The Life of John Milton Volume 3 1643-1649: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His TimeMasson, David
Religion
The Life of John Milton Volume 3 1643-1649: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His Time
Masson, David
Milton, John, 1608-1674; Poets, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Biography
undermine and frustrate the whole work of Reformation intended. 'Tis his
masterpiece for England; and, for effecting it, he comes and moves, not
in Prelates and Bishops, not in furious Anabaptists, &c., but in holy
men, excellent preachers; moderate and fair men, not for a toleration of
heresies and gross opinions, but an 'allowance of a latitude to some
lesser differences with peaceableness.' This is _Candidus ille Diabolus_
[that White Devil], as Luther speaks, and _meridianus Diabolus_ [mid-day
Devil], as Johannes Gersonius and Beza express it, coming under the
merits of much suffering and well-deserving, clad in the white garments
of innocency and holiness. In a word, could the Devil effect a
Toleration, he would think he had gained well by the Reformation and made
a good exchange of the Hierarchy to have a Toleration for it. I am
confident of it, upon serious thoughts, and long searching into this
point of the evils and mischief of a Toleration, that, if the Devil had
his choice whether the Hierarchy, Ceremonies, and Liturgy should be
established in this kingdom, or a Toleration granted, he would choose and
prefer a Toleration before them."
Did Mr. Thomas Edwards in all this represent the whole body of the
Presbyterians of his time? I am afraid he did. In _his_ very sense,
with the same vehemency, and to the same extent, they were all Anti-
Tolerationists.
Was there no exception? Had no one Presbyterian of that day worked out,
in the interest of Presbytery, a conclusion corresponding to that which
we have seen reason to think some of the wiser Anglicans then within the
Royalist lines were quietly working out in the interest of Episcopacy, in
case Episcopacy should ever again have a chance? Was no one Presbyterian
prepared to come forth with the proposal of a Toleration in England,
either limited or unlimited, round an Established National Church on the
Presbyterian model? That there may not have been some such person among
those Erastian laymen who favoured Presbytery on the whole for general
and political reasons, one would not assert positively. None such,
however, is distinctly in historical view; and it is certain that among
the real or dominant Presbyterians, the _jure divino_ Presbyterians,
English or Scottish, there was no one upon whom the idea in question had
clearly dawned or who dared to divulge it. Perhaps it was the belief in
the absolute _jus divinum_ of Presbytery that made the idea impossible to
them. Yet why should it have been impossible in consistency even with
that belief? It may be _jure divino_ that the square on the hypothenuse
of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the
sides, that he is a blockhead who believes otherwise, and that a
permanent apparatus should be set up in every land for teaching this
mathematical faith; and yet it may be equally _jure divino_ that no one
shall be compelled to avail himself of that apparatus, or be punished for
doubting or denying the proposition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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