every line is marked by its initial letter; the other nine less perfectly alphabetical, in which every stanza only is so distinguished. Of the three former it is to be remarked, that not only every single line is distinguished by its initial letter, but that the whole poem is laid out into stanzas; two of these poems each into ten stanzas, all of two lines, except the two last stanzas in each, which are of three lines; in these the sense and the construction manifestly point out the division into stanzas, and mark the limit of every stanza. The third 2 consists of twenty-two stanzas of three lines; but in this the initial letter of every stanza is also the initial letter of every line of that stanza; so that both the lines and the stanzas are infallibly limited. And in all the three poems the pauses of the sentences coincide with the pauses of the lines and stanzas. It is also further to be observed of these three poems, that the lines, so determined by the initial letters in the same poem, are remarkably equal to one another in length, in the number of words nearly, and, probably, in the number of syllables; and that the lines of the same stanza have a remarkable congruity one with another, in the matter and the form, in the sense and the construction. 3 5 Of the other nine poems less perfectly alphabetical, in which the stanzas only are marked with initial letters, six consist of stanzas of two lines, two of stanzas of three lines, and one of stanzas of four lines; not taking into the account at present some irregularities which in all probability are to be imputed to the mistakes of transcribers. [There is little reason to suppose mistakes of transcribers. The poems were composed without a slavish adherence to the acrostic form. And, if we impute errors to copyists here where error was less likely, we shall subject the rest of the sacred text to more serious suspicion.] And these stanzas likewise naturally divide themselves into their distinct lines, the sense and the construction plainly pointing out their limits; and the lines have the same congruity one with another in matter and form, as was above observed, in regard to the poems more perfectly alphabetical. Another thing to be observed of the three poems perfectly alphabetical is, that in two of them the lines are shorter than those of the third by about one third part, or almost half; and that, of the other nine poems the stanzas only of which are alphabetical, three consist of the longer lines, and the six others of the shorter. 8 V. We have already had occasion to remark, that the poetry of the Hebrews derives its chief excellence from its being dedicated to religion. Nothing can be conceived more elevated, more beautiful, or more elegant, than the compositions of the Hebrew bards; in which the sublimity of the subject is fully equalled by the energy of the language and the dignity of the style Compared with them, the most brilliant productions of the Greek and Roman muses, who often employed themselves on frivolous or very trifling themes, are Psal. cxi., cxii. Psal. xxv., xxxiv., cxix., cxlv.; Prov. xxxi.; Lam. iv. Lam. iii. • Lam. i., ii. infinitely inferior in the scale of excellence. The Hebrew poet, who worshipped Jehovah as the sovereign of his people, who believed all the laws, whether sacred or civil, which he was bound to obey, to be of divine enactment, and who was taught that man was dependent upon God for everything, meditated upon nothing but Jehovah; to him he devoutly referred all things, and placed his supreme delight in celebrating the divine attributes and perfections. If, however, we would enter fully into the beauties of the sacred poets, there are two GENERAL OBSERVATIONS', which it will be necessary to keep in mind whenever we analyze or examine the songs of Sion. 1. The first is, that we carefully investigate their nature and genius. For, as the Hebrew poems, though various in their kinds, are each marked by a character peculiar to itself, and by which they are distinguished from each other, we shall be enabled to enter more fully into their elegance and beauty, if we have a correct view of their form and arrangement. For instance, if we wish critically to expound the psalms, we ought to investigate the nature and properties of the Hebrew ode, as well as the form and structure of the Hebrew elegies, &c., and ascertain in what respects they differ from the odes, elegies, &c. of the Greek poets. In like manner, when studying the Proverbs of Solomon, we should recollect that the most ancient kind of instruction was by means of moral sentences, in which the first principles of ancient philosophy were contained; and, from a comparison of the Hebrew, Greek and other gnomic sentences, we should investigate the principal characters of a proverb. In the book of Job are to be observed the unity of action, delineation of manners, the external form and construction of the poem, &c. 2. Further, in interpreting the compositions of the Hebrew bards, it ought not to be forgotten that the objects of our attention are the productions of poets, and of oriental poets in particular. It is therefore necessary that we should be acquainted with the country in which the poet lived, its situation and peculiarities, and also with the manners of the inhabitants, and the idiom of the language. Oriental poetry abounds with strong expressions, bold metaphors, glowing sentiments, and animated descriptions, portrayed in the most lively colours. Hence the words of the Hebrew poets are neither to be understood in too lax a sense, nor to be interpreted too literally. In the comparisons introduced by them, the point of resemblance between the object of comparison, and the thing with which it is compared, should be examined, but not strained too far; and the force of the personifications, allegories, or other figures that may be introduced, should be fully considered. Above all, it should be recollected that, as the sacred poets lived in the East, their ideas and manners were totally different from ours, and, consequently, are not to be considered according to our modes of thinking. From inattention to this circumstance, neither have the productions of the Hebrew muse been correctly understood, nor their beauties duly felt and appreciated. CHAPTER III. ON THE SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.2 SECTION I. