Saving “the Rest”: Milton’s God and Peculiar Grace in Paradise Lost

God the Father’s reference to those “elect above the rest” in John Milton’s Paradise Lost seems to propose a Calvinist distinction between the elect whom God chooses to save and all the rest who are damned. This would reverse the Arminian position he expresses elsewhere and the one Milton upholds in his theological treatise De doctrina Christiana . This article proposes instead that the “elect above the rest” are not the only ones to obtain salvation. Even without the established method of Christian faith, “the rest” can also “safe arrive” through faithfulness, obedience, and sincerity, making salvation available even for those who have not heard of Christ.