FROM THE CONNECTICUT NEW CHURCH ASSOCIATION. NEW HAVEN, CONN. ti y://.Ho PRINCETON, N. J. % Shelf.. Division xS)\cJ^ b Section .CJ^.T\.DfJ Number. \, THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION / ORIGINALLY WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED IN ENGLAND IN THE YEAR 1850, BY THE LAajE REV'D E. D.RENDELL, UNDER THE TITLE OF " ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY." WITH A NARRATIVE OF THE FLOOD AS SET FORTH IN THE EARLY PORTIONS OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS, CRITICALLY EXAMINED AS TO ITS LITERAL SENSE AND EXPLAINED AS TO ITS SPIRITUAL TEACHING SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCE, AS REVEALED BY EMANUEL SWEDENBORG IN HIS GREAT WORK, "THE ARCANA COELESTIA." APPENDIX FROM THE WRITINGS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, AS TO THE ORIGIN OF THE SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCE. And I enw in the right hand of him that sot on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed ivith seven seals. — Rev. v, 1. VOLUME I. FROM THE SECOND ENGLISH EDITION. PUBLISHED BY CONNECTICUT NEW CHURCH ASSOCIATION, NEV/ HAVEN, CONN. 1899. Copyright, 1899, BY THE Connecticut New Chukch Association. WM. F. FELL & CO., ELECTROTVPERS AND PRINTEHS, 1330-34 SANSOM STREET, PHILADELPHIA. CONTENTS. PAGE i'UEFACE, V Preface to the Second Edition, xviii Chapter I. lutroduction — General Structure of the Narrative, 1 Chapter II. General Structure of the Narrative, continued, 19 Chapter III. Original State of Man — The Successive Development of his Mental and Spiritual Powers — His Duty and Prerogative as an Image of God — The Excellency of Everything tliat was made 30 Chapter IV. The Seventh Day, a Celestial State of Man, 54 Chapter V. Adam a Religious Community — Eden, with its Garden and Eastern Situation— How to be kept, 61 Chapter VI. The Trees of the Garden : specifically the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, . . . .' 7(j Chapter VII. The River of Eden, and its being parted into Four Heads, 85 Chapter VIII. Adam naming the Living Creatures, 97 Chapter IX. Its not being good that Adam should be alone — His Deep Sleep — The taking of a Rib from him, and building it into a Woman, .... 108 Chapter X. The Sorpent and its Deception, 118 iii IV CONTENTS. Chapter XI. „. „ PAGE The Eating of the Forbidden Fruit, and Expulsion from Eden, .... 139 Chapter XII. Tlie Curse upon the Serpent —The Sorrows of the Woman— And the Curse upon the Ground for Man's Sake, 149 Chapter XIII. Cain and A1)el, with their Occupations, 162 Chapter XIV. The Offerings of Cain and Abel : why the offering of Abel was re- spected, and that of Cain rejected, 179 Chapter XV. The Death of Abel— The Curse on Cain ; his Fugitive and Vagabond Condition, 190 Chapter XVI. Cain's Complaint and Apprehensions— The Mark set upon him for his Preservation, 205 Chapter XVII. The Land of Nod— Cain's Son- The Building of a City, and calling it after the Name of his Son Enoch, 219 Chapter XVI II. The Birth of Seth— Tlie Longevity of his Descendants— And the "Translation" of Enoch, 236 Chapter XIX. The Corruptions of the Antediluvian World— The Sons of God taking to themselves Wives of the Daughters of ]\Ian, 253 Chapter XX. The Giants that were in tlie Antediluvian World— And the Repentance of the Lord that he had made Man, 272 Chapter XXI. The Ark — Noah and his Family entering into it— The Beasts preserved therein, 287 Chapter XXII. The Deluge, and the Death of all Flesh but those who entered into the Ark, 313 PREFACE. A satisfactory explanation of the early chapters of Genesis has become a desideratum in the Church; for there is no fact better established than that the Mosaic accounts of the Creation and the Deluge are no longer considered to express those senti- ments which for many ages they have been supposed to do. What used to be regarded as "orthodox," upon those subjects, has been compelled to recede before the light of rational inves- tigation and scientific discovery. This is admitted by men of eminence, — by minds stored with erudition and piety, — per- sons whose veneration for, and belief in, revelation are far above suspicion; — professors in our national universities, and other institutions for the dissemination of religion and learn- ing. A decree, therefore, has gone forth against the old notions upon these subjects: the old vessels have been effectu- ally broken; and all who carefully examine the fragments are convinced that it is impossible to repair them. It is true that several new systems have been formed on some modified ideas of the literal sense of those ancient writings; but an intelligent inspection of them has shown that they also are marred and full of flaws; so that there has ceased to be any authorized in- terpretation of those extraordinary documents. In this dilemma, the old opinions continue to be taught to the rising generations; and so their minds are prejudiced in favour of a mistaken judgment. This, doubtless, produces no little uneasiness and alarm among those who know them to be, untrue. The influences which have exposed the errors have V Vi PKEFAC'E. not yet become sufficiently i)Owerful to clieck their progress. This is to be lamented; but it is one of the consequences of objectors not offering such improved interpretations as can be safely adopted in the place of those which are discarded. The old errors may as well be taught as any new one, if teachings must be enforced on the subject before any more satisfactory views can be established. But why the teaching of demon- strated errors should be persisted in it is difficult to say. It is admitted that the work of him who would instruct society is not completed by pulling down the building which he has discovered to be dangerous: he is not to make a ruin, and then to leave it. In the case before us, the materials remain; and he is required to erect with them another building, which shall be more sound and useful in every particular. The distin- guished men above alluded to have not neglected this duty, but they have not been successful in its performance. This is evident from the circumstance of their respective views not having satisfied each other or the public. The reason of this failure, it is believed, is traceal)le to a misunderstanding of the structure and purpose of those remarkable narratives; i. c, to the supposition that they treat of mundane things. The following work is constructed on an entirely different principle. It has no pretensions to originality, nor does it profess to offer a complete exposition of the subjects. The writer is sensible of many of its deficiencies, both in these and in other respects. His aim has been to indicate a course of thinking which, if jiursued by abler minds, may lead to a more satisfactory treatment. A general outline of the meaning of those remarkable documents is all that he has intended to {present; and this, of course, ma}^ be filled up with such light, shade, and colouring as the intelligence and experience of the reader are capable of supplying. Ho holds that the real divinity of those extraordinary por- PREFACE. Vll tions of revelation can be most satisfactorily maintained, with- out making any concessions to opinions which are offensive to religion, or to judicious and rational thinking. The adoption of new sentiments concerning them need not decrease piety or weaken faith: if they expel error and destroy superstition, their uses will be great. Those who, when some new truth is demonstrated to then), abandon a prejudice which they had thought to be an opinion, come thereby into greater liberty and purer light. The interpretation Avhich is presented in this work of the first seven chapters of Genesis is founded on the following general principle; namely, that the letter of the ^^^ord of God contains within it a spiritual sense, which is as its life and soul. This principle, it is believed, will commend itself to the soundest judgment and best feelings of religious and thinking men. Evidences of the existence of this i:)rinciple can be pro- duced from every page of the sacred volume; and it is ration- ally confirmed by the circumstance that, as a work of God, it must, to be in analogy with all His other works, contain within it something more than that which appears upon the surface, and something different therefrom. It is plain that there must be a connection between the natural and the spiritual worlds; and that all things in the former derive their existence, more or less remotely, from some condition and activity in the latter. Now, as God's primary object in making a revelation to man is to furnish him with the means of knowing something concerning spiritual things, it is conceived that he has caused to be employed, in the writing of .His Word, the visible objects of nature, to express the spiritual things to Avhich they are related. Thus, that the earth in general, as the dwelling-place for man's body, is the appropriate symbol of that state in general which is the resi- dence of his soul; and that all the various productions of the Vlll PREFACE. earth which the Scriptures mention, whether of the animal, the vegetable, or the mineral kingdoms, are the types of some corresponding principle of affection and thought belonging to such state, and, consequently, are significant of them. Besides this law of correspondences, according to which it is believed the Scriptures are written, and from which their char- acter as a revelation, and their quality as to inspiration, derive the most ample and satisfactory evidence, there are also em- ployed, in their structure and composition, representatives, also significant. Among these representative objects, persons are very conspicuous; such, for example, as the sons of Jacob, the Priests, the Kings of Israel and Judah, the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Prophets, and others. All these are considered to be mentioned in the Scriptures, and to have their histories therein related, because they Avere designed to represent some- thing pertaining to the Lord's Church and kingdom. This idea is, in some measure, acknowledged, in the circumstance of many of these persons being commonly spoken of as types. Every one, for instance, is aware that Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, was, in consequence of certain remarkable incidents in his life, representative of the Lord Jesus Christ during His manifestation in the world. The law under which those rep- resentatives were selected did not at all regard the quality of the person representing, but solely the thing to be represented; all the objects, tlicrefore, which correspond to Divine and spiritual things are also representatives of them; and what is represented is likewise signified. The distinction between correspondences and representatives' is, that correspondence consists in the mutual relation Avhich prevails between an efficient cause and its orderly effect. Thus, whatever exists and subsists in the natural world from the spiritual, is called correspondence. But representatives are all external things which are employed to give expression PREFACE. IX to internal things, and which may or may not correspond. Thus all correspondents are representatives; but all representa- tives do not correspond. For instance, when the expression and structure of the face act in unity with the affections and sentiments which exist in the mind, there is a correspondence between them; but when the face does not act in such unity, it then only represents. The kings, priests, and prophets, are said to represent Divine and holy things, not because they were Divine and holy, but because in their governmental, priestly, and prophetical offices, they were, to the natural minds of the Israelites, that which they conceived of things Divine and holy. Such are the principles which are believed to have presided over the construction of the literal sense of God's most holy Word, and of which illustrative examples are presented in the following work. If the things mentioned in the Scriptures were not representative, and thence significative, of holy and spiritual subjects, it would not be easy to see how a rational idea of their Divine character could be formed; but with such a view of them, man may have some perception of their great sanctity and spiritual uses. Indeed, it seems difficult to see how Divine ideas could have been enunciated in any other way than by means of those human ideas, worldly objects and expressions, which are in correspondence with, or the represen- tatives of, spiritual and heavenly things. But while this is regarded as a feature peculiar to God's revelation, and, in our opinion, necessary to the ideas of its Divine origin and inspiration, it is to be observed that it is a principle which will admit of a diversity of literal structure; and, consequently, such a structure has always been employed as was in agreement with the characteristics of the people to whom it was originally vouchsafed. Hence has arisen that variety of style according to which different portions of the X PREFACE. Sacred Scrii)tures are written. This circumstance is more or less conspicuous in all the different books of the ^^'ord. There are, however, four great distinctions of style by which the Scriptures now in our possession are distinguished. These are — First, that which is intended to express spiritual and celes- tial things only, through the instrumentality of an appropriate selection and arrangement of terrestrial and worldly objects. This Ave regard as the primitive Divine style, and consider it to have taken its rise with the perceptions of the aborigines of our race during the periods of their religious integrity. To them, at that time, it is believed that the objects of the visible world were as an open book, in which they could perceive Divine and holy things represented; and therefore, when treating of spiritual things, they would arrange their thoughts concerning them into a kind of historical series, in order to render them forcible and vivid. This we hold to be the style of the first eleven chapters of Genesis, or rather, up to the 14th verse of the eleventh chapter; and it is in consequence of men in later ages not having attended to this remarkable genius of that most ancient people, that those early portions of the book of Genesis have been considered so exceedingly difficult to understand. The Second Style is historical, and treats, in the letter, of such facts and occurrences as, from the time of Abram, are recorded in those books commonly called historical. Neverthe- less, this style, like the former, is replete with an internal or spiritual sense. Historicarcircumstanccs began to be employed for the purpose of representing sjnritual things when mankind, and especially the descendants of Abram, to whom those docu- ments, with the exception of the book of Job, were originally vouchsafed, had sunk into a merely sensual and selfish state. Job is evidently a more ancient book, produced, in all proba- bility, upi^n tlie plan of the factitious history of the first style PREFACE. XI of revelation, though it does not appear to be so complete and regular in its structure. The Third Style is the prophetical. This also appears to have derived its condition from the factitious histories of the primitive people: not that it puts on an historical aspect, or that it is, like them, connected in an historical series; for it is well known to be much broken and interrupted, and likewise to contain many statements which, in the literal sense, are scarcely intelligible: still, in their internal sense throughout, there are expressed in an orderly series, sentiments of a purely spiritual character. The Fourth Style is the Psalms. These, as may be easih^ seen, partake of an intermediate form between the prophetical and that of ordinary speech, and they treat of the internal states and religious experience of all those who are within the pale of the Lord's Church. That these are just views of the style of the Psalms, with the prophetical and historical portions of the Holy Word, we think can hardly be disputed; and although what is stated to be the style of those parts which precede the time of Abram is equally true; yet, because that point may not be so readily perceived, it was deemed requisite to dwell a little thereon in the introduc- tory chapter of the following work. To what is there stated we are desirous to add one or two other considerations. It seems evident that the Lord, in causing a revelation to be made to man of spiritual and heavenly wisdom, has had respect to the genius and disposition of the people to whom it w^as vouchsafed. We gather this view from the facts which are apparent in what are emphatically called the Jewish Scriptures. From them it is plain that the letter of the revelations relating to that people, and of which they were made the depositories, was constructed, as we find it to be, in consequence of their remarkable condition. Thev were a most external and sensual Xll PREFACE. people; and therefore the revelation, which in its external form is peculiarly theirs, partook of that historical and worldly char- acter by which it is distinguished. This was all that they ap- preciated. Of spiritual things they had but little conception, and scarcely any care. Now, if it be true that the literal structure of revelation has always been in conformity with the genius of the peojjle to whom it has been made; if it be true that the most external style of revelation to be found in the Bible was adopted in con- sequence of the sensual condition of the Jewish people to whom it was committed; then it will follow that the revela- tion granted to a superior people could not have been of so external a character. If the genius of the people among whom the early portions of the book of Genesis were produced were eminently spiritual, and if the narratives be constructed in conformity with such character, then it is plain that the literal sense of that revelation must be dii?erent, and ought to be differently understood, from that which has been vouch- safed to the descendants of Abram. It seems contrary to all just criticism to' suppose that the literal form of the revelation which was granted to a people who were acquainted Avith spiritual things is the same as that given to a community who were utterly ignorant of them. We therefore hold that their external structure must be differently understood, nor can we perceive the reasonableness of any contrary conclusion. It is admitted that the first eleven chapters of Genesis were produced among a people who flourished' long anterior to the time of Abram, and there is much reason to believe that they were originated in those periods of which poets and philoso- phers have spoken of as the siher age, — an age in which an Asiatic people were spiritually intelligent because they studied interior truths, and were also acquainted with those outer things in nature which were the symbols of them; an age, therefore, PREFACE. Xm in which mankind would speak of spiritual subjects by means of those things they knew to be their representatives in the world. Without extending these remarks, it is evident that the earliest narratives of antiquity were written in a style that was highly figurative; and this was a peculiarity belonging not to the history of one nation merely, but to- all which have any pretensions to a record of their origin. Upon what principle, then, can this character be denied to that early history in the Bible which precedes the time of Abram ? It cannot be be- cause the literal sense of those documents is plain and easily to be comprehended ! for when viewed as actual history, they are full of great and astounding difficulties, which no learning that has hitherto been exercised upon them has been capable of sat- isfactorily explaining. If the genius of the people who lived in remote antiquity were such as we have indicated, and if those narratives were produced among them, then they must have partaken of that genius; if they did not, they could not have been serviceable to them or instrumental in transmitting to pos- terity any just notions of that disposition and general turn of mind by which they were distinguished. Most persons will admit that the minds of mankind during the purity of the Adamic periods were influenced by very in- terior and elevated sentiments; the affections of their wills were doubtless directed towards the Lord, and their understandings were enlightened by thoughts concerning Him. In such an intellectual condition nature must have been a sort of mirror reflecting internal and spiritual ideas. It is easy to conceive that such minds would regard the worldly things by which they were surrounded as the symbol of some internal state, spiritual experience, or heavenly ideas, belonging to the Lord and his kingdom. This, indeed, would enable them — " To look througli Nature Tip to Nature's God," XIV PREFACE. and behold, in all its objects, the expressive types of spiritual realities. To such minds creation must have been a rich dis- play of objects, representing interior things pertaining to the Creator. When the people, distinguished by such a state, spoke of natural things, their ideas concerning them would, as it were, recede, and give place to spiritual conceptions. When they undertook to describe spiritual and holy subjects, they would select and arrange for that purpose such temporal and natural objects as they knew would accurately represent them. If these views be correct, — and we think they are admissive of satisfactory proof, — then it is evident that the literal sense of documents constructed upon those principles, was only a kind of vehicle for the signification of something else, and that its genuine meaning must have laid within, as a jewel within its casket. If such a people undertook to record the moral and spiritual things which they experienced, according to the successive series in which they had transpired, it seems plain that they would do it by the arrangement of representative objects into an historical form. Such we conceive to have been the genius of the people among whom the first eleven chapters of Genesis were produced, and such the circumstances which influenced their construction; those documents, therefore, are not to be understood according to their literal sense, they being factitious history, intended to express, by correspondence and representa- tion, only internal and spiritual things. Distinguished authority for these views could be cited, and much corroborative evidence and reasonings proceeded with; but it is not convenient to lengthen these remarks. Enough may have been said to commend the subject to the careful con- sideration of those who may be interested in such an inquiry. It shows the principles on which the following work has been written, and to that the reader is respectfully referred for addi- PREFACE. XV tional testimony and illustration. The religious connections of the writer will know the source whence these opinions have been suggested; to them, therefore, no explanation on this head is necessary: and it is presumed, that those who may be favourably impressed with them, after the perusal of the work, will find no difficulty in going directly to the same spring. It may, perhaps, be necessar}' to offer some explanation of the circumstances which have led to this publication; and also to apologize for defects, which might not have occurred if it had been produced independently of them. The materials for this work were, for the most part, origin- ally collected and arranged in the form of lectures, which were delivered with some advantages to the church of which the writer is a member. These circumstances led to a request for re-delivering them elsewhere, and, subsequently, to the expres- sion of earnest wishes for their publication. The author knew that they had been instrumental in rescuing from disbelief some who had long been doubting the truth of revelation; also, that they had afforded others more satisfactory evidence of the Divine origin and character of the early chapters of Genesis than they had previously possessed; and that they had assisted many in consolidating their faith in the holiness and sanctity of God's holy Word. As these advantages, under the Divine Providence, had arisen from their oral delivery, he was induced to hope that their publication might be followed by some farther usefulness, and therefore consented to the suggestion of his friends. He is not aware that there is any similar publica- tion extant; and this led him to think that such a work might be generally acceptable to his OAvn religious connections, as well as being, in some measure, serviceable to the public at large. Such are the circumstances which have led to the present pub- lication, and it is hoped that it may supply, however feebly, XVI PREFACE. suinething for an unoccupied niche in the editice of true relig- ious literature. But as to the execution. It was felt that their character, as lectures, would not be so attractive or so generally acceptable as some other form that might be adopted. Hence it was de- termined to rearrange the matter into the shape in which it now appears. To do this was not unattended with difficulties. For the sake of the judgments of those at whose suggestion the publication was undertaken, the original features of the Avork could not be entirely sacrificed; and yet, with the view of pro- viding something that might survive a mere temporary interest, some change Avas necessary. To accomplish })oth these objects, he has been compelled to admit some blemishes in arrange- ment, some peculiarities of treatment, and a few repetitions: for these the indulgence of the reader is requested. The notes are fresh matter, whi(^h it is hoped will add to the usefulness of the work. For the general scope and design of this publication the author has no aj^olog}^ to offer, no indulgence to ask, no solici- tude to express: feeling assured that a plain enunciation of spiritual truth has been aimed at, and sincerely l)elieving in the i-eligious soundness of the grounds which have been taken for it, he is content to leave the result in the hands of that wise Providence which, in superintending the greatest things of the universe, does not overlook the humblest efforts which are undertaken in the cause of Truth. In conclusion, it may be o)>served that if this work had been written for his own religious connections merely, the author would, in many instances, have adopted another mode of treat- ment and expression; but as it was designed for more general use, he has considered it proper to avoid, so far as convenient, all the appearances of technicality, and to present the subjects in as popular a form as he thought their recondite character would permit. PREFACE. XVll The Postdiluvian History to the call of Abram is eminently interesting, and should this work prove acceptable, the author will feel encouraged to undertake its elucidation in a similar volume. * Pkeston, November 25, 1850. * This has been done, and may be had of HoDSON AND Son, 22, Portugal Street, Lincohi's Inn, London. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The First Edition of this work, published in 1850, was sold in twelve months; it has since been reprinted in America, and translated into French. These circumstances have encouraged the author to suppose that his labours have been useful in sug- gesting expositions of the Mosaic narrative deserving of some thoughtful attention. A Second Edition is now issued, in con- sequence of repeated assurances that it has been desired by no inconsiderable number of the public, together with the expres- sion of a belief that it may assist the cause of those Scripture studies which is now engaging the minds of so many earnest and thinking people in the Church. It has occurred to the author that a few words referring to the unsettled condition into which the Church- has drifted, in consequence of its not having any defined laws of Biblical inter- pretation, may not be out of place in the Preface to a work in- tended to illustrate a new principle of hermeneutics. Much of the agitation which has disturbed the quiet of ancient orthodoxy during the last five- and -twenty years is traceable to the difficulties which science and criticism have discovered to mark the early portions of the Book of Genesis. The objections urged by the sceptics of the preceding century have had but little share in this result. Thej^ were coarse in their terms and vulgar in their spirit; and being put forth by the professed enemies of revelation, they did more to shock the piety of the Church than to disturb its faith. But a time came xviii PREFACE. Xix when some of the sons of the Church — men in high places — began to see some discrepancies between the physical condition of the earth and the commonly accepted interpretations of that narrative which was supposed to have been written as a de- scription of its origin. Inquiry sprung up with great vigour within its own pale: it has been conducted with great persever- ance, caution, and learning, and now no one doubts the neces- sity for a revised interpretation of the documents. Geology has entirely put aside those views of the Mosaic Creation and the Deluge which for ages have been accepted as solemn facts by the Universal Church. It is now generally acknowledged that those narratives could not have been written for the pur- pose of describing the origin of the world and its subsequent inundation. They do not agree with the testimony of the rocks. It is true that much learning and ingenuity has been exerted to show that those narratives may include the facts which science has unfolded; and that by extending the signi- fication of some words and phrases beyond their usual import, diminishing the meaning of others, and viewing the whole as compendious and popular accounts rather than as exact his- tories, they may still be accepted by many as having a sub- stratum of physical truth. These efforts, however, only show the lingerings of mistaken opinions, and the reluctance with which they are being abandoned. They do not prove that which they are made use of to maintain. Besides, they appear to us to aim a blow at the inspiration of those ancient writings, not intended but nevertheless real, and certainly fatal to that idea respecting them. Moreover, of what use are such docu- ments as a revelation concerning phvsical occurrences, if the phenomena described do not agree with the facts discovered ? It- is said that Scripture is not given to teach us science. This is very true; but how can those who insist that ]\Ioses has given the literal history of the creation and a universal deluge escape XX PREFACE. the conclusion that statements are made to which science is opposed? Is not this, in effect, saying that the Scriptures reveal a science that is not true ? But their inspiration implies that they are "God-breathed." How, then, can narratives, not accurate in the facts which it is supposed was their main object to communicate, be said to be inspired f — how can the words of such narratives be so distinguished if they have no settled significance ? How can an individual be said to be in- spired to write that which is inexact of physical processes, if such processes were the object of his writing, and to make use of terms which should be elastic or contracted in their meaning, simply to provide plausibility for that which is scientifically inaccurate ? In such a view nothing is clear but its confusion. All the efforts which have been made by those reasonings to remove the discrepancies between the narrative adverted to and the discoveries of science, seem to overlook the idea of their in- spiration. They appear to forget that those documents were really provided by Divine superintendence; and that this hav- ing been their origin, they must be accurate in the facts they are intended to reveal. This is not the case with the narratives before us, supposing them to treat of physical occurrences, and therefore we are compelled to seek for the facts referred to in some other phases of created existence. Where can they be found ? We answer, in different states of the human mind; its relation to the Creator, and its separation from him. These, and not natural phenomena, seem to us to be the real purpose of a revelation from God to man; and those early narratives, like the parables of the Lord in later times, are figurative his- tories of spiritual events, true in their nature and exact in their expression. The most ancient form of thought is figurative language; it is well known to have prevailed throughout the East from the remotest times. God, however, did not adopt it as the vehicle for his revelation, because it was the style of PEEFACE. XXI those nations; but it became prevalent in those nations, because it was the original style which God mercifully em^Dloyed to convey his instructions to the world. Believing that, in the narratives to which we have adverted, there is given the history of the rise of humanity, its temi:)ta- tion, and fall; the increase of a peculiar condition of society, and its final overthrow; we also believe that the form in Avhich all those particulars is described is that of symbol. For the adoption of this view, there are reasons respecting those his- tories, quite as cogent as those which suggest the necessity for it in reference to the Cosmogony and the Deluge. It is this view concetning those documents which the following work is intended to illustrate and explain. It recognizes and main- tains throughout the Divine inspiration of the documents, and holds in the utmost veneration the literal forms through which its spiritual teachings are conveyed. The difficulties of those forms are noticed and occasionally dwelt upon, not because they trench upon the real significance of the histories, but chiefly to show the untenable nature of their literal interpreta- tion: they are produced, simply to deal with what are consid- ered to be mistaken explanations, in order to prepare the way for those expositions of the internal sense by which the letter can be satisfactorily reconciled with its spiritual purpose, and the whole triumphantly maintained as a Divine composition. Since the pul)lication of the first edition of this work, now fourteen years ago, many circumstances have transpired within the pale of the professing Church, which show very plainly that a mental revolution is progressing in reference to theological opinion and Scriptural interpretation. All parties seem to feel that much, which for many ages has been taken for granted, requires reconsideration. They are experiencing something of the growth of that spiritual liberty which is peculiar to our times, and they are influenced to inquire into and reason upon XX 11 PREFACE. some of those theological sentiments which were originally forced into the Church by ancient controversies, and since then main- tained more by ecclesiastical authority than by intellectual demonstration. Inteipretations of Scripture are being revised; the ' ' Articles of Religion ' ' are discovered to have been loosely drawn; the utterances of the Church are distinguished from the testimony of Scripture. The history of the Creeds shows them to have been the outgrowth of subtlety and disputation: there is scarcely a subject in the whole field of theological inquiry that is not undergoing some scrutiny, with a view to bring it back to, and base it upon the simple evidence of Scripture. The whole mental fabric of the Church has been thoroughly dis- turbed, and there are few but the intellectually idle and indif- ferent who are not looking forward for something more perfect to come. This state of things, which had been fermenting for a consid- erable period, at last found for itself a loud utterance in the ' ' Essays and Reviews, ' ' and subsequently in the ' ' Penta- teuch," &c., of Bishop Colenso. These works represent a large party in the Church; not that the party endorse all the views which are stated, but that they sympathize with the dissatisfac- tion which is indicated, and the progress that is aimed at. The opinions suggested in those works, though sustained with much learning, and surrounded with an admirable spirit, are not such as we could implicitly accept: they ajipear to rest upon a principle which does not sufficiently acknowledge the Divine origin of the Scriptures, and which takes but little notice of theii* inspiration; and their tendency is rather to widen the boundaries of religious thinking than to build up a religious fabric. The opponents of those works, though strongly assert- ing the divinity and inspiration of the Word, do not seem to have any clear idea upon these points; certainly nothing tliat can be defined as a principle, and which can be appealed to as PREFACE. XXni a proof. Hence, although there has been an abundance of replies, there has been a paucity of refutations. There have been arguments without reason, denunciations without caution, and persecution without mercy. Though the provocations Avere serious, the means taken for removing them have scarcely been efficient. The true materials for this purpose lie in a clear knowledge of those principles, in which the divinity and inspiration of the Word consist, and this neither party has possessed. The progressionists either forget or ignore those characteristics of the Word; their opponents insist upon their existence, but are not capable of defining their nature: and these, not satisfied with what argument could do, have called the law courts into requisition, and been worsted in the contest. The disputes have been tried, not as questions of truth or error, but as matters of ecclesiastical legality, and it has been declared, by the highest authority in the land, that the Liturgy does not express those stringent sentiments which the prosecutors had supposed. They have therefore failed in their effort to put a limit to religious utterance, and the party of progress have es- tablished the right to speak on such subjects with the freedom in which they have indulged. The Archbishop of Canterbur}^, in a recent charge delivered to the clergy on the miscarriage of this prosecution, expressly says, " I felt I was in nowise called upon to attempt a definition of inspiration, seeing that the Church has not thought fit to prescribe one." This is certainly the declaration of a dilemma. The matters in dispute remain precisely as they were, and what can settle those differences but arguments based upon a just appreciation of the divinity of the Scriptures, and a thorough definition of that in which their in- spiration consists ? Legal prosecution may pain the defendants, but it never will convince them; nor will any argument bring the disputation to an end which is not conducted on both sides from some well-defined principle concerning the divinity of the XXIV PREFACE. ^^^)^(l. This is not merely the prior, but the grand question which the Church should endeavour to understand. Amidst those controversies of the Establishment, Noncon- formists have been advancing in liberality and learning; but the Roman Church, Avhich never changes, has been looking on with rejoicing, and congratulating herself that she has the ability to settle all such matters by means of her authority, — that is, to silence inquiry without explanation, and punish doubt Avith the fears of anathema. Nevertheless, the troubles to which we have adverted have more or less infested every branch of the Church; nor are they yet allayed; quietude is not to be mis- taken for peace: the fermentations are still going on; purifica- tion will follow. Those difficulties are in the hands of a wise Providence, and they may be viewed as storms which tend to clear the atmosphere, and open out a bluer sky and a brighter sunshine. We think there can be no doubt in the minds of those who can take note of the signs of the times, that there are some new and beneficent influences at work, designed to bring about some new perceptions concerning the Word, and thus to enable the Church to ground its teachings upon a firmer and more intellectual basis than any it has previously enjoyed. All the difficulties by which it has been assailed, all the per- plexities by which it has been disturbed, have arisen out of some imperfect apprehension concerning the real nature of the Word. All parties, indeed, concede that it is a Divine compo- sition; that is, they make use of the terms, but fail to define their significance. Evangelical learning is contributing no little information towards a better understanding of some of its lit- eral contents. Travels and Archseology are bringing some of their valuable acquirements to assist in this desirable work; Natural History is rendering help of considerable importance; indeed, every department of knowledge is Ijeing brought into requisition to subserve this nol)le purpose. But all those efiforts PREFACE. XXV to aid us with a better understanding of the letter of the Scrip- tures have not yet added anything by which to comprehend the nature of its inspiration. To prove the truth of the letter, in cases of obscurity and doubt, is of great concern to all who believe in its Divine origination, but that of itself is no cer- tainty of its inspiration: truth, indeed, is necessary to it, but it is no evidence of it. A great variety of books are true concern- ing the subjects on which they treat, but no one supposes that this is the result of anything beyond ordinary human ability and observation. It is also possible to write of truths in prin- ciple which may not be strictly accurate in form : of this the parables afford a beautiful example. To prove, then, that the subjects generally treated of in the Bible are true, does not ex- plain to us anything upon the subject of its inspiration; that is a question which lies deeper than the teachings of the mere letter of the Word, and it is to be opened out by other consid- erations. As before oljserved, the professing Church has no settled defi- nition concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures. Differences of opinion prevail, both as to its nature and extent, and no party ventures to explain how the}^ are inspired, otherwise than that they were written by men peculiarly illuminated for the purpose. According to this view, it was the writers who were inspired rather than their writings. No doubt the writers of the Divine Word were under some abnormal condition at the time they v;rote. Many of them expressly say the AVord of the Lord came unto them; and this must be true of all that is really divine in the Word. But where is the evidence of this fact ? Surely there is something bequeathed to us in the writ- ings of these persons by which to corroborate so grave a state- ment. The history, prophecy, doctrines, commands, promises, reproofs, and exhortations which they contain are all eminently serviceable to this purpose; but there are multitudes of things XXVI PREFACE. associated with all those particulars which go to weaken the force of the evidence with those critics who see nothing in the Scriptures besides that which is apparent in the letter. They say the letter, in numerous places, appears like an ordinary writing, neither so perspicuous in its style, so sublime in its subjects, nor so elegant in its diction, as that which distin- guishes a variety of secular compositions: hence they say, " What can be the meaning of this passage? " "What can be the signification of that?" "Can this be Divine?" " Is it possible that God, who is infinitely wise, could have spoken in this manner?" and so on. But all those difficulties vanish Avhen it is knoAvn that the supernatural influences exercised upon the writers must in some measure have been transferred to the writings which they were moved to prepare, and that the proof of their inspiration is to be sought for in the structure of that wdiich they have written for the edification of the Church. As their spiritual mind was opened to receive a spiritual dictate from on high, it will follow that such a dictate must have been spiritual in its nature, and that, to bring down its significance for perpetuation in the world, it became requi- site to clothe it with such natural imaginings as were suitable to this purpose. How can spiritual things be taught in a nat- ural world by any Other means? It was spiritual things which they were inspired to know; it was about those things that they were required to write; but these could onl}' be represented to mankind by means of a literal sense peculiarly constructed, so that it might contain within it a spiritual significance. Hence the inspiration of the Word is to be souglit for in its spiritual meaning. The literal structure, so numerous in its subjects and so varied in its style, is the medium which the inspired penmen had to make use of to express that which they w^ere inspired to communicate; and as these inspirations induced a spiritual state, so what they have deliveri'd from that state must PREFACE. XXVll be a sijiritual sense. It could not have required the exercise of a miraculous influence upon their minds to have induced them to write events that were transpiring around them, or which might have been handed to them by tradition or by the obser- vation of others; but it did require such an influence to induce them to select only such natural materials and events as should be the suitable vehicles for the things designed to be revealed. Thus it may be seen that the inspiration of the Word, as dis- tinguished from the inspiration of the writers, consists in its possession of a spiritual sense; and, consequently, it is in that sense that its holiness pre-eminently resides. The letter, there- fore, is adapted to this purpose, and though apparently rude in its style, it is more excellent than any other, because, being in- spired, it contains something holy in every part of it, and is thus adapted to open heaven to the mind and to conjoin the obedient to the Lord. Hence, in the spiritual sense of the Word we possess the evidence both of the inspiration of the writing, and the inspiration of the writers. This internal sense is not that which a person may discover when he is studying the literal sense of the Word, Avith a view to explain some doctrine of his Church; that light is little else than an illustration of the letter; but the spiritual sense is, as it were, concealed within the letter, yet discoverable in it, like the soul within its body, or as the thought of the intellect is in the eye, or as the affec- tion of love is in the countenance, which act together as cause and its effect. The literal things spoken of, and the spiritual things revealed, correspond to each other, and the w^riters have employed those natural images only which are adapted to con- vey spiritual truth. For this purpose, various forms of litera- ture have been adopted. History, real and factitious, prophecy, poetry, geography, national peculiarities, individual characters, are all laid under contribution. Whatever literal truths there may be in any of those writings, they are all singularly repre- XXVlll PREFACE. seiitative, and the main design of their selection is, that they may be the continent of spiritual truths for the edification of the Church. No one supposes that the letter relates all that trans- pired in relation to the subjects on which it treats: only so much has been selected as was necessary, and this has been written in such a way as to subserve its chief purpose. Occa- sional difficulties exist in the letter, simply because tlie literal sense was not the main thing considered in its production; and also because the form in which the letter appears is best suited to convey those special sentiments of spiritual instruction which it contains. In the spiritual sense, the inspiration of the Word and of its writers becomes evident; the divinity of its character is unfolded in greater fullness, and before all this the occasional difficulties of the letter appear as nothing. The purpose of the letter was not to produce a complete narrative in any other sense than that it should be complete for its main design: thus, not for the sake of itself, but for the sake of its spiritual con- tents. We feel assured that this is the right view by which to meet the questions which have been raised concerning the Divine origination of the Word, and that no defences can be satisfactory which omit to take cognizance of those materials which the doctrine concerning its S{)iritual sense supplies. The Word has been approached with criticisms much in the same way as any other book having pretensions to antiquity and im- portance; its difficulties have been replied to much in the same spirit, and all parties seem to have overlooked the circumstance that it has been written according to a plan peculiarly its own; and because they have not gone sufficiently up to first princi- ples, great perplexities have been created. Those first princi- ples we believe to be the internal sense of the Holy Word, — a sense which pervades every part of it, and which, in our esti- mation, affords the most complete and perfect evidence of its sanctity, Divine origin, and heavenly purpose. The following PKEFACE. work will afford some illustrations of the manner in which the recognition of this sense deals with the difficulties of the letter. It shows that such a form of it was requisite to represent the spiritual things intended to be revealed; and while explaining some of the main incidents related of the antediluvian world, it indicates the j^rinciple which underlies the form of all that it has pleased the most merciful Father of our spirits to reveal for the everlasting edification of mankind. E. D. R. Pkeston, April, 1864. THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. . CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.— GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE NARRATIVE. "As to the particular form in which the descriptive narrative (of creation) is con- veyed, we merely affirm that it catmot be History — it may be Poetry." — Rev. Baden Powell, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., Savilian Profennor of Geometry in the University of Oxford. Art. "Creation," in Kitto's Biblical Cyclopsedia, In order correctly to understand the written documents of antiquity, it is necessary to know something of the genius of the people among whom they were produced. Without this in- formation, we are liable to great mistakes. Very different styles of writing have prevailed among the same nations at successive periods of their existence; and the deeper we penetrate into their mental history, the less literal and more poetical shall we find their methods of communication. This fact is not to be disregarded in prosecuting the inquiry we have now before us. It bears forcibly upon the point; and this leads us to ask, Whether Antediluvian History, as contained in the Bible, was written in accordance with that historical and grannnatical criticism by which it has been common to interpret it in modern times ? We think not. The record of creation has been found to give way before the discoveries and demands of science. The genius of a matter-of-fact people is not the precise thing by which to judge of the literary productions of a period essentially spiritual and poetical. Therefore we may again ask, Whether this peculiar condition of mind, which prevailed during the early periods of our race, when these remarkable documents were originally produced, may not have induced them to describe mental existences and moral processes in an historical form ? May not the rise of the human mind out of inactivity 3 1 2 THE WORD AND ITS IXSPIKATION. and darkness, and its successive advancement into a state prolific with intelligence and virtue, have been described, l)y such a people, as the creation of a world ? INIay not the intellectual sentiment and living affection, which are successively developed during such a process, have been considered by them as so many days of the Divine Work ? We think it highly probable, and can even now perceive a certain general resemblance between the description and the process indicated. Every one is aware that it was usual, in after-times, to speak of the mind of man as a microcosm — a little world; while the Greek fabulists com- monly represented man's various sentiments by numerous objects selected from animated nature. This style did not originate with the Greeks; it prevailed long before they existed as a nation, and it can be historically traced among people of much higher antiquity; the Egyptians, for instance. If, then, the early portions of Genesis should prove, as we believe they will, not to be a history of physical things, but the history of mental processes and phenomena, expressed in a peculiar Avay, it will follow that great and serious mistakes have been made concerning their signification, and that most of the valuable information they were written to convey to posterity has been entirely overlooked. We are aware that there are those who have great hesitation in attaching any other meaning to the words of the Bible than that which they ordinarily bear. They seem to think that in giving up tlicir grammatical sense, or natural application, they must relinquish their real and solid signification. But, as it is evident that there are multitudes of instances in the Bible, in which words are employed in a sense widely different from that in which they are commonly used, that hesitation cannot be well founded. The fact which it supposes cannot be maintained. Moreover, those who consider the words to be significant of spiritual things regard such things to be much more real, solid, and enduring than anything which the mert^ly grammatical sense attached to them can express; and, therefore, the setting aside of their ordinary signification does not deprive them of a meaning that has relation to reality. The " bending" of the language of God's Book to any other INTERPRETATION NECESSARY. 3 than its obvious meaning is said to be an "impiety." * But is it not the circumstance of the meaning not being always obvious which necessitates the commentary ? That which is plain needs no interpretation ; the clear signification is brought out by the "bending," i. e., the interpretation, since without it there are numerous instances in which there would be either no sense or something exceedingly ambig- uous. There cannot be any impiety in the honest endeavour to render God's Book intelligible and instructive to its thinking readers. Impiety lies rather upon the other side, — in permit- ting ideas to be cherished, under the supposition that they are contained in God's Book, when in reality they are not to be found therein, but are crude inductions, arising from erroneous meanings being attached to its language. The very fact that it is God's Book implies that it contains more than immediately' appears upon the surface, and thus, that the words are but the outer vehicle of some more interior thought, which interpreta- tion is required to eliminate. The narratives before us are conceded to be a Divine produc- tion; we believe that they, together with the whole Scriptures, contain within themselves much fuller evidence of this fact than any wdiich merely verbal or historical criticism can ever reach. Our inquiries, then, do not involve anything touching their authenticity and genuineness as a revelation from God: that to which our investigation relates is the sense in which the Church should understand them. That they do require interpretation seems evident from the extensive commentaries which, from time to time, have been written for their elucidation. The design of those productions has been, for the most part, to uphold the literal sense of these documents: and yet how very unsatisfactory is much that has been written on this side of the subject, when compared with what a free and philosophical inquiry will demand. When such writers have reached points which have come into collision with the suggestions of reason, they have insisted on the necessity of faith, and pleaded the inexplicability of omnipotence. A becoming piety is always proper in such investigations, but it was never intended to * E. B Piisey, Regius Professor of Hebrew in Oxford. Letter to Dr. Buckland, in his Bridgewater Treatise, Geology and Mineralogy, page 25. 4 THE "WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. divert us from the path of enlightened investigation. We freely admit the value of faith, and at once concede the incom- prehensibility of the Divine Power. This admission and con- cession ought to induce us to approach Scripture investigation with humility and caution, but surely do not require us to re- linquish the endeavour to rightly understand anything that has been delivered to us as a Revelation from God. Reason, con- sidered as a faculty of our nature, is as much the production of God as is the revelation of the Scriptures. They are designed mutually to assist and illustrate each other : and whenever they are brought into collision, it is the result of some perversity on the part of man. When he is in order, the Scriptures will harmonize with his highest wants and perceptions. Most persons are aware that there are many serious. difficulties in the literal sense of the early portion of the Word which remain unsolved, and that bright minds and deep learning have been employed upon the inquiry without a successful issue. * There are large numbers in the Professing Christian world, who are not yet convinced that a right path has been chosen for "this pursuit, and many will be glad to have the opportunity of freely considering some new views on the whole subject. These, in the course of this work, it will be our endeavour to provide; offering, as we proceed, such contirmation from revelation, evidence from history, and responses from the living sentiments of humanity, as our acquaintance with them will enable us to supply. To doubt the truth of certain human interpretations of the Scriptures is one of the immunities of Protestant Christianity; and, notwithstanding religious differences have sprung out of * "The difficulties, which have been usually brought forward in England, as affecting the historical character of the Pentateuch, are those which concern the Creation, the Fall, and the Deluge ; and many, who feel these difficulties very strongly, are able to get over them, by supposing the two first to embody some kind of allegorical teaching, and the last to be a report of some dread catastrophe handed down in the form of legend from hoar antiquity." — Dr. Colenso. The Pentaieitch, and Book of Joshua, critically Examined. Preface, p. xxii. It does not clearly appear whether the writer agrees with this supposition, but certainly it commends itself to thoughtful minds, and we trust that some evidence in support of it will appear as this work proceeds. DIFFICULTIES ADMITTED. 5 this freedom, very generous and enlightened views have been promoted by its exercise. We are aVjout to employ this privi- lege in another department of bil)lical inquiry; but for no other purpose, so far as we know our own hearts, than to advance the interest of what we believe to be the general scope, rational meaning, and religious design of the early chapters of the Book of Genesis. We believe those documents to be descriptions of spiritual phenomena only, and think that men did not begin to attach a natural meaning to them until they had descended from an ancient state of intellectual eminence, and suffered their faith to pass into the obscurities of sensual apprehension. We hold that it could not have been the intention of the Sacred Writings to communicate to man instruction concerning physi- cal truths. These were open to the scientific investigation and the common understanding of natural men: and the progress of science, in disclosing the monuments of the past ages of terres- trial existence, has established facts which are utterly repug- nant to the popular interpretation of the first chapter of the Hebrew Scriptures. The evidences which geology has brought to light carry us back into an unutterable period of time. They prove a duration to the earth; demonstrate the existence of living structures, of great diversity and interest, belonging to both the vegetable and animal kingdoms; they proclaim the operation of phenomena, and certify to innumerable events, all of which are plainly inconsistent with the notion which regards the first chapter of Genesis to be a circumstantial account of primordial creation. These facts are now very generally acknowledged b}'^ learned men of all parties; not that they have abandoned the idea of the Mosaic history giving an account of the creation, but that they have relinquished those long-standing opinions which it was supposed circumstantially to indicate. The lapse of immense periods of time which geology proves to have taken place before the creation of man; also those evidences which show that, before that event, there had come into being successive orders of animal and vegetable life, differing from existing species, and all of which had as gradually become extinct, are discoveries which affect, in their consequences, the entire view to betaken of the wftole subject. These facts, being b THE WORD AND ITS EXSPrRATION. inconsistent with what for centuries had been considered as the obvious meaning of the Mosaic cosmogony, demand, either that the narrative should no longer be considered as a description of physical creation, or that it should be so interpreted as to harmonize with the unquestionable discoveries of science. The former course was too serious a matter to be attempted. The notion of this record being a description of creation, in some sense, had become too venerable in the Church to be suddenly put aside; the latter, therefore, has h>een undertaken by learned men. But after the display of much effort in that direction, it has been said that the object of Genesis " was not to state in what manner, but by ickom the world was made." * This is cutting the difficulty shorter, but it does not explain it. A summary statement of this nature could not have been satisfactory to the authors of it: the details of the narration are too many to have permitted such a result. It certainly does state by ichom the world was made; but is there not also a precise description of the order of the process, and are there not some indications of the manner f Every one knows that all things are distinctly said to have been spoken into existence: and there are few who have not noticed the manner in which the making of woman was begun. - Into what palpaVjle dilemmas will the adoption of erroneous premises conduct us ! If it be once clearly perceived that an explanation of physical creation does not properly belong to a system of theology, then it will soon be acknowledged that the Mosaic description, considered as a revelation from God, must refer to other phenomena. * Dr. Bnoklatid"s Bridgewater Treatise, p. 33. Art. Creation, Kitto's Cyclopiedia of Biblical Literature. Ensebias also says, "It was not tlie intention of Moses to detail a philosophical account of the formation of the world, but to signify only that it did not exist of itself or by chance, but was the production of an all- wise and all powerful Creator." — Oracles of Eeason, I. 4, p. 186. Euaeb. Pratp. Ev. 2. 7. "Scripture was not designed to teach us natural philosophy, and it is vain to attempt to make a cosmogony out of its statements. The Almighty declares himself the originator of all things : but he condescends not to describe the process or the L^ws by which he worked. All this he leaves for reason to decipher from the phenomena which his world displays." — .Son the first day, whilst the exciting cause of light was still obscured: and the further purification of the atmosphere, upon the fourth day, may have caused the sun and moon and stars to reappear in the firmament of heaven."* We can conceive some idea of the phenomena here indicated: but they are the mere hypotheses of science; and certainly they do not come within that fair meaning of the narration which they ought to do, if it is to be received as the description of natural creation. We hold that if it had been designed as a revelation of the process by which the 'present or any other order oj physical nature had its commencement, it would have been written so as not to have presented the embarrassment which learning encounters and piety experiences from taking such a view of it. Another opinion has been put forth, more recently than those which have been noticed. This, although somewhat similar to that which immediately precedes, regards the initial verses of Moses to be an announcement altogether independent of the descriptions which follow. They are considered to ' ' express posteriority, without defining the separating interval ' ' ; and, during that interval, those vast changes are considered to have taken place in the structure and productions of the earth which science so abundantly demonstrates. This, of course, is urged to meet the conditions of geological facts, f It is next contended * Dr. Bnckland's Bridgewater Treatise. Second edition, pp. 29, 30. t Another theory was set forth in 1857 by Hugh Miller, a geologist whose authority is of great weight. He says : " The conclusion to which I have been compelled to arrive is, that for many long ages, ere man was ushered into being, not a iew of his humbler contemporaries of the fields and woods enjoyed life in their present haunts ; and that, for thousands of years anterior to even their appearance, many of the existing mollusks lived in our seas. That day during which the present creation came into being, and in which God, when he had made 'the beast of the earth after his kind, and the cattle after their kind,' at length terminated the work by moulding a creature in his own image, to whom he gave dominion over them all, was not a brief period of a few hours' duration, but extended over, mayhap, millenniums of cen- turies. No blank chaotic gap of death and darkness separated the creation to which man belongs from that of the old, extinct elephant, hippopotamus, and hyena ; for familiar animals --such as the red deer, the roe, the fox, the wild cat, and the badger — lived throughout the period which connected their 12 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. that the term earthy employed subsequently to the first verse, and throughout the whole description of the six daj's' work, means only a limited portion of the earth's surface, that was to be adapted for the residence of man and the animals connected with him. This portion is fixed in a certain geographical locality of Asia; which, having been brought into general ruin and disorder by geological causes, was also overspread with darkness, similar to that which has been known to accompany the disasters of an earthquake. This was the chaos, and that was its locality.* These speculations being premised, the creation of the existing species of things, the reintroduction of light by the removal of the local darkness, and thereby the manifestation of the heavenly bodies, together with all the other particulars of the description, are said to have taken place literally, according to the Mosaic language, in six natural days. These opinions are elaborately set forth, and their critical defence ably undertaken, f Nevertheless, to us, the argument has failed to be convincing. It would be foreign to our purpose to discuss any of the details. It is sufficient, for the general design we have in noticing these views, to observe that they suggest physical senses to the terms, and ideas to the sentiments which they express, that never could have sprung out of the narrative itself; time with our own; aud so I have been compelled to hold, that the days of creation were not natural but prophetic (Jays, and stretched far back into bygone eternity.'^ — Testimony of the Eocl's, p. 10. It is enough to say on this, that it completely abandons the literal sense of the record; and, consequently, it cannot be that histor}' of the physical creation which has been commonly supposed. If God, by the narrative, had intended to teach us concerning the order in which the universe was created, we may rest assured that he would have done it in such a way as to have prevented the necessity for the above speculations, and that it would have been in harmony with the phenomena discovered. "What is written is plainly at variance with facts ; aud Miller's arguments prove the unteuability of the theories of Chalmers aud Bucklaud. * " There are no traces of any such catastrophe as must be supposed, even over a limited portion of the earth's surlace, subsequent to the latest tertiary formation." — Rev. B. Powell, 31. A., dx. Art. 'Creation,^ Kitto^s Biblical Cyclopedia. tThe Relation between the Holy Scriptures, and some Parts of Geological Science. By John Pye Smith, D.D., F.R.S., and F.G.S. Second edition, p. 268, onward. NO HISTORY OF THE BEGINNING. 13 also, that those senses and sentiments owe their origin to scientific conclusions, and not to the unbiased study and general tenor of the record. We put- it to the fair judgment of the reader, and ask whether it is not so; whether it is rational to suppose that the Mosaic description of creation refers merely to certain local phenomena which were occurrent in Asia, and that the command for the appearance of light, with the declaration of making the sun, the moon, and stars, meant only the causing of those luminaries to reappear upon that locality, by removing the darkness which aqueous vapour, an earthquake, or some other geological causes, might have produced. We think not. We do not understand the authors of the several schemes of interpretation adverted to as designing to make Moses speak the sentiments of modern philosophy; of which, indeed, he could have known nothing. This it would be impossible to do, to say nothing of the irreverence of such an attempt. Their principal aim seems to have been to show that his narrative of the creation is admissive of an explanation not inconsistent with such new discoveries; and so to maintain its position as a portion of the Word of God, which it most certainly is. We highly appreciate and most sincerely value this excellent motive, though we think the means which have been adopted are unsatisfactory and erroneous. We believe that the whole diffi- culty which these several interpretations have been invented to remove lies entirely in mistaking the real design of the early chapters of Genesis; and, specially, in supposing the initial portion of them to treat of the physical creation at all. The old, and what used to be received as the pure and simple sense of this portion of the Divine Word, has been entirely up- rooted, so that the great mass of the professing Christian Church is, as we have before remarked, actually without any settled or authoritative opinion upon the subject: and enlarged minds have well perceived that nothing satisfactory can be offered to its intelligent acceptance, so long as it is considered to speak of mundane things. These circumstances "have originated the opinion within that Church, and which is making favourable advancement among its people, that "it cannot be history — it may be poetry." The facts to which, as " poetry," it may be considered to relate. 