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. Ir has been a favourite notion with some divines, that the mystical or spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures had its first origin in Bauer, Herm. Sacr. pars ii. sect. iii. § 92. pp. 387., &c. 2 The present chapter is abridged from Rambach's Institutiones Hermen. Sacr. lib. i. cap. iii. pp. 67-82., compared with his Commentatio Hermen. de Sensus Mystici Criteriis ex genuinis principiis deducta, necessariisque cautelis circumscripta. 8vo. Jenæ, 1728. What is said above of the s, iritual or mystical sense of scripture, pp. 243-245., may be referred to. the synagogue, and was thence adopted by our Lord and his apostles, when arguing with the Jews; and that from them it was received by the fathers of the Christian church; from whom it has been transmitted to us. The inference deduced by many is that no such interpretation is admissible; while others have carried it to the extreme. But, if the argument against a thing from the possibility of its being abused be inadmissible in questions of a secular nature, it is equally inadmissible in the exposition of the sacred writings. All our ideas are admitted through the medium of the senses, and consequently refer in the first place to external objects; but no sooner are we convinced that we possess an immaterial soul or spirit, than we find occasion for other terms, or, for want of these, another application of the same terms to a different class of objects; and hence the necessity of resorting to figurative and spiritual interpretation. Now, the object of revelation being to make known things which "eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive," it seems hardly possible that the human mind should be capable of apprehending them, but through the medium of figurative language or mystical representations. "The foundation of religion and virtue being laid in the mind. and heart, the secret dispositions and genuine acts of which are invisible, and known only to a man's self; therefore the powers and operations of the mind can only be expressed in figurative terms and signified by external symbols. The motives also and inducements to practice are spiritual, such as affect men in a way of moral influence, and not of natural efficiency; the principal of which are drawn from the consideration of a future state; and, consequently these likewise must be represented by allegories and similitudes, taken from things most known and familiar here. And thus we find in Scripture the state of religion illustrated. by all the beautiful images that we can conceive; in which natural unity, order, and harmony consist, as regulated by the strictest and most exact rules of discipline, taken from those observed in the best-ordered temporal governments. In the interpretation of places, in which any of these images are contained, the principal regard is to be had to the figurative or spiritual, and not to the literal sense of the words. From not attending to which, have arisen absurd doctrines and inferences, which weak men have endeavoured to establish as Scripture truths; whereas, in the other method of explication, the things are plain and easy to every one's capacity, make the deepest and most lasting impressions upon their minds, and have the greatest influence upon their practice. Of this nature are all the rites and ceremonies prescribed to the Jews, with relation to the external form of religious worship; every one of which was intended to show the obligation or recommend the practice of some moral duty, and was esteemed of no farther use than as it produced that effect. And the same may be applied to the rewards and punishments peculiar to the Christian dispensation, which regard a future state. The rewards are set forth by such things, as the generality of men take the greatest delight, and place their highest satisfaction of this life in; and the punishments are such as are inflicted by human laws upon the worst of malefactors; but they can neither of them be understood in the strictly literal sense, but only by way of analogy, and corresponding in the general nature and intention of the thing, though very different in kind." But, independently of the able argument à priori, here cited, in favour of the mediate, mystical, or spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, unless such interpretation be admitted, we cannot avoid one of two great difficulties; for either "we must assert that the multitude of applications, made by Christ and his apostles, are fanciful and unauthorized, and wholly inadequate to prove the points for which they are quoted; or, on the other hand, we must believe that the obvious and natural sense of such passages was never intended, and that it was a mere illusion. The Christian will object to the former of these positions; the philosopher and the critic will not readily assent to the latter." It has been erroneously supposed, that this mediate or mystical interpretation of Scripture is confined to the New Testament exclusively; we have, however, clear evidence of its adoption by some of the sacred writers of the Old Testament, and a few instances will suffice to prove its existence. 