Life Of John Milton by Richard Garnett (best free novels TXT) 📖
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- Author: Richard Garnett
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The Mountain To Jericho, Into The Wilderness, To The Sea? No, Not
Flight. Of His Own Free Will He Is To Appear Before The Judges In
Order To Stand By What He Said. Ah! But This Surrender To The Powers
He Had Offended Means Death. He Sank Down On The Ground So That His
Head Touched The Grass, As If He Would Draw The Earth To Him With Eager
Arms. "Must It Be, O Father? Fain Would I Stay With Men In Order To
Bring Them Nearer To Me. Who Will Guide My Disciples, Still So Weak?
Guard Them From Evil, But Do Not Take Them From The World. Let Them
Live And Spread Thy Name. If It Is Possible, Let Me Stay With Them.
But If It Must Be, Take This Agony Of Soul From Me And Stand By Me.
But I Must Not Demand Aught, My God, Only Humbly Entreat. If It Is Thy
Will That I Shall Suffer All Human Sorrow And Pain, Then Thy Will Be
Done. Accept This Sacrifice For All Who Have Provoked Thee. If Thou
Desirest It, I Will Take The Sins Of The World Upon Me, And Atone For
Them That Thou Mayest Pardon. But If It May Be Avoided, Father, My
Father Who Art In Heaven, Have Mercy OHoughts Than To Devise Practical Schemes For Human Improvement. As An
Ode Or Poem On Education, Milton's Tract, Doubtless, Has Delivered Many
A Teacher And Scholar From Bondage To Routine; And No Man's Aims Are So
High Or His Thoughts So Generous That He Might Not Be Further Profited
And Stimulated By Reading It. As A Practical Treatise It Is Only
Valuable For Its Emphatic Denunciation Of The Folly Of Teasing Youth,
Whose Element Is The Concrete, With Grammatical Abstractions, And The
Advice To Proceed To Translation As Soon As Possible, And To Keep It Up
Steadily Throughout The Whole Course. Neglect Of This Precept Is The
Principal Reason Why So Many Youths Not Wanting In Capacity, And
Assiduously Taught, Leave School With Hardly Any Knowledge Of
Languages. Milton's Scheme Is Also Remarkable For Its Bold Dealing With
Day Schools And Universities, Which It Would Have Entirely Superseded.
The Next Publication Of Milton's Is Another Instance Of The Dependence
Of His Intellectual Workings Upon The Course Of Events Outside Him. We
Owe The "Areopagitica," Not To The Lonely Overflowings Of His Soul, Or
Even To The Disinterested Observation Of Public Affairs, But To The Real
Jeopardy He Had Incurred By His Neglect To Get His Books Licensed. The
Long Parliament Had Found Itself, In 1643, With Respect To The Press,
Very Much In The Position Of Lord Canning's Government In India At The
Chapter 4 Pg 43Time Of The Mutiny. It Marks The Progress Of Public Opinion That,
Whereas The Indian Government Only Ventured To Take Power To Prevent
Inopportune Publication With Many Apologies, And As A Temporary Measure,
The Parliament Assumed It As Self-Evident That "Forged, Scandalous,
Seditious, Libellous, And Unlicensed Papers, Pamphlets, And Books" Had
No Right To Exist, And Should Be Nipped In The Bud By The Appointment Of
Licensers. Twelve London Ministers, Therefore, Were Nominated To License
Books In Divinity, Which Was Equivalent To Enacting That Nothing
Contrary To Presbyterian Orthodoxy Should Be Published In England.[2]
Other Departments, Not Forgetting Poetry And Fiction, Were Similarly
Provided For. The Ordinance Is Dated June 14, 1643. Milton Had Always
Contemned The Licensing Regulations Previously Existing, And Within A
Month His Brain Was Busy With Speculations Which No Reverend Licenser
Could Have Been Expected To Confirm With An Imprimatur. About August 1st
The "Doctrine And Discipline Of Divorce" Appeared, With No Recognition
Of Or From A Licenser; And The Second Edition, Published In The
Following February, Equally Infringed The Parliamentary Ordinance. No
Notice Appears To Have Been Taken Until The Election Of A New Master Of
The Stationers' Company, About The Middle Of 1644. The Company Had An
Interest In The Enforcement Of The Ordinance, Which Was Aimed At Piracy
As Well As Sedition And Heresy; And Whether For This Reason, Or At The
Instigation Of Milton's Adversaries, They (August 24th) Petitioned
Parliament To Call Him To Account. The Matter Was Referred To A
Committee, But More Urgent Business Thrust It Out Of Sight. Milton,
Nevertheless, Had Received His Marching Orders, And On November 24,
1644, Appeared "Areopagitica; A Speech For The Liberty Of Unlicensed
Printing": Itself Unlicensed.