14 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. have yet to be unfolded. We concur with the sentiment that "it cannot be history " :-^that is, it cannot be the history of the origination of the outer world -with its physical inhabitants: nevertheless we think that it is history; — the history of certain processes of the human mind (as intimated at the outset), by which it has successively risen from darkness into light, — by Avliich its feeble beginnings of intellectual life were develo})ed into more vigorous activity and greater excellence — by which a numerous and diversified series of living affections were brought into active existence; and that, finally, the whole process resulted in the production of that spiritual structure which is described as having been in the image of God. It is, we most sincerely believe, the particulars of this general process of which the first chapter of Genesis is the history: — a history of the rise and progress of those spiritual things con- nected with the development of man into the Divine Image, but written in a symbolical style, agreeably to the method prevalent among the ancients — a style founded in the relation- ship which a high state of human excellence perceived to exist between spiritual and natural things, and which general style has been adopted by God as the true vehicle for all his revela- tions. The communication of spiritual intelligence is the chief end of God's Word. Although the disclosure of certain information concerning the beginning of mundane things may be considered as coming within the province of revelation, because without it no absolute knowledge of such things can be attained; yet the main purpose of the revelation vouchsafed to us is, not to teach God's arrangements in the laws and productions of outer nature, but to announce to us the order and operation of an inner life, — to furnish information concerning spiritual things, — to |)oint out the wisdom, show the benignity, and exhibit tlie love of God for the souls of men. The Bible contains the moral and spiritual history of our race, — that is, the history of the interior and undying things of man, and it speaks of other things in subordination to this oljject, and uses them solely for tliat pur- pose. The natural cosmogony of the universe is not given therein. Although this idea may be reluctantly received, science and criticism leave no choice in the matter. THE MAIN PURPOSE OF REVELATION. 15 How, then, it may be asked, are we to understand the reasons which are given for the ordination and keeping of the sabbath; namely, "'In six days the Lord made heaven and earth; the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it " ? * This point deserves a moment's attention. The Israelitish people, at the time the commandments were given, had sunk very deeply into a gross and sensual condition. They had scarcely any conception of religious truth, and they were withheld from the ignorance and wickedness of open idola- try more from the fear of consequences than from any real knowl- edge or love of God. The interior truths, expressed under the symbols of six days' creation, had even then long been mistaken for a matter-of-fact history; and, therefore, a reference to it (for some writing, or memorial declaring it, was evidently known to them) as an apparent and not as a genuine truth, became serviceable and useful to a people circumstanced as they were; and who clung with such pertinacity, as all their subsequent history proves them to have done, to documentary and traditional sentiments, however erroneous, provided they had some association with their own history, f * Exodus XX : 11. " Isit not a harsh and forced interpretation to suppose that the six days in verse 9 do not mean the same as the six days in verse 11, but that, in this List place, they mean six periods? In reading through the 11th verse, it is ex- tremely difficult to believe that the seventh day is a long period, and the sab- hath day an ordinary day; that is, that the same word ' day ' should be used in two such totally different senses in the same short sentence, and without any explanation." — Scripture and Science not at Variance. By J. H. Pratt. M.A., Archdeacon of Calcutta, 1859. Third edition, p. 41, note. t That the Scriptures contain a great variety of statements which are mere adaptations to the prevailing ideas of the times in which they were produced is well known. That this is the case in the matter referred to seems evident, because it will hardly be pretended that God had so to work during the six days of creation as to experience fatigue and require repose upon the seventh. Moreover, in the repetition of the commandment, given in Deuteronomy v., the above reason for the institution of the sabbath is altogether omitted, and, instead thereof, the sons of Israel were told that it was to be kept in remembrance of their having been delivered from servitude in Egypt; which reason, historically, is a pure accommodation to the ideas of the Israelites in respect to that event. 16 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. Besides the reason for alluding to the six days' work in the commandment, founded on an apparent truth, and adopted in accommodation to the prejudices of the people, there is another cause founded on genuine truth, and suited to the intellectual discernment of studious minds. The sabbath was instituted for a sacred purpose; it was to be a day in which spiritual things were to receive special and dis- tinguished attention on the part of man, because (as all the institutions essentially Israelitish were representative) it rep- resented the peace and holiness of the Lord in having accom- plished the work to which the first of Genesis relates, considered in its internal, which is its genuine, sense. When we see, what by and by we shall endeavour to prove, that that work was a spiritual process, by which, through six successive stages, humanity was developed into the image of God; and Avhen we further remember that such development must have been the Lord's own merciful work, then we shall be able to see the force and reasonableness of the argument which the commandment asserts. It refers to a process through which it had pleased the Lord to raise man into a state of spiritual excellence, and at the same time regards this process as essential to the security of all the privileges which the sabbath not only represented, but which, as a selected portion of time, it was to be employed as a means for upholding. The literal structure, then, of the reason for observing the sabbath is in conformity with the literal structure of the first of Genesis, because they both relate to the same spir- itual fact, and conduce to the internal rest, peace, and sanctity of man. The people, at the time of the Exodus, had long mis- taken the outer sense of this latter document for its actual mean- ing; but the reason adverted to was not written to confirm them in that error; its true object was to recognize its spiritual design, and, therefore, it is referred to in a similar style of expres- sion, — a style which Inspiration, — considered as the utterance of those living sentiments which were to have responses in perpetuated humanity, — preferred to adopt. These considerations show very satisfactorily that the Mosaic description is not to be received as a circumstantial history of physical creation. The best minds have been compelled, by irresistible evidence, to abandon as erroneous the popular and DIFFICULTIES OF THE LITERAL SENSE. 17 long-standing view which has been cherished concerning it: and although great efforts have been made to sustain the idea of its cosmogonal character in some sense, yet it is evident, from the specimens of those efforts which have been adduced, that such senses are not those which Moses intended. But the giving up of such an interpretation of the narrative by no means involves any impeachment of its Divine authenticity: that fact concerning it stands upon other grounds, and it is in- dicated, rather by the intellectual experiences of mankind, than by any agreement of its statements with mundane phe- nomena. However, rational investigation and the appliances of science have not only disturbed the erroneous interpretations which have so long weighed upon this portion of God's Word; they also bring considerations which extensively affect the supposed historical character of several succeeding chapters. For instance, how difficult is it to conceive that Eve was really made from a rib taken from Adam during a deep sleep induced upon him for the purpose; — that a tree could produce the knowledge of good and evil; — that a serpent was capable of speech, and reasoned so successfully with the woman as to induce her to violate the command of God ! Moreover, in the fourth chapter there is an indication of the existence of another race of men besides those described as the descendants of Adam. When Cain went forth from the face of the Lord, it is said that a mark was set upon him, lest any finding him might slay him. At that period Cain was the only surviving descendant of Adam, who, with his mother. Eve, made only three in existence. Why, then, set a mark upon him to prevent others from slaying him, if there were no other persons than his father and mother to perpetrate the deed ? Surely, the circumstance of imposing a mark for such a purpose plainly indicates to historical criticism the existence of another race besides that of Adam. There is also another fact, leading to the same conclusion, related in the same chapter. Cain is described to have possessed a wife; but there is no intimation of her origin: he also had a son, and built a city in the land of Nod; which circumstances plainly indicate that a number of persons must have been there collected, that some of them 4 18 THE WORD AND ITS IXSPIRATION. must have been acquainted with the arts, and many of them industriously employed in erecting required habitations. Farther on it is related that the sons of God, who are commonly under- stood to have been angels, or at least beings superior to mankind, fell in love with the daughters of men, and thereby originated a progeny that was mighty and valiant. We are also informed that the ordinary period of human life extended over several hundred years, and that the Lord repented that he had made man upon the earth. These, and many other statements which could be easily selected, forbid both science and criticism to approach them, if they are to be received as real and credible history. This, however, was not their purpose. The meaning of these relations will be discussed in its proper place; we can here only generally observe that they, with all the other peculiarities recorded in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, were never intended to convey to mankind any information respecting the natural world or the early history of its inhabitants. We believe that their true intention was to describe the moral and spiritual states which distinguished the people of primeval times; and that they are related in an historical form, because that was the method of speaking of such things common to those early periods of civilized life. CHAPTER TI. GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE NARRATIVE (Continued). " All who have treated of divine subjects, whether Greeks or Barbarians, industri- ously involved the beginning of things, and delivered the truth in enigmas, signs, and symbols, in allegories and metaphors, and other such figures." — Clement of Alexandria. Strom. 1. v., p. 658. Ox. Ed. There are few facts better established by learned criticism than that the histories pretending to describe the commence- ment of the Eastern and Western nations of antiquity are of a singularly allegorical kind, partaking more of the spirit of mythology than history, and leaning rather to the character of poetic imagery than historic truth. The first written intimations which we have of the beginning of society in India, Persia, and Egypt are all of a mythological kind. If we examine the documents which have come down to our own time relating to the commencement of the Scythian, Celtic, and Scandinavian nations, the same fact is observable. And every one is aware how peculiarly applicable these remarks are to what is said of the origin of the more recent nations of Greece and Rome. The city of Boeotia, in the former, is related to have been built by men grown from dragon's teeth, which Cadmus had sown for the purpose; and Rome is said to have been founded by Romulus, who, with his brother Remus, were rescued, in infancy, from the Tiber, and subsequently suckled by a wolf. Nor are the statements made in connection with the beginning of our own country entirely freed from mythos ; but no one regards them, and the others referred to, as being historically true, and yet every one must admit that they had a significance well understood at the time they were originally conceived. It was evidently the genius of the people in those times to express some facts in fable. The fables, however, have remained, from their having acquired a permanency in writing; but their significance has perished, because this was not recorded, and 19 20 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. also because the genus to which it was perceptil)le has passed away. These facts are incontestable, and we are led from theni to conclude that the documents of Genesis, j)opularly regarded as a description of the origin of the world, the beginning of humanity, and the first constitution and progress of society, are somewhat of a similar character, and that they describe the moral sentiments and religious conditions of men through their corresponding images in nature. The peculiar genus of the people by whom the mythological history of nations was constructed and understood was but the remains of a very superior condition of human character. Their mythic narratives were, for the most part, expressed through the fanciful selection of arbitrary and conventional images. But in a more remote antiquity — nearer those times which the poets have described to be the golden age — men lived under the influ- ence of more enlightened perceptions and sounder views. Their superior states must have enabled them to see in natural objects the actual symbols of those divine and spiritual sentiments out of which they had originated; and, under the influence of such a fact, it is easy to imagine that they would be led to express their own thoughts and sensations by means of appropriate images drawn from tlie theatre of nature. And we conceive that it was in such times, and Iw men of this genus, by whom, under tlie Divine auspices, the early chapters of Genesis were produced. Even Josephus, Pharisee as he was, informs us that Moses "spoke somethings wisely, but enigmatically, and under a decent allegory " ; and in another place he asserts that, after the description of the seventh day, "he began to talk philosophically ";* that is, to write his history in some sym- bolical manner. The more deeply we look into ancient history, the more cer- tainly shall we be convinced that the style of writing which then prevailed was of an allegorical character, and tiiat the outer tilings narrated can only be considered as the vehicles employed for the ex]iression of some inward sentiment and thought. Concerning this, many aut]ioriti(^s could lie produced, from the "Fathers" and others, if it were needful for so clear a truth. *See "Antiquity of the .Tews," Preface, sec. 4, chap. 1, sec. 1. ANCIENT HISTORY ALLEGORICAL. 21 Origen, however, plaiiily asserts that the narratives describing tlie making of woman and the conversation of the serpent were allegories expressive of some other facts than those which appear. * The period of actual liistory, apart from that contained in the Bible, cannot be traced with any certainty far lieyond the period of the first Olympiad, f The narratives produced before that time, whatever might have been their precise meaning, are found to be pregnant with marvellous relations. Subsequently this method of expression fell into disuse. The genus of the people in after ages became less poetic and more matter-of-fact; and every one now perceives that the wonders indicated in those fragmental writings of antiquity which have come down to our time are not to be received in their literal sense. This has been the fate of those profane documents, because, not having been hallowed by the sentiments of religious respect, they have been subjected to freer thought. Yet the statements which are contained in the Bible narratives before the time of Abraham are not less amazing; and mankind would long ago have acknowledged their mythic character but for the powerful influence of a traditional opinion to the contrary. This, how- ever, can have but little real weight when it is remembered that such traditions were originated by ecclesiastical authority, at a time when the true signification of those writings had long been overlooked. It is well known that there is a remai'kable resemblance in points between several events mentioned in acknowledged myth- ology and some of the circumstances related in the early por- tions of Genesis; X fis, for instance, between the flood of Deu- calion and that of Noah, and between the Gigantes and Titanes of the Greeks and the giants and- mighty men spoken of in Genesis vi: 4. It has been usual to regard those points of Attic and Oriental mythology which resemble the Scripture nar- * Cont. Cels. 1. iv., p. 187, Ed. Sp. Referred to by the Kev. S. Noble, "Plen.irv Inspiratiou," p. .5.59. t Tluit is, 775 years before the birth of Christ, and 22 years before the foundation of Rome. JSee " Analysis of Ancient Mytholoj^y, " by Jacob Bryant. And the Dis- sertations of Sir William Jones in the "Asiatic Researches." 22 • THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. ratives, to have been derived therefrom, and to consider that the other descriptions with which we find them associated are the legendary embellishments of the respective nations in which they were produced. This might have been the case. But if so, it may be considered as offering some proof that the people esteemed such narratives (whether communicated to them from traditional or documentary sources matters not) as embodying some other idea than what is literally expressed. They would hardly have chosen what they believed to have been the actual facts pertaining to a more ancient people, to express the mytho- logical history of themselves. They must have seen, in some measure, the esoteric meaning of what they so selected, and thence its suitability for being incorporated into their own mys- tic relations. The extravagances of those relations, of course, render them incredible as facts; nevertheless, they must have been designed to express some ideas and sentiments readily understood at the time of their origination. The adoption of points to be found in Scripture narratives into the faVjulous rela- tion of later times, evidently suggests that they were considered of a figurative character. It is readily admitted that mythological and traditional inti- mations of the deluge are to be found among all nations. Sculp- tures among the Egyptian antiquities, and pictures among the more recent nations of Mexico and Peru, have been discovered, which are interpreted to be the memorials of that catastrophe. It is also said that ceremonies and sacrificial rites were insti- tuted for its commemoration among the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Phffinicians, Greeks, Celts, and Scythians.* Inscriptions are collected, and even an ancient medal and a vase have been pro- duced, having upon them objects alluding to the deluge, f These circumstances are commonly referred to as affording the most triumphant jiroofs that the Noachic deluge was a flood of waters, in agreement with the literal sense of the narration. But we *Dr. Pye Siiiith, on "Scripture and Geology." Second edition, p. 101. .See also "Records of Creation." By John Bird Sumner, M.A. Second edition, p. 39. t Dr. Wiseman's "Lectures on the Connection between Science and Revealed Religion." Second edition, pp. 321, 336, where engravings are inserted. ANCIENT HISTORY ALLEGORICAL. 23 contend that all these facts may be granted, and yet that con- clusion be consistently denied. It is evident that the narrative of the flood points to a very awful circumstance brought about by the wickedness of man. The language, however, in which it was originally described may still be figurative, and the evidences referred to nothing more than the traditional indications of the event so related. All those legends and historical notices must have sprung from one locality and the same description; they, therefore, do not prove that the literal sense of such description is to be received as credible history; they only preserve some general reminis- cences of the mode in which the circumstance was originally related, and do not exhibit its signification. That stands upon other ground, and has to be deciphered by other means. There cannot be any reasonable doubt that the early portions of Genesis were the productions of a period in which it was customary for mankind to express their religious states and sentiments in the form of allegory. If, then, those documents really did belong to such a period, and were the performances of such a genus, it is evident that they must have partaken of such a style;* and, therefore, they are not to be understood in the sense which the letter conveys; that would be a certain dis- tortion of their true meaning. In referring the production of those remarkable documents *Tliis argumeut is very beautifully stated in the following passage:— " Let it for a moment l)e supposed that it had pleased the Divine Majesty to grant an immediate revelation of his authority and his grace to the Athe- nians, in the age of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and for their use ; -vve may reverentially believe that, in such a case, the communication would have been exjiressed in the terms and phrases to which they had habituated them- selves, and moulded upon a system of references to the natural scenery around them, to their modes of action in social life, and to their current notions upon all other subjects. Not only would the diction have been pure Greek, but the figures, the allusions, and the illustrations, of whatever kind, would also have been Attic. The Hebraized style which was adapted to the people of Israel, would have failed to convey just sentiments to the men of Greece ; for, thongli it would not have been absolutely unintelligible, the collateral ideas would have been misapprehended, flxlse bye-notions would have insinuated themselves, and the principal sentiments, to inculcate which ' was the object of the whole process, would have been grievously distorted." — Dr. Pye Smith, " Scripture and Geology,'''' p. 239. 24 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. to the period in which that pecuHiir genus prevailed, we do not mean to insinuate that they are the mere fanciful results of that genus. We regard them as containing the inspiration of the Almighty, and venerate them as portions of the pure Word of God. What we intend by this reference is, that God was pleased to adopt, as the vehicle for his communications, the mode and style then prevalent with men, yet so regulating the ex2:»ressions and marshalling the narrative that it should contain no Avord, indicate no sentiment, declare no story, but what was the exact counterpart of some spiritual things. This characteristic, indeed, must be acknowledged to pervade the whole Word of God, though the representations that were selected in those remote times appear to have been more recon- dite than those which were adopted at a later period, in conse- quence of mankind having begun to mistake their sense or falsify their meaning. The Scriptures peculiarly Israelitish commence with the his- tory of the house of Abram: that historv, indeed, contains general facts, as they are described; nevertheless, these facts are to be considered as the mediums for containing, and representa- tively expressing, those interior sentiments and spiritual ideas which are proper to them as a Revelation. The mere literal facts and history can hardly, in themselves, be viewed as revela- tions: it would not be satisfactory to suppose that any other divine interference with their writings took place than was requisite to determine the particular points which were to be stated as the true representations of spiritual realities, the dis- closure of which must have been their main object, considered as revelations from God. But the character of the Bible narratives anterior to the time of Abram, though equally divine, is observed to be very differ- ent in their literal structure; and some critics, from an apparent irregularity in the arrangement, have considered them frag- mentary selections, while others pronounce them to be distinct compositions.* However this may be, they are plainly the productions of another hand than that which has written the history of the house of Abram; and there is some reason to *See Vater's " Fiajimcnt Hypothesis; " Eichliorn's " Document Hypothe- sis ;" and Dr. P. Smith's "Geology and Scripture," note, p. 202. THE NARRATIVE INSPIRED. 25 believe that they formed a portion of a more ancient revelation from God than that which is now extant. Moses himself has intimated that there were books of divine authority among mankind antecedent to his time. He has referred to them by name, cited passages from them, and embodied them in his own Pentateuch. Thus, after describing the several journeyings of the sons of Israel, and particularly their removal from Zared to the other side of Arnon, he writes, " Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, and the streams of the brook that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab." * Again, after announcing the conquest of the Israelites over the Ammonites and the villages of Heshbon, he writes, "Wherefore say the Enunciations" (HammosheUm, i.e., the books of the Enunciations, — as we say Prophets, for the books of the Prophets; which idea is obscured by the common trans- lation, " They that speak in proverbs " ), "Come unto Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared: for there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, and a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. "f These passages announce the existence of two books, one of which was distinguished by an historical, and the other by a prophetical, character. In other portions of the Word we find citations from another work, called the " Book of Jasher," and the writers apply what they quoted from it to events which were then in the course of being accomplished. | That those ancient books w^ere produced under divine super- intendence, and designed for the spiritual guidance of the people to whom they were originally vouchsafed, seems evident, from the formal manner in which they are referred to, and the authority conceded to them. That one of them was constructed on the principle of expressing mental things in an historical *Numb. xxi. 14. As a fact bearing \ipon the great antiquity of tbe Book here cited from, Dr. Lamb, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, has remarked, "that in this short pas.sage we find a verb (tiaAci) which occurs nowhere else in the Bible." — "■ Hehretv Hieroglyphics,'''' p. 9. It is considered to have been a word obsolete in the time of Moses, and thus that the book in which it occurs must have been a production long anterior to his time. fNumb. xxi. 27, 28. J Josh. x. 12, 13 ; 2 Sam. i. 17, 18. 26 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. manner, plainly appears from the passa'ge that is quoted from it. As, then, it is certain that the early pt)rtions of Genesis are distinguished by a peculiarity of composition, proving them to be documents of an entirely different character from those to which they are prefixed, there can be little doubt of their hav- ing originally formed a part of those more ancient divine records, the existence of which, in some remote period, is certain from the fragments which remain.* This conclusion does not rest merely upon the probabilities of rational inference: there is some scriptural attestation of the fact. The fifth chapter of Genesis commences with the declara- tion, "This is the Book of the generations of Adam," and thereupon follows, in a style agreeable to those times, a record of all his descendants down to Noah and his sons. Doubtless this Book of Generations was a written document, containing the circumstances which the author of the Pentateuch has cited, and acknowledged in this instance, as we have seen he did in others, f As, then, there is testimony sufficient to show that the Antediluvian History in the Bible was produced among a people whose genus led them to express their perceptions of interior and spiritual truth by means of external and natural symbols, occasionally arranged in the form of historic narrative, we think we may most fairly and reasonably arrive at the general conclusion that those documents were never intended to record the origin of mundane things, to express the phenomena of matter, or to deliver the social, civil, or political histor}- of the first men. Their true purpose is of a much more sacred and religious character, which we shall endeavour to show. We shall also, in addition to the general remarks which have now been made, venture to adduce, in their jjroper places, such other particular reasons for the conclusion arrived at concern- ing the figurative structure of the Antediluvian History as the * " We have no slight reasons for supposing that Moses compiled the chief parts of the Book of Genesis, by arranging and connecting ancient memoranda, under the Divine direction." — Dr. Pye Smith, '■^Scripture and Geology.''^ Second edition, p. 20'2. f " It means," says Dr. A. Clarke, '" the account or register of the genera- tion of Adam or his descendants." THE SENSE IN WHICH THE WORD IS SIMPLE. 27 specific points may seem to require. It is, however, always to be borne in mind that tliose reasons are designed to weigh only against the common apprehension of its literal sense; and, also, that in no case are they to be considered as questioning the divine origination of the documents, or suggesting doubts as to their spiritual value and purpose. We have deemed it requisite to make these statements, because there are some who suppose that the rejection of a long-standing interpretation is the same thing as throwing discredit upon the documents. Against this we solepinly protest. We renounce nothing re- specting those narratives but that common opinion concerning them, which every sincere student has found it difficult to hold. We receive them as a genuine portion of the veritable Word of God, and, therefore, we regard them as a Divine Revelation concerning celestial and spiritual things; and look upon every single expression they contain to be significant of some interior affection and thought proper to man in the process of his reli- gious development, or attendant upon him during the calamity of his transgression. The style in which these documents is composed is tlie first of which we have any account, and perhaps it is the best adapted for the embodiment of di\"ine communication; because it appears to have been a method of expression which pre- vailed among an orderly and illuminated people, who enjoyed the advantages of interior perception, and displayed an activity of intellectual principle very superior to any who have lived in subsequent ages. This was plainly referred to by Hannah, when she said, "Speak ye what is high, let what is ancient come forth from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowl- edge";* and also by the Psalmist, when he said, "Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. ' ' f There are two modes of speaking of the Scriptures, frequently adopted, to which, in concluding these remarks, it will be useful to refer. The first is, that the statements of the Scriptures must be implicith" and reverentially received, whether we understand * 1 Sam. ii. 3 : Improved Translation. t Psa. Ixxviii. 1 3. 28 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. them or not; and that it is mere presumption for man, with his carnal mind and puny intellect, to attempt to comprehend those wonderful things which it has pleased God to deliver, rather for his faith than his knowledge! This may be a pious submission to divine authority, taking its rise in religious feel- ing; but it is certainly mistaken in its application. We have no doubt that such obedience is very becoming, provided it be accompanied with intelligence; but in the case before us it wants the ingredient necessary to enlighten and give it value. Those who can satisfy themselves with such notions are, there- fore, beyond our reasonings. We can render them little service. They have faith for anything but that free and sensible enquiry into the legitimate meaning of God's Word which we regard to be the duty and prerogative of man. The second mode is that which asserts that the Scriptures are " very simple in their structure," and describes them as being for ' *• simple minds, " " plain readers, " " the common people, ' ' " the unlearned," and so forth: thereby insinuating that those explanations are to be suspected which require labour, research, and intellectual culture for their discovery and comprehension. It is readily granted that the Scriptures are so Avritten as to be serviceable even to the lowest state of human apprehension, but we do not believe that such a state comprehends the Avhole truth contained in any one passage that may be presented to it. * There is just so much seen as the intellectual condition will admit of, and no more. The highest disclosures of Divine wisdom are not to be discerned by the lowest states of the human mind. The simple may receive the Word in simplicity, but the wise man understands it in wisdom, and the latter makes the nearest approaches to its true meaning. The Apostle declared the rule when he said, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." f The Word is rightly viewed when it is regarded not only as capable of improving the heart, but also of enlightening the under- * "Of those who actually read the Scriptures, multitudes are very imper- fectly able to understand most of what they read." — Timothy Dwight, LL.D. Sermon 152. 1 1 Cor. xiii. 11. THE SENSE IN WHICH THE WORD IS SIMPLE. 29 standing ; and, therefore, its wisdom must be adapted to all the advancing conditions of the human mind. It is the wise and friendly character of revelation, not only to assist man in his intellectual elevation, but likewise to accompany him in his progress, and urge him onwards by calling attention to superior heights not yet attained. If we do not regard the Word in this light, we overlook much that is solemn and inter- esting in its objects: in such a case, its reality vanishes like a meteor, and its spirituality perishes like a dream. CHAPTER III. ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN.— THE SUCCESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF HIS MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL POWERS —HIS DUTY AND PREROGATIVE AS AN IMAGE OF GOD.— THE EXCEL- LENCY OF EVERYTHING THAT WAS MADE. "The foundations of religion and virtue being laid in the mind and heart, the secret dispositions and genuine acts of •which are invisible, and known only to a man's self; therefore, the powers and operations of the mind can only be expressed in figurative terms and external symhols." — Dr. John Clark. Folio Collection of Boyle's Lectures. Vol. iii., p. 229. From the facts and principles which have been laid down, we are somewhat prepared to consider the evidence for regard- ing the early portions of Genesis as treating, first, of the original state of the most ancient people; next, of that progressive development by which they became spiritual, and at length celestial men, when they constituted the most ancient Church; afterwards, of their declining state and absolute fall; then, of the rehgious condition of succeeding generations; and finally, of the state of wickedness which prevailed among the posterity coeval with the flood, by which catastrophe the celestial dis- pensation perished. Viewed in this light, assisted by the corroborations of other parts of the Scriptures, and the facts of spiritual experience, we shall be enabled to recognize in those portions of the Word a meaning beautifully consistent with itself, and in perfect har- mony with all the demands of a true mental philosopliy; and, at the same time, disclosing principles whereby may be an- swered every requirement which the most enlarged idea of reve- lation can suggest. THE BEGINNING. The narrative opens with this beautifully simple declara- tion : "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The beginning certainly denotes the remotest time connected with the history of the human race; then was the 30 MAN IGNORANT BUT INNOCENT. 31 period for commencing the operations subsequently described. But what phenomenon was about to be produced ? We answer, that it was to be a condition of humanity, in the higliest development of which the Creator was about to make the image and likeness of Himself. It was necessary, in the first place, to provide the plans through which this development could be accomplished in an orderly way. These are called " the heaven and the earth": the /^mren being that internal constitution of man which connects him with a spiritual destiny; and the earth, that external condition by which he is related to a natural world. Hence, heaven, considered as the kingdom of God, is said to be within;* and the earth, regarded as man's outer nature, is frequently called upon to hear the Word of the Lord, t Of the existence of the internal and external man popular theology is sufficiently cognizant. The Apostle speaks of them as the inner and outer man. X From this we learn that revelation opens with the information that man, b}^ orig- inal creation, was distinguished by an internal and an external nature; that the former might be taken as an indication that he had been endowed with immortality, and the latter as the announcement of his responsibility. But what were his mental and moral possessions ? Of these, at first, we think he must have been obviously destitute. We can hardly conceive the idea of man being created with the experi- ence and infarmation which mental exertions and moral qualities would seem to imply. Therefore, his original condition, in these respects, could have differed but little from those states into which he has since been born. Thus he must have been igno- rant, but innocent, still possessing all the capabilities for having developed the highest perceptions of wisdom and the holiest principles of virtue. The state, which has attended the begin- ning of man in all ages of his existence, may have been designed to inform us what was his condition when first originated. Of the process by which this was accomplished we have no revela- tion, but we are told something of the mental characteristics * Luke xvii. 21. fSee Isa. xxxiv. 1; Jer. vi. 19; xxii. 29, &c., &c. JEphes. iii. 16 ; 2 Cor. iv. 16. 32 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. that first belonged to him. "The earth" is said to have been "without form, and void," to denote that, as to his external nature, he was destitute of the order which arises from enlight- ened teaching, and void of that living excellence which springs out of active goodness. To show the accuracy of this view of the subject, we find that a corresponding state is spoken of in precisely similar language. When the Jewish Church had become a desolation, the Lord thus describes its aspect: "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light " : * nor was there any ' ' man. " f " Darkness, ' ' also, is said to have been ' ' upon the face of the deep," for the purpose of declaring the ignorance which then prevailed in the perceptive capabilities of the mind. Perception is the "face," because, as is well known, all its ideas shine forth therein, and are indicated thereby: the mind is the "deep," and hence recondite thinking is sometimes so expressed. This seems to inform us very plainly that man, by original creation, did not possess either the knowledge or the love of divine things. This destitution, however, did not arise from the voluntary rejection of those excellencies, as has been the case with men in after ages, but because, as yet, they had not been communicated. His original state, therefore, must have been one of passive innocence and docility. He was gifted with capacities merely, that were afterwards to be developed, and by which it was designed that he should love his God above all things, and his neighbour as himself. He was created perfect in the degree of his primeval existence, but not with the possession of those high things in which his capabilities could result. The degree was a faculty to become great, but not greatness itself. It is this which distinguishes humanity from the beasts. They were at once endowed Avith all that they were capable of, to the end that they might obtain no more, and so be beasts; but man was created with capacities only to the end that, by their use, he might knowingly progress in all things that are wise and good, and so be man. The perfection of the former, therefore, is their imperfection ; while the deficiencies of the latter are the ground- work of his eminence. * .Ter. iv. 23. t Jer. iv. 25. THE MOVING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD. 33 How long man continued in this primeval state there is no historical information. It is not necessary to suppose that it was any considerable time. Indeed, it is reasonable to imagine that it was only of short duration. The orderly condition in which his capacities were created, would qualify him to observe instructively the objects and circumstances by which he was surrounded, and thence he could acquire certain knowledges and moral impressions, which would constitute the intellectual materials on which the divine influences were afterwards to operate. The divine operation implies the possession of some- thing on which to operate, and from which the higher excellences should be evolved. These had been mercifully provided in the human capacities, and the impressions, ideas, and senti- ments that would be made upon them, during their original and orderly existence. This, then, we conceive to have been the state of man up to the period when it is said that "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." By the Spirit of God moving, is meant the divine influences acting; and the "waters," on which it is described to have operated, are significant of those knowledges which had been previously acquired.* These, by innumerable acts of the divine mercy, were stored up in the mind, and therein preserved, until that favourable time should arrive when the divine influences might, as it were, brood over them, and so endow them Avith spiritual life. Those knowl- edges are here called ' ' the face of the waters, ' ' to distinguish them from that ignorance and obscurity of mind which had been previously denominated "darkness upon the face of the deep." The ideas here suggested are admissive of some degree of illustration, which may come home to the religious experience of many. When a man remembers the innocence of his child- hood with delight ; when he feels gratitude attending his reflections on the anxiety and care which his rearing and education must have cost his parents, and when he experiences pleasures arising in his bosom with the recollection of those *That waters, in the Word, are employed to signify knowledges will abun- dantly appear in subsequent parts of this work. Baptism with water signifies introduction into the knowledges of the Church. 5 34 THK VVOKI) AND ITS INSPIRATION. kno\vl(;dgcs and attc^iitioiis wliic^li friends and others liave bostowod upon liini; — when he experiences such gratifying sensations accompanying tlie common knowledges of his natun;, then it is that the; Spirit of Clod is moving upon the iacr. of thi; waters: it is l^rooding* over those knowledges, and ilidicating the presence of spiritual life therein by the orderly sensations of (ldi(/ht, (/r (it Uncle, and pleasure that are felt. It is interesting to observe that there is a remarkable analogy between the process here described as attending the creation of man, and that which, under the Christian dispensation, is spoken of as belonging to his regeneration. They are both treated of as the result of the divine influence and operation. In the one case, God is said to move "upon the face of the waters"; in the other it is written, " Ye must be born of water and the Spirit. "t It is true that the regeneration insisted on by Christianity implies the presence of evil, which in the first cHJation of man could not have existed. Nevertheless, there is a great similarity in the; two processes, for the end contemplated by both is the implantation of the Divine image in man. In the one case, it was to be done before his fall; in the other, after it. In this latter case it may be more difficult to accom- plish, because man, as a co-worker with God, has now to contend against his evils; and these throw obstacles in the way, and so retard his progress. With this exception, regeneration, consid- ered as a divine work, is very similar to that which is described as his creation. The (!nd in both cases is the same; so, also, are the means, vi<'wed in their first principles, those being the divine influences. The intermediates are somewhat different. Man is noiv rcigcnierated by the Lord through the external teach- ings of his Word; tlien he was regenerated by the Lord through *'I'lic Hebrew verb, moarhcphcth, reixloicd viovcd, also signifies the act of incubation, of gently cherishing, of brooding over so as to evolve a some- thing that may live. . . . This liarnionizcs very l)eautifully witli the I'act declared by tlu; Lord when lie said, "How often would I have gathered you together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings!" (Matt, xxiii. '.il). In both in.stanees there is included the idea of bringing its sub- ject into a condition of superior life : in the former case its evolution out of the nnfallen capacities of man ; in the latter the disentanglement of it from the influences of iniquity. f John iii. 5. CREATION BY THE WORD. 35 the internal dictates of }iis wi.sdom. This flowed into hiin hy an interior way, there being nothing to oppose its entrance; and, therefore, it successively brought forth lliose excellencies of character wliich terminated in the development of the Divine image. But now divine wisdom enters into man ])y an external way, because lunv tliere are evils to be removed, wliidi must be seen and ackntnvledged in the external mind, before that "image" can be restored which the fall obliterated. When this is effected he is regenerated, being ''a new creature"; for regeneration consists in the implantation of new thoughts, affections, and intentions, and thus in the actual creation, in man, of new principles of sijiritual life and action. Hence it is sometimes called a creation, as in the case of the Psalmist, when he prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."* It is, therefore, a t(;rm declaratory of the actual creation of the orderly principles and development of religious life. It brings into existence, in the state of him who is its subject, a new intellectual and moral activity, which are not experienced and cannot be imagined by the merely natural man, for he, says the Apostle,! " knoweth not the things of God." It is, then, the creation and successive unfolding of states c«^)nducive to this elevated condition of humanity before the fall, which we believe to be treated of in the first chajDter of Genesis. X The general similarity between creation and regeneration is evident; therefore, we may sometimes fairly appeal to the experi- ence of the one, for an occasional illustration of tlie j)henomena indicated in the other. It was observed that the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters meant the divine influences operating ujton those general knowledges which man had been enabled to accunuilate during the early stages of his primeval existence. This was the preparatory state to that in which the Lord said, ' ' Let there be * Psalm li. 10. t 1 Cor. ii. 14. X "That the literal meaning i.s, primd fftde, one wholly adverse Ut the present astronomical and geolo<^i(^al views of the universe is evident enough." — The Mosaic Cosmogony. By (J. W. Goodwin, M.A., p. 251. The whole of this Es.say may be usefully consulted, as showing the di.screpancies which exist between the Mosaical history and actual phenomena. 36 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. light" — ligbt in the mind, for truth of a religious nature could now enter into it, and produce some faint degree of mental illumination. THE FIRST DAY. It is to be remarked that the phenomena of each day's creation are described as having been spoken into existence. * The view we are taking of this narration affords us a beautiful reason for this circumstance. All the evolutions of spiritual life are the results of the Lord's speaking. It is well known that all the good things of genuine religion have been communicated to us by what God has said. ^Mleresoever we behold any excellence, God has first spoken of it in his Word, and by that speech it has been brought into existence. The external or written Word is now the medium for these productions. It has spoken Chris- tendom into being, with all its influences. God said, Let there be Christianity, and there was Christianity. But the full blaze of its intelligence was not suddenly displayed. We are not informed of the time it would require for realizing all its objects. The beginning is not to be mistaken for its maturity. The twilight is displayed before the sun rises to his meridian. God's Word has spoken of its magnificence, and His utterances cannot fail. This Word produces the light which we are com- manded to let shine. That is the speech which brings into being the blade, the ear, the corn, and the fruit that we are directed to exhibit. That is the language Avhich originates the sheep and the lambs which Peter was commanded to feed. This being the effect of God's Word now, we at once see why, in the case before us, the work of every day is prefaced by the sentence, " God said."t The things really treated of were the * "In the beginning was the Word. All things were made by liim ; and without him was not any thing made that was made." — Jolin i. 1-3. t It may be useful to direct the reader's attention to the frequent occur- rence of this manner of expression in all the Divine communications men- tioned in the Scriptures, and especially in the prophetical portions of them : and it may not be impertinent to observe that it has been usual to infer, from the circumstance of God's speaking the world into being, that it was created out of nothing. But out of nothing nothing can be made ; and the above mode of announcing the subject is rather a declaration that it was made from the Divine I.ove by the Divine Wisdom. Whatever might have been the modus operandi, these must have been the origin of creation. EVENING AND MORNING A DAY. 37 actual results of that sacred speech. It was a divine dictate impressing itself upon the internal perceptions of men, and designed to bring into successive existence the higher sentiments of wisdom and faith, with all their charities and uses; which, however, are described in its own symbolical way. The insemination of certain ideas of truth was among its first efforts. What God speaks is light to the subject which receives it, but more or less brilliant according to the state of man's reception. Without a right knowledge nothing truly useful can be done, and the attainment of that light is among the first efforts of unsullied love, because the communication of love without intelligence would be a blind impulse. The Lord, then, imparted light, — this he "called Day, and the darkness he called Night. ' ' These definitions it is important to observe. As day and night are terms expressive of opposite conditions in nature, so they are significant of antagonistic states of mind. Whatsoever proceeds from the Lord admits of comparison with day, because it is accompanied by the light of truth; but everything arising out of man's ignorance is associ- ated with moral mists and darkness, and therefore it is forcibly represented by the night. The night here treated of does not at all enter into the composition of that which is here called day, as is the case with the astronomical definition of that period. It is the light which God called day; this he is said to have divided (distinguished, is the more correct word) from the night to express that eternal separation which must ever exist between the truth which comes from Him, and the ideas which arise with us: hence he has pronounced it good, and declared ' ' the evening and morning ' ' of that light to be " the first da}'. ' ' By a day is spiritually signified a state, during the continuance of which certain mental and moral perceptions appear in the mind, and from which arise corresponding performances of duty. On this account Jesus said, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work " : * the day here alluded to is, plainly, a state favour- able for carrying out the divine purposes. Such, also, is tlie day in the subject before us. It is generally admitted that it cannot there mean the ordinary idea derived from the diurnal * John ix. 4. 38 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. luotion of the earth, and some other interpretation of it is usually sought for. Many have thought that it denoted a period of indefinite extent. But that is by no means satisfactory. God does not employ words of definite meaning to express to men indefinite ideas. A notion like that could hardly be pro- nounced a revelation. Its true reference is to mental state and not to physical time: for the duration of a state is to the experi- ence of the mind what the continuation of a day is to the experience of the body; and natural days of clouds and sun- shine, of storms and serenity, have their correspondence in states of mental vicissitude. The six days' creation, then, are to be understood as so many successive states of religious advance- ment, in the last of which humanity became an image of the Divine. The insemination of the light of truth was among the first contributions to this high result, and it was the evening and the morning of this light which constituted the first day; for by the evening is denoted that dim aspect under which truth is at first perceived, but by the morning is signified the more clear and refreshing understanding of it. It is remarkable that each of the six days spoken of in this chapter is described to have been constituted by the "evening and the morning"; night is entirely excluded from its compo- sition. But from this more particular definition of the term day, we are not to infer that there is any disparity between it and that more general assertion Avhich declared it to consist of light, for both the evening and the morning obviously include this idea. The reason why the evening and the morning are said to be a day, and why, also, the evening is put first in the order of the expressions, is, because the light of the divine truth which is proper to every state is, in its beginning, seen only as in the shade of evening, but afterwards it is perceived more clear and beautiful, and thus as the brightness of the morning, with all its dewy freshness and fertilit^^ The order of our mental advancement is from obscurity to clearness. We do not pass from the evening to the night, and thence on to the morning. That is an order which belongs to the succession of natural time, but not to the progressions of spiritual state; and, therefore, the term night, proper to the vicissitudes of time, is carefully excluded from the description. Thus the very order THE FIRMAMENT. 39 and peculiarity of the expressions said to constitute a day afford a remarkable evidence that a description of spiritual things is the chief purpose of the narrative. We therefore pass on to THE SECOND DAY. "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters — and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the Second Day. ' ' By a firmament, in a merely literal sense, is meant the sky which is above us; but this, it is well known, does not constitute a partition for any of the waters of nature. Moreover, this firmament, Ijrought into existence on the second day, is called "Heaven." Was this, then, another heaven, different from that whicli was originally created, for ' * in the beginning God created the Heaven'.'? These facts suggest difficulties; but they exist-only in the letter: viewed in a spiritual sense they entirel}^ disappear. By the firmament (more properly, expanse) which is now brought into being, is spiritually meant the development of some of those interior principles of thought which belong to the internal man. These constitute a mental expanse which exists somewhat above the terrestrial things of sense; and they dis- criminate between the knowledges which are of God and those which are of men: therefore it is said to divide (distinguish) the waters from the waters; the waters, as before observed, being significant of knowledges. This firmament — these interior principles of thought — is now called heaven; not because the internal man, thereby signified, did not before exist, but because it was now first perceived. How many things are there belonging to our nature which actually exist a long time before we become properly aware of them! The internal man exists, and we may have this fact declared to us by infallil)le authority, still we have no right per- ception of its truth until we begin a course of interior thinking. By this man attains the evidence of its existence, and then believes; hence the evening and the morning of this state are the second day, for man is gradually led into this faitli from 40 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. things external to things internal, from the knowledges of earth to the intelligences of heaven, and thus, as it were, from the evening to the morning of every state. THE THIRD DAY. On the third day ' ' the waters were gathered together unto one place; the dry land appeared; and the dry land was called Earth, and the gathering together of the waters, Seas; and the earth brought forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit." That by waters are really denoted knowledges concerning re- ligious things, is certain, from a variety of scriptural considera- tions. As, for instance, in his conversation with the woman of Samaria, the Lord said, ' ' Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall lie in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."* In this passage it is plain that, by water, is denoted those knowledges of religious truth which rise up in the mind from the acknowledgment of, and a faith in, the Lord. Again, the Holy Waters, seen by Ezekiel to issue from the sanctuary, and which rose first up to his ankles, next to his knees, then to his loins, and afterwards became a river large enough to swim in,f plainly denoted the successive increase and deepening of those divine knowledges which proceed from the sanctuary, or true Church of God. The Lord is said to ' ' lay the beams of his chambers in the waters; X because his cham- bers denote the interior principles of his Church, while the beams thereof signify their strength: these are said to be laid in the waters, because they rest and have their sure foundation only in the genuine knowledges of the Word, and therefore it is that the Word itself is described as "a pure river of water of life." § From these considerations, it is evident that the gathering together of the waters unto one place denotes the collection of those moral and religious knowledges which had been diffu- sively impressed upon the mind, and storing of them up in the * Jo\in iv. 14. t Ezek. xlvii. J Psa. civ. 3. ^ Rev xxii. 1. THE DRY LAND. 41 memory as one place appropriated for their reception; but then, in consequence of their extent and depth, together with the intranquillity arising from apparent disagreements, they are compared to the sea. Now it was that the dry land appeared, that denoting the unproductive nature of the merely external man. The external man, separate from internal and spiritual influences proceeding from the Lord, is as a dry and barren land: none of the good things of love and truth can spring up and grow therein. It is important that this characteristic of it should be known. The collection of religious knowledges, to which we have adverted, confers this information, and thereby the ' ' dry land appears. ' ' This was called earth, that being the name conferred upon the external man at the beginning; but now it is spoken of as land, because in this process of spiritual development it first appeared somewhat conspicuous; neveitheless, in order to prevent any misapprehension concerning the quality of the external man, we are forcibly reminded that it is " earth." By original creation it is low and natural, nor will genuine knowledge ever cause it to appear in any other quality than that which the name ' ' earth ' ' suggests. From the accumulation of these knowledges — for they had now become a sea — the duty was perceived of rendering this earth productive; to " bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit": which spiritually signifies the production of those orderly uses by which the moral life is to be sustained. The general idea here indicated is frequently reproduced in the Word. Thus the Lord described himself to be the sower, his Word the seed, and the diversity of moral results as fruits, according to the quality of the respective minds into which the seed had been cast.* He also described the pro- gression of man' s growth in spiritual things, as ' ' the earth bringing forth fruit; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. "f There can be no difference of opinion as to the general facts here referred to; and how beautifully do those three expressions coincide with what are described as the productions of the state now treated of; namely, the "grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit"! The *Matt. xiii. 19-2:1 f Mark iv. 28. 42 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. good which, when knowledge has been implanted, first springs out of "the earth," is somewhat low and delicate, and hence it is called "grass" (more properly rendered tender herb). After this succeed the performance of uses of a more vigorous kind, and these, because they are pregnant with a multiplica- tion of delights, are compared to ' ' the herb yielding seed. ' ' Then follows good of a superior kind, because acknowledging a higher origin, and this is pronounced to be the ' ' fruit tree yielding fruit."* How striking are these correspondences! from what principle can it be denied that such a mode of ex- planation is the true one ? They recognize and illustrate the canon of ' ' Scripture interpreting itself. ' ' The moral and spiritual affections belonging to man at this stage of his upward progress are compared to the growing and fruit-bearing things of the vegetable world, because, as yet, he -was somewhat in- sensitive to the great fact of their continued dependence upon the Lord: and thus that higher Hfe and animation had not been attained, which the objects of the animal kingdom would more properly represent. The collection of religious knowledges, planting them in the memory as the great storehouse of human information, causing the infertility of the merely external man to appear, together with the effort for rendering it, in some measure, more fruitful in the Avorks of use, are what constitute the third day of the creation, and this, like all preceding states, advanced from a condition of shade to light, wherefore it is written, that "the evening and the morning were the third day. ' ' THE FOURTH DAY. The phenomena brought into existence on the fourth day are thus descri])ed: " And God made two great lights; the greater * It is interesting to observe that there are only three phases of vege- table prodnction here referred to, and that these, from the circumstance of their general utility to man, are such as to fit them for being employed in this synil)olical manner. This must have been the main olyect of the state- ment, for, as the narrative does not contain the slightest intimation concern- ing that vast variety of genera with which the vegetable kingdom abounds, it cannot justly l)e regarded as having been designed to express their physi- cal creation. THE TWO GREAT LIGHTS. 43 light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness." These words describe to us what are the great sources of all spiritual and religious illumination, the order which they estab- lish, and the uses they promote. Light, indeed, had previously prevaileTl : it is stated to have been brought into existence upon the first day, when, also, it is said that God distinguished the light from the darkness: yet now we are told that upon the fourth day God made other, but superior lights,* whose office was also "to divide the light from the darkness." These, certainly, are embarrassing statements, viewed merely in their literal sense. Science has not seen how light and vegetation could exist before the sun. Ingenuity has ventured to suggest a plan, but philos- ophy has not been satisfied with the notion, nor can it ever be so, because the premises are wrong. The subject now treated of is concerning the development of the spiritual man; during this process, light is experienced under two distinctive asj^ects. The light which is seen by man in the early stages of his regenerating progress is very different in its quality from that which is experienced in his more advanced condition; in the former case it is external, partaking somewhat of the world; in the latter- it is internal, deriving a quality from heaven. Thus the light which is treated of as existing during the first three days, represented that external and scientific truth which properly belonged to the early stages of spiritual development, and by which preparation is made for the reception of those more interior lights of love and faith: therefore it is said of those lights, that they were placed in the firmament, which God called Heaven; that is, in the internal man. By the sun is represented the warming, enlightening, and fructifying principle of the Divine Love; and this is said to rule * Though the sun aud moon may be implied in this description, it is to be remarked that they are not so expressed. Astronomers inform us that some of the stars are at so great a distance from the earth, that their light which has reached us must, even at its amazing velocity, have taken hundreds of tluoisands of years. How plain is it, then, that they could not have com- menced their existence on the fourth day, about six thousand years ago ! 44 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. the day, to inform us that it should be a governing principle in all states of the truly religious character and conduct. By the moon is denoted the cooler and less luminous principle of truth, still trutli derived from love (in like manner as the light of the moon, naturally, is derived from the sun); and this is said to rule the night, to teach us the proper dominion of truth in all states of mental obscurity and darkness. By the stars are signified those numerous and varied intelligences which distin- guish a state so far advanced in religious life and excellence as that which is represented by the fourth day. These significations could be extensively proved from the Scriptures; but as the most ordinary mind will perceive the analogies on which they are founded, the citation of a single passage must suflice. The Lord, when foretelling the consum- mation of the first age of Christianity, said, "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." * By the sun being darkened is meant that heavenly love would be eclipsed; the moon not giving her light denotes that spiritual truth would fail to illuminate; and by the stars falling from heaven is signified that religious intelligence would perish from the internal man: and thus, that the whole spiritual character of the Church would experience a convulsion, signified by the powers of the heavens lieing shaken, f. Now, those luminaries were placed in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth; or, in other words, spiritual love, truth, and intelligence Avere now fixed in the affection of the internal man, for the purpose of enlightening his perception, and giving life to the moral fructifications of the external man. One, it is said, was to "rule over the day," and the otlier " over the night," to inform us that love would reign when the states of illumination prevailed, and that truth would govern during the periods of obscurity. They were also " to divide the light from the darkness "; that is, they were to dutinguish the one from the other. This, in the case of the first day, is said * Matt. xxiv. 29. t May not the remarkable condition of the Christian Chnrcli at this day be considered as the fultiinient of the above prediction, so understood? SIGNIFICATION OF SUN, MOON, AND STARS. 45 to have been done by God, but now it was to be effected by those two hmiinaries. Here, again, the literal sense suggests a dithculty whicli nothing can remove but a perception of the spiritual fact. That fact is this. In the former case, as before observed, God is said to have distinguished the light from the darkness, " to express the eternal separation which must ever exist between the truth which comes from Him, and the ideas which arise with us. ' ' This distinction is not observed by man in his lower states; it is the result of a superior condition, when love, faith, and diversified intelligence confer their discriminat- ing powers, and so distinguish that which is of man from that which is of God. Moreover, they were to "be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years," to signify those delightful variations of state by which man in this superior condition was to be dis- tinguished. Without such changes, life would be uniform, and the monotony would destroy its happiness: mutations of state are required to preserve it in activity. A continued sameness would blunt the faculties and produce a sort of death upon the intellectual powers. Man, by creation, is designed for the ap})reciation of beautiful variety, and hence the diversified existences of external nature are mercifully adapted to supply him with such enjoyment. Changes of state, then, are to result from the presence of those two luminaries in the mind. Such fluctuations are to be of a twofold character: love was to change the state of his delight; truth was to alter the condition of his knowledge, — and the former was to be for a sign and a season of his spiritual life; a sign to indicate its particular, and a season its general, condition : while the latter was to be for the days and the years of his intellectual vigour; the davs denoting its particular, and the years its general, aspect. Such, then, were the productions of the fourth day, together with their purposes. We recognize a spiritual idea, even in the minutest expression, when we consider the narrative as pointing out the process of human development; but find it exceedingly difficult to maintain one that is natural and con- sistent, when it is viewed as indicating physical phenomena. 