Catalogue Entry: THEM00307

Book I: Chapter 7

Author: John Milton

Source: A Treatise on Christian Doctrine, Compiled from the Holy Scriptures Alone, vol. 1 (Boston: 1825).

[Normalized Text] [Diplomatic Text]

[1]

Milton elsewhere alludes to the less serious employments of the Deity before the creation of the world, referring —to Prov. viii. 24, 25, 30. 'God himself conceals us not his own recreations before the world was built; "I was," saith the eternal Wisdom, "daily his delight, playing always before him." Tetrachordon. Prose Works, II. 128. And again,

Before the hills appear'd, or fountain flow'd,

Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse,

Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play

In presence of th' Almighty Father, pleas'd

With thy celestial song. Paradise Lost, VII. 8.

[2]

For an answer to this assertion, and indeed with reference to the whole of this chapter, see Waterland's Second Sermon in defence of the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, where he proves that Christ is properly Creator.

[3]

He Heaven of Heavens and all the Powers therein

By thee created. —Paradise Lost, III. 390.

..... By whom,

As by his Word, the mighty Father made

All things, ev'n thee; and all the Spirits of Heaven

By him created in their bright degrees. V. 835.

[4]

See Aristotle's Metaphys. iv. 1. Milton alludes to the same interpretation in his logical work. 'Hinc causa proprie dicta, principium quoque nominator a Cic. I. de Nat. Deorum, sed frequentius apud Græcos.' Artis Logicæ plenior Institutio, &c. Prose Works, VI. 205.

[5]

In allusion to the opinion of Isidore Pelusiota, Erasmus, and others (with whom Michaelis agrees, Annotat. ad Paraphr. ad Col. i. 15.) that it should not be read πρωτότοκος, primogenitus, but πρωτοτόκος, primus genitor.

[6]

Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian (contra Marcionem, lib. v.) Novatian. See also Athanasius, Orat. ii. contra Arianos.

[7]

See Waterland's Seventh Sermon on Christ's Divinity, &c. Works, Vol. II. 144.

[8]

Spiritus Dei incubabat. The word incubabat properly signifies brooded, as a bird over her eggs; and the beauty of the original image, which is not retained in our authorized translation, has been twice preserved with great effect in the Paradise Lost.

..... Thou from the first

Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread

Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss,

And mad'st it pregnant. I. 19.

..... On the wat'ry calm

His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,

And vital virtue infus'd, and vital warmth

Throughout the fluid mass. VII. 234.

[9]

The object of the next pages is to prove that the world was not created out of nothing. An intimation of this opinion occurs incidentally in Paradise Lost.

..... Fool, not to think how vain

Against th' Omnipotent to rise in arms;

Who out of smallest things could without end

Have rais'd incessant armies to defeat

Thy folly. VI. 135.

where Newton rightly observes, that Milton did not favour the opinion that the creation was out of nothing.

[10]

So Drusius, Paulus Fagius, Estius, &c, and nearly all the English commentators. Tillotson takes occasion to reply to the objections raised against the doctrine, in his sermon On the Power of God, from Psal. lxii. 11. With regard to the opinion of the Fathers, Lactantius says,(De Orig. Error, lib. ii.) 'Nemo quærat ex quibus ista materiis tam magna, tam mirifica opera Deus fecerit; omnia enim fecit ex nihilo.' Tertullian, (Advers. Hermog. cap. xlv.) 'Igitur in quantum constitit materiam nullam fuisse, ex hoc etiam quod nec talem competat fuisse qualis inducitur, in tantum probatur omnia a Deo ex nihilo facta.' Justin. (Aristotle. Dogm. evers.) δἰ οὕτως ἐστὶν ἡ ὕλη ἀγέννητος, ὡς ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ δύνατι ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τοῦ ἀγέννήτου ποιῆσαί τι, δῆλον ὡς δύνατι ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἁπλῶς μὴ ὄντος ποιῆσαί τι.

[11]

See this argument answered by Beveridge, Exposition of the First Article, Works, Vol. IX. p. 50.

[12]

There seems to be an error in the Latin MS. in this passage. It stands thus —neque compingi ex multis tanquam ex nihilo quicquam potest. It is probable that a confusion has arisen in the arrangement of the words, and that they ought to have been written as follows —neque compingi ex nihilo tanquam ex multis quicquam potest.

