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THIS ESSAY Pome eUeM Bal Ye sDsE UDC ALTE D TO HIS MOTHER BY ANISEID, AN UNISON 2 AUTHOR’S APOLOGY. As every work that has any pretension to completeness embraces the three con- stituent properties of all unity of action, and has a beginning, a middle, and an end, so I have always considered a formal preface to be a piece of solemn impertinency: and if I thought that these pages needed such an usher, I would throw them into the fire and not into the world. But though a preface be Vill THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY. superfluous, an apology is at once com- mendable and useful. It contains the frank confession of the Author’s weakness, and conciliates the benevolence of his reader. It is like the miserationes with which the Roman Orators opened their pleadings and moved the hearts of the Judges : — “ Miseratione,’ says Cicero, “mens gudicum permovenda est.” So now for my apology. I wrote this little Hssay about twenty years ago, during a season of great affliction, with an intent to publish it. Nevertheless, I consigned it to the shelf, partly from a sense of its imperfection, and partly because I was called abroad and had no time to prepare it for the press. On the shelf it has remained until now, and its repose would never have been disturbed, if a deeper affliction THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY. ix than the former, which awaited me in my native land, after so long an absence, had not reminded me of it, and I was moved to bring it forth by a sense of the congruity, that as it was conceived in sorrow, so in sorrow it should be born. Accordingly, I have revised and greatly increased it, inserting here and_ there such additional evidence for its argument, as longer experience has enabled me _ to supply. | This will explain, and I wish it may also excuse, the want of unity which is but too apparent in its execution: in its execution, I say, and not in its design: for the design is essentially one, and that is, to contribute, in however small a degree, to resist the ominous anti-Trini- tarianism of these apostatical times. x THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY. Repetition, I fear, will be numbered amongst its other defects, for I have written the greater part of it through the press, to use the technical phrase, as the demands of the printer came upon me. My infirmities, which unfitted me for continued application, reduced me to this strait, and I pray for indulgence. I have thrown into an Appendix a few short Essays, which, though they are not necessarily connected with the general argument, have naturally risen out of it, and will not I trust, be deemed altogether impertinent. In them, and wherever else in the course of the work an opportunity has presented itself to me, I have endea- voured to make profane literature subser- vient to the cause of true religion, by showing how largely and how loudly the Heathen Traditions proclaim the veracity THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY. Xi of that Holy Book, which is not only true but all truth. In this part of my subject, I confess myself as greatly indebted to our learned countryman, Jacob Bryant, Esq. as I am in the handling of the Prophecies to that wonderful interpreter, P. Manuel Lacunza.* In conclusion, I beg that my reader will not despise the humble beginning of this little work. It is, no doubt, a shallow stream at first, but he will find that it * Ancient Mythology, by Jacob Bryant, Esq. and The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty, by P. M. Lacunza, under the assumed title of Ben Ezra. Both of these authors have been decried as innovators, be- cause each, in his several department, shook an invete- rate system of interpretation, and opposed the authority of the greatest names in the world. But, nevertheless, they are two burning lights—and I rejoice that I have seen them—the one for profane literature, the other for the Bible, and both for the glory of God. xu THE AUTHOR'S APOLOGY. deepens as it flows. ‘Triplicity* is so vast an argument, that any thing that is said on it must necessarily be little in comparison of what might be said. I once opened a book for it, to borrow a mercantile phrase, but I soon shut it up, for I found that no volume would be sufficient to contain the evidence, and no life long enough to record it. To direct my reader’s attention to the subject is my only design. It is an humble office, an humble attempt, and the spirit with which it is made, I trust, is humble also. But humble voices are permitted to * IT have been told that the subject of Triplicity has been handled, within these few years past, by some writers of great respectability, particularly by Ambrose Serle, Esq.; whereat I rejoice, for their authority will be a recommendation to this little work of mine, and remove the objection of novelty, which, in matters of theology, is viewed with suspicion; though novelty, of itself, does not seem to be a just ground for impugning any thing. THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY. Xi join in the general chorus of Jehovah’s praise. What is silence? We know not what it is. There is no such thing in all the universe.* One moment’s silence would be a practical negation of The Deity, such as never was, and never will be per- mitted. By night and by day the works of God are making a noise to Him, from the stars in their courses to the smallest blade of grass that shoots from the ground. * Tt is said of the darkness of Egypt, that it was a darkness which might be felt: “they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days.” (Exodus x. 21. 23.) Of darkness such as this we have no idea: it caused a suspension of voluntary motion, probably by the withdrawing of the stimulating action of light on the nerves. This darkness must have been perceptible even to the blind. So neither have we any idea of absolute silence: such silence would be felt even by the deaf, through the want of the stimulating effect of vibration on the nerves. In the greatest darkness that we experience there is a mixture of light, and in the greatest silence there is sound. XIV THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY. And I also will make a noise with the highest and the lowest of created things— O join with me, reader, and let us exercise our voices now, that they may be heard hereafter in that glorious diapason which shall swell the anthem of The Coming King. “Make a joyful noise unto The Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto The Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before The Lord, The King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before The Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity.” (Ps. xceviil. 4—9.) EVIDENCES OF A TRIFORM IMPRESSION ON NATURE AND REVELATION. To trace The Divinity in his works, is an employ- ment at once noble and ennobling. It is the fullest and most glorious exercise of our faculties —nay, it is the peculiar privilege of our exalted rank among animated beings—to distinguish and collect the widely-scattered evidences of Almighty power and love, and discover The Creator in cre- ation. Noble pursuit, indeed; and no less useful than sublime! Yes, to perceive the divine in- fluence, not only in the vast scheme of creation, but in all the common events of life—to perceive that man not only moves and has his being at the VOL. I. B bo INTRODUCTION. will of his Maker; but, that his very secret thoughts and ways are objects of His eternal care, and are moulded by His plastic hand, is a discovery highly important to a Christian ; for, while it shows him his dependance on his God, it teaches him faith and humility. Since it has pleased The Almighty to reveal somewhat of the mystery of His Godhead—a mystery which, as it lies beyond our comprehen- sion, is liable to the presumptuous speculations of philosophy on the one hand, and the neglect of ignorance on the other—extremes equally danger- ous—it is consistent with all we know of divine mercy, to assist our faith, by the exhibition of some sensible token of that great mystery, whose inaccessible height and depth might otherwise have overwhelmed the faculties of our souls, and faith have been lost in amazement. Such a token do I perceive, and with gratitude I acknowledge it, in that triplicity which pervades all nature ; which is ever before our eyes; which is round us, above us, within us; and which, nevertheless INTRODUCTION. 3 is beyond the reach of our natural comprehension. I say that the exhibition of a triform impression, SO universal yet so mysterious, so common and, yet, so strange, must necessarily assist our faith, if it be referred to that source whither I would venture to trace it; and it must, also, reprove the presumptuous glance that would scan the hidden secrets of The Lord, if it discover to us our inability to comprehend it, except through the medium of faith. That there does exist such a triplicity, few, I think, will deny ; for there are few who have failed to observe it. In the following Treatise, I have set forth some instances of it, which, though too hastily collected, may yet have the merit, and it is all I claim, of putting others upon the same inquiry. An inquiry that should be urged on proper principles. Not as a curious or amusing speculation, but as a means of becoming more intimately acquainted with the nature of God, and thereby better fitted to serve and adore Him. We should search for confirmation of the truth, Bie 4 INTRODUCTION. not for matter of doubt, doubt found only by those who seek it. We should pursue our in- quiry, in short, with the humble, pious, and in- genuous spirit that ‘ Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” SHAKESPEARE, Such are the inquirers whom God himself will instruct. His Spirit will lead them steadily in the paths of truth, and smoothen down those places which He hath ordained to be stumbling- blocks to the pride of human wisdom. “To me” —says Doddridge—* it seems likely that the evi- dence of a revelation should be so adjusted, as to be a kind of touchstone to the tempers and cha- racters of men; capable, indeed, of giving ample satisfaction to the diligent and candid inquirer, yet attended with some circumstances, from whence the captious and perverse might take occasion to cavil and object.” I may be thought fanciful in some of the in- stances of triplicity which I have selected, and INTRODUCTION. 5 perhaps Iam so. But I gather not the convic- tion which I have happily derived from the sub- ject, so much from the actual triplicity of things, as from the universal tendency of the human mind to perceive that triplicity, and even to fancy it where it may not exist. It is to this impres- sion on the mind that I desire more particularly to turn my reader’s attention. Man, among all the glorious works of creation, man is to himself the noblest object of contemplation ; for man has in himself the noblest testimony to that God, who originally created him after His own likeness. Far be it from me to attribute any power to the harmony of numbers. The wisest of the heathen philosophers supported that doc- trine, because they had no other way of account- ing for those harmonious arrangements which they perceived in the physical and moral world. Yes, they perceived, they felt, the harmony that pervades the universe; but their wisdom sunk beneath the evidence, and became foolishness. O! happy change for man, that the most 6 INTRODUCTION. unlettered Christian is wiser than all the power- ful and glorious champions of human wisdom! They felt, some few of those mighty men, a feeble, distant ray of light—but, on the humble Christian's uplifted eye, it beams with sllethe meridian effulgence of the Gospel ! The same arrangements; that struck the heathen world so forcibly, exist at present. The tertian fever still rages in our blood, still the ocean moves in triplets, and still the human mind and human language bear the trform stamp. I will not ask my reader if he thinks these signs are exhibited for nothing. The doctrine of accidents is happily exploded. There is no opinion more dangerous or more common, than that the world is merely meant for man to live in; nor any more true and wholesome, than that it is, as it were, a preparatory school, in which we are surrounded by monuments of Almighty power and love, such as whose contemplation here may best fit INTRODUCTION. 7 us for that beatific vision, which is to be our bliss and glory, through the eternity of here- after. Yes, since the universal book of nature is opened to our eyes, it is at once our duty and our interest to peruse it—and I would that the perusal of the book, might enlarge every soul in the knowledge and love of Him who is the Author of it. As for my meaning in publishing the fol- lowing remarks, it is briefly this—that I have found them useful to myself, and hope they may be useful to others. A SHORT.ACCOUNT OF THIS DR EAT LSE: I consider evidence as either direct or in- direct. Direct evidence is that which goes home at once to the proposition asserted. In- direct evidence is that which, stopping short of the main proposition, goes only to prove one or more of those facts on which the direct evi- dence is founded. It were presumptuous, for instance, to call any thing a direct evidence of The Trinity, that is not contained in the Scrip- tures. But, in as far as a demonstration derived from a general consideration of the Works of God, may be held to bear witness to the sacred INTRODUCTION. 9 volume, in so far, I conceive, that such demon- stration may be called an indirect evidence of the revealed truth. Under this view of the matter, I have divided this treatise into two parts. In the first, I design to prove the existence of a triform im- pression on the moral and physical world: and in the second, the same triform impression is traced through the Holy Scripture, and made a prelude, as it were, to the direct evidences of The Trinity. In the first part, then, which I repeat is nothing more than an attempt to prove the existence of a triform impression, I warn my reader, that I feel at liberty to set forth any instance that occurs to me, whether serious or trivial. For, in matters of this kind, we do not derive conviction so much from any individual source as from the confluence of a multitude ‘of streams: and so they run the same way, their comparative magnitude is of little importance. They who have considered the subject 10 INTRODUCTION. already, and have perceived the existence of a triform impression, will derive but little addi- tional proof from a work like this. But, they who have not, may, perhaps, be induced to think, and so derive, at length, conviction from their own reflections and observation. Nor will either party, perhaps, refuse to that triform im- pression, which both acknowledge, the subordi- nate character of a stepping-stone to the direct evidences of The Holy Trinity, which are con- tained in my second division. If they do, I have only to beg that they will step over it altogether. They, on the other hand, who cannot be per- suaded of the triform impression, have comfort in this assurance; that our Sacred Scriptures stand independent of all collateral and indirect evidence. Lastly, if any agree with me in the existence of the impression, and yet deny the cause to which I attribute it; I ask them what is the cause of it? and if they know not, I humbly suggest, that it can do them no harm to adopt INTRODUCTION. bist my interpretation, until they find a better. For, if it be weakness, it is weakness that makes us strong; if it be ignorance, it is ignorance that ends in wisdom. And, sure I am, it can never be offensive to an all-merciful God, that his frail creatures derive faith and comfort from any source—whether from reason, sense, or fancy. 12 PART I. TRIFORM IMPRESSION ON THE HUMAN MIND. I desire to prove the existence of a triform impression, first, on the human mind—from a consideration of human language, as the medium through which thought is communicated—from the general complexion of superstitious fancies and ceremonies—from our ideas of majesty, dominion, and power—and from the observation of certain characteristic properties of laws. And, if the human mind, under all these points of view, shall still be found to exhibit the same features, through all the variations of space, time, and circumstance, that have chequered the map of LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. 13 life from the remotest ages until the present day, I shall deem myself warranted in concluding that the impression is universal, and produced by the agency of some principle naturally inherent in the mind, or engrafted on it from one common stock. And, secondly, I hope to ‘demonstrate the existence of a triform impression on the physi- cal world, from certain observable triphicities i in the nature of things. LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. It can only arise from the secret influence of the principle I have hinted at, that people, of every age and country, have involuntarily fallen into triplicity, when excited by any strong emotion. Love, hatred, pity, anger, fear, asto- nishment, joy, and sorrow, and if there be any other vehement affection of the mind, it has invariably been expressed in triplicity. Nor is it less observable, or less illustrative of my subject, that whenever we desire to convey to another the highest possible idea of any person 14 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. or thing, we do always resort to the number three, as the means of characterizing that which no precise terms can adequately denote. Hence it is, that poets, particularly, do abound in tri- plicities; and a very slight acquaintance with their best compositions, would be sufficient to prove that the most powerful of their images, and the happiest of their expressions have worn a triform shape. I subjoin a few quotations from well-known authors in support of my as- sertion. I might, perhaps, have selected more striking passages, if I had curiously sought for them; but I have taken them as they occurred to me, and if my reader shall be dissatisfied with the evidence, I will venture to assure him that he may increase and improve it with very little trouble. NOBLE IMAGERY. **Quos circum limus niger, et deformis arundo Cocyti, tardaque palus inamabilis unda Alligat, et novies Styx interfusa coercet.”’ ce tenuitque inhians tria Cerberus ora.” VIRGIL. LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. 15 It was, perhaps, owing to the influence of the triform impression, that Homer, in de- scribing the terrors of Charybdis, had recourse to triplicity: for it is certain that his descrip- tion is not verified by actual observation either of the exact place or nature of the phoenomenon. “ Sta XapuBd.1s avappoiBs_t wérav vdwp “ Tis ev yap T avinow ér ware, Tpis 6 avappouBdee “ Aewov.” Opyss. 12. ‘Beneath, Charybdis holds her boisterous reign Midst roaring whirlpools, and absorbs the main. Thrice in her gulfs the boiling seas subside, Thrice in dire thunders she refunds the tide.” Popr. AWFUL EVENTS. “Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossan Scilicet; atque Ossze frondosum involvere Olympum ; Yer Pater extructos disjecit fulmine montes.” ee terque fragor stagnis auditus avernis.”’ VIRGIL. DARING COURAGE. ‘Tl robur et ces triplex Circa pectus erat.” Horace. Oy My | an 16 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. GRATIFIED AMBITION. ‘¢Hunc si mobilium turba Quiritium Certat tergeminis tollere honoribus ’— Horace. PATHETIC. ce ‘Qs tpis av Tap acwida Qn pL ie. n N fal / “ Srhvat Oérouw av wadrov, 7 TeKeiv aTak.” Evripipes, Mrepra. Where is the soul so dull that it is not moved by the thrice-repeated Eurydice in the following exquisite passage ? “Tum quoque marmorea caput a cervice revulsum Gurgite cum medio portans Oeagrius Hebrus Volveret, Hurydicen vox ipsa et frigida lingua, Ah miseram Hurydicen, anima fugiente, vocabat : Kurydicen toto referebant fiumine ripe.” Vinci, Grore. l. 4. Indeed, if we desire to render the description of any event particularly touching, we cannot better accomplish our purpose than by investing it with triplicity. Under the magic influence of the number three, it steals into the mind, and opens all the sluices of tenderness. LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. 17 “That morning sun has three times seen The flowers unfold on Rokeby green, But sees no more the slumbers fly From fair Matilda’s hazel eye ; That morning sun has three times broke On Rokeby’s glades of elm and oak, But, rising from the sylvan screen, Marks no gray turrets glance between !”’ RoxKeEsy. STATE OF UTTER MISERY. “As far remov’d from God and light of heav’n As from the centre thrice to th’ utmost pole.” Mitton. STRONG APPREHENSION OF DANGER. ‘* Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace to-night ; Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cry’d out, Help, ho! they murder Cesar.” SHAKESPEARE. REBELLION. ss that tongue Inspir’d with contradiction, durst oppose A third part of the gods.”’ Mitton. VOL. I. C egy a Ie ef we 18 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. STATE OF DEFENCE. ‘«* About his neck a three-fold gorget, As rough as ¢rebled leathern target.” HupIBRAS. LONGEVITY. ‘‘ Thrice has he seen the perishable kind 2? . Of men decay Pope. Great Atreus’ Sons, Tydides fixt above With three-ag’d Nestor. Creecn’s Mani.ivs. DEFEAT, AND DGWNFALL. “ Thrice vanquish’d. on the battle plain, Thy followers slaughter’d, fled, or ta’en.” Scorr. ‘« Nine times the space that measures day and night To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquish’d.”’ MILTon. SOLEMN RITES. “Qld Chorineus compass’d thrice the crew, And dipp’d an olive branch in holy dew, Which thrice he sprinkled round.” DRYDEN. LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. “‘ Bring here, he said, the mazers four, My noble fathers, lov’d of yore, Thrice let them circle round the board.” Scorr. AN HONORABLE BEHEST, “For the fair Queen of France Sent him a Turquois ring, and glove, And charg’d him as her knight and love, For her to break a lance : And strike three strokes with Scottish brand, And march three miles on Southron land.” Inip. A DESPERATE CHALLENGE. “ He now defies thee thrice to single ficht As a petty enterprize of small enforce.” Mitton. A CURSE, “* Three-fold vengeance tend upon your steps.” SHAKESPEARE. A BLESSING. i: thrice, thrice blessed is the eye that spied, The hand that snatch’d it sparkling in the tide.” Rogers. c 2 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. A GOOD CAUSE. “What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted ? Thrice is he arm’d, that hath his quarrel just.” SHAKESPEARE. POWER AND MAJESTY. 1 see in him The triple pillar of the world —” IBIpD. THE POWERS OF DARKNESS LEAGUED. * O night and shade, How are ye join’d with hell in triple knot.” MIi.Ton. A HAPPY UNION. “* Thrice happy pair, so near ally’d In royal blood and virtue too, Now love has you together tied, May none this triple knot undo!” WALLER. SOLEMN INVOCATION. “« By thy triple shade as thou art seen In heay’n, earth, hell, grant this.”’ Dryven. LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. el A BOAST. “e by this scimitar That slew the Sophy and a Persian Prince, That won three fields of Sultan Solyman.”’ SHAKESPEARE. Thus does Morochius recommend his prowess to his mistress, through the medium of triplicity — “that won three fields.” THE THREE EVILS OF WAR. ‘* You tempt the fury of my three attendants, Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing fire.” SHAKESPEARE. EARNEST ENTREATY. ‘‘ Thrice noble Lord, let me entreat of you To pardon me —” Tpip. With what solemn triplicity does Hamlet’s father beseech his son’s attention to his tale of horror. i list, list, O list / If thou didst ever thy dear father love —” IBIp. og TRIFORM IMPRESSION. And, with corresponding trebleness, Hamlet thus expresses his grief, horror, and amazement. “Qh, horrible! oh, horrible! most horrible.” SHAKESPEARE. AMAZEMENT. “Sampson gazed after her for a moment in utter astonishment, and then obeyed her directions, hurrying to Woodburn, at a pace very unusual for him, exclaim- ing three times, prodigious, prodigious, prodigious !” Guy MAnnNERING. A SPIRITED DESCRIPTION OF BRAVERY. “i thrice within this hour I saw him down, thrice up again and fighting.” SHAKESPEARE, A BARGAIN CHARACTERIZED. 6é Pll give thrice 80 much land To any well deserving friend, But, in the way of bargain, mark ye me, Pll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.” Izrp. A WELCOME. “‘ Thrice welcome, holy sire! he said, Full long the spousal train have staid,” Scott. LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. 23 WARNINGS AND THREATENINGS. Are almost always expressed with triplicity. “©T warn thee he has sworn > Ere thrice three days shall come and go —’ SCOTT. : a poaching sorning sort of fallow, that I will have scoured out of the country before he be three days aulder.” St. Ronan’s WELL. And we may have observed that the vulgar generally fix upon the tertian period as the term of any denunciation which they deem super- natural—thus :— «And he cursed and damned at them, and they sware at him, and that Meg Merrilies, that was maist powerful with the enemy of mankind, she as gude as said she would have him, body and soul, before three days were ower his head.” Guy MANNERING. And with what a solemn warning voice, the apparition addresses Macbeth. “ Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff.” SHAKESPEARE. 2 24 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. SECURITY. ““ Wicket and gate were trebly barred By beam, and bolt, and chain.” Scorr. STRENGTH. “A three-fold cord is not quickly broken.”’ Eccuss. tv. 12. A HEART-STIRRING CALL. “To land King Robert lightly sprung, And thrice aloud his bugle rung, With note prolong’d and varied strain, "Till bold Ben-ghoil replied again.” Scorr. And again— “ Thrice the fierce trumpet’s breath was heard, And echoed thrice the herald’s word.” Ipip. HASTE. “Be this letter deliver’d with haste—haste—post- haste, Ride, villain, ride—for thy life, for thy life, for thy life.’’ ANCIENT ENDORSEMENT OF LETTERS OF IMPORTANCE. LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. 95 IMPATIENT SUMMONS. ‘The waves were rough; the hour was late, But soon across the Tinto borne, Thrice he blew the signal horn, He blew, and would not wait.’’ RocErs. What, then! is impatience marked with the triform stamp—impatience that, like the trou- bled tide, seems capable of no reflection? If we mark the involuntary expressions which im- patience forces from us, we shall be obliged to answer—“ yes,’—to this question. When we impatiently deny any thing, how much more apt we are to use the triple negative, “no, no—no,” than the simple “no.” Nay, this triplicity of expression is the very characteristic of impa- tience—The author of Waverley,* whoever he be, whom I rank with Shakespeare for the accu- rate delineation of human character, furnishes me with a case in point: where Jenkin Vincent, vexed with his friend Tunstall for mistaking * When this was written, Scott was not known to be the author of Waverley. 26 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. the object of his affections—no less a personage, indeed, than his master’s daughter—for Janet the Scotch laundress, impatiently rejects the derogatory imputation. “ Off with Janet in her own bucking-basket.