The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-09-01

uItiHg -ucn a monumental work as Nova
S~olylna.' The opinions. the catch
phrases, the personal idiosyncrasies, the
style Of the newly-reyealed rom-rce With
It's treasure Of poetry. bear the strongest
resemblance to tie acknowledged work
in prose and verse Of the illustrious Mil
ten. Did any one else purYosely copy
ms style aud adopt his ideas and prIncI-
pies? That alone would haze been as
gigantic a task as TO have r~Ivalled honest
~ the great Puritan. Il j. not c~onceiy-
able. Either Milton wrote the Nova
Solyma or there was, most probably in
England and IN London clty-a writer OF
Jtoplan romance and elevated Ioetry-a
scholar OF vast and distinguished power
heretofore and hereafter unrevealed for
two hundred and fifty years, and whose
identity remains a secret, a writer and a
scholar every whit the equal OF the most
majestic figure IN English literature, au-
thor then of the Hymn on Christ's Natl
vity, OF Lycidas, Of Conus, Of L'Allegro.
Of II Pcnseroso, author yet to be OF
Paradise Lost, of Paradise Regained. OF
Samson 'AgonG te4-the noblest minor
works, the g%randest epIcs IN the language
and as to the latter probably in any
modern language.
But a truce to gencralities. Disclaim.
ing any pretensions Of scholarship sufh-
Gent to judge of the value of Mr.. Beg
leys averments as to the respective Lat
unity of Milton and the Unknown. | viii
first examine what IS seen IN the trans
lation given of the resemblance betwcen
the author of Paradise Lost and the au-
thor of Nova Solyma, l as to views. 2
a. to poetical powers; concluding, 3 with
some independent considerations of the
politics and government of the rehabii-
tated Jewish republic
The theology of the new Utopia is the
Hebraistic-Genevan theology of Milton's
day, to which is added the peculiar Mil
tonic touch. If the author was not Nil
ton he held similar opinions. The only
suppression IS that in marriage and di-
vorce, which may be due to the desire
to assist IN the presumption of the
writer's anonymity. Yet everywhere in
the beautiful, too stately but not too
cold love story, the familiar doctrine OF
Milton, the subsection of women, the
prostratICn before the father as patriarch
of the children of the family is made
prominent. We see constantly the Orient
al restraint imposed on the various her
ONES. All this appears in Paradise Lost.
Eve rcpente, knecling, of her temptation
OF Adam and the first man f~orgives her
graciou>ly. The peculiar religious doc
trine of Milton, his Arianism, IS taught
indistinctly in the great epic and plainly
In Nova Solyma, supposlng he wrote the
latter. Milton was not a reflector of any
part Of Bible narrative. He accepted the
i doctrine as ne understood and explained
it of Father. Son and Holy Spirit-he be
licved in the Apostles creed. But
he became less and less orthodox as he
grew older in belief in Church dogmas.
His language was Always carefully ex-
anime for ourselves" This was the
spirit Of his acknowledged work and the
spirit of Nova Solyma. In the latter, II
he wrote it, Milton draws himself in the
great character of young Joseph. The
father j. named Jacob, and bears strong
resemblance to John Milton, senior.
Apollos is the character drawn exactly
to the life Of Millions favorite preceptor.
Thomas Young. The opinion on philoso-
ply and religion and education advanced
by these characters in the romance are
the views held by their supposed origin
ais. Other views and doctrines are com
pared with those entertained by friends
Of Milton, whose works were published.
The similarity is wonderful. But there
is no room for quotation. Milton and
1.-THE Unknown both believe IN the theory
that souls as well as bodies are propagated,
and that God does not create a human
soul every time a child is born. All pro-
coed IN painful progress from Adam and
Eve TO the present day-tWo souls Great
ed, all the rest generated with the body
according to the original divine fiat.
Milton and the Unknown both also be
leye, even more strongly. III the sleep OF
the soul with the body from death to the
resurrection. In Nova Solyma it is dis
~tirctly stated that the person, body, soul
and spirit, dies al at once. But else
where he teaches the doctrine Of the I'M
mortality Of the soul. Either. as. sug-
gested by Mr. Begley, he forgot to change
this passage after he had left the Pres
byterian Church and become a ''heretic,'
OF as seems possible to me, he held to
both doctrines In his own peculiar man
ner, differing from all other noted mon
in any time of the history of the world.
Milton was p~OetIcal IN temperament, and
while rigidly modelling his politics and
religion on the religion and politics Of the
ancient Hebrews, he was so much a man
OF culture that his views were relned III
by his breeding as a gentleman and his
training as a scholar. AT moments the
Cavalier element has It's innings, if | may
so say: at other moments the bold and
sour-tempered Puritan. But he never was
wholly under the influence of the ~austeri-
! Iec Oh 1uIildulSIll. bOIllS D3Ch lltIt,
for space is lacking, the author Of Nova
Soiyma and the acknowledged John Mil
ton taught the divinity of Christ. l
have not read the admittedly last great
" ork discovered and known to be Mil
tons, The Treatise on the Christian
Doctrine But | know that DR.. Charming
and others who wrote on 1t early IN the
Nineteenth Century when it was found
Git was brought out IN 1929, claimed that
Milton was what they called a Unitarian.
This does not distinctly appear IN Nova
tSolyma. There he seems IN the Armada
epic, 'Philipica,' and perhaps elsewhere
to hold merely to a prirnacy IN the person
of the Father. He denies the doctrine
Of the eternal generation of the Son. But
it appears, after all, that he regards the
God-head as triune. | may be wrong, but
it seems from consulting the romance
only and traces of ArIaniSm IN the great
epic, that Milton was a sort of Trini-
tartan. lie merely wished to state his