than any other government under the sun. Milton was an
enemy to spiritual slavery, he thought the chains thrown upon the mind
were the least tolerable; and in order to shake the pillars of mental
usurpation, he closed with Cromwell and the independants, as he
expected under them greater liberty of conscience. In matters of
religion too, Milton has likewise given great offence, but infidels
have no reason to glory. No such man was ever amongst them. He was
persuaded of the truth of the christian religion; he studied and
admired the holy scriptures, and in all his writings he plainly
discovers a religious turn of mind.

When he wrote the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, he appears to
have been a Calvinist; but afterwards he entertained a more favourable
opinion of Arminius. Some have thought that he was an Arian, but there
are more express passages in his works to overthrow this opinion, than
any there are to confirm it. For in the conclusion of his Treatise on
Reformation, he thus solemnly invokes the Trinity:

'Thou therefore that sittest in light and glory unapproachable, parent
of angels and of men! next thee I implore omnipotent king, redeemer of
that lost remnant, whose nature thou didst assume, ineffable and
everlasting love! and thee the third subsistence of the divine
infinitude, illuminating spirit, the joy and solace of created things!
one tri-personal god-head.'

In the latter part of his life he was not a professed member of any
particular sect of christians; he frequented no public worship, nor
used any religious rite in his family; he was an enemy to all kinds of
forms, and thought that all christians had in some things corrupted
the simplicity and purity of the gospel. He believed that inward
religion was the best, and that public communion had more of shew in
it, than any tendency to promote genuine piety and unaffected
goodness.

The circumstances of our author were never very mean, nor very
affluent; he lived above want, and was content with competency. His
father supported him during his travels. When he was appointed Latin
secretary, his sallary amounted to 200 l. per ann. and tho' he was of
the victorious party, yet he was far from sharing the spoils of his
country. On the contrary, as we learn from his Second Defence, he
sustained great losses during the civil war, and was not at all
favoured in the imposition of taxes, but sometimes paid beyond his due
proportion; and upon a turn of affairs