1. In Exod. xxviii. 38., Moses says that the diadem or plate of gold, worn upon certain solemn festivals upon the high priest's forehead, signified that he bore in a vicarious and typical manner the sin of the holy things, and made an atonement for the imperfection of the Hebrew offerings and sacrifices. 2. In Lev. xxvi. 41., and Deut. x. 16., and xxx. 6., he mentions the circumcision of the heart, which was signified by the circumcision of the flesh. (Compare Jer. iv. 4., vi. 10., and ix. 25, 26., with Exod. vi. 12, 30.) 3. Further, he explains the historical and typical import of all their great festivals. Thus, in Exod. xiii. 13. and Numb. iii. 12, 13, 44-51. and xviii. 14-16., he shows the twofold meaning of the redemption of their first born sons, viz. that the first-born of the Hebrews were preserved from the plague inflicted on the Egyptians, and that the firstborn sons we formerly consecrated to the priesthood; which being afterwards transferred to the tribe of Levi, the first-born sons were exchanged for the Levites, and were thenceforth to be redeemed. The whole of the sacrificial law showed that the bloody sacrifices morally signified the punishment of the person for or by whom they were offered; and that the other sacred rites of the Hebrews should have a symbolical or spiritual import will be obvious to every one, who recollects the frequent use of symbols which obtained in Egypt, from which country Moses brought out the Hebrews. The precepts delivered in the New Testament concerning the sacraments plainly intimate that those very sacred rites were then about to receive their real accomplishment, and their symbolical or spiritual meaning is explained. 1. See, for instance, Rom. vi. 3-11.; 1 Cor. vi. 11., xi. 23-27.; Eph. v. 26.; Tit. iii. 5.; and Col. ii. 12. In which last passage, as well as the first, baptism (by immersion in water probably) is said to signify not only the moral ablution of sin, but also the death and burial of guilty man, and (by his emersion from the water) his resurrection to a virtuous life; in other words, our death unto sin and our obligation to walk in newness of life. The spiritual import of the Lord's supper is self-evident. ' Dr. John Clarke, Enquiry into the Origin of Evil, in the folio collection of Boyle's Lectures, vol. iii. p. 229. See Bishop Middleton on the Greek Article, p. 580. first edition. 2. Lastly, since we learn from the New Testament that some histories are to be interpreted allegorically or mystically (as Gal. iv. 22-31.), and that persons and things are there evidently types and emblems of the Christian dispensation, and its divine Founder, as in Matt. xii. 40.; John iii. 14, 15.; 1 Cor. x. 4.; and Heb. vii. 1-3.; it is plain that the mystical sense ought to be followed in the histories and prophecies of the Old Testament, and especially in such passages as are referred to by the inspired writers of the New Testament; who having given us the key by which to unlock the mystical sense of Scripture, we not only may but ought cautiously and diligently to make use of it. Where the inspired writers themselves direct us to such an interpretation, when otherwise we might not perceive its necessity, then we have an absolute authority for the exposition, which supersedes our own conjectures, and we are not only safe in abiding by that authority, but should be unwarranted in rejecting it. SECTION II. CANONS FOR THE SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. THE spiritual interpretation of the Bible, "like all other good things, is liable to abuse; and that it hath been actually abused, both in ancient and modern days, cannot be denied. He, who shall go about to apply, in this way, any passage, before he hath attained its literal meaning, may say in itself what is pious and true, but foreign to the text from which he endeavoureth to deduce it. St. Jerome, it is well known, when grown older and wiser, lamented that, in the fervours of a youthful fancy, he had spiritualized the prophecy of Obadiah, before he understood it. And it must be allowed that a due attention to the occasion and scope of the psalms would have pared off many unseemly excrescences, which now deform the commentaries of St. Augustine and other fathers upon them. But, these and other concessions of the same kind being made, as they are made very freely, men of sense will consider that a principle is not therefore to be rejected, because it has been abused; since human errors can never invalidate the truths of God." The literal sense is, undoubtedly, first in point of nature, as well as in order of signification; and consequently this must be ascertained before we proceed to search out its mystical import; but the genuine mystical or spiritual sense excels the literal in dignity, the latter being the medium of conveying the former. For instance, On the Double Sense of Prophecy, see pp. 404-408. infra. "The 2 Bishop Horne, Commentary on the Psalms, vol. i. Preface, Works, vol. ii. p. x. importance, then, of figurative and mystical interpretation can hardly be called in question. The entire neglect of it must, in many cases, greatly vitiate expositions, however otherwise valuable for their erudition and judgment. In explaining the prophetical writings and the Mosaic ordinances, this defect will be most striking; since, in consequence of it, not only the spirit and force of many passages will almost wholly evaporate, but erroneous conceptions may be formed of their real purport and intention." Bp. Vanmildert, Bampton Lectures, pp. 240, 241. Rambach has adduced several instances, which strongly confirm these solid observations, Inst. Herm. Sacr. lib. i. cap. iii. pp. 81, 82. |