46 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION, THE FIFTH DAY. The succeeding state, spoken of as the fifth day, is described to have consisted in causing the ' ' waters to bring forth abun- dantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." Here it is important to remark that it is the luaters which were commanded to bring forth the creature that hath life: these waters, it was shown above, denoted the knowledges of religious truth; and now (the man of whom they were predicated having attained a superior elevation of character) they Avere endowed with the higher capability of bringing into active moving existence the living principles of religious virtue. When the sun, the moon, and stars — love, faith, and intelli- gence — are set up in the affections of the internal man, and begin to impart their light and warmth to the external, then it is that all the vast variety of religious principles begin to live. Before those spiritual luminaries came into being, the man regarded the knowledges acquired and the good he had done as having resulted from the simple efforts of himself, instead of referring them wholly to the Lord. This was among the ignorances of his inferior condition; so long as that remained, his knowledge did not bring forth that Avhich is alive; and, therefore, that state is comj^ared to grass, the herb yielding seed, and the tree bearing fruit, which, after all, are but things inanimate. But when the man is enlightened by genuine love and faith, then his knowledges become the medium for a de- velopment of spiritual life, and he at once perceives that the truth he had known, and the good he had done, were operated in him by the Lord. This important knowledge is, therefore, the source through which his thoughts and affections acquire real life and animation; on which account they are now first compared to living things. It is declared that " every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights " ; * and also, that " without Him we can do nothing " ; f He being " the light of life. "I It therefore follows, that whatsoever proceeds * Jas. i. 17. t John xv. 5. X John viii. 12. MOVING CREATURES, LIVING AFFECTIONS. 47 merely from the selfhood of man can have but little of this living principle within it; and, consequently, it may be aptly signified by the insensible objects of the vegetable world ; but when all man's thoughts and affections are derived from the Lord, and humbly acknowledged, then they must needs contain within them the principles of moving and imperishable life; in this case they may be most appropriately represented to us by the objects which really live: these are the reasons why the preceding inferior states are indicated by things of the vegetable kingdom, and the succeeding superior states by the objects of animated nature. By the moving creature which the waters were to bring forth, is meant the living affections which pertain to the scientific truths of religion ; * these were commanded to be brought forth abun- dantly, to denote the multiplicity of uses of which they are productive. But by the moving fowls are signified the living affections which l)elong to the intellectual perceptions of religion; and these were to fly in the open firmament of heaven, to denote the range and freedom which are proper to them in the now exalted condition of the internal man. The Scriptures furnish innumerable instances of animals being mentioned to signify affections; many examples will be adduced as we proceed: we shall here only refer to one, in which the Lord said, "I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with' tlie fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground." t It is plain that by beasts, fowls, and creeping things are meant certain classes of affections, because the Lord is said to make a covenant with them, which would be alto- gether unintelligible if applied to such irrational creatures. * It is to be observed that fishes are the symbolical objects contemplated. The idea of their having been the production of the waters is here employed to represent the affections of scientific truth which belong to the external man. These affections are among the lower orders of religious things, and hence they are represented by fishes ; these belonging to the inferior class of living nature. The reason why fishes signify the affections of scientific truth is, because they are creatures of the sea, the sea denoting the collected knowledges of the natural man. See p. 40. The extinction of this affection in the Church is, in the Revelation, described as the death of " the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life." — Eev. viii. 9. t Hos. ii. 18. 48 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. The Apostle also said, "All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." * Surely it did not require an Apostle or a Revelation to tell us such common and ordinary facts as these are in their merely literal sense. We, therefore, infer that the principal object of those statements was to announce the existence of a variety of good affections and thoughts, which he considered to be symbolized by those respective branches of animated nature. THE SIXTH DAY. Such, then, were the phenomena of the fifth day, and we now arrive at the creations which transpired upon the sixth. This was begun by " God making the beast of the earth after his kind, and ciattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and seeing that it ivas good. ' ' From this description it will be observed that the order of creation, or spiritual development, is now changed. In the preceding case the waters were commanded to bring forth the moving creatures that had life: but the mention of all mediate instrumentality is omitted in this instance, and God is said to make them. These distinctions are for the purpose of reveal- ing to us the different orders, through which different classes of human affections come into being. Man first acts from the living affections of scientific truth, and so long as he so acts, it is the waters — the knowledges, which bring forth the moving creatures; but when he afterwards begins to act from the living affections of spiritual goodness, then it is said that God makes them, because all that is genuinely good comes to us directly from Him who alone is good. How bright and beautiful are these distinctions, and how true and consistent are they with religious experience! In the former case it was only the fish and the fowl — the affection of scientific and intellectual things — that began to live; but in the latter it is the beast, the cattle, and creeping things — the affections of spiritual good in different degrees — that began to live. The affections of the former state * 1 Cor. XV. 39. THE CONSTITUENT OF MAN. 49 originated out of the commands of truth, and hence it is said that the waters brought them forth; but the affections of the latter state spring directly out of the influences of good, and, therefore, it is written that "God made them." Hence we learn that the circumstances narrated in the chapter before us, preceding that which announces the making of man, are but particular parts of that general result, and descriptive of the successive states through which the human principles were communicated, enlightened, and made alive; and when so enlightened and made alive, he becomes intelligent and wise, and then a man is made. Thus the statement concerning the making of man does not, in our judgment, relate to the origina- tion of his physical structure: we look upon it as the descrip- tion of man in the possession of a high degree of spiritual per- fection, to which a preceding series of mental and moral devel- opments had contributed. The ideas of what constitute a man will change with the aspect under which he is contemplated. If we take a low and corporeal view of him, we shall be led to think -that he is a man by virtue of his form. If we look at him through military eyes, he will be pronounced to be a man in consequence of his prowess. The law says that he is a man when he has lived so many years; and there are many other points from -which the conventionalities of society have so regarded him. But it is not to any such ideas as these that God attaches the term when it is used approvingly in his Word. That which is a man in the Divine estimation is intellectual and spiritual excellence. Hence the Lord, when speaking of the destitution of heavenly love in the Church, said, "I beheld the earth, and, lo, there was no man."* Again, it is written that Jerusalem would have been pardoned of her sins if "a man" could have been found therein;! where by a man is plainly meant internal superiority of character. This was induced by the Lord upon those human faculties which he has created for the reception of himself; and, in the proportion in which man received them he had life from the Lord, and so became an image and likeness of him: an "image" so far as he was in charity and faith, but a "likeness" so far as he was in love and wisdom. This is the * Jer. iv. 25. t Jer. v. 1. 6 50 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. man about whom the Lord has made a revelation : and it is the things constituent of this manhood which required a revelation, in order that a knowledge of them may be perpetuated with our race. ' ' God said, Let us * make man in our image, after our likeness": such was the divine proposition; but it is to be observed that the image only was now produced, f Those who have been accustomed to view the statements, of the Word in some general external idea only, will not instantly recognize the par- ticular distinction Avhich those two terms are intended to convey, and which indeed they must express, unless we consider the Holy Spirit to have selected tautological and redundant words; which idea needs only to l^e named to be rejected. The nature of the distinction is the same as that which exists between things spiritual and things celestial. It is the spiritual man who is the image of God; the celestial man is His likeness: but that was a development that had yet to be educed, and of which we shall ])y and by have occasion to speak. But after the general declaration that God made n:ian in his own image, it is more particularly said, ' ' Male and female created he them." That this cannot, consistently with the literal sense, be interpreted to mean the creation of the physical sexes seems evident; for, when we carefully consult that sense, it appears, according to the second of Genesis, that the woman was not created on the sixth day at all; that she did not come into being until after Adam was placed in the garden, and thus not until after the seventh day ! The criticism which would have the description of woman's creation, as mentioned in the second chapter, to be regarded as only the detail of what is generally noticed in the first, does not remove these literal discrepancies. INIoreover, such a view of the subject is founded upon the erroneous idea of these two records being fragmentary pieces relating to the same circumstance; Avhereas both ought to *This plural prououu may be interpreted consistently, as, indeerl, it ought to be, with the idea of one single divine person in the Godhead, if we con- sider it to refer to what must have been the fact, namely, that a plurality of the divine attributes were specially exerted in the productions here treated of. See the Author's work on " The Deity of Jesus Christ asserted,'^ pp. 23-27. t See ver. 27. THE PREROGATIVES OF MAN. 51 be regarded, as we shall endeavour to show in the progress of our exposition, as the revelation of a series of distinct and pro- gressive facts. By male and female that were now created, are meant the complete evolution of the two characteristics of the human mind, namely, its intellect and its affection. These Avere de- signed to form one mind, and, therefore, it is afterwards said of them that they should be one, which, indeed, was realized when the celestial condition was developed. The characteristic of the intellect, from the force and vigour of its nature, is con- templated as male, and the affection, from the delicacy, grace, and beauty for which it is remarkable, is spoken of as female; hence they are distinguished as the sexes. These two faculties of the mind exist, indeed, in each of the sexes; but it is plain that they have been differently distributed, and it is the dis- tinctive order in which they exist in each that constitutes their essential difference. The most conspicuous feature in the female character is that of will and its affections; her intellect is somewhat interior and perceptive. That which is most evi- dent in the male is his understanding and intellectual energy; his will is more interior and suljdued. It is those mental differ- ences in the natural constitution of the sexes which fitted them to denote those two faculties in the human mind which their leading characters so much resemble. Hence that which has been j)opularly understood to descril^e the creation of the sexes is, when viewed in this light, found to be significant of the orderly development of the human Avill and understanding, and thus of the due preparation of those faculties for the reception of the divine love and wisdom, and by which reception they were afterwards to be merged into "one flesh," — one flesh denoting their intimacy and union in the pursuit of all that is good and lovely. These faculties being developed, it is now said that God blessed them; the blessing consisting, not in the utterance of a senti- ment, but in the ability to enjoy those excellencies which had been communicated. They were also commanded to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." Fruitfulness is applied to the affections, and their prolifications in all manner of good works of love and use; but multiplication has 52 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. reference to the increase of the knowledges of truth and wisdom: hence the Apostle, treating of the effects of the Divine Word upon the soul, says of the Lord, as the implanter of that "seed," that he will ^^ multiply yoxxr seed sown, and increase the /rii/y it any of the genuine truths of religion, immortal- ity, or heaven : reason attains such knowledges only so far as it is illustrated by revelation. The very process of reasoning implies, that the objects we would discover by its means are not self-evident and clear to the more inward perceptions of the understanding. Doubts and difficulties stand in the way of everything Avhich is to be reached only by an effort of reason- ing, and even when it has done its utmost, the result is, not unfrequently, far from being either satisfactory or convincing. What one man pronounces to be reasonable, and believes to be so, is by another denounced as a tissue of mistakes. This is the ground on which have arisen such varieties of religious sen- timent and faith. Doubtless, every one believes his views on such matters to be reasonable; that they have been set forth and defended with what are considered to l)e reasonable argu- ments; and yet, after all, it is evident, horn the opposite conclusions which have been arrived at, that reason has been of our race, is the ai)propriate rendering of the Hebrew word Cush, as denoting Ijlackness, and on this account, Etliiopia is afterwards eniph)yed in the Scriptures with the same spiritual signification. Cush is the same witli Ethiopia only in the way of symbol ; they cannot be shown to be the same geographical locality. HIDDEKEL AND PHRAT, WITH THEIR INFLUENCES. 93 defective somewhere. This brief intimation of a common fact, which may be easily extended by the thoughtful, at once shows us how necessary it is that reason should be illustrated with revelation, Avhich is one of the streams of divine wisdom: we cannot attain the knowledge of any spiritual things without it. Heaven, with the internal things of the Church, and spiritual futurity, are from that service, and all that the truly rational mind knows about them is derived from the divine wisdom affording it illustration. The stream Hiddekel is said "to go towards the east of Assyria, ' ' to denote the progression of divine wisdom, in the way of enlightening the rational mind. The enlightening is the east, whence all illumination comes; and the rational mind is here Assyria, as the understanding was Cush, and the will Havilah, as explained above. Ass3a-ia derived its name from Asshur, the son of Shem, and not from the son of Hezron; and the word properly means beholding, which circum- stance well fitted the land so called, to be employed as the rep- resentative of such a seeing principle as that of the rational mind. It is on account of this signification that Assyria, like Israel and Egypt, is sometimes mentioned in the Scriptures without any natural application. One instance will be sufficient to produce. The prophet says, " In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying. Blessed be Egyj)t my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance."* This is plainly a prediction concerning a state of the Church, in which its natural (Egypt), rational (Assyria), and spiritual (Israel), principles should exist in their proper order, and each be open to the divine blessing. The fourth river was Phrat, which literally means, to make fruitful; and this represents the influence of divine wisdom upon the scientific principle of the mind, so as to render it prolific in the works of benevolence and use. The knowledges which exist in the natural mind are merely of an external and scientific kind. The natural mind is scien- tific, and adapted for scientific things merely. By these are not meant philosophical scientifics, but the external knowledge of religious things. Thus the doctrinals of the Church, its rituals, * Isa. xix. 24, 25. 94 THE WORD AXD ITS INSPIRATION. and their modes of administration — indeed, all things expressed in the letter of the Word, are mere scientitic things, adapted to the natural mind; and as such they will remain, until, from some more interior light, man begins to see their spiritual origin and use. Most professing Christians know many things about the literal histories in the Word. They know something of the histories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; also, about the house of Israel in Egyptian bondage, their deliverance thence, and their subsequent establishment in Canaan; likewise, of the gov- ernment of the Judges, the rule of the kings, the denunciations of the prophets, and many other facts which the Word contains. But how few are those who can see, from any spiritual thought, that all these things are but external scientifics! Nevertheless they include within them celestial and spiritual principles, which prove the letter to be divine. This is a desideratum in the Church. We may believe these scientifics to be divine, because we have been taught that they are so, either by tradition or authority: but it is important we should see their truth from some interior conviction of our own; yet this is accomplished only so far as our natural mind is influenced and illuminated by that stream of divine wisdom denominated Phrat. This may serve to show the meaning of that river, as mentioned in con- nection with the most ancient Church. From these considerations we learn that the river of Eden de- noted the divine wisdom proceeding from the divine love, and that its division into four heads, upon entering the garden, signified their different influences upon the celestial, spiritual, .rational, and scientific principles of holy and intelligent men. That nothing natural could have been intended by those de- scriptions must be evident to every one who will venture to ^think above a common prejudice. Viewed in -that light, they are full of difficulties, which neither ingenuity nor learning can remove. For instance, who does not know that it is physically impossible for a river to divide itself into four heads or sources of rivers ? If two or more channels be presented to a running stream, it will not divide itself distributively, but pour its whole mass into the deepest furrow — it will naturally take the lowest level; and, moreover, there is no position known to scientific geography which at all answers to the Scripture narrative. THE STREAINIS OP" DIVINE WISDOM. 95 Those that are sup])osed to come nearest to the description, and wliich indeed are very distant, necessarily place the locality of Eden in Armenia, which is not at all mentioned in the Scripture. A garden into which one river ran, and which was then to be distributed into four other rivers, necessarily suggests the idea of a large tract of country, which we cannot rationally suppose the Lord would have required to have been " dressed and kept " by an individual Adam. We conclude, then, that these things were written, not to point out a geographical locality, but to represent the streams of divine wisdom entering into the minds of a wise and happy people, to irrigate their mental soil, and render it prolific in all that is good and estimable in the Divine sight. By the divine wisdom of which we have been speaking, is meant that interior dictate which we believe can and does flow from the Lord into the will and perceptions of highl}' cultivated humanity. This, indeed, was the state of the most ancient peo- ple during the time of their integrity. They thought of noth- ing but what they loved, so that their intellectual and volun- tary principles must have been in the closest connection, and, as it were, one in every thought and act. This is one of the reasons why that people were called Man, a dignity which does not appear to have been attained by any other community men- tioned in the Scriptures! Some remains of this primeval excel- lence seem to have been recognized by the apostle, who, when speaking of the Gentiles, said, they "do by nature the things contained in the law — which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. "* It is also declared that the "Lord would jiut his law in the inward parts of men, and write it upon their hearts; so that he will be their God, and they shall be his people, "f It is, therefore, evi- dent that there can })e such an influx of intelligence from the Lord as is mentioned above. The means, however, to be ein- ployed for its communication, in the case just referred to, is the written Word. But such a medium does not appear to have existed among the Adamic people, nor could it have been nec- essary, so long as the}^ remained in love to God above all things. The law and the prophets were given, after this love was lost, * Rum. ii. 14, IT). f Jer. xx.xi. 33. 96 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. with the view of assisting in its restoration: they "hang upon it." * In such a state the}' would receive instruction, in the way of internal dictate, immediately from the Lord. This would be inscril)ed upon their hearts, and thence there would be an influx of truth into their spiritual minds, next into their rational, and, finally, into their natural minds; consequently, into the natural scientifics which there existed: this would enable them to see the absolute distinction between spiritual and natural things; also, to perceive the correspondence which subsisted between them. Hence may be seen what is meant by the divine wisdom spoken of above, and its respective inflowings into the several orderly principles of human character which then existed. With such a people, internal and heavenly things would be perceived in purer light than those which were external and worldly, because such things would occupy their chief attention. If such a people had read the Word which we possess, the internal sense of it would, doubtless, have been presented to their minds with greater clearness than the letter, because their states, as it were, lay entirely upon the heavenly side of this revelation. In after times this condition became reversed. Man, having descended from that elevation into external and terrestrial loves, can now see internal and spiritual things only in obscurity and shadow; hence the external sense of the Word appears to him in better light than its spiritual meaning: he having passed to the worldly side of revelation. This side of it has been mercifully provided for his state, and designed, by its peculiar construction, to raise him into the light and enjoyment of the other. * Matt. xxii. 37-40. CHAPTER VIIL ADAM NAMING THE LIVING CREATURES. "Any theory, on whatever subject, that i3 really sound, can never be inimical to a religion founded on truth; and the part of a lover of truth is to follow her, at all seeming hazards, after the example of Him who came into the world that he might bear witness to the truth."— Richard Whately, D.D., Archbinhop of Dublin. The circumstance of naming the living creatures is one of religious importance, and it involves matters of peculiar interest. It is thus related: — "Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the aii-; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."* The careful reader will observe it is here stated that "out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air " ; but if he will turn to the 20th verse of the first chapter, he will there find it written, "And God said. Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." Thus, in the one case the ground is said to have been their source, and, in the other, the waters. Whence arises this discrepancy ? It may be admitted that the command for the waters "to bring forth the moving creature that hath life," ought to be understood as referring only to the piscatory tribes, for we find that purely land animals are spoken of as having been created on the fol- lowing day. The difficulty more particularly adverted to is this, that in the first statement the waters are distinctly said to have brought forth every winged fowl, whereas in the second it is as plainly written, that ' ' out of the ground the Lord God formed every fowl of the air. ' ' Now, what can be the reason of those apparently hostile statements, occurring, as they do, so *Gen. ii. 19. 9 97 98 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. exceedingly close upon each other; and upon what principle are they to be reconciled ? There is plainly a disagreement in the letter, which requires to be removed. The ' ' Fragmental Hy- pothesis ' ' would, perhaps, attempt it by supposing that they are merely the records of two different traditions of the same general circumstances, in which we are not to look for particular niceties of expression. But surely this cannot be satisfactory: under such a view of the case, what is to become of the fact of both being equally a revelation, and consequently a divine composition ? Some higher ground than the literal sense must be taken, because some superior truth is meant to be expressed, and we have mentioned the circumstance, not because we think it a difficult}^, but chiefly to draw attention to the truths intended to be stated. It Avas observed above, that the first chapter of Genesis treated of the creation, or development, of the spiritual man, and all the living affections and thoughts which are proper to his condition; and also that the second chapter treated of the celestial man, and all the living affections and thoughts which are proper to him.. Some reasons for those distinctions were likcAvise given; among others, that the man in the second chapter was no longer spoken of as "earth." but as "ground," and that the name of the Supreme Being was extended from "God" to "Lord God." Thus the two chapters treat of two different states which dis- tinguished the most ancient people. To both of those states there belonged an affection for the intellectual things of an ex- alted religion, but they took their rise in different sources, and therefore their origination is differently described. In the first case, the affection for intellectual things (which are the winged fowls) arose out of the general knowledge of religion, and there- fore it was commanded that ' ' the waters ' ' should bring them forth ;^ but in the second case the affections for intellectual things (now called fowl of the air) sprang out of the prolifi- cations of love, and hence they are described to have been made by the Lord God out of "the ground." Every one must know that differences of religious character exist, and that they arise from different sources. It would not indicate the distinction to say that the inferior state sprang from * See preceding page. A DISCREPANCY RECONCILED. 99 the same source as the superior; to describe them accurately we must emplo}' distinctive terms, and this is precisely what reve- lation has done, in declaring the intellectual things of the spiritual man to have been created by God out of the loater, and those of the celestial man out of the ground. There is, then, no actual discrepancy between the two statements, because they do not relate to the same, but to different circumstances. In speaking of the fifth day's creation, it was observed that the olijects of animated nature were chosen and frequently em- ployed in the Word, to represent the living affections of men; farther evidences of that fact were likewise promised: an occa- sion is here presented for its fulfilment. It is evident that some idea of the spiritual representation of animals must have been the reason why they were so extensively employed in the sacrificial worship, which, independently of that established among the Jews, was spread throughout the continent of Asia. This also must have been the source whence the Greeks and Romans adopted certain animals for sacrifices during some of their public festivities. We do not suppose those people to have attached any spiritual notion to such sacri- fices; what we mean is that if they be traced up to the sources whence they were derived, that will be found to have been their origin. Sacrifices, considered in themselves, are most irrational modes of worship,* nor could they have been adopted until men had sunk so low in the scale of religious intelligence, as to sup- pose that the offering up of an animal to the Lord was the same thing as the dedication of that principle to his service, which it was originally understood to signify. The animal was mis- taken for the principle which it represented, and the dedication of the principle to sj^iritual use was corrupted into a natural sacrifice. Their origin cannot be reasonably accounted for upon any other ground. This also explains why it was that several animals among some of the older nations became objects of such peculiar attention and respect. This circumstance was very remarkable among the ancient Egyptians. Herodotus says, f "Both those which are wild and those which are domestic arc regarded as sacred. If I were to explain the reason of this prejudice, I should be led to the discussion of those sacred suli- * See Archbishop Magee on the Sacrifices and Atonement. t Euterpe, Ixv. 100 THE W.ORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. jects which I particularly wish to avoid. ' ' • Here the historian distinctl}' connects their reverence of animals with some esoteric and religious views; and although he does not inform us what these were, there can be no reasonable doubt that, at some period of Egyptian history, the animals had been understood as the representatives of certain moral qualities, and that it was not until after a succession of corruptions, when their proper signification was lost, that veneration began to be attached to them. The worship of certain animals was a perversion of the respect once paid to the human principles of which they were significant. It is iui})0ssiljle to read with care those portions of the Scrip- tures in which beasts and animals are mentioned, and not per- ceive that they have a symbolical meaning; they are spoken of, both generically and specifically, under circumstances in which it is evident that spiritual things, and not natural existences, are implied. For example, the prophet, treating of the peace- able character of the Lord's kingdom, says, "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like an ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain."* Here we have no less than fourteen different animals, besides children, referred to, every one of which is certainly intended to represent some internal affection. There are, however, two classes of them, one tame and harm- less, the other fierce and dangerous; the former plainly denote the affections which are good and innocent, and the latter those which are wicked and destructive; and by their all dwelling together must be meant a state in which the influences of the good will have subdued the pernicious tendencies of the evil, and kept them in subjection to its superior sentiments. It is also written that the Lord would ' ' make a covenant with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, "f That " the beasts of the field would cry unto Him " ;| they are also exhorted * Isa. xi. 6-9. t Hos. ii. 18. J Joel ii. 20. SIGNIFICATION OF ANIMALS. 101 not to be afraid; ^= in which passages, by beasts cannot be meant beasts, but certain human affections, which they are meant to represent. These are the things with which the Lord effects his covenants; these are the princij^les which can cry unto Him, and may be benefited by his merciful persuasions. Ezekiel was commanded to ' ' say unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselv^es, and come: gather your- selves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel."! Here, likewise, it is evident that natural lieasts and fowl are not meant, but, instead thereof, the affections of religious life, and the sentiments of religious thought, since these alone can attend the invitations to a religious act. So, in the Psalms, it is writ- ten, "Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl." I It is plain that we are not here to understand the irrational animals which are mentioned, but certain living affec- tions and thoughts of men, to which they correspond; for every one must have observed that there is a consj^icuous analogy between the natural qualities of some animals and some of the moral sentiments of the human character. § Evidences of this kind could be extended to a considerable length, but these are sufficient; they suggest, somcAvhat impres- sively, that to maintain the statement that ' ' Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and every beast of the field, "II in a literal sense, is to mistake its meaning. There are certain facts and considerations in relation to such an idea, which are exceedingly embarrassing to those w^ho will hazard an independent reflection upon the sul^ject; and we conceive the real meaning of the apparent history is to be sought for in its spiritual sense. If we look upon the statement of Adam naming the creatures to signify the high character of that ancient people, impressing a peculiar quality upon those internal affec- tions and sentiments, to w'hich the objects of animated nature * Joel ii. 22. t Ezek. xxxix. 17. J Psa. cxlviii. 7-10. I Clement of Alexandria quotes verses from Xenophanes, the Coloplio- neau, which state that every species of animal supplies metaphor to aid the imagination in its ideas of superior things. II Gen. ii. 20. 102 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. correspond, we have at once presented to us both an intelligible and a religious idea; and this can hardly be said of the notion which contemplates him as a zoologist. It is said that ail cattle and fowls, and every beast, were named by Adam. If the merely literal sense be insisted on to be the true and only design of this statement, then we are, at the very outset, compelled by science to curtail the signification of words which are employed with an unlimited meaning. For it is plain, from the discoveries which geology has made, that there were whole classes of animals which had existed at immense intervals of time, and had successively become extinct, long before there were any traces of humanity discernible. It is, therefore, demonstrable that Adam could not have named all and every creature. To this it may be replied that we ought not to interpret all and every beast to mean any more than those which were contemporary with him; but, if so, at what point are we to stop in putting a limited meaning on terms of unlim- ited signification ? Such a view, if pressed with difficulties, may refuse to admit their application to all the animals then extant, and successively shrink them up to mean only those that were in Palestine, or Eden, or perhaps the garden only. It may be said that we should receive those documents as popular statements, and not expect to find them couched in language technically correct. To this we wish only to observe, that we do not Ijelieve them to have been loosely written, as the word popular would seem to imply; we regard the language of reve- lation to have been chosen witli a care and deliberation, over the preservation of which the Divine Providence has been peculiarly watchful. If we take a religious view of the intentions of God's Word, we must be led to see that this narrative, concerning the naming of the creatures, was intended for some spiritual instruction, altogether apart from the statement of the letter. For surely it is difficult to see what religious act could be involved in calling a lion, a lion; a bear, a bear; a sheep, a sheep; or a lamb, a lamb: nor is it easy to perceive how such an employment con- sisted with a religious state of mind, so extensively cultivated and highly developed as was that of Adam. If we suppose it to have been given him as an intellectual exercise, which is ANIMALS WHICH ADAM DID NOT NAME. 103 among the higliest grounds that can be pretended fur it, still we must inquire what possible relation it could have to spiritual and heavenly uses. To give a name to a thing that is without one, may be useful to distinguish it, and thereby to provide a verbal means for suggesting the idea of it to the mind; but it has very little connection with uses that are essentially religious. This is evident from experience, for it has happened that in these days of discovery men have not unfrequently been required to give names to extinct species of animals which it is certain Adam never saw, and yet in giving those names they have neither felt nor intended more than is included in the common sentiment attending the selection of an appropriate appellation. It will hardly be pretended that the names, whether popular or scientific, of the animals which are now extant, are those which were pronounced by Adam. There is not the least evi- dence to show that society at any time, or among any people, adopted his supposed zoological vocabulary. To what purpose, then, was it given, if it did not come into use and obtain a currency ? According to the common view, there was no coeval society, and therefore it could not have been for their use and information; nor is there the slightest intimation of his having instructed posterity in the names, which a mistaken view of this narration has led men to suppose, he gave to the creatures. But supposing it could be satisfactorily proved that the Hebrew names of the various beasts mentioned in the Scrip- ture were really those which had been given to them by Adam; and supposing that we conceded, which indeed we do, that those names were founded on a knowledge of some prominent feature or remarkable characteristic of the creatures to which they are applied, then we should possess some evidence of the man having been distinguished by a superior genius in respect to this particular department of nature. But why in this department only ? If the circumstance of giving names to all cattle, fowl, and beasts were a display of intellectual eminence, why was it not also exhibited in respect to the fish ? If all the creatures of the earth could have been collected in the garden, with the view of receiving their names, why might not all the fishes of the sea have been gathered in the river of that garden for the same purpose? What was possible in the one case could not 104 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. have been impossible in the other. Why, also, were the objects of vegetable nature omitted to be named ? Surely a knowledge of the distinction between different plants and trees must have been a subject of much concern to Adam, particularly as his attention had been distinctly drawn to the subject through the naming of two trees by the Lord himself: also, by his having been commanded to dress and keep the garden, and told that he might freely eat of every tree but one. Certainly, if names for any objects were of importance to distinguish them, they must have been so in the vegetable department of nature. But to these we do not read of any names being given by Adam. If the giving of names to animals were an intellectual exercise, the giving of names to vegetables could not have been otherwise. There must have been some reason for this omission, and what other reason can Ije offered besides this, — That they were not suited to the representative purpose of the narrative, which treats of a higher state of interior and intellectual life than the fishes or the objects of the vegetable kingdom were adapted to represent f We see that the whole subject, viewed from a literal aspect, is full of difficulties, — difficulties of a religious, moral, and scientific nature, — difficulties not of that class which industry and research may be capable of removing, but of a character which neither learning nor ingenuity can surmount. The source of them is that erroneous ground of interpretation, which consists in mistaking the descriptions of a figurative narrative for their literal sense. The creatures, agreeably to a style of expression which pre- vailed among the ancients, and which originated in a perception of the correspondences which exist between natural and spiritual things, are significant of certain classes of affection and thought which distinguished celestial men. Of this, some examples and expositions have been given from the prophetical writings, the style of which took its rise from that which existed with a more remote and superior people. The order in which the creatures are mentioned is, — cattle, fowl, and beasts. The word rendered "cattle" should have been beasts, — implying, indeed, those of a peaceful nature; and that which is translated "beast" should have been loild beasts, to indicate such as were of a less pacific character. These crea- CATTLE, BEASTS, AND WILD BEASTS. 105 tures are frequently spoken of in the prophetical A^'ord, and they are, in all cases, most carefully distinguished. Now, by beasts — the tame, the peaceful, the pacific — are represented the good affections of the will of the celestial man; by the fowls of the air are denoted the true perceptions of the understanding of the spiritual man; and by the wild beasts are signified the gen- eral affections of the natural man, which, from their greater remoteness from the Lord and closer adjacency to the world, always require the influence of superior principles to preserve them innocent and harmless. These particulars could be proved by numerous citations from the Word; we, however, will only adduce, for each, one confirmatory instance. That beasts represented the good affections of the celestial man, is evident from its being said that "beasts were in hea- ven," and that " four ftms^s fell down and worshipped God, saying. Amen; Alleluia."* These circumstances cannot be predicated of natural beasts, but only of the good affections of celestial men which they represent. That foivls denote the true perception of the spiritual man is plain, for similar reasons: — An " angel cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fouds that fly in the midst of heaven. Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God."f This invitation was not delivered to irrational, irresponsible birds, but to the intellectual perceptions of the spiritual man of which they are significant. That by the wild beasts are signified the general affections of the natural man, which are preserved in order by the influence of superior principles, appears from this declaration; — " The wild beasts of the field shall honour me: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people. "J Wild beasts give no honour to God on account of the blessings which he bestows upon mankind; but they are said to do so, on account of the representation they were selected to sustain. Now the living creatures which were brought to Adam were * Rev. xix. 4. See, also, Rev. vii. 11. t Rsitioii 118 SCRIPTURE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL. 119 than in the argiunent. If men would only give their hearts and consciences fair play, they would soon be delivered from many of the fetters which have so long bound them to a mis- understanding both of revelation and of themselves. Let us, then, attend to those approving impulses which arise, and strive to retain the impressions they make upon our minds, as Ave proceed in the examination of the subjects before us. In preceding chapters we have traced the progressive develop- ment of human excellence, and ultimately found mankind raised to the very pinnacle of religi(His greatness. From this they fell. The manner of that calamity, together with its immediate con- sequences, are thus detailed: — "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman. Yea, hath God said. Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? And the woman said unto the serpent. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman. Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. — Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken."* * Gen. iii. 1-7, 23. Dr. Aclaui Clarke remarks on this narrative, "That man is iu a fallen state, the history of the world, with that of the life and miseries of every human heing, establishes bej'oud successful contradiction. ]iut Jiow, and by what agency, was this brought about ? Here is a great mj'stery ; and I may appeal to ail persons who have read the various com- ments that have been written on the Mosaic account, whether they have ever yet been satisfied on this part of the subject, though convinced of the fact itself. Who was the serpent ? of what kind ? In what way did he seduce the first happy pair? These are questions which remain yet to be answered. Tiie whole account is either a simple narrative of facts, or it is an allegory." An allegory certainly ! The Doctor, however, considered it as a " narrative 120 THE WORD AND ITS IKSPIRATION. To understand this account of man's fall, we must remember that the eminent condition from which he descended had been successively procured. His primeval state is declared to have been as the earth, without form, and void; and also, as darkness being upon the face of the deep : thus his original condition was the lowest degree of human life; from this he was gradually elevated into the highest degree of human excellence. That low degree of life, in which he originall}^ stood, was doubtless of a sensual nature, but not of an evil qualit}^; for evil had not then come into existence. It was an orderly degree of life proper to man; it had the capacity of elevation latent within it, and it was upon this that his higher degrees of life had a founda- tion. This is the life into which man now first comes, though its quality, in consequence of the fall, is more or less tainted with hereditary evil. Nevertheless man, as an infant, is the mere creature of sensation, and the life of the senses is first developed, and must be so, before the higher degrees of intel- lectual and moral life can be unfolded. Thus Adam was not constituted by one principle merely, but by several.* Hi-s highest or inmost was celestial, the next was spiritual, and after these came the natural and sensual. The existence of these several principles in him is proved b}'- the fact that they are all, in some measure, capable of being redeveloped in us; and also in the circumstance, that they are more or less in activity in every mind which cherishes respect for truth and virtue. The internal principles of human life, called celestij^l and spiritual, are superior to those more external principles of facts," and, after the use of much Hebrew aud Arabic learnino;, arrived at the conclnsion that the serpent was an orang-outang, and that the chattering and babbling, of which it is now capable, are the remains of the speech with which it was once endowed, and of course the evidences of the curse. From this we dissent. He, however, was not quite certain that this opinion was correct, nor do we wonder at his doubt. Speech is the exclusive endowment of humanity, and it is attributed to the serpent only in the way of figure. But the Doctor farther says, "If it is an allegory, no attempt should be made to explain it." Indeed ! no attempt to be made to explain what God has allegorically revealed ! what a commentary on commcntatois and him- self! *"It cannot be doubted that the first man was created with a great variety of instinctive or inspired knowledge." — S/r H. Dai-y. VARIOUS PRINCIPLES IN MAN. 121 denominated natural and sensual; the former belong more to the things of heaven, the latter relate more to the things of the world: and this is as true of man in his primeval state as it is of his condition now: though then the exercise of his lower principles was only instrumental to tlie purpose of liis higher ones; but in after times tliis instrumental purpose became per- verted; the delights of the sensual principle began to be culti- vated, irrespective of superior ends, and his perceptions of spiritual and heavenly things were successively closed. This distinction of principle in man is of the utmost impor- tance to be known, if we would attain to any clear comprehension of the subject before us. The men of the most ancient dispensa- tion had not only the higher principles of celestial and spiritual life, but they had also the lower principles of natural and sen- sual life. So long as the people continued in their integrity, and maintained their innocence, so long all those principles existed in their proper order, the lower contributing to the purposes of the higher; but when man fell into disobedience and guilt, a disruption took place among them, and the lower principles began to usurp the places of the higher, and thereby to paralyze their functions. Hence it is easy to see that the quality of man's sensual nature before his fall was very different from that which it became after. Before the fall, it was such that it yielded willing obedience to the dictate and impulse of the higher principles of his inner life. It was as a servant ministering to the attainment of superior ends, always acknowl- edging its subordinate position; Ijut after that catastrophe men began to prefer the sensual things of the body to the intellectual and spiritual things of the mind, and thus the instrumental became the principal, so that the whole order and series of life, which had been successively developed, were changed. This is the state of man now; sensual things are uppermost with him; and the design of religion, its influences and leadings, is to regain the order which has been lost. The senses are but inlets for certain knowledges, — doors through which information concerning the outer things of the world pass into the mind. The elevation and enlargement of the mind are ends, for the accomplishment of which the senses are among the appointed means. Some persons hear, see, and 122 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. taste, merely for tlie sake of hearing, seeing, and tasting; they Hve a long life, with a very limited extent of intellectual acquire- ments, because they have scarcely proposed to themselves any higher object than the gratification of their senses. Whereas those who have employed their sensual powers as the ministers to higher uses, with a view to produce superior ends, are found to jjossess enlarged and comprehensive knowledges of men and things. These circumstances may, in some faint degree, enable us to form an idea of the difference between the quality of the sensual principle of man before and after his fall. But the dis- tinction is admissive of illustration and exjilanation by other facts known to general experience. For instance, Avhen we are earnestly endeavouring to under- stand the meaning of a speaker, the Avords give us little concern: we hear them, indeed, yet they aflfect the sense of hearing very slightly, .because of the interest we are taking to collect the meaning: nor is this all, for if we think a little more interiorly, and pay attention to what is really transpiring in our mind, it will occasionally be found that we do not always gather the meaning as intellectual sentiments, in consequence of our chief aim being to catch and comprehend the feeling which urges the discourse. Some persons hear the words, but do not grasp the sentiment; they say the language was good and the discourse powerful, but can scarcely give an idea as to what it was about: with such the sensuality of hearing is the chief thing. Others hear the words, but listen to them only as the instruments for communicating the ideas of the speaker; with them the activity of the sensual principle is directed to a higher use: with others, however, the sense is l:)ut imperfectly collected, in consequence of the attention being so deeply engaged to comprehend the feeling of the utterer: with such the sensual principle is directed to a nobler end. This latter was a use which the men of the purest times made of their sensual principle, while the former are characteristics that have been engendered in later periods. We call attention to these distinctions, because the Scriptures have presented both conditions of the sensual principle to us under the emblem of a serpent. AMien the sensual princii)le is circumspect, and employed as a means for the acquisition of use- ful knowledge, then is fulfilled the divine injunction, "Be ye THE SERPENT AS A SYMBOL. 123 wise as serpents";* but when it is used merely for the purpose of securing sensual gratification, then it is declared to be the "serpent more subtle than ijny l)east of the field." f There are few facts better attested hy historical evidence than that the serpent has, by all the nations of antiquity, been re- garded as a type, and employed symbolically. It is conspicu- ous in their history, stands out in their fables, and is visible in their religion. Herodotus informs us that it was sacred at Thebes; X and the hieroglyphics which have been brought to light in our own times al^undantly show that it must have been used in an emblematical way among the ancient Egyptians. Bryant, also, asserts that in the first ages the serpent was ex- tensively introduced into all the mysteries that were celebrated; and that wherever the Ammonians founded any places of wor- ship, there was generally some story of a serpent. There was a legend about it at Thebes, at Colchis, and Delphi. Even the Athenians had a tradition that the chief guardian of their Acrop- olis was a serpent. § It is sometimes presented under a variety of ideal forms, nor is it uncommon to find it represented with a human head. || It is impossible rationally to contemplate these circumstances, and doubt that the serpent sustained some sym- l)olical character. The facts at once suggest that such must have been the design of the serpent said to have been more subtle than any Ijeast of the field: and here we raise the question, Of what was it significant ? The various nations by whom it was symbolically used do not appear to have viewed it under the same aspect. Uniform- ity of idea, in this respect, would not long continue after that knowledge had perished which originally directed its selection for a symbolical purpose; and when men w^ere left, with no other guide than a fallen fancy, and no sounder principle than a dim caprice, to conduct them in the profound matters of relig- ion and its objects. The serpent is said to have been wor- shipped, from the circumstance of its having been mentioned * Matt. X. 16. t Gen. iii. 1. t Euterpe, Lxxiv. I Biyant on Serpent Worship, vol. i., p. 476, &c. II See Montfaucon's Antiij., l)y Humphreys. Chimaera is said to have been a black-eyed nymph in her uijper part, but downwards a frightful serpent. Hem'oiVs Theogony. 124 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. and set apart as one of the objects associated with the religion of Egypt. This was the opinion of Eusebius and others: and it might have been the case in the most corrupted periods of Egyp- tian learning. That is, it might then have become the symbol of something to be worshipped; but, although it was always a symbol, that was not always the object of it. The serpent came to be spoken of as sacred, only from the circumstance of its having been associated with religious sentiments; it was not at first set apart to be Avorshipped, or for any good it could bestow, but rather to be dreaded for the mischiefs it might originate. It was the symbol of something that might, if not guarded against, be disastrous to mankind. Hence we find it so frequently referred to in the legends of remote antiquity, as having ex- ercised an unfavourable influence upon the destinies of the people. Every one knows that the figure of a serpent biting its tail is very ancient; it is commonly regarded as the emblem of eternity: but is it not rather a representative of evil punishing itself? In Phoenician mythology we read of a serpent sur- rounding an egg, plainly implying the danger with which life is beset by sensuality from its very beginning. Among that of the Greeks, we are informed of the hair of Medusa being trans- formed into serpents, because she had violated the sanctity of the temple of Minerva. The serpents are evidently employed to represent the sensuality she had indulged. The serpent Python, which is fabled to have sprung out of the mud left by the deluge of Deucalion, was an emblem of the evil occasioned to Greece by the inundation of Thessaly. The serpents which the infant Hercules strangled in his cradle Avere, unquestionably, a representation of innocence conquering the l)landishments of sensuality; and the hydra, which he afterwards overthrew, was a representation of those evils which the labours of energy and fortitude may overcome. So, also, the Cadueeus, which was a rod entwined Ijy serpents, and with which INIercury is said to have conducted souls to the infernal regions, plainly symbolized the evils which cling to a misdirected power, and so conduce to misery. Esculapius, the medical attendant on the Argonauts, is always represented with a serpent entwined about his staff, to denote the power of the physician over the diseases of huuian- ity. Many other instances of the emblematical use of the ser- SERPENT, THE SENSUAL PRINCIPLE. 125 pent might be collected from the writings of the ancients, but these are sufficient for our purpose: they plainly show that the emblem of that wlicreby man fell was preserved among mankind for a long time after the reminiscence of its definite signification had passed away. They retained the emblem, with some gen- eral idea of its meaning, but had lost sight of its precise signifi- cation. For tins we must go to analogy and the Scriptures. Those are the only sources whence satisfactory information can be drawn, and they will show us that the serpent was the sensual principle of man.* "Of all the objects of the animal kingdom, the reptile tribe is the lowest, of which serpents of various kinds and species are the most conspicuous. Of all the degrees of man's life, the sensual and corporeal are the lowest; because they are nearest to the earth, and are actuated by merely earthly appetites, influ- ences, and causes. These lowest degrees in man's nature par- take the least of what is truly human in man, and the serpent, their corresponding emblem, is of all animals the most remote from the human form. As the serpent crawls upon the earth, so the sensual principle in man is nearest akin to the earth, which, if not elevated by tlie rational and spiritual jninciples of his nature, may be said to crawl upon the earth in like manner. As sensual things have a tendency to fascinate and charm the mind, because sensual delights are more vividly experienced than any others, so certain kinds of serpents, especially the more malignant, are said by naturalists to fascinate and cliarm their prey before they devour it. "f The general analogies, so satisfactorily presented in this extract, assists us in perceiving * Tlie Rev. J. Hewlett, B.D., in his "Annotations," observes, "St. Paul, in addressing himself to the Corinthians, says, ' I fear, lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve, through liis subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Clirist' Now the city of Corinth was notorious, even to a proverb, for its devotion to pleasure, lor the grossest sensuality and voluptuousness ; and as the holy apostle draws a parallel l)etween them and the temptation which seduced Eve, it may be supposed that he favours the allegorical interpretation of those who consider the serpent as the well-known emblem or symbol of sensual pleasure." t A writer under the signature of "Minus," in the "Intellectual Repos- itory " for 1843, p. 53. 126 THE 'WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. certain general resemblances between the serpent and the sen- sual principle of man. Now the serpent* which was in Eden, we believe to have been the sensual principle that was connected with Adam's character. For a time there was with him a realization of tlie Lord's injunction to be " Avise as serpents." The sensual prin- ciple, at first, was right and orderly, because it stood in its proper relation to the dictates of his higher nature. It was among the objects upon which the Divine approbation had been pro- nounced: for the Lord declared the creeping things to be " good," yea, "very good." This, then, was a characteristic of the serpent, or, more literally, of the sensual princii'tle of Adam, as declared of it l^y the Lord himself. So long as it was employed instrumentaUy to promote the ends of spiritual use and order, so long it was wise; but when it was directed principally to secure the gratifications of corjDoreal nature, it became most subtle. The wisdom of the serpent is the circumspection and prudence of the sensual principle of man; the subtlety of the serpent is its artifice and deception. In neither case was a literal serpent meant. The very circumstances of the narrative having given to it speaking and reasoning powers, ought to have preserved mankind from the belief of such a cru- dity. If it once could speak, when and how did it lose the power? The Scriptures furnisli no answer. Theology has sug- gested that it was the devil, and not the serpent, who spoke. But the Scriptures do not say so. They express no idea about the then existence of the devil: f how could he have come into * The Hebrew word here translated serpent is Nachnsh. Much learning has been bestowed upon this term, for the purpose of determining who or what the serpent was, but without any verj' Batisfactory results. The pi'in- cipal reason is, because a sense has been sought for it which it was never in- tended to express. Forbes, in his '"Oriental Memoirs," says, "A great nuisance at Benares is the numl)er of Yogees, Scnassees, and Nanglias, or re- ligions mendicants, who go about entirely naked: we occasionally meet with a few of these people at other places, but here they abound. " (Vol. iv., p. 86.) t"This question maybe asked, — If such be the case, how came the opijiion so general respecting fallen angels, and whence was it derived? There can be no doubt respecting the source whence it was obtained. The first notion of the existence of a fallen angel is found in the Zendavcsta. The THE TENDENCY OF MAN's LOWER NATURE. 127 being before evil bad been perpetrated ? Tbe Scrii)tures most distinctly assert that it was the serpent which spoke: nor is there, throughout the whole narrative, the slightest intimation that it was any other being. The faculty of speech is attributed to it because it is significant of the sensual principle of man; which is, indeed, a speaking principle, uttering wisdom when it is used as the instrument of spiritual order, but discoursing arti- fice when separated therefrom and directed to worldly indul- gence. Man is formed, not by one principle only, but l\y many; he has not lost any of them by the fall : that calamity destroyed their quality, and perverted the order of their existence, but it obliterated none. Hence humanity, in its primitive perfection, must have had principles distinguished by higher and lower degrees of excellence; the interior being allied to the things of spirituality and heaven, and the exterior to the objects of cor- poreity and earth. Now, one of the distinguished characteristics of the Adamic people was their freedom. When placed in the garden, they had a choice given to them to ol)ey or transgress the divine com- mands. It was said to them, ' ' Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it." This freedom must have been very perfect, because their condition is pronounced to have been very good. From this state they must have known the truth, for it is a law that those who know the truth, "the truth shall make them free."* Moreover, the Spirit of God was present with them, and the apostle has declared that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ' ' f They had been raised to the summit of their excellence by the use of freedom in that direc- later Jews })ecame conversant wilh the Persian mythology, and introduced this, with various other notions, into their writings, and it seems to have heen adopted by the early Christians, without any inquiry into the Scrip- tural authority upon which it rested. Our inunortal countryman, Milton, by clothing this tiction of the Persian mythology, in all the beauty and attractions of poetry, has so recommended it to our imagination, that we almost receive it as of divine authority; and we feel a reluctance to be con- vinced that all his splendid fabric is based on falsehood."— Jo/(n. Lamh, D.D. Hehreic Chnrncfcrs derived from nierogJijphics. Pp. 118, 119. Sec. ed. * John viii. 32. t 2 Cor. iii. 17. 128 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. tion. Rut this did not compel them to remain there. They did not forfeit their freedom l)y the attainment of their superiority: it was enlarged and perfected as they ascended. While the men of the most ancient times employed this free- dom in co-operating with the Lord to develop the interior re- sources of their orderly humanity, it was exercised in a wise and right direction; but by that very freedom they could again descend the mountain they had climbed: yet to do so would necessarily be attended by a curtailment of their freedom. " He who doeth sin is the servant of sin." * Freedom is rightly used Avhen it causes all the principles of men to look inwards and onwards to the attainment of superior states: but it is abused when it permits them to look outwards and backwards to the delights supplied by inferior things. Now, the tendency of man's lower sentiments and disposition is towards the world, while the impulses of his spiritual nature and inclination are towards heaven: and, so long as the former remain under the influences of the latter, so long order is pre- served, and all their respective relationships are good: but who does not know that the inferior principles strive to relax the vigi- lance of the superior? Who has not occasionally exi:)erienced the lower principles of his nature proposing doubts as to the reality of those ol)jects which the higher principles believed and sought after? Who has not sometimes permitted his judgment to be formed only by the testimony of the eye, or the evidence of some other sense, and yielded belief only to those things which he could see and touch, and has cherished doubts about those interipr subjects which are to be known only to the inner convictions, by means of the mental sight and higher feelings of our nature? These are no uncommon circumstances. They come home to the general experiences of men: and, surely, it is easy to see, when our sensual nature is endeavouring to separate itself from the light and guidance of our spiritual nature, that the serpent is attempting to deceive us. The sensual principle endeavours to persuade us that the objects of tlie outer senses are more real than the things of intellectual jierception; and thus it Avould induce us to prefer the pleasures of tlie world to the felicities of heaven. Do we not, in this fact, even now, * John viii. 34. THE SENSUAL PRINCIPLE. 129 experience the temptation of the serpent? Does it not make an effort to weaken our regard for God's commandments, and is it not frequently insinuating, that the gratification of the passions of our lower nature is preferable to the delights anticipated by our higher principles ? Is not this fact the common experience of men, and does it not suggest a reasonable exposition of the serpent saying, ' ' Ye shall not surely die " ? The serpent of natural history cannot say this, but the sensual principle of man practically does so whenever it begins to act independently of higher powers; and this we conceive to have been the very serpent by which Adam was seduced from his propriety, and led into transgression ! The serpent is said to have been " more subtle than any beast of the field, ' ' not to teach that it has any remarkable sagacity beyond what is common to the instinct of animated nature, for no such fact is known to naturalists; but this is said of it to inform us that the sensual principle is the lowest and the least to be depended on of all the other afifections belonging to our external man : it is requisite to watch over it by the higher powers of our minds, and to direct it by superior principles, or it will be sure to lead us into a forgetfulness of our highest duty, and finally plunge us into disobedience. The reason is, because it dwells as it were upon the outer extremes of human life. It thus readily receives impressions from the external world, by which the memory is furnished with information, which it can wield with a persuasive art in favour of the delights and pursuits of worldly things. It reasons with shrewdness and dexterity, because its thoughts are so near the tongue: it thinks that intelli- gence consists in speaking from the memory concerning things collected from without, and views the understanding of things implanted by the Lord with doubt and disrespect. There is nothing so deceptive as the senses. If we trust to them only for information, our judgment and conclusions must be full of error. There is a proverb that " seeing is believing " ; but it is not always true. We have to correct the impression which we receive from Avithout, by the higher faculties of our minds, in order to reach the truth. How various are the fallacies of vision ! The sun appears but a small body, formed to rise and set upon the earth, which seems immovable. The 11 loO THE WORD AXD ITS INSPIRATION. stars, also, aj^pear to be fixed in the same extended plane, and moving from east to west in the vast expanse; but these things are not really so; they are mere fallacies of tlie sight, which we correct by another and superior power ! If the sensual principle be not so corrected, it remains in fallacies, and it will be found to appeal to the testimony of the senses for evidences that the appearance is the reality. The subtlety of the serpent consists m the fallacies which sensuality induces. All its reasonings are grounded in worldly things; and by these it would lead us to believe that there is nothing worthy of our attention or attach- ment, but what we can see, feel, or taste: and there is a force and plausibility about such reasonings, which fits them for the purposes of seduction. Any one capable of seeing how the higher powers of the mind correct the fallatdous impressions which outward and worldly things make upon the lower senses, will readily perceive hoAv it was that all the faculties and powers of Adam, during his integrity, existed in harmony and order. For a time, his sen- sual principle was as wise as a serpent, because it admitted into it the correcting light of spirituality and intelligence. Still it was not removed from the influences of the world; and he possessed both the power and freedom, if he chose to incur the responsibility, of listening to its suggestions. This, according to the history of the temptation, was actually done; thereby the light, by which his sensual nature had been previously illumi- nated, began to be diminished in its force, and the consequence was that fallacies were received and believed as truths, and thus the way was opened for evil to begin its deadly work. The fall of man, as thus effected, was a gradual event. It began by his commencing to love the good of his inferior i)rin- ciples, in preference to the good of his superior ones; succes- sively descending, until he finally sunk into the i^ersuasions and delusions of his sensual nature. This was the circumstance in which evil had its origin, and men Avill obtain a tolerably cor- rect idea of that disastrous event, if they Avill but carefully attend to the beginning of their own actual guilt. Every one knows that this liad its conmiencement in freely yielding to the suggestion of his sensual nature, to gratify some selfish love. It was near to him, and promised immediate satisfaction, THE FALL OF MAN A GRADUAL EVENT. 