the only source for it. An entire chapter is devoted to the subject in the Christian Doctrine, and, as Chapter Four of this study shows, the episodes of the play correspond to the steps in repentance outlined in the systematic theology. The steps are those we saw in the last two books of Paradise Lost, namely conviction of sin, contrition, confession, departure from evil, and conversion to good. They are part of the larger process of regeneration, and steps which every believer would have to take. The fact that the play is structured around ideas of spiritual regeneration seems to indicate that Milton must have thought of his Samson as one of God's elect. Throughout the tradition, Krouse reports, Christian exegetes had trouble in reconciling certain events in Samson's life with the ideal life of a saint. The troublesome incidents were mainly Samson's choice of a Philistine woman as his wife and his death at the temple. In both instances Samson seemed to be acting on his own wilful desires, not in accordance with God's will. The answer came to be that Samson, as God's champion, was acting under special divine impulse. Milton uses this justification in both instances, and, as Krouse says, he could have hardly done so without realizing that they were arguments used "to buttress Samson's sainthood." 23 In his slaying of the Philistines Samson obviously is acting as the liberator of Israel, as a chosen national hero, but we must realize that Samson could not fulfill this role until he first had fulfilled the role of believer, of a member of the repentant elect. With this double role of national hero-saint, the comparison which Milton makes between Samson and Gideon and Jephthah is important. All three were great military heroes of the Hebrews; but all three had suffered insults from their people and had been refused aid when it was needed in a national cause. Early in the drama Samson explains to the Chorus why he is not responsible for Israel's captivity. His reason is good Miltonic belief. Samson says that the Hebrew nation has grown corrupt, become enslaved by its own vices, and has come 23

Krouse, p. 97.

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to love Bondage more than Liberty, Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty; And to despise, or envy, or suspect Whom God hath of his special favor rais'd As thir Deliverer. (270-74)

The Chorus recalls that Gideon had been refused the aid of the Hebrew cities of Succoth and Penuel in the pursuit of the kings of Midian, and that Jephthah, the aid of the Ephraimite Hebrews in the battle against the Ammonites. Samson replies, "Of such examples add mee to the roll" (290). However, the roll to which Samson adds his own name is one which the seventeenth century reader would not have attached merely heroic military importance. He would have remembered the three men not only from the Book of Judges but also from the Letter to the Hebrews. In the New Testament reference all three men are named together, in verse 32, as faithful saints of pre-Gospel times. Krouse's conclusion in this matter seems sound; he says that "countless times . . . in the literature of Christianity these names had been linked in this way, always with the Epistle to the Hebrews as part of the connotation. Here again one must conclude that Milton would not have risked such connotation had he wished to depart from the conception of Samson as saint which they perpetuated." 24 I should like to go a little further than Krouse. That Milton knew this connotation of the names of three national heroes is undeniable. The chapter from Hebrews is used at least twice in the Christian Doctrine to support his belief that those of the Old Testament who had faith in God alone were entitled to the honor of the term elect,25 Samson himself refers to his trust in God when he replies to Harapha's charge of the use of magic. Going beyond Samson Agonistes though, we may notice that other examples of Old Testament elect named in the chapter in Hebrews are the same ones Michael shows Adam in his vision in Paradise Lost. Like Michael, the writer of the epistle is trying to convince an audience of the need for faith in God; and like Michael, who also faces the problem of selection, he chooses the prominent examples 24 25

Krouse, p. 98. CE„ XV, 403-05; XVI, 31.

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of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses for his most detailed praise. Such is Milton's procedure in the last books of Paradise Lost. Throughout my discussion above, I have not meant to imply that Samson is not the elect champion of God in a great national cause; Milton could not avoid that allusion, once having made the choice of Samson as his tragic hero. What I do insist upon is that this meaning of the term elect is more important than Parker claimed it to be in 1937, but not so important as he wishes to make it in dating the play pre-Restoration. If we accept a wider meaning, a religious meaning of faithful, we can see Milton's repeated use of the term throughout the last poems. In Paradise Lost Adam is chosen for a great task as the progenitor of the human race. When he falls, God's scheme of restoration is applicable only on an individual level. In Paradise Regained Christ is certainly a chosen one, and he is of cosmic importance for all men. Yet the exemplary function of Christ is again on an individual level. In Samson Agonistes, Samson is a national hero, chosen at birth as the liberator of his people; but he fulfills this national mission only after he has returned, on the individual level, to the grace of God. Samson, then, it is true, has something in common with the Cromwell of the Second Defense, whose election to power was "by the will of God" 26 but he has even more in common with the faithful elect of whom, according to the close of Paradise Lost, Adam was the first, and for whose example Christ debated with Satan in the wilderness. Before turning to the second point regarding the dating of Samson Agonistes - the circumstances out of which it must have grown - I shall comment briefly on some remarks by A. S. P. Woodhouse about the relationship among the three poems. Answering Parker's argument for an early date, Woodhouse countered with the suggestion that May, 1660, to the spring of 1661 was the probable period of composition. One of his reasons for wishing to keep a post-Restoration date concerns the thematic unity of the three poems. He writes: 29

CE., VIII, 229.

