GRICE E CAPRA: APOLLO DELIO

 We must know the character,age, sect, nation,and other peculiarities of the writer. Every human being has a character- a cer   possessed their minds that they became mere automata in his hands, and poured out words and thoughts as they were successively poured in- like so many water-pipes of a cistern, betray profound ignorance of the sub ject. Some such crude fancies were enter tainedinformertimes,and areprobablynot extinct. They doubtless originated in a vague notion,that the more entirely human agency was excluded from the doctrine of in spiration,the higher honour was bestowed on the Divine Spirit : and the etymology of the word “inspiration”had also its effect. It originally and properly signified,a breathing in,and suggested the dark and mysterious conception of an effect produced on the think ing substance of a m a n , not unlike the infla tion of a bladder But inspiration has nothing in common with itsetymology. Itsimplyexpressestheidea of supernatural assistance and guidance in the communication to mankind of truths pre viouslyunknown. Those who were honoured  54 CHARACTER , ETC. “magnamcuimentemanimumque, Delius inspirat vates."   OF THE WRITERS . 55 with it,were enabled tospeak,act,and write, as divine messengers,in perfect conformity withthewillofHim whosentthem;sothat nothingproceededfrom them,butwhat was holy and true. Yet they were not puppets, acted on by a physical and compelling force from without. They were living, personal agents, in full possession of all the faculties with which they had been endowed by their Creator—with perception, memory, con sciousness,will ; and the energy of the Holy Ghost wrought no greater violence on their minds in the exercise of these powers, than is wrought by his ordinary operation on the hearts of believers in every age of the church . It is not our business to give the philoso p h y of this “ pre -established h a r m o n y ” b e tween agencies so different, nor to speculate on the mode in which they were combined fortheproductionofasingleresult. As in terpreters,we statethefact-notexplainit: and the fact certainly is,that no men are more distinguished from each other by strong mental idiosyncrasies, norany who givemore decidedevidence,thattheirown spiritsper    formed an important office in composition. IntheauthorofthebookofProverbs,wesee before us the grave, sententious, dignified monarch,whose profound knowledge of hu man nature,andsparklinggems ofwisdom, made his name celebrated throughout the East. Amos isalways thestrong,bold,but somewhat unpolished herdsman of Tekoah. The rough and vehement Ezekiel,standing with dishevelled hair and rolling eye,in the midst of his fantastic but expressive symbols, never suffers us to mistake him for Isaiah, the sublime,imaginative,tastefulcourtier of Hezekiah. The same with the plaintive, tender Jeremiah - the contemplative J o h n the argumentative, glowing Paul. It is an old, but, with proper explanation,perfectly true remark,originally made by Jerome,that “ revelation consists in thought,not in words or external dress : nec putemus in verbis scripturamevangeliiesse,sedinsensu.” We  56 CHARACTER, ETC. insultthe Holy Ghost by supposing him un able to accommodate himself to the mode of thinkingandphraseologyofthosewhom he honoured with his influence — that when he "   OF THE WRITERS. 57 When we readtheEpistletotheRomans therefore,we must remember thatwe are conversing with a finished gentleman of the old school ; a scholar brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, a powerful but rapid reasoner, delighting in ellipses,digressions,repetitions, bold figures,andpregnantexpressions,sug gesting more than meets the ear - fond of il lustrating his subject by Old Testament ideas, even when he intends making no use ofthem in argument; and above all,that we are con versing with him,who,more than any other apostle, was deeply penetrated with the glo rious catholicity and abounding grace of the gospel! InreadingJames,we must think of the stern,high-souled moralist,in whom the ethical element of Christianity seems to have takenthedeepestroot;who,whilewith adoring faith he beheld “ the Lamb slain f r o m t h e f o u n d a t i o n o f t h e w o r l d ,” n e v e r l o s t froin his view the awful form of that “ eternal law,” which