— No, no, no,—you blind buzzard.” And again, where Nigel, in his impatience to hear something of the fair and interesting damsel whom he had just seen at Master Heriot’s, can no longer endure the provoking particula- rity, with which his follower Moniplies is dis- cussing the power of raising and allaying evil spirits : « Well, well, well—said his master impatiently.” Fortunes or NIGEL. But Shakespeare has a still more striking instance; where Othello, discovering all the artful knaveries which Iago had practised on him with too fatal success, can no longer endure to think of his own weakness; and breaks out into this LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. 27 forcible and natural expression of his im- patience. “OQ! fool, fool, fool!” OTHELLO. We may, also, observe, that the tertian period is generally the boundary of our patience; and that what we may have endured in a grumbling sort of way for three times, we can scarcely brook to be repeated the fourth. cé impunity having increased his rash- ness, he resolved upon a third experiment, and was as successful as before in reaching the fire; but when he had again appropriated a piece of burning coal, and had turned to depart, he heard the harsh and supernatural voice which had before accosted him, pronounce these words,—‘dare not to return hither a fourth 3) time.’ ANTIQUARY. Story of Martin Waldeck, INDIGNATION. ‘‘ Thrice better she had ne’er been born Than brought such infamy on Lorn.” Scotr. 28 TRIFORM IMPRESSION, IDLE WONDER. How apt we are to attribute triplicity to any thing that is mysterious, or unaccountable !— When we speak of any thing that has surprised us, we know not why, and ceases we know not wherefore, to be an object of our astonishment, our common phrase is,—“’tis a nine days’ wonder.” ‘‘A thousand scruples may startle at first, yet, in conclusion, prove but a nine days’ wonder.” L’ EstraNnGE. EXCITEMENT. But the mind does most peculiarly tend to triform expression, when under the influence of any vehemently exciting cause. In the enthu- siasm of festivity, when we pledge the name of one whom we love or admire, is not the word, the inspiring word, “‘ Three times three !”” Three cheers are a very well known medium of popular sentiment. How often have I felt LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. 29 all their force on board ship, when our sails have been loosed to the wind, and the dark and dubious sea before us, and three solemn cheers have been wafted to us from the Pilot’s lessening boat, to speed us with the last blessing of the land. Unanimous encouragement or admiration is generally expressed by a body of people with this peculiar and inspiring triplicity. “‘The people gave him three cheers, which he de- _ served, for his stout heart.” Fortunes or NIGEL. Again, “The gravity with which he accommodated himself to the humour of the moment, and the deep and humble inclination with which he, at first, declined, and then accepted a seat, presented by the master of the cere- monies, procured him ¢hree rounds of applause.” Guy Mannerina. VALEDICTION. In tender adieus, no judicious author ever suffers his hero to part from his heroine, but with a thrice-waving hand. They who are conver- sant in such tenderness, whether practically or 30 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. theoretically, well know what an affecting figure triplicity makes in such cases. “ And thrice she wav’d her lily hand.” BabaD. How pathetic is Ophelia’s description of Hamlet’s parting from her! f long staid he so; At last, a little shaking of mine arm, And thrice his head thus waving up and down, He rais’d a sigh so piteous and profound, As it did seem to shatter all his bulk And end his being.” HAMLET. How much does this thrice-waving head assist the tenderness of the description? With a tri- plicity no less affecting, the Ghost takes leave of Hamlet. ** Adieu, adieu, adieu,—remember me.” Inrp. LAMENTATION. As no author ever portrayed human nature more faithfully than our own favourite Shake- LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION, 31 speare, or touched more delicately the silken strings of tenderness, or struck with bolder hand the chords of passion; so we find him abounding in those triplicities, in which it would seem that all the emotions of the heart are most naturally expressed. I know not whether there can be found in all his works, or in any other work, except only the Bible, a more perfect and affecting instance of triplicity than that in which Othello expresses his tortured feelings, when he contemplates the murdering of his beautiful Desdemona, and steels his shrinking nerves for the horrid act, by a reiteration of the fatal cause. “It is the cawse—it is the cause—my soul, Let me not name it to you, ye chaste stars— It is the cause—” OTHELLO. Is there any soul so dull as not to be affected by the deep solemnity of the thrice-repeated cause? In short, we may observe that the solilo- quies of grief are generally marked with triplicity. 39 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. «Tis the last time—tis the last—” He mutter’d thrice—“ the last time e’er That angel voice shall Roderick hear.” Lapy or THE LAKE. From a review of the evidence contained in this little collection, I think we are obliged to come to the conclusion—that the number three is universally used to give the utmost force to expression, and to denote the exceeding greatness of those things to which it is applied. So, when we say “thrice as much,” we mean more than we can describe. So, in Shakespeare’s descrip- tion of York’s undaunted courage, a thrice within this hour I saw him down, thrice up again and fighting,” the author does not insist on our believing, that the Duke actually fell down three times, and got up again; he only wishes it to be understood, that York was doing wonders. In Rogers’s voyage of Columbus, there is a similar passage, which we must read in the same sense. «‘ Vasco the brave, thrice found among the slain, Thrice, and how soon, up and in arms again.” LANGUAGE OR EXPRESSION. 35 In the same sense Lord Byron speaks of triple light. ‘‘ Born where the sun showers triple light.” Thus poor Anniple expresses in triplicity the great effort she had made—for it was the only token whereby she could denote the exceeding greatness of her labours. “I travelled three times three, and thrice that of weary miles.” SPAEWIFH, There is another passage of our energetic vard’s, in which the Duke of York, extolling the unspeakable valour of his son, expresses himself in triplicity. ‘“‘-—three times did Richard make a lane to me, And thrice cry’d out, courage, father, fight it out.” Not the most copious stream of. eloquence that ever flowed, would have conveyed to the mind sv strong an impression of Richard’s un- daunted courage, as the use of these too little VOL. ie D 34 TRIFORM IMPRESSION. words, “three” and “thrice.” And hence it is, that, when in writing we use the three marks of admiration, we convey to our reader a truer sense of wonder than we could have conjured up in his mind by all the powers of our vocabulary. The author of Waverley, who charms all the world with his pen, is fain to resort to this silent talisman of triplicity. «__am I far from Kippletringan, good dame? Frae Kippletringan!!! in an exalted tone of wonder, which we can but too faintly express by three points of admi- ration.” Guy MANNERING. In short, when we would be highly emphatic, we do instinctively, as it were, fly into tri- plicity. ‘Make your Merrymen gather the thorn, and the briar, and the green hollin, till they heap them as high as the house-rigging! And burn! burn! burn / the auld witch Elspeth, and a’ that can put ye in mind that sic a creature ever crawled upon the land.” ANTIQUARY. SUPERSTITIONS. 35 SUPERSTITIONS. I have already observed that we are wont to ascribe triplicity to any thing that is mysterious or uncertain. Perhaps all superstitious fears and fancies are engendered in uncertainty. Hence it is that the light of true religion, which alone can dispel doubt and uncertainty, and give an uniform calmness to the mind under all circumstances, does most effectually banish superstition. The highest powers of human intellect, unassisted by religion, are vain against its insidious influence. Unguided reason becomes its prey, when it steps but'a single pace beyond the sphere of sensible objects, and endeavours with anxious solicitude to raise itself to the idea of a God and an imma- terial world. We have lamentable proof of this in some of the brightest ornaments of litera- ture and science; whose vaunted philosophy has abandoned them in the hour of need, and given them up to the most absurd fancies. Involve such men in perplexity—distract them with contending opinions on momentous sub- D2 36 TRIPLICITY. jects — weaken them with disease, or oppress them with fear,—and, instantly, they are a prey to the most degrading and childish superstitions. It is on this notion of superstition, as arising from that bewildering uncertainty, in which help- less man is left all alone with the weakness of his nature, that I account for the triplicity which is inseparable from it. Triplicity is the very soul of astrology, magic, and divination; and but for the restraining power of the numbers “three” and “nine,” those empty mummeries, like the leaves of the Sibyl, would be given to all the winds. It was with a painful feeling, we may presume, of uncertainty, that Cortes, when he took pos- session of the American Continent, courting bravery through superstition, made triplicity the token of that great power which he assumed as conqueror of the new world. «‘ Cortes,” says Bernal Diaz, ‘‘ took possession of the country in the following manner :—Drawing his sword, he gave three cuts with it into a great Ceiba,” &c. NOTES ON THE CEIBA, OR WILD Cotron TREE. Rocers’ CoLuMBUS. SUPERSTITIONS. 37 When the mind is once infected with super- stition, how apt it is to perceive and observe triplicities ! ““ As pease-cods once I pluck’d, I chanced to see One that was closely filled with three times three ; I o’er the door the spell in secret laid.” Gay. Again— “ Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d— Twice and once the hedge-pig whined— Harper cries, ’tis time—’tis time.” SHAKESPEARE. The witches in Macbeth finish their incanta- tions with a solemn rehearsal of the magic numbers. “The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about, Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace! the charm’s wound up.” SUAKESPEARE. In Manfred, that too strange and wild, but 38 TRIPLICITY. exquisitely-beautiful poem of Lord Byron’s, the fiend conjures up the spirit of Astarte with a tri- plicity that might well arouse even the dulness of insensibility. NEMESIS. “Shadow® or spirit! Whatever thou art, Which still doth inherit The whole or a part Of the form of thy birth, Of the mould of thy clay. Which returned to the earth, Re-appear to the day ! Bear what thou borest, The heart and the form, And the aspect thou worest Redeem from the worm. Appear! Appear! Appear!” Triplicity is, indeed, the very essence of con- juration. “Look ye, dominie, if ye speak another word until I give you leave, I will read three sentences out of the Black Acts, whisk my cane round my head three times, undo all the magic of this night’s work, and conjure Harry Bertram back again into Vanbeest Brown.” Guy MANNERING. SUPERSTITIONS. 39 Again— “* But wist I of a woman bold Who thrice my brow durst sign, I might regain my mortal mould, As fair a form as thine. She cross’d him once—she cross’d him twice— That Lady was so brave ; The fouler grew his goblin hue, The darker grew the cave. She cross’d him thrice, that Lady bold, He rose beneath her hand, The fairest Knight on Scottish mould, Her brother, Ethert Brand.”’ Scort. And thus, in the “ Voyage of Columbus,” the demoniac vampire quells the spirit of the valiant Roldan. ‘“« Then, inly gliding like a subtle flame, Thrice, with a cry that thrill’d the mortal frame, Call’d on the spirit within.” RoGERs. See with what triplicity Superstition is de- scribed by another of our first poets! “Where that old woman day and night did pray, Upon her beades devoutly penitent ; 40 all TRIPLICITY. Nine hundred Pater-Nosters every day, And thrice nine hundred Aves she was wont to say, And to augment her painful penance more, Thrice every day in ashes she did sit, And next her wrinkled skin rough sackcloth wore, And thrice three times did fast from any bit. Upon the image with his naked blade, Three times, as in defiance, there he stroke : And the third time, out of an hidden shade, There forth issued from under the altar smoke A dreadful fiend.” SPENSER. In a treatise of Cornelius Agrippa’s, we find the planetary numbers bounded by the magi- cal ¢hree and nine; and therefore, endued with the full force of three times three. In calculations of nativity the number three has always been held by fortune-tellers to be supremely critical. ““{ will calculate his nativity according to the rule of the Triplicities, as recommended by Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Diocles, and Avicenna.” Guy MANNERING. And though the triple thread of human life SUPERSTITIONS. 4] is no longer twisted and sheared at the will of the “Sisters three,” yet, that fatal office has descended to a race of old women—unsuitable representatives of the deities, it may be thought —but who, nevertheless, maintain the dignity of their inheritance at the expense of popular super- stition. se she spun a thread, drawn from wool of three different colours, black, white and grey—as she spun, she sung what seemed to be a charm.” Guy MAnnerina. Astrologers consider the aspect of planets as eminently benign, when they meet in the three angles of a trigon; which aspect they denominate a trine. “From Aries right-ways draw a line to end In the same round, and let that line subtend An equal triangle—now since the lines Must three times touch the round, and meet three signs Wherein they meet in angles, these are trines.” CREECH. But, descending from this scientific, star- gazing folly, if we look into the humbler and 42 TRIPLICITY. more common departments of superstition, still we shall find the same over-ruling triplicity. In all matters of chance, the tertian period is held to be the grand arbiter of destiny. A man, for instance, who shall have adventured in a lottery, and been unsuccessful twice, will, yet, with good courage make a ¢hird experiment, for luck’s sake. *‘And the first time he answered me as civil as you could do, and the neist time he bade me no plague him ; and then, thought I, three times was aye canny—so I spake to him again for duck’s sake.” PIRATE. Thus we hear of witches, fortune-tellers, et hoc genus, requiring ¢hree gifts, in order that fortune may become propitious. «Lord Atholl smiled, and taking his purse from his belt, presented her with a piece of silver—‘Another,’ said she, holding out her hand with the money lying in it. The Earl drew out another piece, and laid it in her palm. ‘ Three’s aye canny—my Lord’—said Anniple—‘ make it three.” SPAEWIFE. Again, “The fantastical creature began to chatter with her SUPERSTITIONS. 43 teeth, and to chuckle with expectation—holding out her hand, saying—‘but a gift—a grace—and a grant—my 299 Lord—one—two—and three. SPAEWIFE. How very generally received among the com- mon people is the opinion, that when any accident has befallen us twice, we must of necessity, un- dergo a third—nay, many feel uneasy until the third is passed, and the spell broken. Hence, perhaps, has arisen the old adage—the third time pays for all!” To the same impression of triplicity which suggested this adage, must be referred that idea of settled determination of opinion, which is implied in the triple affirmative or negative. One would hardly attempt dissuasion or persuasion with any one who should affirm or deny with triplicity. When the Lady Penelope Penfeather, in St. Ronan’s Well, at length makes up her mind on that all-important subject—a second marriage— she thus appeals to triplicity as the token of her fixed determination. 44 TRIPLICITY. « *—‘ oh, who knows—the whim may strike me’ —re- plied the Lady—‘ but no—no—no; and that is three EM eed times. St. Ronan’s WELL. In divination, the tertian period is highly cri- tical. The disciples of the Chinese Fo, when they consult their deity, as to the issue of any en- terprise in which they are about to engage, use this method of ascertaining it. They throw into the air polygonal pieces of wood, each side of which has its peculiar mark: the side that is up- permost when the piece has fallen, is referred to corresponding marks in the Book of Fate. If the first throw be favourable, the consulter is satisfied; if adverse, he throws again; and the third throw determines, at any rate, the question. I have se- lected this instance of Chinese superstition more particularly, to prove the universality of its tri- form character. For the Chinese cannot be thought to have imbibed any of the prejudices of their neighbours ; since they are so obstinately partial to their own, that they are quite a distinct SUPERSTITIONS. 45 nation, separate from all others, and adhering, at this day, with blind pertinacity, to the manners and customs of their forefathers. In short, tri- plicity has always been the characteristic feature of superstition, from the remotest period of an- tiquity to this very hour. “Numero deus impare gaudet,” was the language of Virgil. « They say there is a divinity in odd numbers,” was the lan- guage of Shakespeare; and triplicity will be the mark of superstition so long as the world endures. It was, perhaps, owing to a superstitious re- gard for the critical power of the number three, that the extraordinary military law was established, which formerly required all governors of fortified places to sustain three assaults before they sur- rendered. I will not trouble my reader with any more remarks on this head, except to propose the instruction which I think may be derived from the little that has been said on it. That, as superstition seems to arise from the wavering and uncertain condition of mind, which is pecu- 46 TRIPLICITY. liar to those who have not a firmly established faith in God, and a reliance on His eternal, over-ruling providence; so, the only way to rid ourselves of so degrading and miserable a tyranny, is to commit all our ways and all our hopes to Him, trusting implicitly to His power and good- ness, and throwing aside all inordinate anxiety about what may befal us. Let it, rather, be our concern to fulfil the purpose of our Hea- venly Father; taking comfort from His divine promise, that all things shall “work together for good to them that fear him.” OUR IDEAS OF MAJESTY, DOMINION, AND POWER. It is a lively illustration of what I have already said, namely, that the number three has universally been used to denote the highest degree of greatness in those things and persons to which it is applied, that triplicity has ever been ascribed to majesty, dominion, and power. Hermes, the earliest king recorded in the his- MAJESTY, DOMINION, AND POWER. 47 tory of the heathen world, was surnamed Tris- megistus—thrice greatest. Historians have en- deavoured, but in vain, to find a satisfactory reason for this appellation. The true origin of it may, perhaps, have been a corrupt notion of the Trinity*. In the frequent manifesta- * It is in favour of this opinion concerning the transmission of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, that Orpheus and Pythagoras are supposed to have derived their notions of a Trinity from Hermes Trismegistus, who most probably was the great patriarch Noah himself. Bryant supposes him to have been the second Hermes, for the Egyptians acknowledged two, whereof the former was esteemed the most ancient of Gods, and was undoubtedly Noah. The latter was, in all probability, the Patriarch Joseph, who is men- tioned by Manethon, under the name of ‘Ocapouos, Osarsiph: which Bryant, with great reason, considers to be a transposition of the words Sar-Osiph—the Lord Joseph ; for, in Egypt, as well as in many other countries, Sar signified a Prince, and Sarah, the name of Abraham’s wife, was the feminine of it, and signified Lady. As Joseph interpreted hidden mysteries, and made known the will of the Deity, he was called Hermes, which signifies Inter- preter: a title which was ee Ns conferred on Noah for the very same reason: whence Epenvevewv and Epunveutips among the Greeks. As Joseph was also fertile in expedients, and a cause of gain to the Egyptians, so, under the appellation of Hermes, he was esteemed the God of Merchants. In the Chronicon Paschale and Cedrenus, this Hermes is spoken of in terms which identify him with the Patriarch. Among other things he is said to have been an object of envious persecution to his brethren, who were 48 TRIPLICITY. tion of the Deity that were vouchsafed to our fathers before the flood, they must surely have been made acquainted with that sacred mystery; seventy in number. Here we have a memorial of his early history, and the cause of his coming into Egypt, as well as the precise number of Jacob’s family, who, no doubt, were called by the Egyp- tians the brethren of Joseph, when he planted them in the land of Goshen : for ‘‘ all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.’’ (Gen. xlvi. 27.) The passage I allude to is so interesting that I shall transcribe it. Tvods 8é (Eppijs) ors SeapOovotvtat avT@ ot aded- dol avtéu:'—nBovrOvTo yap avTov povevaat, as dv- TES TONAOL, Trepitrou EPSopnKOVTA,—GVEXWPNTEV, Kal amépyetar eis THY AliyuTrtov Tpos tiv pudyv Tod Xap, twod Noe, of tives edéEavto auTov év TyuH* Kat duetpyBev éxet bmepnhavav tavtas, Kat Popov THV yYpvaony oTorny ebioaoder Tapa Tots AiyuTrTiots, Né- yov avtots wavTelas médANoVTMY* Hv yap pvoeL opo- dpa Royixds. Kat mpocéxvvovv, avtov déyovtes Ocov ‘Epphv, os Nyovta wédXNovTa, Kal StaxovovvTa dutois €x TOD Oeod TaV pédNOVT@V TiY aTrOKPLOW * Kal TapéyovTa aUTOIs YpnuaTa, OVTWA Kal TOVTO- doTnv éxddouv, ws Tod ypvcod Oedy ovopwatovtes. "Ore odv autos “Epps eis tiv Aiyurrov 7Ger, éBacirevoe THY Altyuptiov ToTé éx ToD Xap 0 Me- OTPEfL. K.T.A.—(Chron.: Pasch.: p. 44 45, Cedrenus p. 18.) But Hermes, perceiving that his brethren, who were very numerous, no fewer, indeed, than seventy, mortally envied him and were continually consulting how they might slay him, departed from among them and went into Egypt, to the Sons of MAJESTY, DOMINION, AND POWER. 49 for the true faith of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, must then, as now, have been the basis of all worship acceptable to God, since God is Ham, the Son of Noah, who received him with great honour. There he resided in much state, being raised above every body in the country, and, wearing the golden robe, taught wisdom to the Ligyptians, delivering to them prophecies of the future: for he was by nature exceedingly intelligent. Wherefore they reverenced him as a deity, conferring upon him the title of Hermes, on account of his prophetic gift, and of his skill in interpreting the oracles of God. And, moreover, as he was the cause of great riches to their nation, they styled him the dispenser of wealth, and the god of gain. Now when this Hermes came into Egypt, Mizram, the son of Ham, was king of the country. There is another curious fact recorded of this Hermes by Manethon (apud Syncell.) which clearly indicates his foreign ex- traction and the race to which he belonged: namely, that he de- cyphered all that was written in the sacred language upon the obelisks im terra SeriadicA. Now the chief of the Pyramids at Cochome, as well as the most ancient obelisks in Egypt, were erected by the Cuthite fugitives from the plain of Shinar, called the Aurite and Royal Shepherds: and who had not long been expelled from the country when the patriarchal family came in and was established in the very territory which they had evacuated. Wherefore this province, by Bar-Bahlul, the Syriac lexicographer, is very properly called Cushatha, as having been the ancient Cuthite region. If, therefore, the hieroglyphics on these obelisks were written, as one would naturally suppose, in the language of the Royal Shepherds, which must certainly have been the ancient Chaldee, and would consequently have been familiar to Joseph, then his decyphering them would be an indirect but very strong proof, when coupled with other evidence, that he was Hermes. Now Cassiodorus tells us distinctly that the characters were Chaldaic : VOL." I, E 50 TRIPLICITY. always the same. If so, then the mystery of the Trinity must have been known to Noah and his immediate descendants; and these latter, when they fell into profaneness and idolatry, may naturally have transferred to their idols, kings, and heroes, those ideas of power, majesty, and ‘¢ obeliscorum prolixitas,’’ says he, ‘‘ad circi altitudinem suble- vatur: sed prior Soli, inferior Lune dicatus est: ubi sacra pris- corum Chaldaicis Signis, quasi literis, indicantur.”’ (1. 3. Epist: 2 and51.) Inconfirmation of this, Diodorus mentions that the hiero- glyphics were in the Aithiopic character, which is the same as the Chaldaic: for the Acthiopians were the Cuthites from Chaldea, so called from the title of their deity, Aith-Ops,—alOvoTrtK@v Ypappatov Tov tap aiyuTtiow Kadovpevov —Te- poyAudixwv.—(Diodor. 1. 3. p. 145.) The Aithiopie characters called by the Egyptian hierogly- phics. And he adds that these characters, though strange in Egypt, and only understood by a few of the priesthood, were the national characters of the Aithiopians.— Tapa O€ Tots aiGrore amtavTas TovTos ypHOat Tots TUTrols.—(Ibid. p. 144.) But among the Aithiopians these are the characters univer- sally used. It is indifferent, therefore, whether the notions of a Trinity which are found in the writings of Orpheus, Pythagoras and Plato, be referred to the first Hermes, or divine interpreter, Noah, or to the second, whom we have shown to be Joseph—and to one or other of these two they must be referred—for they were equally sources of divine doctrine; both of them being Patriarchs, chosen servants, yea, and friends of The True God, and taught by His Holy Spirit. MAJESTY, DOMINION, AND POWER. 51 dominion, which even the oblivion of the true object of their ascription had failed to eradicate. Triplicity seems to have centered in this Her- mes; for, to him the junction of three ways was sacred; and the sceptre of his majesty was ¢hree- Sold. Antiquarians have perplexed themselves in vain, to discover why the trident was wielded by Hermes, and the earliest and most powerful potentates of the earth; and why it has uni- versally been considered, as the symbol of ma- jesty, dominion, and power. I would ask them also to inquire, why there always has been, and does still exist, an universal tendency in the mind to ascribe triplicity to the highest perfection of every thing? Whether a Christian may account for it in the way I have suggested, or not, is more than I will take upon myself to determine ; but this I will venture to say,—even philosophers must admit, that it is, at least, a striking evidence of the triform impression, the existence of which is all that I am now endeavouring to prove. BE? 52 TRIPLICITY. Under this impression, no doubt, it was, that the empyrean abode of God and the holy angels was styled by St. Paul, “the third heaven :” for it cannot be supposed that by the word “third,” the apostle intended to convey any precise idea of locality; or that he used it for any other purpose than merely to denote ineffable height and perfection; in which sense heaven, as the immediate abode of the Deity, is also called in Scripture “the heaven of heavens.” It is in favour of my opinion, that the Hebrews expressly acknowledged the perfecting property of the num- ber three; for, with them, the letter Schin (w), which is in itself a trident by the by, denoted the number three, or the utmost perfection of every thing. The ancients of the heathen world, also, had a strong sense of this property in the number three; and, in matters of fame and honour, seem to have distinguished the tertian period with peculiar marks of veneration. With them, a person who had carried the prize ¢hree times at MAJESTY, DOMINION, AND POWER. 