[13]

I am by no means confident that I have succeeded in conveying the meaning intended to have been expressed by Milton in the preceding sentences. In the original the passage is evidently corrupt, and it is not very easy to propose satisfactory emendations. I have ventured to translate it on the supposition that it was originally written and pointed thus: Ut extra Deum semper fuerit materia (quamvis principium tantummodo passivum sit, a Deo pendeat, eique subserviat; quamvis ut numeri, ita et ævi, vel sempiterni, nulla vis, nulla apud se efficacia sit) tamen ut ab æterno, inquam, per se materia extiterit intelligi non potest; nee si ab æterno non fuit, unde tandem fuerit intellectu est facilius; restat igitur hoc solum, præunte præsertim scriptura, fuisse omnia ex Deo.

[14]

'Quot autem modis alicujus vi res est, tot esse species causæ statuendum est: Modis autem quatuor alicujus vi res est; ut recte Aristot. Phys. II. 7. et nos supra diximus; vel enim a quo, vel ex quo, vel per quod, vel propter quod res una quæque est, ejus vi esse recte dicitur. His modis nec plures inveniuntur, nec pauciores esse possunt; recte igitur causa distribuitur in causam a qua, ex qua, per quam, et propter quam, id est, efficientem, et materiam, aut formam, et finem.' Artis Logicæ plenior Institutio. Prose Works, VI. 205.

[15]

'Producendi seminarium.' The same word is used in the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. 'Seeing then there is a two-fold seminary or stock in nature, from whence are derived the issues of love and hatred.'

&c. Prose Works, I. 370.

[16]

Won from the void and formless infinite.

Paradise Lost, III. 12.

I saw when at his word the formless mass,

This world's material mould, came to a heap:

Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar

Stood rul'd, stood vast infinitude confin'd;

Till at his second bidding Darkness fled,

Light shone, and order from disorder sprung;

Swift to their sev'ral quarters hasted then

The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire;

And this ethereal quintessence of Heav'n

Flew upward, spirited with various forms. Ibid. 708.

Compare also the more detailed account in Book VII. 192-275.

[17]

..... one first matter all,

Endued with various forms, various degrees

Of substance, and in things that live, of life.

Paradise Lost, V. 472.

[18]

..... Know that in the soul

Are many lesser faculties, that serve

Reason as chief. Paradise Lost, V. 100.

..... And food alike those pure

Intelligential substances require,

As doth your rational; and both contain

Within them every lower faculty

Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,

Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,

And corporeal to incorporeal turn. ibid. 407.

[19]

..... God is light,

And never but in unapproachcd light

Dwelt from eternity. Paradise Lost III. 3

[20]

The same opinion has been held by the Fathers, as well as by most of the moderns. 'In libro de Trinitate, sive Novatiani sive Tertulliani sit, tam mundus angelicus quam superfirmamentarius conditus dicitur ante mundum Mosaicum his verbis. Quum etiam superioribus, id est, super ipsum quoque solidamentum partibus, angelos prius instituerit Deus, spirituales virtutes digesserit, thronos potestatesque præfecerit, et alia multa cœlorum immensa spatia condiderit, &c. ut hic mundus novissimum magis Dei opus esse appareat, quam solum et unicum. Denique Catholicorum communem hanc fuisse sententiam notat Cassianus suo tempore, nempe sæculo quinto ineunte; ante illud Genese, temporale principium, omnes illas potestates cœlestes Deum creasse, non dubium est.' T. Burnet Archæol. Philos. c. 8.

[21]

The opinion that angels were not created, but self-existent, is with great propriety attributed to Satan in Paradise Lost.

That we were form'd then say'st thou? and the work

Of secondary hands, by task transferr'd

From Father to his Son? strange point and new!

Doctrine which we would know whence learn'd? who saw

When this creation was? Remember'st thou

Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?

We know no time when we were not as now;

Know none before us, self-begot, self-rais'd

By our own quick'ning power, when fatal course

Had circled his full orb, the birth mature

Of this our native Heav'n, ethereal sons. V. 853.

In another place Satan proposes the question as doubtful;

Whether such virtue spent of old now fail'd

More angels to create, if they at least

Are his created-. IX. 145.

