apprehend any incongruity in supposing he may have some distinct object of the same sort of propension in his own most perfect being too, and therewith such a propension itself also. As to what concerns ourselves, the observation is not altogether unapposite, what Cicero treating of friendship, discourses of perpetual solitude, "that the affectation of it must signify the worst of ill-humor, and the most savage nature in the world. And supposing one of so sour and morose a humor as to shun and hate the conversation of men, he would not endure it, to be without some one or other to whom he might disgorge the virulency of that his malignant humor. Or that supposing such a thing could happen, that God should take a man quite out of the society of men, and place him in absolute solitude, supplied with the abundance of whatsoever nature could covet besides; who, saith he, is so made of iron, as to endure that kind of life?" And he introduces Architas Tarentinus, reported to speak to this purpose, "that if one could ascend into Heaven, behold the frame of the world, and the beauty of every star, his admiration would be unpleasant to him alone, which would be most delicious, if he had some one to whom to express his sense of the whole.” We are not, I say, strictly to measure God by ourselves in this; further than as he himself prompts and leads us. But, if we so form our conception of Divine bliss, as not to exclude from it somewhat, whereof that delight in society, which we find in ourselves may be an imperfect, faint resemblance; it seems not altogether disagreeable to what the Scriptures also teach us to conceive concerning him, when they bring in the eternal wisdom, saying, as one distinct from the prime Author and Parent of all things, then was I by him, as one brought up with him, and daily his delight.-Prov. viii: 30. For the same import are many passages of the Fathers: "If," says Athenagoras, "on account of your surpassing intellect, you wish to learn what the Son means; in a few words I will tell you. He is the first offspring of the Father, but not as anything created, for God is from the beginning, and being an eternal mind, he himself had within himself the Word, being eternally comprehensive of the Word. The Holy Spirit likewise, acting efficaciously in those who prophecy, we assert to be an emanation from God, flowing from him and returning to him, as a ray of the sun. Who then, might not well think it strange, that we, who declare God the Father, and God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, showing both their power in unity and their distinction in order, should yet be called Atheists. The argument of Athenagoras is this, God's personal Word is the Reason of God. But God is eternally rational, or eternally comprehensive of Reason. Therefore, the Word or Reason of God is eternal also. The play upon the terms λoyos and Xoxos in their Greek acceptation cannot be preserved in an English version. There is a parallel passage of Athanasius, which may serve to elucidate this of Athenagoras. Athan. Orat. ii. Cont. Arian. Oper. vol. i. Commel 1600. p. 154. The αλογος of Athanasius is evidently the opposite to the λογικος of Athenagoras. Tertullian has imitated in Latin, the same form of phraseology and the same peculiar line of argument. Ante omnia enim Deus erat solus, ipse sibi et mundus et locus et omnia: solus autem, quia nihil extrinsecus praeter illum. Caeterum ne tunc quidem solus; habitat enim secum, quam habetat in semetipso, Rationem suam scilicet. Rationalis [Athenagoræ λoyxos] enim Deus; et Ratiq in ipso prius: et ita ab ipso omnia. Quæ Ratio sensus ipsius est, hanc Græci Xoyov dicunt. Tertul. adv. Prax. § 3. Oper. p. 407. The whole argument is founded upon the double sense of the term λoyvs which imports either Verbum or Ratio. On this double sense, Athenagoras and others of the old Fathers delighted to play. As the Father is eternally λoyixos his λoyos they argued must be eternal also. Tres dirigens, Patrem et Filium et spiritum sanctum: tres autem non statu, sed gradu; nec substantia, sed forma: nec potestate sed specie: unius autem substantiæ et unius status.* The same argument for, and view of, the Trinity, is embodied in one of the ancient hymns of the church, as found in the Thesaurus Hymnologicus Tom. i, p. 276. In maiestatis solio, Aeternæ mentis oculo, Imaginis consortium, Hoc gaudium est spiritus In tribus est simplicitas, Per solam vim originis, Ingenito et genito, etc. *Faber's Apost. of Trinit. vol. ii, pp. 240. ARTICLE V. THE POETICAL ELEMENT OF THE BIBLE. The Bible is a book of history, of laws, of moral and didactic precepts, of biographical narratives, of personal memoirs, and of epistles, some of which are addressed to churches, and some to individuals. A large portion of it is of pure poetry, and the poetical element runs through the whole, like a thread of gold. Now, we do not think that sufficient prominence has been given to this particular element, to this remarkable peculiarity, to this distinctive characteristic of Divine revelation; and we do think that it affords a separate and a very impressive argument for the Divine origin and authority of the Bible; that it is in entire accordance with what we might expect to find in a Divine revelation, from a consideration of the analogy of nature, the perfections of God, and the spiritual economy of man. cannot help thinking also, that the consequences flowing from the practical recognition of this peculiar element of the Bible, are of the very highest importance, as