53 the Olympic Games, was called Trisolympionica, and was dignified with great honor, and invested with important privileges. As I have spoken of the trident as the symbol of earthly power, I cannot properly dis- miss it without viewing it in its more peculiar province, as the sceptre of the ocean, and of the element of water in general. And here specu- lators have been very successful, in discovering a triplicity to which the ¢hree points may imme- diately be referred. They say they were designed to denote the ¢hree sorts of water: those of the sea, which are salt: those of the fountains, which are sweet; and those of ponds, which partake of both these qualities.* * If I am told that the trident (Greek Tplatva) was a cor- ruption of the words Tor-Ain—“ the tower of the fountain of light,’’ a name which was given to the Amonian beacon-temples, ° in the upper casements whereof were placed iron-frames contain- ing fire, which were generally formed, by the by, in the shape of tridents; or that the triple Cerberus, to which I have alluded in the beginning of this treatise, was no dog, but a temple of the sun, called in the Amonian language, Kir-Abor, whence Cerberus; and that the story of his three heads arose from a Greek corruption of the ancient title Tor-Caph-El: i.e. ‘‘ the tower of the hill, 54 TRIPLICITY. But, laying aside all such puny speculations as these, I would desire my reader to embrace the broad opinion, that triplicity has ever charac- terized the notions which men have conceived of power, and majesty, and perfection, in general. It is a splendid instance of the triform impres- sion, and the instruction that may be derived from it, as I humbly conceive, is nobler still! THE CHARACTERISTIC PROPERTY OF LAWS. Having ascertained how universally the fum- ber three prevails in human language and super- stitions, and how it bounds all our ideas of majesty, dominion and power; we do naturally expect to find the same impression on human laws. A treatise like this cannot pretend to enter into an elaborate discussion of the nature of laws or rock of the Sun,’’ which was ignorantly converted into TPLKEPANOS : to all these, and whatever other objections may be made to the instances of triplicity which I have pro- duced from ancient lore, I have only one answer: namely, that I am not concerned to know whether or not there was a real tri- plicity in the objects referred to: it being sufficient for my purpose to demonstrate the tendency of the human mind to perceive or fancy that triplicity, whether it existed or not. LAWS. 55 in general, or to point out all the peculiarities of arrangement and mode of administration, in which they have been established among the various nations of the earth; though I do believe that from the consideration of both these points, and particularly of the latter, might be derived many curious proofs of the triform impression— such as universal tendencies to ternary arrange- ments, and to the observation of tertian periods. If it were my object to enter into such particularities I might speak of the grand division of the powers of the state, in our own country—a division which the most civilized nations, ancient and modern, have considered to be not only the most con- venient, but the safest and wisest; I mean the King—Lords—and Commons. I might notice the ¢hree gradations of ecclesiastical dignity— Bishops—Priests—and Deacons. I might men- tion the ¢riverbal days of the Romans, their only judicial days, “in quibus licebat Praetori fari tria verba, do—dico—addico ;” or, I might speak of our own judicial days, which last for three 56 TRIPLICITY. months in the year, under the direction of three Courts of Justice. I might say, that most of the regular monasteries throughout the world have had ¢riennial superiors—and I might notice the tertian period of our civil responsibility in Eng- land, and tell how, in ¢hrice seven years, we emerge from legal infancy, and become men in the eye of the law. In short, I might swell this chapter with a multitude of instances. But it is ®.,, intention, at present, to take, as it were, a more distant view of my subject, and mark the general character of its form and features. To such a view, the laws of all times and nations must appear the same; because, in all times and places, they have arisen from the same necessity, sin, and disorder; and have been established by the same agent, man. The general characteristic of laws, is severity—their grand design, to warn and punish. If, then, my reader shall have duly weighed the evidence I have produced under the first division of this treatise, and convinced him- self of the universal tendency in man, to express P LAWS. 57 himself with triplicity when powerfully moved to anger, he will reasonably expect to find the same universal tendency in the spirit of laws. For, he is bound to conclude, that the actions of men are produced by the same internal machinery that moves the tongue—that general index’ to the mind; and, consequently, that the same principle which impels a man to pronounce a triple curse, will also impel him to execute triple vengeance. Triplicity is the universal characteristic, nay it is the very symbol of wrath. The angry Jove is painted with a triple bolt; and the torturing scourge of human vengeance assumes a triple lash.* The following instances may be sufficient, * The cat o’ nine tails; under whose lash many a hapless sufferer has acknowledged, with more than superstitious feeling, the energetic force of ‘‘ three times three.”’ The triplicity which has but too often been displayed on the fatal execution tree, is alluded to in the following catch with all the characteristic levity of a ruffian. . “‘And three merry men, and three merry men, And three merry men are we, As ever did sing ¢hree parts in a string; All under the ¢riple tree.’’ FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 58 TRIPLICITY. merely to show how the law inclines to the obser- vation of tertian periods—to punish, with marked severity, the third offence—and visit crimes of great magnitude with threefold vengeance. I leave my reader to increase and strengthen the evidence as he may—my humble design is to pro- mote and direct inquiry, not to satisfy it. First, then, we may observe that justice is es- sentially threefold, or reducible under three heads. “ By a threefold justice the world hath been go- verned from the beginning. [First:—by a justice natural, by which parents and elders of families go- verned their children ; in which the obedience was called natural piety. Secondly :—by a justice divine, drawn from the laws of God; and the obedience was called conscience: and thirdly, by a justice civil, be- gotten by both the former; and the obedience to this we call duty.” RALEIGH. OBSERVATICN OF TERTIAN PERIODS. Any action brought by virtue of 44 Geo. ul. c. 13. must be brought within zhree months after LAWS. 59 the suit—and if the plaintiff fail, the defendant is entitled to triple damages. According to the canonical law of England, the bans of marriage are published three times ; the critical third being held demonstrative of non-opposition to the contract. Criminal communication within the third degree of affinity, becomes incest. By a law of Edward the Confessor, a guest who had lain ¢hree nights at an inn was reputed a domestic, and his host answerable for any offences which he thereafter committed. The act runs thus:— . “Prima nocte incognitus—secunda hospes—tertia domesticus censetur.” © THE THIRD OFFENCE MARKED WiTH PECULIAR SEVERITY. An offender under 13 Geo. iii. c. 33. is liable to pecuniary penalties for the two first offences, but on the third is held to be a felon. 60 TRIPLICITY GREAT CRIMES VISITED WITH THREEFOLD VENGEANCE. Tripodium, in the laws of Henry I. was a threefold penalty for great offences. The act runs thus :— “Tn quibus veré causis, triplicem ladam haberet— ferat judicium tripodii.” Triniumgeld, was a compensation, among our Saxon ancestors, for great crimes; which were not absolved but by paying a fine ¢hrice nine times. While I am on the subject of laws, I cannot forbear to mention a very striking instance, in one of the customs of our Criminal Court of Justice, of the triplicity with which, as I have al- ready observed, we are wont to express ourselves on solemn and affecting occasions. I mean the awful triplicity with which the sentence of death is pronounced; when offended justice assumes the fatal cap, and rising with sad and solemn majesty, LAWS. 61 breathes those withering words, which sweep the guilty wretch from the land of the living— **— to be hanged by the neck, till you are dead— —dead—dead.”’ There is sadness in this reiteration which aptly denotes those emotions of pity and sympathy, which he cannot but feel who dooms a fellow- creature to death! There is a subduing magic in it that almost forbids its utterance. Can any one read it without shuddering? Alas! the trembling criminal feels all its force—it strikes on his ear the knell of parting life! This repetition has been very properly adopted to add terror to the law. It is a warning voice that bids others beware how they incur the same penalty. Of solemn warnings I have already observed that they are wont to be ex- pressed with triplicity. “* Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth—beware—”’ No instances more striking than these of the triform impression on the human mind. 62 TRIPLICITY. I feel how meagre has been my demonstra- tion under this most interesting and copious head: but ¢hree words are sufficient as pointers. This triplicity of “three words,’ by the by, has ever been used to signify comprehensive brevity. ? we mean When we say “ three words with you, that we will compress our discourse within the narrowest limits. We find that the expression was used in the same sense by the ancient Latins: —“ THEOLOGY OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 149 ment of the first of Missionaries — “ Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.” But the argument we have raised on the widely-scattered evidences of triform worship, as it goes back with those evidences to the days of Noah, so it goes to prove the truth of the Mosaic history of the deluge, and the peopling of the world from the common stock preserved in the Ark. Though the researches of geologists have, indeed, pretty firmly established the universality of the deluge, still scepticism, unwilling to be convinced, clings to the impos- sibility of the world’s being peopled from a common centre. But they who search for truth shall find it; and happily this age, amongst its many blessings not the least, can boast of some philosophers who make their labours and talents subservient to the cause of Christianity. Among the numerous and interesting discoveries of Professor Humboldt on the continent of America, are the Picture-writings of the Mexi- 150 TRIPLICITY. cans, which contain the earliest history of that extraordinary people; who at the time of their massacre by Cortes, exhibited such tokens of civilization, nay of science, as would have ar- rested the sword of less barbarous or less avariclous conquerors than the Spaniards of those days. At the head of their hieroglyphical chronicle stands the representation of their Serpent-woman, or common Mother; and next below her that of two young men—evidently her sons, from the very place which they hold in the historical picture—who are striving over a sacrifice. Are there any so disingenuous as to push away this sketch of the Mosaic history of Eve, and her Sons Cain and Abel? Shall it not be received as an evidence that the Mexi- cans, at least, were descended from that ori- ginal family in which all the streams of tradi- tional history take their rise?* It is a remarkable * Tonacacihua, called also ‘‘ the Serpent-Woman,’’ and ‘¢ Woman of our flesh,’’ was the companion of Tonacateuctli, or ‘‘ Lord of our flesh’’—and these two were considered by the Mexicans as the parents of the human race. In the sacred THEOLOGY OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 151 coincidence with the Mexican tradition of the Serpent-mother, that in the histories of China preserved by the Japonese, the great father of that people and their first monarch, called by the Japonese Foki, but by the Chinese Fohi, is represented sometimes with the head, sometimes with the body of a serpent. (See Zend-avesta of the Parsees, translated by M. Du Perron i. 250 notes: and Kempfer, |. 2, 145.) The very correct notions concerning the picture I allude to, a Serpent is represented as speaking to Tona- cacihua; which would appear to be a sketch of the Mosaic account of the Serpent tempting Eve. Tonacacihua was also considered as the Mother of twin children, represented by the two figures wrestling over two vases, one of which is overturned. In which the rejected sacrifice of Cain, and the consequent strife of the two brothers, seem to be figured with singular faithfulness. There is also another tradition, mentioned by the same author, which agrees remarkably with the Mosaic account of Noah’s despatching the bird from the Ark. ‘“The people of Mechoacan preserved a tradition, according to which Coxeox, whom they called Tezpi, embarked in a spacious Acalli with his wife, his children, several animals, and grain, the preservation of which was of importance to mankind. When the Great Spirit, Tezcatlipoca, ordered the waters to withdraw, Tezpi sent out from his bark a vulture. This bird, which feeds on dead flesh, did not return, on account of the great number of carcases, with which the earth, recently dried up, was strewed. Tezpisent out other birds, one of which, the humming bird, alone, returned, holding in its beak a branch covered with leaves. ‘Tezpi, seeing that fresh verdure began to clothe the soil quitted his bark near the mountain of Colhuacan.’? (See Humboldt’s Researches in America.) 152 TRIPLICITY. nature and offices of the Second Person of The Trinity which have been held by many people from the remotest periods of antiquity, lead to ~a conclusion equally favourable to the Mosaic history. The Chaldeans, Pheenicians, Greeks, and Romans, both in their writings, and by their oracles, declared that The Supreme had begot another Being from all eternity, whom they sometimes call The Son of God, some- times The Word, sometimes The Mind, and sometimes The Wisdom of God; and asserted him to be the Creator of all things. Among the sayings of the Magi, the descendants of Zoroaster, this is one— “TTavra é&eréXece ITarnp, kat vo Sé8axe SevTepw.”” “The Father finished all things, and delivered them to the second mind —” Almost the very words in which Saint John bore witness to our Saviour. “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands.” JOHN iii. 35, : THEOLOGY OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 153 As this remarkable saying is traced through the Magi to Zoroaster, it may not be impertinent here to observe, that Zoroaster is a solar title compounded of the Amonian terms Zor-Aster: i.e. Sol Asterius: for Zor, Sor, Sur, Sehor, among the Amonians, always related to the Sun. Though by the Magi, who were priests of the Sun, this title was very commonly borne, so that there were many Zoroasters, yet the great prototype was evi- dently Noah, from the legend which is appended to the name. In the Zend-Avesta of the Parsees, we find him identified with the Sacred Bull, called L’7homme Taureau, the same as the ox-like Osiris of Egypt, who was undoubtedly the great Patri- arch, worshipped under the emblem of an ox, in commemoration of his being the first tiller of the ground, the patron of agriculture, and the father of a more fruitful dispensation than the antediluvian, the cursed barrenness of which js frequently alluded to in the heathen mysteries. In the book I have mentioned L’homme Taureau is thus addressed. “Je vous le dis, 6 pur Zo- 154 TRIPLICITY. roastre, que Venvie, que la mort soit sur la terre.” In another part of the same work we meet with a curious proof that L’homme Tau- reau, called Zoroaster, was Noah. For we are told that an ox-like personage, named Taschter, was employed by the indignant Deity to bring on an universal deluge, whereby all impurity might be washed away from the face of the world. Now Taschter is nothing more nor less than the second member of the twofold Solar title Zoroaster, placed out of composition, with the particle prefixed: The-ashter. For Da, De, Die and The were used as demonstrative particles in many of the ancient languages, particularly in the Chaldaic, Saxon and Teutonic. On Da, for instance, which occurs in Daniel iv. 27; vii. 3, 8. Buxtorf says (1) Da, Chaldaice hee, asta, hoc, tllud. Hence the Ark was called Da- Mater: 1. e. The Mother cat cEoynv, as giving birth to all living creatures. This diluvian Deity, in conclusion, is represented as triform, and particularly entrusted to the care of the Ie ys ee ee a) a ee ee ee ee THEOLOGY OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 155 good angels during his perilous enterprize. “Les ames pures veillerent avec soin_ sur Taschter; qui a comme frois corps; le corps dun homme, le corps d’un Cheval, et le corps dun taureau.” In which triplicity I fancy there is an allusion to the triform construction of the Ark, and the tripartite allotment of the living creatures therein contained. For it was built, according to the express command of God, with ¢hree stories: —“with lower, second and third stories shalt thou make it.” (Gen. v1. 16.) Wherein, by the by, we have the highest of all testimony to the virtue of the number f¢hree, as the law of order, proportion and harmony. For, when, in all the history of the world, were those qualities so necessary as on that occasion, when so many heterogeneous species and con- flicting dispositions were confined together under the same roof? Harmonized no doubt they were by The Spirit of God, but still through the agency of natural means. That a property which was peculiar to the Ark should be applied "156 TRIPLICITY. personally to Noah, though it may seem repug- nant, does, nevertheless, make nothing against my interpretation: for the sacred bull was wor- shipped as the representative both of the Ark and the Arkite, in Egypt, as well as in other parts of the world. According to Timotheus Chronographus, Or- pheus declared that there was a certain incompre- hensible Being, the highest and most ancient of all things, who was Maker of the universe. That the earth was invisible by reason of the darkness that brooded on it, until the light breaking through the ether, shed splendour on the whole creation. And this light he asserted, was the same supreme incomprehensible Being who created all things, and whose name was Counsel, Light, Giver of Life, being One Godhead, of Three Names.* How * This was one of the most ancient deities of the Amonians and named Meed, or Meet; by which was signified divine wisdom. It was rendered by the Grecians Myrtus in the masculine, but seems to have been a feminine deity, and represented under the symbol of a beautiful female countenance surrounded with ser- pents. The authors of the Orphic poetry make Metis the origin of THEOLOGY OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 157 exactly these appellations correspond with the Scriptural epithets of The Second Person of The Holy Trinity! ORPHEUS. SCRIPTURE. Whose name is Counsel. ** And his name shall be called Counseller.’— Isaiah ix. 6. all things ; which Proclus expresses TID Sncoupyteny aitiav: the creating cause, and supposes this personage to be the same as Phanes, and Dionusus, from whom all things proceeded. The passage alluded to above is as follows : éppace dé (0 ‘Opdevts— v. Euseb. Chron. p. 4,1. 42.) 67¢ TO Has pnEav Tov abépa ehotice Tacav Tiy Kticw* eure éxelvo eivas TO pas \ / To pntav Tov aibépa To Tpoepnucvor, 76 UTEPTAT, Uf, re: / Gy Be) \ ’ \ Sek b) TTAVTMV, OU OVOJLQA O AUTOS Opdevs, QKOUOAS EK KM rn e/ If n Telas, é€eime Mijris, brrep Epnveverat Bound, Dads, Zwodorip. Himev &v tH avtév &Oece: tab’tas tas Tpels Geias THY ovowaTtwv Suvdmers pilav elvar Sbva- \ e/ / / x c/ > \ e fa) bw, Kal ev Kpatos TovTw@V Oeov, bv ovdels Opa. Orpheus asserted that light, breaking through the ether, lighted the whole creation: adding that the self-same light which so broke the ether, was the highest of all things: to which he (Orpheus) being instructed by an oracle, gave the name of Metis, which, by interpretation, is CounsEL, Lieut, Grver or Lire. fe said, moreover, in his exposition thereof, that the THREE powers represented by these THREE names were ONE power, and that in their TRIPLE UNITY Of strength they constituted the invisible God.’’ 158 Light. TRIPLICITY. ‘A Light to lighten the Gentiles.’’—Luke i. 32. «And the Light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”’ —John 1. 5. “ That was the true — Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”’—Ib. v. 9. * Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.”’—Ibid ii. 19. “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.” —Ibid vii. 12. ““T am come a light in- to the world.’’—Ibid xi. 46. And that Jesus was personally Light, in the nature of His Divinity, He plainly declared, when He warned the people, who had just heard the THEOLOGY OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 159 Light. voice of The Father testi- fying to his eternal glory in The Godhead, that they should use The Light while it was with them, for that it would shortly be removed: in token whereof he imme- diately hid himself,— “Then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while is The Light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have Light, believe in The Light, that ye may be children of Light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide Himself from them.”— John xii.°35, 36. ‘« And the City had no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon, to shine in 160 TRIPLICITY. Light. it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light there- of,”’—Apoc. xxi. 23. ORPHEUS. SCRIPTURE. Giver of Life. ‘Tam the way, and the truth, and the Life.”— John xiv. 6. ‘“TIn Him was life; and the life was the light of men.’’—lIbid 1. 4. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting Jlife.’’ — Ibid v. 24. ““Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.” —lIbid vi. 56. And that the Second Person of the Trinity was the Creator of all things, is unequivocally declared in the Scriptures. THEOLOGY OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 161 “ All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” JoHNi. 3. . Orpheus also wrote that man was formed out of the dust of the earth, which is a remarkable coincidence with the Mosaic account of the crea- tion. Cyrus, too, seems to have been acquainted with our lowly common origin; for, according to Xenophon, he thus addresses his sons from his. death-bed— “As to my body, my Sons, when life has forsaken it, inclose it neither in gold, nor silver, nor any other matter. Restore it immediately to the earth.” Does not the implication of the word “restore” chime mournfully with the sentence pronounced against our first parents— “For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”’ O, when the pages of antiquity, and the monu- ments of ages that are gone, are scanned and ex- plored with the spirit of truth and with Christian WOU. oI. M 162 TRIPLICITY. zeal, what proofs and confirmations do they not present to us of the truth of our blessed Scrip- Guresics “Tt will be found from repeated evidences,” says the learned Bryant, “that every thing which the divine historian has transmitted, is most as- suredly true.” I have observed that the remarkable coinci- dences of the Orphean and Platonic notions with the revealed word, have sometimes had the effect of perplexing the minds of my Christian brethren, as seeming to throw a doubt upon the true source of revelation. But these difficulties would be re- moved, I think, if they would consider, first, that the Bible is most unquestionably the oldest history in the world; and, consequently, that whatever coincides with it confirms it. And, secondly, that the whole of the Heathen Theo- logy, as I trust may be inferred from the various arguments to that effect which I have produced in this treatise, may be traced directly to the * See Appendix (2.) THEOLOGY OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 163 Noachic family and the events connected with the deluge; and, consequently, in so far as that theology has preserved, amidst its corruptions, any resemblance to the divine Tecordsaltaisy a testimony to the truth thereof. 164 THE TRIFORM IMPRESSION ON THE HOG Ye os 0 Rh LPI Rs I come ‘now to take an humble survey of the Scriptures. My reader will find that the same im- pression which I have endeavoured to demonstrate in the nature of man, and in the theology of the heathen world, may be traced on the sacred pages of the Bible. He will find anger, sorrow, threatening, punishment,—all, in short, that expresses the human passions or is calculated to arouse them, invested with the character of tri- plicity. But, what I would more earnestly com- mend to his attention, is the ternary arrangement of solemn and important events, and the perfecting THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 165 property of the tertian period. All the solemn epochas that are exhibited in the history of man» from the creation of the world to its redemption, are stamped with the seal of triplicity ; and par- ticularly do the foreshadowings of the Blessed Messiah exhibit that impression, whose Advent was ordained before the creation, and whose birth into the world was the perfecting of all that had preceded it. I doubt not but my reader, when he shall per- ceive how greatly the sacred volume strengthens and illustrates the evidence of the triform im- pression in general, will look upon that impres- sion with the reverence due to a sign which, considering its universality on the one side, and its holiness on the other, can only have been imprinted by the hand of God. And thus, the purpose of this treatise will be answered; for, if he refers the triform impression to God at all, he will refer it in its holiest acceptation— as a token of the triunity of His Godhead. I shall preserve the form of a catalogue, 166 TRIPLICITY. because it suits my humble pretensions; and because it is favourable to brevity, which I court for my reader’s sake, as well as my own. Nevertheless, I shall not fail to enlarge upon any head that may seem to require a more copious investigation than others. As for my speculations, I trust there is nothing in them contrary to the tenets of the Church; and I hope they will be received with indulgence, as the production of a layman, wholly ignorant of the various systems of theology which obtain in the Christian world—a variety, indeed, which is greatly to be regretted, as render- ing the Scriptures perplexing and all but inacces- sible to the weak and timid; and as displaying an appearance of inconsistency, in which worldly men are apt to find an excuse for disregarding the Church altogether. I present them to my ingenuous reader with the humility and yet the confidence of one who is acquainted with no other book of divinity than the Bible, and far less than enough with that: as nothing more, in 5] “SEVEN, A SCRIPTURAL NUMBER. 