131 whereas those which were of a superior nature seemed to be at a greater distance, and to exert a feebler influence. The serpent which seduced the inlial)itants of Eden from their innocence and wisdom is the same as that by which transgression and guilt have been perpetuated. Man is its exclusive author, and not anything extrinsic to him. The attempt to charge it upon some other being is only another act of self-delusion. It is the endeavour of man to excuse his own misconduct, by heighten- ing the criminality of another; but this he cannot do until after the perpetration of his own guilt. But Adam did not at once sink into every evil: the depth of his criminality, like that of the guilt of men in subsequent ages, was a progressive result. The first intimation of it is given in the preceding chapter, where it is said that ' ' it was not good for man to be alone," of which we have already spoken. At first he only inclined towards the impulses of his sensual nature; he afterwards began to inquire whether it was not lawful to prefer its desires and suggestions, and at length he yielded to its solicitations. Nevertheless, the evils into which he fell were mild and few, compared with those which were perpetrated in after times. His transgression was only the beginning of that catastrophe by which the fall of man was made complete. Suc- cessive ages added to the enormities Avhich he began, but the atrocity of the fall could not have reached its depth, until the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world,* in order to bruise the * It may be a matter of surprise to some to hear that the fall of man was not completed before the time of the Lord's manifestation. This, however, we think is very plain, from a careful consideration of the Scriptural His- tory of man. The extreme of the divine mercy was adopted when the extremeof human necessity had arrived. Still, the state of Rome, in respect to its refinements in literature, the arts, and general civilization ; its suc- cessful and extensive conquests, together with the circumstance of its having been the Augustan age, when peace was so settled with all the world that the temple of Janus (Patulcius) was shut up, may be urged as facts difficult to reconcile with the above statement. But no condition of merely natural civilization, however eminent, if it be destitute of true religious grounds, can be of any weight in an argument of this kind. That the civilization of Rome, or of any other of the nations, had no ground in genuine religion, is the uniform testimony of all hist-ory. The fall of man was complete when he was separated by pride, ambition, selfishness, and all their attendant evils, from divine and heavenly influences : and there is evidence to prove that 132 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. head of the serpent whicli had occasioned that calamity. In the acts attendant upon that coming, he fulfilled the prediction which was delivered immediately after the temptation became successful. But how did he fulfil it? Was- it by bruising any natural serpent's head? Certainly not. As the prediction was these features distinguished the nations at the period of our Lord's manifes- tation more than at any other time in the history of our race. The awful character which Jesus draws of the Jewish nation is a representation of tlie Church as it then existed with mankind at hirge. Sismondi, in his history of the "Fall of the Roman Empire," speaking of the Julian family, say.s, " it is that of the ' dictator Caesar '; his name was transmitted, by adoption, out of the direct line, but always within the circle of his kindred, to the five first heads of the Roman Empire. Augustus reigned from the year 80 B.C. to the year 14 of our era ; Tiberius from 14 to 37 A.D. ; Caligula from 37 to 41 ; Claudius from 41 to 54 ; Nero from 54 to 68. Their names alone, with the exception of the first, concerning whom there still exists some diversity of opinion, recall everything that is shameful and perfidious in man, — every- thing that is atrocious in the abuse of ateolute power. Never had the world been astounded with such a variety and enormity of crime ; never had so fatal an attack been made on every virtue which men had been accustomed to hold in reverence." — Cabinet Cyclopasdia, Vol. I., p. 28. We may be reminded that the world had become exceedingly wicked at the time of the flood ; and also, that after that catastrophe, the atrocities of men, indicated in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, were exceedingly revolting ; and from these facts it may be argued that men had fallen at those periods, quite as low as any degradation observable in their history at the time of the Lord's advent into the world. But those who hold to that conclusion are not yet in possession of all the facts and circumstances of the case. The fact of the Antediluvians having perished through the evils which oppressed theru, is no more evidence that the fall had reached its greatest depth, than the crucifixion of the thief is a proof that he was the worst of men. The remarkable way in which the Antediluvians perished, shows that there were some circumstances peculiar to their case, but it does not show the completeness of the fall. Their minds were originally constituted from the reception of heavenly influences by nn internal way, and it was the eff'ectual closing up of that way which brought about the deluge : when men so cir- cumstanced ceased, as it were, to respire with heaven, they perished ; hut there was another and more external way, by which holy things might obtain access to the mind ; this, not being opened out with the Antediluvians, they did not pervert. This way for the entrance of holy things into the mind was opened out with the Noachic people ; it belonged to that new covenant that was established with thehi, and it was not until after this was closed that the fall became complete. The fall of man is not to be considered simply as a fall into criminal acts, but chiefly as the corruption and wreck of all his human principles, and thus THE FALL COMPLETED WHEN JESUS CAME. 133 not SO fulfilled, is it not evident that it could not have been any natural serpent which caused the temptation ? The serpents of that time were the sensualities of fallen humanity, for the Lord distinctly asserted the Jews to be " serpents, and a generation as the perversion of all his inclinatious to receive and retain all the spiritual sentiments of purity and heaven. The human principles are celestial, spiritual, and natural : it is these which distinguish man from the beast ; and the two former fell into depravity before the latter was entirely corrupted. They are distinct degrees of human life, to which respectively belong the sentiments of love, faith, and duty ; and that which was pre-eminent in eacli principle stood out as the characteristic of mankind in the best times of the Adamic, Noachic, and Israelitish people. In each of those periods, a Divine Dispensation was established, suited to the prevailing genius and requirements of the people to whom it was vouch- safed : the first, however, was associated with a more interior life, even in its visible character, than the intermediate and the last. How plain is it that the condition of religion which was begun with Adam was much more eminent than that which had its commencement with Noah ; and how cer- tain is it that this was superior to that which was established with Abraham and his descendants ! The reason is, because the fir-st was adapted more to the loving or celestial principle ; the second, to the believing or spiritual principle ; and the third, to the obeying or natural principle of the people. It is well known that each of these churches declined and fell, but the peculiar nature of these falls was that the people of each successively cor- rupted that piinciple in themselves, to which its teachings were specifically addressed. Thus the celestial principle in man was closed when the divine things proper to the Adamic dispensation ceased to be perceived, and its ruin is revealed to us bj' the calamity of the flood. The spiritual principle was corrupted when the divine things proper to the Noachic dispensation ceased to be acknowledged, and its wreck and desolation are represented by the con- fusion of tongues and tlie dispersion of mankind ; and the natural principle was defiled when the obedience proper to the Israelitish economy ceased to be observed, and its fall is shown by the termination thereof at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence we learn that the cessation of each Church was accompanied by, or rather that it resulted from, the corruption of that distinctive principle in man for the development and maintenance of which it had been mercifully provided. Consequently, the fall consisted in the successive defilement of each distinct principle of human life. Thus, although the criminal acts which were perpetrated in the early ages of our race were quite as atrocious as any that were committed in subsequent periods ; yet, as in each of these periods such acts proceeded from the corruption of the different principles that were peculiar to each, it is certain that there must have been a difference in the quality of the atrocities which prevailed ; and consequently, the first dispensation, in this respect, must have been more enormous than those that 134 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. of vipers."* The Lord's bruising the serpent's head, then, con- sisted in liis subduing the power and ascendancy which the sensual principle had obtained. He did this by opening out fresh influences from Himself, which are called "anew and living w^ay,"t from which time men have been capable, as all history attests, of thinking and acting from higher grounds than they had done previously, and thereby of discovering and expos- ing the fraud and deceptions Avhich the merely sensual nature would impose upon us. This is what is implied in the promise made unto believers, namely, ' ' I will give you power to tread on serpents";! " they shall take up serpents. "§ Power over these things naturally, was originally vouchsafed; nor is there any intimation of its having been lost by man's transgression: on the contrary, we find savage nations display it with consider- able energy. The Lord did not come into the world for such a purpose. The power to tread on serpents, which he then con- ferred, was a power to subdue our sensual nature; and the power to take up serpents, was the ability to elevate our sensual nature, by placing it under the purifying influences and direct- ing energies of the loftier principles of spirituality and religion. There are several historical narratives in Avhich serpents are mentioned in a truly literal sense. In those cases, however, their representation is the same as that which they sustain in factitious history; consequently, they may be cited as affording confirmatory evidence of it. For instance, the rod of Aaron, on the occasion of his interview with Pharaoh, is stated to have been cast down, and it became a serpent. || Because the rod of Aaron denoted the power of spiritual good, by casting it down followed : the people sinned with more open eyes, and so brought ruin upon a more interior principle than any of the rest ; hence that dispensation perished in a catastrophe more terrible than any of the rest. So, when it is said that the fall of man was not completed until "the Lord God of Israel visited to redeem his people," the meaning is that at that time the lowest of the remaining human principles had been forced into its final corruption ; that "darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." The enormities of the ancient world, therelbre, oppose no real difficulties to the doctrine which maintains that the fall did not reach its deepest depths until "God became manifest in the flesh." * Matt, xxiii. 33. f Heb. x. 20. | Luke x. 19. ^ Mark xvi. 18. 11 Exod. vii. 10-12. THE BRAZEN SERPENT. 135 was signified its degradation; and by its becoming a serpent was represented, that such a power, with the Egyptians, had become altogether sensual. The circumstance of the rods of the magicians also l^ecoming serpents, was a confirmation of that truth which the transaction of Aaron had representatively revealed; and the rod of Aaron swallowing up those of the magicians, was a farther representative revelation that such disorderly power would be taken from them. When the people of Israel "spake against God and against Moses, fiery serpents were sent among them, so that much people of Israel died." This was done to represent the sensual loves with which they were beset, and through the influences of which so many of mankind spiritually perish. Moses, complying with a divine command, ' ' made a serpent of brass, and put it • upon a pole : and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. ' ' * Every one must perceive that this was done for a representative purpose. It is evident from the circumstance of the Lord hav- ing said, concerning it, ' ' As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up : that who- soever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ' ' t The Lord Jesus Christ, as to the good of his sensual nature, was signified by the brazen serpent. Ho was so repre- sented before the Israelites, because they were merely in a sen- sual state, and did not elevate their thoughts concerning God above that low condition. Its being lifted upon a pole, signified * Numb. xxi. 5-9. t John iii. 14, 15. This passage is commonly regarded as a prefiguration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which men are to believe was a suffering substituted for that which is due to their own guilt ! But the student whose mind has not been preoccupied with that idea, will find it difficult to establish any analogy between such a supposed type and antetype. Surely there is no correspondence between Moses, who lifted up the serpent, and the wicked authorities who crucified Jesus ! nor can anything but fancy find any resemblance between the pole and the cross. There is nothing answering to the crown of thorns, the nails, the spear, &c., &c. The reason is, that it was not such a type. The raising of the brazen serpent related to the glori- fication of the Lord, but the crucifixion to the humiliation of the Lord: these were two distinct acts connected with his manifestation in the world for the redemption of mankiifd. 136 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. the glorification of the Lord's sensual nature. For those who were bitten by the serpent to look upon that which was of brass, and receive a cure, denoted that those who feel the stings and wounds inflicted by sensual loves, and look up to the Lord for deliverance, will be sure to receive the communication of spirit- ual life for effecting it. Other cases could be easily adduced, and, like the above, summarily explained; but what has been observed must make it evident that the serpent of Eden was the sensual principle of the Adamic people, and that its temptations consisted in pre- senting before their higher faculties the fascinations of worldly objects and delights; so that, in process of time, their higher principles and powers were seduced to favour them, and being lulled into a forgetfulness of superior duties, they gradually sunk into the indulgence of their lower principles, irrespective- of a higher guidance, and, therefore, lost possession of their intelligence; and this is what is meant by their expulsion from the garden. This view of the subject presents the narrative to us in an in- telligible form. It comes home, in a good measure, to our experience; we see its reasonableness, and at once recognize the subtlety * of the serpent in the occasional experience of its sug- gestions; also the fallacious aspect under which it presents worldly and selfish ends. We perceive that its influence must be attended with a fatal withdrawing from all spiritual good, unless it be vigilantly watched and carefully resisted. It reasons fallaciously, because the materials of its argument are drawn from the things of time and sense. It does not consult the inner dictate and superior suggestions of the mind. The sensual man says, "This is my nature; Avhy should I resist its propensities, and not enjoy the pleasures which they promise ? God, if there be such a being, must have given them to me, and certainly I cannot sin against him when I use them." These deceptive reasonings illustrate the serpent saying, ' ' Ye shall not surely die." But how transparent is the subtlety of such suggestions! Although God has given to man a sensual nature, because he was to be a resident in a physical world, 3'et it was given * The original word translated "subtle," tbongli it may denote insidious- uess and craft, yet here it rather means tlic jujwer to insinuate and ingratiate. EXAMPLES OF SENSUAL REASONINGS. 137 in connection with superior powers, and was intended to be employed under the direction of higlier principles than itself. Again, the serpent is reported to have said, ' ' In the day that ye eat of the forbidden fruit your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ' ' To eat of the for- bidden fruit is plainly to transgress a given law. The tree of knowledge is a divine gift, by which men are enabled to per- ceive the truths of faith: the fruit of this tree is the good of life. When men, from sensual persuasions, are led to think that any virtues they may possess are self-derived, they eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge: they believe their eyes are open, because they can see with approbation the delights of the world; and they conceive that they are as gods, knowing good and evil, because they think they guide themselves in the prudence they observe: but these are fallacies utterly destructive of all genuine faith in spiritual and celestial things! Look at the effects of such reasonings as they are exhibited in worldly and sensually guided men. "Who are so strongly per- suaded as these, that their eyes have been opened by having abandoned the teachings of religion, and plunged into the fas- cinations of the world ? ' ' They think that as gods they are wise, knowing good and evil, because they may be capable of distinguishing between the pains and pleasures of sense; and yet who, in reality, are as blind as they to all the knowledges which relate to spirituality, futurity, and heaven ? They, do not acknowledge an eternal life, for they believe that when they die they end: neither do they acknowledge the Lord, but worship only themselves and nature. Those amongst them who wish to be guarded in their expressions, say that there is a Supreme Being, of whose nature they are ignorant, and who rules over all. These are the principles in which they confirm themselves by numerous sensual and scientific arguments, and if they dared, they would openly proclaim these views before all man- kind. Such persons, although they desire to be regarded as gods, or as the wisest of beings, would, if they were asked what it was not to love themselves, reply that it was the same thing as to have no existence. The idea of living from the Lord they conceive to be a mere phantasy; and if interrogated as to their knowledge of conscience, they would say it is a mere creation 138 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. of the imagination, which may be serviceable in keeping the vulgar under restraint: if interrogated as to their knowledges of perception, they would laugh at your question, and call it enthusiastic. Such is their wisdom; such open eyes they have, and such gods they are : on these principles, which they imagine clearer than the day, they ground all their reasonings and con- clusions concerning the mysteries of faith; and Avhat can be the result but an abyss of darkness ? These are the serpents, above all others, who seduced the world. "* This principle, having gained a successive influence over the Adamic people, caused their fall. It may Ijc questioned whether the generation with whom its seductions began, descended into all the enormi- ties contemplated in the above extract, though there can be no doubt that they were fearfully realized 1)y their posterity before the flood. *Arcaua Cuilestia, 200. CHAPTER XI. THE EATING OF THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT, AND EXPULSION FROM EDEN. " 'Twas man himself Brought Death into the world: and man himself Gave keenness to his darts, quickened his pace, And multiplied destruction on mankind." Dr. Porteus, Bishop of London. From the considerations which have been adduced, we learn that the people, treated of under the collective name of Adam, were distinguished by a variety of principles, the whole of which, during their integrity, existed in order and operated for happiness. The sensual principle was among the lowest of this variety; the circumstance of its existing upon the outer- most range of the mind, and, as it were, dwelling so close upon the world, is the reason why it is described as being more subtle than any beast of the field. Hence it was seen that the ten- dency of this principle was outwards and downwards, in like manner as the desires of the higher principles were inwards and upwards; consequently man, by the freedom of his nature, was capable of giving ascendancy to either, by cultivating the one in preference to the other; therefore the success of the serpent's temptation consisted in man's sensual nature favouring the excitement induced upon it from without. It has also been intimated that this catastrophe was not a sudden but a succes- sive work; that it began by inducing inclination to prefer the outer pleasures of the world to the inward delights of heavenly things; then by insinuating doubts as to the existence of things spiritual, because they could not be seen or handled by the physical senses; next^ by suggesting that natural things might be the only realities, because they only came under the cogni- 139 140 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. zance of the eye and the touch; and, at length, by producing the consent of the inner powers to the indulgences of sensual love. Such we conceive to have been the general process of the temp- tation, and the transgression finally induced. The period which was occupied in this decline and fall is not announced. Still there can be no reasonable doubt that it was the work of several generations. It is the existence of the fact, rather than the period occupied in its production, which it is of imp(jrtance to know. Having these general views of the superior state of man, and the way of his decline and fall, before us, we can now proceed to investigate the nature of the law he is stated to have broken by that transaction. It is thus written : "Of every tree of the garden thou may est freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. "* The manner in which it was transgressed, though cited in the preceding chapter for the sake of having the whole transaction then before us, was not there explained: for this purpose it is now again produced. "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. — There- fore the Lord sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken, "f Eating is the act forbidden, and we think it much more natural to regard it as the interdiction of some irregular process of the mind tluin as the prohibition of a particular act of the body. If a physical act were intended by the proscription, surely we may fairly ask why the tree was placed in the garden ? Why it should have appeared so good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, if, after all, it were not to be tasted ? The common answer to these inquiries is, that it was jilanted in the garden with a prohibitory law, to test the fidelity of the parties who beheld it. But who does not perceive tliat this idea makes the tree a stumbling-block, and God the tempter for *Gen. ii. 10, 17. f Gen. iii. 6, 7, 23. THE TREE NOT DESIGNED TO TEST FIDELITY. 141 having put it there.* It plainly represents the tree as a temp- tation, and supposes God not to have foreseen its consequences. Surely the Lord does not try the constancy of his people by giving them, upon the one hand, a law to observe, and, on the other hand, by placing in their way a temptation to transgress it. The supposition is shocking, and should be avoided. . The whole notion about God trying the fidelity of his people, by placing them in difficult circumstances, requires revision. It is an apparent and not a genuine truth. God is essential goodness, and he has always watched over the welfare and happiness of men with the utmost care: he would have removed the fruit out of Adam's reach, and hin- dered the serpent from persuading him to eat it, if they had been things extraneous to his nature. But they were not; they w^ere things which belonged to him as a man, and to have removed them would have been to have taken away his manhood. This sensual principle was necessary to complete his nature, and fit him for residing in the world: the knowledge of good and evil was necessary to encourage him in the way of obedience, and to act as a hindrance to his transgression. Freedom was indis- pensable to employ those knowledges agreeably to his OAvn choice. How could a man be a man without a sensual prin- ciple ! How little would man have been distinguished from the brute if he had been deprived of the knowledge of good and evil ! and without freedom he would have been a mere creature of impulsive instinct. Adam was endowed with all these excellencies. He possessed information of the highest kind. He was in the life of obedi- ence, and so in the knowledge of good; thence he would have a perception of its opposite, and so acquire the knowledge of evil. This was a tree distinguished among the other intelligences of his intellectual garden. It was an enlarged possession of genuine * Byron, in his terrible poem, "Cain," makes him say, in reference to the temptation of Adam, — "The tree was planted, and not for him ? If not, why place hira near it, where it grew, The fairest in the centre? They have but One answer to all questions, ' 'Twas his will, And he is good.' " 142 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. knowledge, proper to his high condition. But he was not to eat thereof. Eating was the prohibited act. Why was this, when he was so freely permitted to eat of every other tree ? We shall find the answer to this interrogatory if we consider the signifi- cation of the term. That it does not mean natural eating is evident, because taste is the chief species of knowledge which it is capable of induc- ing, and that is among the lowest class. The notion of the fruit having possessed some property that was capable of exciting the mind to greater action, and so to procure additional informa- tion, we think to be unworthy of a serious thought. Stimu- lants will inflame the imagination, but they do not increase our wisdom ! They may excite and disorder the mind, but they cannot increase and strengthen it. Surely knowledges, superior to those which Adam in his integrity possessed, were not to be procured by the eating of some peculiar fruit ! If so, Adam could not have been so wise as is supposed, because there were certain knowledges withheld from him, and which the fruit of some remarkable tree was capable of furnishing. But what dreams are these ! * Eating is a term of frequent occurrence in the Scriptures, and, in the really historical portion of them, it literally denotes what it expresses; but there are many occasions on which the word is used without such meaning; yet in every instance it has an internal sense. We select the following examples. The Lord said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven : if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever. ' ' ' ' Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. " " He that eateth me, even he shall live by me."t In these sentences, it is plain, that by eat- ing is not meant eating, but that internal act of the mind by which it appropriates, in an orderly way, the good things of religion, and thereby acquires spiritual nutrition for the sus- tenance of the soul. It was for the same reason that the Lord said by the prophet, " Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let 3'our soul delight itself in fatness. "| The Lord also said, " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of * See pp. 77, 78. f Jol'Q ^''- •''>1, 5:5, 57. J Isa. Iv. 2. SIGNIFICATION OF EATING. 143 God ' ' :* where, by the tree of life, is meant the perception of love; for love is a fruit-bearing principle with men; and this is said to be in the midst of the paradise of God, when it is made the centre of all the religious duties of the Church; while to eat of the tree, clearly means to appropriate the perception of love to our spiritual use and benefit. The act of eating, as of natural food for the nutrition of the body, is named, because it corre- sponds to the act of appropriating spiritual good for the suste- nance of the soul. There is a food for the mind as well as for the body. The soul must be fed with the good of love, in order that it may live in spiritual health, in like manner as the body must be supported with the bread of nature, in order to main- tain its physical vigour. The love of what is good, and the perceptions thence arising, were the food by which Adam was instructed to sustain his eminent condition : this is what is meant by that portion of the law which says, " Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat ' ' : the reasons for the exception will presently appear. Every one is, as to his internal quality, precisely what his love is: it is this, with its consequent perception, which consti- tutes his individuality. A man's character springs from his love, and he is judged and estimated according to the nature of its quality and developments. This love and perception are, as to the individuality which they form, the man's own: they distinguish one man from another. In this respect each one is himself alone. He has a distinctiveness of nature which belongs to no one else, and this is acquired by his having appropriated, incorporated, cherished, or spiritually eaten of some peculiar love. If it were not so appropriated, it would pass away and vanish. It is only by such appropriation that his individuality remains. As he appropriates good in any of its varieties, the distinctiveness of character thereby imparted cannot perish. So that he may " eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil he must not eat of it' ' ; this is for- bidden for reasons which regard his truest welfare. The knowledge of the spiritual things of faith, duty, and heaven, is not of man; it is the Lord's. It is communicated to the Avoiid by revelation, either through an internal dictate to its * Rev. ii. 7. 144 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. immediate subjects, or by means of a written Word. Without such revelation, man must have been utterly ignorant of such knowledge. Every one may be sure, if he be so disposed, that all his knowledge of such things has come to him from a source superior to himself. He feels that he is incompetent for such discoveries, and, therefore, that he ought to live under the con- tinual acknowledgment, that all he knows of holy and religious things is not from himself, but from the Lord. Now, as eating is significant of mental appropriation, to eat of the tree of knowledge denotes that mental appropriation of it, by which men are led to believe that it is the result of their own self-derived intelligence. Adam was forbidden to eat of it, in order to guard against this consequence; therefore, we cease to wonder at the prohibition. We see that it was done for a wise and merciful purpose, and designed as a medium for preserving man in the humble acknowledgment of the Lord, as the source and giver of all intelligence and truth; also, to teach him, that if he ceased from such acknowledgment, he would necessarily fall into transgression. Is it not so? Do not those who are wise in their own conceits, who pride themselves upon their presumed intelligence, and consider it as a meritorious acquisi- tion of their own, reject the Lord, and so transgress his law? But there is another important reason why the eating of the tree of knowledge was prohibited. Knowledge is a means to an end. It is given for the improvement and formation of charac- ter. The more eminent the knowledge is, if applied to life, the more exalted is the man. All knowledge has respect to life, and it is intended for the promotion and establishment of good. Therefore, to eat of the tree of knowledge is to appropriate information for the enlargement of the understanding merely, without due regard to its holier uses. How frequently is that which is denominated genius, found to be disorderly ! How often are clever men discovered to be crafty! Does it not some- times occur, that men with enlarged understandings have nar- row souls and selfish hearts ? Is it not true that learned men are sometimes wicked ? that they perpetrate their ills with sagacity — "plate their sins with gold"? Doubtless these are facts; but whence do they arise? Simply because such men have eaten of the tree of knowledge, devoured information with LAWFUL TO SEE, BUT NOT TO EAT OF THE TREE. 145 a greedy appetite, regarding knowledge as the end, and desiring to be clever rather than good. The mischievous tendency of such a course is evident. It places the perpetrator in the posi- tion of "that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, (and who there- fore) shall be beaten with many stripes."* How Avise, then, is the command, " Ye shall not eat of it " ! and if men do so, how certain is their fall — a fall into a criminal neglect of the laws of order, propriety, integrity, and virtue ! Does not experience prove that this is the course which the sensual appetite invariably suggests? It desires to separate itself from superior guidance, and to be left to its own control. It strives to prevent knowledge from exercising its salutary in- fluences upon the lower affections: it would persuade us that its only province is the head, — that men are wise in many things, because they know something of a few, — and so leave the heart untouched, to mistake its way. Thus we conclude that the prohibition was founded in such good reasons as men may see the value of. The prohibition is as binding upon us as it was upon Adam; and a violation of the command will also be at- tended with fatal consequences. It is lawful to see the tree of knowledge — to comprehend what is wise. God planted it for this purpose; but to eat of it was forbidden, because to do so would be to regard intellectual sustenance as the end of it, and so induce a state which would permit the heart to grow corrupt. But the tree was eaten of, and this consequence resulted: still, as it has been said, it was not accomplished by the first sallies of the tempter. Men who have attained to any eminence in virtue do not fall into evil on the first excitement. They think upon the subject, revolve it in their minds, and for a period, they, to some extent, resist it: but by and by they in- cline towards, and afterwards look at it with desire, whereupon the suggestions of the higher sense are weakened. Then they ex- perience a struggle between desire and duty, and give way only when the exciting object appears to the affection as the tree of knowledge did to the woman, namely, " as good for food, pleas- ant to the sight, and to be desired to make one wise. ' ' Men do not partake of that which is forbidden until they have been * Lnlce xii. 47. 12 146 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. persuaded it is good : the}^ do not plunge into transgression until the delights thereby proposed to be obtained appear somewhat pleasant to the eye — that is, agreeable to the illusion under which they labour; neither do they enter upon a career of guilt until they have begun to cherish it as a means to something that is wise! These are the circumstances under Avhich men in general pass into the perpetration of crime in these our days, and they serve forcibly to illustrate the narrative which describes the process of Adam's guilt. His fall was, in its general nature, somewhat similar to that of ours Avhen we are tempted into transgression. The principal differences lie in the degrees of its enormity. He fell into evils with a larger amount of knowledge than it is our lot to possess: he began to decline with a purity of character which does not belong to us. He transgressed with more open eyes, and sunk into an abyss from a loftier summit than we have ever gained. Hence his posterity, in a few generations, perished in that terrible calamity described as a flood. Having descended into evil by the process we have indicated, he must needs have begun to view all moral things under a per- verted aspect: and, finally, he would have misgivings as to the existence of spiritual and heavenly things, because they could not be conceived of sensually and scientifically: the result of this incredulity was the inversion and overthrow of all his ex- cellence. Evil was thought to be good, and falsehood truth; to describe which the forbidden fruit is, under the influence of the temptation, said to have appeared ' ' as good for food, pleasant to the eye, and to be desired to make one wise. ' ' The consideration of these facts will aid us in seeing the rationale, and tracing the process of Adam's fall. We at once see that it was not accomplished by a talking reptile that was out of man, but that it resulted from the fallacious reasonings of the sensual principle w^ithin him, the existence of which was proper and necessary to his being. These fallacious reasonings consisted in confirming appearances to be realities. They were small in their beginnings, but fatal in their growth and conse- quences. It was like a particle of dust falling upon the pupil of the eye, and preventing it from seeing the things of nature with certainty and clearness: self-guidance was preferred to a PROGRESS OF GUILT ILLUSTRATED. 147 dependence on the Lord, concerning which tlic pro})hct says, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" -'' Such was the state brought about by a seiies of perverse sen- sual reasonings. We do not consider it to have been the work of one man, or of the first generation, but as a result consum- mated by some of their posterity during the age of the Adamic Church. But this state led to other consequences, the painful nature of which may also be illustrated by the common experience of mankind. All know that there was a period in their personal history when they had not fallen into the actual perpetration of those sins which now so easily beset them, and that the first effect of having done so was to awaken them to a sense of the danger they had incurred. The act which first succeeds a deed of guilt is timidly to look about to ascertain whether it has been watched by others. Conscience, also, by its pangs in after times, effectually proves to them that their innocence is gone. These experiences, like that of Adam, open their eyes, and let them know that they are naked. To open their eyes meant that they noAV saw their guilt; and to know that they were naked denoted a consciousness that their innocence was lost. It is well known that the Scriptures speak of ' ' nakedness ' ' in the sense of degradation, f It was said of them before they fell, that "they were naked and not ashamed," to teach that they were innocent and felt no guilt: but after their transgression, they saw the disaster they had incurred, and became ashamed. Where there is no inno- cence, nakedness is a scandal and disgrace; Ijut it is not so where innocence exists, as in the case of infants; here, there- fore, nakedness is the symbol of innocence. But to know it with shame, as in the case *of Adam, implies the presence of a sense of guilt; consequently, he was sent "forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." To be sent forth from Eden was not an arbitrary act of the Almighty: he does not deprive man of nny felicity which he is *Isa. V. 20, 21. fRev. iii. 17. 148 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. qualified to enjoy; and, therefore, his expulsion from paradise was a natural consequence, arising from the unfavourable change which had now taken place in his character. His position in Eden, as shown in the preceding chapter, denoted the pleasure and delight which arose from an orderly love; but of these his transgression necessarily deprived him. It was his own act. By listening to the suggestions of his sensual nature, and misusing his freedom, he withdrew himself from the sacred influences of genuine goodness, just as *the vicious are still known to keep aloof from virtuous society. But although Eden is necessarily lost to every man who transgresses the rules and discipline of virtue, yet he is watched over with unabating diligence by the diviile mercy of the Lord. "Though a good man fall," says the Psalmist, "he shall not be utterly cast down." * Adam was preserved in a condition to " till the ground from whence he was taken." Providence does not abandon the sinner; it is always benignant and merci- ful: it reminds him that all the virtues which he might have possessed were communicated graces, and that they were sown into his nature, specially created for their reception, by teaching and training. Man is lifted into spiritual eminence by culti- vating the moral ground in which he may be placed. This was the ground whence Adam had risen into the distinction he attained: he fell, and so passed back to it again: but he was not then forgotten; he was taught a duty — he .was "to till the ground from whence he was taken." In other words, he was to cultivate the ground from which he had risen, and to which he had descended, by the inseminating of truths into it; to watch over their growth with solicitude and care; to be atten- tive to the fruits they were intended to produce, and thus strive to regain the eminence he had lost. The capacity to do so was still preserved in him, and perpetuated to all his posterity. *Psa. xxxvii. 23, 24. CHAPTER XII. THE CURSE UPON THE SERPENT — THE SORROWS OF THE WOMAN— AND THE CURSE UPON THE GROUND FOR MAN'S SAKE. "God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon them : but ungodly men with their works and words called it to them." — Wisd. i. 13-16. The circumstances of the fall of Adam and his expulsion from Eden were attended by other calamities, to which it is requisite to refer. A curse was pronounced upon the serpent; the sor- rows of the woman, in conception and parturition, were to be multiplied, and the ground was cursed, that man might eat of it in toil and sorrow all the days of his life. These subjects are thus set forth in the sacred narrative: — "And the Lord God said unto the serpent. Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said. Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I com- manded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground."* * Gen. iii. 14-19. 149 150 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. The leading idea presented in this narrative is the curse. In what sense is this to be understood? That disastrous conse- quences followed the transgression cannot be dou);)ted: but were they the natural results of disobedience, or the specific inflic- tions of the Almighty ? The latter is the common idea, though the history does not say so. To the serpent, God said, " Thou art cursed above all cattle "; and to the man he said, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake " : thus it simply represents God as declaring its existence, and not as producing it. He mercifully revealed the state, but did not inflict the misery. Calamity follows sin as death does poison; but as God does not originate the sin, or administer the poison, he cannot be chargeable with the calamity or the death. Although he is described as saying to the woman, " I will greatly multiply thy sorrows," under certain events; yet it was not the sorrow, considered in itself, but the multiplication of it, which was the evil announced. Sor- row, it would appear, attended these events under the best con- dition of humanity, yet it was to be increased; and God is rep- resented as its author: but, under the circumstances, may not this have been a blessing.? We can easily conceive a wise Providence placing difficulties in the way of attaining what a degenerate mind thinks to be desirable, in order to promote some genuine good. Pains and trials are no proofs of God's displeas- ure; we know that they tend to soften, humiliate, and bless; and, tlierofore, the multiplying of the woman's sorrows may come within the scope of mercy rather than malediction. An idea that God became angry with the human race when the first man transgressed, very extensively prevails. The above passages are considered to declare it. But this cannot be cor- rect. Anger is no attribute of God; it must be as foreign to the Divine Nature as sin itself; and, therefore, those passages of Scripture in Avhich it is predicated of him are designed rather to express the aspect under which he appears to perverted minds, than to declare a genuine truth. To the jaundiced eye all things are yellow; but they are not really so; it is only an appearance arising from the action of physical disease. The moral disorders of men cause them to view the character and providences of God under an aspect contrary to their reality. We never read of God being angry, or declaring a curse, but in ANGER NO ATTRIBUTE OF GOD. 151 connection with something disobedient on the part of man. Under such circumstances, it is true that he appears angry, 3'et it cannot be true that he is so. If we desire sensible informa- tion concerning the felicities of heaven, the reasonable course is to consult those who have experienced some antepast of its hap- piness, through obedience to its laws. How unwise, then, is it to seek, in those passages of the Word wdiich are addressed to the wicked only in accommodation to their perverted views, real truths concerning the Divine character ! The fire by which Sodom was destroyed is said to have come down from heaven;* but heaven is not really the reservoir of that fire which punishes and destroys the wicked; nevertheless it is so said, because it so appeared to that abandoned people. In God there is no furyrf and the Psalmist says of him, "With the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward.":|: If God were angry at any time, he would be imperfect, for anger is an infirmity in man. If he were once angry, he must be always angry, because he is unchangeable. If he be at all angry, he must be infinitely so, because all in him is infinite. How are the ideas that he is infinitely angry and infinitely loving to be reconciled ? It cannot be done so long as both are considered to be realities. To imagine that God can become angry, is to suppose him liable to disappointment, and, consequently, that man can do something which He had not foreseen. But how impossible is this! The whole Scripture is constructed on the principle that ' ' God is love ' ' : this attribute is infinite in him, and so neces- sarily excludes every opposite sentiment. He has declared that he loveth man with an " everlasting love." § How, then, can he be angry, and curse both him and the circumstances in which he is placed ? He has told us to ' ' love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, and do good to them that hate us. " 1 1 Can we doubt that he will do to us that which he has commanded us to do to one another? If he loved only those who loved him, he would resemble "sinners, for they also love those that love them." ^ * Gen. xix. 24. f Isa. xxvii. 4. J Psa. xviii. 25, 26. ^ Jer. xxxi. 3. || Matt. v. 44. ^ Luke vi. 32. 152 ' THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. The excellence and beauty of the human character consist in its resemblance to the divine perfections. " Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect " ;* " Be ye mei'ciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful." f Still, man's highest attain- ments in these imperishable virtues are but faint shadows and images of the divine purity. In him every excellence is infinite: nor are their sweetness and placidity to be disturbed; their im- mutability is not to be changed by human disobedience. God " knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are dust," J and, with this knowledge and remembrance, "his mercy en- dureth for ever. ' ' The good man realizes the evidences of this fact in his own experience; the bad man does not, because of his perverted nature. All the displays of divine love are to in- duce men to become wise and happ3^ The wicked are made to feel the influence of this love, in the restraints which it merci- fully imposes upon their vicious pursuits, and so the very good- ness which God would promote is felt by them in those re- straints, as if it were the unfoldings of anger. An enlightened survey of nature presents no intimation of the anger of God: the reason is, because there is no such prin- ciple in his character. § The universe furnishes no analogy suggestive of such thought. The sun is acknowledged to be a beautiful emblem of the Deity: hence God is called '' a sun." |1 But there is nothing observable in that glorious luminary which can be said to answer to the notion of divine anger. Lowering and darkness are not in him: such phenomena are occasioned by the interposition of clouds, and the diurnal motion of the earth. The sun forever shines in brightness and in beauty. He never frowns, even upon the wicked: he shines upon the evil and the good. It is so with the divine character: anger is opposed to all that is divine, but it is predicated of God, because man, in an inverted state, sees him so. The wicked man thinks that God must be angry with the transgressors of his law, be- * Matt. V. 48. t L"ke vi. 36. t fsa- ciii. 14. g It is sometimes said, — " A God all mercy is a God unjust; " but this is an unreasonable and perverse assertion: the truth is, that if he were not all mercy, he would be unjust. II rs:i. Ixxxiv. 11. THE CONDEMNATION OF THE SERPENT. 153 cause he believes that if he were in God's place he should be so; and as an evil being he certainly would: b\it this is not the char- acter of God. In a perverted state, spiritual and holy things appear contrary to their reality, as the sun seems red and fiery when beheld through a murky atmosphere. This is a principle which should not be overlooked in consid- ering those passages of revelation in which God is spoken of as being angry, sending forth his wrath, and executing vengeance. God is the author of the laws of order: if a man transgresses them, disastrous consequences follow; but of these the man, and not God, is the author. The serpent was told that it was cursed because it had transgressed. The ground was pronounced to be cursed for man's sake, because the man, now fallen, may be presumed to have withheld from it those orderly labours which are necessary to maintain its fertility. The sorrows of the woman were, under certain circumstances, to be multiplied, be- cause, by a withdrawing of the mind from the divine guidance, some natural law of the body might have been infringed. There is, then, no necessity for fixing the authorship of such calamities on God, in any other way than as an appearance, even if the statements of them were to be regarded in a literal sense : so far as they are evils, they are fairly and rationally chargeable on transgressors only. But let us examine some of the particulars in which these curses are said to have consisted. Of the serpent it is written, ' ' Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life : and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." It is true that some serpents of natural history may be said to go upon their belly; also that all civilized society usually associate with the idea of them a sentiment of disgust. But it is not true that any eat dust all the days of their life; or, indeed, eat dust at all.* Nor is there any evidence to show that the form, habits, and instinct by which they are now distinguished are not those with which they were originally endowed, t No condition into which an animal is created really *The food of serpents consists of young birds, mice, frogs, and fruit. t Many things have been rehited to set fortli the subtlety of the serpent (see Cruden, Art. Ser.), but some are mere puerilities, and others are evi- dently false ; nor is there any I'act established to show that they possess any 154 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. comes within the idea of an ahnighty curse. All are as happy as tlieir organization will admit of, nor are any of them sensible of any deficiency arising from an inelegance of form or filthiness of habit. Serpents that crawl without legs have no sense of inferiority to the saurians whicb have them; and commentators are not agreed as to which kind it was that received the curse: nor can they ever be so: there are no data for determining the problem. The difliculty is considerably increased when it is asked why the serpent should have been cursed at all, when, as commonly supposed, it did not really effect the seduction, but the devil, who had either entered into it, or assumed its shape? The only way of avoiding the embarrassments which attend such considerations is at once to concede the allegorical signifi- cation of the narrative. The circumstance of the Lord having spoken to the serpent most certainly shows such to be the case. Man cannot conceive the idea which the literal statement expresses. But taking the serpent to be a representation of the sensual principle of man, we can understand the fact intended to be revealed. Under such a view of it, we see that by the Lord speaking to the ser- pent was denoted divine teaching concerning the evil which the sensual principle had produced: and therefore the serpent is saicl to have been cursed above all beasts; thus that all the affections V)y which man had been happily distinguished, Avere now l)CCome partakers of a common corruption, but that the ser- pent was sunk into deeper degradation than the rest. It is noAv first described as going upon its belly, because it had now first ceased to look upwards to heavenly things; it no longer walked uprightly, but crawled close to worldly and terrestrial objects, when dust became its meat, because it now began to live on earthly and corporeal loves. The enmity between it* and the woman with her seed, denoted the separation then effected remarkable sagacity. Their character" Cor cunning and deceit has been derived from its description in the temptation, and not from natural history. It was the serpent that was subtle, not the -whole species so denominated. * Dr. A. Clarke says, " It is yet to be discovered that the serpentine race have anj^ peculiar enmitj' against mankind, nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals. — But we are not to look for merely literal meanings here." SCIENCE AVERTS A SUPPOSED CURSE. 155 between the sensual principle and the heavenly selfhood, repre- sented by the woman and her seed. Every one knows that such a separation exists. The apostle referred to it when he said, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary one to the other":* and also in the declaration, "When I would do good, evil is present with me." t These are the common experiences of religious men, which practically show the enmity between the serpent and the woman with her seed. But to the woman it was said, " I will greatly multiply thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." This, like the malediction on the serpent, can be satisfactorily understood only in a spiritual sense. Inquiry has resulted in showing that the former part of this announcement does not universally apply: and it would be somewhat difhcult to prove how the latter part comes within the meaning of a curse. Although it may be admitted that the fall infringed certain laws, which so affected the female constitution as to increase the natural sufferings attending parturition, yet it is well known that they are very unequal in their severity, which they should not be on the supposition of their being a divine infliction, and if God be impartial in its distribution. INIontaigne says, " Tliis curse, as it is called, applies only to a certain species of females; whole nations of females being entirely free from it." | Another Avriter observes, "Whatever may be the cause or causes, the fact seems to be, that women of colour have easier parturition in general than Avhite Europeans. " § Travellers assert that it is comparatively easy among the Indians, under the equator, and particularly in Tartary. || Goldsmith states, "The women of Africa always deliver themselves, and are yveW in a few hours after." ^ Thus it is evident that climate and ph3'sical constitu- tion have very much to do with this matter; and the discoveries * Gal. V. 17. fKom, vii. 21. J Essays, i., c. 14. § White's "Kegular Gradations in Man," p. 73. II Terry's "Voyage to India," sect, xvii., p. 430 ; aud Theveuot, part iii., ch. 24, p. 47. H "History of the Earth," &c., vol. ii., p. 47. 156 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. of science* have nuide great progress towards aft'ording entire relief under what is usually found to be so painful in the northern regions of the world. Supposing the api»lication of such discoveries to become general, which is by no means un- reasonable, since a great number of particular cases have already occurred, then what is to become of the idea that the sufferings were the result of execration ? Must we believe that the curse was inflicted for a time only, and that God has at last mercifully enabled men to discover a physical means which, by putting a stop to its existence, enabled them to determine the period of its duration? This would hardly be satisfactor}' ; nor, indeed, can any other view of the subject, except that which brings us back to the acknowledgment of its symbolical character. The declaration that the woman's desire should be towards her husbandf will hardly be construed by the chaste into a melancholy consequence. Such will consider a steady and undivided affection to be among their best enjoyments: and are there not multitudes of instances in which it would have been a solid blessing ? If the circumstance of the woman's desire being towards her husband were a portion of a curse, then the exist- ence of an opposite affection may be inferred to have been a blessing, and, in that case, how came the enactment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery " ? To interpret it as a curse, takes reason far beyond its depth, and quite submerges it. But what is to be said of the assertion, "He shall rule over thee"? As Christianity is true, that statement, even supposing it to treat of the relative position of the sexes, cannot mean to declare the * The use of chloroform is here referred to. \Yhen first introduced into the practice of the accoucheur, it was vehemently objected to on the part of some of the clergy of Scotland and others, on the ground that it was unlawful to prevent the due course of that which God had pronounced to be a curse. Many pamphlets were written in defence of this absurd opinion. t This is sometimes construed to mean, "thy desires shall be thy hus- band's," a dative for a genitive case. But, admitting this, which neverthe- less is not the true idea of the original, an affectionate wife would rarely consider her reception of the orderly desires of her husband any very deplor- able circumstance. She would most likely regard it as a means of binding herself more closely to his love. Are not the thousands of instances existing, in which his desires are not so received, proofs that such is not tlie meaning of the sentence? WOMAN THE SYMBOL OF THE SELFHOOD. 157 dominion of a master, but the guidance of a protector. Where, then, is the malediction ? If these things were calamities to the woman, how were they to affect the man ? He can hardly regard the information by which he learns the intense attach- ment of his wife, and the dignity of his own position in respect to her, as an indication of anathema. It never once occurs to him that woman's undivided love, or that the protection which he extends to her, is the result of an almighty curse! It can- not be so. It is plain that to view the history in such a light is to mistake its purpose; and even if this were less obvious than it is, intelligent piety would be compelled to acknowledge, that human degradation and its painful consequence were not of God, but from man, by his perversion of God's good things. The narrative is intelligible and satisfactory only when viewed in a spiritual sense. The circumstances related in it represent those spiritual consequences which the fall induced upon the people of the Church of those most ancient times. It has been shown that the woman, who was given to the man Avhen it was discovered not to be good that he should be alone, was the symbol of that selfhood Avhich the Lord mercifully granted, when discontent under the divine guidance began to appear.* This selfhood, like a pure and lovely woman, was then good and innocent, being vivified by the Lord. But it consented to the persuasion of the serpent, and consequently fell. Hereby that selfhood, which had primarily been directed to the Lord, and had been filled with the delight of heavenly things, was turned towards the world, and became enamoured of its pleasures. Its character was changed; and sensual influ- ences were so brought to bear upon it as to endanger the ease and freedom with which spiritual things had previously been conceived in the mind, and brought forth in the conduct. Her sorrows were to be multipliedf in conception and bringing forth: the sorrows in conception]: were the difficulties that were * See page 113. t It deserves to be remarked, that the sorrows were now to be multiplied ; thus implying that they had, to some extent, previously existed. The rea- son is, because the fall was not a sudden but a gradual decline, and the severity of the consequences was now in the process of being increased. t " Conception." The Septuagint version omits this clause altogether ; 158 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. now to be experienced in the apprehending of interior truth; and the sorrows in bringing forth were the pains and temptations that were to be endured in introducing them to hfe. The Lord is said to be the author of them, because they become percepti- ble, through his pressing, as it were, to be received and loved. Every one knows these sorrows to exist, and that they are the peculiar inheritances of the fallen selfhood of humanity. . In this sense the statements are of universal application, and expe- rience furnishes the interpretation. The same is true of the assertion, ' ' Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Before the fall man had wisdom and intelligence, and these were denominated man; but ])y that event those blessings were corrupted, and reason, another principle, took their place. Hence it was called husband^ and not man. The change of terms denotes an alteration in condition. Every expression in God's Word is peculiarly significant. That which had been man was now husband; that which had been wisdom now Avas reason. Hence, by the woman's desire being towards her hus- band is denoted the continual inclinations of the selfhood toward the reason with which it is conjoined; and by his having " rule over her" is signified the dominion which that reason ought to exercise. In reference to the man it is said, ' ' Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. " This is usually interpreted to mean that the fertility of the soil was impaired, so that henceforth man should not derive his natural sul)sistence from it without laborious cultivation: and, also, that during the raising of the crops he should be afflicted with anxieties, arising from the fear of mildew, insects, un- favourable seasons, and other causes by which their safety would be endangered. Now, it is true that such labour is required, and that such anxieties exist, yet we cannot conceive them to have sprung out of divine anathema! They are not universally perliajis because the translators inaccurately supposed it was sufficiently comprehended in what follows. This, however, neither the original nor the spiritual sense allows. THE SUPPOSED CURSE ON THE LAND UNEQUAL.' 159 felt. They pertain directly to that portion of mankind only whose em^Dloyment is agriculture. There are whole classes of society entirely exempt from them. Moreover, the inflictions are very unequal on those by whom they are experienced; they are found to vary very much with latitude, locality, and other physical causes. With how little labour, and with what an absence of solicitude, is abundance of corn produced upon the banks of the Nile! That river does for Egypt much of that which manual labour is obliged to supply in other countries. It has always been celebrated for its fertility. "Joseph gath- ered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left num- bering; for it was without number."* Pocock informs us that it is sometimes necessary to temper the richness of the soil by bringing sand to it. Herodotus, speaking of Babylonia, says, " Of all the countries which have come within my observation, this is far the most fruitful in corn. The soil is so particularly well adapted for it, that it never produces less than two hun- dred fold; in seasons which are remarkably favourable, it will sometimes rise to three hundred, "f Norway is the reverse of this fertility; its inhabitants, therefore, raise scarcely any grain or vegetables: they import most of what they use, and in seasons of scarcity are obliged to mix the ground bark of trees with their bread.;!; These facts show that the differing conditions of the land render manual labour, for the production of food, very un- equal in its amount; which is difficult to understand if the uni- versal ground were cursed, in order to exact a laborious toil from man to render it productive. Why should it not have been uniform in its action ? There is no hint given that it was to be partial in its operation; which we think would have been the case if the literal sense had been intended for our faith. Moreover, these differences are traceable to natural causes, § and the labour which an inferior soil requires may be considerably reduced by the appliances of art. || But the ground was to bring forth "thorns and thistles;" and it does so. When was * Gen. xli. 49. t Clio, cxciii. J Goldsmith's Geography. ? It may be said that God is the author of those natural causes : so far as this is the case, he operates in the way of general blessing, and never in the way of partial curse II Consult Professor .Tolinson's work on Agricultural Chemistry; also Liebig. 160 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. it otherwise? It cannot mean that it was then for the first time to do so. The species are not named, but geology shows us the existence of some that must have flourislied long anterior to the . creation of man. We feel it difficult to reconcile these facts with the common notion of God having, six thousand years ago, pronounced a curse upon the ground for the punishment of his people. It is a shallow inference, and not a divine truth. The idea of God having, upon the one hand, taken from the ground that which had rendered it luxuriant in the production of human food; and, upon the other, to have imparted that which was to make it fertile in whins and briars, cannot be rationally sus- tained: nor is it requisite to uphold the character of God's jus- tice, or to maintain the divine purpose of the narrative. It was written with an entirely different design,* which we shall endeavour briefly to explain. By the ground is denoted that orderly external of man, by which he was distinguished when the development of his relig- ious character became complete, f By the fall its excellence was necessarily impaired, and so it became less prolific in the good things of use. " To eat of it in sorrow," denotes to live from it unhappily: "to eat" is to appropriate, and so to live; and ever}^ one may see that to appropriate the false sentiments and evil affections, which had now taken hold of the external man, must needs have been attended with anxiety and sorrow. Experience shows that it is so, and satisfactorily explains the passage. The ground was now to bring forth "thorns and thistles," to denote that the external man would now engender evil and false principles. Evils are the thorns, and false principles are the thistles. Hence the Lord, when treating of the distinction between the good and the evil, and the faithful and disbelievers, said, "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" J To " eat the herb of the field," signified that he would live a worldly life; and " to eat bread in the sweat of the face," was to partake of heavenly things only through toil and exertion. * St. Austin says, "No Christian will venture to affirm that these things are not to he taken in a figurative sense." — Preface to his Twelve Books on the First Three Chapters of Genesis. t See page 58. • J Matt. vii. 16. THE THREE CURSES. 161 These ideas could be easily proved by citations from the Word, but we cannot dwell on the detail. The reasonableness of these views, briefly as they are stated, will commend themselves to the thinker: those who will not think need not expect to knoAv. From what has now been stated it will be seen that by the condemnation of the serpent is denoted the evils Avhich the sensual principle had brought upon itself; by the sentence upon the woman was signified the evils to which the voluntary self- hood had become attached; and by the anathema upon the man was represented the evils lo which his intellectual part ha;d con- sented. These respective evils were the curses; and, as man brought the evils, so he must have been the author of the male- dictions, and of his sufferings therefrom. 