infallibly indicating the method by which Divine truth may find readiest access to the minds of men in general, and be most effectually impressed upon them. We God has made two revelations of himself to man. The one in nature, the other in Scripture. The one partial, the other complete. In the one he has proclaimed his eternal power and Godhead. In the other he has manifested all his attributes in their highest forms. We might expect a priori, that the two revelations proceeding from the same being, and addressed to the same being, would have some things in common; that while each should be especially adapted to its proper object, they would bear the marks of a common origin. The external, visible universe, once a paradise, now too often a prison and a tomb, is still glorious to behold. It still hath objects and aspects of surpassing loveliness. Above or below, by day or by night, in the blaze of the nocturnal sky, lighted up with "living sapphires," and in the first, faint flush of the new-born day, in the level rays of the sun as it lingers on the verge of the horizon, in the ruddy glow of evening, when his descending disk has sunk below the mountains and the ocean, above all, in the rainbow, bright token of peace and good, we discern this loveliness. "Very beautiful it is in the brightness thereof; it circleth the heavens, like a glorious girdle, and the hands of the Most High, have bended it." We discern it in the manifold beauties of the earth, looked upon in early spring, when the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; or amid the glowing and gorgeous splendors of summer when the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys are covered over with corn; or in brown October, of all months perhaps, the sweetest, when the leaf sere and spotted, but still bright, hangs loosely from its stem; and in the yellow sunshine, there is a certain accordance with the fading leaf, and a gentle touch and tone of not unwelcome melancholy, in the aspect of the earth, soothing, it may be, and dear ******** “To an eye, That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality,”— to a heart that has often brooded, not in bitterness, but in love and sadness, over his own mortal lot, the mysteries which beset the spirit here. And winter, too, hath a glory of its own, not merely when the cold, bright sun shines on the snow-clad earth, and glittering icicles hang like brilliants on every bough, but when mingled hail and snow come hurtling from the darkened sky. Now, what we find in nature, we might expect to find in Scripture. If the glory of God is mirrored in the shining stream and in the bending skies, in the hues and harmonies of evening, in the purpling east at daybreak; if these show forth the manifold wisdom, power, and love of the Creator of all things; if nature, which is the creature of God; if light, which is the garment of God, be so glorious; if this material universe, the outer court of Jehovah's temple, be so garnished with stars and garlanded with flowers, analogy would surely lead us to anticipate a kindred glory in the Word of God which is the holy of holies, the immediate dwelling-place of his life-giving Spirit, the more exact and express image of his glory. If the day be his, the night also his, if he hath prepared the light and the sun, if the heavens be the work of his fingers,* if he hath ordained the moon and the stars,-the Bible a work of God, diviner still, as undefiled by the sin of apostate man, should be brighter than the starry heavens, purer than the crystal lymph, sweeter than the flowers of Spring. An examination of the spiritual constitution of man would also, lead us to expect that a revelation addressed to him from God, should have the poetical element. A Divine revelation should recognise the nature of man in all its integrity and furnish its approriate object and aliment for every faculty. It should be suited to all the exercises, to all the wants and to all the manifestations of the soul, if it would satisfy its cravings and heal its diseases. To the understanding it should offer absolute truth. To the conscience, a law of moral duty commensurate with the perfections of God. To the affections, an object of infinite loveliness and glory. For the taste, the aesthetical faculty of the soul, it should surely make an appropriate provision in objects of beauty addressed and adapted to itself. The main design of a revelation from God, would, of course, be not to gratify taste, but to instruct the understanding, to illuminate and control the conscience, to sanctify and attract the affections. But, instead of obstructing this primary purpose, a revelation which should not ignore, but embody the poetical element, universal and destructible as it is, in the heart of man, would greatly advance it. The Law given on Sinai is to this day not less reverenced because inevitably associated in every mind with the awful descent of Jehovah on the mount, with the sound of the trumpet and the voice of words, with the terrors of the multitude, with the ministry of angels, and with the majesty of God. As this outer and material universe is exquisitely adapted to the bodily constitution of man, as there is a natural fitness in the organization of the eye, the instru *Hence the heavens, as adorned with the moon and stars, are said to be the work "of God's fingers," that is, not only those which were powerfully made, but also curiously wrought and adorned by the Spirit of God-Owen on the Spirit, vol. iii, p. 97, Carter's edition. |