[.rousium]

In Defense of Rational Belief: A Lonely Struggle
The word rational is indicative of rationality itself. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is: the power or faculty of reason. Often times it is the case that to assert rationality one need prove the opposite; irrationality. Milton stands alone, as I feel he often does, as a man who defends what he believes to be true and good. A man on a mission from God who has been chosen to enlighten his fellow man on all things rational especially in regard to religion and human rights. Or at least that is what he would like you to believe. When you think of a man so strongly grounded in his belief of a religion that he believes himself to be chosen by God, according to Milton, you need look no further.
Time and time again, throughout much of his discourse, Milton outright exclaims this idea of being a chosen one. In “Reason of Church-Government” he says things like “God have given me ability…” and “God at the present had lent me…” (838) [fix cite]. He speaks these notions in defense of his belief in his religion. And he speaks these things as if he is alone in the world banging on a door, like another man in defense of his religion did many years before him. He is saying “Hang on a minute!” You can almost see his exasperation and you can definitely feel his ostracization from the world around him.
“I shall deserve of the age by bringing into the light as true a birth as the Muses…” [cite stationer to the reader] This passage from Moseley would easily lead one to believe that he is a true admirer of Milton. He is even going so far as to say that the man himself needs no title. His work speaks for itself. While his minutes or biography are put together with little to no emotion they are genuine. A quick perusal of them does not offer the reader any feelings of ill will. Instead you read very straight forward accounts, clearly stating that Milton was “of a very cheerful humor” (xxvii) and often time “pleasant in his conversation…but satirical” (xxviii). The man was not without his share of problems. He had one wife leave him under curious circumstances. He also lost two wives as well as two children. With such a seemingly high turnover of loved ones in his life it is only understandable for him to feel anger, admonishment. To feel as if God has forsaken him. It is understandable for him to question why all of these things happen, why the punishment? Let us not forget that the man lost his eye sight long before he even began to figuratively pen his most well known piece of work. Paradise Lost.
Yet, Milton carries on. And with a vengeance it would seem. The harder his life becomes only seems to plunge him forward. It only seems to make him work that much harder to get to where he surely is intended and meant to be. Upon publishing his “Poems”, Milton commissioned a William Marshall to do an engraving for the cover. The outcome was very much to Milton’s displeasure and he made this very clearly and cleverly known to his public. Having the artist, who was unknowing of the language; engrave directly underneath the image a statement of utmost embarrassment on many accounts, to the artist himself.
It is such things as this that I believe may not have won Milton many supporters. While it is quite clever for him to have done this to the artist, who may or may not have been attempting his own cruelty upon a man he himself did not appreciate, what room would this leave onlookers to find trust? There is no question that Milton had enemies as well as trusted comrades and even admirers so it is almost a meaningless assumption on my part. But it lingers as a curious point for me and makes me wonder if it was a sort of passive-aggressive smack in the face to his enemies. Being no fan of loneliness myself, I can understand the anger and almost apathetic world view. The view that goes from underground to the high heavens in the blink of an eye. I wonder if Milton needed some happy pills or if it really was just the belief in God that got him through troubled times.

I need about 500 more words. I was on a roll but it totally just stopped. urgh!

❤