13 CHAPTER XIII. CAIN AND ABEL, WITH THEIR OCCUPATIONS. "It is consonant to the history of Moses to suppose that God wished him to give mystical representations of the more sublime subjects of theology; because that style of writing was suited to the hieroglyphical learning in which he had been instructed.'" — Dr. Spencer, De Leyihus Hebtwoi-wn. The history by which we are informed of the births of Cain and Abel, with their occupations, is exceedingly simple and compendious. " Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. " * If we were to regard this as literal history, it would, nevertheless, be reason- able to think that, £ts a revelation, something more was designed by it than first meets the eye; and this it Avould be our duty to investigate and endeavour to learn. Although there might have been in early society such individuals as Cain and Abel, engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, 3^et it is difficult to sup- j^ose they would be referred to in any other way than as afford- ing ground for the construction of a symliolical history, relating to matters of a much more extensive and serious nature than the mere letter can possibly express. As the history which precedes that of Cain and Abel is only representative, we think that their history is of a similar character. The manner in Avhich those histories are connected seems to us to establish this opinion. As Adam is a generic name, expressing the idea of a community, the names of Cain and Abel, who are described to have descended from them, must be similarly construed; for a communit}' of persons cannot be said to give birth to individuals in their general capacity. The people of one generation originate the people who succeed them; but each individual springs from his own particular parents. It would be absurd to say that all *Gen. iv. 1, 2. 162 CAIN AND ABEL RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 163 the inhabitants of Rome were the father and mother of Julius Caesar; and yet this is much like supposing tlie societies called Adam and Eve to have been the personal parents of Cain and Abel, considered as individuals. One generation, called Adam, gave birth to other generations, called Cain and Abel; but as the former was a collection of men, so were the latter: as the former constituted a church, which afterwards fell, so the latter constituted separate communities, which distinguished them- selves by different religious sentiments and life. It is no uncommon thing for a single name to be employed to express the idea of a whole people. It was customary among the ancients, it is found in the Scriptures, and occasionally it is had recourse to in modern times. Thus, in countries, whether monarchical or republican, the king or president is named to express the acts and opinions of a whole cabinet. France, Eng- land, and other countries are sometimes mentioned, not to sig- nify their geographical existence, but to denote their living populations. In the Scriptures, Egypt, Judea, Philistia, Sidon, Jerusalem, and many other places are mentioned, not to indicate localities, but their inhabitants. Every one knows that the single names of Jacob, Esau, Joseph, Benjamin, and other descendants of Abraham, are frequently employed, not to express individuals, but a whole people, who were influenced and directed by certain views of a religious or economical character. The following instances will suffice to show this: — " I will visit Jacob according to his ways"; "Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel be glad"; "He leadeth Joseph like a flock." Multitudes of cases of this kind may be found in the Scriptures, and those of Cain and Abel are to be classed among them. They do not signify individuals, but communities, in whom were developed certain features of religious sentiment and feeling. They descended from the people called Adam, and the principles by which they were morally influenced were derived from the same source. These statements will appear remarkable to all who have been accustomed to regard those names as significant of indi- viduals only. Nevertheless, it is evident that at this time more than four persons were in existence. Indeed, it is usual to concede this fact by supposing that there might have been other 164 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. descendants of Adam, whose births are not recorded. But, apart from this idea, society must have been considerable. Some reasons for this opinion have been already adduced- others may now be added. The occupations assigned to Cain and Abel, if understood in a literal sense, require the admission of this idea. Tilling the ground and keeping sheep were dis- tinctive employments, that must have sprung out of the require- ments of society. Although the cultivation of a little land might have been required for the maintenance of four individu- als, yet it is difficult to see why the keeping of sheep should have been requisite for so limited a number. Such distinction of employments would scarcely have been recorded if there had not been society sufficiently extensive to require their uses; How- ever, Cain's attention was not wholly directed to agriculture. We find that he had acquired some knowledge of the art of building; for he is afterwards described to have erected a city in the land of Nod: both this knowledge and the city must have been called into existence by the requirements of society. It must have been such society that provided him with his wife, for there is no account of her origination. But for what purpose were the sheep to be kept ? It does not appear that they were used as food. To suppose that they were kept for the sake of their wool, implies the existence of a much larger society than that with which the letter of the history makes us acquainted, and to which its uses, in the way of being converted into articles of clothing, must have been well known. If we conjecture that it was for sacrificial purposes only, this obviously implies the prevalence of a religious community for whose offerings they were preserved. The offering of Cain was of the fniit of the ground. What was this ? was it brought in a natural or prepared state ? The original word m.inchah is thought to be explained in Leviticus, and to mean an offering of fine flour ^ with oil and frankincense.^ If Cain's offering were really of this description, how can we reasonably account for the exist- ence of those arts by which fine flour and oil were prepared, but on the supposition of society being more numerous than is usually thought of? The very circumstance of offerings l)eing spoken of, unaccom- * Lev. ii. 1. See Dr. A. Clarke. THE OCCUPATIONS OF CAIN AND ABEL RELIGIOUS. 165 panied by any coiiiinand enjoining them, is presumptive evi- dence that the idea of such a practice had been obtained by these brothers from a church or people previously extant. Sac- rificial worship was not commanded by God, nor is it any spontaneous offspring of the human mind. It must have origi- nated out of the i3erversion of some divine law or institution, for it is most unreasonable considered in itself;* and therefore, granting the offering of Abel to have been a natural sacrifice, that fact implies the perversion of some holier things that had been known to his predecessors. Both Cain and Abel brought offerings unto the Lord; this indicates a publicity in their worship, which idea the notion of the presence only of the two parents and two sons is not suffi- cient to supply. " The Hebrew Avord rendered brought is never used with respect to domestic or private oblations, but always for public sacrifices, "t The circumstance, then, of their hav- ing brought offerings obviously denotes the existence of society, and consequently that there were two classes of men, each of which was most attentive to its own views concerning them. But the unquestionable fact that Adam was a people, and not a single person, renders it unnecessary to dwell upon merely col- lateral circumstance to prove that it is the religious state of society, and not the worldly vocation of individuals, which is represented by the occupations of Cain and Abel. The Adamic Church having fallen by the transgression of its members, different views of faith and duty would, in the pro- cess of time, obviously arise among them. Having eaten of the tree of knowledge, they would begin to think and act from self. Self is not a uniting, but a dividing, principle. Under such circumstances, sectarianism would break out among them; and the sects, with their different branches, would for a consid- erable period be capable of being traced to the original stock. The fallen Adamic Church Avas the parent whence they all descended. It was customary in ancient times to speak of one * See Dr. Magee ou the Atouement. Bishop Patrick says, " It is uot prob- able that Adam would have presumed to invent a way of worship by killing beasts and burning their fat; especially as we cannot perceive any inclination to it in nature." t Bishop Patrick. 166 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. condition of the Church as being conceived and born of another, and so to form a sort of genealogy concerning its successive states, and to give them names accordingly. This is the prin- ciple involved in the description of Adam's descendants. There are a conception and birth of religious o[)inion as well as of per- sons. Every one who is at all acquainted with the history of the Christian Church knows when the principles of Protestantism were born, and who were their parents; for we have only to look abroad upon society, and we shall behold their progeny in a hundred sects. In the Church, one thing is, as it were, con- ceived and born of another in the way of spiritual generation. The apostle says, " Now abideth faith, hope, and charity; but the greatest of these is charity." * Charity, then, according to this authority, is the firstborn principle of the Christian life, faith is next, and hope succeeds. If charity became extinct among a people, the light of faith is necessarily endangered; and then how feeble and precarious must be their hopes! It is easy to see how one imperfect state of the Church may, as a parent, beget another: the idea is distinctly expressed in the Revela- tion, which describes a woman as the mother of harlots: f it plainly means a false religion originating abandoned principles. Now if the narrative of Cain and Abel be viewed under this aspect, we shall perceive that they are names expressive of two different classes of religious principles, which descended from the Adamic people, after they had partaken of the forbidden tree. The same view is to be taken of their other descendants. X This is somewhat evident from what is stated of the age of Adam. He is said to have lived eight hundred 3' ears after he begat Seth; a circumstance that may be fairly doubted when interpreted of an individual man, but which is very rational when it is sup- posed to treat of the continuance of a religious dispensatioii. Considered in this light, parallel cases can be adduced from re- ligious history. The Jewish economy has lasted for nearly three thousand years; and Abraham may, in a certain sense, be said to have lived all this time, in the religious principles and * 1 Cor. xiii. 13. f Rev. xvii. r>. J " All the personages whose histories are so earnestly related in Eastern countries never existed, and are nothing more than the ancient symbols per- sonified." — Abbe Pluche's History of the Heav€ns,vo]. i., p. 142. CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH AND CHARITY. 1G7 physiognomy which have been perpetuated to his descendants. But we must not here anticipate what we have to say on the longevity of the antediluvian patriarchs. It is sufficient now to observe that the nine hundred and thirty years recorded as the duration of Adam's life were significant of the states and periods of the dispensation so denominated; but that it, like the Protestant religion during the three hundred years of its existence, * was broken into a variety of sects, among whom Cain and Abel were the first and most distinguished. So long as the Adamic dispensation continued in its integrity, all the faculties of its people acted as one. The will loved what the understanding perceived to be true, and they worked har- moniously in promoting the virtues of a holy life. But when the people fell, those two faculties ceased to be united. This condi- tion of them is one of .the legacies which that event has be- queathed to posterity; and experience proves it to have been faithfully transmitted. We have a distinct consciousness tliat the will and the understanding act separately from each other. We think one thing, which may be true; — that is of the understand- ing: we love another, which may be opposite thereto; — that is of the will. These two faculties, in our unregenerated state, do not act in unison: they, so to speak, turn their backs upon each other, and look in opposite directions. This fact is a proof that man has broken in upon the harmony of his moral creation, and destroyed the unanimity which it originally possessed. Every one is aware that in religious things there are some per- sons who know truth much better than they do it; and, also, that there are others who feel truth much more correctly than they know it. The understandings of the former are always on the alert to seize on any information which is likely to increase their power: the will of the latter will be found docile, and re- sponsive to certain qualities of good. These distinctive classes are among the results of that separation which has taken place in these two faculties of humanity, and were first displayed * Protestautisni is referred to for illustration, because the facts concerning it are better known in this country. History shows the Roman Catholic religion not to have been exempt from similar divisions. What is called the Eastern Church is separated into three great parts, the Greek, the Roman, and those who differ from both. — MOSHEIM, Cent, xvi., chap. 11. 168 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. under the representative characters of Cain and Abel. By Cain were represented those who intellectually knew their Master's will but did it not: by Abel were denoted tliose who felt good- ness to be superior to knowledge, and so cultivated it with the greatest ardour. Such classes have always prevailed within the pale of a declining church. The Lord informed us of their ex- istence among the Jews, by the cases of the Pharisee and the Publican.* They both went up to pray, but the Pharisee, in the pride of his intellect, thanked God that he was not as other men are; while the Publican, in the humility of his heart, said, " Lord be merciful to me a sinner " ; and this man was justified rather than the other. Traces of similar characters are to be found in Christendom. It is well known to ol^servers that there are those who are self- satisfied with their intellectual possessions; who can converse with fluency about the things of religion; who can argue its positions with acuteness, and defend them with sagacity and power; but who, nevertheless, show, by their conduct and be- haviour, that they have hard hearts and c^uestionable morals. Who is not aware that there are others, but slightly acquainted with the doctrinal sentiments of religion, that can only con- verse imperfectly about the spiritual truth of revelation, but who, notwithstanding, have about them that simplicity of char- acter which assures the ol)server that they love and cherish what is good ? The former strive to conceal the deformity of their character by the brilliancy of their intellect; the latter, possess- ing no such talents, at once let you behold their hearts, and you see that they have respect for order and for virtue. Now, it was two classes of sentiments of this description, and, consequently, of persons by whom they were respectively held, that came into existence in the Adamic Church under the two names of Cain and Abel. They both professed to serve the Lord, but each from a different principle, and therefore, with different results. But we will endeavour to investigate the character of each, under the light of true Christian teaching. First of Cain. As the Adamic people, by eating of the forbidden tree, chose knowledge in preference to obedience, and so placed the cultiva- * Luke xviii. 10-14. THE ERROR OF FAITH ONLY. 169 tion of intellect above the purification of the heart, it is easy to see that the first results of such a course must have been the conception and birth of faith, — yea, faith only, as a means of acceptance with God. Cain was the representative of this prin- ciple; and, consequently, of all those persons who acquired and possessed it. The name, as a Hebrew word, denotes acqui- sition or possession. They believed that the possession of re- ligious knowledge was more necessary to secure the divine favour than the excellency of a virtuous life. They knew much, for they were tillers of the ground,— the planters of knowledge in the intellect; but they went to the Lord with their under- standing chiefly, and so attempted to serve him with only one half of their minds. They neglected the duty required by the invitation, " My son, give me thy heart."* They overlooked the important circumstance that knowledge is only a means to virtue as an end, and thus they rested their salvation upon the faith of thought, rather than upon the purity of life. They did not sufficiently attend to the fact, that, as light without heat produces no fruit, so faith without charity can secure no acceptance. A doctrine somewhat of this character, was propounded in the Christian Church at the time of what has been called the Reformation. It is thus expressed : ' ' We are accounted right- eous before God, only for the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not by works and deservings ; wherefore, that we are justified hy faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort" if but there is no such doctrine as this taught in the Sacred Scriptures. They, indeed, inculcate the necessity of faith, as one of the ingredients of the Christian character; but they never, like the above Article, represent it as the exclusive virtue: and herein lies the error; which the * Prov. xxiii. 26. fBook of Common Prayer, Eleventh "Article of Religion." Tlie plain meaning of this article is felt by the learned to be opposed to the plain teachings of the Scriptures ; and therefore Dr. Burnet says of it, " By faith only is not to be meant faith as separated from the other evangelical virtues ; but fixith as opposite to the rites of the Mosaical lnw."— Exposition of the XXXIX Articles. This, though not very clear as an explanation of the article, is satisfactory as a renunciation of the false doctrine which it expresses. 170 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. apostle sufficiently exposes, when he says, ' ' What doth it profit, iny Ijrethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works ? can faith save him ? Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Ye see how that by works a man is justi- fied, and not by faith onhj.'^ Tlie doctrine of faith only has been very disastrous to the Church, and contributed very extensively to the dangers by which she has been assailed. Although it is now, happily, l^ecoming a mere theory, which most sensible persons are abandoning, yet it was not always so. Luther said, ' ' The ten commandments do not belong to us Christians, but only to the Jews: we will not admit that any the least precept of Moses be imposed on us. Therefore, look that Moses, with all his law, be sent a packing in malem rem — with a mis- chief ' ' :t and the Church sometimes acts as though it still be- lieved this abomination. This is conspicuous in the case of great criminals, who, having forfeited their lives by a transgres- sion of God's commandments, are told to have faith, and expect salvation. A regard to faith, as the chief thing of the Church, was the first heresy of the Adamic people. It was conceived when the woman ate of the tree of knowledge, and born when Eve said, " I have gotten a man, Jehovah." There are two things which belong to a church, its wisdom and its love. With the good, wisdom is as a husband, and love as a wife. The Church, at the time here treated of, was, as to its wisdom, represented by Adam, and as to its love, by his wife. But we are informed that " Adam called his wife's name Eve," X that is, " life." The word Eve is a contraction of the Hebrew charah,^ and answers very closely to the word Zoe, by which it is rendered in the Septuagint, both of which signify "life." Now, why was she so called? It will be replied, " Because she was the mother of all living" : but surely some- thing more is meant by this than what is so expressed. There * Jas. ii. 14-24. t Luther's Works, vol. 1, published at Wiirteiuburg, p. 147, cited iu the "Intellectual Repository" of 1828, p. 80. Aud in coutinuiug the para- graph, he says that Moses ".should be held suspected for a heretic, cursed aud damned, and worse than the Pope or the devil." t Geu. iii. 20. ^ See Marginal Reading. FAITH WITHOUT CHARITY. 171 is only one fountain of life, that is, the Lord : it is because He lives that we live: * it is in Him we live, and move, and have our being, t In a merely literal sense, there is no more reason why she should be called life, from the circumstance of being the first mother, than that Adam should have been so called, on the ground of his having been the first father; and for other reasons, if the literal sense had been meant, it might have been equally appropriate.! The fact of this name having been given to her, shows that something more recondite is intended. Adam called his wife's name life, because the Church, as to wisdom, knows that the Church, as to love or affection, is life; it is a living thing with men, and so the spiritual mother of all its living excellence. It is well known that the Scriptures speak of the Church as a mother: the apostle distinctly asserts, that it is "the mother of us all " : § so that the idea which Moses, in respect to Eve, has symbolically indicated, the apostle has literally expressed. Now, a church can give birth to nothing but such things as pertain to faith and charity; but the quality of those descend- ants will depend upon the character of the parent. A corrupted fountain must send forth a turbid stream. Grapes do not grow on thorns, nor figs on thistles. Eve had fallen, and her first offspring was Cain, or faith, concerning which she said, "I have gotten a man, Jehovah," to express the idea that faith, without charity, was now considered to be sufficient for the purposes of the Church. Before this time, faith had not become a separate object of thought; it was united with love, and formed one with it. But now it began to exist as a dis- tinct principle in the mind, and also to be espoused by a people as the essential thing for their salvation. The Church, having acquired the doctrine of faith, is described as " getting a man." * John xiv. 19. t Acts xvii. 28. t Svvedeuborg states " that the soul is from the father, and the body from the mother ; for the soul is in the seed of the father, and is clothed with a body iu the womb of the mother ; or what amounts to the same, all tlie spiritual part of a man is from the father, and all the material part from the mother." — True Christian Religion, No. 92. I Gal. iv. 26. 172 THE WORD AND ITS IXSPIRATIOX. and to indicate its relation to the Lord, the term "Jehovah" is appended thereto.* By Cain, then, is to be understood, the doctrine of salvation by faith separate from charity, and, consequently, a people by whom this tenet was held. In this we discover what was the first heresy, and who were the first heretics. This doctrine was an enormity, and, therefore, God is recorded to have had no respect to its offerings. That which constituted their faith was actual knowledge. They saw the o]:)jects in which it was neces- sar}^ to believe, with certainty and clearness, but they rested in their knowledge as an intellectual possession, considering it the all of religion, and so allowed the affections to go astray and to revel in their lusts. But the doctrine of faith only, which has sprung up in the Christian Church, is not precisely of this character. Its mem- bers do not see that the objects in which they are taught to believe are really true. Indeed it is openly stated, that they are mysteries for faith, and not matters for comprehension: thus it is the dictate of authority, and not the result of knowledge. If a thing be not understood, how is it known to be true? What assurance is there that it is not false ? To sa}^ that God has said so, and that, therefore, it is to be believed, is assuming * The Authorized Version represents Eve as sajinfjc, upon the birth of Cain, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." The original does not express the idea "from the Lord " : there is nothing answering to the word from. It is eth Jehovah, i. e., tlie Jehovah ; and not meeth Jehovah, i. e., from the Jehovah. The passage is considered to be one of great difficulty. The former sentence is thought to liiive been an elliptical mode of expressing the latter idea, so that the whole is interpreted to mean, that Eve had gotten a man through the blessing of the Lord. The Septuagint and Vulgate so render the original. This construction might be satisfactory, if the premises on which it rested were not suppositions ; but that being the case, we are at liberty to doubt. Besides this conjecture, it has been said, because the name Jehovah is some- times applied to places (see Gen. xxii. 14 ; Exod. xvii. 15 ; Judg. vi. 24, &c.), and is also admissive of being represented by the term Lord, which is fre- quently applied to men, that Eve's statement, "I have gotten a man from the Lord," is a mere acknowledgment to her husband of Cain's paternity : but this notion has no foundation in true criticism. The correct translation is, ''I have gotten a man, Jehovah" ; in this sense it might indicate an acknowledgment in the form of "Jehovah, I have gotten a man." Under this view it agrees with the spiritual sense given above. THE OBJECTS OF FAITH SAID TO BE MYSTERIOUS. 173 the very point in question. Has God really said what is gen- erally, required to be believed? Has He declared unintelligi- bilities for the faith of man ? That Avhich is not. rationally seen to be true does not contribute anything to the development of affection or to the enlargement of thought: and hence we find religious society at a standstill in every situation where it has been touched with the paralyzing wand of faith only. But though this doctrine in the Christian Church (because arising from an obscurity under which the things of faith are contem- plated) is less malignant in its nature than that which was rep- resented by Cain, still it is the same in kind, and must be fatal in its results. Much ingenuity has been exercised in the defence of this extraordinary tenet. But the inventions of talent cannot suc- cessfully maintain what is essentially false. It is possible, by avoiding some main point of an inquiry, to make a show of argument in favour of any falsehood, and so, for the moment, to embarrass even truth itself. Men who are disposed to believe the worse to be the better cause, will find assertions to defend their notions. It is possible to make black appear white, by looking at the feathers of a raven in a certain angle with the sun. But all such courses are delusive, and they will terminate, like the offering of faith alone, in disappointment and rejection. That doctrine is similar to the light of the sun with- out its heat; like summer without its fruits; like winter, cold, fierce, and chilling. Here, however, by faith alone we do not merely mean the tenet as it is propounded by certain branches of the professing Christian world; because we can see that it may practically exist within the pale of a genuine church. Persons may join her community and learn her truths so as to know them with a rational persuasion, and yet they may not love them so as to realize the virtues to which they point. It is this practical view of the case, rather than the mental persuasion, which is the real antitype of Cain. Faith cannot bring an acceptable offering to God, unless it be conjoined with charity; and charity is not a theory, but an act. Faith is the knowledge and consciousness that certain things of religion are true; for if they be not true, they are not worth 174 THE AVORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. believing. If men believe without a persuasion from such sources, their faith is blind: and if, in such a state, they should rely upon something that is false, it must necessarily exercise an injurious influence upon their intellectual life. Faith then, con- sidered in its solitary character, is the mere knowledge of truth; and this faith is more or less expansive and enlightened, as the truths which form it are more and more abundantly increased. Here it may be inquired, If the knowledge of truth be one of the constituents of faith, why are its offerings not acceptable to God, seeing that, as truth, it must have originated in Him ? The answer is, that although truth does originate in God, yet it does not descend from him as a solitary principle. In him it is eternally associated with good, and with this it comes from Him to man: man has separated them. He has put asunder what God has joined together, and, in rejecting the princij^le of good, on which the quality of truth depended for its excellence, there can be only a dead, and not a living faith. Moreover, the truth which is necessary to the formation of faith is only a means to an end, and the end cannot be secured Ijy a mere belief in the means. All believe that a good claj^'s M'ork may be done by industry and diligence: this is believed because experience has proved it true; yet it is certain that mere belief will not do the work. The case is similar in religious things. We must emi)loy the truths we know to obtain the goods they teach, before they can become an acceptable offering to God. A further reason why mere faith cannot present an accei')table offering to Him is, because it is not morally beneficial to us. Nevertheless, faith is tlie first principle to which the Church gives birth — like Cain, it is first-born; — a man must first learn to speak and think, then to investigate and know the things of religion; but to stop at this point is to consider that religious principles are formed, when, in fact, they are only known; and this is to resuscitate the character of Cain. Faith, without charity, is nothing: for tlie apostle has most eloquently said, "Though I have the gift of pro})hecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and tiiough I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."* Much difficulty has been experienced by the Church in deter- * 1 Cor. xiii. 2. TRUTH ALONE NOT AN ACCEPTABLE OFFERING. 175 mining whether faith or charity was the primary principle. This is a consequence of not distinguishing between faith as being the first in respect to time, and charity as being chief in respect to end. It may now be easily removed, and the facts familiarly illustrated. For example: in building a temple, the first thing, in respect to time, is to lay the foundation, erect the walls, cover them with a roof, and afterwards provide the altar and raise the pulpit; but the chief thing in respect to end i:^, that God may be worshipped therein. So, again, with re- gard to the building of a house: the first thing in regard to time is to build the external parts of it, and then to provide the requisite conveniences within; but the first thing in regard to end, is a commodious dwelling for the master and his family. Illustrations of this kind are abundant. They show, most con- clusively, that faith is first with respect to time, because it is a means to charity as an end: and hence Cain, by whom this faith is represented, is described to have been first born. This representation of Cain is farther sustained by the occu- pation in which he is said to have been engaged. He was a tiller of the ground ; and by this is spiritually signified a planter of knowledges in the understanding merely. That this was the character of Cain — that is, of all those people of that most nncient time who adopted the heresy of faith separate from charity — appears from all the circumstances Avhich are related of him, and especially from these, that his offering was rejected, and that he slew his l)rother. This brings us to inquire concerning Abel. Ancient writers abound in observations on his mystical character,* and he has very commonly been regarded as the representative of the pas- toral tribes, in like manner as Cain has been considered the author of the nomadic life. Thus, his representative character seems to be. admitted, though some obscurity may be felt as to what he * Chrysostom, Horn, in Gen. xviii. 5; Augustin, De Civitaie Dei, xv. 1 ; Irenaeus, Contra HiBres., iii. 23, so speak of him. Dr. Darwin, in his Botani- cal Garden, Art. Portland Vase, sjieaking of the opinions Avhich have been held concerning tlie early personages of the Bible, says, " Aliel was the name of an hieroglyphical figure representing the age of Pasturage, and Cain the name of another hieroglyphical symbol representing the age of Agriculture." 176 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. signified. From what is written concerning him in the Word, we think it is evident that he was the rei)resentative of charity. Abel, as a Hebrew term, denotes humility, also weakness: humility, to denote a characteristic of charity, and weakness, to express its modesty and sweetness; as well, perhaps, as to indi- cate the limited number of society by whom it was loved and practised. Abel is said to have been the brother of Cain, to inform us that charity is a near relative to faith. The Scrip- tures continually speak of the intimate connection between these two principles of the Church, and man has been merci- fully gifted with two faculties for their reception: the will for charity, the understanding for faith. But although there is a spiritual brotherhood subsisting between these two principles, the universal experience of mankind is, that the things of faith are more forward and urgent than the affections of charity. Charity, though the sweeter and more gentle excellence of the Church, is too frequently lorded over by the more daring and presumptuous influence of faith. The affections of good are well known to be more feeble than the perceptions of truth. Abel is modest and retiring, Cain is bold and confident. Faith struggles for command and mastery, and it is too frequently inattentive to the weaker but inner sensations of charity. Most persons have felt a desire to do good when a suitable oppor- tunity has been presented, but how many have had it set aside by the influence of some selfish persuasion! How frequently does talent endeavour to place itself as a substitute for virtue! Cleverness has sometimes been mistaken for goodness. These facts are too common to have escaped the attention of those who observe what is taking place around them. But it may have occurred to them that, in these phenomena, the}^ were beholding the struggles of two spiritual brothers: the efforts of faith to secure an ascendancy over charity: the sternness of Cain displaying its prowess to subdue the modesty of Abel; and which circumstance, in after times, was also represented by Jacob taking away the birthright and blessing of his brother Esau,* by Pharez gaining the primogeniture from his brother Zarah,f and by Ephraim obtaining the position which belonged to his brother Manasseh.| *Geu. xxvii. 36. f Gen. xxxviii. 27 to the end. J Gen. xlviii. 18 to the end. SIGNIFICATION OF A SHEPHERD. 177 It is because Abel represented cbarity, and, consequently, tbose who were principled in it, that the Lord called him "the righteous Abel,"* and that the apostle spoke of his offering as being the "more excellent sacrifice. "f His occupation, as a "keeper of sheep," will farther exemplif}^ this fact. The Scriptures very frequently employ the idea of a shepherd, as well as the expression, to denote one who exercises the good of charity. It is on this account that the Psalmist said, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." | He is essential charity; and from this principle he is perpetually engaged in watching over the welfare and providing for the wants of man- kind: hence, also, it is written of Him, " He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs into his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead them that are with young"; § a passage beautifully expressive of the Lord's affec- tionate tenderness for the people of his pasture, and his charitable solicitude for the sheep of his hands. Peter was contemplated as a shepherd, when the Lord directed him to feed his sheep: || he was expected to exercise an enlightened charity in the apos- tolic office to which he was appointed. Ministers of the Gospel are sometimes called pastors, that is, shepherds, for the same reason. He who leads and teaches what is good is called a shepherd, and those who are led and taught, are called the flock. The Scriptures represent the good shepherd to love his sheep, and to care for the safety and unity of the flock; but the hireling shepherd is described as one who leaveth them, and in times of danger fleeth, so as to allow them to be scattered. The Lord Jesus Christ said, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine " : ^ and the Church he called a sheepfold.** The reason for these descriptions is that a shepherd is the emblem of that charity which carefully watches over the things of innocence, gentleness, and purity, in the human mind: and this is said to have been the occupation of Abel, because he was a representative of this excellence. Thus we learn that by Cain, as a tiller of the ground, was *Matt. xxiii. 35. fHeb. xi. 4. J Psa. xxiii. 1. ? Isa. xl. 11. II John xxi. 16. f John x. 14. ** Jolin X. 1. 14 ' 178 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. denoted faith, engaged in planting knowledge in the intellect merely; and that by Abel, as a keeper of sheep, was signified charit}', chiefly emj^loyed in promoting the good things of use: consequently, that they represented two classes of persons in the most ancient Church, to whom those principles respectively belonged. These conclusions will be corroborated by other evidences to be adduced in the succeeding chapter. CHAPTER XIV. THE OFFERINGS OF CAIN AND ABEL : WHY THE OFFERING OF ABEL WAS RESPECTED, AND THAT OF CAIN REJECTED. "Truth is like the dew of heaven; in order to preserve it pure, it must be collected in a pure vessel." — St. Pierre. The offerings of Cain and Abel are the first intimations of divine worship that are recorded. The subject is thus related: " In process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the. Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. ' ' * Now whence could the idea of divine worship have originated ? It can be satisfactorily accounted for only by admitting that a Church existed, to which a knowledge of that duty had been communi- cated. It is true, we do not read of any command having been given upon this subject; this was not requisite, because we think it was implied in the offering, and necessarily included in the process by which the Church was developed; of which we have previously treated. The worship of the Lord must have been one of its conspicuous features; it naturally belonged to the Paradisiacal state of the Adamic people. Their fall would induce a neglect of the essential things of this duty, but not a complete forgetfulness of it: that calamity would also lead to a difference in the quality of the worship, but not to its entire abandonment. Cain and Abel, therefore, must have learnt the duty of divine worship from the Church that was extant, and the difference in their offerings must have originated in the different perceptions of that duty, then in the process of being manifested. But how are we to understand their offerings ? Are they to be interpreted as meaning the physical tilings described, as was * Gen. iv. .3-5. 179 180 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. afterwards the case in the Jewish Church, or are they mentioned only because they are the symbols of certain things of the mind, by which all worship must be performed? We think the latter, and not the former, is the view which ought to be taken of the case. Although men had fallen, they had not forgotten that natural things were the emblems of spiritual sentiments and love, nor had they yet ceased to speak of them as such; these Avere subsequent occurrences. A really ceremonious worship did not come into existence until men had lost all spiritual ideas of worship: when this took place, they began to worship the Lord with those objects which their ancestors had only spoken of as the symbols of those mental affections and thoughts Avith which they had worshipped. Having lost sight of the spiritual reality, they began to worship with the natural repre- sentation; and this was the origin of that ceremonial worship subsequently arranged among the descendants of Abram. It was then instituted, not only as the shadow of better things to come, but, also, as the types of those precious things which had perished. At the time of Cain and Abel, the people had not sunk into so low a condition as that which afterwards required the estab- lishment of a ceremonial religion: worship of the Lord from some interior principle still prevailed among them; and as all such principles were known to them to have their correspond- ence in natural objects, such objects would he mentioned in connection with their worship, to signify spiritual things only. If they spoke of the firstfruits, or of a lamb, as offerings to the Lord, it would not be to indicate those natural things, but sym- bolically to express some internal sentiment of truth and love: this we conceive must have been the case with the offerings of Cain and Abel. It is well known that offerings, under the ceremonial law, were acts of worship; that is, not worship in themsc^lves, but types of those spiritual and heavenly principles from which it must arise. This must be obvious to every one who will reflect. The offering, apart from the sentiment which it represented, could be of no religious value. In such a case it would be an external without a corresponding internal, like a Itody without a soul, or a dumb idol. External acts of worship are mere THE REPRESEXTATION OF OFFERINGS. 181 ceremonies, unless they are sanctified ))y the adoration of the heart. What are the pra3'ers of the lips but .mere babbling, unless the affection of the mind be in them? All such acts are valuable onl}- so far as there is a corresponding intention in them : they must be attended with an internal love to give them sanctity, and render them acceptable. The offerings, then, as forms of worship, were significant of mental and spiritual affec- tions, in which the real virtue and efficacy of the worship con- sist. Offerings are presents: this is the idea which the word liter- ally expresses; and the original ma}^ with propriety be so trans- lated. But presents in general are intended to testify the es- teem which we entertain for those to whom we give them ; and the will or intention is regarded by him who receives them as of greater value than the thing presented. If this be true, then the things which are presented to God must be tokens ex- pressive of such sentiments of gratitude and love as are cher- ished by the offerer; and God must be considered to receive them, not for the value of the things themselves, "for the world is his, and the fulness thereof,"* but wholly for the sake of the affections by which the}^ are accompanied. It is upon this principle that the Lord said, " If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy Avay; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and off er thy gift. " t Here it is plain that the offering was consid- ered as the S3'mbol of an inward sentiment of love and charity, because reconciliation with a brother was necessary to render it acceptable. Seeing, then, what an offering to the Lord involves, we may readily perceive that the things which were arranged for this purpose under the representative law were intended to signify particular states of the affection and thought of those who wor- shipped. We find that lambs and rams, shee]^ and oxen, goats and calves, doves and pigeons, and flour and oil, were directed to be presented to the Lord. Moreover, some of them were to be offered under special circumstances. There were sin-offer- ings, meat-offerings, drink-offerings, heave-offerings, wave- * Psa. 1. 12. t Matt. v. 23, 24. 182 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. offei'ings, peane-offerings, and trespass-offerings, to each of which specific ceremonies were attached. Tliese various offer- ings were evidently intended (or why else were they so many, and one thing selected for their celebration in preference to another?) to show forth, in a representative manner, the several states of affection and thought which, under various circum- stances, become characteristics of the worshipper. The offerings under the Levitical law seem generally to in- clude the ideas of death and consumption by fire. These, however, were the results which attended the introduction of sacrificial worship, rather than the natural concomitants of the primitive offerings; they did not involve those circumstances, and therefore they are not mentioned in connection with those of Cain and Abel; this may be taken as evidence that they are stated only for the sake of the symbols which they afforded. AVe are merely informed of what they consisted, but not of the manner in which they were presented: it is then simply the meaning of those offerings into which we have to inquire. First of Cain's: — Cain, or the religion of faith without charity, has its offerings, that is to say, its modes and principles of worship. It was in the process of time ' ' that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord." From this it would appear, that the characteristics of the worship which now distinguished Cain were not developed all at once: they were results brought about ia the process of time. Thus it Avas not so far separated from charity in the beginning as it afterwards became. The last state was worse than the first: it was about this period when "Cain l)rought of tli« fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord." What, then, is meant by the fruit of the ground ? It will be remembered that Adam, when sent forth from the garden of Eden, was to till the ground whence he was taken; and, in treat- ing of that circumstance in a preceding chapter, it was shown that the ground Avas significant of the external man. That is the ground on which the spiritual and celestial things of the internal man rest, as a house upon its foundation. It is com- pared to the ground, because it is to the things of the mind what the earth is to the body. The apostle says, " That which is first is not spiritual, but natural; " and then of this first he says, it THE OFFERING OF CAIN. 183 is " of the earth, earthy."* The Lord said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed into the ground ;^'f and also, in explanation of the parable of the sower, he said, " He that received seed into good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandetli it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold. "| In these instances it is plain that by the ground is meant the external man, and to sow seed therein denotes to implant truths, that they may grow up and produce the leaves of faith and the fruits of love. Now it is to be remarked that Cain did not bring for an offer- ing the fruit of those seeds. Although he was a tiller of the ground, yet he only brought of the fruit of the ground, and not of the fruit of the seeds, which, as a tiller of it, he had sown therein. This is a distinction of the highest consequence, to be carefully observed, in order rightly to understand the subject. The sentiments of revelation are couched in choice expressions; and the fruit of the ground is spoken of as the offering of Cain, because it denoted the works of the merely external man. What is the external man ? It is not the physical structure, but all those knowledges and affections which are gathered thereby from the outer world, and which then form, as it were, tlie external of his spirit. The natural body is only the outer- most covering, within which, the external of which we are speaking, and the spiritual man, reside during its location in this world. The internnl man is so constituted that it can perceive and love the things of heaven, and the external is such that it can learn and delight in the things of the Avorld. With the good these two act as one, the internal illuminating and guiding the exter- nal, as the efficient cause of all its works of use and order. With those who are not good it is not so. In that case, the internal is more or less closed, according to the quality and extent of the evil that is loved, and the external man only remains in activity; this it derives from the love of self and the love of the world. A man in such a state is not necessarily deprived of religious information: he may store his memory with its doctrines, become acquainted with its duties, and acquire the ability of speaking of them with fluency and force, but his motives in doing these * 1 Cor. XV. 46-49. t Mark iv. 26. J Matt. xiii. 23. 184 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. things will wholly arise from the loves of self and of the world. The quality of the external man, when separated from the internal, is worldly; and all that it produces is with a view to selfish ends. This, then, is the ground, and such is the fruit thereof. The religion of a man like this is obviously nothing more than knowledge and its forms : it has no soul from above, its life is from below. How can the fruits of this ground be acceptable to God ? We see at once that it cannot be respected. It rejects the great principle involved in the invitations, " My son, give me thy heart; " " Let thy heart keep my commandments. "* These circumstances, then, fully explain the case of Cain's offering not being respected. But it may be asked what evidence there is to prove that Cain was merely an external man ? The apostle says, he was of the wicked one : f it is also presented in all the circumstances related of his character, and from which it has been seen that he repre- sented faith only. The tendency of that doctrine is, to produce such a result upon the human character. ^Mien a man believes faith to be the principal thing of the Church, he will gradually recede from charity, for that in process of time will perish; in this case he will, as it were, have lost the kernel, and merely retain the husk, which will also be endangered. Faith is an external principle, of which charity is the internal, and, there- fore, it is plain that those who are in faith only must be merely external men, whose faith is not faith, but mere science and persuasion. Confidence, which may be called faith in an emi- nent degree, cannot be given to those who are not in charity. How can those have genuine confidence Avho have lost the good by which it is inspired and made alive ? Charity is as a flame, and faith the light which it emits: when the flame expires the light perishes, or, if any remain, it is dim and doubtful. These, then, are the reasons why the Lord had not respect to Cain, or to his offering. Faith only is no object of the divine regard, neitber are its offerings, these being nothing else than the self-derived intelligence of the external man. By these representative descriptions we are informed of the moral state and spiritual danger of all those persons among * Prov. xxiii. 2G; iii. 1. f 1 Jo''" •''• 12. WHAT THE FIRSTLINGS OF THE FLOCK DENOTED. 185 whom the heresy of Cain prevailed; which is confirmed by the divine declaration made to him, namely, "If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. " It is plain that he did not do well, and that, therefore, both he and his offering were rejected. But why had the Lord respect to Abel and to his offering? To Abel, because he was the representative of charity, which prevailed with another community, and Avhich is an internal and sanctified principle, inducing all that is good and lovely in the human character. This view is recognized by the apostle, who, speaking of Abel' s works, says they were righteous. * But of what were his offerings significant ? Under the ceremonial law the sacrifices were supplied from two sources, the flocks and the herds. Those of the flock consisted of lambs, sheep, rams, and goats; and those of the herd, of oxen, heifers, and calves. By those of the flock were represented the good affections of the internal man, and by those of the herd were denoted the good affections of the external man; or, in other words, by the former were denoted the good things of love and charity, and by the latter, the good things of truth and faith. Hence arose the proverb, ' ' Know the state of thy flocks, and look Avell to thy herds; " t and also the declaration concerning backsliding Israel, namely, "Shame hath devoured their flocks and herds." I The Lord likewise called those who affectionately followed him a "little flock," and said unto them, "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." § Now Abel's offerings were of the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof; which may be taken, in the representative sense, to mean a lamb, and the fat thereof. The significant character of a lamb is abundantly shown to us in the Scriptures. The Lord's command to feed His lambs; || His sending forth the disciples as lambs among wolves;^ and the circumstance of His Humanity being called the "Lamb of God; "** sufficiently prove that this term is used in a symbolical sense; and the same facts clearly dictate that it is employed as the representative of innocence. The truth of this idea is per- * 1 John iii. 12. t Prov. xxvii. 23. J Jer. iii. 24. ? Luke xii. 32. || Johu xxi. 15. Tf Luke x. 3. ** John i. 29. 186 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. ceivod almost by intuition; and from this circumstance has grown up the affectionate custom of speaking of cliildren in their innocence as lambs. Innocence is of two kinds: the innocence of infancy, and the irmocence of manhood. By manhood, we mean that sound condition of humanity which is induced by religious influences and teachings. The innocence of the infant is the innocence of ignorance; it is of a mere negative quality, arising from the unconscious presence of any guilt, and thus it is merely the ground on which all the future states of religious life are raised. It' is not a possession whicli the infant can appreciate: it is a necessary result of his condition, and towards which, neither his intellectual nor his voluntary powers have at all contributed. But the innocence of the man is the innocence of Avisdom: it is, as it were, the innocence of the infant grown into a man, devel- oped, and made alive by the instructions of truth and goodness. In this case it becomes an appreciable possession; so that the distinction between the quality of the innocence with the infant and the man is, that wdth the former it is an inheritance of which he is unconscious, but with the latter it is an enlightened and sensible possession. Thus, the state of infancy is not a state of religious innocence; because, with the infant, it does not exist as a spiritual quality, perceptible to the subject: but the innocence of the man is a religious principle, implanted as he receives good and becomes wise. Goodness and wisdom are essential innocence. It w^as on this account that the Lord Jesus Christ, as to His Humanity, was called the ^^ Lamb of God," and described to have "grown in wisdom and favour with God." The disciples are called lambs for a similar reason. Such, then, being the signification of a lamb, it is easy to see that the offering of it to the Lord meant the Avorship of him from the good of innocence, and a consequent acknowledgment that it had come from him, and was properly his. Every one must perceive, that in all good there must be innocence; it is that which makes it good; for if innocence be removed, then in comes guilt. Charity without innocence cannot be charity: as, then, Abel was the representative of charity, and, consequently, of all those in wdiom it exists, it is A LAMB THE EMBLEM OF INNOCENCE. 187 plain that innocence niu^t luive been a quality essential to its existence. If, then, a lamb really denoted the quality of re- ligious innocence; and if by the firstling of the flock be meant a lamb, then it follows, as an irresistible consequence, that the offering of Abel was designed to signify the worship of the Lord by and from that innocence. It is called the firstling of the flock because innocence is among the first things of man, which is afterwards made alive by the insemination of religious good; and the fat thereof is intended to express the superiority of its quality, and the beauty of its developments. The fat of the lamb represented the essential things of innocence, which is the principle of celestial good itself. Hence the Lord said, ' ' Hearken dili- gently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, that your soul may delight itself in fatness;"* and again, " I will fill the soul of the priest with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, "t It is plain that, in these passages, fat does not mean material fat, but that which is essentially good from the Lord. With these views before us, we can be at no loss to discover why it was that the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offer- ing. Charity, and the good of innocence, with which those who are principled in it worship the Lord, are acceptable things to him. They involve a faithful obedience to the laws and duties of revelation, and whosoever cherishes and observes them will be sure to obtain admission into the heavenly king- dom, and so realize those blessings which are associated with the divine respect for them. But by what evidences were Cain and Abel made acquainted with the results of their respective oflferings ? There is no state- ment given by which they were to be guided into such knowl- edge. It has been conjectured that fire came down from heaven and consumed Abel's offering, but passed by that of Cain's, in like manner as fire is said to have descended on two or three other occasions, after the establishment of the Leviti- cal law. X This supposes the offerings of Cain and Abel to have * Isa. Iv. 2. t Jer. xxxi. 14. J See Lev. ix. 24 ; 1 Kings xviii. 38 ; also Jurlg. vi. 21. To support this idea, Tlieodotiaii has tran.slated the Hebrew sJiaah (have respect) into Greek by the word enepurisen, he set on fire. — Bayle^s Did. Hist., Art. Egnatia. 188 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. been identically similar with the Jewish sacrifices; Whereas in their offerings there is no intimation of sacrifice in the way of killing an animal and presenting it upon an altar. Ikit if any weight were attached to this notion, we should still have to inquire, how they knew that burning of the victim was a sign of the divine approbation ? Had they learnt it by experience, or were they taught it by revelation ? There is no written in- formation by which these questions can satisfactorily lie an- swered; nor need they be urged when it is knowai that their offerings are not mentioned in order to be understood in a phys- ical sense: the whole difficulty arises from that view of the case, and it can be removed only by other considerations. It is plain that both Cain and Abel must have known, by some means, the divine estimate of their respective offerings: as there is no information of any external token being given of the circumstance, it seems certain that it must have been af- forded them by means of some internal evidence. Is not that the only real evidence which a man can have of his position in the Church of God ? The divine acceptance or rejection of human w^orship is made known to the internal sensations of the worshii)per, rather than by any external signs. Those people must have know'n, from the satisfactions and delights which attended their worship, whether it was acceptable or otherwise. So far as it was genuine, it must have been admissive of a holy infiuence from the Lord, and so of an indication of his respect; but wdien it w^as not genuine that influence could not enter into it, and surely that would evince its rejection. The worshipper is still gifted with some tokens of this description, which testify the sincerity or imperfection of his love; and his experiences in these respects will serve to show how Cain and Abel must have known the estimation in which their offerings were held. If a man's heart l)e not set right towards God, he is made to know, l)y his consciousness of that fact, that his oftVrings cannot l)e regarded. He feels his affections tending downwards rather than upwards; he knows that his thoughts wander in the world, while his words may be expressing the sentiments of holiness; he is fully aware that lie d\vells in nature only, and offers nothing but the fruit of the ground. The experience of this consciousness on the part of Cain is thus described: "He v/as very wroth, and his countenance THE RECEPTION AND RE:JECTI0N OF WORSHIP. 189 fell." This circumstance unfolds his character: it shows that charity was gone; anger could not otherwise have possessed him. It proves that a gloomy state was induced upon his mind, or his countenance could not have fallen. The feeling of wrath is opposed to the sentiment of charity, and a falling of the countenance only takes place when some unfavoural)le change affects the interiors of its subject. Anger is aroused when self-love is opposed, and that love is contrary to the love of God. The existence of the former proves the absence of the latter: so, also, the countenance, which is bright and pleasing when enlightened and influenced by a benignity within, be- comes sad and falls when the consciousness of impurity is felt. Such was the character of Cain; and by his history we are in- formed of the internal state and spiritual danger of all those people among whom the heresy of his religion prevails. That his state was of such a quality is farther confirmed by its being said to him, ' ' If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door: " he did not do well, therefore he was not accepted; his offering was the form of worship without the essence: and similar disappoint- ment and rejection await all those who, like him, know their Master's will, but do it not; who know the way, but walk not in it; who think they shall be heard well, because they speak much; who have enlarged minds, but guilty hearts; who have the faith of knowledge, but not the charity of love. CHAPTER XV. THE DEATH OF ABEL.— THE CURSE ON CAIN ; HIS FUGITIVE AND VAGABOND CONDITION. " During the first eight centuries the Greek and Roman churches were in communion with each other; but in the ninth century their disputes became so violent, that a final separation took place between them. A Patriarch was elected for Con- stantinople, as the head of the Greek Church ; he was soon excommunicated by the Pope, as the head of the Romish Church; the Pope, in return, was excom- municated by the Patriarch." — Jones's "Dictionary of Reiiyions Opinions," p. 76. The circumstances recorded to have constituted the succes- sive decline of the Adamic or most ancient Church are, as to kind, very similar to those which have produced the corrup- tions of other religious dispensations mentioned in the Scrip- tures. They are also illustrated by facts, which history assures us liave l)rought about the extinction of various institutions of a religious character, and which, at the time of their origination, were intended to promote some general good. For a period they have satisfactorily flourislied in the accomplishment of the purposes for which they were established, but by-and-by their quietude has been disturbed: some persons, influenced by the love of pre-eminence, have souglit to rule, and they have rudely broken in upon the order and the happiness which previously existed under such institutions. Having partaken more largely of knowledge than humility, men sought to be as gods; and in the prosecution of their designs they have originated dissensions and divisions: one party has obtained ascendency over another: temporary success has stimulated the arrogance of selfishness, until it has wickedly attempted to crush the modesty of right and justice, — in which it has too frequently been successful. In such historical facts we have the general counterpart of those events which brought about the catastrophe of Abel's death; and, viewed under this aspect, we perceive, in the ante- diluvian narrative, a history of the development of human pas- sions, when once evil had introduced its unhallowed presence 190 THE WORD OF GOD FOR ALL TIME. 191 among them. The narrative, in having responses in after-his- tory, not only treats of the lawless activity of man's fallen nature among an ancient people, but it may also be regarded as describing circumstances which have been enacted over and over again in the wide domain of religious society; it is not only the written picture of events which have frequently distin- guished such society, but it is also a caligraphic portrait of the states of individual men. Do we not find them abusing the privileges they are permitted to enjoy, and so preferring per- sonal gratification to religious obedience? Do not our experi- ences assure us that we have produced a separation between our knowledge and our duty ? and have we not acted as though we considered them to be distinct things, instead of regarding them as one ? Religious knowledge exists for the purpose of conduct- ing men to spiritual obedience: but every one knows that he has permitted the love of information to acquire an ascendency over the love of duty;- and it is no uncommon case to find that the desire of duty has been extinguished in the pursuit of knowledge, and thus that Cain has slain his brother Abel. It is only when we can see the ^^'ord of God to have a uni- versal, continual, and particular application to the moral ex- periences of men, both in their collective and individual condi- tions, that we possess the genuine evidence necessary to con- vince us that it is what it professes to be — a revelation from God. It must have been the Divine Mind which caused the construction of the narrative we are considering, because it describes, in a consecutive series, facts which, when viewed in their internal sense, have their counterparts in the experiences of religious men. None but God knoweth what is in man; none but He could have looked into futurity, so as to have be- held the workings and displays of disordered humanity, and thereupon to have caused the production of a work which should describe them with the minutiae and accuracy which His book can be proved to do. His Word is for all time and for all men. To suppose that it was merely the history of a particular period and of a peculiar people, is to take away from it the majesty and eternity of its purpose, as well as to overlook the infinity and spirituality of its origin. It is written of God, 192 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. that without a parable spake he not.* The most marvellous and accomplished parable of revelation is that which is called the Antediluvian History; and we now come to that part of it which informs us of the death of Abel by the hand of Cain. The catastrophe is thus related: "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, Avhen they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him."f This result sufficiently indicates that their talking together is to be understood as expressing the idea of angry disputation. This was the natural consequence of two different sects, which had branched off from the most ancient Church, one of which was seeking an ascendenc}^ over the other. It is no uncommon circumstance for rival parties in religion to be found in the bitterness of controversy. Although the}' may be in the same field together, — or, what is thereby signi- fied, although they may profess to belong to the same general religious dispensation, — yet the j)articular views which each has taken of some of its doctrines and discipline have brought them into collision, and they have not unfrequently conducted their controversies more in the spirit of conquest and the world, than under the influence of truth and heaven. The history of the Lutheran, Calvinistic, and Arminian parties in the Christian Church, displays these facts with sufficient clearness. They have talked together, but they have talked vehemently. Luther denounced Erasmus as a vain, inglorious animal, because he exposed some of the religious crudities which "the Reformer" had published: | Calvin caused Servetus to be put to death, be- cause he dared to differ from him in religious opinion. § The * ]\Iatt. xiii. 34. f Gen. iv. 8. J His words are, "That exasperated viper, Erasmus, has again attacked me; what eloquence will the vain, inglorious animal display in the over- throw of Luther ! " § " When Servetus had escaped from his prison at Vienna, and was pass- ing through Switzerland in order to seek refuge in Italy, Calvin caused him to be apprehended at Geneva, in the year 1.553, and had an accusation of blasphemy brought against him before the council. The issue of this accu- sation was fatal to Servetus. who, adhering resolutely to the opinions he had embraced, was, by a public sentence of the court, declared an obstinate RELIGIOUS DISPUTES. 193 controversies founded on the doctrines of Arminius involved Switzerland in years of discord; and other branches of the pro- fessing Christian Church, which have had greater power and more audacity, have not scrupled at any means by which they could subdue their antagonists in religious things. Sometimes they have had recourse to violence and blood, rather than not attain the supremacy to which they aspired. This has been the case not merely with individuals, of which the martyrdoms are a sufficient evidence, but it is true of whole parties. History most distinctly informs us of several instances in which one sect has wickedly attempted to exterminate another, not by the persuasions of truth and reason, but by the weapons of cruelty and murder. The Albigenses were a people who, in the eleventh century, attempted to effect some reform in the Church as it then existed; their views, however, were condemned in council by the ecclesiastics of the time, and an effort was thereupon made to exterminate them by the most violent persecutions.