[22]

'Plures e patribus Christianis angelos extitisse ante terram, vel ante mundum Mosaicum, per ignota nobis sæcula, statuerunt; aliqui etiam cœlos supremos, vel cœlum empyreum. Sed de angelis constantior est et a pluribus celebrata sententia. Ut mittam Origenem, hoc Sanctus Basilius in Hexaëmero, Chrysostomus πρὸς τοὺς σκανδαλισθέντας, c. 7. πολλῷ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως πρεσβύτεροι, &c. Gregorius Nazianzenus Orat. 38. et alibi, Johannes Damascenus 1. ii. Orth. Fid. c. 3. Joh. Philoponus De Creatione Mundi, 1. i. c. 10. Olympiodorus in Job xxxviii. aliique e Græcis docuere. E Latinis etiam non pauci eidem sententiæ adhæserunt. Hilarius, 1. xii. De Trinitate; Hieronymus, Ambrosius in Hexaëmero, 1. i. c. 5. Isidorus Hispalensis, Beda, aliique.' T. Burnet. Archæol. Philos. 1. ii. c. 8. It is observable that Milton had indirectly declared himself to have believed in the pre —existence of angels in the Paradise Lost, where he represents Uriel to have been present at the creation of the visible world, and puts into his mouth the beautiful description quoted in a preceding page, —'I saw when at his word the formless mass,' &c.

[23]

See Aristot. Natural. Auscult. lib. viii. cap. 1. In reference to this Milton says elsewhere:

..... Time, though in eternity, applied

To motion, measures all things durable

By present, past, and future. Paradise Lost, V. 580.

[24]

Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit,

Improv'd by tract of time, and wing'd ascend

Ethereal as we. Paradise Lost, V. 499.

And when Satan receives his wound from Michael,

..... th' ethereal substance clos'd,

Not long divisible. VI. 330.

[25]

Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command

Of sovran pow'r-. I. 752.

[26]

I came among the sons of God, when he

Gave up into my hands Uzzean Job.

Paradise Regained, I. 368.

[27]

Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,

Yet dazzle heav'n, that brightest Seraphim

Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.

Paradise Lost, III. 380.

[28]

'Yea the angels themselves, in whom no disorder is feared, as the apostle that saw them in his rapture describes, are distinguished and quaternioned into their celestial princedoms and satrapies, according as God himself has writ his imperial decrees through the great provinces of heaven.' Reason of Church Government, &c. Prose Works, 1.81.

[29]

'It is not good. God here presents himself like to a man deliberating; both to show us that the matter is of high consequence,' &c.Tetrachordon. Prose Works, II. 127.

[30]

Lest that pure breath of life, the spirit of man

Which God inspir'd —. Paradise Lost, X, 784.

[31]

'Unde a quibusdam dicitur, particula auræ divinæ, Horat. II. Sat. ii. quod non reprehendo, modo bene intelligatur non quasi a Dei essentia, tanquam ejus pars, avulsa fuisset; sed quod ineffabili quodam modo profluere cam ex se fecerit.' Curcellæi Institutio, III. 7.

[32]

..... He form'd thee, Adam, thee, O man,

Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd

The breath of life; in his own image he

Created thee, in the image of God

Express, and thou becam'st a living soul.

Paradise Lost, VII. 523.

[33]

See Beza's version in loc. 'Factus est prior homo Adamus animal vivens.'

..... when God said,

Let th' earth bring forth soul living in her kind. VII. 450.

in which passage the original reading, even in the copies corrected by Milton, was fowl instead of soul. Dr. Newton agrees with Bentley, Pearce, and Richardson in preferring soul, and gives the following reason: 'We observed before, that when Milton makes the Divine Person speak, he keeps closely to Scripture. Now what we render living creature (Gen. i. 24.) is living soul in the Hebrew, which Milton usually follows rather than our translation.'

[34]

The question which Milton now begins to discuss, is thus stated by Fiddes in his Body of Divinity, Book iii. Part I. 'Whether they were all created at once in order to be united to certain bodies which should be prepared afterwards in convenient time for their reception; or whether they are created at the instant when the bodies they are to inform are fit to receive them, are questions which have been much controverted..... But the arguments which have been produced for the pre-existence of souls appear to be more specious, and in the opinion of some of the greatest men of antiquity, heathen and Christian, whom certain moderns of distinction in the learned world have followed, really conclusive.'

