The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-06-22

life, Is the largeness of Milton in con- trast with the sweetness of Herbert
 Every word which helps us express majesty, sublimity and boldness is
 needed in the description of Milton while for the simplicity, the piety and
 the fervor of the other character there
 is nothing more expressive that Isaac l Walton's Beautiful George Herbert. J Milton's character asserts itself every
 where, in pastoral, pamphlet, and epic. l We have majestic grandeur and moun-
 tain air even though we miss the deli cate odors which spring from the flow l CTS of Christian charity. Something 1 proud something heroic, makes up the ] religion as we'll as the verse which is | written into Paradise Lost The spirit l of Herbert Is sweetness and grace. ! Between all the quaintness and mysti-
 ofsm, we are conscious of the warm, l pulsing heart of a man eager for faith and purity and Christ. Read Herbert,
 feel his spirit, and you long for quiet, | for some humble place to do and serve.
 Read Milton, you invite the tempest, you delight in the play of natures l forces.
  | the other for humble conservation, and
 everyday religion made sweet and beau- tiful by a singularly Christian spirit l Herbert was a most saintly man, but l like the apostle, he felt himself the chief of sinners, and all his poems are thus baptized as it were, in a spiritual flood.
 As he says of his sermons, so of all his thoughts they were dipped in his
 heart" before they were uttered. Her
 bert belongs with the gentle spirit of
 history; Milton belongs with the re- formers. Milton and Cromwell; we can not separate them, great types of what
 heroic souls may be; men who fight with
 swords in their hands and prayer in
 their hearts We think of these men,
 and hear them say over again the undy-
 ing words of Luther: Here take my
 stand, cannot do otherwise, God help
 me! Amen"
 There Is little or no questioning about
 Milton. Tn him the colonist predomi-
 mates over the child of the Renaissance.
 He knows his own mind and treads the
 unseen familiarly. The living present
 reality of the invisible world allows no
 mysticisms to shroud for him such eter-
 nal truths as God and immortality.
 He reminds one of Browning. He is
 confident of all that he asserts; he dares
 look into the inmost heaven and behold
 "The living throne, the sapphire blaze
 Where angels tremble as they gaze"
 Milton would enter the holy of holies; would even enter the thoughts of God. He never doubts, and the bold, heroic spirit feels that he is speaking of that which he has seen and known Not So with Herbert. We get his thought by suggestion or subtle artifice. We feel what he wishes to express by the at- mosphere surrounding his thought. The brightness which envelopes the throne is too great for him. He hesitates and falters, and wonders if all can be. Where is truth? What is sin? Who is God? Far off and unapproachable! He looks into the face of the son of man, but dares look no farther-"Thou shalt an- swer, Lord, for me"
 Milton and Herbert were alike in this; they both held the Scriptures in high est reverence; but the homage of Milton was paid to the writings of the old Testament, while Herbert received his inspiration from the New. If Milton would see God he would go with Moses to Mt Sanai; Herbert would go to the cross on Calvary of follow the star to Both men are Christians, but Milton is a Hebrew converted to the cross, while Herbert has been liken- ed to the disciple whom Jesus loved. 1 He lives his life and writes his song and prays his prayers, and goes about | doing good. even as his Master dh in | Galilee The images and magnificence of Paradise Lost are the conceptions | which the Hebrew prophet would have | used, while the figures of the temple | are more like the parables of Christ. | The beautitudes of the sermon on the | Mount came fittingly from the mouth | 1f Herbert; in Milton we hear the voice | of Elijah at Mt. Horeb: "I have been | Jealous for the Lord God of hosts, be- cause the children of Israel have for iaken thy covenant" Herbert, the lov- 1T of authority, the mystic poet, the sweet and pious Christian, the cere- nonious churchman; Milton, one who lares break with tradition, in whom is lbsence of mysticism, a severe simpli- 'ity, heroic boldness-these are their different religious traits. Milton pre- ents the noblest type of the Puritan; Herbert the truest and best in the cava- fer.
 At no time do the different character. stics in the religion of these two men how to better advantage than in their eclining days.
 Both were born in an atmosphere ofre- gious refinement, and at the same | drank eagerly of its culture nd learning. Milton as we'll as Her ert naturally loved the "storied win , ow," the dim religious light" and all , he hallowed associations of an historic hurch. They stand far apart in these tier years. Milton attending no church, f dopting no ceremony, sat apart in aus gre self-sufficiency. Herbert merging imself in the great congregation, was
 imply one stone in his beautiful tenn ! le. As his strength failed in that last ngering illness and he could no long r conduct his daily service, psalms i nd prayers were read to him by his edside. The truest worship of all noble atures those silent upward strivings nown only to themselves and their Iaker, were the form of services which C -ilton chose. o To be ministered unto, to join in Ia common nraVnT was