CHAPTER II POPULAR THEOLOGY CONSCIOUSLY or unconsciously, common credence has balanced the whole structure of Christianity on the story of the Fall of Man. The third chapter of Genesis derives its importance from the fact that it is the cornerstone of Christian Theology. Without a first Adam there could be no second: without a Tree of Death, no Tree of Life: without a penalty incurred, no atonement. Whether this Arbor Vita is indigenous to the soil of Christianity need not be discussed. It is certain that it now flourishes there, like a green bay-tree. Professor Draper says: "A British monk who had assumed the name of Pelagius passed (in the early part of the fifth century) through Western Europe and Northern Africa, teaching that death was not introduced into The the world by the sin of Adam; that, on the contrary, he was necessarily and by nature mortal, and had he not sinned he would nevertheless have died; that the consequences of his sins were confined to himself and did not affect his posterity .. In Tertullian's statement of the principles of Christianity there is a complete absence of the doctrines of original sin, total depravity, predestination, grace, and atonement. intention of Christianity as set forth by him. has nothing in common with the plan of salvation upheld two centuries subsequently. It is to St. Augustine, a Carthaginian, that we are indebted for the precision of our views on these important points. .. A consequence of great importance issues from the decision of the Pelagian controversy. The Book of Genesis has been made the basis of Christianity." I am sure I shall be excused if I illustrate the point of argument at which I have now arrived by reference to the two great poems of Milton. If Dante was a prophet of the 1 Conflict between Religion and Science, pp. 56, 57. Roman Catholic Church, Milton was certainly a prophet of the Protestant Church; neither of them orthodox, but both of them. exercising a powerful effect on popular belief. In fact, so great has been the influence of the English poet that, as we shall presently see, an exceedingly doubtful portion of celestial history has passed into currency, mainly, if not entirely, on his authority. An inquiry into the doctrines contained in Paradise Lost is no mere academic exercise; it is an inquiry into a system of logic as rigid as the Pons Asinorum. The whole story of the siege and capture of the Garden of Eden is a preparation for the successful assault on Paradise; the walls of Heaven are founded on the ruins of Eden. In one respect Paradise Regained is quite unorthodox, though even more severely logical than ecclesiastical theology. Milton represents the redemption of the world from the consequences of the Fall of Man as accomplished, not by the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, but by his victory over the Devil in the Temptation. At the close of Paradise Regained the Angels, chanting the praise of Jesus, sing Thou hast avenged Supplanted Adam, and, by vanquishing This is, of course, the exact counter-stroke to Satan's success in the Garden of Eden, and the meaning of calling Jesus the second Adam is herein most clearly seen. Still, it is not the usual view of the Redemption, though in effect it leaves the argument of the sacred drama untouched. If this has escaped general observation, it is because, just as Dante's Purgatorio and Paradiso are less read than his Inferno, so Paradise Regained is less read than Paradise Lost; and for the same reason,-that the human mind has a natural love of gloom and horror.1 1 I regret that this is not the occasion on which to pause over the rhythm of Paradise Regained, so full of interest to the student of poetry. It contains one of the loveliest couplets ever introduced as a relief into blank verse The sounds and seas with all their finny drove With this exception, and apart from what may be called Technical Theology (such as the doctrine of the Trinity), it is surely fair to say that wherever Christianity is more than a mere congenital superstition, the creed of Milton is the creed of the People. The fall of the Angels; the creation of Man; the fall of Man, as a consequence of the angelic defection; and the redemption of Man, as a consequence of his creation. It is a very well-linked chain of events. The fall of Man depends on the fall of the Angels, and on the fall of Man depends his redemption. Whence it follows that the sin in Heaven produced the salvation of Earth, and the apple of Eden grew into the tree of Calvary. THE FALL OF I shall now venture on a digression from Sec. (a). the main theme, in order to make good my THE ANGELS, former remark that a doubtful portion of celestial history had passed into currency chiefly on Milton's authority; and I trust that the reader will not find this matter without interest. In the Book of Genesis there is no mention of the Fall of the Angels, though it may |