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Despite the interval in doctrine and tone between Samson Agonistes and Paradise Regained, there is inconvenience, however, in separating the poems too widely from each other or from Paradise Lost. With that work . . . they treat a series of ideas which evidently much occupied the mind of the older Milton: temptation, disobedience, repentance, obedience, restoration; the two epics dividing the series between Adam and Christ, the tragedy running through the whole in the person of its hero. 27

Woodhouse's dating would place Samson before the completed Paradise Lost, with the tragedy providing the catharsis which allowed Milton to complete his great epic. Woodhouse seems to imply that there is a convenience in having the Samson first in that the drama contains the whole of the ideas which occupied the older Milton. With the idea that the whole set of themes should come first and then the division, I agree. However, I disagree with Woodhouse on his distribution of the themes. It is, I suggest, Paradise Lost which runs "through the whole in the person of its hero", not Samson Agonistes. Repentance is the theme of Book X, while obedience and restoration are the lessons of Books XI and XII. True, we do not see Adam in an act of obedience, but his reactions to Michael's instructions are the appropriate ones for an obedient son of God, and Adam has been restored to God's grace by the time he leaves the Garden. The poems which treat with great detail man's restoration seem to me Paradise Regained and Samson, the latter supplying the emphasis on repentance which is not possible in the former. Perhaps we might not do injustice to Milton to compare him to a seventeenth century preacher who would first announce his text, then divide it, and finally give the supporting details. We might hear Milton from his poetic pulpit announcing his grand theme of justifying God's way to man, then dividing it in Paradise Lost in its parts, and finally in the last two poems, completing and expanding the details of the last portion of the grand theme: repentance, obedience, restoration. When we turn to the question of the circumstances out of which the tragedy grew, we find fairly unanimous agreement among scholars, no matter the date they assign. Parker favors 27

Woodhouse, 160.

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the early years when Milton was being damned by the very men to whose aid he had come in his anti-prelatical tracts and when he first recognized the symptoms of his approaching blindness. He argues that during this time the problems of the "mysteries of God's providence, the incredible stupidity of the 'common rout', the terrible responsibility of the chosen ones, [and]. . . the certainty of final triumph" 28 were products of Milton's disillusion and faith which combined to make moving drama. Woodhouse agrees, as I do, with these conditions for conception, but he says that they make a stronger case for the year between May, 1660 and 1661, when political disaster and personal danger would have put Milton's faith to its severest test. During this time, Woodhouse suggests, the Samson story became "the perfect vehicle for his emotions". 29 Critics who favor the traditional date still hold to the same retrospective and deeply probing attitude on Milton's part at the time the drama was conceived. Hanford, for example, says that the "spiritual despair and subsequent sense of God's favor represent an interpretation of the Biblical personality in the light of Milton's own deepest personal emotion." 30 Furthermore, the purgation of emotions which Samson achieves through the performance of an heroic deed, Milton could achieve only "through the activity of the mind and spirit". 31 Sir Herbert Grierson calls the tragedy the most sincere of Milton's poems and finds it "a dramatic vindication" 32 of Milton's life and of those whom he had supported during the Commonwealth. Tillyard believes that when Milton wrote Samson Agonistes, he "was far enough removed from his worst agonies to be able to survey them more calmly and to desire to express them with a directness which he had not hitherto ventured." 83 Tillyard agrees with Hanford that the tragedy provided an outlet for the emotions which had harassed the mind of the poet. Actually, it seems, these last three 28

"The Date of Samson Agonistes", 164. Woodhouse, 159. 30 James Holly Hanford, John Milton, Englishman (New York, 1949), p. 213. 31 John Milton, Englishman, p. 228. 32 Milton and Wordsworth (Cambridge, 1937), p. 136. 33 E. M. W. Tillyard, Milton (London, 1930), p. 329. 29

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scholars have merely elaborated on Masson's statement on the choice, ca. 1667, of the Samson story by Milton. Masson writes in his introduction to Samson Agonistes: "The real truth is that the capabilities of the theme, perceived by Milton through mere poetic tact as early as 1640-41, had been brought home to him, with singular force and intimacy, by the experience of his own subsequent life." 34 There seems little question, then, of the time of the writing of Samson Agonistes as one in which Milton was retrospective as well as introspective and in which the theory of catharsis advanced in the preface to the drama could have worked as well for the poet as for his audience. Woodhouse has argued convincingly against Parker's early dating on the grounds that there are other dates when Milton's reasons "for disillusion were far more complete, and his stubborn faith put to its severest test." 35 Although Woodhouse feels that the conditions of 1660-61 best fit those of the period of conception, he admits that it is possible to devise an hypothesis by which Samson Agonistes could be regarded as the last poem. The hypothesis would have to be that the tragedy arose from "one of those periods of depression" 39 which interrupted Milton's calm state of mind in his final years. In such a period "the certainties of Paradise Regained might well recede and fade, and the paradise within have to be struggled for anew." 37 That this hypothesis is the only means for retaining the traditional date has been seriously challenged by Ants Oras' study of the metrics of the major poems.38 However, accepting his hypothesis, there is such a period in Milton's later life. I cannot offer a specific date for this period except that it comes after that in which Jeremie Picard completed his draft of the Christian Doctrine in the early years of the Restoration. Picard, according to our best evidence, left his position as Milton's amanuensis 34

David Masson, ed., The Poetical Works of John Milton (New York, 1894), II, 581. 35 Woodhouse, 158. 36 Woodhouse, 160. 37 Woodhouse, 160. 38 "Milton's Blank Verse and the Chronology of His Major Poems", SAMLA Studies in Milton (Gainesville, Florida, 1953), 128-97.