[35]

'Super animæ statu memini vestræ quæstiunculæ, immo maxime Ecclesiasticæ questionis; utrum lapsa de cœlo sit, ut Pythagoras philosophus, omnesque Platonici, et Origines putant; an a propria Dei substantia, ut Stoici, Manichæus, et Hispana Priscilliani hæresis suspicantur; an in thesauro habeantur Dei olim conditæ, ut quidam Ecclesiastici stulta persuasione confidunt; an quotidie a Deo fiant, et mittantur in corpora, secundum illud quod in evangelio scriptum est, Pater meus usque modo operatur et ego operor; an certe ex traduce, ut Tertullianus, Apollinarius, et maxima pars occidentalium autumant, ut quomodo corpus ex corpore, sic anima nascatur ex anima, et simili cum brutis animantibus conditione subsistat.' Hieronymi Epist. 32. (78 Edit. Benedict.) ad Marcellinum et Anapsychiam. Οὐκ ἄρα νῦν αἱ ψυχαὶ; τὸ γὰρ, ὁ Πατήρ μου ἕως ἄρτι ἐργάζεται, οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦ κτίζειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῦ προνοεῖν εἰρῆσθαι; καὶ ἀυτῷ δοκεῖ Ἁπολλιναριῳ τὰς ψυχὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχῶν τίκτεσθαι ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων. προϊέναι γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν κατὰ διαδοχὴν τοῦ πρώτου ἀνθρώπου εἰς τοὺς ἐξ ἐκείνου τεχθέντας, καθάπερ τὴν σωματικὴν διαδοχήν.. Greg. Nyssen. De Anima.

[36]

Deus absoluta sex diebus creatione mundi dicitur quievisse ab omni opere suo Gen. xi. 2. Non autem vere a creando quievisset, si nunc singulis momentis ipse multas animas immediate produceret. Ut nunc non dicam indignum prorsus Deo videri, ut sit minister generationum fœdarum et incestuosarum quas ipse abominatur, et severe in lege prohibuit; ita ut simul atque libeat hominibus impuris corpora sua miscere, oporteat illum adesse, qui fœtui, quantumvis illegitime concepto, animam infundat.' Curcell. Instit. 111. 6.

[37]

'Deus, Adamo et Eva creatis, ipsis benedictionem suam impertitus est ad humani generis propagationem, dicens, Crescite, &c. Gen. i. 28. et ix. 1. Ergo dedit eis facultatem alios homines sibi similes, qui corpore et anima constarent, producendi; quemadmodum et cæteris animantibus, quibus benedixit, talem communicavit ..... Nec vero dixisset Moses Adamum genuisse, &c. Gen. v. 3. nempe ut ipse ad imaginem Dei factus crat. Ista enim Dei imago præcipue in anima consistit..... Et rursus dicit Moses, cunctæ animæ, &c. Gen. xlvi. 25. Ergo non solum corpora, sed etiam animæ liberorum et nepotum Jacobi ab eo prognatæ sunt.' Curcell. Instit. III. 4.

[38]

..... God on thee

Abundantly his gifts hath also pour'd

Inward and outward both, his image fair.

Paradise Lost, VIII. 219.

On which passage, in answer to Warburton's insinuation, that one would think by this outward that Milton was of the sect of Anthropomorphites, as well as Materialists, Mr. Todd has well observed that the poet only meant to allude to the complete nature of man, the animal and intellectual parts united, which the learned Hale, treating of the words in the image of God made he man, minutely and admirably illustrates. See also above, page 22, and the note there.

[39]

'Proclivitas ad malum, cum qua infantes nascuntur, huic etiam opinioni favet. Nam ea a Deo non est, ut omnes fatentur, neque etiam a corpore, quod non est vitii moralis capax.' Curcell. Instit. III. 8.

[40]

Yet evil whence? in thee can harbour none,

Created pure. Paradise Lost, V. 99.

