The Latitudinarianism of Milton--how far influenced by the spirit of free thought existing at Cambridge I cannot say--appears in his doctrine of the Son of God; yet it modestly presents itself, and it by no means reaches a Socinian conclusion. In contradiction to the title of his Treatise he approaches this mysterious subject, through the medium of certain metaphysical postulates, and teaches that the Son, produced by generation, is neither co-eternal, nor co-essential, and that His existence “was no less owing to the decree and will of the Father, than His priesthood or kingly power, or His resuscitation from the dead.” Milton overlooks, or virtually denies, the distinction in the Nicene Creed, “begotten and not made;” when he says, “nothing can be more evident than that God, of His own will, _created or generated_, or produced the Son before all things;” and again, whilst professing to discard reason in such matters, and to follow the doctrine of Holy Scripture exclusively, he proceeds to insist metaphysically upon the unity of God, and to confine that unity to the nature of the Father. According to this idea, he interprets a number of texts, respecting the union of Christ with the Father, as meaning no more than that the Father and the Son are one in purpose. Milton examines, _seriatim_, the texts adduced in proof of the absolute Divinity of the Redeemer, and sets them aside one by one, with a calmness only now and then ruffled by a slight breeze of anger--in striking contrast with the Neptune-like storms of controversy which he raises in most of his polemical works. The negative side of his theory of the nature of the Son is sufficiently clear; not so the positive side. He is not a Trinitarian. He is not a Socinian. Is he an Arian? If so, he belongs to the class nearest to orthodoxy, for all which he denies is the co-eternity, and the co-existence of the Son, whilst he expressly attributes to Him, Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence, and universal Authority, as well as Divine works, and Divine honours. His Editor, Dr. Sumner, remarks, that Milton ascribes to the Son as high a share of Divinity as was compatible with the denial of his self-existence, and eternal generation, his co-equality, and co-essentiality with the Father.[494] Milton devotes a chapter to the doctrine of predestination, which he defines as being not particular but universal:--none are predestinated or elected irrespectively of character (_e.g._, Peter is not elected as Peter, or John as John, but inasmuch as they are believers, and continue in their belief); and thus, he says, the general decree of election becomes personally applicable to each particular believer, and is ratified to all who remain steadfast in the faith. [Sidenote: MILTON’S OPINIONS.]