Of Reformation
Encyclopedia
Of Reformation is a 1641 pamphlet by John Milton
, and his debut in the public arena. Its full title is Of Reformation of Church-Discipline in England.
. Christopher Hill
considers that Milton was somewhat influenced, in the series, by the style of the pamphleteer Martin Marprelate
, back in print; and notes that the timing in May 1641 was in the same month as the execution of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
, and the fall of William Laud
, Archbishop of Canterbury
. Further, Hill points out Milton's "special interest in the cultural and moral consequences, as he saw them, of episcopacy."
The work was Milton's first independently produced work, and was published in May 1641 under the title Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavses that hitherto have hindred it. The first page offers an alternate title, "Of Reformation in England".
for his analysis
of religion
. He believes that the Reformation
would allow for a structuring of the body to something more perfect, and that the Gospel
was:
The purity, metaphorically speaking, removed any physical aspects and allowed for a direct relationship between soul
and spiritual
truth
. Any interference between the two, especially in the form of a mediating force such as a church government or a liturgy
, would hinder this connection. When individuals push for a religious structure
, they try to make the individual metaphorically physical so:
Although God does have a shape, he is without a physical body and his existence is above human perception. Any attempt to force him into a bodily form, or emphasizing bodily forms is a corruption and a failure of the individual, and the Reformation's primary purpose was to restore our ideas to their proper place, i.e. to remove these physical conceptions. Furthermore, truth comes to the individual through scripture, not through liturgy, and, as Milton argues: "The very essence of Truth is plainnesse, and brightnes; the darknes and crookednesse is our own. The Wisdome of God created understanding, fit and proportionable to Truth the object, and end of it, as the eye to the thing visible ."
He also attacks many of the Church fathers, accusing them of "the ridiculous wresting of Scripture". He also attacks that the Anglican/Episcopal
tradition was supported by "canary-sucking and swan
-eating" individuals.
Milton's argument did not just discuss church government but discussed the concept of government as a whole. In an argument that was based partly on the writings of Polybius
and Thomas Smith
's The Commonwealth of England, Milton declares the importance of republicanism
:
In Book II, Milton discusses "Tale of the Wen", which describes the relationship of the Body with its other aspects. The Went tries to emphasize its own importance over the other parts of the body until a Philosopher is brought to discuss the Went. The Wen, according to the Philosopher, is a parasite that will be revealed as a parasite "when I have cut thee off". However, the Philosopher, in the story, never removes the Wen and it continues to be present through the rest of the Book. Milton uses the images to emphasize the need for healing, and argues that the church government, especially the bishop
s, are the same kind of parasite that interferes with the body. Milton extends the metaphor towards the idea of commonwealth as a whole:
. According to C. A. Patrides, it "combines a serene assurance that an appeal to reason would prove decisive, with an apocalyptic persuasion that the Primal Reason could hardly fail to intervene on behalf of so just a cause as Milton's."
Parts of Of Reformation emphasize a conflict present within Milton: he believed that the act of writing the work would take away from the spiritual connection between an individual and God. The physicality of writing interferes with the soul, and that any appeal would be to the physical senses and possibly not to the spiritual. In essence, the church is corrupted whore who "out of question from her pervers conceiting of God, and holy things, she has faln to beleeve no God at all.
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
, and his debut in the public arena. Its full title is Of Reformation of Church-Discipline in England.
Background
This work was followed by four others, also related to church hierarchy and PresbyterianismPresbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
. Christopher Hill
Christopher Hill (historian)
John Edward Christopher Hill , usually known simply as Christopher Hill, was an English Marxist historian and author of textbooks....
considers that Milton was somewhat influenced, in the series, by the style of the pamphleteer Martin Marprelate
Martin Marprelate
Martin Marprelate was the name used by the anonymous author or authors of the seven Marprelate tracts which circulated illegally in England in the years 1588 and 1589...
, back in print; and notes that the timing in May 1641 was in the same month as the execution of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...
, and the fall of William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. Further, Hill points out Milton's "special interest in the cultural and moral consequences, as he saw them, of episcopacy."
The work was Milton's first independently produced work, and was published in May 1641 under the title Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavses that hitherto have hindred it. The first page offers an alternate title, "Of Reformation in England".
Tract
In Of Reformation, Milton relies on the concept of a body to serve as a metaphorMetaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
for his analysis
Analysis
Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle , though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development.The word is...
of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
. He believes that the Reformation
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
would allow for a structuring of the body to something more perfect, and that the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
was:
refin'd to such a Spirituall height, and temper of purityVirtueVirtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....
, and knowledge of the CreatorGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, that the body, with all the circumstances of time and place, were purif'd by the affections of the regenerat Soule, and nothing left impure, but sinne;
Faith needing not the weak, and fallible office of the Senses, to be either the Ushers, or Interpreters, of heavenly Mysteries, save where our Lord himselfe in his Sacraments ordain'd.
The purity, metaphorically speaking, removed any physical aspects and allowed for a direct relationship between soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
and spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
truth
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
. Any interference between the two, especially in the form of a mediating force such as a church government or a liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, would hinder this connection. When individuals push for a religious structure
Structure
Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society...
