The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-03-27

just Ruler, who could condemn all the
race because of its progenitors' primal
trausgfessIOn. No mercy was then
revealed. God, according to this the.
DRY, was outside and above the laws,
botla 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. a remarkable de
claration reveals Adams utter ms
conception OF ethical distinctions
even. After he bad heard of the Re-
deemer and the plan of salvation, as
| Milton understood it, he exclaims:
Full OF doubt stand.
whether should repent me now of sin.
BY Inc done and occaSioned; or rejoice
Much more, that much more good thereof
shall spring.
10 Ood more glory, more good will to men
FROM dod. AMI over wrath grace will
abound"
III Is not the purpose of this lecture
to analyse or criticise the ideas adj
vanced III the poem; simply to state
the Miltonic theory of terrestrial ex-
istence.
Inc lecturer gave many quota
tons, illustrating various other fea-
lures of Adams philosophy, but we
nave 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:
MY author and disposer, what thou bid'st
Unargued, l obey"
On one fatal occasion she forgot this
submission, and, when alone, was
"opportune to all attempts" Satan,
by iattery, led her astray. Curiosity
and desire led her to ask in great
haste,
Where grows the tree? From hence how
far?"
Adam, for love of her, eats and
shares her fault. Then Adam calls
her ga serpent" rib, crooked by ma
ture," and "that bad woman" "Oh
why" he said,
Did God
Create at last this novelty on earth,
This fair 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 grand ideal; around
these two frail, shrinking souls hangs
no etfulgence from the central orb or
ring;we look in vain for the eloquence
Of immortal, spiritual love. Rich in
classical illusions, the poem is cold,
ike a dead mans hand on the warm
pulse of this throbbing nineteenth
relic from medieval crypt,
oedecked with jewels, brought out in
vain to cure the mortal ills beneath
which earth still groans. In spite of
t, we must
Assist eternal Providence
And justify the ways of God to men,"