Manuscript
The Christian Doctrine is divided into two books. The first book is then divided into 33 chapters and the second into 17.
The first part of the work appears to be "finished" because it is free of edits and the handwriting (Skinner's) is neat, whereas the second is filled with edits, corrections, and notes in the margins. The Skinner's incomplete fair copy has stirred controversy over the work, because it does not provide critics with the ability to determine what the fair copy was based on.
The manuscript itself is patterned on the theological treatises common to Milton's time, such as William Ames's Medulla Theologica and John Wolleb's Compendium Theologiae Christianae Although Milton refers to "forty-two works", of them many were "systematic theologies", in his various works, Christian Doctrine does not allude to them in the same way as he does in his political treatises. However, the actual pattern of discourse found within the treatise is modeled after Ames's and Wolleb's works even if the content is different.
Where Milton differs is in the use of scripture as evidence; Milton relies on scripture as the basis of his argument and keeps scripture in the center of his text; whereas, many other theological treatises keep scriptural passages to the margins. In essence, as Lieb says, "Milton privileges the proof-text over that which is to be proven." Schwartz has gone so far as to claim that Milton "ransacked the whole Bible" and that Milton's own words are "squeezed out of his text." However, the actual "proof-texts" of the Bible used are various, and there is not one version used in Milton's Latin citations.
Read more about this topic: De Doctrina Christiana (Milton)
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