, they try to make the individual metaphorically physical so:
that they might bring the inward acts of the Spirit to the outward, and customary ey-Service of the body, as if they could make God earthly, and fleshly, because they could not make themselves heavenly, and Spirituall: they began to draw downe all the Divine intercours, betwixt God, and the Soule, yea, the very shape of God himselfe, into an exterior, and bodily forme.
Although God does have a shape, he is without a physical body and his existence is above human perception. Any attempt to force him into a bodily form, or emphasizing bodily forms is a corruption and a failure of the individual, and the Reformation's primary purpose was to restore our ideas to their proper place, i.e. to remove these physical conceptions. Furthermore, truth comes to the individual through scripture, not through liturgy, and, as Milton argues: "The very essence of Truth is plainnesse, and brightnes; the darknes and crookednesse is our own. The Wisdome of God created understanding, fit and proportionable to Truth the object, and end of it, as the eye to the thing visible ."
He also attacks many of the Church fathers, accusing them of "the ridiculous wresting of Scripture". He also attacks that the Anglican/Episcopal
Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...
tradition was supported by "canary-sucking and swan
Swan
Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...
-eating" individuals.
Milton's argument did not just discuss church government but discussed the concept of government as a whole. In an argument that was based partly on the writings of Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
and Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith
-Politics:*Sir Thomas Smith , English scholar and diplomat*Thomas Smith , governor of Carolina*Thomas Smith , governor of Newfoundland and Labrador...
's The Commonwealth of England, Milton declares the importance of republicanism
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
:
the best founded CommonwealthCommonwealthCommonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
s, and least barbarous have aym'd at a certain mixture and temperament, partaking the severall vertues of each other State, that each part drawing to it selfe may keep up a steddy and eev'n uprightnesse in common.
There is no Civill Government that hath beene known, no not the SpartanSpartaSparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
, not the RomanAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, thogh both for this respect so much prais'd by the wise Polybius, more divinely and harmoniously tun'd, more equally ballanc'd as it were by the hand and scale of Justice, then is the Commonwealth of EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
: where under a free, and untutor'd MonarchMonarchA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
, the noblest, worthiest, and most prudent men, with full approbation, and suffrage of the People have in their power the supreame, and finall determination of highest Affaires.
In Book II, Milton discusses "Tale of the Wen", which describes the relationship of the Body with its other aspects. The Went tries to emphasize its own importance over the other parts of the body until a Philosopher is brought to discuss the Went. The Wen, according to the Philosopher, is a parasite that will be revealed as a parasite "when I have cut thee off". However, the Philosopher, in the story, never removes the Wen and it continues to be present through the rest of the Book. Milton uses the images to emphasize the need for healing, and argues that the church government, especially the bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s, are the same kind of parasite that interferes with the body. Milton extends the metaphor towards the idea of commonwealth as a whole:
And because things simply pure are inconsistent in the masse of nature, nor are the elements or humor in Mans Body exactly homogeneal, and hence the best founded Commonwealths, and least barbarous have aym'd at a certain mixture and temperament, partaking the several virtues of each other
Themes
Milton opposed the concept of the establishment of a central Church government. He believed that individual congregations should govern themselves. His view of how bishops would burn in hell is connected to themes originating in is poem On the Morning of Christ's NativityOn the Morning of Christ's Nativity
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity is a nativity ode written by John Milton in 1629 and published in his Poems of Mr. John Milton . The poem describes Christ's Incarnation and his overthrow of earthly and pagan powers...
. According to C. A. Patrides, it "combines a serene assurance that an appeal to reason would prove decisive, with an apocalyptic persuasion that the Primal Reason could hardly fail to intervene on behalf of so just a cause as Milton's."
Parts of Of Reformation emphasize a conflict present within Milton: he believed that the act of writing the work would take away from the spiritual connection between an individual and God. The physicality of writing interferes with the soul, and that any appeal would be to the physical senses and possibly not to the spiritual. In essence, the church is corrupted whore who "out of question from her pervers conceiting of God, and holy things, she has faln to beleeve no God at all.
See also
- Of Prelatical EpiscopacyOf Prelatical EpiscopacyOf Prelatical Episcopacy is a religious tract written by John Milton in either June or July 1641.-Background:The tract, the shortest of Milton's tracts on prelatical issues, was written as a response to many works, such as Archbishop James Ussher's The Judgement of Doctor Rainoldes Touching the...
(1641) - AnimadversionsAnimadversionsAnimadversions is the third of John Milton's antiprelatical tracts, in the form of a response to the works and claims of Bishop Joseph Hall. The tract was published in July 1641 under the title Animadversions upon The Remonstrants Defence Against Smectymnvvs.-Tract:The tract is a direct, personal...
(1641) - The Reason of Church-Government Urged against PrelatyThe Reason of Church-Government Urged against PrelatyThe Reason of Church-Government Urged against Prelaty is an essay by English poet John Milton distributed as one of a series of religious pamphlets by the writer. Published in 1642, the political work details Milton's preference for a Presbyterian approach to the Church of England over approaches...
(1642) - Apology for SmectymnuusApology for SmectymnuusApology for Smectymnuus, or An Apology for a Pamphlet, was published by John Milton in April 1642. It was the final of his antiprelatical tracts which criticize the structure of the Church of England.-Background:...
(1642)