167 short, than an attempt to demonstrate, from sacred texts, the sacred doctrine of The Trinity, and to show that triplicity, if properly esteemed’ may serve as a schoolmaster to lead us thereunto. And thus, I trust this little work of mine will escape the notice of critics, since there is nothing in the tendency and object of it that deserves their censure—nor any thing that aspires to their praise. “SEVEN,” A SCRIPTURAL NUMBER. As the number seven is mentioned frequently in Scripture with peculiar emphasis, it may be well to take it into our consideration. We shall find, I think, that the distinction it has acquired originated in triplicity, and that in many of its applications, its native character, if I may so express myself, has been preserved.* It was doubtless to keep the Jews in mind of the Sabbath day that the number seven was made so conspicuous in Scripture; and hence * See Appendix (3.) 168 TRIPLICITY. in the Mosaic law it is generally mentioned under the notion of rest, or deliverance from labour and servitude; figuring that rest into which The Almighty entered when He ceased. from the work of creation, and bestowed His blessing on his creatures. But, considered thus, as the representative of the Sabbath, the number seven is a sublime example of triplicity ; bind- ing up the work of creation, within two periods of three days each, and celebrating the rest on the seventh, which every way involves triplicity : by its position—as the third period, following the two ¢riplets; by its unity, as being the third part of each: and lastly, by being a septenary, which has in itself the character of triplicity, being a critical term of the tertian series. 1. 3..5.27. But there is still another view which the Scripture gives us of the number seven, with re- ference to the finished work of creation; i.e. as denoting sufficiency, universality, and perfection : in which view of it we must not lose sight of its “SEVEN,” A SCRIPTURAL NUMBER. 169 ternary character. Parkhurst observes that the Greek éra is a plain derivation from the Hebrew v2, or nyaw, which is the number of sufficiency, or denotes a sufficient number. The radical meaning of the former of these words being sufficiency, JSulness, the number seven was denominated from this root, because it was on that day from the creation that The Lord 4n, (Gen. ii. 2,) completed or finished all his work, and made it sufficient for the purpose to which it was designed. In accordance with this scholium, Bossuet, on Apoc. v. 1, makes the following observations :— “Les Saints Docteurs ont remarqué que le nom- bre sept étoit consacré dans ce livre, pour signifier une certaine wniversalité et perfection : c’est pour- quoi on a vu d’abord les sept esprits qui sont de- vant le Trone: (c. 1. v. 4.) Sept chandeliers, sept €toiles, sept eglises, pour designer toute Punité catholique, comme ila été remarqué 14 méme, 4. 12. 16. 20, &c. On avu ensuite les sept lampes brulantes, qui sont encore les sept esprits: c. 4. v. 5. Dans le chapitre que nous expliquons, on sig- 170 TRIPLICITY. nifie ces mémes sept esprits par les sept cornes, et les sept yeux de L’Agneau, c. 5. v. 6. C’est que dans le nombre de sept on entend une certaine perfection, soit 4 cause des sept jours de la-se- maine, marqués dés la creation, ot la perfection est dans le septieme; soit pour quelque autre raison. Ici il-y-a sept sceaux: on entendra dans la suite sept anges avec leurs trompettes, and sept tonnerres. Sept anges porteront les phioles, ou les coupes pleines de la colére de Dieu. Le dragon et la béte qu’il animera auront sept tétes; enfin, tout ira par sept dans ce divin livre, jusqu’a don- ner 4 L’Agneau, en le benissant, sept glorifications: Cc. Vv. ve 12—et autant 4 Dieu, c. vu. v. 12: ce qwil faut observer d’abord, de peur qu’on ne croie que ce soit partout un nombre prefix: mais qu’on remarque, au contraire, que c’est un nombre mysterieux, pour signifier la perfection. On sait aussi que c’est une facon de parler de la langue Sainte, de signifier wn grand nombre et indéfini par le nombre défini de sept.” In the same manner I conceive we must “SEVEN,” A SCRIPTURAL NUMBER. 171 understand what the Psalmist says :—“ Seven times a day do I praise Thee,” Psalm cxix. 164; and, according to Calmet, my opinion is not singular ; for, on this passage he observes, that the most part of the interpreters understood the number seven to denote a great many times: in which sense it is used in many other parts of the Scripture. “Interpretum plerique,” says he, “septenarium numerum indefinité pro pluribus vicibus, non secus ac in pluribus aliis Scripture locis, interpretantur.” For example: Prov. xxiv. 16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.” Levit. xxvi. 28, “And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.” 1 Samuel ii. 5, “So that the barren hath borne seven.” Psalm xii. 6, “ As silver purified seven times ;” and in many other passages. Wherefore Suidas said with great justice, émra él mdjOous taTretat. “Seven is put for a multitude.” So much for the origin and character of the number seven. As for its application, we may observe that its tertian periods are very parti- 172 TRIPLICITY. cularly distinguished in many parts of the Old and New Testament. Thus, when God com- manded the Sabbath of the land, “that it should be a year of rest unto the land,’—He blessed the sixth year with a threefold blessing, saying,— “IT will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years: and ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of old fruit until the ninth year.” Leviticus xxv. 21, 22, In the reign of good king Hezekiah, when the people of Judah returned from idolatry to the worship of the true and only God, and pre- pared their gifts for his holy service, they began to make their collection in the ¢hird month, and finished in the seventh. “In the ¢hird month they began to lay the founda- tion of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.” 2 CHRON. xxxi. 7. In the ordinances respecting the separating of unclean persons, we find that the seventh “SEVEN,” A SCRIPTURAL NUMBER. 173 day is the day of returning cleanness, in com- memoration of the Sabbath: but herein, also, the third period is distinctly marked; for the unclean person is strictly enjoined to purify him- self on the ¢hird day, as the only means of being clean on the seventh. “He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but, if he purify not himself on the third day, then, the seventh day he shall not be clean.” NumsBers xix. 11, 12. Perhaps, the severity of this law of purifica- tion on the third day from the body of the dead, may have some allusion to the time and circum- stance of our Blessed Lord’s death and resur- rection; who rose pure from the dead on the third day, and saw not corruption. Indeed, all the institutions of the Mosaic law were fore- shadowings of the coming of The Redeemer, and unless the Books of Moses are read with this conviction they will profit us nothing. 174 TRIPLICITY. In the Apocalypse, triplicity is very conspi- cuous, nor is the number seven less distinguished ; but still, in the use of that number, we may ob- serve the prevalence of the ternary arrangement. Thus, of the seven angels who sounded the seven trumpets, the ¢hree last are reserved for the so- lemn proclamation of the “ three woes.” «And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, woe, " woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels which are yet to sound.” Apoce. vili. 138. TRIPLICITY AND TERNARY ARRANGEMENT OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. In twice three days the world was created, and the sixth day was the first of man’s existence. The perception of this triplicity in the order of creation, was evidently the ground-work of that tradition concerning the duration of the world, which prevailed among the Jews, and was even adopted by several of the Christian Fathers; namely, IMPORTANT EVENTS. 175 that the world would last 6000 years, which they divided into three periods, of 2000 years each: to wit—2000 before the law—2000 under the law— and 2000 under The Messiah. “« For, as the world was created in siz days,’ says Bishop Newton, “so they conceived it would endure 6000 years: ‘one day being with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ ”—(2 Pet. iii. 8.) We have already pointed out the triplicity which seems to govern the motions of the sea and the tide. We shall find that even the tumultuous waters of the deluge obeyed the same mysterious law, exhibiting the most impressive example that was ever displayed by the physical world, of the critical property of the tertian period. The waters of the deluge attained to their highest pitch in “an hundred and fifty duxs :” Gen. vii. 24. That is, in the fifth month, or the third term of a tertian series: which was a favourable crisis, for then they began to be “as- suaged,” and “returned from off the earth con- 176 TRIPLICITY. tinually.” Gen. vii. 1,3. At the next term of the series, or “ the seventh month,” the waters had so far decreased that the Ark grounded on Ararat. (v. 4.) At the next critical period, or precisely at the end of nine months, the dry land appeared :— “The tops of the mountains were seen.” (v. 5.) Thus the series runs :— Waters at their highest. | The Ark grounds. | Dry land is seen. Lists sisisiels ofs'° sdeleicletoteieites Dovareye sieieiere|s area tele os Tie asians o6 Mee Q. Three times, at intervals of seven days, did Noah send out his dove from the Ark, and at the third time it found a resting place. Lively type of The Blessed Saviour, who is all in all to man; at once, the Messenger, the Olive Branch, and the Resting Place! Upon Him did the heavenly Dove descend, showing thereby that He was ordained to be to man a place of rest holy and secure: and how graciously did those accents fall from his lips which bore witness to his office ! “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” IMPORTANT EVENTS. L77 Like the dove in the Ark, He dwelt with us in our earthly tabernacle, our ark of flesh; and when the waters of sin and death had well nigh gone over our souls, He went forth to sound all the depths and shoals of the flood of His Father’s wrath ; and having prepared a way for us, even as the dove flew from the Ark at the third time, so He, on the third day, rose triumphant from the grave, and left behind Him the Olive Branch— the Gospel of Peace—the token of His everlast- ing Intercession, and the promise of His glorious Return.* In the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites arrived at Sinai, the awful spot whence The Almighty was about to promulgate his law, and declare his Name and power. “In the third month, when the Children of Israc] were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.” Hope xixel: And The Almighty commanded them, by * See Appendix (4.) VOL. Tf. N 178 TRIPLICITY. Moses, to purify themselves two days, and be ready against the third; for, on the third day The Lord would come down in the sight of all the people. « And the Lord said unto Moses, go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day : for the third day, the Lord will come down in the sight of, all the people, upon Mount Sinai.” Exon: xix. 10;ee Let not this ternary arrangement be supposed to be accidental or unimportant. Was not the same order preserved in the blessed dispensation of grace and the Gospel? On the third day The Lord came down from heaven on Sinai, and pro- claimed the law amidst surrounding terrors, and with ineffable unbearable majesty. On the third day, The Lord arose from the grave with healing in his wings, and proclaimed pardon, justification, and peace. And thus the ceremonial law was established and abolished with equal triplicity. Now, the conclusion to be built on these premises IMPORTANT EVENTS. 179 is this—that it was one and the same Lord who thundered from Sinai, and expired at Golgotha— the same Lord who created man and redeemed him—and that triplicity is his peculiar sign. “ Sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes and be ready against the third day,” was the proclamation from Sinai; and thus did The Saviour proclaim Himself on earth, ‘Go ye, and tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” And again— *« Nevertheless, I must walk to-day and to-morrow, and the day following.” LuKEe xii. 32, 33. "Tt was as a sort of prefiguration of the awful tertian period which was celebrated at Sinai, per- * haps, that Moses, according to the command of God, desired of Pharaoh, that the Israelites might go a three day’s journey into the wilderness to worship. And it may be observed that Moses, who was an eminent type of our Saviour, to Neg 180 TRIPLICITY. whom, moreover, God proclaimed His Name, and delivered His law, with such mysterious triplicity, did in his own history exhibit two tertian periods of the most eventful description. He was ¢hree months concealed, and then exposed to the waters of the Nile. But he was destined to be the Saviour of his people ; and Pharaoh’s daughter, at this fatal crisis, was moved to take compassion on him. Three years afterwards she adopted him, and had him instructed in all the learning of Egypt. These ternary arrangements in the history of Moses are only important, in as much as he was a type of our Saviour. The triplicity of those persons and events which prefigured The Messiah is highly so; because the triplicity of the type and the antitype must both be accounted for in the same way, and both of them be traced to the same holy source. The correspondence between the first critical period of the life of Moses and that of The Messiah, is particularly striking. On the existence of Moses depended the fate of the Jews; yet he was included in the terms of a cruel IMPORTANT EVENTS. 181 edict, proclaimed by Pharaoh, which doomed to death all the male children of Israel. But Moses was delivered, and found protection in the very Court of the King of Egypt. On our Saviour de- pended the salvation of all mankind, and He was, in like manner, subject to a similar law, passed by the cruel Herod; from whose power He escaped, being miraculously guided into Egypt, where he found safety until the tyranny was overpast.* On the third year, our Saviour, having kept the disciples constantly with Him until that period, sent them out to preach the Gospel— another tertian period in which the fate of man- kind was intimately concerned. In the baptism of the Apostles, also, which was another important event in the history of man, * There are some who are of opinion that this act of Herod’s can- not be unquestionably proved; though the learned Lardner advocates its credibility, after the most candid examination of the evidence. But St. Matthew, himself, does most strongly support the fact he relates, when he declares it was the accomplishment of a prophecy of Jeremiah’s—thus uniting to his own historical credit, the credit of the Prophet. It may, nevertheless, perhaps, receive some additional proof, from its concordance with an event in the history of one who was so eminently a type of The Redeemer. 1S8z TRIPLICITY. we may remark a striking triplicity, in the use of three symbols—water, wind, and fire. If it be allowable to reason curiously upon such a sub- ject, we may try how aptly these symbols typify the Gospel. The water denotes its purity—the fire its zeal—and the wind its extensiveness. By John, the Apostles were baptized with water; and he declared that the time was at hand when they should be baptized with the other elements, through the power and grace of The Messiah. “T, indeed, baptize you with water; but one, mightier than I, cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” Luxe in. 16. Accordingly, on the day of Pentecost, The Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in wind and fire. ‘And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing and mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting—and there appeared IMPORTANT EVENTS. 183 unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” * Acts i. 2, 3: I will conclude this head with a brief recapi- tulation of some of the triplicities which cha- racterized the close of our Blessed Saviour’s life in the flesh. Whether they were so in- tended, or not, surely it were good for man, and especially becoming in a Christian, to trea- sure them up, as silent but affecting evidences of The Trinity of his Godhead. Thrice was Jesus denied by his friend and disciple Peter. For thrice ten pieces of silver He was be- trayed. At the third hour He was crucified. At the sixth, darkness overspread the land and lasted three hours. * The necessity of regeneration is a fundamental doctrine with the Hindoos; and their three superior classes are called twice-born, or born again of the Gayatri, which is their Trinity. Christians, also, are born again of The Holy Trinity, being baptized into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 184 TRIPLICITY. At the ninth hour our Blessed Lord gave up the Ghost. The Superscription on the Cross was written in three languages.* * This singular arrangement was not without its design. Every circumstance that attended the death of the Saviour, involved, as I conceive, the interests of mankind. The vail of the Temple was rent, denoting that all men, from that time, should have access to the Father through The Crucified Son, and through him only; and the mixture of languages, in the Super- scription of the Cross, denoted that Jesus should be preached to all nations and tongues. Indeed, the great and wonderful exten- siveness, which The Almighty had given by turns to the Greek and Roman arms, had already prepared a large portion of man- kind for the reception of the Gospel.—‘It was,” says the learned and pious Rollin, ‘by an effect of the same Provi- dence which prepared from far the ways of the Gospel that, when the Messiah revealed himself in the flesh, God had united together almost all nations by the Greek and Latin tongues, and had subjected to one Monarch, from the ocean to the Euphrates, all the people not united by language, in order to give a more free course to the preaching of the Gospel. When profane history is studied with judgment and maturity, it must lead us to these reflections, and point out to us the manner in which The Al- mighty makes the empires of the earth subservient to the reign of His Son.”’ From these observations, also, we may learn how truly our Saviour came in the fulness of time, as St. Paul says— ** When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son.”? GALATIANS iy. 4, By the law of Moses, the Jews were commanded to avoid all mixtures—they were not even allowed to sow various sorts of IMPORTANT EVENTS. 185 On the third day Jesus arose from the dead. According to the harmony of Tatian, our Lord was crucified in the third year of his Ministry, and at the ¢hird Passover. Trenceus, also, computes three Passovers in the compass of his Ministry. If we take the mean of opinions concerning the duration of our Saviour’s Ministry, we shall fix it at three years. For some, as Kusebius, make it a little more, and others, as Origen, something less than three years. There is also reason to think that the most public and im- portant part of it was one third of the whole period—or one year. Mr. Mann supports this opinion by a very apposite quotation from the New Testament; even the words of our Saviour Himself, when he recited one of the prophecies seeds together, in order to keep up in their minds the necessity of separating themselves from the heathen—but, now, in the fulness of time, that necessity was done away with, and the Law of Moses, as to that particular, was abolished; a doctrine which was intimated by the mixture of languages on the Cross, and was afterwards more particularly impressed on the mind of St. Peter by the vision of unclean animals, 186 TRIPLICITY. of Isaiah, and declared that it was then fulfilled in Himself. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of The Lord. And He closed the Book, and gave it again to the Minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the Synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Luxe iv. 18—21. Mr. Mann consider this passage as conclu- sive to his opinion. THE COVENANT OF GRACE. Having considered the ternary arrangement of important Scriptural events, and noticed some of the most striking triplicities which characterized the Ministry and sufferings of Our Lord; let us now take a short review of the Covenant of Grace, COVENANT OF GRACE. 187 in which we shall find that all was promised, all proceeded and was fulfilled in triplicity. The covenant was made with the ¢hree first Patriarchs, who have therefore been called by divines, the “ sacred three”—and therefore, also, The Almighty, in addressing the Israelites, styles Himself in a peculiar manner The God of these three—“The God of Abraham—The God of Isaac —and the God of Jacob.” Three angels con- veyed to Abraham and Sarah the joyful Word of Promise,* “Sarah shall have a Son,” in whose seed all the nations of the earth were to be blessed; to whom The Almighty pledged his word, saying—“ My covenant will I establish with Tsaac.” And when God deigned, in the fulness of his appointed time, to fix His Holy Name and law with those whom He had so graciously chosen, He preserved, as I have already shown, the same mysterious triplicity—“ On the third day The Lord came down on Sinai.” In * *¢ For this is the word of promise, at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a Son.’’—Rom. ix. 9. 188 TRIPLICITY. the course of three several periods, of equal duration, which are particularly marked by St. Matthew, the promise made to Isaac was realized in the coming of the Messiah. “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations ; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations,” MatruHew i. 17. Here we may observe that the ¢Aree divisions of time are marked by ¢hree important events ; the seed of Abraham placed on the throne of Israel; the carrying away into captivity; and the coming of The Messiah. And each period more- over is distinguished by a conspicuous personage: —the first by the faithful Abraham to whom the promise was renewed that was made in Paradise— the second, by David, the anointed of The Lord, the man after God’s own heart—and the third, by the adorable Messiah, The Incarnate Son of God. Three witnesses testified in the Sacred Per- COVENANT OF GRACE. 189 son of our Saviour—(1 John v. 8) :—three favou- rite disciples were singled out to be the witnesses of his retirements—the same three witnessed, when he raised the damsel; the same ¢hyee wit- nessed his heavenly glory on the Mount;* the same three witnessed his agony in the garden; and the same ¢hree were chosen to bear witness, after his death, to the Incarnation of his Divinity. : * It is a thing worthy of observation, that this transcendently important event is recorded by three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who were not eye-witnesses, so that it has every pos- sible sort of testimony, and all alike bearing the character of triplicity. tT Thus St. John testifies in the name of all the three :— ** And The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of The Only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.’’ 4 St. Jouni. 14. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands haye handled of The Word of life.’’ 1 JoHN i. 1. And St. Peter, in his 2d Epistle i. 16—18, particularly declares the same glorious truth, proving it by a reference to The Transfiguration :— ‘“We were eye-witnesses,’’ says he, ‘‘of his majesty. For He received from God The Father, honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the Holy Mount.’’ 190 TRIPLICITY. Three years did He minister in public—in the third He was condemned to the Cross—at the third hour He suffered—in three hours more darkness. overspread the land—in three more The Saviour expired—on the third day He rose from the dead. Three years He kept the disciples with him, and then sent them forth to preach salvation—in three gradations the Gospel stretched from the* Jews to the idola- trous Gentiles.* Thrice did a sign from heaven betoken the admission .of the Gentiles into the Gospel dispensation—thrice did a voice from heaven warn the Holy Peter that salvation was to be universal. —and three Ambassadors, through the agency of the devout Cornelius, were sent by God, to invite and welcome the Apostle * The Gospel attained to its fulness in the third stage of its progress. First, it was preached eight years among the Jews only—then, secondly, it reached the devout Gentiles, among whom it was preached three years—and, thirdly, it reached the idolatrous Gentiles, and became universal under Claudius, an. reg. 4. COVENANT OF GRACE. 19] and the doctrine of his Lord and Master, to the hearts of the heathen.* Thus we find that the holiest and the greatest blessings which have flowed from heaven have flowed in triplicity. The Covenant to which The Almighty Himself affixed his seal and pledged his awful oath, is marked with uni- versal triplicity. That stupendous act of love, far more wonderful than the creation, which has made this world the theatre on which is fastened the enraptured gaze of the hosts of heaven, from the first scene of it to the last, is performed with triplicity. And shall man, for whose benefit the theatre was raised, the act performed, be blind to the triplicity with which all the glorious procession moves and is invested? * ‘We may, also, observe, as another instance of that triplicity which so peculiarly invests every thing that belongs to our Sal- vation, that the end of preaching is considered by divines as threefold, viz.:—to humble the sinner—to exalt the Saviour— and to promote holiness. The Law of Moses, also, was of a threefold nature, it was— judicial—ceremonial—and moral. But, O, how much more lovely than this, is the triplicity of The Gospel ! 192 TRIPLICITY. Is it for man to say that the universal sign is unmeaning or accidental? Surely not: what- ever comes from God, comes of purpose, though its relations of cause and effect may lie beyond the reach of human investigation. The sign is there—it is displayed from heaven—and, surely, a Christian, without being charged with enthu- siasm, may revere it as a token of that Holy Trinity, which must ever be, in this life, the object of his faith, not of his understanding. If it may be allowed to trace the sacred current to a lower degree than the blessed salvation, the wide sea of salvation into which it flows; we may find it gliding along the in- dented margin of human life, visiting with its healing waters the deepest recesses of human misery, and tempering and sweetening social intercourse in all its various combinations. We have in our own history a curious and memo- rable instance of the triplicity of our Saviour’s Death and Resurrection procuring to us a season of rest in triplicity, at a time when universal COVENANT OF GRACR. 