* An- other instance of a similar kind is presented to us in the history of the Waldenses; f and that of the Huguenots, in the seven- heretic, and, in consequence thereof, condemned to the flames." — Mosheim Eccl. Hist, cent, xvi., par. iv. Dr. A. Maclaine, the translator, observes, that "it is impossible to justily the conduct of Calvin in the case of Servetus, whose death vrill be an indelible reproach upon the character of that great and eminent reformer. The only thing that can be alleged, not to efface, but to diminish his crime, is, that it was no easy matter for him to divest himself at once of that persecuting spirit which had been .so long nourished and strengthened by the popi.sh religion, in which he had been educated. It was a remaining portion of the spirit of Popery in the breast of Calvin that kindled his unchristian zeal against the wretched Servetus." * Liraborch's History of the Inquisition, translated by Chandler, vol. i., pp. 42-70. t "The injuries and insults they suffered at the hands of many orders of men, and more especially of the Jesuits, are not to be numbered. In Poland, all those who ventured to differ from the Pope found, by bitter experience, during the whole of this (17th) century, that no treaty or convention that tended to set bounds to the authority or rapacity of the Church was held sacred, or even regarded, at Rome. For many of these were ejected out of their schools, deprived of their churches, robbed of their goods and posses- sions, under a variety of perfidious pretexts ; nay, frequently condenmed to the most severe and cruel punishments, without having been even charge- able with the appearance of crime. The remains of the Waldenses that 15 194 THE WORD AND ITS INSPITIATIOX. teenth ceiiturv, discloses unparalleled atrocities. They v>'ere a sect of Protestants which rose up in France, and, for having separated from the dominant party of the Romish Church at that time, were denounced as objects of hatred. Mosheim informs us that, " after having groaned for a long space of time under various forms of cruelty and oppression, and seen multi- tudes of their brethren put to deatli by secret conspiracies or open tyranny and violence, they were at length obliged either to save themselves by clandestine flight, or to profess, against their consciences, the Romish religion."* With such facts of history before us, it is no difficult thing to conceive that the dispute of Cain with Abel, when viewed as relig- ious parties in the most ancient Church, should have terminated in the more bold and daring effecting the destruction of the more modest and unresisting. This is one of the unhappy conse- quences which attend a Church during the process of its decline from wisdom and purity; it is then that evil and false principles effect an entrance and perpetrate their mischiefs. The sweet- ness of charity is sacrificed to the austerity of faith. Creeds have triumphed over virtue; innocence has suffered in the strug- gle to establish an opinion; guilt has flourished for a time, and, under the injured name of truth, has perpetrated murder. This we conceive to be the general idea which the history of Abel's death by the hands of Cain was intended to conve}^ to posterity. How many disasters would have been prevented' in society, if the moral of it had been practically learnt! But, alas! it has not been so. The narrative describes a calamity which must attend the presence of false principles in the Church during the process of its decline and fall; it is also a revelation of their conse- quences, which have been verified in after ages by a liundred facts. lived in the vallej'S of Piedmont were persecuted often with the most in- human cruelty (and more especially in the years 1632, 1655, and 1685), on account of their magnanimous and steadfast attachment to the religion of their ancestors ; and this persecution was carried on with all the horrors of fire and sword by the Dukes of Savoy." — 3Iosfteim, cent, xvii., part 1, par. viii. *Eccl. Hist., cent, xvii., part 1, par. ix. See also the second chapter of the second part throughout. CHARACTERISTICS OF CAIN. 195 While we can see the general j^rinciple involved in the decla- ration of Cain talking with his brother Abel, and subsequently slaying him, let us endeavour to examine the subject a little farther, in order to comprehend the statements in their more particular form. Their talking, as it was said, plainly indicates an angry disputation: the result proves the truth of this induc- tion. Divisions having broken in upon the unity of the most ancient Church, doctrinal disagreements would, in the process of time, manifest themselves in various forms, more or less malignant. Cain — or, what is the same thing, those who main- tained that faith grounded in the knowledge of truth constituted the excellency of religion — would talk authoritatively, and wield an intellectual power over Abel — or, what is the same thing, those who were influenced by the docility and gentleness of charity. Those who love charity love peace. They prefer to let their lives, rather than their words, speak of the upright- ness of their heart and the integrity of their character. The intelligence of their faith shows itself in the purity of their works: what they know of truth fixes itself in amiability and loveliness of conduct. They are actuated by an afiirmative principle, and, in their communications on points of difference, will say little more than " Yea, yea; Na}', nay; " because they are well assured that whatsoever is more than these has come of evil. Their religion is exhibited in the meekness and moder- ation of their deportment. The}^ will give to every one that asketh them, a reason for the hope that is in them; but they cannot enforce their views by contention and the strife of words. They cannot talk rudely, and so irreverently, about heavenly things. They remember the sanctity of goodness, and endeav- our to preserve it with every care. If opposed by those who are in the pride of intellect, they will state their views of truth with lucidity and candour, but they will carefully eschew the risings of an angry disputation. They fear lest they should imbibe an ungenerous spirit, and prefer that their opponent should acquire the reputation of a conqueror, rather than to endanger the good they may possess by entering into the heat and virulence of controversy. " Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, 196 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIKATION. is not easil}' provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth."* Those who are led by this holy principle care not so much about the talking part of religion: they regard the doing of their duty in all the relationships of life to be of the first importance. They are ever attentive to acts of benevolence and use, and experience happiness in the diligent performance of them; and they will be found to submit to sufferings and persecution for righteous- ness' sake, rather than be driven into resistance by violence and oppression. Such were the characteristics of the people called Abel. But Cain, or those who believe that the knowledges of faith are the principal things of religion, are not satisfied with so mild and amiable a course. They cannot endure that any should hold sentiments different from their own; and every one whose views do not harmonize with their ideas of faith is con- sidered as an adversary, and regarded with disdain. They dis- pute with vehemence, and break into anger in the midst of argu- mentation, because they are destitute of the charity that would keep them placid. They pretend that charity is only the orna- ment of religion, and not necessary to the salvation of the believer. With them, faith, and not virtue, is the essential thing. This has been the ground of those supposed conversions which certain wicked persons are said to have exi^erienced, v.'hen under the influence of affliction or the fear of death. Such per- sons, because they could serve themselves no longer, are then persuaded to have faith in God, and to believe that this alone will save them. But of such the Lord has said, " Depart from me; I never knew you." From the same pestilential source some criminals, who have forfeited their lives by the atrocity of their conduct, have been said to have become religious, and to have died in penitence and hope; so that the scaffold has not unfrequently been exhibited as no obstacle in the way to heaven. Merciful God! to what detestable results have men been led through the adoption of false principles in religion, and which, in their audacity, they have said were thine! * 1 Cor. xiii. 4-8. THE ESSENTIAL THING OF RELIGION. 197 Those who suppose that faith only — that is, faith separate from charity — is the essential thing of the Church, and so the principal thing in man's salvation, overlook this circumstance, — that no one can procure genuine faith who is not first in the love of something that is good; also, that good cannot be obtained but in a state of liberty, or fixed in the life until it be practised. Faith, then, is the offspring of charity, for charity is good, and thus the living and essential thing of religion and salvation. But the belief of these truths is no part of the Soli- fidian's faith. His great effort is to set the speculations of faith above the excellences of virtue. He struggles incessantly to obtain pre-eminence for faith. He entertains no kindly senti- ments for those who differ from him He cherishes no affec- tionate regard for spiritual good : he asserts that it is impossible to obtain it; and so he does not look upon charity as his spirit- ual brother, but disputes with those Avho think it is so, rejects their arguments, and neglects their virtues. The non-resisting character of those who are in charity is construed by him into a want of confidence in its superiority. He treats the humilit}' of charity as the docility of ignorance; its submissiveness is pro- nounced to be cowardice, and then it is destroyed. It is thus that Cain rises against his brother, and Abel perishes ! When Abel is slain, — when men destroy the life of charit}" in themselves, by rejecting it as no essential thing of religion or salvation, — when they think works of virtue will not aid their upward progress, they are not far from believing that acts of vice will not prevent it; and so the doctrine of ^^ faith only'''' is no safeguard against the perpetration of any enormity which their lusts may prompt. Hence it was that Cain, by whom this doctrine was represented and sustained, is recorded to have com- mitted the highest crime. ]\Ien do not fall into guilty practices toward their fellow-men until they have wounded charity in themselves. The inquisition, the rack, and the fagot, were the inventions of those in whom the sentiment of genuine charity had perished. In having recourse to these enormities, they pro- fessed, indeed, to be actuated by a principle of religion, but then it was only in the shape of a creed, and not in the form of love. It was something Avhich they regarded as faith, without its amiable and forbearing brother; hence they persecuted and 198 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. destroyed their neighbour, under the horrid persuasion that, by so acting, they were doing God service. These considerations help us to see, that by Cain's slaying his brother Abel is denoted, that those Avho were in the mere doc- trinals of faith rejected the life of charity, and thus admitted all those evil influences implied in the curse which was pro- nounced upon him. We now come to notice some other circumstances which the narrative reveals concerning Cain. First, the Lord said unto him, " Where is Abel thy brother? "* The Lord is frequently treated of in the Scriptures as speak- ing to various persons; but by this we are not to understand oral communication, like that which takes place between man and man in the expression of his thoughts. The Lord does not so effect his intercourse with men. By his speaking, espe- cially to the guilty, is meant, in general, an internal dictate, produced either through the human perceptions or conscience. Conscience is the peculiar inheritance of man: it is one of the evidences of his spirituality, and by which he is distinguished from the brutes, who have it not. It is formed in man during the early years of his existence, by means of the affections, attentions, and moral instructions of his parents and friends; but more particularly by the teachings of what are good and true: and all goodness and truth are the Lord's, communicated to man through such mediums as his state requires: that medium is now the "Word. When man at any time trans- gresses those principles in which he has been trained, he is made to feel internal pain and reproof. The pain arises from a mental sense of the violence which has been done to some- thing that is good; and the reproof, from a perception of the injury which has been inflicted on something that is true: this mental sense is the Divine voice, uttering its complaints within. It speaks a sensible and a nervous language, and leaves impres- sions not readily forgotten. We know that such experiences do not come to us from without: we feel that they originate in a dictate from within, and thus that they come from a higher and a holier source than ourselves. It is easy, then, to see that the * Gen. iv. 9. THE INQUIRY AFTER ABEL. 199 Lord speaks with men in the dictate of some internal principle, formed and disciplined by means of the Divine teachings. This dictate to Cain, in the instance before us, was made upon his perception, and it concerned the violence which he had done to charity. It is thus expressed: "Where is Abel thy brother?" It was an internal impression, inquiring what was become of the innocence, the peace, and tranquillity, that were enjoyed before charity was slain; it was a spiritual investi- gation, giving the assurance of guilt by the sensations of pain. The case, Avith Cain, was similar to that which the guilty have experienced in after ages. They know that this description of their state is true: but what is their practical answer to such an inquiry ? It partakes of the false position in which their guilt has placed them; and it is forcibly expressed in the reply which Cain is declared to have made, namel}^ "I know not: Am I my brother' s keeper ? ' ' Those who are not Avilling to be con- nected with or' influenced by charity, strive to make light of the guilt that has extinguished it. Those who produce the death of Abel are therefore brought into a state which, in some meas- ure, -prevents them from seeing the enormity of their crime. The criminal does not see his wickedness in so hideous a form as society, who have suffered from its malignity. Those who cherish ill-will and hatred towards their neighbour think very lightly of the enormity they are committing: such persons see in their neighbour nothing but inferiority and fault; they know him not, nor do they conceive why they should be regarded as his keeper. They practically reason with themselves, and say, Why should they serve him ? Why should they be inquired of concerning him? Why should he stand in the way of their success ? Such base reasonings as these express the depraved conditions of their hearts, from which they strive to remove every obstacle to the foul dominion which th-ey seek, so far as they can command the power, and use it with safety to them- selves. Thus it is, that those who are principled in the doctrine which Cain represented, like him, make light of charity, even when it is inquired after: and that they entirely reject it is signified by his contemptuous inquiry, "Am I my brother's keeper?" — in other words, What have I to do with charity? 200 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. Nevertheless, this daring on the part of Cain did not suppress the urgency of the inner dictate: it forcibly accused him of having offered violence to charity, and strongly convicted him of the crime, by making him conscious of his guilt; which cir- cumstances are described by the Lord saying to Cain, ' ' The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." " The voice of thy brother " denotes the complaint of charity; his " blood " is intended to express the idea of its rejection and death; and this is said to have "cried from the ground," to inform us that the destruction of charity arose from the heresy into which the people called Cain had fallen; and, therefore, they are pronounced to have been cursed. Now all cursing comes from evil: God is not, cannot be, the source of it. Man produces it, by turning himself away from God; and he does this whenever he prefers his own will to God's teachings. The sun is not the author of darkness; he is ever shining : but darkness comes by the earth's rotating from him. Those who, like Cain, know truth, and do it not, turn themselves away from God, and so become averse to what is good. All blessing comes to men as they love the good of charity: all cursing overtakes them as they banish and extin- guish it; for, in this case, cruelty, unmercifulness, and hatred enter in; and thereupon the bond is broken between man and God: consequently, the means of blessing is dissolved, and the opposite state is that of being cursed; for, as it was said, all cursing comes to men through the entering in of evil, which faith alone cannot prevent. That man may be in such a faith, and yet in a state of condemnation, is plain from its being written, ' ' The devils believe, and tremble. " * It is a fearful state, to know what is right and do it not. The Lord has thus described it: ' ' Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. "f But the nature of the curse which befell Cain is more par- ticularly described by its being said to him, " When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength: * Jas. ii. 19. fMatt. vii. 2fi, 27. THE CURSES OF CAIN. 201 a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth."* Adam was told that the ground was cursed, and would bring forth thorns and thistles; and now Cain is informed that it should not yield her strength. Every one who will reflect must see that the statement is not intended to express any hindrance to the natural prolification of the land, but that something of a spiritual character must be meant. Natural laws and spiritual laws operate distinctly from each other. The spiritual laws l)y which a man becomes good, and the natural laws by which his land becomes productive, are of two different kinds. There may be an analogy between them, but they are not dependent on each other for their effects. It is a natural law, that if the earth be tilled it will produce its increase, whether the man who tilled it be good or bad. The good man's garden will not afford him fruits, if he be inattentive to the natural laws of production. The bad man's ground is not barren, if he duly attend to the requirements of the soil. It is plain, then, that the statement made to Cain, namely, "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength," is designed to announce, not a ph3'sical result, but a conse- quence of the action of some spiritual law. What this is will presently appear. It will be remembered that, in a former chapter, it was shown that the ground was an emblem of the natural state, or mind, of the celestial man; also that his fall consisted in his descent from his celestial condition into that natural state, or mind, again; and thereby carrying into it the seeds of trans- gression. It then became his work to till this ground, which denoted the rooting up, by means of repentance, of the weeds and briers, the thorns and thistles, of transgressive life, and the cultivation of the natural mind for the reception of the seeds of truth and goodness. But this important duty, by which it was intended to raise him out of his corruptions, had not been properly attended to. The people, it was seen, became divided into sects, and that of Cain cultivated the ground of the natural mind, so as to produce the erroneous persuasion, that faith was all that was necessary to form the religious character and to realize religious hopes. By this they fell into the deeper * Gen. iv. 12. 202 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. wickedness of extinguishing all spiritual good, — they rose against Abel, and slew him. Hence their faith became a heresy; for the faith that rejects cliarity as a means of accept- ance with the Lord, is not from heaven, but from fallen man. The ground of Cain was still tlie natural mind of the people so called; but by the destruction of charity it became infested with false notions, both of religion and themselves. The will having become corrupt, the understanding partook of the depravity. When men commence to love what is evil, they soon begin to think what is false. The head is soon se- duced when the heart is foul; so that heresies arise among mankind from the prevalence of evil. Men are expert in reasoning in favour of the things thej^ love, — they strive to be- lieve what they desire. Cain's love had now become the love of self, for he had hated and destroyed liis brother; hence all his notions and opinions acquired a tincture from this in- iquity, and thus his faith became a heres}'. It was the heresy of believing that mere knowledge and persuasion would save, which now^ constituted the ground of his natural mind. To till this ground was to cultivate this heresy; but he was told that it would not yield its strength. Providence mercifully interrupts the course of the wicked; and God designs that in- terruption to be a blessing, but they receive it otherwise. It disturbs their loves, it hinders their pursuits, and so retards the progress of malignity. Is not this an actual blessing? Most certainly it is ! Still, it is regarded as a misfortune and a curse by those who are its subjects. The people called Cain tilled their ground, — they cultivated the heresy into which they had fallen: they were informed that it should not yield her strength, — that it could not bring forth acceptable fruits. In other words, they were told that the good and excellent things of heaven could not grow out of a perverted mind. "We cannot gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. Religious heresies have never been productive of any real good to society: it is impossible, in the nature of things, that they should; because, in such case, the ground of the natural mind is not tilled to bring forth virtue, but to grow arguments and opin- ions for the maintenance of the schism. How many have quar- relled, fought, and died in the defence of an opinion, Avhich time, CAIN TILLING THE GROUND. 203 and the advancement of knowledge, have proved to be false! How many heresies have arisen in the Church, which have succes- sively perished, with the sole exception of 'a name in history! Their professors tilled this heTetical ground with assiduity and zeal, but it did not improve the condition or enlarge the virtues of society : it served rather to increase their subtlety, and to impart severity to their characters, and hence the heresies have passed away. This result is in agreement with the apostolic statement, ' ' If this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye- cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found to fight against God."* The natural mind, infested with schismatical notions about religious things, however it may be cultivated, does not yield its strength: falsehood and fallacy weaken its powers, and prevent it from going to those sources which furnish information. The cultivation of error, instead of yielding the intellectual strength of the mind, develops its weakness; and this, together with its non-production of benefits and use, bring it into merited dis- grace and ruin: in these facts we learn in what the curse of Cain consisted. When the heresy which destroyed charity in the Church began to be cultivated by itself, it was found to produce no fruits of moral and spiritual use, and to yield no strength of intellectual knowledge. Cain's water was nought, and his ground was barren, so that he became ' ' a fugitive and vagabond in the earth." t These things are predicated of the religious state of Cain, rather than of their physical and outer condition. A fugitive is one who runs away from the demands of duty, and a vagabond is a wanderer who has no settled habitation. The people called Cain had these two epithets applied to them, with the view of express- ing the idea that they had, as to their will, run away fi'om the love of goodness; and that, as to their understanding, they had no settled conception of truth. The same words are applied in the historical portion of the Scriptures to other parties, with a like signification. The terms fled and wander also denote the same ideas; which an instance will sufficiently illustrate. The * Acts V. 38, 39. t Septuagint renders this passage, "groaning and trembling on the earth." The above, however, is the more correct expression of the original Hebrew. 204 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. prophet Isaiah, speaking " of the valley of vision," says, "All thy rulers wander together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far."* Where, by the valley of vision, is represented the phantasy of a religion of faith without charity: the wandering of its rulers denotes the unsteady condition of its knowledges: all that were found in it under such circumstances are mere per- versions of good, and hence they are said to have "fled from far." The Lord, and all genuine goodness, are far away from such a state. Thus Cain was called a fugitive, to denote that his affections had run away from goodness; and he is pronounced to be a vagal)ond, to signify the wandering character of his understanding in respect to truth; whence we learn that all those who, like him, profess and cherish a religion of faith which is not grounded in charity, are pronounced to be fugitives and vagabonds in the Church. * Isa. xxii. 3. CHAPTER XVI. CAIN'S COMPLAINT AND APPREHENSIONS. —THE MARK SET UPON HIM FOR HIS PRESERVATION. " The goodness anl love of GoJ have no limits or bounds but such as his omnipotence hath; and everything that hath a possibility of partaking of the kingdom of heaven will infallibly find a place in it." — Law's Appeal, p. 88. When men turn their affections away from what is good, and their thoughts from wliat is true, they are necessarily brought into a state in which pain must be experienced and danger apprehended. We say this is the necessary consequence of such a procedure, because it is a Divine law that a sense of happi- ness and security springs out of the love and practice of what is Avise and virtuous; and, consequently, that a departure from that law must be attended with opposite results. This was a condition of which Cain had now become sensible, and, to record it, he is said to have exclaimed, ' ' My punishment is greater than I can bear. " * Perception, which then stood in the place of that which Avas conscience in after ages, was not entirely destroyed; there yet remained some of its correcting impulses and suggestions, and these gave rise to those utterances of deep despair. Nor were the painful sensations of their present state the sole cause of their hopelessness: they had a foresight of calamity in the future, and hence Cain is described to have said unto the Lord, "I shall be driven from thy face; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. "f Such were the natural anticipations of a religious community, who were in the process of being convinced that they had extinguished the good and falsified the truth, which God had mercifully entrusted to their care and observance. It is plain that the dread which is declared does not relate to the fear of natural life being de- stroyed, but to the alarm occasioned by a perception of the *Gen. iv. 13. f Gen. iv. 14. 205 206 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. danger to wliicli spiritual life was exposed. According to the literal sense, there was only Cain himself, with Adam, and his mother, then in existence. Whom, then, was he to fear ? By whom could such a deed of death be done ? * But on the admission that there were other persons, of whose origination and existence the history does not distinctly sjjeak, we can hardly suppose that every one of them would have been so exasperated by his iniquity as to be ready to take upon him- self the power of inflicting judicial vengeance. In our own time the great mass of mankind shrink in dismay from such an idea. An executioner is instinctively felt to be a horrid char- acter. This, however, is not the subject treated of, as will be very apparent after a moment's attention to the peculiar structure of the sentence which expresses the fear, namely, — " Every one that findeth me shall slay me." Now "every one" that found him could not do it; f he had but one life to lose, and this could not have been taken by every one with whom he came in con- tact. It is therefore evident that the statement does not relate to the infliction of natural death, and that we must refer, for its true meaning, to the phenomena which take place with the inner life of fallen man. It is there alone that we can find the realization of those sensations of wliich Cain's language is ex- pressive. Those wlio are principled in evils of any kind thereby expose their spiritual life to spiritual assailants. Infernal in- fluences and thoughts rush into every avenue which is opened in the mind by human wickedness, so that they will soon be- come a legion. It is the evils which pass into the hearts of guilty men that make them fear. There is a well-known proverb in the Church, which says, " Be sure your sins will find you out." These infest the guilty with trepidation and alarm, because they * In the note at page 65 is cited the supposition on which a large nnmher of persons maybe considered as existing in the time of Cain. Those who have adopted that view, to avoid the difficulty which the literal sense of this portion of the history suggests, seem not to have observed that by such an opinion they are in collision with the Apostle, who asserts that Enoch was the seventh from Adam (Jude 14). t Cain's words maybe thought to be only a general and loose expression of his fears that some one would avenge himself upon him; but no one who considers that revelation is verbally accurate, and that every expression is significant of au appropriate idea, can reasonably adhere to such a notion. FEAR THE RESULT OF WRONG-DOING. 207 threaten the entire extinction of all spiritual life. The language of Cain's fear of every one, then, expresses the internal conster-. nation which was experienced by that people upon the entrance of every evil influence to which they had exposed themselves. Having perverted the truth of faith, and destroyed the good of charity, as its spiritual brother, they were brought within the sphere of terrible temptations. These met them on ever}" side, and, entering into them, effected their distresses. Their fears for the dangerous condition of their spiritual life sprung out of the severity of their temptation. Their powder over the means for the j^reservation of spiritual good had become exceedingly weak. They felt that every source of happiness was fast depart- ing; for having destroyed charity, they possessed no power for its retention. Thus they were reduced to a state of the most painful anxiety and deep disquiet. These ancient experiences have had their counterpart among transgressors in after times. Do we not know that ever}' viola- tion of the laws of goodness has been attended with fears, both external and internal: external fear lest we should be discovered and exposed; and internal fear lest our spiritual disquiet should result in the destruction of that happiness which man regards to be his inner life? Thus, if we fall into the guilt of rejecting charity from our affections, we open out the way for a multitude of evil desires and false persuasions to enter in, every one of which brings its poison, and threatens us with death. The ex- periences of the men of the Church in our times satisfactorily explain the statement of Cain's fears. Evil is alike in its con- sequences at all periods, and it only differs in the degree of its enormity. It produces similar results among all men; more or less severe,- as the conscience may have been more or less accu- rately formed. The punishment of Avhich Cain complained was a condition of moral agony produced by the presence of evil, admitted through the destruction of charity; and his fear lest every one finding him should slay him denoted the distress that was occasioned l)y every temptation that found in him a plane u])on which it could operate its malignity. Evil and falsehood slay the spiritual life of religion in the souls of its professors, and cause them to have nothing of genuine happiness or heaven within them. The fear of this had now' produced a miserable 208 TlIK WORD AND ITS INSIMHATION. inducm'o iijioii that Itraucli of tlu> niosl anciiMit Clnircli called Cain. T\\c ScriptuiTs speak of similar states having eonie into (exist- ence under the Jewish dispensation; and those who were their suhjeets are described as fearing and flying from the sword. Thus Moses, sjieaking of those who persisted in their transgres- sion, says, " U{)on them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth."* Here it is evident that the pain of evil desires, and the fear of spiritual death thereby occasioned, are the subjects treated of. So, again, Jeremiah, speaking of the judgments of the Ammon- ites, says, " Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth."t This denouncement is nearly parallel, both in sentiment and expression, to that recorded of Cain: he feared all those that were aliout him, and was driven out from the face of the Lord. The wicked cannot do otherwise than fear: the loss of innocence, with the consciousness of guilt, afllict them with it. They can have but little hope of spiritual life here- after, when they reflect that the doors of heaven are shut against iniquity. It is written, that " w^ithout are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderiM's, and idolaters, and whoso- ever loveth and maketh a lie. "| This is a law which nnist remain perpetual in the Church. INFen may try to reason away its force, by supposing that the Divine justice will be satisfied through the sufferings of a victim substituted for the sinner, and so abstract from it its ]>ractieal importance. Still th?y will have the evidences of intuition, that heaven is only for the good, and that none are faithful but those who are obedient. The faith that docs not remove the mountains of evil which afflict humanity is of little worth. § Faith, to he of real value, must * Lev. xxvi. 36. t Jer. xlix. ,'>. t K^v. xxii. 15. ^ Jenyn sensibly observes, " The true Scriptural nieaniuft of the word faith seems nothinj^ more tlian a doeility or promptitude to receive truth ; and the Christian faitli, to believe the divine authority »)f that religion, and to obey its precepts ; in this sense surely too much merit can never be imputed to it : FAITH p:NDANf;KnKI^ BV TIIK DEATH f)F CITARITV. . 209 have its ground in truth, and thus possess the power of making men good. If it have not. those properties, it has no pedigree in heaven, hecause all that proceeds thence is intended to make men wise and hapj)y. It is easy to understand, as a general princij)le, that the state of a people who had destroyed within themselves the life of charity must have heen fearful and distressing; nor is it difficult to perceive that their anguish was much greater than it would have been had they been an ignf)rant people. This they were not. There are certain sensiljilities which attend the possession of knowledge that are exceedingly acute: they are Ijlunted and deprived of mucli of their poignancy by ignorance. Cain repre- sented an enlightened but an uncharitable peoj)le. The wicked can be clever, but the circumstance of knowing what is right, and doing what is wrong, augments the severity of the jjunish- ment which ensues: the sin of ignorance is less enormous in its consequences than the sin of knowledge. The Lord said, " He that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of liim shall be much required."* This latter state was that of Cain; they transgressed the laws of goodness, and knew it; they pursued their own uncharitable course with open eyes. They were not ignorant of their duty to man, but thought that a certain faith in God would be accepted in its stead. They substituted knowledge for virtue ; extinguished charity, and trusted to solitary faith to gain for them admission into heaven. Hence came that particular condition which the trepidation and V)ut since this denomination has heen so anderinined, that no two ages, nation.s, or sects have affixed to it the same ideas ; and so ahsurd, that under it every ahsurdity that knavery could cram down, or ignorance swallow, has been comprehended ; since it is still capable of being so explained as to mean anything that an artful preacher pleases to impose on an illiterate audience ; the laying too great stress upon it must be highly dangerous to the religion and liberties of mankind : but the proposing it as a composition for moral duties is, of all others, the most mischievous doctrine ; as it unhinges all our notions of divine justice, and establishes wickedness upon a principle ; and it is the more mischievous, as it cannot fail of being popular, V>ecause, as is usually intended, it is, in fact, nothing more than offering to the people a license to be profligate at the easy price of being absurd— a bargain which they will ever readily agree to." — Jen^/w's Works, vol. i., p. 219. * Luke xii. 48. 16 210 • THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. alarm of Cain were intended to teach us. He had the faith of knowledge, but not the practice. This is the trait of character which, in all our consideration of Cain, we have endeavoured to keep in sight, as being that which was both possessed and repre- sented by him. But who does not see that the existence of religious knowledge is endangered by the life of evil ? The faith of knowledge in religious things is placed in jeopardy by the rejection of charity. By the faith of knowledge we mean a belief in what is under- stood to be true; but if men destroy in themselves the practice of religious good, their belief in religious truth is placed in peril. The truths of religion live and acquire their perpetuity by being embodied in acts of usefulness to society. Truth becomes good by use. The truths of religion are to teach men how to live; if this purpose of them be extinguished, they become mere intel- lectual things; and as such are like the faith of Cain, exposed to death. The machine rusts when it is thrown out of employ; to preserve the mechanism bright and clean it must be kept in use. The religious knowledge which exists merely in the head will soon expire; and so the death of truth is to be feared when the life of charity has been destroyed. This is the particular idea of which the recorded dread of Cain is intended to inform us. Charity having perished, faith was placed in great danger. Cain, having slain his brother Abel, now began to fear a similar calamity. How can those preserve their faith who have aban- doned virtue ? Men do not long remember what they cease to practise. Cain's fear of death was intended to shadow forth to us the danger in which truth is placed when good is lost. The orderl}'' and affectionate course of a good man preserves his faith in health and vigour; the vices and immoralities of the wicked endanger its existence. Every evil to which they are tempted inflicts a new blow, and threatens to destroy it: the reason is, because they do not resist these evils, but fall therein, whenever they are assailed. These are truths of experience, and how closely do they resemble the state indicated by Cain's ex})res- sions ! They present the history to us under a practical aspect. It comes home to what is very generally known and felt to be the case. It is not merely a fact which distinguished an ancient sect, but it is a revelation of certain religious experiences in after WHY CAIN WAS NOT TO BE SLAIN. 211 times. Every man knows that the retention of his belief is endangered when he does not practise its instructions: we cannot long beUeve after we have ceased to do; and the Apostle has most eraphaticall}^ informed us, "that faith without works is dead."* From these considerations we see, with remarkable accuracy, that the agony of Cain, and his fear of death, represented the danger to which truth among that people was now exposed, in consequence of its not being reduced to life. This brings us to another point in this investigation, which is thus expressed: "Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any find- ing him should kill him. ' ' f The first general remark which these statements educe in con- nection with what has been previously explained is, that faith, even though it be in a state of separation from charity, is to be held as a sacred and inviolable principle of the Church. For if Cain really represented a state of faith, which at this time had dissolved its brotherhood with charity, then it follows, as an irresistible consequence, that the strong prohibition of his death was intended to express the necessity for its preservation. The faith founded on truth was not to be destroyed. We have all along insisted that the faith of those people was of this character: it was preserved to them by instruction from their inmiediate predecessors who had enjoyed the intelligence of Eden. Their faith was founded on truth, and therefore it was to be preserved. The existence of Cain was to be maintained. The knowledge of spiritual truth and faith therein is of the utmost importance to the Church. It is a sacred and holy principle, and as such it must be preserved to men. Woe to those by whom it is de- stroyed! The reason is because faith in truth is a means to good; and, indeed, the proper source through which it is to be obtained. Before men can do good they must learn the laws of truth which teach it; before they can live in charity with all men, from a religious principle, they must have learned the law which says, ' ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ' ' Faith precedes charity, as the means to an end. To erect the temple, we must first lay the foundation: we must know the Avay to . *Jas. ii. 20. fGeu. iv. 15. 212 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. virtue before we can walk in it; and tins it is the office of faith to teach. Faith does not save, but it points out the way to that which does: it is this which constitutes its value and importance, and this is the end for which it was to be protected and pre- served. " He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. ' ' * Thus faith in the Divine existence, protection, and truth, is an essen- tial ingredient in the formation of the religious character. It is a valuable principle in God's Church, and required to be held in high esteem by men, because it is the appointed means to every good; and these are the reasons why it is said that Cain should not be slain. Of course it was possible to effect this. God does not take away the liberty of men. Those Avho had destroyed charity were not deprived of the power to extinguish faith; but if they did so, vengeance sevenfold was to be taken on them: which plainly denotes that a full and complete punishment would result. Can we not see the rationale of this announcement? The punishment was not the arbitrary infliction of God, but he has revealed it as the necessary consequence of a certain ex- tremity of wickedness on the part of man. Do we not perceive, that if mei-i destroy the knowledges of faith, they thereby entirely separate themselves from truth, and consequently abandon both its illumination and guidance ? What must be the condition of such persons ? Do they not thereby fill up the measure of their iniquity ? The man who destroys within himself the faith of truth, deprives himself of the means of learning what is good; and thus intelligence, as well as virtue, perishes. Truth and good are human principles, and men are more and more human as they receive and cherish them; but if they reject them, they slay the essential things of manhood, and thereby rush into the characteristics of a devil: and this is what is meant by the sevenfold vengeance that was to be taken of those who extin- guished the truth of faith, and which would have been repre- sented by the slaying of Cain. The Lord revealed the conse- quence, that men might eschew the cause. Here, again, we recognize the instructive chnractor and mornl lioaring of this narrative. AVe see that it is founded on the very nature of *Hp1i. xi. 6. WHAT THE MARK OF CAIN WAS. 213 moral delinquency, and perceive the equity of the declaration, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door."* To prevent this disastrous consequence, so far as it could be done without hindering the activity of human freedom, we are informed that "the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest any finding him should slay him." Of course this mark was intended to make him known, to testify who he was, and to operate as a preventive against any attempt at his destruction. What, then, was the nature of it? Those who contemplate the narrative in a literal sense merely, consider it to have been some physical distinction; but that idea we conceive there is every reasonable ground for rejecting. Such a mark could not have been neces- sary for pointing him out to those of whom the history informs us; they must have known him without it; and if there had been no other persons in the world, the safest way to avoid their revenge would have been to absent himself from the family. That opinion of the narrative plainly includes the idea of there being other persons who might have heard of his crime, but to whom he was not known; also, that his wandering or vagabond condition would bring him into contact with them, and that they were to be warned against offering violence to him. The fact of a larger community existing than the letter of the history expresses must be conceded. The setting of the mark might have deterred men from slaying him, if they had been informed that it was set with the view of preventing such a crime; still it may be asked whether it was not the most likely way to have called attention to his character, and thus to have rendered him a subject of general abhorrence. While, therefore, it may be said to have been the means for the preservation of his life, it must likewise be said to have been the cause of giving publicity to his crime, and so to have realized some of those distresses which he is considered to have apprehended. This point of view takes away that idea of mercy and forbearance which the affixing of the mark at first sight supposes; and other difficulties may be raised against the physical sense of it; on which, how- ever, we need not dwell. The many curious conjectures which have been seriously ex- * Gen. iv. 7. 214 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. pressed as to what this mark avus, will show the necessity for having recourse to a different view of the subject. Some have imagined that he was rendered />c(ra/7/^ic;* and others have sup- posed that God impressed some letter upon Cain's forehead, taken either from the name of Abel or Jehovah, f Others say that it consisted of three letters, which composed the name of the sabbath; and a few assert tliat it was the sign of the cross. Some have thought that it consisted in a wild asjject, ivith blood- shot eyes rolling in a horrid manner ; \ and others assert that it was the Hel^rew letter tau marked on his forehead, and that it was to signify his contrition, because it is the first letter in the Hebrew word teshubah, which denotes repentance. There are those who have thought that it was AbeVs sheepdog, given to him for a travelling companion; § and others have maintained that it was a horn, which grew out of his forehead. || It has been said that the mark was a circle of the sun rising upon him;^[ also, that it meant that "a sword could not pierce him; fire could not burn him; water could not drown him; the air could not blast him; nor could thunder or lightning strike him."** It is useless to increase these "curiosities of literature" on the subject, or to offer any comment. It is enough to say that *This idea seems founded on the Septiiagint Version, which has rendered what tlie Enjflish translation called a fugitive and vagabond, by words which signify groaning and trembling. We have remarked on this version of the original iu a preeediug note. See page 203. t The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel. J See Bayle's Diet. Art. Cain. ? Abravenel. || Rabbi Joseph. ^ The author of Bereshith Rabba, a comment on Genesis. ** The author of an Arabic Catena, iu the Bodleian library, cited by Dr. A. Clarke. See also Dr. Shuckford, on the general subject of Cain's mark. Dr. Thos. Brown's " Vulgar Errors " may also be consulted. Matthew Poole remarks, " What this visible token of tlie Divine displeasure was God hath not revealed to us, nor doth it concern us to know." Here the mark is called a mark of " Divine displeasure "; whereas the whole history of the cir- cumstance shows it to have been the means of protection, and so of bless- ing ! The writer says it does not concern us to know what it was! we do not believe there is anything mentioned iu God's Word of which it does not deeply concern us to know the meaning, and which it is not our duty to endeavour to learn. THE MARK OF CAIN ILLUSTRATED. 215 not one of these speculations has fastened itself upon the credi- bihty of the Church; nor will any other that is founded on the idea of physical distinction be 'more successful. For a more prosperous issue in this inquiry, other ground must be taken. The Hebrew word oth^ which in our version is translated a mark, also signifies a sign, or token. The bow * was to be leoth, for a sign, or token, between the Lord and the earth; therefore the original, rendered, " And the Lord set a viark upon Cain," might have been translated. And the Lord appointed to Cain a token or a sign, by which he was to know that a special provi- dence protected his life. Although this version may not be free from every objection, yet it sets the inquirer upon the right path: it contemplates the mark to have been of a mental or moral kind; and if we view the subject from this aspect, we shall be able to see both its utility and its nature, f The setting a mark upon Cain is not the only instance of such a circumstance being mentioned in the Scriptures. The prophet was commanded to ' ' go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. ' ' X Here the marking is not men- tioned to express the idea of fixing any physical impression, but rather to notice the sorrowful condition of those who saw and lamented the wdckedness of the people: the mark, there- fore, by which they were distinguished, consisted in some spir- itual love for propriety and goodness. This mark is said to have been in the forehead, because that, as the supreme part of the face, in which the affections are reflected, corresponds to love. This was the mark to which the Apostle pressed forward for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. § In the Revelation, we read that the locusts should hurt ' ' only those men who have not the seal (mark) of God in their foreheads. "|| *Gen. ix. 13. t Dr. Raphall translates the passage, "The Lord appointed a sign unto Cayin"; and remarks concerning it, tliat "commentators have exercised their skill and inventive faculties to discover the nature of this sign, but have offered nothing satisfactory on the sul)ject." — " The Sacred Scriptures in Hebrew and Euglish." I Ezek. ix. 4. ? Phil. iii. 14. Il Kev. ix. 4. 216 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. Every one who is so disposed may see that the mark of God is the iiu press of some spiritual excellence, distinguishing tlie characters of those of whom it is predicated. The mark of the good is the meekness of their virtues; the mark of the intelli- gent is the strength of their knowledge: and these marks are the gifts of God. Here it is of importance to observe that the mark set upon Cain was the mark of the Lord. It is distinctly written that the Lord set a mark upon liim. It was a mark, not to indicate a curse, but to distinguish for preservation. It is not said to have been affixed to any particular part of his person, because it was intended to characterize all the faith of W'hich he was the representative. Those who destroy charity, mark themselves; those who cherish the knowledges of truth, retain thereby the mark of God. The mark of those who destroy charity is, in the Revelation, described as the mark of the beast.* When false principles of religion are imbibed, they impress upon man's character the moral scars and evidences of his defection. The mark which Cain set upon himself was in- dicated in the falling of his countenance, and in the kindling of his anger: it consisted in the impure state of his affections, arising from his having rejected the influences of good. The external mark of wicked men is a disorderly life; the internal mark is impurity of love. Outward vice is a sign of the decay of inward virtue. The conduct of men is a mark by which we distinguish one class from another. It is by this that w^e dis- criminate between the good and the bad. The Lord has told us, " By their fruits ye shall know them." Thus it is easy to understand the nature of the mark which Cain may have set upon himself, in consequence of the death which he had in- flicted upon charity. But the mark Avhich was set upon him by God was of another kind. This had reference to that charac- teristic of faith, of which we have seen he was the type. He, or, wdiat is the same thing, the people under that name, knew the truths of religion, althougli they had discarded its virtues. This knowledge was of great value and importance, therefore it was to be regarded and preserved. It was the ground and ])illar of faith; on this acc(nint it was to be esteemed as a sacred thing — the monitor of virtue, the directing staff to heaven. It is * Rev. xvi. 2. THE WORD GIVEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD. 217 essential to the right development of every other princdple of the Church. It is the lever Avhich, when put in motion, is to lift men up to the land of blessedness. The knowledges of truth constituted the faith which was represented and maintained by the people called Cain; and although its existence was endan- gered by the destruction of charity, yet it was to be respected and preserved, because it Avas to be a means whereby the gifts of God might be communicated. That people knew that what they believed was a reality. They saw the evidence, and under- stood that it Avas true. Their faith did not consist in believing certain propositions because some jDcrsons in authority had taught them, or because they had become mere dogmata in the Church; but they believed the propositions of religious truth, because they fell within the grasp of their understandings. They comprehended Avhat they believed, either on the testimony of facts or by the light of perception. Their faith Avas founded on truth, clearly and definitely seen to be such; and this is the mark by Avhich God has mercifully distinguished it. The internal consciousness and intellectual certainty that the sub- jects of faith are true, constitute the mark by Avhich faith Avas to be knoAvn in after ages. It is given by God, that men may knoAV it, and that, by knoAving it, they may be led to respect it, and so be preserved from the danger Avhich must folloAV its destruction. Men were to knoAV that their faith Avas truth, through an understanding of its subjects. This was to be the mark for distinguishing betAveen truth and error; and if we do not recognize it in our belief about spiritual things, then Ave are Avithout the evidence by Avhich it has been marked by God him- self. He Avishes men to understand Avhat they believe: he desires that their knoAvledge should be correct; and hence he has caused it to be Avritten, that "they Avho Avorship him must Avorship him in spirit and in truth."* The religious things which were knoAvn to Cain Avere the results of an internal perception peculiar to the most ancient Church, ansAvering the same use Avith them as the revelation, Avhich has been subsequently vouchsafed, does Avith us; and those knoAvledges Avere retained, though their virtues had been neglected. *Johuiv. 24. 218 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. Ill order that man may now know what Divine truth is upon religious subjects, the Lord has mercifully provided him his holy Word, and endowed him with the ability for comprehend- ing it. The Word and the human understanding are both God's good gifts, and therefore they cannot be designed to repel each other: if in any case they are found to do so, we may rest assured either that the understanding has been corrupted, or that the meaning of the Word has been perverted. Tlie Word is given for man rationally .and intellectually to understand its teachings: the faith which is thus perceived is the faith of truth, and this is the characteristic which God has set upon it, and which he is wishful to preserve: every one, therefore, may see that to destroy it with such a mark of its origin, utility, and importance, must needs be followed by that calamity which is described as sevenfold vengeance. These considerations lead us into a more intimate acquaint- ance with the nature of faith as a means to goodness; they show us that the constitution of faith is truth, marked and character- ized as such by God himself. If we see this mark upon any religious doctrine which is propounded for the acceptance of mankind, we should be careful that we do not slay it. To do so is to peril the safety and satisfaction of our intellect. Whenever God permits us to see a religious truth, he designs that we should preserve and cherish it. Such a sight is an act of his particular providence, intended for our especial good. Let us, then, endeavour to bring this subject home to our busi- ness and our bosoms. Does the reader see that these interpre- tations of the Word bear upon them the impress of truth ? Do these views of the narrative affect him as being reasonable in themselves, in agreement with the teachings of the ^^\n•d, the purposes of God, and the means to virtue? If so, it is the mark intended to distinguish them for his respect and preservation. This is the only mark of faith which can be given, and what other would a rational man desire ? To extinguish it after the recognition of the evidence of its existence, is to destroy the dic- tate of man's rational nature, and evince the most criminal indif- ference concerning the particular providences of God! CHAPTER XVII. THE LAND OF NOD.-CAINS SON.— THE BUILDING OF A CITY, AND CALLING IT AFTER THE NAME OF HIS SON ENOCH. "The Hebrew narrative is more than human in its origin, and consequently true in every substantial part of it, though possibly expressed in figurative language ; as many learned and pious man have believed, and as the most pious may believe without injury ; and perhaps with advantage to the cause of revealed religion." — Sir W. Jones' Works, p. 137. Moses concludes his account of Cain in these words: " And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch."* The circumstances mentioned in these statements have not en- gaged so much critical attention as some other parts of the Ante- diluvian history which have been considered. They are, how- ever, not the less interesting on that account. We shall find that they describe important events in the moral history of a declining Church. The histories in the Bible are the special histories of the human mind, written under the superintendence of a particular providence, and designed to reveal some of its most remarkable activities and developments. Though they appear to have respect to particular times, and to relate for the most part to a privileged people, yet in reality they belong to all periods, and are adapted for the instruction of all men. There is nothing obsolete in the Bible. Its truths are always fresh and powerful. Its histories, the rites and ceremonies which it commands, together with the idolatries and transgressions which it denounces, are such as may be realized over and over again in the states of the affections and thoughts of men. This is the reason why the Lord has said that his ' ' words are spirit and life ' ' ; they relate to the inner sensations and living principles * Gen. iv. 16, 17. 219 220 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. of men: these have contributed to the outer histories of the Word. The visible aspect of a society or of a nation is derived from the principles, opinions, and feelings of the people: and men, who write these histories, describe chiefly their visiljle events and consequences; but God, who has superintended the production of the written histories of his Word, has caused them to be so constructed that they might also represent the s[)iritual motives in which such effects originate. The histories of men regard outer things; the histories of God refer to inner tilings, and to the things which are without, only as the means for representing those within: the former relate mostly to the natural, the latter principally to the mental world. The good which may be implanted in human nature will ever present the same general phase to the world, allowing only for that peculiar distinctiveness which it must acquire by coming in contact with our idiosyncrasies. The evil which men may cherish will always exhibit the like distorted features to society, more or less modified in their enormity by the personal fears or darings of the individual. Men of love are amiable and benevo- lent; men of hate are severe and wicked. The Bible is de- signed to encourage the former, to Avarn the latter, and thus to treat of both conditions under their respective varieties. Observe it treats of them not so much in respect to their outward position as to their inward condition. The AVord always has been, and always will be, a powerful exhibition of the state of the Church with men under all possible circumstances. It is thus a revela- tion informing us of the extent of the Divine presence and its blessings, together with the nature of the apparent Divine absence and its consequences. The exposition of the subjects which belong to this chapter will, in some measure, serve as additional confirmations of these views of tlie holy Word. We do not, however, regard this Mosaic description in the light of merely external history; we receive it only as a portion of that grand allegory under which the Antediluvian jDcriod is repre- sented. Every one must see that the description of Cain's going out from the presence of the Lord is purely figurative; no one can be separated from the Omnipresent in any real sense ; for the Psalmist has said, ' ' Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or DEPARTURE FROM GOD's PRESENCE. 221 whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. — Yea, darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to iAce. "* It has been considered, from the above statement concerning Cain, that the Lord had a special presence with Adam and his immediate posterity, somewhat resembling what the Rabbins have expressed by the term Shekinah.f The circumstance of Adam and his wife having directly after their fall " hid them- selves from the j^resence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden, "J is thought to be the expression of that idea. This, however, cannot be w^ell supported. The Church, indeed, is the special dwelling-place of the Almighty; that is to say, it is there where his presence is more distinctly recognized : hence He may be said to have had such a presence with Adam as has not been experienced by any other people. In this sense he has also had a presence with the Jews unlike that which existed with the Gentiles, and likewise with Christians different from that which has prevailed with those who are not so. Under this aspect we at once see, that to go out from the Divine presence must denote the cessation in man of those sentiments by which alone the Lord can be pei'ceived; and this furnishes us with a rational interpretation of Cain's going out from the presence of the Lord. It is, however, to be observed that the original does not really speak of the presence, but of the face of the Lord : it was from the face of the Lord that he went out; and consequently it was the fulfilment of his own declaration unto the Lord, " From thy face shall I behid. "§ The Scriptures do frequently speak of the Lord's ])rcsence, and also of his face; but each term is in- * Psa cxxxix. 7-12. t By the Shekiuah is understood the visible symbol of the Diviue presence, which rested over the propitiatory in the shape of a cloud, and from which God gave fortli his oracles when consulted by the high priest. X Gen. iii. 8. ^ Gen. iv. 14. 222 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. tended to set forth its own idea. The Lord's j>rc.s^e»cc is per- ceived by means of truth, but His face is known only by means of love. Now Cain yet retained many knowledges of the divine trutli, and consequently he could not yet have actually departed from the Lord's 'presence ; but he had relinquished the senti- ments of Divine love, and therefore he really did go out from the Divine face. The face of man indicates every emotion of the human heart: he may prevent his thoughts from appearing in his conversa- tion; l)ut the most consummate dissimulation cannot prevent his face from disclosing any real and earnest affection he may possess. Offend modesty, and it will blush; accuse the guilty, and they become pale. Thus love and anger, fear and hatred, joy and sadness, — in sliort, every passion which may seize the heart, will be seen to, impress itself, with more or less distinct- ness, upon the face. Hence the face of the Lord is mentioned to represent His love; that is, His essential and never-varying character. "God is love." Those who are in faith observe His presence; but those who are in love perceive His face. Those who give up that love, as we have seen was the case with Cain, necessarily depart from that face, and in consequence of this they dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. AVhat, then, is the land of Nod ? Was it a geographical locality ? Of course the people were inhaVnting a specific country; but it is a change of their state rather than a change of their dwelling which is the subject treated of. Nod literally means, the land of exile, a vagabond : spiritually it means the destitution of goodness and truth — as we shall presently see. The Septuagint and Josephus call it Naid, and they seem to have regarded it as a place. But where was Naid ? An altered reading of the Hebrew term offers no explanation; and no one knows anything more about the one than the other. Regarded as a place, it could not have received the name Kocl until after Cain had entered it; because by that term, as just oliscrved, is meant a vagabond; it is the untranslated Hebrew word for that idea; and we can hardly conceive that society had as yet set apart any i)artit;u]ar land for the special residence of its vaga- bonds. There are no grounds for supposing that juris})rud('uce had then so far advanced as to have provided a land for the WHAT IS MEANT BY THE LAND OF NOD. 223 transportation of criminals. Surely there was no penal settle- ment in those early times at all answering to the ' ' Hulks ' ' or the "Botany Bay" of modern history. Why, then, is it said that there was a land whose name was significant of this idea? St. Jerome and the Chaldee interpreters are said -'^ to have taken a view of this subject by which this inquiry is in some measure met. They thought that Nod ought to be understood only as the appellation of Cain; and that his being said to dwell in the land of Nod merely meant that he dwelt in the land a vaga- bond. This indeed removes part of the difficulty contemplated; nor do we see that it is an 3^ essential departure from the Hebrew text: still it explains no more of the circumstances in which Cain stood after he went out from the face of the Lord, than is included in the fact of his having been declared a vagal:)ond l)e- fore that departure took place; and surely something more was intended to be conveyed by the statement. But it is useless criticism to endeavour to attach a geographi- cal idea to a name that is plainly the appellation of a state which had overtaken the faith of a degenerate people. Those denoted by Cain having become vagabond in respect to the sentiments of faith, are said to have dwelt in the land of Nod, in order to describe that they had lost all settled convictions about what is good and true, and that they were living in a state of exile from them, and uncertainty concerning them. Those who fall into doubts about the truths of faith are obviously in a wandering condition respecting them; and so long as they are in such a state, they dwell in that which the land of Nod was intended to express. When good goes out from the mind, doubt enters into it; and therefore the things of faith come to be regarded as objects of speculation merely i and however true those things may have been in their beginnings, they are soon unsettled by the evils of life which follow the rejection of charity, and a turning away from the Divine face. Men can- not long retain a belief in truth, after they have extinguished the love of goodness. Their notions about religion and spiritual things are continually wandering. The faith of the disobedient is necessarily changing. Transgression is sure to produce doubt. Evil doers are driven about by every wind of doctrine; and * Rf^v. .1. Wood's "Dictionary of the Bible," Art. Nod. 224 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. whenever they fall into disgrace and danger, will embrace any ideas which may promise them relief from suffering, or protec- tion from calamity. They will be found more attentive to the promises of security than to the means of attaining it. Their minds are occupied about relief and deliverance as an end, rather than about the necessary means by which they are to come. This fact has thousands of proofs, both in the lives and deaths of the wicked. The sinking man grasps at straws; but they do not save him. So the faith which has extinguished charity is a weak, unsteady thing: it leaves the heart open to the sallies of every lust; and hence the bonds of truth are broken: whereupon men pass from the face of the Lord, and dwell in the land of Nod, — that is, they live in a state of mind which is vagabond and fugitive in respect to all good things. In this light the statements come home to our experience. In disclosing the moral condition of Cain, they are also a reve- lation ai^d a warning to all men. They show us consequences which must result to our faith, whenever we disregard the life of charity and avert ourselves from the face of God. Nod has not a place in this world's geography, and hence men have never found it there, but it is a state in the mind's degeneracy which multitudes have discovered: and it is said to have been toivards the east of Eden, to signify that the state now treated of had respect to the understanding. The east is the Lord, and Eden is love;* consequently, the east of Eden is the Lord re- garded as the supreme object of love. But this love was de- parted from Cain, and another sentiment had usurped its place. Still it was provided that the understanding, wherein the prin- ciples of faith resided, should, notwithstanding their fugitive condition, be preserved in the capacity for knowing truth and goodness, and so be toward the east of Eden. The understand- ing, amidst all its embarrassments, has had preserved to it this capacity; and, although it may be driven about by every wind of doctrine, this capacity will keep it in that direction. How many persons have lived for a considerable period in states of fluctuation and uncertainty about tlie things of spiritual truth, and so, in the land of Nod ! and how many have had their * See p. 74. WOMAN A TYPE OF AFFECTION. 