The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-03-24

concile him to the absurd idea of an I'M
just Ruler, who could condemn all the
race because of il sprogenitors' primal
traDsg' essIon. No mercy was then
revealed. God, according to this the
| DRY, was outside and above the laws,
ootL OF nature and of human con-
science, as Adam, in his partial en-
Ilghtenment, understood them.
And so Adam is represented as
credulous, docile, capricious, but weak,
Irrational and turned about hy every
| WIND OF motive. 4 remarkable de
claration reveals Adams utter mis-
conception of ethical distinctions
even. After he had heard of the Re-
deemer and the plan of salvation, as
Milton understood ii, he exclaims:
Full % doubt | stand,
| whether should repent me now of sim
Dy me done and occasiOned 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 will
abound"
10 analyse or criticise the ideas adj
vanced in the poem; simply to state
the Miltonic theory of terrestrial ex-
istence.
The lecturer gave many quota
tions, illustrating various other fea-
lures of Adams philosophy, but we
have room only for the condition of
Eve, or woman, as Milton portrayed
her in the poem.
Beginning with an account of Mil
toms infelicitous experience as hus-
band and father, the lecture gives
credit to Milton for portraying Eve as,
"A creature so lovely fair
That what seemed fair in all the world
Seemed now mean
Or in her summed up, in her contained,
And in her looks.
Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her
eve;
In every gesture, dignity and love-"
But the poet was equally decided in
giving to Eve inferiority to man, and
causing her to declare her own willing
subsection, as according to Gods or
dinance. She says to Adam:
NV anthor and dispOser. what thou bid'st
Unargued, obey"
On one fatal occasion she forgot this
submission, and, when alone, was
"oppOrtune to all attempts" Satan,
by flattery, led her astray. Curiosity
aud desire led her to ask in great
haste,
Where grows the tree? From hence how
far?"
Adam, for love of her, eats and
her linen AUdm Calls
her "a SERPENT" a rib, crooked by ma
ture," and "that bad woman" ooh
why" he said,
Did God
Create at last this novelty or earth,
This { cir defect OF nature?'
And so the poet goes on to the end
of the poem. He, uncOnsciously per-
haps, does justice to her self-accusa-
ton and Willingness to take all the
blame to herself, but it is evident that
Milton regarded woman, if more beau
tiful and more fascinating, yet weaker
and more irrational than man. She
deserves less, in his opinion. from the
Almighty. She is incomplete. a
theory of life with such women in it
leaves the world in sad plight.
Thus the whole theory OF life, as
Milton pictures it, is disappointing.
No love of virtue for its own sake; no
yearning after a grand ideal; around
these two frail, shrinking souls hangs
no effulgence from the central orb or
look in vain for the eloquence
of immortal, spiritual love. Rich in
classical illusions, the poem is cold,
like n dead mans hand on the warm
pulse of this throbbing nineteenth
century; a relic from medieval crypt,
bedecked with jewels, brought out in
vain to cure the mortal ills beneath
which earth still groans. In spite OF
ii, we must
- ssist eternal Providence
And justify the ways of God to men"