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sometime late in 1661. That the period, then, which I shall describe in the following paragraphs, is the same as the traditional date of Samson Agonistes, I cannot prove. I can only point to a set of revisions in the Christian Doctrine which bear a striking similarity to ideas which must have interested Milton at the time he was writing Samson Agonistes. The revisions in the Christian Doctrine have always been a puzzling matter, and, until Maurice Kelley assorted them, they had always been lumped together and assigned to "later hands". Although Kelley admits that his conclusions must be somewhat arbitrary on the number of later hands and the period during which they worked on the manuscript after Picard left Milton's employment in 1661, Kelley's study of these revisions is to date the most exhaustive, and his findings unquestioned.40 After Picard's revisions, "at least four major strata of revisions are discernable",41 which Kelley designates as the work of amanuenses A, B, M, and N. In all probability at least three other amanuenses worked on the manuscript making only minor corrections. None of the revisions to the Picard draft alter the essential doctrine of the tract, and, Kelley remarks, "the principles governing the later revisions are those to be found in any good textbook on argumentation and exposition." 42 It is the work of amanuensis N which is of interest to us here. Unlike the work of the other three major scribes, the work of N is confined to specific sections of the treatise and does not include the many stylistic revisions common to the others. This localization probably indicates that Milton knew exactly what portions of the manuscript he wished revised, and that consequently he did not go through the entire work. Regarding the subjects of the entries, Kelley 39

See James Holly Hanford, "The Date of Milton's De Doctrina Christiana", Studies in Philology, XVII (1920), 309-19; Hanford, "The Rosenbach Milton Documents", Publications of the Modern Language Association, X X X V n i (1923), 290-96; and Maurice Kelley, This Great Argument: A Study of Milton's De Doctrina Christiana as a Gloss upon Paradise Lost (Princeton, 1941), pp. 21-24. 40 Kelley, pp. 40-71. 11 Kelley, p. 41. 42 Kelley, p. 67.

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255

comments that they seem to have grown out "of a dispirited, if not pessimistic, period of Milton's blindness." 43 Kelley does not suggest that this period is that during which Milton wrote Samson Agonistes. It may be; however, after our examination of the revisions of amanuensis N, perhaps as much as we may claim is that they indicate a period after 1661 in which Milton would have had to battle within himself to renew his faith just as Samson does. Proof-texts for statements already in the treatise constitute the major portion of entries attributed to amanuensis N. In Book I these proof-texts are confined to Chapters 30, 31, and 33. All of them in some way relate to Milton's belief in the validity and superiority of the individual conscience in matters of religion. Milton's attitude towards the Holy Scriptures is that they, "partly by reason of their own simplicity, and partly through the divine illumination, are plain and perspicuous in all things necessary to salvation, and adapted to the instruction even of die most unlearned, through the medium of diligent and constant reading." 44 The church has the public duty of interpreting Scripture, but "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." 45 Milton strengthened his argument for individual interpretation by adding a proof-text to his statement that the "rule and canon of faith, therefore, is Scripture, alone." 46 Three proof-texts were added to a later statement that "We are expressly forbidden to pay any regard to human traditions, whether written or unwritten." 47 There were, Milton knew, both men who would hope to establish a hierarchy within the Church and individual pastors who would insist on depriving the individual of his right of conscience. For these Milton added a proof-text to his already well-buttressed belief that the "enemies of the church are various, but the destruction of all is por43

44 45 46 47

Kelley, p. CE., XVI, CE., XVI, CE., XVI,

69. 259. 265. 267. CE., XVI, 281.

256

APPENDIX 48

tended". Then, in his chapter on the Last Judgment, Milton added a proof-text to his belief that at this last reckoning God's judgment will be made on the basis of each individual conscience. "Every one of us," he asserted, "shall give account of himself to God." 49 These are not the only references on the individual conscience dictated to amanuensis N. In Book II, Milton furthered his attack on the Roman doctrine of supererogation.50 No saint, Milton argued, can gain eternal life for himself or for others by a superabundance of good deeds. All men are required to love God and neighbor, and no act by an individual can be considered of such excellence as transcending those requirements. Then, Milton took pains with a section on sincerity, one of the virtues responsible for man's good deeds. Under his definition of sincerity, "which is also called integrity, and a good conscience", he added the prooftexts, Acts 24. 16: "to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man," and 2 Tim. 1. 3: "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience." 51 He also clarified the distinction between sincerity and a good conscience, and in doing so again emphasized individual action. Into the definition of a good conscience he inserted these italicized words, "A good conscience is not in itself sincerity, but rather an approving judgment of the mind respecting its own actions, formed according to the light which we have received from Nature or from Grace." 62 He qualified his old definition of an evil conscience (again the italics are mine): The opposite of this is an evil conscience; that is to say, allowing some latitude of signification to the word, the judgment of each individual mind concerning its own bad actions, and its consequent disapproval of them, according to the light enjoyed from nature or grace; which may be more properly called a consciousness of evil.53

Then he had added, "Strictly speaking, however, an evil con48 49 50 51 52 53

CE., CE., CE., CE., CE., CE.,

XVI, 313. XVI, 355. x v n , 15. XVII, 41. XVII, 41.

xvn, 43.