The "Areopagitica" Is By Far The Best Known Of Milton's Prose Writings,
Being The Only One Whose Topic Is Not Obsolete. It Is Also Composed With
More Care And Art Than The Others. Elsewhere He Seeks To Overwhelm, But
Here To Persuade. He Could Without Insincerity Profess Veneration For
The Lords And Commons To Whom His Discourse Is Addressed, And He Spares
No Pains To Give Them A Favourable Opinion Both Of His Dutifulness And
His Reasonableness. More Than Anywhere Else He Affects The Character Of
A Practical Man, Pressing Home Arguments Addressed To The Understanding
Rather Than To The Pure Reason. He Points Out Sensibly, And For Him
Calmly, That The Censorship Is A Papal Invention, Contrary To The
Precedents Of Antiquity; That While It Cannot Prevent The Circulation Of
Bad Books, It Is A On The Cheek, And Thought In Tremulous Expectation: Messiah
King, Now Reveal Thyself!
Then The Soldiers Rushed Up. They Had Been Joined By A Mob Armed With
Sticks And Cudgels, Just As When Notorious Criminals Are Taken. Jesus
Went Forward A Few Steps To Meet Them And Offered His Hands To Them To
Be Bound. John Threw Himself Between, But He Was Dashed To The Ground.
James Struggled With Two Of The Soldiers; Peter Snatched The Sword Of A
Third, And Hacked At One Of The Temple Guards So That His Ear Flew From
His Body.
"What Are You Doing?" Jesus Called To The Disciple. "If You Interfere
Chapter 4 Pg 44They Will Kill You. You Will Conquer Not With The Sword, But With The
Word. But You, O People Of Jerusalem; You Treat Me As Shamefully As If
I Were A Murderer. And Only Five Days Ago You Led Me Into The City
With Palms And Psalms. What Have I Done Since Then? I Sat In The
Temple Among You. Why Did You Not Take Me Then?"
They Mocked At Him. "Isn't To-Day Soon Enough For You? Can't You Wait
Any Longer For Your Ladder To Heaven? Patience, It Is Set Up Already."
When The Disciples Heard Such Allusions, And Saw The Master Calmly
Surrendering Himself, They Drew Back. The Sticks And Spears Clashed
Together, The Crowd Jogged Along, The Torches Flickered, And So The
Procession Went Up To The City.
Judas Stood Behind The Trunk Of A Tree, Looking Through The Branches At
The Dread Procession, And His Eyes Started From His Head In Terror.
Chapter 5 Pg 45
The Judges Were Awakened At Midnight; The Jewish High Priests That They
Might Accuse Him, The Heathen Judges That They Might Condemn Him. The
High Priest Caiaphas Left His Couch Right Gladly; He Was Delighted That
They Had Caught Him At Last, But He Thought That The High Priest Annas
Should Frame The Accusation; He Was Younger, Better Acquainted With The
Roman Laws, And Would Carry Through The Ticklish Business Most
Effectively. He, Caiaphas, Would Hold Himself Ready For Bearing
Testimony Or Sealing Documents At Any Minute. Annas, Too, Was
Delighted That The Galilean, Who Had Insulted The Pharisees In The
Temple In So Unheard-Of A Fashion, Was Caught At Last. He Would Settle
The Matter This Very Night, Before The People, On Whom No Reliance Was
To Be Placed, Could Interfere. With Respect To The Accusation, The
Whole High Priesthood Of Jerusalem Must Meet In Order To Take Counsel
Over This Knotty Case. As A Matter Of Fact There Was Nothing They
Could Legally Bring Against The Fellow. His Speeches To The People.
His Proceedings In The Temple Were, Unfortunately, Not Sufficient.
Some Crime--A Political One If Possible--Must Be Proved Against Him, If
That Heathen, The Roman Governor, Was To Condemn Him.
So They Met At The House Of Caiaphas To Take Counsel. They Carried
Innumerable Scrolls Under Their Arms, In Which Were Written All Manner
Of Things That Had Occurred Since The First Appearance Of The Nazarene.
The Galilean Rabbis Especially Had Sent Volumes In Order To Discredit
And Expose Him. Yet All This Would Not Be Sufficient For The Governor.
Some Definite Point Must Be Clearly Worked Up.
Then Jesus Was Brought In. His Hands Were Bound, His Dress Was Soiled
And Torn. His Countenance Very Sad. The Crowd Had Already Had Proof
Of His Courage. He Stood There Quietly. Terror He No Longer Felt,
Sadness Alone Lay In His Eyes. They Turned Over The Scrolls And Spoke
Chapter 5 Pg 46Together In Whispers. It Was Made Known That They Would Be Glad To
Hear Anyone Who Could Bring Any Evidence Against Him. But No One
Offered. The Priests Looked At Each Other In Bewilderment. Those Who
Struck Him And Insulted Him Must Surely Know Why They Did It!
At Length A Deformed Man Came Forward. He Was Certainly Only A Poor
Camel-Dealer, But He Knew Something. The Story Of The Whale! The
Galilean Said That, Just As The Whale Cast Up Jonah After Three Days,
So Would He Come Forth From His Grave Three Days After His Death. The
Man Had Also Said That He Would Destroy Solomon's Temple, Which Had
Taken Forty-Seven Years To BuilS," We Have Left His Mortal
Part In Its Suburban Dwelling In Aldersgate Street, Which He Seems To
Have First Inhabited Shortly Before The Convocation Of The Long
Parliament In November, 1640. His Visible Occupations Are Study And The
Instruction Of His Nephews; By And By He Becomes
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