193 discord prevailed; when every man’s hand was: against his neighbour, and peace and security seemed to be banished for ever from the land— at a time, in short, when nothing but a miracle could have healed the broken ligament of society. I speak of the memorable Act, called the “Truce of God.” In the year 1032, a resolution was formed that no man should continue private hos- tilities, during the interval between every Thurs- day evening and Monday morning; those three days being considered as particularly holy—our Blessed Lord’s Passion having happened on one of them, and his Resurrection on the other. “ A change,” says Robertson, “so sudden in the dis- position of men, and which produced a resolution So unexpected, was considered as miraculous; and the respite from hostilities which followed upon it, was called the ‘Truce of God?” I have said that the same triform impression which, in the first general division of this treatise, I have attempted to trace on the human mind, is VOL. 1; O 194 . TRIPLICITY. indelibly imprinted on the pages of Scripture —where anger, sorrow, threatening, punishment, all, in short, that expresses the human pas- sions, or is calculated to arouse them, is invested with the character of triplicity. Per- haps I shall not meet with a better oppor- tunity than the present, of introducing a few proofs of my proposition. TRIPLICITY IN THREATENINGS AND PUNISHMENTS. When David had offended The Lord in num- bering the people, Gad, the Seer, was commis- sioned to offer him the choice of three punish- ments, as the expiation of his fault. «Go, and say unto David, Thus, saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one that 1 may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him and said unto him, shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land?—or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? —or that there be three days pestilence in thy land?” 2 Sam. xxiv. 12. es a <3 THREATENINGS AND PUNISHMENTS. 195 Thus is Moab threatened— *““ Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude.” Isarau xvi. 14, When The Lord threateneth the idolatry of Israel, three evils are the messengers of wrath— “Alas! for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the Famine, and by the pestilence. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.” FOZEK. vin 11, dy And again— “The sword is without, and the pestilence and the Samine within.” Ezex. vi. 15. Thus is Jerusalem threatened— “Thou, therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time.” Ezex. xxi. 14. 196 TRIPLICITY. In this instance we find extreme wrath is treble. So, also, when the obstinacy of Pha- raoh was punished with the plague of darkness. ‘“‘Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days.” Exon: °x. (22 02a: When God took vengeance on Israel for the crimes of Saul— ‘‘There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year.” 2 SAM. XXipuae When God punished the wicked Ahab, there was a famine in the land ¢hree years; and in the third year The Lord had mercy. “The word of The Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, go shew thyself unto Ahab; aud I will send rain upon the earth.” 1 Kines xvii. 1. Vengeance denounced against Jerusalem— ‘A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, > THREATENINGS AND PUNISHMENTS. 197 and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee: and I will scatter a third part into all the winds; and I will draw a sword out after them.” ' Ezex. v. 12. The Lord denounces vengeance against his people, but remembering his mercy, and his cove- nant with the sacred three, He promises to save a remnant. *« And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith The Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my Name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people, and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” ARCH, Xiin8; 9. The degradation of Jerusalem foretold. “Thus saith The Lord God: remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high—I will overturn, overturn, overturn it.’ ize Raxxty 2682.4, 198 TRIPLICITY. This is a beautiful example of emphatic tri- plicity, nor is the following less to be admired: in which the word of The Lord threatens the final desolation of Israel, and bewails the sad cause of God’s just indignation. “« An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. Now the end is come upon thee.” And again,— «An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee, behold, zt is come.” Ezer. vu. 2; 3; 6. But the following instance is still more im- pressive. Our Blessed Lord, denouncing dam- nation against the wicked, distinctly recapitulates the pains of that dreadful condition three several times: Mark ix. 44, “ Where their worm dieth not, and -the fire is not quenched?) s V.46, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” —-V. 48, “ Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” While, on the other hand, when He promises the Resurrection of the Blessed to his faithful THREATENINGS AND PUNISHMENTS. 199 servants, He expresses Himself with the same remarkable ¢riplicity. John vi. 40, “And I will raise him up at the last day.” V.44, “And I will raise him up at the last day.” V.54, “ And I will raise him up at the last day.’’* There is a solemn grandeur in these triple re- » petitions which makes them singularly impres- sive and affecting. They bring to my mind that exquisite passage in Othello, which I have already noticed, “zt is the cause, &c.” See with what appalling triplicity those calamities are denounced, with which our sinful globe is to be visited when The Blessed Jesus comes again—not in passive meekness, as before, but with terrible majesty, in the glory of The Father, with his angels. «The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with 6d/ood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.” * This latter instance would more properly have been intro- duced under another head, but it is placed here for the sake of the contrast. 200 TRIPLICITY. ‘And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea ; and the third part of the sea became blood, and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. “« And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called worm- wood; and the third part of the waters became worm- wood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. «« And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the Sun was smitten, and the third part of the Joon, and the third part of the Stars; so as the third part of them was darkened—and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.” And then an angel proclaims the three woes— «And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice; woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound.’’* * The proclamation of the ‘‘ three woes’’ is a noble instance of that triplicity which, as I have already observed, is the charac- THREATENINGS AND PUNISHMENTS. 201 The destruction breathed from the trumpet of the sixth angel was— «For to slay the third part of men.’’—‘ By these three was the third part of men killed; by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.” Rev. vill. and ix. No part of the Scriptures is more sublime than the Apocalypse. It is peculiarly sacred, as it is all unmingled with the things of earth, and is, from the beginning to the end, as it were, the lan- guage of angels, speaking trumpet-tongued of the manifestation of Christ and His Kingdom! Nor is there any part of Scripture on which triplicity is more deeply engraven. All the solemn events it announces proceed in triplicity, and all the mysterious pictures which it exhibits, bear the same character. Thus, for instance, the rebellion and fall of Satan and his angels is described: teristic of solemn warnings. Milton thus acknowledges its in- fluence :— ‘* O for that warning voice which he who saw Th’ Apocalypse heard cry in heav’n aloud ’’— 202 TRIPLICITY. « And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.” Rev. xu. 4. TRIPLICITY IN WARNING. «« This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be es- tablished. I told you before, and foretel you, as if I were present, the second time ; and being absent now, I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that if I come again, I will not spare.” 2 Cor. xi. 1, 2. Here we find that the tertian period is the term of the Apostles endurance; and that the third offence is marked with peculiar severity. My reader will perceive that this instance is a lively illustration of what I have said, in the first division of my treatise, under the heads of “Impatience,” and “The Property of Laws.” SORROW. 203 TRIPLICITY IN SORROW. Daniel mourned for Israel ¢hree whole weeks. “In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.” ‘DANTEX 2 aes And our beloved Saviour, when He was “exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,” prayed and commanded his disciples to watch the while. Thrice he left them and thrice returned; but they alas! could not watch one little hour, an hour of how much agony to their affec- tionate Lord and Friend! ‘The Tertian period, however, was decisive—the sacred Victim strug- gled no more, but yielded Himself up to his_ destroyers, to be “led like a lamb to the slaughter.” ““And He cometh the ‘Aird time, and saith unto them, sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come.’’ Mark xiv. 41. 204 TRIPLICITY. EARNEST PRAYER. On the deeply affecting occasion which I have just alluded to, with what earnestness did the agonized Jesus thrice beseech His Father that the cup might pass from Him! «And He fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” MattrHew xxvi. 39, 42, 44. Paul, in his affliction, also, prayed three times. “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” 2; Cor, -xi. When Elijah, in the bitterness of his grief for the son of the widow who had supported him, besought the Lord to restore him— ‘‘He stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto The Lord.” 1 Kines xvn: 212 EARNEST PRAYER. 205 When Daniel, being in captivity with his people, was earnestly desirous that The Lord would restore them to Jerusalem, he was wont to open the window of his chamber towards the quarter of the Holy City, and beseech The Lord ¢hree times a day. “And his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed.” Dan. vi. 10. David, also, in his deep affliction, when he complained unto the Lord, prayed thrice a day. “ Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and ery aloud.” PoArm elves i7s The Psalm I quote from is one of the most beautiful and pathetic of all the Psalms; and pregnant with prophetical allusions to the cir- cumstances of Our Saviour, and _ particularly to the treachery of Judas. 206 TRIPLICITY. ‘‘For it was not an enemy that reproached me ; then I could have borne it; neither was it he that hated me that magnified himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” , Ps. tiv. 12, oles And, certainly, triplicity did well become the sorrows and the prayers which typified the prayers and the sorrows of our Redeemer. I cannot close this division of my subject, with- out directing my reader’s attention to that most beautiful body of prayer in the Liturgy of our Church, denominated, xar’ éfoynv, the Litany. He will find that triplicity is the distinguishing characteristic of it, and that, in the enumeration of the evils which it deprecates, and the bless- ings which it implores, it proceeds, for the most part, by ternaries. AFFECTIONATE EXHORTATION. 207 AFFECTIONATE EXHORTATION. Who can read but with melting tenderness, the solemn and affectionate charge which our Saviour gave to Peter, to take care of his flock? It is, perhaps, one of the most touching pas- sages in the New Testament; and a very remarkable instance of triplicity. ** Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, Son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto Him, yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs.” ‘“‘He saith unto him again, the second time, Simon, Son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto Him, yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. ‘He saith unto him the third time, Simon, Son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved be- cause He said unto him the third time, {atest thou me,—and he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love thee! Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep.” HONG XX LO ee OML Zs How different, in the Old Testament, is the charge delivered to the sons of men— * 208 TRIPLICITY. “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of The ioord,< JER. xxii 29. Here we have a charge expressed in tri- plicity, but without the tenderness so remarkable in our Saviour’s charge to Peter. One was de- livered in the day of wrath, the other in the accepted time—one was uttered by an angry God, the other by a loving Redeemer—one was given to a profane and rebellious people, the other to a faithful and affectionate ser- vant. But both were delivered by one and the same Lord, and both with the same _ tri- plicity. We have, moreover, in this passage from St, John, an interesting example of the position “which I have laid down in the begin- ning of my treatise, viz.:—that the Tertian period is the natural limit of endurance. When The Lord repeated his charge the third time, “Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me.” PRAISE AND GLORY TO GOD. 209 TRIPLICITY IN THE ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE AND GLORY TO GOD. For brevity’s sake I shall confine myself to one grand instance of this which may well suffice for a thousand. It occurs in The Lord’s Prayer, which opens and concludes with triplicity, be- ginning thus:—(1.) “Hallowed be Thy Name: (2.) Thy Kingdom come: (3.) Thy will be done :”? —and ending with—(1.) “Thine is The Kingdom (2.)—and the Power—(3.) and The Glory.” If we compare this latter clause with Daniel vil. 14, we find this self-same threefold Majesty conferred by The Father on The Son of Man. “And there was given Him Dominion—and Glory—and a Kingdom.” Herein we see that The Kingdom which we daily pray for, saying “Thy Kingdom come,” is the Kingdom of The Man-God, even the reign of Christ on earth— for which we also pray, saying, “Thy will be done on earth.” Hence moreover, we infer the prophetic character of The Lord’s Prayer, a character under which it were well that it VOL. I. ie 210 TRIPLICITY. were more generally viewed than it appears to be. For, when we say, “Thy Kingdom come,” we do not merely express our desire that it may come, but our assurance and perfect confidence that it will come, according to the sure word of prophecy confirmed by The Lord Himself in Person. It is important to observe, that, as this Divine Prayer is addressed to The Father, and not to the Son, so we confess that The Kingdom is The Father’s, and not yet The Son’s: and, indeed, if it were otherwise, The Father could not give it to The Son. But The Son is gone to receive it from The Father:—“to receive for Himself a King- dom, and to return.” (Luke xix. 12.) Daniel, in his vision, was present at the august ceremony of donation; by virtue whereof, when those times and seasons, “which The Father hath put in his own power,” shall be accomplished, (Acts i. 7.) The Son will be installed in The King- dom, and return to exercise his sovereignty, and reign with his saints “on the earth.” (Apoc. v. 10.) COMING EVENTS. 211 Until, at length, having put down all his ene- mies, and evacuated all rule, and all authority and power, and purified and perfected the whole of his dominions, and ejected sin and death from the utmost verge thereof, so that the will of God is “done on earth as it is in heaven “ai then will the Man Jesus restore The Kingdom, the precious gift made still more precious, to His Father, that God may be all in all. (1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, 26, 28.) TRIPLICITY IN SUSPENSE AND PREPARATION FOR COMING EVENTS. In the beginning of this treatise, I have said that when we are impressed with a sense of dan- ger and uncertainty, we are wont to exhibit much of that triplicity which is generally observable in the mind, when it is deeply affected by any cir- cumstance. Nor is triplicity ever more conspi- cuous than when we are suspended, as it were, on futurity ; and that breathless and solemn stillness of the soul comes on, which precedes the taking PZ aed TRIPLICITY. of an important step that is pregnant with vital consequences, which we cannot control, and do but darkly guess at. When David fled from Saul, his mind being racked with a sense of danger, and unable any longer to endure a state of such miserable sus- pense, he determined to hide himself for ¢hree days; hoping that by the ¢hird day, Saul would make known to his friend Jonathan, whether or not it would be safe for him to appear again at Court. Thus acting involuntarily under that im- pression of triplicity which, as I have said, is pe- culiarly characteristic of doubt, and uncertainty, and fear. «And David said unto Jonathan—let me go, that I may hide myself in the field, unto the third day at even. And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to-morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good to- ward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee, the Lord do so, and much more to Jonathan.—And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt re- COMING EVENTS. yA hes’ main by the stone Ezel. And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark.” At the end of the appointed time Jonathan went to the place where David was concealed, and shot the three arrows which had been agreed on as the token of danger and the signal of flight ; and the sorrowing David came forth to take a long farewell of the friend of his bosom. ‘“* David arose out of a place towards the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times.” | Fate.) eof gn 9 Bf i BS OE The whole of this affecting description is a va- luable illustration of the triform impression ; but it rises in our estimation, when we consider that David was a most eminent type of our Blessed Lord. In this point of view the triplicity he ‘ex- hibited in the hour of trial, when his heart was disquieted within him, and the fear of death was fallen upon him, is worthy of our most serious re- gard. ‘Triplicity is, indeed, a general point of agreement between the types and the Antitype; 914 TRIPLICITY. and I will confess, that this concordance alone would form, in my humble opinion, a very ra- tional ground for believing that the Son of Joseph was The Promised Messiah. Why triplicity should be so peculiarly his characteristic is best explained by the assurance which He gave us, that he was, also, The Son of God, and The Se- cond Person of the Glorious Trinity. , When Jeroboam, and all the congregation of Israel, went unto Rehoboam to complain of the yoke which Solomon his father had laid upon them, and demanded an amelioration of their con- dition, Rehoboam, perceiving, no doubt, the spirit of mutiny that suggested so disrespectful and dis- loyal a meeting, was extremely perplexed. And not being able, on the instant, to determine upon the answer he should give them, desired them to allow him ¢hree days, for consideration. «And he said unto them, depart yet for three days, then come again to me.’”* , 1] Kines xu. 5. * The history of the great Columbus records an instance of tri- Li Or COMING EVENTS. 21 When Esther had determined, for the sake of her people, to brave the wrath of Ahasuerus, by going unbidden into the inner court of the plicity arising out of circumstances very similar to those in which Rehoboam was placed ; and we may suppose that they were scarcely less affecting to the mind of that glorious adventurer. When he had for several days perceived the tokens of approaching the land, and already the golden shores of India lay stretched before his pro- phetic eye ; his rebellious crew, tired with the unaccustomed length of the voyage, and their fears increasing as the path that led to Spain was lengthening behind them, demanded that the ship should be put about immediately; and refused any longer to persist in a voyage which seemed only to be conducting them to disappoint- ment, despair, and destruction. In this cruel perplexity, Colum- bus could only entreat them to bear with him for ¢hree days longer. This is a case of triplicity so much in point, that I will not for- bear to retail it to my reader in the elegant language of the histo- rian of America. “‘But after holding on for several days in this new direction, without any better success than formerly, having seen no object, during thirty days, but the sea and the sky, the hopes of his companions subsided faster than they had risen ;«their fears revived with additional force; impatience, rage and despair, appeared in every countenance. All sense of subordination was lost. The officers, who had hitherto concurred with Columbus and supported his autho - rity, now took part with the private men. They assembled tumultuously on the deck, expostulated with their commander, mingled threats with their ex- postulations, and required him instantly to tack about, and return to Europe. Columbus perceived that it would be of no avail to have recourse to any of his former arts, which having been tried so often, had lost their effect, and that it was impossible to rekindle any zeal for the success of the enterprise, among men in whose breasts fear had extinguished every generous sentiment. He saw that it was no less vain to think of employing either gentle or severe mea- sures to quell a mutiny so general and so violent. It was necessary, on all these accounts, to soothe passions which he could no longer command, and to give way to a torrent too impetuous to be checked. He promised solemnly to his men that he would comply with their request, provided they would accompany him and obey his commands for three days longer; and if, during 216 TRIPLICITY. tyrant’s palace, which was death by law, unless it pleased the Monarch to extend his golden sceptre in token of mercy: before she put in execution a determination that required so much courage, and which a female mind must have contemplated with so much fear, she charged her uncle Mor- decai, to gather the Jews together, and to fast three days and three nights—and on the third day she arrayed herself in royal apparel, even as a victim is adorned for the sacrifice, and went in. “Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer. Go, gather all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink ihree days, night or day: I, also, and my maidens, will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the King, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.—Now it came to pass on the third day, that that time, land was not discovered, he would then, abandon the enterprise and direct his course towards Spain.’’ ROBERTSON’S History OF AMERICA. And Rogers has not failed to notice this interesting triplicity in his ‘‘ Voyage of Columbus.”’ *‘— yet in His name whom only we should fear, (Tis all, ’tis all I ask, or you shall hear, ) Grant but three days—he spoke not uninspired ; And each in silence to his watch retired.’? RoGers. COMING EVENTS. Jay: Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the King’s house.” Estuer iv. 16; v. 1. In the time of Ezra, when the people of Israel bewailed with tears and deep sorrow the transgression wherewith they had offended God, in taking to themselves strange wives, that holy and zealous servant of the Lord caused a proclamation to be made, that all the people should gather themselves together unto Jeru- salem, in order to investigate and reform the abuse, and to enter into a covenant with God, to put away their strange wives, and the children born of them. This was a solemn covenant, indeed, and a most heart-rending sacrifice! For, though the women were of a strange land, doubtless, they were beloved of their husbands, and their children must have shared a parent’s tenderness. On this deeply affecting occasion, three days were granted to- the people to prepare themselves. ‘And they made proclamation throughout Judah 218 TRIPLICITY. and Jerusalem, unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem; and that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the Princes and the Elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had beer carried away.” EZRA xe 7o0gs When the same zealous Israelite by the blessing of God, had obtained permission from Artaxerxes to carry to Jerusalem as many of the Israelites as were willing to accompany him; he collected his little band on “the banks of the river that runneth to Ahava,” and before setting out with them on so perilous a journey, he de- tained them there ¢hree days, fasting and afflicting himself with them. “And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days. Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before God, to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance.”’ And having finished their journey prospe- COMING EVENTS. 219 rously; being deeply affected with gratitude to God who had led them safely through all dangers, they rested again ¢hree days; devoting, no doubt, that space of time to thanksgiving, before they entered upon their ordinary duties and occupa- » tions. «And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there Led three days. Pena vin Tot 2132. When Nehemiah went to Jerusalem with permission from Artaxerxes to re-build its walls: before he entered upon the business which was the express object of his journey, and which he had so deeply at heart, nay, even before he made himself known, he tarried ¢hree days. “So, I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.” NEHEMIAH Ul. 11]. On all these occasions, the steps that were to be taken were of the last importance, and such as to affect the mind with a deep sense of 220 TRIPLICITY. the insufficiency of man. Under impressions like these triplicity is generally produced; and, as I have already observed, the reason why triplicity is so predominant in divination and magic, is because those superstitions are them- selves engendered in doubt and uncertainty. There is a remarkable agreement between the practice of Ezra and Nehemiah under similar circumstances. I know not whether it may have been a custom with the devout Jews, on occa- sions of such importance, to observe a rest of three days; however that may be, the triplicity was, doubtless, suggested by feelings that were peculiar to the circumstances in which both the men of God were placed. When Moses was dead, and The Lord com- manded Joshua to cross the river Jordan with all the host of Israel, and enter upon the pro- mised land—the fulfilment of all their hopes, and the reward of forty years’ pilgrimage in the wilderness — before Joshua took that im- portant step, he paused for three days; COMING EVENTS. 291 ‘Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, pass through the host, and command the people, saying, prepare you victuals; for within three days ve shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which The Lord your God giveth you to possess it.” JosHua 1, 10, Ll. I shall close this head with the most re- markable and impressive instance of all—that which was exhibited by our blessed Lord previous to His Transfiguration on the Mountain. He who, as touching His Manhood, was made in all things like unto his brethren, sin only excepted, was deeply impressed, no doubt, with the pre- sension of the coming event: for that event was preceded by a pause in his history of six days, or two full ¢ertian periods, during which nothing is recorded to have been said or done by Him: and we may, therefore, conclude, that He spent them in secret prayer, and in heavenly contemplation of that wondrous display of His Divinity and of his future kingdom which was about to be made. ihc’ d TRIPLICITY. Of the three Evangelists who record this event, viz. :—Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the two former place it “after siz days :” (Matthew xvii. 1. Mark ix. 2.): the latter “about an eight days.” (Luke ix. 28.) Taking, therefore, the “mean of these statements, it seems very pro- bable that The Transfiguration took place on the seventh day, the same critical term of the fer- tian series, on which the Son of God entered into his rest, after the creation. And, as his glory on the Mountain was a pregustation, as it were, of the rest to which, as Son of Man, He hath not yet attained, viz.: His Kingdom to come,—the observance of the same order of time on both these occasions, conveys to my heart a sacred and comfortable sense of the identity of The Two Persons, and of the cer- tainty of the latter as well as of the former rest, which I rather feel than attempt to ex- plain: “le coeur,” says the admirable Pascal,” a ses raisons que la raison ne connoit pas.” PERSEVERANCE. 