spoke in thunder from Sinai, and yet speaks in milder tones,though with  made the prophet he was forced to unmake theman. >   53 CHARACTER , ETC.  the same commanding authority, to every childofAdam. John,inhiswritings,seems to be stil clinging to his master's bosom. Love to the person of his Redeemer is evi dently his engrossing sentiment. No one can doubt, apart from every argument con tained in other parts of Scripture, that John believedhimtobedivine. Hisgloryasthe uncreated Logos— thatglory which he had withtheFatherbeforetheworldwas,afew scattered rays of which had been seen through the veil of his humiliation,is the great thought withwhichhissoulholdsconstantcommun: ion,raisedabove everyotherobject—likethe eagle calmly reposing in mid heaven, and gazingatthesun! He whogivesnoatten tion to these things, and does not take pains to catch the distinctive peculiarities of the sacred writers,commits the same kind of blunderwiththatofthemanwhoreadsMil ton's Paradise Lost,and Addison's Essays in t h e S p e c t a t o r, y e t s e e s n o d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n them except in the length of the lines. It is important also to note the different kindsofcompositiontheyemployed. Some   OF THE WRITERS. 59  were poets,and must be interpreted according to the laws of poetry. Their bold tropes must not be turned into sober matter-of-fact realities ; as isdone by the Millenarians who read Isaiah nearly as they would Black stone's Commentaries, or the British Consti tution. EzekielisnotLuke,noris.Mat thew the publican, David, singing one of the sweet odes of Zion to the music of his harp. Historians are to be treated as historians,not as poets or rhetoricians. The accounts of miracles given in our four gospels must there fore be taken to the letter. No books in the world bear more decided evidence that their authors intended to give simple and perspic uous narratives of events as they actually o c curred. Theprinciplemustnotbetolerated foramoment,ofexplainingthem away,by doing violence to the plain meaning of lan guage,and to allthe laws which are applied tootherhistorical compositions. Yetithas been sanctioned by great names,especially inGermany. Gravedivinesarefound,who insist that there is not one miracle in the gospels. Theeventswhichseemmiraculous   60 CHARACTER, ETC. were entirely natural, but exaggerated and embellished by the warm fancies of the peo pleamongwhomtheyoccurred. Onlystrip, they say,the Evangelists of this semi-poetic drapery,and the business of exposition will goondelightfully. Mosesfares,ifpossible, stilworse. Theyturnhimintoan allego ristorreciterof mythological fables. The first ten chapters of Genesis contain about as large a body of real truth, as can pass with out inconvenience through the eye of a nee dle- being made up ofold storiesand scraps  a — ofsong,whichmean nothing,oranything, that a lively fancy may suggest. i authors are conceited sciolists,who,pranking Let not the Christian student take great pains to refute this wretched infidelity, which does not openly avow itself infidel, merely because its advocates earn their bread by a professionof Christianity;themostofthem beingeitherprofessorsofChristiantheologyor pastors of Christian churches. Indignandum deisto;nondisputandum est.Such interpre tations do not deserve the name. They are feats ofjugglery and legerdemain ; and their   In expounding Scripture,let there be a c o n stant appeal to the tribunal of common sense. Language isnotthe inventionofmetaphysi cians,or convocations ofthe wise and learned. Itisthe common blessingofmankind,framed fortheirmutualadvantageintheirintercourse witheachother. Itslawsthereforearepop ular,notphilosophical- beingfoundedonthe general laws of thought which govern the wholemassofmindinthecommunity.Now, however men may differ from each other,  themselves as the high-priests of philosophy, prove by their irreverence for things sacred, that they have not reached the portico of her temple. Thetruephilosopheralwaystrem bles when he stands,or even suspects that he stands,in the presence ofGod ! He can not trifle with such a book as the Bible ! H e cannot sport with a volume,the falsehood of which,ifproved,turns him over to the beasts, and deprives him of his last stake as a can didate for the glories of immortality.