[41]

'Subjectum distingui potest in recipiens, quod Græce δεκτικὸν appellant, et occupans, quod objectum dici solet, quia in eo adjuncta occupantur..... Sic anima est subjectum scientiæ, ignorantiæ, virtutis, vitii, quia hæc animæ adjunguntur, id est, præter essentiam accedunt.' Artis Logicæ plenior Institutio. Prose Works, VI. 220.

[42]

See Aristot. περὶ ψυχῆς I. 9. —'Per omnes ejus particulas tota simul adest, nec minor in minoribus, et in majoribus major, sed alicubi intensius, alicubi remissius, et in omnibus tota, et in singulis tota est.' Augustinus De Origine animæ hominis ad Hieron. Ep. 166. Edit. Benedict.

..... Spirits that live throughout

Vital in every part, not as frail man

In entrails, heart or head, liver or reins.-

.....

All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear,

All intellect, all sense. Paradise Lost, VI. 344.

..... if it be true

That light is in the soul,

She all in every part-. Samson Agonistes, 91.

[43]

Milton frequently uses the word forma in its philosophical sense. In his English works he commonly expresses it by the word shape.

..... saw

Virtue in her shape how lovely. Paradise Lost, IV. 846.

'Discipline is not only the removal of disorder; but if any visible shape can be given to divine things, the very visible shape and image of virtue.' The Reason of Church Government, &c. Prose Works, I. 81. 'Regenerate in us the lovely shapes of virtues and graces.' Ibid. 86. 'Truth indeed came once into the world with her divine master, and was a perfect shape most glorious to look on.' Speech for Liberty of Printing. Ibid. 319.

[44]

'We cannot deny but that besides Origen, several others of the ancient fathers before the fifth council seem either to have espoused the pre-existence of souls, or at least to have had a favour and kindness for it; insomuch that St. Augustine himself is sometimes staggering in this point, and thinks it to be a great secret whether men's souls existed before their generations or no, and somewhere concludes it to be a matter of indifferency, wherein every one may have his liberty of opinion either way without offence.' Cudworth's Intellectual System, chap. v. 'Hujus igitur damnationis in parvulis causam requiro, quia neque animarum, si novæ fiunt singulis singulæ, video esse ullum in ilia ætate peccatum, nec a Deo damnari aliquam credo quam videt nullum habere peccatum.' Augustinus De Origine animæ, &c. ad Hieron. 'Quære ubi, vel unde, vel quando cœperint (animæ) damnationis meritum habere, si novæ sunt, ita sane ut Deum non facias, nec aliquam naturam, quam non condidit Deus, vel peccati earum vel innocentum damnationis auctorem. Et si inveneris quod te quærere admonui, quod ipse adhuc, fateor, non inveni, defende quantum potes, atque assere animam infantium ejusmodi esse novitatem, ut nulla propagatione ducuntur; et nobiscum quod inveneris fraterna dilectione communica.' Augustinus Ep. 157. (190. Edit. Benedict.) ad Optatum.

[45]

'Sunt quædam scripturæ loca, quæ id asserere videntur, ut Job xxxiii. 4. Eccles. xii. 9. Zach. xii. 4. Respondeo, ex eo quod Jobus ait, spiraculum Omnipotentis vitam sibi indidisse, non magis sequi id factum esse immediate a Deo, quam ex eo quod idem dicit, nonne sicut la{illeg}mulsisti me, &c. Job. x. 8. colligi legitime potest corpora nostra a parentibus non gigni, sed immediate a Deo ipso formari.' Curcell. Instit. III. 10. 9.

[46]

In this illustration the chief stress is laid upon the suddenness with which Adam was enabled to give appropriate names to the brute creation, as it passed in review before him. Milton has two other allusions to this event, and the same circumstance is marked as the prominent feature of the case in both passages. There is nothing in the scriptural narration to suggest the particular idea, or the coincidence would have been less remarkable.

I nam'd them as they pass'd, and understood

Their nature, with such knowledge God endu'd

My sudden apprehension. Paradise Lost, VIII. 352.

'But Adam, who had the wisdom given him to know all creatures, and to name them according to their properties, no doubt but had the gift to discern perfectly that which concerned him much more, and to apprehend at first sight the true fitness of that consort which God provided him.' Tetrachordon. Prose Works, II. 133.

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