APPENDIX

257

science is one which judges erroneously or with a wrong bias, and not according to the light derived from nature or grace." 64 By themselves, these additional remarks and proof-texts do not support Kelley's use of the word "pessimistic", but they will take on a darker coloring when the other entries are considered. Yet they do indicate a period of questioning on Milton's part, a period perhaps of self-justification. Milton, it would seem, considered himself acting both in sincerity and in good conscience. Exactly what actions, past or present, he was commenting on is impossible to say; but the entries do clearly reflect an introspective mood remarkably close to that in Samson. We may recall, for example, Samson's defense of his first marriage choice before the Chorus on the grounds that his conscience was guided by divine motions. Throughout each of the episodes of the drama Samson makes similar defenses of his actions. With the exception of his sin of disobedience which he freely acknowledges, his conscience is clear. Even when he leaves the scene for an unexpected, tragic death, he says: Happ'n what may, of me expect to hear Nothing dishonourable, impure, unworthy Our God, our Law, my Nation, or myself. (1423-25)

In his death, as Manoa tells us, "Samson hath quit himself / Like Samson" (1709-10). The remaining proof-texts and all except one of Milton's own additional comments are found in Book II. They point to the fact that, if Milton was aware of the necessity and validity of individual conscience, he was also aware that each individual would be subject to the criticisms of others for his actions as well as subject to the passions of his own nature. The struggle for the soul to act in good conscience was in face of tremendous odds. In the third chapter he added a cross-reference to his discussion on atheism by asking his readers to see more on the subject in Book I on the nature of God.55 Then, in the fourth chapter, he added a proof-text to his statement that believers are commanded 54 55

CE„ XVII, 43. CE„ XVII, 51.

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by God to call down public curses on the enemies of God and the church and "also on false brethren, and on such as are guilty of any grievous offenses against God, or even against ourselves." 56 Such supplication when offered in spirit of obedience and faith will be heard by God. The last reference to the worship of God is additional commentary on Milton's stricture against the worship of idols. He had amanuensis N write: Hence to worship the true God under the form of an idol was considered as criminal as to worship devils. 2 Chron. xi. 15. "he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves that he had made"; although Jeroboam doubtless imagined that he was appointing priests to Jehovah, while he was in reality officiating in the rites of those which were not Gods. 57

All these ideas enter Samson Agonistes. Despite his punishment, Samson never fails to acknowledge that his punisher is the one true God and that if succour is available, it must come through God. Quite early in the drama the Chorus calls atheists men who "walk obscure" (296). The theme of a true versus false God reaches its climax in the Harapha episode, where the Philistine giant reveals himself as a braggart who is afraid of Samson's revived strength. Interestingly, boasting was one of the vices opposed to modesty which Milton added in the Christian Doctrine under the hand of amanuensis N.58 In the drama Harapha must evade a challenge to meet Samson in single combat by defaming Samson's God. After Harapha refuses combat to decide "whose god is God" (1176) and leaves the scene, Samson is summoned before the Philistines. At first he refuses, arguing that Hebrew law forbids his presence at idolatrous rites. When he does go at the second summons, he does so because he believes his God may dispense with me or thee Present in Temples at Idolatrous Rites For some important cause. (1377-79)

Once at the temple Samson becomes the fully recovered champion of God. As he rests at the two pillars, he prays. Milton, contrary 56

"

58

CE., XVII, 99. CE., XVII, 141. CE., XVII, 239.

APPENDIX

259

to the Book or Judges but in keeping with the Samson tradition, omits any reference to a plea by Samson for personal vengeance on the Philistines for his loss of sight. Rather, he gives Samson an ironic speech on obedience. Samson's obedience, of course, is to the will of the true God. Acting in a spirit of obedience and faith, he can destroy God's enemies, the worshippers of Dagon. The entries in Book II on man's duty to himself and his neighbors, all of them proof-texts except the reference to boasting mentioned above, bear less directly on Samson Agonistes. They would, however, have their significance for a man who was determining whether or not he had lived in good conscience. Especially so for any man like Milton, who had lived on into a new era after championing a lost cause. Of the virtues which man owes to himself Milton was concerned with two, one relating to the necessities of life and the other to the endurance of evil. Milton added a new proof-text to illustrate penuriousness,59 and one new prooftext each to illustrate fortitude 60 and its opposite, timidity.61 Three of the proof-texts on man's duty to his neighbor concern placability, which Milton defines as "readiness to forgive those by whom we have been injured". 62 His proof-text on this forgiveness reads, " 'if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.' " 6 3 Then he admonishes against revenge 64 and hasty anger 65 as vices. Yet at the same time, as another added proof-text demonstrates, it is one's duty to speak truthfully to his neighbor.66 In another, Milton warns against violating another's personal modesty by the unnatural sexual vices of prostitution and sodomy.67 The final proof text inserted by amanuensis N is an admonition against bribery, which is added to Milton's description of the duties of the magistrates of a land.68 58

CE., «• CE., 81 CE., 62 CE., 83 CE., 64

85

68 87 86

CE.,

CE.,

CE., CE., CE.,

XVII, XVII, XVII, XVII, XVII, XVH, XVII, XVn, XVII, XVII,

231. 249. 251. 285. 285. 289. 287. 297. 291. 387.