225 faith rescued from that condition, and been made regenerate ! thus proving its position to have been towards the east of Eden, How satisfactorily, then, does experience illustrate the state- ment ! Now it is that we are first informed of the wife of Cain. Before this there is no mention of any other woman being in the world but Eve; although it is plain, from the series of things contemplated, that others must have existed. The reason, how- ever, why they are not noticed, is because they were not required for the representative purpose of the narration. Nor is Cain's wife now mentioned with the view of recording the existence of a woman, but to signify that the people called Cain were dis- tinguished l)y an affection in correspondence with the state of their faith, and he is said to have known her, to express the conjunction and confirmations which now took place between the fallacies of the understanding and the affections of the will. The faith of the understanding is as a man, and the correspond- ing affection of the will is as his wife. Cain now rendered con- spicuous his affection for the heresy into which he had fallen, and this is called his wife. That term is well known to express one of the tenderest attachments of humanity, and, as such, it is sometimes employed in the Scriptures to denote, in a spiritual sense, the affections of those of whom it is predicated. Affec- tion is the very nature of woman, and, therefore, it is easy to see the propriety of selecting her to be its living symbol. It is on this account that the Scriptures invariably represent the Church by a woman, — the true Church under those terms which express her most amiable condition, such as a virgin, a bride, a wife, and mother; but the false Church under those names which denote the abandoned portion of the sex, such as an adul- teress and a harlot. The people of the true Church have an affection for God and their neighbour; the people of the per- verted Church have an affection for themselves and the world, so that their affections are conjoined to their opinions: they are united, as it were, in the bonds of a spiritual marriage; and hence has originated the popular remark that certain persons who are strongly attached to their opinions are wedded to them. Such had now become the case with the people called Cain. The false persuasions into which they had fallen had 17 226 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. united themselves to a corresponding affection, and the result was, the concejjtion and birth of a new heresy, called Enoch.* Cain, as it has been seen, were a people with whom arose the first heresy in the Adamic Church ; and they, in process of time, having added to their number, separated from their original parents, and constituted a sect. They also, in their turn, became the parents of other schisms, of which Enoc^h was the first. Heresies are communicated from mind to mind; and at last they are found to acquire some definite form, through the open espousal of them by the people. Wherever one exists, it is sure, in the process of time, to beget another; and these are spoken of in the antediluvian history under the form of a gene- alogy of sons and daughters; of sons, in reference to the birth of persuasions and opinions; and of daughters, in respect to the manifestation of aft'ections and delights. Heresies are productive things. Like weeds, they grow apace. No ordinary' vigilance can hinder their propagation. The reason is, because falsehood is congenial to a corrupted heart. He who tells a falsehood will give utterance to many more, to maintain consistency for the first, and each assertion will require a similar process: how prolific is a lie ! It is upon these general grounds that we find the birth of Enoch is described to have been succeeded by other births descending from him. Thus, " Unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech," &c.f There is no consistency in error. It has none of the elements of unity; it has no steadiness of purpose; it is a vagabond principle, aiming at division; and whenever it once obtains admission into the Church, it will be found to spread itself in various forms, and separate the people into different communities. The several names which immediately follow those of Enoch, and who are all stated to have descended from Cain, were intended to express the several heresies by Avhich the Church at that time was torn and broken up, until at last faith *The Rev. J. Hewlett says " that there were an ancient people, called by Pliu3% Heniochii ; by Mela, Eniochi ; and by Lucan, Enochii ; some of whom lived so far eastward, that Sir Walter Raleigh fancies they might have been the posterity of this people ! ! " How were they saved from the flood ? t Gen. iv. 18. FAITH DESTROYED BY LAMECH. 227 perished at the hands of Laviech, as charity had previously done by the hands of Cain. By the name Lamech is denoted what is poor and stricken: and, considered as the designation of an heretical sect, it signifies what is low and base; consequently, a condition of the Church in which vastation^ was experienced: hence he is represented to have said, " I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold, "f * A church rasfafcd is such that it knows what is true, but is not disposed either to understand or to love it. t Qen. iv. 23, 24. The literal sense of this speech of Lamech, introduced as it is with so much abruptness, has always been considered a very difficult point in this history. Most commentators think that it is vain to conjecture vrhat was the particular occasion which gave rise to it. Considerable inge- nuity, and some straining of the original text, have been resorted to, in order to make it indicate some intelligible story. Tlius, Hobigant, whose view is countenanced by Dr. Lowth, translates the first part of the verse, " I being wounded have slain a man ; " and so considers the speech to be an apology for committing homicide in his own defence. The words Le-petzatuji and Le chaburathi, to my wound, and to my hurt, are paraphrased to mean, because of the wound, and because of the hurt which I received. Our ver- sion, in the second part of the verse, speaks of his having slain a young man, but the original of that denotes a child. It is difficult to see how such a one could inflict or threaten an injury, which demanded such a vengeance. Others, supposing the circumstance spoken of to have been very close upon the invention of edged tools by Tubal caiu, have concluded that Lamech had become blind, and using one of these tools, in ignorance of its power, com- mitted homicide on one of his sons, and that his address was to claim the forbearance of his wives ! These, with other criticisms which could be pro- duced, have hindered the generality of .scholars from adopting the above view of tiie subject. Dr. .Shuckford resists it with an opposite opinion. He thought that the family of Cain were fearful lest other branches of tlie descendants of Adam should avenge on them the murder committeii by their ancestor. He conceived Adah and Zillah to have been specially haunted by this fear in respect to Lamech, their husband, and that he made the speech to them to show that their fears were groundless: — that, as God has pronounced a sevenfold vengeance on any who should slay Cain, who had been really guilty. He would certainly inflict a much greater punishment on any who should injure them, who were entirely innocent of Cain's enormity; and that, therefore, there were no grounds for any such alarm as is supposed to have existed, and to have originated the speech. Hence the Doctor read it interrogatively, "Have I slain a man to my wounding, or a young man to my hurt?" and this he paraphrases to mean, " I have not killed a man that I should be wounded, nor a young man that I should be hurt. " Thus, two 228 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. Every one, who is so disposed, nmy perceive the similarity between the two cases of Cain and Lameeh. Both are contem- plated to have done violence to human life. Cain's act, as we have frequently observed, denotes his destruction of charity; but Lameeh' s signifies his destruction of faith, and also of the good that had been associated with it; for he not only slew a man to his wounding, but likewise a young man to his hurt. He perpetrated a double homicide; the former brought desola- tion on the things of faith, and so inflicted a icoiind upon his understanding; the latter induced desolation on the things of good, and so produced a hurt upon his will, which circum- stances resulted in the complete devastation of the Church. Thus, they not only suffered the sevenfold vengeance, Avhich it was predicted should come upon those who slew Cain, but also the utter rejection and condemnation implied in the seventy and sevenfold. We need not go farther into those details: it is a clear fact, that faith must perish when there is no charity to cherish and uphold its use. How can the evil long believe ? The}^ have no proper motive, either to extend or to preserve the knowledge of truth about spiritual things: such truths will exhibit to them their own moral deformity, and, therefore, they shun them to avoid a discovery of the hideousness of their own characters. With such, one truth of religion perishes after another; at last they all drop out of the mind, and faith becomes extinct. Experience proves this to be true of individuals; and reason dignitaries in the same Church furnish two essentially ditferent interpreta- tions of the same text ; both, however, are compelled to add to, and para- phrase, the sense expressed in tlie original, in order to make it harmonize with their respective opinions. Others have thought that Lameeh was apprehensive of danger for having two wives, which being the first recorded instance of polygamy, may also have been the first case that had occurred, and that, by his having thus violated the institution of marriage, he had incurred the resentment of his kindred, and, consequently, that his speech is the announcement of his having retaliated their insults! However these things might have been, we do not think there is any good reason for supposing them to have been contemplated in the narrative before us. The sense of the original is very fairly given in the authorized version of it, and it is con- structed with the view of setting forth the spiritual ideas indicated above, rather than to record any such natural occurrences as these views seem to express. THE BIRTH OF HERESIES. 229 shows that it is equally correct in respect to communities, whenever heresies obtain admission among them: they lead to divisions, and to the destruction of fraternity. When men extinguish charity, the uniting principle is gone, and, however true might have been the propositions of faith in the beginning of the disruption, they are sure to be attenuated and corrupted by the self-derived intelligence of men, and so will perish. The genuine truths of faith cannot be maintained among any people who have renoiyiced the life of charity. They have no congenial state into which such principles can flow and live. In such cases men cease to view truth through the soft and subduing influences of love: they originate notions and oi)inions of their own, and so prefer their own thinking to God's teaching. This state of things becomes more and more enormous, until faith itself perishes amidst the general corruption. This was the condition of the Church among that branch of the ante- diluvian heresies called Lamech. It Avas the condition of all the Churches of which the Scriptures speak as having come to an end. The Jewish Church perished, because the people had no true faith in the Word of God, but instead thereof substituted the traditions of the elders. It was, in consequence of its impuri- ties and selfishness, broken up into sects, of which the Pharisees and Sadducees were the most conspicuous. The Essenes * and Herodians were others of inferior importance; all, however, partaking of the same common depravity: they had no faith in the teachings and predictions of the Divine Scriptures; they had perverted the meaning of the prophecies, which declared the nature, 'manner, and objects of the Messiah's coming, and hence they slew him when he came. The like destitution of faith is to be a characteristic with the people of the Church at the period of the Lord's second coming; wherefore he inquired, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth ? f It is easy, then, to see how it was that faith perished in the posterity of Cain, by whom charity had been first extinguished. * The name of this sect does not occur in the Scriptures, but their man- ners, rites, and doctrines are described by Josephus. Antiq. xiii. v. 9, and xviii. i. 5. t Luke xviii. 8. 230 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. The people originated notions of religion whieli had no higher authority than their own speculations, and which were set up for the gratification of themselves and the adoption of others. Those others did not long see them in the same light, and therefore they produced new ones themselves; so that "Cain begat Enoch, and Enoch begat Irad, and Irad begat ]\Iehujael, and Mehujael begat Methusael, and Methusael begat Lamech." Similar genealogical successions of heresies could easily be pointed out as having taken place during the history of the Christian Church; but on these we cannot enter now. The people of those ancient times divided to rule; and acting upon this maxim of the father of lies led to the begetting of Lamech, with whom the principle of faith and all the little remaining love of goodness perished; wherefore he is declared to have slain a man to his wounding, and a young man [i. e., in Hebrew, a child] to his hurt. How terrible are the consequences of heresies in the Church! How injurious are they to the common weal of man! What hindrances do they oppose to human progress! How success- fully do they weaken and break up all the ties of spiritual affection! What fallacies have they forged to restrain the freedom of human thought! The vain imaginations of per- verted minds, having let loose the activities of a corrupted heart upon society, brought in disaster and dismay upon the Church. From these considerations we learn that Enoch was the first heresy which Cain begat. Of the nature of it we are not informed: the narrative merely states that he was born and begat Irad, and then we read no more about him. He was not the Enoch who is described to have walked with God, and who the Apostle tells us was translated that he should not see death.* This Enoch was not a descendant of Cain at all: he was the offspring of Jared from the line of Seth, who is spoken of as Adam's third son. This race Avas altogetlier of another quality to that of Cain. There was also a Lamech from the same race.f It is requisite to notice these circumstances, in order to prevent a confusion which might otherwise take place from the identity of the names. Schismatic churches possess the true names of things that liave to be believed; l)ut then they attach false * Gen. V. 22 ; Heb. xi. 5. f Gen. v. 25. CITY, THE REPRESENTATIVE OF DOCTRINE. 231 notions to them. The thing is not to be judged of merely by the name: the name must be examined and explained to be understood. There are certain sections in the Christian Church, which retain common names for the doctrines they profess, yet they believe very differently concerning them. Thus the God- head, atonement, mediation, faith, and some others, are general names received by all; but men differ very widely in the ideas which are attached to them: so that false ideas in the Church are expressed by the same names as those that are true: there- fore we need not be surprised at finding that there was an Enoch who was a heretic, as avcII as an Enoch who walked with God. Concerning this latter Enoch we shall have occasion to speak again. These remarks bring us to consider what is meant by the circumstance of Cain building a city, and calling it after the name of his son.* That a community influenced by certain prejudices and opinions should separate themselves from their brethren, and emigrate to some other locality, with the view of building a town for their future residence, may be easily con- ceived. Modern history furnishes examples of a similar char- acter. Nevertheless Ave do not conceive this to have been meant by the narrative before us: a fact of this nature may have suggested the employment of such a history as the suitable l>asis for denoting some spiritual circumstance, without intending thereby to express what appears upon the letter. But Avithout dwelling upon this point, it is i)lain, from the series of things treated of, that by the city Avhich Cain is said to have built, is to be understood the preparation of something for the njind to dAvell in, rather than erections for the residence of the body. By a city, in a spiritual sense, is meant the doctrinal vicAvs of religion Avhich are entertained by the persons of Avhom it is pre- * It is curious to observe the oversights into which comnieutators are sometimes led. Ptolemy is said to mention a city Anuehtha, in Susiaua, or Khuzestaii, a country lying eastward from Chaldea ; this the learned Huet believed to be the same city, under a Chaldean name, as Hanakh or Enoch, built by Cain. See " Univ. Hist.,^^ vol i., p. 151. But surely it must occur to the most superficial thinker to inquire, how a city built before the flood should have remained after it, if all things perished in that catastrophe, with the exception of Noah and his family, as was believed by Huet, and the writers of the " Universal History " ? 232 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. dicated. Men live in their opinions: they are, as it were, the houses in which their affections dwell, and a number of opinions constitutes a spiritual city : " a city of lioliness," if the opinions be doctrinally true, but "a city of destruction," if they be heretical and false. Men who believe what is true, and live therein, are contemplated as dwelling in the "city of God." Solomon wrote, that "the rich man's wealth is his strong city," * because a rich man is one who knows truth; and this spiritual wealth is a strong city. The cities of refuge f ap- pointed under the Mosaic dispensation, for the protection of those who unintentionally did injury to another, represented the doctrinal truths of religion to which those are to flee, who, through ignorance, may have done some harm to society. Such truths both teach and protect those who adopt them with a view to life and safety. The cities of Judah so frequently mentioned in the Word, and others, considered to have been the cities of Israel, likewise rei^resented the doctrinal truths of the Church: the former, those truths which relate to our duty to God; and the latter, those which treat of our duty to man. The "city of habitation "J signifies the doctrines of the Church, which teach men the way to live for heaven; "the cities without inhabi- tants " § denote doctrinal truths without their corresponding goodness. Cities naturally are such by virtue of the people who inhabit them, and thence they are found to possess certain characteris- tics of their own. Every one may be acquainted with this fact who knows how to observe men and things. How frequently do we hear those residences of men spoken of under some cog- nomen intended to express their general feature ! Some are said to be commercial^ some mcinnfacturing, some low, some proud, some ignorant, some learned, some industrious, some idle. In short, the idiosyncrasies of cities differ as much as the indi- vidualities of men: they acquire a distinctiveness from the principles which influence them: for a city is, as it were, a man, a larger man than the individual, nevertheless a man as to all his moral activities and intellectual operations; so that a city, as a collection of men, actually exhibits the doctrinal * Prov. X. 15 t Numb. xxxv. 6-12. X I'sa. cvii. 7. 'i Lsa. vi. 11. SIGNIFICATION OF A CITY ILLUSTRATED. 233 views and sentiments which may have contributed to the pro- duction of the cognomen by which it is known. This may serve to illustrate the circumstance of cities being mentioned in the Scriptures to represent the doctrinal opinions of the people of whom they are predicated; and why, also, certain appella- tions are sometimes applied to them. Jerusalem is said to be " builded as a city that is compact together," * to express the unity and solidity of those doctrinal truths of the Church of which it is the type: hence also it is called the " heavenly Jeru- salem," t and described as the holy city coming down from God out of heaven. I It is not a natural city of men and houses which is to come down, but a disclosure of the doctrinal truths of the "W'ord: these come down from heaven to guide men thither: and the Lord said, " A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, " § to teach us that the doctrines of truth, when grounded on the elevated principles of love, wall always be conspicuous for their brightness and their beauty. Thus it is plain that by a city is denoted doctrinal things. Let us then apply this signification to that which Cain is said to have built. It wall at once occur to the reflecting, when they remember the series of spiritual things treated of, that this circumstance was intended to represent the people collecting together the various materials on which they had grounded their heretical opinions, and thereupon arranging and construct- ing them into a doctrinal foi-m for their future use. This idea may be illustrated by many circumstances wdiich have taken place in the Christian Church. This has been broken up into numerous sects, some of which have stood in the relation of parents to others. It was predicted that one w'ould be "the mother of harlots." || The state of the people during the de- cline of all Churches is pretty much the same: they corrupt the truth and build other sentiments, which they attempt to fortify by inventions of their own. For example, let us take the doc- trines of Predestination and Grace. ^ Whatever truths might * Psa. cxxii. 3. t Heb. xii. 22. t Rev. xxi. 2. § Matt. V. 14. II Rev. xvii. 5. ^ The correct idea of Predestination is, that God " created every one for His glory," Isa. xliii. 7 ; that is, for the enjoyment of His blessings, so far as they comply with the means placed within their power. Grace is the Divine mercy which saves mankind according to appointed means. 234 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. have been originally expressed by those terms, it is quite evident that, in the process of time, they became entirely perverted, and that errors were substituted for them. A controvers}' con- cerning them was begun in the ninth century (they had then existed about four hundred years) by the Saxon, Godoschal- chus, and it was continued with more or less severity for a period of seven hundred years. During all this time the people were wandering in their faith concerning these things. They had no settled convictions upon the subjects which those terms were intended to express; but in the sixteenth century a new champion arose, who, with the materials of this controversy, constructed as it were a new city, which has not been called after the name of those who founded it, but after Qih-in, their son in the faith.* The case of Cain building a city, and call- ing its name Enocli, was something similar to this. It will be recollected that those people had become fugitive and vagabond in reference to the things of faith. Their notions about spiritual and holy things had no coherence with each other, because they had departed from the face of the Lord, from whom alone all excellence and consistency descend; and therefore they are described to have dwelt in the land of Nod, which is a state of wandering and uncertainty about the princi- ples of faith. Now, to secure the credibility and adherence of the people, it became requisite to re-examine the sentiments which had led to the production of such unsteadiness of life and opinions; to cast away all those notions which had fastened themselves as excrescences upon their general principles; and so to re-arrange and construct the whole of their doctrinal views of religion, that they might appear as a new and more compact city. Thus the description of Cain building a city and calling it Enoch, i. e. , instruction, was intended to represent those who held the heresy of Cain, striving to render it attractive. In our own day we speak of attractive si)eculations as "castle build- ing." Surely, then, we need not wonder at its being said, by those among whom figurative language was so i)revalent, that the construction or arrangement of certain doctrinal views of religion was the building of a city. We speak also of building up an opinion, and of fortifying our sentiments; and to describe * See Mosheim, cent, v., sec. 23 ; ceut. ix., sec. 22 ; cent, xvi., sec. 13. SIGNIFICATION OF A CITY ILLUSTRATED. 235 the confidence of some men in the notions they entertain, it is sometimes said of them, that it is the city in which they dwell. "NMien, tlierefore, we see that by Enoch, as the descendant of Cain, was denoted the origination of a new heresy, it is easy to perceive, from these reasonings, facts, and illustrations, that the building of a city, and calling it Enoch, — instruction, — were intended to represent the erection and building, in an attractive form, of certain doctrinal notions of religious things for the reception and faith of that people. The teachers of truth are the builders of the city of God; they, by the divine assistance, erect the walls of Jerusalem, and cause her to be a praise in the earth; whereas the teachers of eri'or are the builders of the city of destruction — the architects of the synagogue of Satan. These circumstances, together with the errors which afterwards arose from that of Enoch, and especially the extinction of all faith in spiritual things produced b}- the heresy of Lamech, terminate this liranch of Antediluvian History. We read no more of Cain: nothing further of his life; no record of his death is preserved. The whole narrative concerning him concludes towards the end of the fourth chapter, because, as we have seen, the things of the Church were ended with his fifth descendant, Lamech. CHAPTER XVIII. THE BIRTH OF SETH— THE LONGEVITY OF HIS DESCENDANTS— AND THE "TRANSLATION" OF ENOCH. "The notion of a man's living to the age of 600 or 1,000 years was Egyptian. — How is this reconcilable with their precise knowledge of a solar year, and with their fixing the age of men, one with another, to the term of 28 years? — This has suggested a supposition, that by 600 or 1,000 years in question, they meant the duration of a trihe or dynanty, distinguished by the name of its founder," — Webb's "Patno.," p. 275. On the cessation of that division of the most ancient Church called Cain, we are informed that " Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew."* Now as Abel represented the principle of charity, which had been regarded by an earlier people of the most ancient Church to be the chief thing of religion, and as Seth was appointed as seed in his place, we reach the fact at once, that Seth represented a principle of faith out of which charity was to be developed; and consequently that it was given by God for the adoption of another branch of the Adamic descendants. This seems evident from the circumstance of its being said of his posterity, that they began to call upon the name of the Lord; f that is, to worship Him from a principle of love and charity. The state of charity which now began to be cultivated does not appear to have been precisely of the same exalted quality as that Avhich prevailed with Abel, because, in its com- munication, it passed through another medium. With Abel charity entered into the affections by a more internal way than with the posterity of Seth. With the former it arose out of an impulsive love which is an internal principle; but with the latter it sprung up from an intellectual dictate, wliich respect- ively was an external principle. But this merciful provision * Gen. iv. 25. f Gen. iv. 26. 236 OPINIONS ON LONGEVITY. 237 for the development and security of charity did not continue in its integrity, for we are immediately informed of successive descendants, each of Avhom is intended to express some change which the perceptions of truth in respect to charity were under- going among them, until they finally ^Derished among a people called Lamech. The people with whom that faith perished, which had its commencement with Seth, hore the same name as those with whom ended the faith which had hegun with Cain. They were distinct races, but are called by the same names, because they represented princii)les of a similar char- acter, with like results. From these considerations it is plain that, in the times now treated of, there were a great variety of doctrines and sects that separated from the Adamic Church, each of which was distinguished by its approi)riate appellation; and that, owing to the peculiar genius of the people, their sentiments and heresies must have been exceedingly subtle, fascinating, and dangerous, much more so than any which have existed in after times; and hence it is that the people pro- fessing them are described to have perished in so calamitous a manner. Now as Seth was significant of a new faith, and consequently represented the people to whom it was given, and by whom it was embraced, it will follow that all Avho are described to have descended from him in the genealogical series, are the appro- priate names of so many distinct branches and separations from the faith so called. This circumstance at once suggests an idea which will assist in explaining in some measure what is meant by the extraordinary ages of those who are usually called the Antediluvian Patriarchs. That the ages of mankind in those times were not so great, — some of them amounting to many hundreds of years; Jared and Methuselah to nearly a thousand, — may appear obvious to those who will venture out of that track of thinking on this subject which so commonly prevails. Antediluvian longevity is one of those subjects which has been felt to be full of difficulties in most ages of the Church, whether Jewish or Christian. Josephus abides by the letter, and cites several authors of Egyptian, Chaldean, and Phcenician 238 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. history, to show "that the ancients lived a thousand years." * They, liowever, prove no such thing. It is not-certain that those writers alhide to the ages of individual men. He does not produce their evidence, and it is highly prol)able that they jefer either to some poetical idea or to dynastic existence. Christian commentators, notwithstanding considerable inge- nuity has been displayed upon this inquiry, have not been able to offer any explanation of the. sul)ject. Some, indeed, with the view of reducing the duration of human life down to the standard which general history assures us was its common extent, have thought that lunar years are meant, f But this suggestion, though it might be supposed to remove some of the embarrassments, is found to create others equally difficult. It would make the whole period from Adam to Noah only aljout one hundred and forty solar years, and many of these Ante- diluvians must have l)een parents in their infancy. According to this method of calculation, Enoch would have ])een exactly five years old when he became the father of Methuselah. It is plain, therefore, tliat this view of the case does not offer the right solution. IMen feel, that to believe in such extraordinary ages is a large draft upon their credibility; still they try to persuade themselves into the idea. Some say that vegetable food, I and the purity of the atmosphere in tliose early times of the world, contributed to this happy result. We can easily * Joseph us, "Antiquities of the Jews," book 1, chap. iii. 9. t Plutarch observes, that " the Egyptians introduce an infinite nuinlier of years into their genealogies, because they reckon months for years. " Another author (when making this extract, we omitted to transcribe his name) says that "they reckoned the years by the inundations of the Nile, which over- tlowed twice in every solar year." This latter view would reduce the ante- diluvian ages one-half; but Me have not met with any writer who has ventured to adopt this speculation. St. Austin (De Civitat. Dei, lib. xv., cap. 12) mentions that some ancient writers supposed the year to be divided into ten parts, and that each ofthe.se decimals was taken for one year. This of course would reduce these extraordinary ages to one-tentli of their present amount ; so that the nine hundred and sixty-nine years of Methuselah would be ninety-six years and nine mouths. X Beverovicus, a German physician, attributes the longevity of the patri- archs' lives to their feeding upon raw fllesh ! — Bev. J. Hetclett, B.D. OPINIONS ON LON(iEVITY. 239 conceive that siicli circumstances would have a tendency to maintain the health and j^rolong the life, yet it is not always so. Science does not teach us that a superior quality of food pro- longs the life of man more than that which results from an inferior ({uality, j^rovided it be wholesome. The poor, whose diet is coarse, supposing they have enough, live as long as the rich, who fare sumptuously every day. This ol)jection is answered by the suggestion, that the original constitution of men, in those early times, was more robust and sound. Of course, all this is mere conjecture. The Scriptures do not furnish us with such reasons for the supposed results. Some have imagined that because God had newly formed mankind, he willed that they should be long livers; and that this circum- stance is sufficient to account for such extraordinary duration of human life.* We must close the argument with those who would refer the fact in dispute to God's peculiar will, until they have produced the evidence on which their acquaintance with that will, in this respect, is founded. Such long life is said to have been required for the peopling of the earth. This, however, is a mere invention; there is no Scriptural statement to that effect. If that had been the inten- tion of such longevity, how did it happen that some were so late in beginning to be fathers ? Seth was one hundred and five years old when he begat his first son, Enos; f and Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven before he begat his son Lamech,]: who is mentioned as his first descendant. Surely, if the poj^ula- tion of the earth had been one of the purposes of this longevity, we should not read of circumstances which indicate delay. Some have supposed that those ancient people were peculiarly dear to God, and that this was one of the principal causes of their remarkable ages. It is true that God loves his creatures; and it is equally true that men may be more sensible of this love in one age than another, because they may, by greater obedience to his laws, be distinguished by superior virtues. But it is not true that God ever intended that the number of men's years should measure the extent of his love. If so, the * Josephus, "Ant.," book 1, chap. iii. 4, adopted by Dr. D)dd. t Gen. V. 6. J Gen. v. 25. 240 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. death of infants would imply that he did not love them; or, if so, it is so little, that when compared with that bestowed upon the aged, it is scarcely to be mentioned. We see, however, that the young and virtuous are frequently cut off in the bloom of their hopes and the prime of their usefulness; while the wicked are not unfrequently permitted to continue to an advanced age in a profligate career. It is plain, then, that those passages of Scripture which promise length of days as the result of right- eousness,* and that portion of the Decalogue Avhich commands us to honour our father and mother, that our days may be long in the land,f are not to be taken as promises that natural life will be extended by the observance of such duties. We see persons removed every day, notwithstanding the excellence of their piety, and the devotedness of their attachment to their parents. The length of days that is to be the result of those virtues will consist in the perpetuation of those spiritual states which they induce. States have the same relation to the soul of man that days have to his body: hence days are significant of states. Every new state in the life of religion is a fresh spir- itual day, which is mercifully prolonged to the possessor by the beneficence of God. The land which He giveth us is the possession of some enjoyment in His own kingdom; and the duties of filial affection are among the means by which it is to be obtained. But the condition of goodness among the antediluvians con- tinually decreased, and that which was preserved, remained only among a few; the great mass of the people having fallen into those general corruptions which are stated to have occa- sioned the deluge. Their longevity, then, supposing it to have related to individual men, cannot, with any consistency, be interpreted as evidence that God loved them better than the subsequent generations of our race. And, therefore, another reason sometimes put forth to account for the supposed great ages of those people — namely, to afford them opportunities for obtaining high degrees of spiritual and intellectual excellence — must fall to the ground. It did not answer the supposed pur- pose. They did not attain those virtues. They appear to have been worse in their age than in their youth, or the catastrophe * Ps;i. xxi. 4 ; Ixi. 5, 6. f Exod. xx. 12. man's days a hundred and twenty years. 241 in which they were finally overwhelmed Avould not have occurred. That those ages were not intended to be expressed of individ- ual men is farther evident from the third verse of the sixth chapter of Genesis, where it is written, "The Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." Here some arcana apart from what is mentioned in the literal sense are plainly meant, for the statement of man living a hundred and twenty years has no literal connection with what precedes, nor had it any general realization in the history which follows. Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.* Shem, his son, lived five'liundred years after he begat Arphaxad; Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years after he begat Salah; and Salah lived, after he begat Eber, four hundred and three years; and Eber, after he begat Peleg, four hundred and thirty years, f From these facts it is jjlain that the declaration, "yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years," could not have been intended to predict what should be the period of human life in the world. It is indeed thought that this remarkable passage was designed to express the time which should elapse between the date of its utterance and that of the flood; and thus, that it was the period of respite which God granted to the people for repentance, before the execution of that calamity. X But this view of the case, to be reasonable, should agree with the Scripture chronology, which it does not ! Noah was five hundred years old when he * Gen. ix. 28. t Gen. xi. 11-17. Hesiod, speaking of the golden age, says, "The grow- ing cliild was nursed an hundred jears by his careful mother, very infantine in his home." — " Weeks and Z>rtys," v. 126. The longevity here implied, like the period to which it is assigned, is doubtless a poetic statement, and not a literal circumstance ; and therefore it is no collateral evidence of the personal longevity which Sharon Turner, in his "Sacred History of the World," has supposed it to be. I Dr. Geddes reads the whole passage thus: — " I will never unawares pro- nounce or execute judgment on mankind. They shall not be punished without a warning ; they are but frail flesh, and shall have one hundred and twenty years given them to repent and amend their lives." 18 242 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. begat Sheni, Ham, and Japheth.* It was a considerable period after this before the supposed respite was uttered; yet it was "in the six hundredth year of Noah's life that the fountains of the great deep were broken up;"t so that no such period did elapse as the passage is supposed to promise; and, therefore, it cannot be the correct view of the subject. The fact is, that those days which were to be a hundred and twenty years, were not intended to refer to the duration of natural life at all; but those numbers are made use of because, according to the ecclesiastical computation of those early times, they signify the lowest condition -of spiritual life that could remain with man, and which is afterwards so frequently called a remnant, out of which a new dispensation of religious truth and goodness was always to be raised, when the corruption of a former one should bring it to its end. When a church has so far declined that its principles of faith and action have been rejected by the general mass of the people, then a new dispensa- tion has always been raised up by the special interposition of the Divine Providence. This we find was the case with the antediluvians. They continually decreased in their attachment to the good and excellent things of religion, until they were found to remain only among a few, when a new church Avas raised up under the name of Noah. A similar falling away dis- tinguished the Noachic dispensation; and when it was dispersed, at the building of Babel, another new church was begun Avith Abraham and his descendants, who it is reasonable to suppose were among the best of those that remained of the preceding dispensation. The Jewish Church continued, with various vicis- situdes, until the fulness of time arrived, which was the com- pletion of its corruptions; and then it was made to pass away, as to all the vitality that had ever belonged to it, by the mani- festation of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom another new church, called the Christian, was begun. In all these cases the com- mencement of the new was effected through the instrumentality of those persons in whom any good of the old yet remained. It is this peculiar circumstance, Avhich has been verified in the his- tory of the decline and establishment of churches, that is de- signed to be represented by the words, " His days shall be a *Gen. V. 32. t Gen. vii. 11. SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICATION OF NUMBERS. 243 hundred and twenty years." It denotes the lowest estimate to which the good of the church could be reduced, and that, when so reduced, another dispensation should be commenced through its instrumentality. In this sense it symbolically expresses the state of every church and people, previously to the com- mencement of another, and in no other sense has it any histori- cal significance. Those who consider numbers in the Scriptures only in the light of arithmetic or chronology, must needs have a very worldly view of the subjects treated of, whereas the true idea which ought to be attached to them is spiritual. This, indeed, must be evident from the circumstance of the disaster which was inevitable on David's numbering the people.* It is difficult to see what crime was involved in ascertaining the numerical strength of his kingdom. Most nations have thought it useful, and adopted it, for the purposes of the state, without intending thereby to perpetrate any offence against the Divine laws. But it was a representative history; and when it is known that such numbering was significant of man attempting from himself to ascertain the quality of faith and virtue in the Church, which can be known only to the Lord, we at once see the heinousness of the offence represented, and, consequently, why it was that such calamities resulted. In the Revelation it is said, "Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast," f which signifies, that he whose mind is enlightened from the "Word may know what are the nature and quality of those doc- trines by which the Word has been falsified. The falsification of the Word here more, particularly alluded to, is that whereby charity and good works have been separated from faith, and the latter set up as the only essential for salvation. This is the beast: and his number is said to be six hundred threescore and six, to denote how fully such a doctrine perverts all the truths of revelation. I *2Sara. xxiv. 2-13. t Kev. xiii. 18. X The Greeks expressed numbers by the letters of their alphabet, and therefore it has been supposed that the number of the beast, as the number of a man, referred to some individual, the letters of whose name, considered as numerals, would make 666. On this ground great pains have been taken, and some ingenuity displayefl, to find the number in some persons or cir- 244 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. The Psalmist says, ' ' The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."* It is true that seventy or eighty years are the average of what is now called a good old age; but it must be plain to the reflecting, that this passage does not treat cumstauces connected with the Popish religion. See Lowman and Archbishop Newcome. The views most generally received for this purpose are two, — first, the sentence, viCARivs FILII Dei, on the frontlet of the triple crown of the Pope, is thought by some to be very conclusive in pointing him out to be the beast, because the letters employed as numerals in that sentence, when selected and added, make up the sum 666. Second, the name Lateinos, mentioned by Irenjeus, and made use of by the Greeks to ex- press the circumstance of the Romish Church having latinized everything pertaining to it, has by others been considered the name of the beast, because it contains the number spoken of ; and this view is thought to be corroborated by the fact of the Hebrew name for the Roman kingdom being Romiith, the Hebrew letters for which, considered as numerals, make the same num- ber, thus : Lateinos. Romiith. A .... 30 "^ .... 200 A .... 1 1 .... 6 T .... 300 Q .... 40 E .... 5 t .... 10 1 .... 10 » .... 10 N .... 50 n .... 400 .... 70 - — 2 .... 200 666 These coincidences are certainly remarkable, but then it requires something more to assure ns that such are the facts referred to : and especially it would require that such coincidences were peculiar and isolated ; but such is not the case. The Rev. Robert Hind marsh, in his Letters to Dr. Priestley, p. 184, says that he had made out about a "hundred and fifty names, that could no more be supposed to have any connection with the contents of the Apocalypse than the man in the moon," and, among others, he has mentioned '^ Joseph Smith, Tomkins, and Benjamin Bennet.^^ This certainly shows that the number of the beast cannot mean the person whose name may happen to contain the numerals which make up the sum 666. The intention of this number is to express the complete falsification above alhnlcd to, wherever and with whoever it may exi-*t, but esj^ecially that section of the Church with which it has become a doctrine. * Psa. xc. 10. • SPIRITUAL YOUTH AND AGE. 245 of such a subject. More than two-thirds of the human race die in childhood; more than two-thirds of the aduU population die before they reach the age of sixty; not one-half of the re- maining third continue on to eighty; and very few have their lives prolonged to ninety. What, then, becomes of the literal sense of the passage, on the supposition that it treats of the duration of human life? Is it a revelation only to a few, not one of whom can ever know that it will apply to him? It may be replied, that the passage is not designed to teach us that all will arrive at such an age, but that its purpose is to express a limit beyond which we cannot reasonably expect to live. This, however, had been taught by many ages of experieirce, during which some had lived beyond the asserted limits, and, there- fore, its purpose, as a revelation, must be to inculcate something else. The subject which is really treated of is the spiritual age or state of man — the age of the soul, not the age of the body; and this age is measured, not by the times attendant upon natural life, but by the states and conditions which distinguish a religious life. The soul may be young in heavenly things when the body is old in worldly age. Out- bodies may be comparatively young in natural life, and yet we may have attained to considerable age in spiritual life. Youth, in spir- itual life, is feebleness of thought, and the want of experience in heavenly goodness: age, in spiritual life, is clear perception of truth, and an ardent love for all that is pure, wise, and lovely. This cannot be reached suddenly or at once; there are progressions in the states which conduce to wisdom, as there are successions in the years which effect longevity. We cannot pass from a state of ignorance to a condition of wisdom, without going through the discipline of instruction, experience, reason- ings, temptations, conquests, and confirmations in good; all of Avhich are so many spiritual years by which man's interiors are advanced into the gravity of that wisdom which constitutes the age of heavenly manhood. From the succession of these states, he who is so disposed may see, among many other wonderful things of the Divine Providence, that a prior state is the plane of that which immediately follows, — the old state must be gone through before the new one can begin; also that the opening and arrangement of the thoughts and sensations of 246 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATIOX. the outer man, proceed from the unfolding and development of the perceptions and delights of the inner man. It is by passing through those states that the age and stature of tlie soul are measured. The old age which the Scriptures represent to us as venerable, refers not to the infirmities and decrepitude of the body, but to that state of gravity, wisdom, experience, and resignation to the Divine will, which ought to be possessed when the body begins to bend beneath the weight of advancing years. Age is venerable on these accounts, and these are the things to be respected and adnjired. An old man living in a state of wickedness is an odious spectacle: vice in age puts on its grimmest and most horrid asjiect. Age should be the com- panion of that wisdom which can look backward, witli satis- faction and gratitude, upon the conquests which have been .effected over vice and error, and look forward with a well- grounded confidence in the Divine mercies, and cherish an enlightened resignation to the Divine will. The aged man, in whom Christianity has been enabled to fix her illustrious and lovely principles, charms and delights us. A wise and good old man is one of the most holy and happy objects in created nature. But, then, both his happiness and holiness belong to his inner life, and they have been attained through a succession of states, trials, temptations, and conquests, which are so many spiritual years that have contributed to produce so venerable a development of religious placidity and excellence. It is to express the pleasing aspect of this state that the life of man is said by the Psalmist to be threescore years and ten, for the number seventy denotes what is holy, and, consequently, a state of holiness in those of whom it is predicated. It was in consequence of this signification of that number that there were seventy elders chosen for' Israel,* and that the Lord also appointed seventy disciples, f The propagation and establish- ment of the principles of holiness were the objects and ends of the seventy in both cases. AVhen Peter inquired, "How oft shall my l)rother sin against me, and I forgive him?" and suggested " seven times; " the Lord replied, "I say not unto thee. Until seven times; but. Until seventy times seven," | which number plainly denotes that the principles of charity *Exod. xxiv. 1. fLuke x 1. J Matt, xviii. 21, 22. THE LONGEVITY OF OPINIONS. 247 are to be continually active under every circumstance. Thus the life of man is pronounced to be threescore years and ten, not to express the duration of his natural life in the world, but to denote that condition of spiritual life of which holiness may be predicated. But it is farther said, "If by strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." The number eighty, in this connection, and because it is associated with the ideas of labour and sorrow, signifies those deep temptations by which man is introduced into a more intimate conjunction with the Lord: labour is the temptation which the understanding sustains as to its reception of the truth, that all wisdom is the Lord's; and sorrow is the temptation which the will experiences in its admis- sion of good, under the pure acknowledgment that it is the Lord's: but these temptations soon pass away from those who have obtained the strength derivable from holiness, and they enter into the enjoyment of more perfect liberty, hence it is written that they are "soon cut off, and we fly away." Im- mediately following this passage the Psalmist says, "Teach us to number our. days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom; " * which is not to be understood as the expression of a desire to ascertain how long we shall live, that we may pre- pare ourselves for death just before the event. No! The Lord teaches us to number our days, because, by the instructions of his Word, we are influenced to arrange our knowledges of truth and goodness for the purposes of spiritual life: and this is the application of our hearts to wisdom. These considerations relating to what the Scriptures say of the number of years, which we see are but apparently applied to the age of man, must tend to show that the numbers and ages which are recorded of the so-called Antediluvian Patriarchs do not express the duration of the natural life of individuals, but denote the state and quality of the respective branches of the Adamic Church, of which Ave have seen their names to be significant. We have only to change our ideas from that of the duration of the life of a person to that of the condition of a religious dispensation, and the whole difficulty which those incredible ages suggest vanishes at once. This is a solution of * Psa. xc. 12. 248 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. the matter in perfect consistency with the spiritual purpose of the narrative as a revelation from God, which is to inform us of the qualities of the spiritual states that distinguished the heret- ical branches of the most ancient Church. The years that they lived denoted the states under which they existed; by their begetting sons and daughters is signified the sentiments and affections which tliey engendered; and by their dying is repre- sented the extinction of such states. It is true that as those various heresies and doctrines were embraced by societies, they must have been maintained for some considerable time in the world — probably much longer than it was the lot of any individual to live; and therefore the ages which are assigned to them might have some foundation in historical truth. Although we do not think this to have been the principal aim of the narrative, we see no good reason for rejecting the idea. It aids in the reduction of the embarrass- ments which the notion of individual longevity induces. Opinions live in a community, after the parties who invented them have passed away, and their followers and proselytes are for a long time called by the names of their founders. Is7'ael and Edo7)i were the appellations by Avhich all their descendants were distinguished throughout their generations. In this sense, Israel, up to the time of the coming of the Lord, may be said to have lived upwards of eighteen centuries. This view pro- duces no surprise: historical parallels abound, both in the Jewish and Christian Churches, showing the great ages to which heretical branches of them have lived. The Essenes among the Jews si^rang up at the decline of the Babylonish captivity, that is, about five hundred years before the Christian era; and the Pharisees and Sadducees had then existed upwards of two cen- turies, and were conspicuous and powerful as sects in the time of the Messiah. So also in Christendom; the two parties, Arians and Athanasians, arose in the fourth century, and now the age of each is nearly fifteen hundred years, for they are living still. This view suggests another consideration. It is to be observed that it is only Seth and his descendants of whom longevity is predicated. We do not read of the age of Cain, or any of his progeny. Although the true reasons for these circumstances PERCEPTIVE CAPABILITY. 249 are purely spiritual, still other probable grounds, taking their rise in those reasons, may be assigned. Seth being the seed that was given instead of Al)el, and so representing a church in which charity was to be developed, would needs acquire, and impart to its descendants, a longer life than faith alone, or any of its offspring, by possibility could reach. Faith soon dies in that mind which is not imbued with charity. That which depends upon memory only for its being has but a fleeting existence, but that which enters into the affections lives and long continues. What a multitude of religious notions have lived just long enough to die! But, on the other hand, princi- ples which have regarded the good of mankind continue from generation to generation, and become venerable for their an- tiquity. The good of Christianity has lived, through various vicissitudes, for eighteen hundred years: a thousand faiths have been framed and pretended to be Christian during that period, and all have perished. The circumstance, then, of Seth being a church in which charity, as in the dispensation of Abel, was to be continued, suggests a reason why longevity is predicated of his generation. Those branches may have reached the ad- vanced ages which are recorded of them, though, as it has been said, we consider that the chief design of such numbers is to indicate their quality as to faith and charity : and as every one of them was in a different state as to these things, arising from the distinction of genius and temper, hereditarily acquired, therefore their ages were so various; numbers, agreeably to the perceptions of the ancient times, being employed to express them.' A more particular idea as to what is meant by the qualities of churches Avill appear in the consideration we have to offer concerning Enoch, and his so-called translation. Tlie quality of the several churches which descended from Adam, through the line of Seth, was derived from the percep- tive capability of the people. The perception of a church con- sists in the ability of its members to perceive from the Lord what is good and true; not so much what is good and true as to civil society, but what is good and true with respect to love and faith towards the Lord. Those who have a faith in truth confirmed by the good of life, may form some idea of what this ancient perception was. 250 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. So long as the people called Seth remained in their integrity, they were enabled to know, by an internal impulse, whatever was good and true in reference to the things of God, heaven, and religious duty. They arrived at this result, it is to be ob- served, not by an external way of thinking, but by an internal dictate and impression. The Lord talked with Adam, which means an internal dictate as to what is good and excellent. The other churches which proceeded from him experienced a similar perception, though, in consequence of the fall, its force and clearness were diminished. Divisions in the process of time took place, and the internals of the minds of those who embraced impure sentiments became successively closed, by the misdirection of their affections to unworthy objects, and thus one degree of perception perished after another; which circum- stances are expressed by the recorded decease of Seth, Enos, Cainan, and others. These facts assure us, that the knowledge of what was gen- uinely true and good was in the process of passing aAvay, and that the faculty through which it had come was being perverted. It was during this decay that Enoch was born; that is, a branch of the declining Church, under that name, came into existence. The object of that people was to prevent the dissipation of those religious knowledges which they saw was threatened. They therefore collected the information which the several preceding churches had derived from perception, and Avhich tradition had preserved, and thereupon they arranged them into a doctrinal and perceptive form; so that the truths of religion, which were ceasing to be perceived by an internal way, might be taught by an external way. The people called Enoch saw the changes which were taking place in the moral constitution and religious character of society, and thereupon undertook the duty of cor- recting it, by becoming themselves instructors. This work was according to their genius, and therefore it was identified with them. Hence it is that they constituted a remarkable point amidst the decline of those ancient churches. Although the internal perceptions of men were decaying, the truths which had been perceived were, by Enoch, in process of being pre- served. It was the collection of these truths into rules of life, and teaching them, which constituted the delight of that branch THE CESSATION OF PERCEPTION. 251 of the declining Cliurch called Enoch. Hence the name means to instruct and discipline; and therefore, also, it is that we find the Apostle speaking of this Enoch, the seventh from Adam, as prophesying,* that is, teaching. Every one acquainted with biblical literature is aware of the great interest which has, upon several occasions, been attached b}^ scholars to an apocryphal Book of Enoch, found in the Abyssinian version of the Scrip- tures, several copies of which have been brought to Europe by oriental travellers. How far this book possesses the antiquity or authority which its name implies, cannot be now determined, though there can be no doubt of its being a production long anterior to Christianity : but the very circumstance of the exist- ence of such a document proves that a tradition must have prevailed, down to the time of its production, that Enocli was distinguished by those characteristics which we have stated. This is why he is said to have "walked with God"; for it is well known that to walk with God means to live according to his precepts. Truth is the way which God has laid down for men to walk in; it is the high road that leads to his kingdom: he is himself this way: indeed, he says so; f consequently, the men who walk in it also walk with God. This, then, was a distinguished feature of religion among the people called Enoch. The fact is twice stated; X and in the latter case there is added this remarkable clause, ' * He was not, for God took him. ' ' This is popularly understood to mean that he was taken to heaven without the experience of natural death; not that the sentence contains such an idea, for the very same phrases occur respecting the supposed death of Joseph, and also in reference to the death of Rachel' s children : § but it is founded on the statement of the *.Tude 14. "In several of the Fathers, meution is made of Enoch as an author, not only of a prophetic writing, but of various productions. The Book of Enoch is alluded to by Justyn Martyr, Irenjeus, Clement of Alex- andria, Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, Jerome, Hilary, and Eusebius." It seems to have been known to them through a Greek translation, the original language in which it was composed being either Hebrew or Chaldee ; the Ethiopic version, discovered in Abyssinia, appears to have been made from the Greek, and not from the original. — See an interesting article on this sithject by the Rev. S. Davidson, LL.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Oriental Languages in the Lancashire Lndcpendcnt College, in Kitto^s '^£ib. Cgclopsedia." t John xiv. 6. J Gen. v. 22 & 24. § Gen. xlii. 36 ; Jer. xxxi. 15. 252 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. Apostle, -who says, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death."* But by translation he must have meant a change of state, disposition, or bent of mind (for he is treat- ing of the effects of faith), and not the removal of an indi- vidual, with his body, into a place unfitted for its existence, for that body, as flesh and blood, he has said, cannot inherit the kingdom of God.f The view, therefore, which ought to be taken of the term translation, is somewhat similar to that which the Apostle elsewhere expresses by the word transform, as when he says, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove Avhat is that good, and acceptable, and per- fect will of God. "I By Enoch's not seeing death is denoted that he did not experience condemnation. How should he, if he walked with God? The character of his faith prevented it! The original description is, " He was not, for God took him: " where, by the sentence, "he was not," is simply meant that the doctrines of truth which were collected by the people called Enoch, for the instruction of posterity, were not theirs; nothing of their mind was in them; they were Divine things, which spoke of the glory of God, and adapted to promote the intelli- gence of the people. By the phrase, "God took him," is plainly meant that the truths so collected were preserved by Divine Providence for the use and edification of all future conditions of the Church. The correctness of this view of the case is proved by the fact that all subsequent ages, conditions, and diversities of the actual Church of God have been instructed by means of documents embodying the rules, teachings, com- mands, and promises of Divine truth. * Heb. xi. 5. f 1 Cor. xv. 50. X Rom. xii. 2. CHAPTER XIX. THE CORRUPTIONS OF THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. — THE SONS OF GOD TAKING TO THEMSELVES WIVES OF THL DAUGHTERS OF MEN. "On different senses different objects strike, Hence different passions more or less inflame, As strong or weak the organs of the frame : And hence one master-passion in the breast, Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest." — Pope's Essay on Man. The moral and intellectual corruptions of the most ancient people are historical circumstances, easily to be perceived, as a general idea, even though the narrative expressing them is written in language of a purely figurative character: general truths, in the Scriptures, frequently stand out very conspicu- ously amid the symbolical details in which they are embodied. Still, as such, they are surrounded with haze and mist, and they will remain so as long as the mind rests merely in generality. General ideas are comparatively obscure, like distant objects in the twilight of the morning; they become clear only as particular truths shine in upon them, and afford lucidity for the develop- ment of their forms. These are as beams from the rising sun, successively breaking in upon the uncertain outline of objects in the western vista, revealing to us their nature, their forms, their colours, and all their loveliness. Although the first few verses of the sixth chapter of Genesis suggest a general idea concerning the corruptions of the ancient world, still it is evident that this general idea, if we do not carefully examine the sentences through which that impression may have been derived, will be more or less uncertain. The idea of corruption may, indeed, not pass away; but the nature of it, how it was instigated, and why it should have produced results that were never to occur again, remain unravelled ; and so, one of the great objects of revelation, which is to impart 253 254 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. clear and decisive thoughts on the subjects on which it treats, is not oljtained. General ideas, not grounded upon particular information, are not only imperfect, but liable to be lost. They are like a candle introduced into a murky atmosphere, the liglit of which grows dim, and so is in danger of being extinguished. ^Ve cannot be certain that our general ideas are true, unless we have been care- ful to form them on the consideration of particular and specific knowledges: just in the same way that the general notion of being a sinner is a very undefined notion, so long as it remains unfounded on the fact and consciousness of having perpetrated particular sins. Most persons will freely acknowledge them- selves to be sinners in a general sense, but how few will confess to the guilt of particular transgression! The general assertion of being a sinner has a meaning in the faith of the utterer, no farther than he has searched out his particular sins. Again, how common is it for men to acquire a general prejudice, for or against certain things, without having furnished themselves with any particular reasons for the adoption of such prejudice. This is found to operate, not only Avith respect to persons and circumstances in the world, but likewise in reference to the statements and purposes of revelation. Some men are well known to entertain certain general ideas about a variety of sub- jects mentioned in the Word of God, although they may have never candidly examined the particular evidences on which they rest, or the conclusions to which they conduce. For instance: every one has a general idea that the antediluvian peojile became exceedingly corrupt; but how few are they who have any par- ticular idea of the wickedness into which they fell, although it is evident that it must have been of a very peculiar nature, or it could not have brought about so terrible a result as it is related to have done. Again, most persons have some general idea that the catastrojjhe called the flood Avas an overfloAV of water and a drowning of the people; but whenever the particu- lars of science and theology are brought to bear upon this gen- eral notion, the whole matter ])ecomes a dim and doubtful thing; so that, in order to retain any faith in the occurrence, as popularly imderstood, it is found requisite to refer the matter to Onmipotence. Of course, when false conceptions of this OUR GENERAL AND PARTICULAR IDEAS. 