The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-03-27
The Second of the Rev. A. S.
Twombly's Lectures.
THE BLIND POETS MASTERPIECE
The Theory of Life, as He Pictured it,
is DisappOinting-The Poem is Cold,
though Rich in Classical Allusions-
A Relic from Medieval Crypt.

| The following is an extract from
the lecture On THE Lost Paradise, ,
delivered by the Rev. o. S. Twom.
bly, at the y. NJ. C. A. Hall last
evening. There was a fair-sized
audience present, and the lecture
was greatly enjoyed by those pres
ent:
The theory of life in Millions "Par-
adise Lost" is mainly the supernatur-
al and imprisoned side of life, as he
beheld it amid the splendors of his
imaginative creations, and the cata-
clysm of his symbolic fancy. The
poem moves through the celestial part
of its majestic verse. with a cadence
which creation might have chosen for
its accompaniment, never descending
| to the jaugle and discord of mere
earth sounds. For the terrestrial
portion of the song, the Homeric
poems were MiltOn's models, but
he swept by them far out into
space, and took the heights and
depths for his field of action. Tie
| general theory of life in this poem is
as follows:
The Almighty is superior to all, in
his Omniscience and omnipOtence. The
way in which he hurls his rebellious
subjects down to hell, is surprisingly
easy, like the story of the creation in
six days. The Son is next to the
Father, but not equal, for to him was
given the glory of overwhelming the
rebelliOus angels.
Then comes Satan, who was able for
time to repulse the loyal hosts. Man
is inferior in power to Satan, in that
being tempted by him he is overcome.
Adam was created little lower than
the angels Including SATAN. He can
resist and vanquish Satan only by the
aid of the Son of God. Woman is
inferior to man, more easily over
come by Satan. Man and woman
are above the brutes whom they con-
troll.
Milton reflected the theology of his
times, but he scared so far above the
religious ideal of his countrymen that
few read his poems or celebrated his
renoWn. On his solemn and severe
ideas, as a Puritan, tinctured with
Arianism, he built a structure too
lofty either for his austere co religion
lists. He did rot remain Puritan and
in his later years belonged to no sect.
Producing the highest result of the
ideals of his age, his conceptions were
beyond the doctrines as they were
then understood; he transformed the
dOgmas of the Independents, into SUBJ
lime perceptions, by personifications
too subtitle, spectacular events too
transcendent, and achievements too
far removed, for his contemporaries to
accept them as possibilities. The
stars sang together and electric thun-
ders intoned the tragic conflict be-
tween God and Satan, in the immense
cathedral of the universe, while his
cOuntrymen heard scarcely a note of
the celestial symphony; but he fast
ened much of the theology, which he
had thought out for himself, for gen.
erations to come in a sure place. His
Satan, not the Hebrew, became the
Satan of popular belief. His angels
became models which painters and
poets reproduced. For eight or nine
years, till after Charles II.'s restora-
ton, he brOoded over the problem of |
human destiny, like Michael Angelo |
in the solitude of the Sistine Chapel, |
until he could stand in the presence of |
God, without bewilderment or fear. |
The persistence of his Satan, in op-
posing and defying the good, almost |
if not quite equals the perseverance of
the Almighty in resisting him. 1t is
brute force in which God is superior,
not in force of will. Satan was also
to goodness and grace, as
when after entering Eden in the guise
Of serpent, Ewes
Heavenly form, her graceful innocence
Jverawed his malice, and be-
reaved
His ferceness of the fierce intent it
brought"
The Almighty, as portrayed by Mil
on, is Jupiter on Olympus, holding
The poet denies the
.ternal filiatiOn of the Son, his self
Existence and cO-equality; and says of
Him,
By merit more than birthright,
on of God: Found worthiest to be so
BY being good, far more than great or
high"
Milton's idea of spirits disembodied
5 that
They limb themselves. and color. shape
or size,
Assume, as likes them best, condense or
rare"
They cannot, but by humiliation,
lie; nor can they receive mortal
wound. They see, smell, touch and
sste. Milton enlarges no human per-
option of glory or the spiritual state,
kept as his lofty periods lift us into
he overpowering brightness of the
and make the mystery
f the other life intense and ecstatic.
His theory of life under mortal con
itions, that is, after the expulsion
rom Eden, leaves man scientifically
nd morally, in a hard place. Adam
lad been taught by Raphael ito live
he easiest way, nor with perplexing
thoughts to interrupt the sweet Of I
ife." Adam knew more of "Devilu-
ionr than Evolution" or its kindred
ieas. He had a false theory of the
Universe to begin with, and false idea
the Almighty. The book of nature
q its reality, was closed to him by
be peremptory command that he &C
ept the absurd notions revealed to
i'm by the angel, and he was where