260

APPENDIX

These entries, then, concerning such subjects as bad rulers, unnatural vices, revenge and hasty anger, give the sombre tone to Milton's thinking during this period, and the choral questionings of God's seemingly harsh treatment of his champions could have been products of that tone. The last bit of commentary assigned with any certainty to the hand of amanuensis N concerns repentance. Already in Book I Milton had defined repentance as: T H E GIFT O F GOD, W H E R E B Y T H E REGENERATE MAN P E R C E I V I N G

WITH

S O R R O W THAT H E HAS O F F E N D E D GOD BY SIN, DETESTS AND AVOIDS IT, HUMBLY T U R N I N G T O G O D T H R O U G H A SENSE O F THE DIVINE MERCY, AND HEARTILY STRIVING TO F O L L O W

RIGHTEOUSNESS.60

He had outlined the five progressive steps in repentance, and had written that "Chastisement is often the instrumental cause of repentance." 70 On the subject of chastisement Milton now wished to insert the following: God however assigns a limit to chastisement, lest we should be overwhelmed, and supplies strength for our support even under those inflictions which, as is sometimes the case, appear to us too heavy to be borne. Psal. cxxv. 3. "the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity." Isa. lvii. 16. "I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before me," &c. 2 Cor.: 8-10. "we would not have you ignorant . . . that we were pressed out of measure, above strength," &c. . . . "that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death." 71 In the drama, Manoa and the Chorus express the view that Samson's suffering is unmerited punishment. Manoa cries out: Alas! methinks whom God hath chosen once To worthiest deeds, if he through fraility err, He should not so o'erwhelm, and as a thrall Subject him to so foul indignities, Be it but for honor's sake of former deeds. (368-72) 60 70 71

CE., XV, 379. CE., XV, 387. CE., XV, 389.

APPENDIX

261

Samson will not hear of Manoa's questionings of God's way, and he accepts God's punishment as just. He refuses the aid of his father, saying that he must stay at the mill to expiate his sin. Manoa recognizes the need for repentance; but his view of the suffering he sees, like that of the Chorus, is what Arnold Stein has called correctly "the full, short human view of the human condition".72 Samson may not know what he wants to do at this point in the drama and he does not himself fully understand how out of his suffering he may return to God's favor, yet he intuitively refuses to retreat into what he feels would be a new error. He is right in doing so, for after having been aroused by both Dalila and Harapha and after having admitted his guilt for the last time he is prepared to act at the temple as God's champion. Even the Chorus, at the end, has to admit: All is best, though we oft doubt, What th' unsearchable dispose Of highest wisdom brings about, And ever best found in the close. (1745-48)

Whether or not this final view destroys the tragic spirit of the play is debatable. It is sufficient here to point out that sometime after 1661 the question of the limits of chastisement, a subject of Samson Agonistes, was on Milton's mind as he revised parts of his systematic theology. Such are the revisions by the hand of amanuensis N. I repeat that we cannot date these revisions at about 1667. It would be helpful if Milton had included a proof-text from the Samson story in Judges on some subject, but he has not. Yet, this omission, I feel, would be the stranger if Milton had already worked out his concept of his tragic hero than if he were still formulating that of Samson as a repentant sinner. The most I can suggest from these revisions is that there is a period after 1661 which fits Woodhouse's description of one of "depression, of introspective and retrospective brooding, which must, as old age came on and physical powers waned, have beset any man in Milton's situation." 73 My own reasons for wishing to retain the traditional 72 73

Heroic Knowledge (Minneapolis, 1957), p. 165. Woodhouse, 160.

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APPENDIX

chronology of Milton's major poems must rest not only in my agreement with the great bulk of critical opinion but also in my belief that the concept of Samson as a faithful one carries out a theme which Milton began in the closing books of Paradise Lost and which he expanded in the other two poems. Paradise Regained is the story of the Redeemer who established the kingdom of grace for the individual believer; Samson Agonistes, the story of a faithful one with emphasis on repentance and recovery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

During the past thirty-five years the amount of work done both in the editing of Milton's prose and poetry and in the critical examination of that literature has been enormous. This bibliography lists only a part of that work. Here I have included only those secondary sources which have been especially helpful to me in providing insight into Milton's life and his art and into the subject of the relationship between his theological beliefs and his last three major poems. To anyone familiar with the great number of scholarly articles which have appeared recently, the following list of articles will seem short. I must refer readers to the annual bibliography of the Publications of the Modern Language Association for a complete listing. Abbreviations used here are those cited in the annual PMLA bibliography. BOOKS Adams, Robert M., Ikon: John Milton and the Modern Critics (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1955). Ainsworth, Oliver M., Milton on Education (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1928). Allen, Don Cameron, The Harmonious Vision (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1954). Baker, Herschel, The Wars of Truth: Studies in the Decay of Christian Humanism in the Earlier Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1952). Barker, Arthur E., Milton and the Puritan Dilemma (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1942). Belloc, Hilaire, Milton (London, Cassell and Co., 1935). Bowra, C. M., Inspiration and Poetry (London, Macmillan and Co., 1955). Broadbent, J. B., Some Graver Subject: An Essay on "Paradise Lost" (New York, Barnes and Noble, 1960). Bush, Douglas, "Paradise Lost" in Our Time: Some Comments (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1945). Cope, Jackson I., The Metaphoric Structure of "Paradise Lost' (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1962). Corcoran, Sister Mary Irma, Milton's Paradise with Reference to the