293 PERSEVERANCE. The tertian period is also the natural limit of perseverance. I have taken occasion in the former part of this treatise, to make some obser- vations on this subject; in which I have endea- voured to show that few would make a fourth attempt who should have failed ¢hrice in any undertaking—that few, for instance, would hazard the fourth cast of the die, who should have been unfortunate for three successive throws. I have hitherto attributed this secret and almost uncon- trollable bias to the influence of a lingering super- stition which slumbers in the mind, and is only awakened into action when we are placed in circumstances of doubt and uncertainty. But some of the following passages from the sacred volume, though, in part, they be highly illus- trative of this proposition, will, nevertheless, convince us that it is not superstition alone that sways with such triplicity; for the same pheno- menon is to be observed in the history of one -who, though he partook of the weakness of 224 TRIPLICITY. human nature, and was deeply touched with a sense of its infirmities, was nevertheless free from every thing that vitiates or degrades it. In such instances as these, therefore, the ter- tian period of perseverance must be referred to that universal triform impression which seems to have been stamped on the creation in general, and particularly on that noblest and most won- derful part of it, the human mind. Balaam made three attempts to go on his way to Balak with the Princes of Moab; and thrice the Angel of The Lord withstood him—and Balaam’s eyes were opened, and he would fain have returned. ‘“‘And the Angel of The Lord said unto him, wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times ? And Balaam said unto the Angel of the Lord, I have sinned ; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: Now, therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again.” INUMBERS xxii. 32, 34. Here we find that, beyond the third attempt,. PERSEVERANCE. 995 The Angel of The Lord endured not the pre- sumptuous perseverance of the wicked Prophet. When Balak had thrice built up his impious altars, and thrice invoked The Almighty to pour his curse on Israel, but in vain, he counted his hope as lost, and went his way; though he would have given half his possessions to have cursed but the utmost part of Jacob. “And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: And Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and behold thou hast blessed them these three times.” NumBErs xxiv. 10. When the faithful Rahab dismissed Joshua’s spies from her habitation, she bade them hide themselves in the mountain for three days; not doubting but their pursuers would cease from their search, after having made three unsuccessful attempts to discover them. «And she said unto them, get ye to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and after- VOL. I. Q 226 TRIPLICITY. wards may ye go your way. And they went and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned.” JosHua li. 16, 22. When Samson’s brethren could not ex- pound the riddle proposed to them, after having applied themselves to it for three days, they gave up the attempt, and determined, on the seventh day, the time appointed for their answer, to employ their sister to entice Samson. “And they could not in three days expound the riddles: Jupaus xiv. 14. When Saul had sought his father’s asses three days and found them not, he gave up the pursuit, and applied to Samuel the Seer for information ; who said unto him, “As for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found.” ] Sam. ix. 20. When the fifty strong men who were sent out by the presumptuous sons of the Prophets PERSEVERANCE. dy to seek for Elijah, had sought him for three days in vain, they returned. “They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought him three days, but found him not.” When the Lord of the fig-tree, in the parable, had endured its barrenness for three years, he lost his patience, and determined to cut it down; “ Behold,” said he, “these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? (Luke xiii. 7.) When Satan had tempted our Blessed Lord three times in vain, he desisted from his infernal project, though he had staked his kingdom on its success. ‘* — then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels 3 came and ministered unto him.’ MatTrueEw iv. 11. Alas! for man! the same wily enemy erects a triple battery against frail humanity — the world, the flesh, and the devil! Dreadful trident Q 2 998 TRIPLICITY. of that fatal power which is yet to array a “ third part of the stars of heaven” in rebellious arms, and drag them down to everlasting ruin!* Let us analyze this triple power of darkness, and expose it to the light. To know our enemy is half the victory. The world bids us beware of pride, ambition and covetousness. The flesh denotes concupiscence, with all its train of deadly impurities. The devil, the subtle spirit of the arch-fiend himself, warns us against our own hearts: for there he sits, as once at the ear of Eve, corrupting the very springs of life. But let us take courage from the bright ex- * These stars, we may suppose, will be eminent lights in the Christian world, whom Satan, with his tail, i. e. with his power of seduction, for ‘‘ the prophet that teacheth lies he is the tail,’”’ (Isaiah ix. 15.) will bring down from their high station, and make them instruments of that terrible tribulation of the Anti-Christ which is to desolate the Church in the latter days, before The Coming of The Lord. See Matt. xxiv. 22.; Mark xiii. 20, 22, and 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10, 11. This was the opinion of St. Jerome and ‘Theodoret, the former of whom thus comments Apoc. xii 4. ‘‘tertiam partem stellarum celi—idest, virorum illorum Prin- cipum Ecclesice, non modo politicorum, set et ecclesiasticorum Doctorum, et religiosorum, qui instar stellarum in orbe aliis prelucent, et precellent.’’ PERSEVERANCE. 229 ample, the glorious triumph of our Redeemer thrice assailed in vain. Let us combat in the strength of our Helper; till at length, having fought the good fight, we, like him, may cast the fiend behind us, and soar beyond his reach. In the garden of Gethsemane, when our agonized Redeemer had thrice besought His Father that the cup of His wrath might be re- moved from him, He yielded himself up to his pursuers. ‘And He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, sleep on now, and take your rest; it is enough, the hour is come; behold the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand!” Mark xiv. 4], 42. Pilate made three attempts to persuade the Jews to release our Lord; but not succeeding, he yielded to the clamour of the populace. «* And he said unto them the third time, why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise Him, and let him go. 230 TRIPLICITY. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief Priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sen- tence that it should be as they required.” LUKE xxiii 22) 932 24 SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. Having, under several of the foregoing heads, endeavoured to illustrate by quotations from Scripture, the main proposition of the first divi- sion of my treatise, viz.:—the triform impres- sion on the human mind; I shall now confine myself to such observations as are more ex- clusively derived from the sacred volume, and have a more direct tendency to that important truth, to the enforcing and perpetuating of which Nature and Revelation do so wonderfully con- spire. Triplicity is the general characteristic of Scriptural signs and types; a fact that is particularly entitled to our regard, on two ac- counts—first as the signs and _ types pro- ceed from the immediate inspiration of God —and secondly, as they refer, either directly SCRIPTURAL’ SIGNS AND TYPES. I31 or indirectly, to the Blessed Antitype, in whom all the prophecies centered. The most signal precursors of our Lord were stamped with the same threefold cha- racter which He took upon Himself as Redeemer of the world, viz.: — of Prophet, Priest, and King. ‘When the Son of God had proceeded forth upon his errand of mercy, and began to put forth the presentiments and precursors of his coming to the earth, we find Him investing his chosen ones with the prophetic, priestly, and royal dignity com- bined in one. Such was Noah, when he offered sacrifice unto God, and divided the earth to his three sons, foretelling also their various destiny. Such was Abraham, a prophet, a priest to offer his own Son, and greater than a King. Such was Melchisedec, a priest, and a king, and he was a prophet also by the very act of bringing out bread and wine, with which to give the patriarch possession of the land that had been promised p32 TRIPLICITY. to him. And the prophet Moses was a king in Jeshurun, and the institutor of his brother Aaron in the priesily office.” In which threefold charac- ter they were typical of the same triplicity hereafter to be wrought upon the whole of the Redeemed Church, in the dispensation of The Kingdom : “For, though after Aaron these three offices were divided by the Levitical institution, which was meant to be only for a time, yet The Lord promised to make the whole people a nation of kings and priests, and likewise prophets, that they should all, from the least to the greatest, know Him, see visions, and dream dreams.?— (See Rev. KE. Irving’s Prelim. Dis. to his trans- lation of Ben Ezra.) The fulfilment of this most gracious promise is reserved for that hallowed season, when “the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 235 given to the people of the saints of The Most High : — (Dan. vii. 27.) when Israel shall be reinstated in his pristine pre-eminence, and “the law shall go forth out of Zion, and the word of The Lord from Jerusalem.” (Micah iv. 2.) Under this present dispensation of the Gentiles it can by no means take place: for this is not a dispensation of universality, but of meagreness and great poverty; and when the fulness of the Gentiles, which, in my opinion, is nearly accomplished, shall be come in, it will seem like “the gleaning grapes when the vin- tage 1s done,” (Isaiah xxiv. 13.) in the midst of a spiritual and moral wilderness. And why is this? Because Satan reigns until The Lord comes: yea, the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them are his, his very own by right of conquest: and, accordingly, we do not find that our Blessed Lord challenged his authority, when he told him to his face that they were delivered unto him, and that he gave them to whomsoever he would. (Luke iy. 6.) And this is the true 934 TRIPLICITY. reason why Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world: (John xvii. 36.) for “what concord hath Christ with Belial,” (2 Cor. vi. 15.) and how can Christ reign where Satan reigns? Nevertheless, in that noble confession before the Roman Governor, our Lord sufficiently intimated that his kingdom should hereafter be of this world, saying: “but now is my kingdom not from hence”—for the word now, as I have observed elsewhere, does evidently distinguish the future from the present, excluding the one and including the other. Accordingly, we learn from Daniel, that when He comes to the Throne of David, the first act of his regal authority will be the spohation of Satan, and the recovery of the kingdoms out of his hands, to give them to his saints. (Dan. vii. 18, 22, 26, 27.) This, then, is the epocha when the ¢riple do- minion whereof we are speaking, will be given to the people of God. Against the establishment of which glorious ¢riplicity Satan will op- pose an infernal triplicity, SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 235 gathering up all his potent and subtle ener- gies under ¢hree fearful heads, and marshall- ing the countless hosts of the earth in triple array “against the mountains of Israel.” (Ezek. xxxvill. 8.) Which I think is the most impres- sive instance that can be adduced of what I have endeavoured to demonstrate in this essay, namely, “that powerful emotion is wont to be expressed in triplicity.”* Indeed, if any thing could convey to my mind an idea of that which * Some of my readers may be surprised at my instancing tri- plicity in Satan. But their admiration, I think, will cease, when hey reflect that the position which I have laid down from the first, and which it has been my constant purpose and endeavour to make good, is that the character of triplicitly is impressed on the whole of God’s creation. Satan is a creature as well as man. If man, then, has preserved that mative stamp, even in his fall, why should not Satan, who was originally created of a higher nature, and stood in a nearer relation to his Maker? JI say originally—for, since The Almighty God, by a stupendous act of condescension asso- ciated the human nature with His Godhead, and carried it up with Him to the Throne of the Eternal, man is raised above the order of angels. And those who shall attain to ‘‘ the first Resurrec- tion,’’—O ‘blessed and holy’’ are they !—being ‘‘ heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,’’ shail be partakers in The Kingdom, shall reign with their Lord, and, in virtue of their consanguinity with The Great Judge, shall judge even angels. (Apoc. xx. 4, 63% Rom, vil... 173 1 Cor. vi.t3. 236 TRIPLICITY. no human mind can truly apprehend, namely, the rage and desperation with which the fiend makes his last effort for the preservation of his falling kingdom, it would be this form of tri- plicity into which he casts it. On the pouring out of the ‘sixth vial, St. John says: — “I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armaged- don.”* (Apoc. xvi. 13, 14, 16.) * This triple opposition of Satan, the old serpent, reminds me of a curious passage in the Zend-Avesta of the Parsees, trans- lated by M. Perron: in which the Creator of the world complain- ing of the serpent’s opposition to his beneficent design, describes its triplicity in the following remarkableterms: ‘‘ Cette couleuvre, cette ahriman, plein de mort, produisit abondamment contre moi, neuf, neuf fois neuf, neuf cens, neuf mille, quatre vingt-dix mille envies.’’—Vendidad Sadi, 2. p. 429. SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 237 When Samuel anointed Saul Captain over the Lord’s inheritance, he confirmed his faith in the astonishing message with three signs.— (See 1 Sam. x. 2—/.) When Israel trusted in Egypt and Ethiopia, rather than in The Lord, and The Almighty de- termined to strengthen the Assyrian against those nations, in order to show his people how vain is the help of man, Isaiah was ordered to go naked and barefoot, as a sign of the discomfiture of the Egyptians and Ethiopians. “ And The Lord said, like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years, for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and Ethiopia; so shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old naked and barefoot.” IsaAlau xx. 8, When Sennacherib provoked the jealousy of God by his arrogance and blasphemy against The Lord and his people, The Lord denounced ven- I have asserted in the former part of this work that rebellion is wont to be characterized with triplicity. See instance quoted under ‘‘ Language or Expression,’’ Vol. I. pals; 238 TRIPLICITY. geance against him; and this was the sign that the threatenings should be fulfilled. ‘And this shall be a sign unto thee; ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year, that which springeth of the same: and in the third year, sow. ye and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.”’ IsaIAH xxxvil. 30. The vengeance denounced against the Jews is prefigured by a sign of remarkable triplicity. Ezekiel is ordered to shave his head and his beard, and the word of God thus proceeds :— “Then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are ful- filled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw a sword out after them.” EzeK. Vila When Jonah was made a sign unto the Nine- vites, he was imprisoned in the whale ¢hree days. «‘And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”* Jonau i. 17. * See Appendix (5.) SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 239 Of this remarkable event Our Saviour re- minded the Jews; telling them that it was but a sign and type of that triplicity which was about to be exhibited in his own imprisonment in the dark grave. “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” Marr. xvi. 4. Of which same triplicity we have another impressive type in the ¢hree days’ journey which Abraham performed with Isaac—(Gen. xxii. 4)— during which gloomy period he considered his darling son as given up unto death; wherefore St. Paul tells us that he received him in a figure from the dead:—(Heb. xi. 17)—and this was a sign of three important things, which are so many fun- damental articles of our faith, viz.:—(1) the subjec- tion of our Lord unto death—(2) the fruit of his infinite humiliation, to wit, the redemption of the human body and soul, which (3) was achieved and made manifest by His resurrection on the third day. 240 TRIPLICITY. The history of Joseph exhibits a remarkable instance of triplicity in the dreams of the Butler and Baker who were imprisoned with him, as also in the interpretation and accomplishment thereof. «‘ And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said unto him: in my dream, behold, a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches ; and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes; and Pharach’s cup was in my hand: And I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pha- raoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. And Joseph said unto him, this is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days: Yet, within three days, shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place. “‘ And the chief baker said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: and in the uppermost basket there was all manner of bake-meats for Pharaoh ; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, this is the interpretation thereof ; the three baskets are three days. Yet, within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.”’ Gen. xl. SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 24] Now it is to be observed that every thing in the history of Joseph is highly worthy of our regard, forasmuch as he was an eminent type of our Lord. In these dreams may we not perceive a foreshadowing of the blessed but dreadful sacrifice of our Redeemer, and the tri- plicity which characterized it? His human body, which is indeed the bread of life, shared the fate of a malefactor, was hanged on the tree, and crucified with the sins of mankind. His precious blood was pressed into the wine-cup of His Father’s wrath, that forgiveness might abound to man :—that blood, the true wine “that maketh glad the heart of man,” was poured out that the hopes of fallen man might be raised: and The Redeemer Himself was exalted to glory and power on the ¢hird day, and restored to his place, at the right hand of the Father, which he had before the worlds: leaving with his friends the hallowed bread and wine to show forth His Death until He came. (See 1 Cor. xi. 26.) When Joseph dealt hardly with his brethren, SOL. 1s R 942 TRIPLICITY. that their joy might be the greater when he should make himself known unto them, he cast them into prison, and released them on the third day. « And he put them all together into ward three days. And Joseph said unto them on the third day, this do and live.’’ Gen. xli. 17, 18. Emancipation from sorrow on the third day is spoken of by Hosea in triplicity, when he affectionately exhorts the Jews to repent, and taste the mercies of God. “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will he revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” Hossa wie lia: This passage obviously points to the restora- tion of the Jews in their third condition; of which several conditions, as well as of the order and sequence thereof, the three estates of Job were a signal type—first, as enjoying the sunshine of God’s countenance :—secondly, as cast off and SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 943 bruised:—thirdly, as bound up, and healed, and restored to favour. In the second of these, which may not improperly be called their tran- sition state, they now lie, biding The Lord’s time, (See Hos. iii. 3.) and waiting for their re- covery in the perfecting power of the third: yea, they are abiding for the Lord, and saying in the language quoted above: “after two days will He revive us: in the ¢hird day He will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” In the Mosaic law the instances of triplicity are very numerous. The ceremonial law was ty- pical of the great sacrifice of The Saviour, and the triplicity which is so conspicuous in it, was in like manner typical of the triplicity which character- ized the history of Christ. A correspondence which, as I have already observed, seems of itself to furnish some reason for believing that the Atonement on the Cross was made by the same Lord who delivered the law from Sinai. «« Three times shalt thou keep a feast to me in the Ry 944 TRIPLICITY. year. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before The Lord God.” Exop. xxi. 14, 17. No part of the flesh of the voluntary offering might be eaten on the third day: but whatever remained after the second day was to be burnt on the third. « But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also, the re- mainder of it shall be eaten. But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with 93 fire. And dreadful judgment is pronounced on him who transgresses this law. «« And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten, at all, on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it. It shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his miquity.”’ Leviticus vu. 16, 17, 18. This severe law with regard to the voluntary offering seems to point directly to the free-will SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 245 offering which Our Blessed Lord was to make for the sins of mankind; and that none of it should be eaten after the manner of the flesh, nor remain with man on the third day, seems to prefigure that ineffable holiness and separation from the mortal condition of humanity, into which Our Lord entered on the third day; when He rose from the grave, not having seen corruption, and clothed His Human Body with the glorious Divinity, which he had with The Father from everlasting.* In another part of Leviticus, the offering is said to become hallowed on the third day, which is directly in favour of my interpre- tation. ‘Every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, be- cause he hath profaned the hallowed thing of The Lord; and that soul shall be cut off frora among his people.” Levit. xix. 8. * Matthew Henry interprets this passage in the same way— ‘This law,’’ says he ‘‘ of eating the peace offerings before the third day, that they might not putrefy, is applicable to ‘‘ The Resurrection of Christ after two days, that, being God’s Holy One, he might not see corruption.”’ 946 TRIPLICITY: And again, when the Israelites came into the promised land, they were not to eat of the fruit of trees for three years. It was to remain ungathered for ¢hree years, and then become hal- lowed as an offering to The Lord. ‘‘And when ye shall have come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then shall ye count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised : three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy, to praise The Lord withal.” “LEVITT. xix. 235948 Here we find the offering becomes holy and acceptable, after having been set msi from human purposes for three years. I have already observed that the tertian period is particularly distinguished as the season of mercy, and that the blessings which have flowed from heaven have flowed in triplicity. The institution of the “third tithe,” or the “tithe of the poor,” comes directly home to my proposi- tion. The third tithe was not to be carried to SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 247 Jerusalem either in money or in kind, like the tithe of the first and second year, but it was to be laid by, and spent on the Levites, the father- less, and the widows, «At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates. And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat, and be satisfied ; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.” Drut. xiv. 28, 29. My reader will observe how much this institu- tion is in the spirit of the beautiful passage I have already quoted from Hosea. « After two days will he revive us; in the therd day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” Under the severe enactments of the Mosaic law, by which, to shed blood, even innocently, was inevitable death, until our Blessed Saviour came with his gentler yoke; even then, the mercy 948 TRIPLICITY. of God devised a means whereby unintentional transgression might escape punishment, in the three cities of refuge. Another token of that mysterious triplicity which is so conspicuous in the history of The Lord our Refuge. “Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which The Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which The Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts ; that every slayer may flee thither, that he may live. Wherefore, I command thee, saying, thou shalt separate three cities for thee.”’ Dgur xix..2,3,49 These cities of refuge appear to me to be typical of our Blessed Lord. He prepared us a way, even through his body, that we might “flee thither and live.” Our Saviour speaketh of Himself in terms which are singularly apposite to this passage from Deuteronomy, and no less re- markable for triplicity. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive la iia SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 949 you unto myself; that where lam, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto The Father, but by me.”* JOHN X1V..2.-o,.4:20;_0, From this remarkable passage may be ga- thered the doctrine of The Trinity. Our Saviour says, “I am the way—and the ¢ruth—and the life.’ He was the way unto The Father—and the only way—“ no man cometh unto The Father but by me.” No man attaineth unto The Father but by the way prepared of old ; and that way is The Crucified Son. But He is also the end of * Speaking of our Saviour as the Way, the same commentator whom I lately quoted notices this triplicity, that He is The beginning—and the middle—and the end, As every step that the Christian takes in his progress in grace must be in the Saviour, so having his eye always fixed on the divine tri- plicity, this writer justly and beautifully observes, that in Him We must set out—go on—and finish. As the Life, our Saviour is also the threefold fountain of all existence—He is the fountain of Natural—spiritual—and eternal life. In Him we live—and move—and have our being. See Joun i. 4 and 11, 25; Conoss. iii. 4; Acts xvii. 28. 