We differed on every point, and the man got very warm. He
then spake of a covenant made between God the Father and His Son before
the creation of the world, giving me all the particulars of the
engagement. I told him I had read something about a covenant of that
kind in Milton's Paradise Lost, but that I had never met with anything
on the subject in the sacred writings, and added that I doubted whether
any such transaction ever took place. He got more excited than ever, and
expressed some uneasiness at having such a blasphemous heretic in his
cart. Just then one of the cart wheels came off and down went the
vehicle on one side, spilling me and the driver on the road. I was
quickly on my feet, but he lay on his back sprawling in the sand.
"That's a judgment," said he, "on your blasphemies." "You seem to have
got the worst part of the judgment," said I. I asked him if I could help
him. He seemed to hint that I ought to pay for the damage done to the
cart; but as that was not in the covenant, I did not take the hint; and
as he was in a somewhat unamiable temper, I left him to himself, and
trudged on homeward. The carter and I had no more discussions on
covenants. But many a bit of theology has been built on Milton since
then.
Other doctrines I found to be new versions of old pagan imaginations.
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