264

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hexameral Background (Washington, D.C., Catholic University of America Press, 1945). Diekhoff, John S., Milton's "Paradise Lost": A Commentary on the Argument (New York, Columbia University Press, 1946). Ellis-Fermor, Una, The Frontiers of Drama (London, Methuen and Co., 1946). Fixier, Michael, Milton and the Kingdoms of God (Evanston, 111., Northwestern University Press, 1964). Frye, Northrop, Five Essays on Milton's Epics (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966). Gilbert, Allan H., On the Composition of "Paradise Lost" (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1947). Grierson, Sir Herbert J. C., Cross-Currents in Seventeenth Century Literature (London, Chatto and Windus, 1929). Haller, William, The Rise of Puritanism (New York, Columbia University Press, 1938). , Liberty and Reformation in the Puritan Revolution (New York, Columbia University Press, 1955). Hanford, James Holly, A Milton Handbook (New York, F. S. Crofts, 1929). , John Milton, Englishman (New York, Crown Publishers, 1949). Hughes, Merritt Y., Ten Perspectives on Milton (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1965). Kelley, Maurice, This Great Argument: A Study of Milton's "De Doctrina Christiana" as a Gloss upon "Paradise Lost" (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1941). Kermode, Frank (ed.), The Living Milton (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960). Krouse, Michael, Milton's Samson and the Christian Tradition (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1949). Lewalski, Barbara Kiefer, Milton's Brief Epic: The Genre, Meaning, and Art of "Paradise Regained" (Providence, R.I., Brown University Press, 1966). Lewis, C. S., A Preface to "Paradise Lost" (London, Oxford University Press, 1942). Lovejoy, Arthur O., The Great Chain of Being (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1957). McColley, Grant, "Paradise Lost": An Account of Its Growth and Major Origins with a Discussion of Milton's Use of Sources and Literary Patterns (Chicago, Packard and Co., 1940). MacCaffrey, Isabel Gamble, "Paradise Lost" as "Myth" (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1959). Martz, Louis L., The Paradise Within: Studies in Vaughan, Traherne, and Milton (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1964). Muir, Kenneth, John Milton (New York, Longmans, Green and Co., 1955). Parker, William Riley, Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in "Samson Agonistes" (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1937). Peter, John, A Critique of "Paradise Lost" (New York, Columbia University Press, 1960).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

265

Pope, Elizabeth Mary, "Paradise Regained": The Tradition and the Poem (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1947). Prince, F. T., The Italian Element in Milton's Verse (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1954). Rajan, B., "Paradise Lost" and the Seventeenth Century Reader (London, Chatto and Windus, 1947). Ricks, Christopher, Milton's Grand Style (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1963). Saillens, Emile, John Milton: Man, Poet, Polemist (New York, Barnes and Noble, 1964). Samuel, Irene, Plato and Milton (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1947). Saurat, Denis, Milton, Man and Thinker (New York, The Dial Press, 1925). Schultz, Howard, Milton and Forbidden Knowledge (New York, Modern Language Association of America, 1955). Sewell, Arthur, A Study in Milton's "Christian Doctrine" (London, Oxford University Press, 1939). Stein, Arnold, Answerable Style (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1953). , Heroic Knowledge (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1957). Summers, Joseph H., The Muse's Method: An Introduction to "Paradise Lost" (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1962). (ed.), The Lyric and Dramatic Milton (New York, Columbia University Press, 1965). Tillyard, E. M. W„ Milton (London, Chatto and Windus, 1930). , Studies in Milton (London, Chatto and Windus, 1951). , The English Epic and Its Background (New York, Oxford University Press, 1954). , The Miltonic Setting (London, Chatto and Windus, 1957). Waldock, A. J. A., "Paradise Lost" and Its Critics (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1947). Whiting, George, Milton's Literary Milieu (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1939). , Milton and This Pendant World (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1958). Willey, Basil, The Seventeenth Century Background (London, Chatto and Windus, 1934). Wolfe, Don M., Milton in the Puritan Revolution (New York, Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1941). Woodhouse, A. S. P., Puritanism and Liberty (London, J. M. Dent and Sons, 1938). Wright, B. A., Milton's "Paradise Lost" (New York, Barnes and Noble, 1962). ARTICLES Banks, T. H., "The Banquet Scene in Paradise Regained", PMLA, LV (1940), 773-76. Barker, Arthur E., "Structural Pattern in Paradise Lost" from "Studies in