250 TRIPLICITY. the way, the life, whereunto it tends; He is the fountain of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal ; in which sense He is one with The Father. And He is also the ¢ruth—which testifieth of the way, and through it guides unto the life; in which sense, He is one with The Holy Ghost. Does any one think that this interpretation is violent? Let him read what follows the passage I have quoted from the Gospel; and particularly v. 9, 17, 18. Therefore, in this invaluable text, and the doctrine that follows on it, Our Lord declares The Three Persons, and their Unity in The Godhead ; and shows, moreover, the peculiar office of each in the system of salvation. _Won- derful, incomprehensible, incontrovertible truth ! May God enable us to receive it with meek- ness, and with faithfulness to keep it to the end ! When Saul was chosen of The Lord to be the mightiest labourer in his vineyard, though not, indeed, admitted until the eleventh hour, what was the first token of his high calling ? SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. DRE « He was three days without sight.” Acts ix. 9. When God made known to Peter, in a vision, that the Gentiles were to be embraced in the wide scope of salvation, a yoice from heaven thrice exclaimed— «“ What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” «‘This was done thrice.” Acts x. 15, 16; x1. 9,710. And, as I have noticed in another place, three messengers from the devout Cornelius, as ambas- sadors from the Gentiles, waited on Peter by Di- vine appointment, inviting him to preach the Gospel to the heathen. «While Peter thought on the vision, The Spirit said unto him, behold three men seek thee. Arise, therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, nothing doubting ; for I have sent them.” Acts x. 19, 20. In many of the passages which I have selected as illustrative of triplicity, some perhaps will say, bo Cn bo TRIPLICITY. that in the ardour of my zeal for my hypothesis, I have noticed things which are quite unimportant in themselves, and might as well have been ex- pressed in any other way. To whom I answer, that there is not in the Scriptures a single unim- portant word, nor a si 3 expression but was intended by God to be expressed and understood in the way set down. ‘* for all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” 2 Tim. i. 16. If, indeed, the Old Testament be read without the. New, or rather if it be not read as a Book whose sole tendency is to the New Testament, which it prefigures, and by which it is so far su- perseded, as Grace hath taken place of the Law; then I grant that one-half of the Sacred Volume is not only unintelligible, but perfectly useless. But when we read it as a prophecy and fore- shadowing of the Gospel; as a Book, in short, which is the vehicle of The Messiah, we shall put wl SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. IS away with horror the irreverent opinion, that any part of it is set down in vain. In reading the Bible, we have before us the only work of its kind ; a book that stands in dignified soleness ; a history, not so much of the times, persons, and events to which it immediately refers, as of those that were to come! A testimony which God Himself was raising up through a series of ageS, to be, in the perfect time of redemption, a glori- ous testimony to The Redeemer; in whom men might see the accomplishment of those things which had been foretold and prefigured so long ago—even from the beginning ; and seeing, might adore the truth and faithfulness of His Word. And what a magnificent evidence, indeed, of the truth and omniscience of God, are the prophecies ! How majestically do they speak of events yet buried in the womb of ages, as though they were already come to light! There is something pecu- liarly delightful in the consideration of God’s om- niscience. It is animating in the extreme toa Christian’s faith, a Christian’s hope, to think and 254. TRIPLICITY. to know that the whole period of this world’s du- ration is but as a day in his sight and in compari- son of his eternity: that all the long-continued trials and temptations of man are, in the sight of his Maker, but as a shadow—yea, and as a fleet- ing shadow in comparison of that eternal weight of glory which He hath laid up for him hereafter. It is delightful to know that the way of salvation was prepared before the worlds; that The Lamb was slain from the beginning; that the names of the faithful—(reader, may thine be among them!) —are already written in the Book of Life; and that, in the sight of Omniscience, the redeemed of His Son are already admitted into the Paradise of eternal joy ! But readers of the class I have in view will say, if, indeed, they would be consistent with themselves, that the Temple might as well have been broader, or longer, or higher than it was: or, that the covering of the Tabernacle might as well have been of any other colours as of those three—scarlet, blue, and purple: and I should agree SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 955 with them, but for this only reason; that they were fashioned according to the will of God, and that if they had been of any other size or colour, God would have despised them, and rejected them, and the Ark of his Covenant and the Seat of his Mercy would never have dwelt within them. Saint Paul declares in language of authority, that the exactness with which the Tabernacle was built and decorated, as well as all the other particulars in the Old Testament, are of the highest importance, and demand our most serious consideration, as being the examples and shadows of higher and holier mysteries. ‘Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God, when he was about to make the Tabernacle: for, see, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the Mount.” Hep. vill. 5. And again, St. Paul adverting to another of the Levitical rites, namely, that of burning without the camp the bodies of those beasts 256 TRIPLICITY. whose blood had been offered up by the High Priest in the Sanctuary, shows how exactly our Redeemer complied with that ceremony, foras- much as it was a type of the great sacrifice on Calvary. “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the High Priest, for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore, Jesus, also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate.” Hes: xuisd Lele Our Saviour, also, refers to the brazen serpent that was raised up in the wilderness, and de- clares that it was a type of himself. «‘ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that who- soever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” * St. Joun iii. 14, 15. Let us remember the reproach, the gentle reproach which our Saviour made to Nicodemus for his ignorance and unbelief. * See Appendix (6.) SCRIPTURAL SIGNS AND TYPES. 257 “Tf I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things ?” JOHN il. 12. Our ignorance and unbelief will be more inexcusable than his, and our reproach and con- demnation will be greater in proportion. Let us, then, read all the earthly signs contained in the Scriptures as pointing to heaven; and the Spirit of God will enable us to understand them, to the strengthening of our faith, and the increase of our hope and comfort. But seeing of what importance every part of the sacred volume is, as pointing ¢o heaven, and to Him who came down from heaven, shall not the triplicity, which is sO conspicuous throughout, be welcomed as a sign of Him who is im heaven? ‘This sign of triplicity is not of my own creation, nor the offspring of my own fancy. I think it cannot be denied that it is imprinted generally on the Scriptures, and peculiarly on that, the most interesting, part of them which relates to the VOL. I. Ss 258 TRIPLICITY. Covenant of Grace. This sign, was it not lifted up with our Saviour on the Cross, and shall it not lift up our hearts with him to heaven? This sign which through the vast series of ages, from the Promise to the Fulfilment, gleaming like a standard, was so awfully displayed in the agony and death of our Lord, and so triumphantly in his Resurrection; shall we not revere it, as the peculiar token of his divine, ineffable nature? And that mysterious and indelible impression of triplicity, which is engraven upon our minds, shall we not bear it with joy, and sanctify it as the mark of our Captain; as the watchword of his spiritual soldiers ;* and honor the inscription * The Christian’s progress through life has been very aptly likened by the inspired writers, and particularly by St. Paul, toa perpetual warfare. It is in allusion, perhaps, to a military prac- tice among the Greeks, that he says—‘‘ I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.’’ Gal. vi. 17. and the same figure is used in the Revelations. “* And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hands or in their foreheads.’’ Rev. xiii. 16. In the armies of Sparta and of Athens, the soldiers were sometimes marked in the hand to distinguish them from the slaves, who were marked in the forehead. VISIONS AND REVELATIONS. 959 with the devotion of Christian chivalry until He comes again, to write upon him that overcometh His new name, (Rev. iii. 12.) and to finish that similitude to his own Divine Person, whose faintest lineaments we have cherished for his sake ! VISIONS AND REVELATIONS. When the Lord conveyed to Abraham the joyful word of promise—“Sarah thy wife shall have a Son,” (Gen. xviii. 10,) He was accom- panied by two heavenly witnesses; and thus, this solemn engagement on the part of The Almighty was marked with the character of triplicity. There were three parties—The Lord, who made the promise ; Abraham, who received it; and the Angels, who attested it. Not that The Lord needed that any one should bear witness to his word; but it was done, we may presume, in honor of the law concerning testimony, which He afterwards prescribed to his people—(see Deut.. xvii. 6, xix. 15;) and which He confirmed, gs 2 260 TRIPLICITY. when He came in the flesh, by a special injunction, “That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word should be established.” (Matt. xvi. 16.) The Baptism of Our Saviour was celebrated by this glorious triplicity :— The voice of the Father. The appearance of The Holy Ghost in the likeness of a Dove. And the presence of The Son clothed in the humble garb of humanity. The Transfiguration on the mountain was also marked with awful triplicity ; it presented to the eyes of the astonished disciples the appearance of three glorious and radiant figures. Thus we find, that on the most holy and im- portant occasions on which it hath pleased God to vouchsafe ocular manifestations of Himself, it has been with triplicity. When He conveyed to Abram the word of Promise, when He was baptized and dedicated as it were to the Work of Salvation; and when He appeared in glory VISIONS AND REVELATIONS. 261 on the Mount, declaring that the hallowed time was at hand when the Promise should be fulfilled, and the work accomplished; in all these instances the vision was of ¢hree figures. At the close of that wonderful series of visions that was displayed to Daniel; in which ages of futurity were unveiled to his sight, and the Spirit of God possessed him of events deep-buried in the womb of time— a series of prophecies containing a more perfect transcript of the future than any human history ever presented of the past—at the close of these stupendous revelations, the vision was tredled. Two other spirits were joined, as witnesses, to the recording angel, and thus the testimony was sealed with ftriplicity: which is a signal instance of the perfecting character of the number three. “Then I, Daniel, looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, how long shall it be to the 262 TRIPLICITY. end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen,* which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.” Dan. xil. 5—7. Here we find that this eventful period is cast in triplicity—“a time, times, and an half” And, what is very observable, it is announced by three several authorities—by Daniel, by St. John, and by our Saviour—by The Lord, by his Prophet, and by his Evangelist.t * See Appendix (7.) + See Appendix (8.) APPENDIX. CONTAINING ILLUSTRATIONS OF PARTICULAR POINTS ARISING FROM THE GENERAL ARGUMENT. (1.) Refer to p. 128. The current of the Hindoo theology, how- ever turbid in its downward course, may never- theless be traced to the pure source which I have indicated, if we consider that the Brach- mans of India are unquestionably of Cuthite origin. Their very appellation is a proof of this; for Brachman is a compound of Bar-ach-man— the Son of the great Man or Meen, who was the principal Deity of the Cuthites. When the Tower of Babel was erected by those first apostates from the truth, it is pro- bable that it was dedicated to the host of heaven, 264 ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. and that pure Zabaism was the first step of their defection. After their dispersion they fell by degrees into the grossness of idolatry. Obsti- nately intent on perpetuating their name, which was, indeed, the principal design of the Babel con- federacy—“let us make us a name”’—(Gen. xi. 4)—they embodied in a scheme of emblematical theology all the early history of their race from Noah downwards, and established it as the fun- damental religion in whatsoever regions they inhabited. But, as they could not have been ignorant of the spiritual nature and perfections of The True God, imbued, as they must have been, in those early days, with the Patriarchal doctrines; so we need not be surprised if, in the midst of their corruptions, they retained some notions of The Deity which can only be referred to the source of all truth. Thus much I have thought well to say, lest any of my readers should be staggered at find- ing the Hindoo Theology and the Christian doctrine of The Trinity brought so close together: ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. 265 as though there were any other fountain of the truth than one, which is the Word of God. For I would rather that this work were burnt, and I with it, than that it should be a stumbling-block to the least of the little ones of Christ. But tracing as I do, the Brahminical Doctrine, through that most enlightened though most wicked family of Cuth, up to the inspired Patriarch, I con- ceive that I make it a testimony to the written word, so far as it is consentient therewith. It will be objected, that my derivation of the word Brachman is not sufficient proof that the individuals so denominated are of Cuthite descent. But we shall find, on investigation, that not only that particular sect, but the whole country derived its name, from the same family.* * That Brachman was originally the name not only of a religious sect, but the patronymic of a whole people, is probable from the fact, that in ancient times it was imposed both on rivers and towns. A river which runs between the Ganges and Catabeda, was called Brachmanus: and, according to Ptolemy, Brachme was the name of a town situated on this side of the Ganges, midway between the Eastern Coast of the Peninsula, and a town called Arcatis, and occupied by a people whom he styles Brachmani Magi. Were we have an unequivocal token of the 266 ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. That Indus, whence the river of that name in ancient times, and from thence, in more modern days, the whole country has been denominated, was Ham, the father of Chus, is clear from the following passage in the Chronicon Paschale, p. 36 :— Ep trois ypovors ths ITupyorrotias é« Tou yévous Tov Appakad avip tis ’Ivéos avehdvn copos actpove- Cuthite descent of the Brachmans: for Chus was the father of the Magi. In the name Arcatis we seem, moreover, to have a monument of the Ark, memorials of which were zealously preserved by the same people, not only in their religious rites, but in the names which they gave to places where they established themselves, as well as in the national appellation of several branches of their family: witness Argos, Arcadia, Arcades, &c. and many other variations and inflexions of the same name. The first instance of this Arkite nomenclature occurs at the very commencement of history, and carries us back to that most ancient of cities, built by Nimrod, the Son of Chus, which is called in our version, Erech ; (See Gen. x. 10.) but by the Hebrew commentators expressed ax Arcua, (See Michaelis Geogr. Heb. extera. p. 220.) and commonly rendered Arach, or Aracca, and, by contraction, Arca. It is worthy of remark that the inhabitants of this city are ac- knowledged by the best historians to have invented the art of weaving. | Whence the fable of Arachne’s loom; the Spider, from its curious web, being denominated, after the city, Arachana, by contraction, Arachna or Arachne, And this is the more per- tinent to the matter in hand, as the Cuthites were particularly distinguished, wherever they settled, for their skill in weaving ; which as it was also carried to great perfection by the Indian family, is another proof, indirect, indeed, but not to be despised, of their Cuthite origin. ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. 267 Los, ovopate AvdovBaplos, 6s Kai cuvéyparye TPATOs Ivéows aotpovopiav. At the time, when the Tower of Babel was erected, a certain per- son made his appearance in the world, who was an Indian, (Indus), and said to have been of the race of Arphaxad. He was famous for his wisdom and his skill in astronomy, and named Andoubarios. He first delineated schemes of the heavens, and taught the Indi the laws of the stars. On which Bryant makes the follow- ing valuable comment. “Why this personage is made to be of the race of Arphaxad, I know not. This astronomer is probably Chus, the father of the Magi, who is said to have first observed the heavens, and to have paid an undue reverence to the celestial bodies. The name Andoubarios seems to be a compound of Andou-Bar, Indi filius. Hence the original Indus must have been Ham.” (Ant. Myth. iv. p- 280.). To me, indeed, it is probable that the term Hindoo is but a variation of "Ivdov (Indou,) and 268 ON TIIE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. that, like Brachman, it is a sacred patronymic. If, however, the explanation of the name Andou- barios were not, as I think it is, satisfactory, yet the Cuthite extraction of Indus would be suff- ciently indicated by the astronomical science which is ascribed to him; for that was the dis- tinguishing characteristic of the Cuthite family. But the Cuthites bore the name of Indi, and the Tigris was denominated Indus, in honour of their great progenitor, in very remote ages. Hence Osiris himself was said to be an Indian. "Ocipidsa “Ivdov ecivar to yévos: (Diodor. Sie. eps) ering Egypt was likewise considered as an Indic nation; doubtless from the Cuthite Shepherds, who migrated thither on their dis- persion from Babel, and gave it the name of Ait, Aétia, from another title of Indus: which demonstrates, by the by, the identity of the original Indus with Ham: for att, which signified heat, in the Amonian dialect, was undoubtedly a solar epithet and sacred to Ham, who, of all the Noachic family was more particularly wor- ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. 269 shipped as the Sun. “Exdj@n de b) Aetia, amo tivos “Ivéov ’Aetod. (Steph. Byzant.) Jt was called Aétia, from one Indus, surnamed Aétus, and Eustathius in Dionys. Perieg. v. 241, bears the same testimony: val pév kav’ Aetia, éx Tivos *Ivdov, "Aetod Karovupévov. And, moreover, it was called Aétia from one Indus, who was styled Aétus. When, therefore, we find an Indus in the East, together with a priesthood bearing the distinguishing appellation of the Cuthite Deity, we should naturally conclude that both the one and the other were of Cuthite origin. But the matter is not left to mere inference or analogy. It is an historical fact, that all the interamnian region between the Indus and the Ganges was called Scythia. “« Hist Scythice tellus australis flumen ad Indum.”’ PrIscIAN v. 996. "Ivéov Tap wotapov vorwor SKv0ae evvatovaw * — Dionys. Prriza. v. 1088. The Southern Scythians inhabit the banks of the river Indus. Scythia or more properly Scuthia, we may 270 ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. observe, is no more than Cuthia, with the sigma prefixed in the manner of an aspirate: in which office that character seems formerly to have been used by many nations, as it is to this day by the Welsh. Thus Indus was often called Sindus, and the Alps, @Azwa épn, were by Lyco- phron, v. 1361, styled cé\mia. But that this Scythia was in reality the land of Cutha, or of the Cuthites, is clear from its being also denomi- nated ARthiopia. Al@soria % Pdérovca Kata "IvSovus, mpos edpdovorov. (Kuseb. Chron. p. 12.) Aithiopia which faces the Indi towards the South- east. The distinction here made between ZBthiopia and the land of the Indi is merely territorial, for they were, in fact, the same people: as we learn from Iarchus of India: ore Aidlores wev @xovy évtadOa, yévos “Ivducov. Phi- lostrati vit. Apollon. 1. ii. p. 125.) for the Authto- pians dwelt there, a people of the Indian race. Having shown that Indo-Scythians were Aithio- pians, all that now remains to be proved, in order to make my position good, is that the ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. 271 Asthiopians were Cuthites: which is evident from the following testimony:—é« pév Xovs Xovsato* dvtow AiGiores eiciv. (Zonaras p. 21. Syncell: p. 47.) From Chus the Chuseans: who are the Aithiopians. AOlorres, av np~Ee Xous, ere Kal vov UT éavToy TE Kal TOV ev TH Aola TdvTOV Xoveato: cadovytat. (Joseph: Ant. 1. i. c. 6, p. 22.) The Aithiopians, who are descended from Chus, are called to this day, not only by themselves, but by all the Asiatics, Chuseans. And lastly, NeBpwd vios Xovs tov AiPioros. (Malala, p. i8.) Nimrod, the Son of Chus the Aithiop:—which carries us back to the great apostate of Babel, the author of that wonderful dispersion, which stretched from one end of the earth to the other—from the remotest East to the remotest West. For I question whether there be a spot in all the habitable globe which does not exhibit the traces of their wandering footsteps. AiGiorras, Tot duy0a Sedalatat, Eryatos avopar, ¢ 3 f Oi pev Sucopévov ‘Lrepiovos, of © avivtos. Ont. A ny .222: 272 ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. The Aathiopians, the remotest of mankind, who are severed by all the space which stretches Srom the rising to the setting sun. A passage which, though it be generally interpreted as of two nations of the same name, should rather, I think, be understood of one vast people, scattered all over the world, and separated by intervening oceans; in which sense Ephorus says, according to Strabo—Soxei yap To tov AiPlorwv vos wapateive am’ avaToNov NELLEPLVOV EXPL TOV Sucpav.— (Strabo. 1. i. p. 59.) The Athio- pian race seems to extend from the winter tropic in the Hast to the extreme West. But they penetrated to regions which were not known either to Homer or Strabo. Hence it was with singular propriety that the Psalmist, prophesying the universality of Christ’s Domi- nion, in his Second Advent, said that the Athio- pians should bow before Him. Psalm lxxii. 9, according to our version, “they that dwell in the wilderness,” but according to the vulgate: « Coram Eo procident Aithiopes,” and the Septua- ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. 273 gint, every autév mpoomecduvtar diblomres : “the Athiopians shall fall down before Him”... in which reading concur St. Hilary and St. Au- gustine: and Symmachus and Aquila also have aifiores. On this passage Calmet observes, that as the A®thiopians, according to the an- cient notion, were considered as reaching to the utmost confines of the East and West, they did, therefore, aptly represent the universal dominion of Christ: that is, the present Church, according to the common system. “ Aithiopes antiquitus habebantur veluti extremi terrarum populi ad utramque extremitatem ad ortum, et occasum sepositi. Nullus preter hunc populus aptior erat ad mirabilem Christiane Ecclesic extensionem innuendam.” (Vide Euseb. et August. et Athanas: hic.) If the “wise men from the East” who worshipped The Infant Jesus, were true Magi, as it is most probable they were, then they were of this very family; for Chus, or Cuth was the father of the Magi. The prostra- tion, therefore, of these Eastern Sophists, who, by VOL. I. pb 274 ON THE BRACHMANS OF INDIA. the universal consent of interpreters and commen- tators, were the representatives of the whole Gentile world, will derive a new illustration from the universal character of the race to which they belonged, and at the same time, it will exhibit a literal, as well as initiatory and typical, fulfilment of the Psalmist’s prophecy: “The dithiopians shall fall down before Him.” Upon the whole, then, to return from this digression, it is sufficiently clear that the Hindoo Brachmans are of Cuthite origin, and consequently, that their theology, so far as it is agreeable to the truth, must be referred to patriarchal tra- dition. ko “Ty wt ON THE NUMBER SEVEN. APPENDIX (3.) Refer to p. 167. It has been thought by some that it was owing to his acquaintance with the Mosaic law that Pythagoras had such a veneration for the number seven. Knowing that a peculiar distinc- tion of the seventh day had been commanded by a Deity, a Pagan would naturally, it has been said, ascribe to the number seven peculiar powers and virtues. But it is far more probable that the superstitious reverence with which this num- ber was regarded, not only by Pythagoras, but by the heathen in general, fiowed from a source still more remote than the Mosaic Dispensation. It originated, as I conceive, in the earliest days of the post-diluvian world—in the keeping of the Sabbath by Noah and his immediate descendants. Certain it is that the number seven was considered mysterious and sacred by the most ancient people of the Gentile world, as well as by believers before the giving of the 7.2 976 ON THE NUMBER SEVEN. law. See Grotius, de verit. relig. Christ. 1. 1. xvi. and note 20, &c. Cooke’s enquiry into the Patriarchal and Druidical Religion. p. 4, 5, and the authors there quoted, and Leland’s Advan- tage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation, part 1, c. ii. p. 63, 8vo. edit. Also Josephus, in his controversial treatise against Apion: where we find the following remarkable passage :— dvd éotw du TédSs ‘EAjvov, dude Tis dvY, Ovde Bap- Bapos, dude év €Ovos, &vOa pn To THs EBSopasos Hv Gprysupev hpets, TO Eos du Starrepolrnxe. “Nor is there any city whatever, whether Greek or Bar- barian, nor a single nation, whither the custom of the Sabbath, on which we rest, hath not passed.” And Philo speaks thus of the seventh day: opti yap dv puds Toews, 1) YoOpas eaTLV, GANG Tov Tavtos. “For this is a feast, not of one city or country, but of all.” This primeval and universal observance of the seventh day, the grand tertian period on which The Almighty rested from all his works, can be traced to no other source, I repeat, than the practice and ON THE NUMBER SEVEN. 274 precept of Noah. The holy Patriarch seems religiously to have kept the Sabbath, during his confinement in the Ark; for we find that he despatched the dove at intervals of seven days. And, doubtless, he would have perceived in his own circumstances a lively and most impressive confirmation of the mysterious verity which he thus celebrated, when he found rest from the labours of the deluge on the same critical period of a tertian series. As the Ark rested precisely in the seventh month, on the mountains of Ararat; he would have been powerfully admonished by that circumstance to commend the observance of the Sabbath to his immediate descendants, and through them to all posterity. How fervently the sacred tradition was cherished we may learn from the following verses :— "EPooun eiv ayabots, cad &88oun éort yevedrn ° "EBooun ev rparovct, Kal EBoopun eat TéXEun * "EPSopuarh 8) of rereNcouéva mévra térvetac: € \ / / 9 n {/ Entra 6é wdavta tétuKtas ev oupava AOTEPOEVTL. Frac. Lint. ex ARISTOBULO. 