>py l Jflas&acfjusette Historical g>octetj> A A A A A A A A A A A A A A kX< ^p TP T? T? ^i? ^U ^1? ^P t? ^i? \2£* TjP ^1? ^P tJ' ORDER OF EXERCISES FOR THE COM- MEMORATION OF THE TERCENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF JOHN MILTON, AT THE FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON, ON DECEMBER NINTH, 1908, AT 4 O'CLOCK Jtfl30t ?f?yp f ofm Milton Bom in London, December g y 1608 Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpassed; The next, in majesty ; in both, the last. The force of Nature could no further go ; To make a third, she joined the other two. "John Dry den, "Under Mr, Milton'' s Picture JOHN MILTON AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE From the portrait at Nuneham Artier of Certifies ORGAN PRELUDE. "Largo." Handel Mr. Arthur Foote Organist and Musical Director " VENITE." Chant by Henry Lawes Henry Lawes, the friend of Milton, to whom one of Milton s sonnets is addressed, was the composer of the music for "Comus" and "Arcades" INVOCATION. Reverend James DeNormandie, D.D. CHORUS from "The Nativity." John Knowles Paine The words from Milton* s hymn "On the Morning of Christ" s Nativity" Ring out, ye crystal spheres ! Once bless our human ears, — If ye have power to touch our senses so, — And let your silver-chime Move in melodious time, And let the base of heaven's deep organ blow; And with your nine-fold harmony Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. For if such holy song Enwrap our fancy long, Time will run back, and fetch the Age of Gold ; And speckled Vanity Will sicken soon and die, And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould ; And Hell itself will pass away, And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. Yea, Truth and Justice then Will down return to men, Orb'd in a rainbow, and like glories wearing ; Mercy will sit between, Throned in celestial sheen, With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering ; And Heaven, as at some festival, Will open wide the gates of her high palace-hall. READING OF SELECTIONS FROM MILTON AND OF WORDSWORTH'S SONNET ON MILTON. Bliss Perry, L.H.D. HYMN. Milton From Milton' s paraphrase of Psalm Ixxxiv. Sung to the tune of "York" composed by Milton* s father How lovely are thy dwellings fair ! O Lord of hosts, how dear The pleasant tabernacles are Where thou dost dwell so near ! My soul doth long and almost die Thy courts, O Lord, to see ; My heart and flesh aloud do cry, O living God, for thee. Happy who in thy house reside, Where thee they ever praise ; Happy whose strength in thee doth bide, And in their hearts thy ways. They journey on from strength to strength. With joy and gladsome cheer, Till all before our God at length In Zion do appear. INTRODUCTION. Charles Francis Adams, LL.D. ADDRESS. William Everett, LL.D. CHORUSES from "Samson." The words for Handel's oratorio of "Samson," produced in London in I743> were compiled by New burgh Hamilton, mainly from Milton's "Samson Agonist es," "Hymn on the Nativity," and "At a Solemn Music k" II. Handel [With alto solo] Return, O God of Hosts ! Behold thy servant in distress ! To dust his glory they would tread, And number him among the dead. Fixed in his everlasting seat, Jehovah rules the world in state ; His thunder roars, Heaven shakes, and earth's aghast. The stars, with deep amaze, Remain in steadfast gaze — Jehovah is of gods the first and last. HYMN. Milton From Milton' s paraphrase of Psalm cxxxvi. Sung to the tune of "Nuremberg! composed by Milton's contemporary , Johann Rudolph Able Let us, with a gladsome mind, Praise the Lord, for he is kind ; For his mercies aye endure, Ever faithful, ever sure. His chosen people he did bless, In the wasteful wilderness ; For his mercies aye endure, Ever faithful, ever sure. Let us blaze his name abroad, For of gods he is the God ; For his mercies aye endure, Ever faithful, ever sure. Let us, therefore, warble forth His mighty majesty and worth ; For his mercies aye endure, Ever faithful, ever sure. Let us, with a gladsome mind, Praise the Lord, for he is kind ; For his mercies aye endure, Ever faithful, ever sure. BENEDICTION. Reverend Charles Edwards Park ORGAN POSTLUDE. bonnets ftp JMton On His Being Arrived at the Age of Twenty -three How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom sheweth. Perhaps my semblance may deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arrived so near; And inward ripeness doth much less appear, That some more timely-happy spirits indueth. Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, It shall be still in strictest measure even To that same lot, however mean or high, Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven. All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great Task-masters eye. r On His Blindness When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one talent, which is death to hide, Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest He, returning, chide; " Doth God exact day-labour, light denied ? " I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, " God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean, without rest ; They also serve who only stand and wait." To Cyriack Sk inner Cyriack, this three-years-day these eyes, though clear, To outward view, of blemish or of spot, Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot ; Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask ? The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied In Liberty's defence, my noble task, Of which all Europe rings from side to side. This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask, Content, though blind, had I no better guide. r Wovb$\x>Qtfy8 bonnet on Hilton Milton ! thou should'st be living at this hour : England hath need of thee : she is a fen Of stagnant waters : altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men ; Oh ! raise us up, return to us again ; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart : Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life's common way, In cheerful godliness ; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay. I DENY not but that it is of greatest concernment, in the church and commonwealth, to have a vigilant eye how books demean them- selves, as well as men ; ... for books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a progeny of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are ; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively and as vigorously productive as those fabulous dragon's teeth, and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book : who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image ; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth ; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit. Lords and commons of England! Consider what nation it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the governors : a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit; acute to invent, subtile and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to. . . . Behold now this vast city, a city of refuge, the mansion-house of liberty, encompassed and surrounded with his protection ; the shop of war hath not there more anvils and hammers working, to fashion out the plates and instruments of armed justice in defence of beleaguered truth, than there be pens and heads there, sitting by their studious lamps, musing, searching, revolv- ing new notions and ideas wherewith to present, as with their homage and fealty, the approaching reformation ; others as fast reading, trying all things, assenting to the force of reason and convincement. . . . Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity wiil be much arguing, much writing, many opinions ; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. Under these fantastic terrors of sect and schism, we wrong the earnest and zealous thirst after knowledge and understanding, which God hath stirred up in this city. Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks ; methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam ; purging and unsealing her long-abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance ; while the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means. Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple ; whoever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter? . . . For who knows not that truth is strong, next to the Almighty ; she needs no policies, no stratagems, nor licensings to make her victorious ; those are the shifts and the defences that error uses against her power. — From the "Areopagitkay JOHN MILTON From the original portrait by Faithorne in the possession of Str Robert H. Hobart ly^ytfajxeiQ J, 61X0VC< (Xoi POEMS OF Mr. fohn ttMihon , BOTH- ENGLISH and LATIN, Composed at feveral times. ^Printed by his true Copes m The Songs were fet in Mufick by- Mr. Henry Lawes Gentleman of the Kings Chappel, and one of His Maiesties Private Mufick. Baccate frontem Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua fat tiro? Virgil, Eclog. 7. Printed and publijb'd according to ORDER. LOND ON, Printed by Ruth Ratyorth for Humphrey Mofiley^ and are to be fold at the (igne of the Princes Arms in Pauls Church-yaxd. 164$. Title-page of the first collective edition of Milton's Minor Poems, with the rare portrait by Marshall, 1 6 45 Paradife loft A POEM Written in TEN BOOKS By JOHN MILTON. Licenfed and Entred according to Order. LONDON Printed; and are to be fold by Peter Parker under Creed Church neer Aldgate 5 And by Robert Boulter at the Tmkj Htai in Bifhof(gati-/lr