266

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Milton: Essays in Memory of Elbert N. S. Thompson", PQ, XXVII (1949), 17-30. Baum, Paull F., "Samson Agonistes Again", PMLA, XXXVI (1921), 354-71. Bell, Millicent, "The Fallacy of the Fall in Paradise Lost", PMLA, LXVIII (1953), 863-83. Boughner, Daniel C., "Milton's Harapha and Renaissance Comedy", ELH, XI (1944), 297-306. Chambers, A. B., "Wisdom and Fortitude in Samson Agonistes", PMLA, LXXVIII (1963), 315-20. Clark, Evert M., "Milton's Earlier Samson", University of Texas Studies in English, VII (1927), 144-54. , "Milton's Conception of Samson", University of Texas Studies in English, V m (1928), 88-89. Curry, W. C., "Samson Agonistes Yet Again", Sewanee Review, XXXII (1924), 336-52. Frye, Northrop, "The Typology of Paradise Regained", MP, LIII (1956), 227-38. Gilbert, A. H., "The Temptation in Paradise Regained", JEGP, XV (1916), 599-611. Gossman, Ann, "Milton's Samson as the Tragic Hero Purified by Trial", JEGP, LXI (1962), 528-41. Hanford, James Holly, "The Temptation Motive in Milton", SP, XV (1918), 176-94. , "The Date of Milton's De Doctrina Christiana", SP, XVII (1920), 309-19. ,"Samson Agonistes and Milton in Old Age", Studies in Shakespeare, Milton, and Donne ("University of Michigan Publications in Language and Literature"), I (1925), 165-90. Harris, William O., "Despair and 'Patience as the Truest Fortitude' in Samson Agonistes", ELH, XXX (1963), 107-20. Hughes, Merritt Y., "The Christ of Paradise Regained and Renaissance Heroic Tradition", SP, XXXV (1938), 254-77. Jebb, Sir Richard C., "Samson Agonistes and the Hellenic Drama", Proceedings of the British Academy, III (1908), 341-48. Kelley, Maurice, "Milton's Debt to Wolleb's Compendium Theologiae Christianae", PMLA, L (1935), 156-65. , "The Theological Dogma of Paradise Lost, III, 173-202", PMLA, LII (1937), 75-79. Kermode, Frank, "Milton's Hero", RES, IV n.s. (1956), 167-82. Kirkconnell, Watson, "Six Sixteenth Century Forerunners of Milton's Samson Agonistes", Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, XLIII (1949), 73-85. Knowlton, E. C., "Causality in Samson Agonistes", MLN, XXXVII (1922), 333-39. Lewalski, Barbara Kiefer, "Theme and Structure in Paradise Regained", SP, LVII (1960), 186-220. , "Structure and the Symbolism of Vision in Michael's Prophecy, Paradise Lost, Books XI-XII", PQ, XLII (1963), 25-35.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

267

Marshall, William H., "Paradise Lost: Felix Culpa and the Problem of Structure", MLN, LXXVI (1961), 15-20. Martz, Louis L., "Paradise Regained: The Meditative Combat", ELH, XXVII (1960), 223-47. Menzies, W., "Milton: the Last Poems", Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, XXIV (1939), 80-113. Mitchell, Charles, "Dalila's Return: The Importance of Pardon", CE, XXVI (1965), 614-20. Ogden, H. V. S., "The Crisis of Paradise Lost Reconsidered", PQ, XXXVI (1957), 1-19. Oras, Ants, "Milton's Blank Verse and the Chronology of his Major Poems", SAMLA Studies in Milton ("Essays on John Milton and His Works by Members of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association"; University of Florida Press, 1953), 128-97. Parker, W. R„ "The Date of Samson Agonistes", PQ, XXVIII (1949), 145-66. Prince, F. T., "On the Last Two Books of Paradise Lost", Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, XLIII (1958), 38-52. Rice, Warner G., "Paradise Regained", Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, Letters, XXII (1936), 493-503. Samuel, Irene, "Milton on Learning and Wisdom", PMLA, LXIV (1949), 708-23. , "The Dialogue in Heaven: A Reconsideration of Paradise Lost, III, 1-417", PMLA, LXXII (1957), 601-11. Sasek, Lawrence A., "The Drama of Paradise Lost, Books XI and XII", Studies in English Renaissance Literature, ed. W. F. McNeir; Louisiana State University Studies: Humanities Series, No. 12 (1962), 18196. Schultz, Howard, "Christ and Antichrist in Paradise Regained?', PMLA, LXVII (1952), 790-808. Sensabaugh, George F., "Milton on Learning", SP, XLIII (1946), 258-72. Sewell, Arthur, "Milton and the Mosaic Law", MLR, XXX (1935), 13-18. Shawcross, John T., "The Chronology of Milton's Major Poems", PMLA, LXXVI (1961), 345-58. Steadman, John M., "Faithful Champion: The Theological Basis of Milton's Hero of Faith", Anglia, LXXVII (1959), 12-28. Svendsen, Kester, "Adam's Soliloquy in Book X of Paradise Lost", CE, X (1949), 366-70. Tupper, James W., "The Dramatic Structure of Samson Agonistes", PMLA, XXXV (1920), 375-89. Williamson, George, "The Education of Adam", MP, LXI (1963), 96-109. Woodhouse, A. S. P., "Samson Agonistes and Milton's Experience", Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, XLIII (1949), 157-75. , "Theme and Pattern in Paradise Regained", UTQ, XXV (1956), 167-82. , "Tragic Effect in Samson Agonistes", UTQ, XXVIII (1959), 205-22.

INDEX

Addison, Joseph, 232-33 Allen, D. C., 190 Aristotle, 166, 216 Baker, Herschel, 10, 226 Banks, T. H., 130 Barker, Arthur, 44 Baum, Paull, 215 Beerbohm, Max, 165 Boughner, Daniel, 202 Bush, Douglas, 11, 54, 55, 238 Chambers, A. B., 167 Christian Doctrine, additions and revisions, 226, 254-62; Milton's attitude towards, 226; Book One: adoption, 40; Christ's mediatorial office, 2831, 97-98, 228; Christ's nature, 27-28; Christian liberty, 42-46; compulsory necessity, 220; creation of man, 19; evil will, 101, 222; exaltation of Christ, 162; faith, 14, 35-36, 50-52, 229, 246; four degrees of death, 21-23, 172; free will, 20-21; function of Christ's ministry, 111; good works, 37, 115, 231; imperfect glorification, 13, 18, 47, 163; justification by faith, 38-40; Mosaic law, 40-41; natural renovation, 31-33; new law, 41; perfect glorification, 18, 47; perseverance of believers, 47-48, 168; predestination, 24-26, 227, 246; prelapsarian Adam, 67, 227; punishment of sin, 181; redemption, 27, 61, 228; regenerate reason, 111-12, 155; regeneration, 33; repentance, 34-35, 260; results of Fall, 21, 23-24, 57-60, 86; sanctification, 214; supernatural renovation, 33, 155; supplication, 75; tree of knowledge, 20; Book Two: bodily gratification, 128; Christian liberty, 115, 150, 160; evil conscience, 190, 211, 256; external worship, 122-23; fortitude, 134-35; good conscience, 210-11; internal worship, 118, 120; love of God, 114; lowliness of mind, 133-34; magnanimity, 133-34; man's duty to himself, 124; patience, 134-35; prudence, 117; selfdiscipline, 127; trust, 122; virtues, 46; wisdom, 117, 149, 172-73, 233; zeal, 123 Cope, Jackson, 57, 107 Curry, W. C., 189

