e traditional Protestantism, a very little investigation reveals
the astounding fact that the current popular Evangelical view of the
origin of things and the drama of things is based, not upon the Bible
at all, but upon Milton's poem. In this respect he is a true Classic
Poet--a Maker of Mythology--a Delphic Demiurge.

One of the most difficult questions in the world to answer would be
the question how far Milton "believed" simply and directly, in the
God he thus half-created. Probably he did "believe" more than his
daring, arbitrary "creations" would lead us to suppose. His nature
demanded positive and concrete facts. Scepticism and mysticism
were both abhorrent to him; and it is more likely than not that, in the
depths of his strange cold, unapproachable heart, a terrible and
passionate prayer went up, day and night, to the God of Isaac and
Jacob that the Lord should not forget his Servant.

The grandeur and granite-like weight of Milton's learning was fed
by the high traditions of Greece and Rome; but, in his heart of hearts,
far deeper than anything that moved him in Aeschylus or Virgil, was
the devotion he had for the religion of Israel, and the Fear of Him
who "sitteth between the Cherubims." It is often forgotten, amid the
welter of modern ethical ideals and modern mystical theosophies,
how grand and unique a thing is this Religion of Israel--a religion
whose God is at once Personal and Invisible. After all, what do we
know? A Prince of Righteousness, a King of Sion, a Shepherd of his
People--such a "Living God" as David cries out upon, with those
dramatic cries that remain until today the most human and tragic of
all our race's wrestling with the Unknown--is this not a Faith quite
as "possible" and far more moving, than all the "Over-Souls" and
"Immanent All's Fathers" and "Streams of Tendency" which have
been substituted for it by unimaginative modern "breadth of mind"?
It is time that it was made clear that the alternative at present for all
noble souls is between the reign of "crass Casuality" and the reign of
Him "who maketh the clouds His chariot and walketh upon the
wings of the wind." Those who, "with Democritus, set the world
upon Chance" have a right to worship their Jesus of Nazareth, and,
in him, the Eternal Protest against the Cruelty of Life. But if Life is
to be deified, if Life is to be "accepted," if Life is to be worshipped;
if Courage, not Love, be the secret of the cosmic system, then let us