bitter.

This bitterness began in Adam, when, hand in hand, he and Eve, having turned their backs on Paradise, "with wandering steps and slow, through Eden took their solitary way."

The remainder of the Apocalyptic vision which Milton has been following clearly has reference to events that are to happen near the end of the world. The measurement of the temple which the Seer is directed to make shows the extent of the true Christian Church. The outer court, which the Gentiles profane, but in which God's two Witnesses are to prophesy, embraces the limits of so-called Christendom where the light of the Gospel shines but is not heeded. The two Witnesses preach here for a time with success, but their message is afterward despised, and they themselves are overcome and killed by the beast from the Pit. Faith and Truth, enlightened by the Holy Spirit and Conscience are represented by Milton as going through a somewhat similar course of maltreatment. The poet tells us that in the closing scenes of the world's history,

"Heavy persecution shall arise

On all who in the worship persevere

Of Spirit and Truth; the rest, far greater part,
Will deem in outward rites and specious forms

Religion satisfied; Truth shall retire

Bestuck with slanderous darts, and works of, Faith
Rarely be found."

This degeneracy of the Church into "outward rites and specious forms" may very well be represented as an exposure to shame of the dead bodies of Truth and Faith, after the life has departed. Moreover they are to be exposed "in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt." Milton understood this to refer to Rome, the seat of the great hierarchy, whose names, places, titles, and secular power are used to force spiritual laws upon the conscience.

The absence of Truth and the lack of Faith seem to hurry on the closing scenes of the world's history. Two woes out of the three that were to fall upon the earth are past, and "the third woe cometh quickly." The seventh, and last, trumpet sounds, and heavenly voices are heard praising the Messiah, and saying: "We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." Just to this consummation does the archangel Michael in the poem likewise pursue his narrative; and just here, at "the world's great period," does he pause, having told how the Messiah will come,

"When this world's dissolution shall be ripe,

With glory and power, to judge both quick and dead—

To judge the unfaithful dead, but to reward

His faithful, and receive them into bliss."

Long before the poet had decided to make his masterpiece an epic, and while he was yet considering the suitableness of various subjects for a dramatic composition, he published his opinion that "the Apocalypse of St. John is the majestic image of a high and stately tragedy shutting up and intermingling her solemn scenes and acts with a sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies." Here is strong external probability to join with the unlimited internal evidence that Paradise Lost is founded upon the passage of Revelation. which we have been considering. A clearer case, it seems to me, we could not have, unless the poet had taken the awkward step of explaining his own work to the world.

Other portions of the Apocalypse, indeed I might say almost the whole of it, are incorporated in the poem. Considerable portions of other books,-Canticles, the Proverbs, the Psalms, the Gospels, the Epistles, the Historical books, and the Proph ecies are to be found. Indeed, a minute and careful examination, clause by clause, of nearly the whole poem almost warrants me in believing that every idea in it, however apparently remote, was meant by Milton to set forth some Scriptural truth. But nowhere, not even in the first of Genesis, do I find any plan which can at all be regarded as coëxtensive with that of Paradise Lost except the plan of the vision of the seven trumpets. The Fall of Man, more than any other event, is the central and important fact in this history of disobedience to

the Sovereign of the Universe, Adam and Eve are indeed nowhere mentioned by name in the vision, but they are inseparably associated with that fall of the Wormwood Star, symbolizing the introduction of Sin upon the earth. To human beings, for whom St. John's vision was recorded, the first four soundings of the trumpet had no direct relation; and it is at the fifth that the Seer begins to expand his narrative into greater particularity. It is right that the poet also should at the same point labor upon that long and careful analysis of the human nature in Adam and Eve, and that minute description of their state, environment and temptations which occupies so much of the work. The very full account of the Creation seems at first somewhat remote from the main subject, but it can scarcely be regarded as a violation of unity in this way to give prominence to the great transition, in the midst of the story, from Hell to this world. Indeed, if the poem is examined in the light of its relation to the Apocalyptic vision, one cannot fail to be impressed with its perfect unity and logical coherence.

ARTICLE V.-THE HUMAN MIND.

The Human Mind: a Treatise in Mental Philosophy. By EDWARD JOHN HAMILTON, D.D. New York: Robert Carter & Bros. 1883.

THE number of books recently written in English, which have aimed to treat the more serious problems of philosophy in a thoroughly scientific way, has been on the whole commendable; it has not been so large, however, as to prevent our welcoming every new and genuine contribution toward the better solution of such problems. Whatever may be said of the German philosophical literature, those to whom English is native certainly cannot complain that their own literature has of late been overdone in the department of so-called metaphysics. Much yet remains to be said concerning the nature and validity of human thought, in a manner readable by those who cannot master philosophy in a foreign language. This fact might of itself secure a certain welcome to a book like that of Dr. Edward J. Hamilton, entitled "The Human Mind." By its very appearance this treatise puts forth a certain large claim to consideration. It contains more than 700 pages of closely printed discussion upon what is really only a single department in the general field of psychology. The thoughtfulness and conscientiousness of its author are manifest on every page. Being ourselves of that very small number who, although admitting the truth that "art is long and life is brief," still insist upon the other truth that life is long enough for every man who tries the art of thinking to be patient and constant in his art,we are not appalled by the size of this volume.

The book of Dr. Hamilton, however, really makes-though in manner, modestly enough-a certain claim to the very highest kind of consideration ever yielded to works of its kind. The author announces in the Preface that he felt himself, first of all, "forced to form new views" on "the fundamental topics of belief and conviction;" that then, and "from this beginning, he was lead on to attempt a general reconstruction of the philosophy of mind." There is no doubt reason enough for

the dissatisfaction which the author felt with the published theories upon the topics mentioned above. Such dissatisfaction is in itself, however, scarcely a sufficient reason for starting upon so large a venture as the "general reconstruction of the philosophy of mind." Especially is this true, when, as the author frankly informs us, the compulsion of circumstances prevented his receiving "any assistance from friendly consultation or criticism;" and when, as every chapter of the treatise clearly reveals to one acquainted with the kindred literature, he could have had no access to the richest sources of information and thought upon many of the subjects treated in his book. In the philosophy of mind, even more than in the scientific knowledge of nature, there are few workmen who can accomplish much without knowing all of the best which other workmen have done before them. The notion that a ripe and true system of the philosophy of mind can be evolved from the consciousness of the individual, should be by this time obsolete. We by no means accuse the author of holding any such notion. For he has carefully made use of the resources which were accessible to him. And whatever may be thought of the estimate which he places upon the authorities to whom in his Preface he acknowledges that his obligations have been greatest, instances of his independence in differing from them might be cited from almost every chapter. Nevertheless, a writer who, like our author, aims at a "reconstruction of the philosophy of mind," needs either the independent and original intellect of an Aristotle or a Leibnitz, or else a thorough acquaintance with the best German philosophical literature. The question may then, be as frankly and kindly asked, as the author has himself in fact answered it,-Whether it would not have been better, either to have aimed at an original discussion of that special problem for which the author thinks himself to have found a solution, or else to have acquired a further acquaintance with philosophical literature. As the case now stands, the book seems to cover the attempt to write upon. various subjects concerning the philosophy of the intellect from the point of view furnished by the author's peculiar theory of the nature of belief. The point of view held respecting the nature of belief or conviction, influences the treatment of the whole subject of so-called mental philosophy. So far does this