INDEX

269

Donne, John, 13 Dowden, Edward, 124, 245 Ellis-Fermor, Una, 166, 215 Fixier, Michael, 10, 136 Frye, Northrop, 112 Gossman, Ann, 168 Grierson, Sir Herbert, 55, 80, 252 Haller, William, 44 Hanford, James H., 56, 126, 170, 252 Harris, William O., 167 Jebb, Sir Richard, 245 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 165, 169 Kelley, Maurice, 15, 92, 254-55 Krouse, F. Michael, 190, 247-48 Lewalski, Barbara K., 109 Lewis, C. S., 15, 54, 80 MacCaffery, Isabel, 55, 57, 74 Marshall, William H., 56 Martz, Lewis L., 73-74 Menzies, W., 11 Milton, John, Adam Unparadis'd, 80-81; Animadversions, 9, 237; Areopagitica, 12, 237, 242; Cambridge Ms., 241; Christian Doctrine, see separate heading; Defense of the English People, 89, 242; Eikonoklastes, 88; Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings, 103; Lycidas, 146; Of Education, 9; Of True Religion, 237; "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity", 96; Paradise Lost, see separate heading; Paradise Regained, see separate heading; Psalms, I-VIII, LXXX-LXXXVIII, 244; Ready and Easy Way, 45; Reason of Church Government, 216, 241; Samson Agonistes, see separate heading; Second Defense, 10-11, 15, 197, 236, 238, 243, 250; Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, 88; Treatise of Civil Power, 103 Oras, Ants, 253 Paradise Lost, Book I: God's providence, 226; Book III: God's plan for man, 100, 227, 229; Son as mediator, 228; Book VI: Abdiel, 90; Book IX: results of Fall, 57-60; Book X: Adam's soliloquy, 11. 719-844, 65-70; Christ as mediator, 61-63; Eve, 70-73; judgment of Adam, 61-63; reconciliation of Adam and Eve, 73-74, 227; Satan, 64, 68-70; Sin and Death, 63-64; structure, 60; Book XI: Adam's faith, 77-78; Cain and Abel, 83; Christ's sacerdotal function, 75-77; descendants

270

INDEX

of Cain, 84-85; early stages of Adam's repentance, 73-74; Enoch and Noah, 85-87; God, 74-76; Lazarhouse, 84; purpose of Michael's visit, 78-82; Book XII: Abraham, 93; Adam's rejection of evil, 87-92, 234; Adam's renewal of faith, 100-05; Christ and the new law, 98-99; Moses and the old law, 94-95; Nimrod, 88-92, 177; true liberty, 9092, 230 Paradise Regained, Andrew and Simon, 153; Belial, 128-30; emphasis, compared with that of Paradise Lost, 114; God's purpose in temptation, 231; hunger as thematic link, 130; Rome and Parthia, 142-45; sequel to Paradise Lost, 108-14; storm of second night, 159-61; temptations of first, third days: distrust and presumption, 118-26; temptations of second day: knowledge, 145-58, 230; temptations of second day: pleasure, riches, power, 119, 126-45; thematic structure of, 235 Parker, William R., 166, 241, 243-45, 250-52 Pattison, Mark, 109 Peter, lohn, 56 Phillips, Edward, 240 Pope, Mary Elizabeth, 110, 120, 121, 132, 147 Prince, F. T., 57, 80 Pyrane, William, 24 Rajen, B., 80 Samson Agonistes, Chorus, 174-75, 177, 178, 186, 188-89, 200-01, 208-09, 211, 221-23; Dalila, 189-92, 194-96, 198, 199-200; date of composition, see Appendix; Harapha, 203-04, 205, 207; Manoa, 179-81, 18283, 184-86, 217-19, 225; officer, 209; Samson's confession of sin, 17989; Samson's contrition, 170-79; Samson's conversion to good, 20115, 228, 230; Samson's conviction of sin, 170-79; Samson's rejection of evil, 189-201, 234; Samson's sin, 232; Samson's work of faith, 215-25; tragic quality, 215-17 Saurat, Denis, 109, 129, 165, 228 Schultz, Howard, 113 Stein, Arnold, 109, 135, 160, 218, 261 Summers, loseph H., 16, 80 Tillyard, E. M. W., 57, 63, 68, 70, 74, 168, 252 Vaughan, Henry, 13 Visiak, E. H., 165 Wolfe, D. M., 44 Woodhouse, A. S. P., 44, 241, 250-52 Wright, B. A., 15, 57

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