278 ON THE NUMBER SEVEN. Which may be rendered thus :— ‘The seventh day is among the blessings, and the seventh day is the origin: (i. e. the day when the creation began to fulfil the purposes of its Creator.) The seventh is among the most excellent of things, and the seventh is the day of perfection: on the seventh day, all things, whatsoever are made, were perfected by him: according to the number seven all things were formed in the starry heavens.” We should remember that Linus, who wrote these verses, flourished before the time of Mosesy and is so ancient as to have been supposed by some of the Greeks to have been the inventor of verses and music, and the preceptor of Or- pheus. Many of the most solemn festivals of the heathen were kept on the seventh day. The festival of the Pythian Dragon, at Python, (the same as Delphi,) was held on the seventh day. The Scholiast on Pindar says that Dionusus, (who undoubtedly was Noah,) was the first who uttered oracles at this place, and appointed the seventh day a festival. What can be more satis- factory than to find, among heathen writers of ON THE NUMBER SEVEN. 279 the greatest antiquity, passages coincident, like the above, with holy writ, and bearing uncon- scious testimony to its veracity! I remember, some time ago, to have been very much struck with a quotation, in Blackwood’s admi- rable Magazine, from the Prometheus Vinctus of Aischylus: which, if it were not irreverent so to interpret it, would seem to indicate an idea of the mystery of Our Lord’s Atonement: an original verity, perchance, corrupted by tradi- tion—a gleam of light wandering amidst the darkness of superstition. Tocov Sé pox8ou Téppa jr) TL TpoTdoKa TI piv dv Oedv tis diddoyos THY GHY TOVEY Davy, Oednon T els avavyntov jodetv “Avdnv, cvebaia T audi Taptdpov Ban. Which, if my reader will accept a clumsy versification, I would render thus :— Expect of all thy weary woes no end, Till from the gods some willing heir shall come Of thy sad toils; ay, willing to descend To lightless hell, and Tartar’s depths of gloom 280 ON THE NUMBER SEVEN. The necessity of a Redeemer, and the no Jess necessary willingness of that Redeemer, or substitute, (dsddoyos), are as clearly pointed out in this passage as if it had been written by a Christian. Aiddoyos means, properly, one who takes the ‘place of another: (See Acts xxiv. 27.) and hence, among the Greeks, works which were carried on by a succession and substitution of labourers, per successionem et per vices, were called épya duddoya. The universal practice of atoning for sin by a substitute could only have arisen from a reve- lation from God Himself. However enfeebled in his intellectual faculties by the fall, still man has a noble power of reason, and could never have entertained the absurd pretension of making satisfaction for the sins of another, by the sacrifice of himself or of any other living creature. That was not only a sublime verity of faith, but an obvious conclusion of the understanding, which the Psalmist expressed in the following terms:—“* None of them can by any means ON THE NUMBER SEVEN. 281 redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.” (Ps. xlix. 7.) If sin demanded expiation by blood, which was the uniform opinion of the heathen world, a man, however erringly, might have hoped to wash out his own sins in’ his own blood; but that he could thereby make atonement for the sins of any other than himself, was a monstrous conclusion at which he could never have arrived by any legitimate process of ratiocination. And yet it was an opinion, no less prevalent than the former, “among the heathen, that it was necessary that some should die for the good of others; and hence arose the barbarous custom of human sacrifices. “ Proeceptum est, ut pro capitibus capitibus supplicaretur; idque aliquamdiu observatum, ut pro familiarium sospitate pueri mactarentur Manice Dece, Matri Larum. (Macrob. Daten ate ce fs p..154.) But, as all men were sinners, and conse- quently, every man’s blood was required for his own sins, whence arose the idea of a sacri- 282 ON THE NUMBER SEVEN. fice by substitute? It could only have arisen from the expectation of a more sufficient atone- ment, whereof the present offering was merely the acknowledgment and the type. Hence Ovid, who abounds in mysteries of the deepest im- port, characterizes sacrifices as an earnest of something better to come: ‘Cor pro corde, precor, pro fibris accipe fibras: Hanc animam vobis pro meliore damus.”’ Ovin. Fast. 1. vi. 161. In short, the sacrifice of victims, whether among the heathen or the Jews, would have been a ceremony equally barbarous and ridicu- lous, unless it had been typical of The Great Atonement of The Lamb of God, the only suffi- cient substitute for the blood of the whole world. THE DOVE AND THE RAINBOW. 283 APPENDIX (4.) Refer to p. 177. The Dove is endeared to man by the per- formance of so many gentle offices, that my reader will not be disinclined, I trust, to follow me through a short retrospect of its emblematic history, mythological—sacred—and domestic: which I shall draw, for the most part, from Bryant, who has handled the subject at great length; and, with an admirable power of demonstration, has compelled the heathen superstition to throw a salutary light upon the pages of holy writ. “The Dove, which returned to Noah witha leaf of olive, and brought the first tidings that the waters of the deep were assuaged, was held in many nations as particularly sacred. It was looked upon as a peculiar messenger of the Deity; and an emblem of peace and good for- tune. The name of the dove among the ancient 984 THE DOVE AND THE RAINBOW. Amonians was Ion, and I6nah; sometimes ex- pressed Idnas, from whence came Oivas, Oinas, of the Greeks. It was esteemed an interpreter of the will of the Gods to man, and on that account, in the first ages, was looked upon as a bird of presage. Among Mariners it was thought to be particularly auspicious: who, in their voyages, used to let a dove or pigeon fly from their ships, in order to judge from its movements of the success of their voyage. The most favourable season for setting sail was at the Heliacal rising of the seven stars near the head of Taurus: and they are in consequence of it called Peleiades, (commonly Pleiades,) or the doves.” Here, by the by, I cannot help observing, what indeed is very remarkable, that oivas is said by Hesychius and other writers to signify a species of wild-pigeon, owas et’dos repistepas aypias (Hesych.) “And there is reason to think, that this intelligence was derived from some ancient tradition. It is a history as curious as THE DOVE AND THE RAINBOW. 285 it is probable: and we may infer from it, that the dove sent out of the Ark by Noah was of a wild species. A tame pigeon would naturally have returned upon the least difficulty, and per- haps of choice; and would not have afforded the information which was wanted. la [Lod S\ ALIN matter :—Kal avtov KaTeduTrOV Exel META TOD ApPKoV- 326 THE ANGEL UPON THE tos Bacwnelas Tepcov ... “and I left him (Michael) there, with the Prince of the Kingdom of the Per- sians.” This ministry, by substitution, per succes- sionem et per vices, shows that both Gabriel and Michael were fellow-servants, acting together, and mutually aiding each other, under superior orders. Again: if Michael was The Lord ;--then he was present with Daniel, according to the inter- pretation of v. 5, notwithstanding that Gabriel left him with the Prince of Persia, to remain there during his absence. Now, although this be perfectly compatible with the ubiquity of God ; ‘yet, we may reasonably ask, why was Gabriel taken away from his post in Persia, and put under the necessity of leaving a substitute, if that substitute was The Lord, and consequently, was present both with the Prince of Persia and Daniel, at the same time; to say nothing of the irreverence of making The Lord a substitute for any one? There is an incongruity and contradiction in this, which is quite foreign from the character of Scripture. Again, and lastly: if Michael was The Lord, WATERS OF THE RIVER. 307 and the Angel who appeared to Daniel was The Lord also, then the words—*“ Michael. . . came to help me,” involve an absurdity too obvious to be insisted on. In short, neither “ the man clothed in linen,” of c. 10, or of c. 12, nor the Archangel Michael, can be converted into The Lord, without over- coming such a host of difficulties and contra- dictions as, in my poor apprehension, are utterly insuperable. Our Commentators seem to have laid them- selves under the necessity of investing these Angels with the incommunicable dignity of The Son of God, by their not having distinguished between the particular mission to the Jews and the general Gospel of The Kingdom. The Jews are as much a stumbling-block to Christians, as the Christians were to the Jews. They could not believe the admission of the Gentiles, and we, in the pride of our present possession, are too prone to lose sight of the Jews, and to generalize the promises which pertain immediately and ex- 328 THE ANGEL UPON THE clusively to them, so as to bring owrselves within their scope; thus verifying the words of Saint Paul:—*“ For God hath concluded all,’—i. e. both Jew and Gentile,—(Comp. Rom. iii. 9.)—“ All in unbelief.”’-—(Rom. xi. 32.)* * Gr. ouvéKreice yap 6 Oeds Tous TavTas eis atre(Gevay ... which we translate: ‘for God hath concluded them all in unbelief,” . . . fastening the stigma on the Jews alone, and clearing ourselves. A fatal mistake! The argument of St. Paul is this :—that, as we have obtained mercy through the un- belief of the Jews,—for, as Our Lord said, ‘‘ Salvation is of the Jews,’’—John iv. 22; so the Jews, in their turn, will obtain mercy through our unbelief :—which, by the by, seems rapidly advancing :—wherefore he adds: ‘‘for God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all:’’ on the Gen- tiles first, and afterwards on the Jews. See Acts. xv. 14—16: where the alternation is plainly stated. Agreeably to which, The Holy Simeon, when he embraced the Infant Jesus, noticed the same order and sequence in the economy of God’s providence, calling Him jirst-—‘‘a light to lighten the Gentiles,’’ and then ‘* the glory of his people Israel.’’ (Luke ii. 32.) The original words of St Paul are as follows: Rom. xi. 31. OuvT@ Kat duTow viv nrévOncav TO vpeTtépw enéet, a kab avtot ErenGact «..—— ‘even so have these also now not believed in your mercy,’? —i. e. in your call- ing, —‘‘ that they also may obtain mercy:’’ ... i. e. may be restored. And each is called through the unbelief of the other, because God hath concluded all in unbelief. If the Jews, as a nation, had not disbelieved, the Church would never have passed to the Gentiles: and if the Gentiles were not to fall away, it could never be re-conveyed to the Jews,—There must ‘‘ come a falling away first’’—(2 Thess. ii. 3,) which will be the signal of the WATERS OF THE RIVER. 329 We have an instance of this in the interpre- tation which is given to Daniel, (c. 12, v. 1,)— “At that time shall Michael stand up—the great Prince, which standeth for the children of thy people ;” which is thus explained by the Com- mentators. ‘ Michael signifies, who is like God ; and this name with the title of the great Prince, points out The Divine Saviour. Christ stood for the children of our people, when He was made sin and a curse for them, stood in their stead as a sacrifice, bore the curse for them, to bear it from them. He stands for ever for them, in the intercession He ever lives to make within the veil.’—(Henry and Scott, Combined Comm.) This, no doubt, is a general truth, and every Christian acknowledges it with humble thankful- redemption of the Jews and the tribulation of Christendom. This is the argument of St. Paul, if his words be read, as they stand in the original, with judgment and candour : and this, indeed, is the great mystery which so astounded him. As the passage stands in our version, there is no mystery at all, or none that could have kindled the enraptured Apostle into that flame of lofty and fervid elo- quence with which he closes the subject, (See v. 33—36.); and which, therefore, as it is well said by Lacunza, in his Ben-Ezra, he might have reserved for a more fitting occasion. 330 THE ANGEL UPON THE ness ; but it is not the particular truth contained in the Scripture under consideration. It is not the Gentile Church which is here alluded to—not “our people,” but the people of Daniel, who was expressly informed by the Angel, that he came to let him know-what should befal his people in the latter days. Neither is the Prince Michael, who is only one among other Princes, (c. 10, v. 13,) The King of Kings, but his servant. Nor does his standing up symbolize, in any way, with the everlasting intercession of The Redeemer; for it has no general reference to time past or pre- sent, but relates particularly and exclusively to a time to come, as the Angel plainly signified to Daniel, when he identified it with the epocha of the last tribulation :—“ At that time shall Michael stand up... and there shall be a time of trouble.” The especial purpose of his standing up, which is only mentioned in general terms to Daniel :— “which standeth for the children of thy people ;” —is particularly revealed to Saint John, at Apoc. xil. 7—10, where he is informed that it is to eject WATERS OF THE RIVER. 331 the accuser of his brethren from heaven; and it is important to observe that this great achieve- ment is cast in the very epocha foretold by the Angel to Daniel, viz.:—at the conclusion of the Jewish dispersion, and the commencement of the great tribulation. The whole mystery is explained by Saint John in the clearest possible order. He relates, in the first place, the acknowledgment of their Messiah by the Jews, figured in the spiritual birth of The Man-child, (Apoc. xii. 5,) flesh of their flesh; for of them, “as concerning the flesh, Christ came.”’—(Rom. ix. 5.) Secondly, their recovery and redemption consequent thereon, (Apoc. xi. 6,) according to God’s faithful promise, by the mouth of all his Prophets, from Moses to Malachi. Thirdly, the silencing of their accuser, and his ejection, together with all his legions, from the Chancery of Heaven, by the Archangel Michael, who is only waiting for the signal of the woman’s travail, to stand up against them. (V. 7—10.) And fourthly, the tribulation of the Antichrist, 332 THE ANGEL UPON THE produced by the concentration of Satan’s energies against the remnant of the woman’s seed; (v. 17;) 1. e. the Gentile Church, which sprang from the Jews—the wild graffs ingrafted on the good olive tree. (Rom. xi. 24.) Thus, then, the pur- pose and the time of Michael’s standing up, have reference, exclusively, to the Jews, and to the epocha of their deliverance and_ restoration, (Dan. xii. 153) according to the Angel’s decla- ration above alluded to:—“I am come to make thee understand what shall befal thy people in the latter days.’—(Dan. x. 14.) Why, then, contrary to the direct assertion of the Heavenly Messenger, is all this interpreted generally of the Gentile Church? The reason, I fear, is this :—that the mystery contains not only the conversion and re-establishment of the Jews, as the peculiar people of God, but also the apos- tacy and downfal of the Gentiles. Yet, this is, nevertheless, the truth: which, if we deny or con- ceal it, we do but confirm by an act of unbelief, which must end in our own ruin. Every indivi- WATERS OF THE RIVER. 535 dual Christian should keep his eye fixed on the general Apostacy, as that which must inevitably take place, constantly praying that he may not be included therein, and working out his own sal- vation with fear and trembling.—(Philipp. ii. 12.) The time and purpose, therefore, of the stand- ing up of Michael, fix that signal event before the coming of The Lord, which will not take place until the termination of the great affliction, or rather, it will be the termination of it: for “after these things,” says St. John, “I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse,” &c. .. (Apoc. xix. 1,11.) Thus, the achievement of Michael is subordinate and preparatory to “that great day of God Almighty,” (c. 16, v. 14,) and the proper work of the Lord’s servant. Anda mighty work, no doubt, it will be, the casting down of Satan from the bar of God’s High Court of Justice, where he is constantly accusing the Jews day and night.—(C. 12, v. 10.) It will be objected that he accuses Christians also, which is against my exclusive reference So THE ANGEL UPON THE to the Jews. No doubt, he does accuse every individual, both Jew and Gentile, even as he accused Job: (See Job i.) but he accuses us not as a Church: for, as a Church, we are under the protection of Divine Grace: (See Matt. XXVili. 20.) as a Church, we are The Lord’s Spouse, and too high a mark for his hand. ‘This is the time of the Gentiles—this is our season of mercy—this is our accepted time—this is the day of our salvation—O let us use it while it lasts —for the shadows of night are coming on! But it is far different with the Jews. As an Apostate Church, as a faithless and rejected spouse, lying, in their national character, under a curse, they are the appropriate and constant theme of Satan’s malicious and eager accusa- tions. Again:—It will be said: granting that Satan is silenced, as to the Jews, by their acknowledg- ment of “The Blood of The Lamb;” (Apoc. xi. 11.) still, we ask, why is he cast down from heaven, seeing that the Apostate Church of the a WATERS OF THE RIVER. 335 Gentiles shall then become a pregnant subject for impeachment? ‘The reason, my friends, is but too clear:—IJ¢ is the last time! (1 John i. 18.) That is the awful reason. The voice of Satan and his Angels shall no more be heard in heaven, (Apoc. xxi. 8.) for, “woe to the inhabi- ters of the earth and of the sea,” (v. 12.), he is come down to spend his last time—thank God! it will be short !—with unhappy man, and to wreak his rage, and disappointment and des- pair on the remnant of the woman’s seed. (v. 17.) The voice of the accuser shall be heard no more in the courts of heaven—all pleading is at an end—for it is the /ast time, and The Great Judge comes in Person to take cognizance of the cause, here, upon this very earth—to pronounce the sentence, and carry it into execution. May God keep us against that great and terrible day, and enable us to perceive in his Holy Scriptures all the signs of its coming, so that it take us not unawares. 336 THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. APPENDIX (8.) Refer to p. 262. As there are few texts in the Scripture which present a more pregnant subject for meditation than this, involving, as it does, a question of the deepest import to man, so there is none on which the learning and piety of commentators have been more laboriously and richly bestowed. Not to enter into the particular views which each of them has taken, I shall content myself with observing that they all seem to be agreed in this —that the 1260 days are 1260 years, and that they have either expired, or are near upon their termination. As I have come to a conclusion diametrically opposite, I trust that I shall not be considered as bold or rebeilious, if I venture to set down my reasons for dissenting from my superiors. My position is this:—That the 1260 days have not yet commenced ; and that they are days, THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. 337 and not years. I ground my argument on the remarkable ¢riplicity which I have already alluded to, viz.:—The triple and consentient testimony to the coming of this momentous period, which is held out to the world by The Lord, by his Pro- phet, and by his Evangelist ; and my exposition will proceed in the following order :— 1. I shall endeavour to show that all three speak of the same period, from the character with which they unanimously invest it, viz. :— of affliction; and of singularity, as being un- paralleled, or the only one of its kind. 2. That they all give signs, either directly or incidentally, of the time when it is to com- mence, and that all these signs agree in referring it to an epocha which is still future. 3. That it is an epocha of the last days—and 4, I infer that it is a period of days, and not years from the very nature of the tribulation. First, then, as to the character of the time, let us see what Daniel says:—“at that time... there shall be a time of trouble, such as never aa 0) ore © Z 338 THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. was since there was a nation even to that same time.” (chap. xii. 1.) Our Blessed Lord de- scribes it in the very same terms: “in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.” (Mark xi. 19; Matt. xxiv. 21.) And St. John, speaking of the same time, leaves us to conjecture that which cannot be adequately expressed in words, the exceeding grievousness and universality of its affliction, when he says: “and it was given unto him (the beast,) to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations ;’—(Apoc. xii. 7,)—which agrees pre- cisely with what Daniel says, (chap. vil. 25,) speaking of the Antichrist: “he shall wear out the Saints of The Most High.... and they shall be given into his hand.” A picture is this of universal distress and prostration which enables us at once to comprehend The Lord’s brief allusion to it, and to appreciate the con- THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. 339 solatory with which He deigned to accompany it:—‘‘and except that The Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elects’ sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days.’ (Mark xiii. 20; Matt. xxiv. 22.) So far it appears, I think, that the time spoken of by all the three authorities is identical, from its character of ¢ribulation: it only remains to show, in order to secure my first position, that it is also identical from its character of singularity : or, in other words, that it can only occur once in the whole course of the present dispensation of Providence. Which singularity is evident from the words of Daniel: “such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time :” —from the Words of Our Lord: “Such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be :’— and from the words of St. John, who ushers in this great tribulation with the assertion that it is the hour of Satan’s last and greatest triumph before the coming of the King who, according 7, 340 THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. to St. Paul, “shall consume him with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of His Coming.” (2 Thess. u. 8.) The words of St. John are as follows:—* Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea!’ (i. e. of the whole terraqueous globe—mark the universality :) “for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Apoc. xu. 12.) These words sufficiently denote that the time spoken of by St. John is the time of Satan’s greatest power and energy, and moreover that it is his dast time, and therefore singular in both these respects. With these passages I think I have made good my first position, viz. :—that the time which all the three authorities allude to is identical from its character of tribulation and of singularity. 2. Itis now my duty to show that all these three authorities, directly or incidentally, give tokens of the time when this awful visitation is to take place, and that they unanimously agree THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. 341 in referring it to an epocha which has not yet commenced. Let us begin with Daniel. The angel, when he inquires, “how long shall it be to the end of these wonders,” evidently alludes to the time of trouble, and the stupendous events consequent thereupon, recorded at v. 1—3. If the grammatical construction of the passage were not of itself sufficient to decide this point, yet the all-absorbing nature of the revelation should convince us, that the angel’s inquiry would necessarily be fastened solely upon it. Considering the transcenden‘ “ie Iness of the tribulation, he naturally inquires how long it will last. The respondent angel does swore than satisfy this query. Not only does he intimate, in dark terms it must be confessed, how long the tribulation shall last, but also when it shall begin. The answer is: “it shall be for a time, times, and an half:’—here is the dura- tion: —“ and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished :” here is the beginning. 342 THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. Our commentators have thus explained the mystery. “It signifies,’ they say, “1260 pro- phetic days or years, beginning from the time when the power of the holy people should be scattered. The imposture of Mohammed, and the Papal usurpation, began about the same time; and these may be referred to as a twofold attack upon the Church of God. But all will end well at last.’ (Combined Comm. of Henry and Scott. London, 1834.) . ‘The point from which they deduce their calcu- lation is the scattering of the holy people. And here I fancy I perceive two errors:—the first, in their interpreting the scattering as beginning; whereas, the angel, as I conceive, spoke of its conclusion—‘“ when he shall have accomplished to scatter”’—i. e. when he shall have put an end to the scattering. The second, in taking the holy people for the Gentiles, whereas they are evidently the Jews: for the express purpose of the angel’s revelation was to let the people of Daniel know what should befal them in the latter days: (See THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. 343 chap. x. 14; chap. xu. 1.) and moreover, though the Church of God be holy in the Gen- tiles, yet there never was a people who, as a people, could be called holy, but the Jews. The Lxx. however, have not the words, “the power of the holy people:” and as their reading of the passage is, to my apprehension, more satisfactory than our English version, I shall ground my exposition on their text: to which none of my readers can object, seeing that it is the very text which the Evangelists used in their exposition of the prophecies. The ques- tion is: €ws méTe TO Tépas av élpneas TOY Oavpaciov; — “until when is the termination of the wonders which thou hast mentioned ?”— i.e. how long will they last? 'The answer is :— Gre eis Kaupdv Kab Kaipovs Kal Tytov KALPOU « < for a time, and times, and half a time.”. This is a complete answer to the question; but the angel adds: év tT cuvreredeaOfvae SvacKkopTria Lov yvodcortas Tavra TabTa ... “ When the dispersion is finished,’ (or come to an end,) “they shall 344 THE TIME OF TRIBULATION. know,” 1. e. they shall see the accomplishment of “all these things.’ What things? Why, the great tribulation and their deliverance therefrom: —“there shall be a time of trouble ... and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” (V.1.) This fixes the beginning of the tribu- lation as synchronical with the ending of the dis- persion, or, in other words, with the gathering of the Jews. The reading of the vulgate, agrees in all essentials, with the Lxx. and consequently establishes the same point :—“ mpadiieh ye C858 aa i aad taba baad lots ore: ir men er 7 ae MOT atm + 1AM, SBT OF ABTTAL A ed at. easemal .vmioa no gsayraes qainiaveud nD ce! vrngow 282 toe visited’) balsine , x “.sif, Toot bod wy Heo “As all + HRS