255 Divine attribute are brought into a subject, the right activities of reason will go out of it. Omnipotence cannot be without its laws of order, nor can God transgress them. The grounding of our general ideas of theological truth upon particular conceptions of it, is of the utmost importance to the intellectual well-being of the Church. It is in consequence of this duty not having been sufficiently attended to, that so many of the leading doctrines of popular Christianity are full of perplexities. Take, for example, the general proposition that there is a Divine Trinity in God: this, as a general proposition, presents no difficulties; but the moment we begin to inquire into the particular notions, of which that Trinity is popularly said to consist, the subject becomes dark, and its advocates are compelled to wrap it up in the cloak of wonderment and mys- tery! The same may l>e said of the doctrines of the atonement, mediation, the resurrection, and several other tenets, as they are commonly understood. We refer to these subjects merely to illustrate the distinction which may exist between the general and particular ideas of a subject, and to suggest that all general ideas, to be salutary and useful, must take their rise from such as are clear and sensible in particulars. It is only when this is the case that the mass of truth is made up of coherent parts, and each contributes its light and strength to increase the power and brilliancy of the whole. The corruptions of the antediluvian Church, viewed under a general idea, were similar to those which have taken place with the churches of after times. It rejected the goods of charity and perverted the truths of faith, as was done by the Jewish Church before the coming of the Lord; also, as he predicted would be the case, by that which he came to establish.* But there was a peculiarity about the genius and character of the antediluvian people which has not prevailed in after times, and this gave to their corruptions a peculiar enormity. In the pos- session of Eden they enjoyed a state of perception : by this they intuitively, and from an impulsive love of goodness, were immediately enabled to comprehend the ideas and pur})oses of faith. In consequence of their internal eminence, they could acquire the knoAvledges and delights of religious principles by * See Matt. xxiv. throughout. 256 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. an influx from the Lord: whereas the people of after times have had to procure those things by external teachings, the difficul- ties of receiving which have been increased by the evil inclina- tions transmitted to them by the transgressions of their progeni- tors. Those who, l)y actual evils, render them infixed principles of their nature, must needs transmit the seeds thereof to their immediate descendants. The parent can only communicate to his offspring that which he himself possesses. Posterity is affected with his vices or benefited by his virtues, so far as he makes them his own by actual life. Revelation declares the action of this law, and experience proves the truth of it.* With the early posterity of the Adamic people, evils were not so deeply rooted as they afterwards became; and therefore, those internal influences from the Lord, l^y which their ancestors had been raised to the sunnnit of religious intelligence and enjoy- ment, were not suddenly destroyed: that was a progressive work, and it was eventually effected. Now, as no other than an internal way had yet been opened out in man for the Lord's approach to him, it is plain that whenever that channel should, be closed, mankind would be left without a guide, and that, consequently, they would rush without a check into every enor- mity, and guilt would necessarily bring about their destruction. But here we are anticipating an argument we shall have again to raise. The circumstances of the Adamic Church having been once distinguished by the most exalted purity, and that in successive generations the people fell from their elevated condition into the fiercest wickedness, show that their state was essentially different from that of any other church which has since been planted. Every other has had its commencement with mankind in a state of evil: this was not the condition of the primeval people of the Adamic Church; consequently, when they fell, it was from a greater height than it has been possible for any dispensation since to do, and therefore it was that they entailed, in that descent, so disastrous a calamity. It is a law that "unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." There are a propriety and reasonableness about this Scriptural enactment which every one may see. It is also a law, that the "servant which knew his Lord's will, * Exod. XX. 5, 6. PECULIARITY OF THE ADAMIC PEOPLE. 257 and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes,"* which plainly means, that if those fall who have had superior advantages, they will sink into deeper degradation than those who may not have been so favourably .circumstanced. The opposite of the highest good is the deepest evil: the higher the summit is from which a man falls, the more certain — the more terrible — becomes his destruc- tion. Hence the fall of the Adamic Church was so dreadful in its results! It was effected by the successive shutting out of good and truth from their affections and thoughts, until at last both their wills and understandings were closed against their admission. Hereupon they became infested with all sorts of abominable persuasions, from which they were not afterwards willing to recede. "The wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually: "f therefore, whatever fell into their ideas was, by the cupidity of their self-love, converted into a means of lust, and, finally, they supposed themselves to be as gods. This was the state indicated by the delusion of the serpent, Avho, in effecting his seductions, is reported to have said, ' ' Your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods. ' ' X Evil loves and false persuasions took possession of their minds, and became the sole influence in their conduct. "The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. "§ Wliile this account at first sight furnishes us with a general idea of the enormity of those times, the considerations adduced present us with a more particular idea concerning the nature and extent of it. The genius of the people being peculiar, arising from the intimate association of their wills and understandings, became admissive of states of evil, against the entrance of which pos- terity was to be secured. With the people called Noah, it was provided by the Lord tliat there should be some few remains of innocence and knowledge stored up in the interiors of their minds, as planes upon which the Divine influence might operate for the production of another church, to effect the * Luke xii. 47, 48. t Gen. vi. 5. ^ X Gen. iii. 5. g Gen. vi. 11, 12. 19 258 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. restoration of those who fall, and so to become the groundwork of their regeneration: this we believe to be signified by the promise, " Yet his days shall be a hundred aijd twenty years." It was seen in a preceding chapter,* that this statement had no reference to the age of man: and we here observe that it ex- presses the state of remains concerning faith, which should bo provided for in subsequent generations of men. Remains are all those true ideas and good impressions which are derived from the Lord's Word, and introduced into a man's memory during the periods of his infancy and childhood, also of those states Avhich are derived therefrom; such as the states of innocence from infancy; states of love towards parents, relations, instructors, and friends; states of kindness towards one's neighbour, and of tenderness towards the poor and needy. These states, with the sentiments and feelings connected with them, are now preserved in the internal man by the Lord, and carefully separated from all that is evil and false. Every one is aware that such things remain with him, notwithstanding the evils into which he may have fallen; and in that circumstance he has what is promised by his "days being a hundred and twenty years." For by these remains man has the orderly groundwork for reflecting upon what is good and true, and so to think and reason upon religious things; for they are among the first receptacles of celestial and spiritual life in fallen man. The reason why a hundred and twenty denote remains^ may be seen by referring to the signification of twelve and ten, by the multiplication of which that number is obtained. Those two numbers very frequently occur in the Scriptures, and they are connected with some of the most conspicuous circumstances mentioned therein. It will be sufficient for our purpose to notice, in respect to the number twelve, a few instances in which it occurs; and, in reference to the number ten, the Decalogue, and tithings. It must be plain to every one who will carefully study the use of those numbers in the Word, that they involve a meaning different from what they literally express. Nor need we be surprised at this, for it is no uncommon thing in our own day to hear persons, in certain kinds of conversation, speak of dozens and tens, Avithout intending thereby to express what is * See pnge 241. NUMBERS TWELVE AND TEN. 259 nnmerically correct, but chiefly to indicate some general idea. Tlie numbers mentioned in the Scriptures were selected for the sake of the representation they were intended to sustain, and in no case are they to be considered accidental or indifferent. By twelve are signified all things belonging to love, and faith grounded therein. It was on this account that Aaron's breast- plate had twelve precious stones,* and the genuine Church has twelve foundations and twelve gates, f It was for the same reason that there were tivelve triljes of Israel, and twelve apostles; also, that Jesus, when tivelve years old, went up to Jerusalem, sat with the doctors in the temple, and aroused their astonishment at his understanding and answers. J But by ten are denoted remains. The Decalogue is so named because the commandments of the moral law are called the '.'ten words. "§ The sentiments therein contained were not promulgated for the first time when revealed to Moses; they were the holy truths Avhich remained of a more ancient dispen- * Exod. xxviii. 21. f Rev. xxi. 14-21. X Lake ii. 42-47. A more enlarged view of the ground on which numbers have a spiritual signification, with ample illustrations, is furnished in an in- teresting little work, ".4 Key to the Sjiirifiial Signification of Numbers, Weights, and Measures,'''' by the late Ecr. Hindviarsh. ^ Exod. xxxiv. 28, marginal reading. These " words" or commandments are not numerically divided in the Scriptures ; nor are they called ten for a numerical purpose ; if so, it would have been indicated in the letter ; whereas no one can say, on such authority, which is the first, second, and so on. They have been divided, so as to make that number, by Biblical critics ; and the convenience thus afforded has led to the reception of such a division by the Church from a very early period. But the mode of division has not been uniform. Most of "the fathers " have written upon this subject : wliile they all admit that tliere should be ten, differences of opinion exist as to where the separations should be made, particularly concerning those which are recorded from the first to the twelfth verse, and at the seventeenth verse, of the twentieth chapter of Exodus. The division adopted by the Greek, Reformed, and Anglican Churches is that of Origen, which places five upon each table, making the fifth upon the first table to be, " Honour tliy father and mother," &c. Of course, there is no Divine authority for such an arrangement, and some have doubted whether calling them first, second, and so on, is not an addition to the Word, which ought not to ])e made. Philo Jud^us, in his " Be Dcca- logo," supposes that they were called the Decalogue to denote their per- fection, ten being considered the most perfect number. The true reason is indicated above. 260 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. sation: for every one may see that the evils therein forbidden were known to be such, by the Israelites and other nations, before they were delivered upon Mount Sinai. But as such knowledges remained without the source of them being acknowl- edged, they were re-enacted in a miraculous manner, before the sons of Jacob, in order to signify their Divine origination. Hence it is plain that ten denote remains in general. This idea explains why Abram is said to have given Melchizedek " tithes of all " ;* and why it was directed that a tenth part of the fruits of the earth should be offered to the Lord, and by Him was given to Aaron and the Levites.f These tenths represented what remained of truth and good among the Israelitish Church, and consequently that they belonged to the Lord, therefore it is written, "The tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.":|: From these significations of twelve and ten, we may. perceive that the number, " a hundred and twenty," Avhich results from their multiplication, and is said to be the day of the years of man, denotes the remains of truth and good, for the security of which the Lord would provide in the future generations of our race. From these considerations we learn that numbers in the Word are to be understood altogether abstractedly from the sense of the letter, they being inserted mainly to carry on the historical series, which appears in the literal sense. The corruptions of the people, up to the period of this an- nouncement, were of a kind that never existed before or since. That a provision was to be made against their recurrence, by means of a change about to be induced upon the subsequent condition of mankind,- is declared by the Lord, where he said to Noah, "Behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; — neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." § The covenant thus declared to have been made plainly shows that a new state must have been induced upon the minds of those who received it. A cove- nant is an agreement between two, with the conditions of which they are mutually satisfied. It is true that in the covenants * Gen. xiv. 20. f Numb, xviii. 24-28 ; Dent. xiv. 22. J Lev. xxvii. 32. ? Gen. ix. 9-11. NEW STATE TO BE INDUCED IN MAN. 261 which the Lord effects with men, he alone offers the conditions; the reason is, because he can present nothing but what is right and just: those who accept tlie Divine propositions are favour- abl}^ disposed to what is good. His covenants therefore relate to internal and spiritual tilings, and consequently to human re- generation; and for this, it is obvious, in the case before us, that a new mental state must have been provided. The promise that there should not any more be a flood to destroy the earth, cer- tainly indicates that this new state was ever afterwards to exist and to prevent the return of such a calamity. But this leads us to ask what it was Avhich constituted this pe- culiar mental characteristic of the antediluvians; because, with- out some idea of that peculiarity, we must be at a loss to account for the circumstance of their remains having perished in their corruptions, with the exception of those which were preserved with Noah, to become the groundwork of another dispensation. In reference to this point, it was shown in a preceding chapter, treating of the occupation and enjoyments of Eden, that love was the reigning principle of their character, and that all their wisdom arose therefrom; their wills and understandings acted, not as two, but as one faculty; so that in whatever direction their affections were placed, their intellect took the same course; their thoughts and affections acted in unity. That was their genus: each part of their minds cohered with the other, and they formed one. This mental characteristic, when employed in the service of God, led to the highest results in religious attainment; but when they fell, they also carried this genus with them into their corruptions. When they began to love what was evil, they also began to think what was false, and this distinguished every act. This state may be compared to a glutinous sub- stance, so that when any goods or truths came into contact with it they were ensnared, and could not be separated : consequently remains, with the antediluvians, instead of being stored up and preserved as the plane for subsequent regeneration, were pro- faned, their profanation consisting in this, that they had received truth and good in faith and heart, and had afterwards in faith and heart denied them. Hence, in their last posterity, it pro- duced those dire persuasions by which all spiritual goodness and 262 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. truth was overwhelmed, and through which they became extinct: for a man, when his remains are destroyed, has notliing left through which the Lord can reach and save him. Such was the mental constitution or genus of those ancient people, yet it jierished Avith them; for the Lord said, "All flesh shall not be cut off any more by the waters of a flood." But why ? Clearly because a new state was to be provided, through which it would be prevented. In what was this new state to consist? There can be little douljt that it was to consist in the separation of the intellectual principle from the will; so that man might, by the intellectual princifjle, be enabled to know what is true and good, notwithstanding the entire corruption of his will; and thereby to provide for the safe custody of his " remains." Every one's experience proves to him that this is now the condition of man: every branch of the authentic his- tory of our race, from the period of the flood, contributes proofs of this fact. If a man love an evil, and pursue it, his understanding tells him of the iniquity. The will may, nay, it does, strive to induce the understanding to favour its impurities, and to some extent it may succeed; but there are certain states implanted during the innocence of youth which cannot be obliterated. The greatest criminals are not found insensible to every virtue; they are known to feel acutel}^ on being reminded of the better states of their early days. The idea that such states are favourable to good, cannot perish. In separating the intellectual faculty from the will, the Lord has provided a means for the access of himself to the human race, Avhich can- not be entirely closed by man during his residence below; and thus He has mercifully erected a barrier against the recurrence of such an inundation of false persuasions, grounded in evil loves, as prevailed in the last da3^s of the antediluvian world, and which led to the destruction of its inhabitants. The narrative of Moses furnishes us with two particulars con- cerning the enormities in religion that prevailed in those times. The first, with the consideration of which we shall close this chapter, is thus related: " It came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they OPINIONS CONCERNING THE " SONS OF GOD." 263 were fair; and they took them wives of all Avhich they chose."* This is certainly intended to express some atrocity, which assisted in bringing about the catastrophe of the flood. But what was the nature of it? Daughters were born to men long before the chronological era which the narrative is supposed to contemplate. Adam and Seth, Enos and Cainan, with several others, are stated to have begotten sons and daughters many hundreds of years before this period, f The birth of daughters, therefore, was no new thing when men began to multiply. But why not sons as well as daughters ? Is it not plain that this cannot have been recorded to indicate what the letter seems to express ? On such a supposition the narrative will present no ordinary difficulties. These daughters are said to have been fair; % but surely there was nothing very sinful in such a cir- cumstance. It is not very reasonable to identify crime with beauty. We can conceive how beauty may lead to vanity and evil in a certain class of characters, but not how it can be an evil in itself; and the statement before us merely announces what is conceded to be the natural inheritance of the sex, namely, that they were at least physicall}- adapted to become objects of affection. The}' were so considered by the "sons of God"; and whatever popular idea may be attached to this phrase, there is no ground for denying that they might have been tolerable judges of such a matter. If the daughters of men were fair in their eyes, that is good reason to presume that they really were so. But what idea is the phrase " sons of God " intended to ex- press? The literal sense has furnished, among others, the fol- lowing opinions on the subject: first, that they were angels. Now, if we so consider them, then the circumstance of their having taken to themselves wives of the daughters of men is not very easily comprehended. We do not see how purely spiritual beings could fall in love with really natural women, so long as they existed in the material world; neither do we perceive how women could reciprocate an affection for husbands who, for the want of corporeity, could not be seen or touched. But as this idea of "the sons of God" is not generally insisted on, we need not dwell upon its consequences. Another idea which the * Gen. vi. 1, 2. t Gp"- v. 4-10. % Heb., good. 264 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. phrase has been thought to signify is, that they were good men.^ The faithful and obedient are sometimes so called in the Scrip- tures. Of the Lord it is said, to " as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, "f But if this be the meaning of the phrase, of what enormity were they guilty ? Surely it is difficult to perceive any evil in the circumstance of a good man choosing a fair woman for his Avife. Marriage is one of the institutions of God himself, and human choice in such a matter is one of the ingredients requisite to contribute to the happiness of which it is productive. A good man is not forbidden to marry, or deprived of choice in such an affair; and yet the nar- rative before us presents the circumstance as having been one of the proximate causes Avhich hurried on the disaster of the flood ! But where shall we find those good men of whom the phrase "sons of God" is considered to be descriptive? It is true, indeed, that " Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord " : that "he was a just man and perfect in his generations."! Nevertheless, this is not the character which the "sons of God ' ' are contemplated to have sustained : they were guilty of some enormit}^ therefore a "good man" cannot be the right signification of the phrase; and the notion commonly attached to the fairness of the women excludes from it such an idea. It has been supposed that those fair daughters were merely beau- tiful as to their persons, and that they were taken as Avives from their physical aspect, irrespective of any sound consideration of character. § Of course, this can only be a conjecture; yet if it is conceded as probable, what is to become of the above idea of the sons of God? they cannot be good men who sacrifice principle to appearance in so serious a matter. They cannot be the sons of God in such a sense, who prefer appetite to virtue. If the sons of God were good men, they must have made a prudent choice of wives, and in that case there seems * This is the opinion of Dr. A. Clarke, who says, " They were such as were, according to our Lord's doctrine, horn again from above, and made children of God by the influence of the Holy Spirit." t John i. 12. J Gen. vi. 8, 9. ? See Commentary of Henry and Scott, published for the Religious Tract Society. THE INTERNAL SENSE. 265 no ground for the calamity towards which their choice is said to have contributed. If they did not make such a choice, then the title ' ' sons of God ' ' cannot mean what it has been sup- posed to mean. Indeed, the general scope of the history, as well as the particular declarations of it,- show " that the wicked- ness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart ivas only evil continually." * What, then, is to be done Avith this passage of our history ? The more it is viewed in the light of a literal narrative, the more dense becomes the fog by which it is surrounded, f The word of the Lord is spirit; and it is to this that we must go, to be delivered from the embarrassments of the letter. Let us try the effect of such a course. It came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, that daughters were born unto them. By men are plainly meant mankind who lived in those times of the declin- ing Church. The spiritual Cjuality of this people, in respect to the things of love and faith, was exceedingly corrupt. The wickedness of men was great in the earth; and they are here called men, not because they j^ossessed the principles of re- ligious manhood, but chiefly because they were responsible for their perversities. The multiplication of such men denoted the increase of those corruptions into which the race at that time fell; and they are said to have multiplied on the face of the earth (properly ground), to signify that the increase of their *Gen. vi. 5. t Tliree other views have been taken of this passage, which it may be use- ful to notice. One is, that the phrase " sons of God " ought not to be under- stood in a strict sense, but as denoting that men distinguished lor their posi- tion in society were, with a profane use of language, called sons of God by the servile portion of the community ; and, consequently, that Moses adopted their expression in his history. But of this the text affords no evidence ; nor do the Scriptures present an instance of wicked men being so denominated. Another idea is, that the term translated ^o^? ought to have ])een given as " princes," " great men," " rulers," or some equivalent word. To this it maj' be sufficient to observe, that the original word is Elohim. The third o])inion is, that the " sons of God " were the sons of Seth, Orient- ally expressed, and that their .sin consisted in marrying with the daughters of Cain, which is considered to have been prohibited. These, however, are mere conjectures, for which there is no evidence in the letter of the history. 266 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. wickedness spread itself aljroad upon the visible Church at that period. The face of the ground is the visible character of the Cliurch, and this is presented in the lives of its professors. If their lives be wise and virtuous, the face of the ground is bright and lovely; but if their- lives be ignorant and vicious, then tlie face of the ground is benighted and defiled. This latter was the condition of the visible Church now treated of. The people had successively abandoned the ways of God, and pursued the criminal indulgence of their own follies; and in this perverted state, daughters are said to have been born unto them — not sons, but daughters only — because by tlie daughters of the wicked are spiritually denoted the lusts which they originate. The wicked, as is well known, are continually engendering some new lusts, and these, in the figurative style of antiquity, are here represented by daughters. The good also are never un- mindful of genuine usefulness, and they are always giving origination to some new love, which, upon the same principle, where good is the subject treated of, is likewise spoken of as a daughter. The precise signification is determined by the quality of the things which are predicated. Thus when the affections of goodness and truth are spoken of as existing in the Church, they are called the daughters of Zion, the daughters of Judah, and the daughters of Jerusalem.* But Avhen the lusts of evil and falsehood are treated of, they are called the daughters of Babylon, the daughters of the Philistines, the daughters of Moabjf and in the instance specially before us, the daughters of men. The ground of these significations is, that woman is affection by nature. The affection of good is soft, delicate, and persevering, — thus, as a female; while the understanding of truth is discriminating, robust, and powerful, — and thus, as a male. On whatever woman sets her heart she is extreme: when she directs her affections to what is good, she is inexpressibly loving; when she dedicates herself to vice, she is horribly revolting. A woman in the search of excellence is sweet and prudent; but in the i3ursuit of wickedness she is coarse and disgusting. A virtuous woman is a ruby, a vicious woman is a *Zech. ii. 10; Psa. xlviii. 11, &c., &c. ; Lam. ii. 13. t Psa. cxxxvii. 8 ; 2 Sam. i. 20 ; Numb. xxv. 1. THE INTERNAL SENSE. 267 viper; and from these circumstances we may readily see that what is love witli the good, is converted into last with the wicked. Wickedness was the characteristic of the men under consider- ation, consequently the daughters said to have been born unto them were Imts^ manifesting a distinctiveness in the evil conduct of the times. It is in consequence of the will having sunk into mere evil, while the understanding, by having been separated from it, was preserved in a state capable of having something that is intel- lectual and rational formed within it, that there were so many laws enacted under the Jewish dispensation, pointing out the prerogatives of man; that is, of the faculty of the understand- ing, and of the obedience due from the woman, which is the submission of the will. Those laws and statements are not to be understood to mean that there is any natural superiority or mastery belonging to the one sex, and some inferiority or sub- ordination proper to the other. The distinction is not of such a kind, l)ut it consists in the circumstance, that with the woman, the icill is her extreme characteristic; and with the man, the understanding is his extreme characteristic^ On these grounds, therefore, it is that the two sexes represent their most visible characteristics, — the woman, will and its affections, and the man, understanding and its thoughts. If the will, in conse- (juence of its fallen quality, do not submit to the government of the rational thoughts of the understanding, it goes astray from every good, and thereupon all those lusts are engendered which contribute so largely to bring about the moral desolation of the Church. Seeing, then, that by the daughters of men, in the case before us, are spiritually denoted those lusts of evil which were brouglit forth by the wickedness of those early inhabitants of our earth, let us in the next place endeavour to ascertain what is meant by " the sons of C4od." Now, as by daughters in general are signified the things of affection in the will, so by sons are spiritually represented the things of thought in the understand- ing. "While affection, as the offspring of the will, is as a daughter, thought, as the offspring of the understanding, is as a son. Hence so7is, apart from the mere letter of the expression, represent the thoughts of the understanding, and therefore the 268 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. phrase "sons of God" denotes all those thoughts which pro- ceed from God; consecjiiently, Divine truths. The Lord Jesus Christ is called the Son of God in a pre-emi- nent sense, because that name expresses the Divine truth which he manifested and sustained. " I am," said he, " the truth."* Again, it is written of him that he was " the \Vord,"t which is the truth. He was the living impersonation and eml)odiment of the Word; he likewise declared that those " were called gods to whom the word of God came " ; J but it is evident that it was the reception of the Divine truth which conferred this remarka- ble distinction. Judges are called gods,§ because the judgment they were required to exercise was to be formed according to truth and equity. Moses is said to have been a god to Pharaoh, || because he was the messenger by whom Divine truth was to be communicated to that obstinate monarch. In these cases Divine truth is called God, and particular truths derived therefrom are called "the sons of God." Hence those who believe in God are said to be his sons,^ because such belief is founded on the reception and acknowledgment of the Divine truth from him. The power which is given to men to become the sons of God re- sults from their knowing Divine truth, and applying it to the formation of their character. Hence the Apostle says, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." ** The Spirit of God is the influence of Divine truth proceeding from him. The sons of God, then, in the remarkable passage Ave are con- sidering, is a phrase intended to express those doctrinal truths which yet remained among the people. They had been handed down to them from a remote and superior ancestry, and had not yet been dissipated by the corruptions of the people: that was an enormity they were now about to perpetrate. They are said to have seen the daughters of men that they were fair, to inform us that they were about to favour and subserve the lusts of evil; and the consummation of this iniquity is thus described: "They took to them wives of all which they chose." This is a peculiar circumstance, which takes place in the human mind as the things of the Church are departing out of it; * John xiv. G. f .Tohn i. 1-14. X ■Tol'" n- ">•''• ? Exod. xxii. 28. II Exod. vii. 1. If Jolin i. 12. ** Rom. viii. 14. THE MEANING ILLUSTRATED. 269 and therefore it may be useful to elucidate it by an additional remark. When a man turns himself away from goodness, and goes in an opposite direction, a change takes place both as to the objects of his love and the subjects of his thinking. That also which he loves pre-eminently he thinks continually, and so all the knowledges of his mind are brought into requisition, to serve and favour the objects of his love. If there be any pow- erful truth which cannot be easily made to bend in such a direction, it is rejected and ultimately forgotten; but all other truths are induced to favour the lusts desired, and so to look upon them as " fair." By this means men confirm themselves in their impurities, and thereby they are not unfrequently led into the delusion of believing their evil to be good. This state is spoken of in the Scriptures as putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; * and it may readily be conceived by any one who Avill attentively observe Avhat passes in himself and others. Every one who loves an evil will endeavour to invent arguments to persuade himself that it is allowable, as well as agreeable. Men are exceedingly expert in reasoning favourably for the things they love. The materials for such reasonings they will draw from any and every source at their command: nor will the Word of the Lord itself be left untouched in such a course. Approximations to this are occasionally observable in quoting the Scriptures upon light and frivolous occasions; and particu- larly when its passages are cited as the authority or excuse for any questionable conduct. As, for instance, when the wars to which the Israelites were directed are referred to as a sanction for the prosecution of wars in general; or when the conduct of David is cited to justify the indulgence of some criminal pro- pensity. But whenever any of the statements of Divine truth are employed to favour and forward the pursuits of a selfish love, then the sons of God are in the act of seeing the daughters of men to be fair — the Divine truths are employed to subserve the purposes of human lusts. Those who are in evil will excuse the outbreaks of their anger by adducing passages expressive of the Divine wrath; f and they will defend the hatred of their * Isa. V. 20. fit is reported that the Pope, Julius III., had been greatly enrag^ at the Bishop of Rimini, his major-domo, about a peacock ; that his Holiness 270 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. enemies by citing the laws of retaliation: in short, evil men, like devils, can quote Scripture for their purpose, pervert its design, and thus bring its truth into contact with impurity.* All such cases may be taken as illustrations of those dark scenes of moral turpitude which transpired in the latter days of the antediluvian world, expressed in the remarkable yejt powerfully significant sentence, ' ' The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair." Those abandoned people, having perverted the truth to subserve an evil purpose, must needs have profaned it; and thereby they deprived themselves not only of every spiritual good, but even of those remains which might have conduced to its attainment. All such profanation of the Word closes the interiors of the mind against the influence of heavenly graces, and prepares it for the inundation and overflow of those infernal principles in which they perish. It was to describe that desperate condition, in which the mind would no longer be led by the spiritual things of heaven, that the Lord is stated to have said, "My spirit shall not always strive with man." The Spirit of the Lord consists in those holy influences which proceed from him to operate on men the graces of salvation, through the teaching of his Word; and the strivings of this Spirit consisted in its efforts to rescue men from evil, and better their condition in respect to heavenly things. When this effort ceased to be effective, in consequence of its being resisted on the part of man, then this Spirit is said to strive no longer; not that the mercy of the Lord was withdrawn, but that it had ceased to be perceived or acknowledged by twice blasphemed; and that when oue of the cardinals told him that he ought not to be so angry upon so small a matter, the Pope answered, "If God was so much disturbed, and filled with such anger and fury, and did such a quantity of evil to tlie whole human race about an apple, why may not I, who am his vicar upon earth, be angry with my major-domo about a peacock?" — Examiner of May 18, 1817, as cited by the Rev. R. Hindmarsh. * I remember reading some few years ago, in a police report, of a man who had neglected and run away from his family defending himself with the fol- lowing passage of the Word: " Every one that hath forsaken houses, or breth- ren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sal^e, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." — Matt. xix. 29. THE MEANING ILLUSTRATED. 271 mankind. Nevertheless, the design of perpetuating the human race was not to be abandoned, though new ground was to be provided for the reception of the means. It was pronounced that there ' ' should not be any more a flood to destroy the earth " ; * because means for its prevention had been adopted in the new arrangement of the human mind before referred to. The remains, which were to be inseminated into the intellectual faculty, and there preserved by the Lord, were no more to be destroyed, as they had been by the last posterity of the most ancient people. * Gen. ix. 11. CHAPTER XX. THE GIANTS THAT WERE IN THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD,— AND THE REPENTANCE OF THE LORD THAT HE HAD MADE MAN. " It is not necessary to understand any particular race of men, of higher stature than usual, as many ancient interpreters have done; for since nephil means, to fall or rush on any one, nephllim will mean those who rush or fall on others, i.e., rob- bers, banditti, — the centaurs of the Greeks were the same kind of people." — ROSENMULLER. It is a remarkable circumstance that, towards the closing of the antediluvian period, we should be informed that " there were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and the}^ bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." * The most accomplished scholars admit that the original term, here translated giants, does not neces- sarily mean men of extraordinary stature, and that it may be ver}' fairly construed to signify persons with remarkable minds, t Taking this view of the subject, we at once perceive a reason for the statement, which otherwise seems disconnected. It comports with the circumstance of their origin being traced to a connection of the sons of God with the daughters of men; and doubtless it is designed to point out one of the mental phenomena developed by an expiring church, and it must be understood to indicate some enormity, which the idea of gigantic bodies does not furnish. There might have been individuals in those times, as there have been in all subsequent ages and nations, whose physical * Gen. vi. 4. t Some derive the original from a Hebrew root which denotes to fall, and render it apostates, i. e., ni«n who /e// ojf from the faith of God; others render it oppressors, i. e., men wlio/e/Z upon or assaulted their le gained; and all the early states of man's religious improvement are more or less built up from some per- sonal and selfish consideration, and so from his concupiscence. He wishes to avoid some danger or procure some blessing; but the early efforts to secure these things will, upon examination, be found to arise from something that is low and selfish. As, then, the Noachians were a fallen people who were about to be regenerated, we may readily see why they were directed to make an ark of gopher wood. Concupiscence was the readiest and most abundant material of which they could command the use; but, being directed to religious inquiries and purposes, it, under the Divine Providence, resulted in safety. It was making friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, in order to be re- ceived into everlasting hal^itations. * But the state of mind so produced admitted both the clean and the unclean beasts and fowl: it was also lial>le to grievous temptation; consequently, when these were experienced and overcome, the ark which had been constructed of such materials was abandoned, and we read no more about it! It was commanded that the ark should be pitched within and without, to point out the care that was to be exercised in pre- venting falsehood from entering into the mind, either by impure excitement from without, or by seducing impulses from within. The original text does not say that it should be pitched with pitch, but an expression is employed which denotes preserva- tion,! and it has only been so translated in consequence of its supposed relation to a natural ark. The pitching is representa- tive of preservation, on the ground of its natural use being to exclude both the entrance and emission of all such waters as * Luke xvi. 9. t " It is derived from the verb to expiate, or propitiate, wherefore the same sense is implied; the Lord's expiation, or propitiation, is protection from the overflowinserv- able. But it is an hypothesis without sufficient data; it is not recognized by the scientific inquirer, nor does it agree with the facts which geology discloses. It is one of those ingenious con- THE DILUVIUM. 317 ceptions of the earlier cosmogonists, which have been abandoned as impossible by all who are in possession of later and riper in- formation. Still the inquiry whence the water was to be obtained, by which all the high hills were to be covered fifteen cubits, natur- ally suggests itself.* Here other difficulties arise; for Avhen we know that it would require for the supply an amount equal to five miles above the ordinary level of the sea, — that it would increase the equatorial diameter of the earth eleven or twelve miles, — that the earth's gravity would be increased, and the causes of its previous precession and nutation disarranged, — and that these circumstances must needs have propagated their effects throughout the wdiole solar system; — we say, when these astounding facts are knowai to be the consequences of water having covered all the higli hills of the earth fifteen cubits, the theological view popularly received must needs give way to some more reasonable and modified interpretation of the nar- rative. The most plausible geological facts on which the evidences of the deluge have most recently been thought to rest, are those which are presented in what has been generally included in* the common name, diluvium. This is considered to describe super- ficial accumulation, such as sand, soil, gravel, and those loose aggregations of larger stones and blocks which are to be found throughout the Avhole surface of the earth. But the examina- tion of their contents, and an inquiry into the direction of the currents by which those fragments must have been driven, and afterwards deposited in their present situations, have proved most conclusively, to all competent judges of the subject, that they ^vere the results of different diluvial actions, that they must have taken place in dfferent ages, and that all of them are of local extent, though the locality of some may have been very * Isaac Vossius on this sulvject observes, "that the waters of the whole globe would uot suffice to overflow the earth to such a height as is mentioned, although all the seas were drained: more waters must either have been cre- ated for that purpose, or we mast say with some, that that vast quantity of water fell down from some other of the celestial orbs, and that the deluge ended, the water returned to its former place. But the.se are only pious fool- eries. God works no miracles in vain." — Treatise of the True Age of the Worl'l. 318 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION, large. Instances are known in which one stratum crosses an- other and overlies it. From these circumstances, scientific men — men influenced by piety and a Ijelief in revelation — have concluded that these phenomena could not have been produced by such an event as the terms of the Noachic deluge seem to require.* Another class of evidences leading to the same result is fur- nished by volcanoes. In the south and towards the centre of France, there are several hundred conical hills, having the forms of modern volcanoes, with craters more or less perfect on many of their summits. None of these have been in action within the period of history or tradition. Some have had channels cut in them by ancient rivers, through masses of solid lava, a hundred feet in thickness; and these channels have since been choked up by streams of lava.f The time required for the production of these phenomena is incalculable; still it is evident that they cannot have transpired since the period which chronology assigns to the Noachic deluge: and the circumstance of there being present, on the sides of these volcanoes, loose scorise, pumice, and cinders, proves that they have not been submerged, and, consequently, that they were not inundated by ''Noah's flood. "t * " That a transient deluge, like that described in the Scriptures, could have produced and brought into its present situation all the diluvium which is now spread over this continent [America] will not (it seems to me) be admitted for a moment by any impartial observer." — Prof. Hitchcock^ s " Geology of 3Ias- sachusetts,^^ p. 148. fLyell's " Elements of Geology," Sec. Ed., vol. i., p. 11 ; vol. ii., p. 190. See also his " Principles of Geology." Sir H. De la Beche's "Geological Manual" may also be consulted, 3rd Ed., p. 172. Dr. Colenso urges these facts against the literal history of the deluge, and says: "I now know for certain, on geological grounds, a fact of which I had only misgivings before I left England, viz., that a universal deluge, such as the Bible manifestly speaks of, could not possibly have taken place in the way described in the Book of Genesis." — " Tlie Pentateuch and Bookof Joshua Critically Examined,^' Preface, p. vii. X " When did these fires burn? When took place this amazing combina- tion of volcanic eruptions and their terrible accompaniments? How long ago was the last of them ? And by what intervals of time could we ascend from that last to the earlier eruption, and to the earliest of the astounding number? These questions cannot be answered by any assigning of our THE FLOOD COXSIDERED TO BE LOCAL. 319 The idea of its universality liud been relinquislied by many distinguished Biblical scholars before geology became a science. Among others may be named Bishop Stillingfleet, the learned Vossius, and Matthew Poole; the former observes, "I cannot see any urgent necessity from the Scriptures to assert that the flood did spread itself over all the surface of the earth; "* and the latter observes, "It is not to be supposed that the entire globe of earth was covered with water, "f Rosenmiiller has given a summary of the arguments which modern critics have advanced to prove that the deluge was not universal. | Dr. Pye Smith, one of the most recent and accomplished writers on this subject, contends that the expressions which have been so interpreted are mere orientalisms, and that they mean no more than a large extent. He thinks it was onl}- great enough to overwhelm the whole of the human race, that being the principal ol^ject of it; and considers that, at the time of its occurrence, men had not emigrated beyond a comparatively small district in the East; and he finally fixes the scene of the inundation described by Moses in and about that portion of Western Asia where there is a large district now considerably depressed below the level of the sea.§ That there might have been a local deluge in the district named, as doubtless there has been in many other por- tions of the East and elsewhere, need not be questioned. But Avas it the Noachic flood ? There is not sufficient evidence to measures of time, — years and ceuturies. Such aualo,s;ies as may be iuferred by comparative examination of the condition of Etna, Vesuvius, and other active volcanoes, carry us to the contemplation of a period which runs back, not to the age of Noah, but immeasurably beyond the date of the creation of man and his contemporary plants and animals." — Dr. Pye Smith, ^' Scrip. Geo.,'' Sec. Ed., p. 146. * "Origines Sacrre," Book III., chap. iv. f "Synopsis," Gen. vii. 19. t "Schol. in Gen.," vol. i., pp. 92-94. See also King's " Mor-sels of Criti- cism," vol. iii., pp. 103-108. § Mesopotamia and Persia, part of Afghanistan and Turkistiin, taken generally. Vossius also contends that mankind had not then extended them- selves beyond the borders of Syria and Mesopotamia, and says, " No reason obliges us to extend the inundation of the deluge beyond those bounds which were inhabited." — Treatise of the True Age of the World. Coetlogon i>laces mankind at this period at tlie confluence of the two great rivers, tlie Euphrates and Tigris, and supposes the deluge to have been occa- sioned by their overflow.— i//,s " Universal History of Arts and Sciences,'' Art. A^itedilmyians. 320 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. affirm it, and there is some amount of negative evidence against it. By defining the locality, and concentrating the race to be destroyed, the probability is increased of finding human remains for the proof of it. But what is the fact ? It is notorious that no bed produced by diluvial action has ever been discovered, which contained a single bone or tooth of the human species.* *This question has beeu investigated with much scientific care by compe- tent observers in various parts of Europe and elsevvliere ; and the results have been recently published by Sir Charles Lyell, F.K.S., in his "Geologi- cal Evidences of the Antiquity of Man," 1863. The reader who wishes for farther information on this point is referred to that work. It may, however, be useful to notice two or three facts brouglit out with considerable promi- nence. Fragments of human bones have beeu found in the caverns of Bize, in the department of Aude, and in Pondres, near Nismes (both in France), embedded with the bones of extinct mammalia, and others of recent species ; but it is the concurrent opinion of scientific inquirers, that they cannot be referred to a " diluvial catastrophe," and that they did not belong to ante- diluvian periods, but to a people in a state of similar civilization to those who constructed the tumuli and altars (pp. 60, 61). Other fragments have been found in other places, but under circumstances which leave no doubt in the minds of scientific geologists, that man was not only contemporary with the extinct animals with which his remains have been found mingled, but that they could not have been left in the places where they have been discovered ; the geological formation of these places plainly showing that the antiquity of those remains is much greater than that which is commonly supposed to have been the date of that catastrophe. In the delta of the Mississippi, for the formation of which the lowest estimate of time is calcu- lated to be 100,000 years, there have been found four forests, one superim- posed upon the other, some charcoal, and a human skeleton. To this skeleton Dr. Dowler ascribes an antiquity of .50,000 years (p. 44). The flint imple- ments which have been discovered in several parts of Europe, and which are evidently of human workmanship, show, from their geological situation, that they must have been made prior to tlie date claimed for the deluge, and that such an event could not have been the cause of such a deposit. Although Sir Charles Lyell is very exact about his facts, he is exceedingly careful to avoid Biblical interpretations. Professor Sedgwick, of Cambridge, who at one time referred all secondary formation of geology to Noah's flood, on quittinft; the chair publicly read his recantation, and said we ought to have paused before we adopted the dilnvian theory ; "for of man, and the works of his hands, we have not found a single trace among the remnants of a former world entombed in these ancient deposits. " The learned Bunsen ob- serves, "We have no hesitation in asserting at once that there exist Egyptian monuments, the date of which can be accurately fixed, of a higher antiquity than those of any other nation known in history, viz., about 5000 years." This is nearly a thonsaTid years be'"ore the date assigned for the deluge. — " Egypt's Place in Universal History," p. 23. THE LITERAL RENDERING NOT CONSISTENT WITH FACTS. 321 Dr. A. Clarke calculates, that within the first 128 years of the world, there were upwards of half a million of inhabitants: taking the same data on which he computed, and carrying it down to 1656 a.m., the year of the flood, according to Arch- bishop Usher, there must have been a population of many mil- lions. Is it not remarkable, then, if such an immense number of persons perished in the way supposed, and within the limited district pointed out, that there should not be discovered any re- mains to prove it ? It is by no means unreasonable to expect that such a proof might be produced, if the event happened in the way it is interpreted. How, then, have the traces and marks of the catastrophe been so completely effaced and de- stroyed in reference to humanity, Avhen we find a great variety of remains belonging to other different departments of animated nature, which have been submerged for incalculable periods, and by the action of water embedded in numerous rocks and strata of the earth ? We cannot answer this question. It is for those to do so Avho have adopted the hypothesis which has sug- gested it. The phenomena, then, to which the theologians of the last century appealed, as proofs that the Mosaic description of the deluge referred to an overflow of the earth by water, about four thousand years ago, upon the fullest inquiry, made by competent authorities, prove no such thing! The whole of such phenomena are demonstrated to have resulted from a long-sus- tained action of aqueous currents and local submergence, and not from a universal and steady overflow of only one year's duration, as expressed in the narrative. The phenomena previ- ously resorted to by theologians as proofs are abandoned by many, whose bias would have kept them to their former system with the utmost pertinacity, if it could have been done with any consistency, after the production of such incontestable physical evidence to the contraiy. The modern interpretation of the narrative is not much better substantiated. It is said to have been universal in respect to man only, but limited to some geographical district. Thus the idea of its having been a physical occurrence is still maintained, though not a single phj'sical proof of it can be produced ! Men have been so long accustomed to view it in that light, that notwithstanding 23 322 THE WOKD AND ITS INSPIRATION. the difficulties by which it is surrounded, they are reluctant to behold it in any other. We, however, as before observed, have no doubt that time and farther inquir}' will lead to tlie estab- lishment of an entirel}^ different opinion. By relinquishing the literal interpretation, the authority of the narrative is not re- nounced; it is only a giving up of the ideas which men have attached to it, from a want of acquaintance with this ancient and Divine style of composition. Its religious value and sacred importance will remain in all their integrit}' if we consider it to be a figurative description of spiritual phenomena only; — a figure nevertheless provided, in all probability, by the occur- rence of some local flood which had happened, and in which many members of society had disastrously perished. We may be reminded that the event is alluded to in other parts of the Scriptures. So it is. Ezekiel mentions Noah's name twice,* and Isaiah speaks of the waters of Noah.f The Lord Jesus Christ referred to it as a general calamity; | so also do his Apostles Paul§ and Peter: || but the object of those refer- ences is not to set forth the physical nature of the circumstance. None of those parties speak of it in that light at all; nor is tliere any precise allusion made to the catastrophe. It is mentioned incidentally, and with the view of supporting some other truth; it is contemplated merely as a calamity, but whether it was of a natural or spiritual kind is not declared. It is reasonable to suppose, if it had been a natural event, that it would have been referred to with great frequency and force in other por- tions of the Word. This is the case with many other circum- stances of actual historv: it is ver}' conspicuous in the case o/ the lil)eration of the sons of Israel from Egyptian bond- age. Their unhappy condition in that country, and the advan- tages of' their having been delivered therefrom, are alluded to with more or less emphasis in almost all the books of the Hebrew Scriptures; whereas the flood is only once hinted at, and that in the way of figure! Surely there nu;st have been some cause for this; antl may not that cause have been its spiritual character, and thus its unsuital^leness for being appre- * Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. f Isa. liv. 9. X Matt. xxiv. 37-39 ; Luke xvii. 26, 27. ^ Heb. xi. 7. || 1 Pet. iii. 20 ; 2 Pet. hi. 6. MODERN INTERPRETATION. 323 ciated by so sensual a people as the Jews most unquestionably were? But without insisting upon these points, we think that a legitimate argument could be drawn from the connection in which the above passages occur, to show that the writers and the Divine speaker regarded it as a spiritual transaction : but of this again. Our attention may be directed to the traditions of such an event, which are found to prevail in almost every part of the world. To what we have already said upon this subject we have but little to add.* Details of those traditions have been learnedly collected by Mr. Bryant, and preserved in his ^^ Ancient Mythology.''^ Other writers have usefully and learnedly pursued a similar study. Mr. Sharon Turner, in his ' ' Sacred History of the World,'' ^ has referred to such traditions somewhat extensively, and attempted an elaborate argument to prove from them the certainty of the deluge. ■ It would have been a more satisfactory effort if he had shown the kind of deluge referred to by them. This point is assumed to have been a natural phenomenon; — it was prejudged to be so, but it is not proved. It must be con- fessed that some of those traditions are exceedingly remote, obscure, and rude, and that much scope has to be given to the imagination, in order to establish any identity between them and that of the Mosaic record, f But although we may admit * See pp. 21, 22. It is highly probable that many of the traditions re- ferred to did not arise from the event spoken of in the Hebrew Scriptures, but from some destructive local inundations by which the nations had been visited ; for there is scarcely a country to be mentioned that has not experi- enced some extensive disaster of the kind, and of which there are either historical or traditional reminiscences. It is proper to distinguish, in an iu- (juiry of this sort, between the traditions of a deluge and the deluge spoken of by Moses. It is plain that many which are mentioned by writei's on this subject have not the slightest allusion to it. t For instance, the Egyptian tradition, as related by Diodorus Siculus, when speaking of their persuasion that they were the first of mankind, is this : "They say, on the whole, that either in the flood which occurred in the time of Deucalion, the greatest part of living things perished ; but that it was likely that those who inhabited Egypt so much to the south, and so free from rain, were mostly preserved ; or, as some declare, that all that were alive being destroyed, the earth again brought forth new natures of animals from their beginning. " — Diod. Sic, 1. i., p. 10. The Grekk tradition is given by Apollodorns thus: "When Jupiter 324 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIKATION. that tliere is a number of them sufficiently plain to show that they do refer to some circumstance denominated the flood, still this does not concede them to mean an overflow of natural water. Some spiritual calamity, which had befallen a people among whom figurative language was in high repute, might have been spoken of in such terms; but as the right signification of them was lost in after ages, mankind would then very natvn-- ally regard them to express a physical event. That tradition may arise from such a source is very evident; and that the views which they were originally intended to express may, by the diversity of national genius, prejudices, vanity, or ambition, have their signification entirely changed, will scarcely be doubted. It is plain that this has been the case. The gen- erality of the traditions which have been collected upon this subject, and which are found to prevail in those countries where the Christian Scriptures are not known, show most conclusively how the original idea, whatever it was, has been mixed up with some national circumstance. We therefore hold that it is not enough for the point in hand to show that there are such traditions, or that they have been for many generations under- stood to refer to a deluge of natural waters; and we contend that, to make out such an understanding of those traditions to be correct, it is first requisite to define the true meaning of what is thought to be the historical source of them. This source must determined to destroy the brazen race, Deucalion, by the advice of Prome- theus, made a great ark, Aapvaica^ and put into it all necessary things, and entered it with Pyrrha. Jupiter then pouring down heavy rains from heaven, overwhelmed the greatest part of Greece, so that all men perished except a few who fled to the highest mountains. He floated uiue days and nights on the sea of waters, and at last stopped on Mount Parnassus. Then Jupiter sent Mercury to ask him what he wished ; and he solicited that man- kind might be made again. Jupiter bade him throw stones over his head, from which men should come ; and that those cast by Pyrrha should be turned into women." — ApolL, 1. i., p. 23. The Chinesk tradition is the following statement by Confucius : "Alas! the deluging states are spreading destruction. They surround the mountains. They overtop the hills. They rise high and extend wide as the spacious vault of heaven." — Dr. 3Torrison, in his Preface to the Chinese Dictionary. These citations are as they are given by Sharon Turner, in his "Sacred History of the World," vol. ii., pp. 313, 314, 324. TRADITIONS OF A DELUGE. 325 have been some description derived from the Noachic people, and that description must have partaken of the same character and genius as those wliich are found in the Scripture narrative. The whole inquiry therefore resolves itself back to the Mosaic record. It is the meaning of that document, and not the ideas whicli tradition may be supposed to speak, which has to be determined. Most persons are aware that tradition presents a variety of sul)jects Avith which it has dealt in a light very different from that in which they originally transpired. A sensible writer ob- serves, " Those who know how, even in our own days, reports are changed and embellished, how some features are oniitted and others added, during the process of passing from mouth to mouth, and how in the end they frequently assume a totally different aspect from that which they originally had, will readily admit that such traditions cannot be received with the same faith as contemporary history. We may add, that the more impor- tant the occurrence handed down by tradition is, and the more it affects the feelings and passions of man, the greater will l)e the changes and corruptions which it will experience in its progress. The desire of seeing things clear and complete is inherent in the human mind; and hence we find, that in innumeraltle instances, when a tradition, or a series of traditions, was deficient, unclear, or incomplete, man's imagination and ingenuity hoA^e been at work to make up an apparently complete account, either by filling up the gaps in the original account with jiure fictions, or by transferring and combining events which belong to different times and countries. Specimens of traditions of this kind may be found in great numbers in the early history of every nation."* Hence it is evident that the prevalence of traditions concerning the deluge having been an inundation of waters, is no proof that such was the idea attached to the original description. They must have sprung from a description^ whatever view may be taken of the circumstance; and the Noachic people, as the only recorded survivors of it, must have lieen its authors, and the first communicators of it to their descendants. That the sense of the original information concerning it has been essentially altered, in consequence of passing through such a diversified * " PeuDy Cyclopaedia," Art. Tradition. 326 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. series of sensual and pi^rverting channels, may 1)6 reasonably supposed. What is more likel}^ t(j have transpired with a nar- rative of spiritual things couched in the form of factitious his- tory, than that it would come to he understood in a literal sense, as men sunk more and more dee})ly into naturalism ? Does not the supposition of its having been a figurative narrative better account for those great differences which tradition presents, than the popular idea can possil^ly do ? Surely such a view is more likely to have been spread into a greater variety of modes of thinking and speaking about it, than the record of a purely physical transaction would admit. At all events, the utmost that can be said of those traditions is, that they speak of a deluge winch is now considered to have been an inundation of waters, but that they do not contain any evidence to show that such was the meaning of the description from which they originally sprung, or that such is the sense in which the Scripture narra- tive ought to be understood. Hence, neither science nor tradition contributes any informa- tion capable of unfolding the meaning of this remarkable point in the Mosaic records. Indeed, it has been felt Ijy some of the most able literal critics, that although science might, if rightly interrogated, afford some collateral testimony to the idea of Moses having recorded a physical circumstance, still it is found to be perplexed with so many difficulties, that in order to re- lieve the eml)arrassment, they assert it to have been a miracle.* Of course this view of the subject overcomes the difficulty; still, it creates others of no inconsiderable weight. Science, so far as it investigates the usual laws and general phenomena of nature, can have nothing to do with a transaction brought about l)v a supernatural means and fiat, of which it can know nothing. Reason must be silent where a miracle is declared. But if the flood were miraculously produced, it must have been super- naturally sustained and terminated, and all its evidences mirac- ulously effaced: as such, it has no analogy to any of those events which the Scrijitures distinctly inform us to have been the result of special Divine interference. Upon what evidence is it said to * " As there was a peculiar exercise of the almight,y power of God in effecting tlie deluge, it is vain and presuniptuons to attempt exphiining the method of it on the principles of philosophy." — Comment. Henri/ and Scott. MIRACLE. 327 have been a miracle ? It is not so stated in the narrative itself, and the idea has originated wholly in the discovered impossi- bility of reconciling such a phenomenon with the known laws and developments of nature. In short, it has been invented to get rid of difficulties, which otherwise would ere long lead men to abandon the idea of the history referring to a natural circum- stance at all, as they have already contributed to destroy the once orthodox notion of its universality. Moreover, the idea of its having been a miracle is not common to every critic. The very great amount of supernatural agency that must have been called into action, and the gigantic scale over which it must be supposed to have operated, have led many judicious inquirers to hesitate and doul^t the ]n-opriety of adoj)t- ing such an idea. It may be said, that to Him who can perform them, all miracles are alike, — that the greatest can present n(i more obstacles to Onmipotence than the smallest.* But how- ever plausible this may seem, it overlooks one great principle, which is that Onmipotence, because it is an attribute of the God of order, must be regulated by the laws of order. Neither God nor any of his attributes acts independently of laws. From in- attention to this fact, innumerable things have been thought possible to Onmipotence, f Avhich a judicious consideration must show to be otherwise. It is most true that " with God all things are possible "; J that is, all things consistent with his wisdom and his goodness. Those Avho overlook this fact sometimes run into great extravagance of opinion. They are deterred by no difficulty, nor awed l)y au}^ improbability. They omit the word impossible from their theological vocaljulary, and find in the term Omnipotence all that any difficult hypothesis could wish for, or any pressing exigence desire. But surely there is some * " There is no difficulty with God to perform anything, — no greater en- deavonr or activity to produce the greatest than the least of creatures; but an equal fiicility in reference to all things, which cannot be imagined but by an infinite excess of power above and beyond all resistance." — Bishop Pearson on the Creed, p. 287. t " Is it not possible for God to change an ox or a stone into a rational philosopher or a child of Abraham ? — to change a man or a woman into an angel of heaven? Poor Omnipotence which cannot do this ! " — Rev. J. Wesley, A.M., Letter to the liev. Mr. Law, in Wesley'' s Works, p. 356. X Matt. xix. '2C,. 328 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. mistake, not to say irreverence, in making thus free Avith a Divine attribute to unfasten the knot which, after all, human ignorance or perversity may have tied. There are some things which we believe Omnipotence cannot do, — not that God wants the power, but because they would be contrary to his purity and character. Indeed, it may be doubted whether he has the power to make another equal to himself: if he have, no idea of it is conceivable by man. We do not think it irreverent to say that God could not have created a better universe than he has; nor could we think so wdthout impeaching both his knowledge and his goodness. We see Omnipotence displayed in nature, and also that it operates according to some orderly laws. There are several instances mentioned in the Scriptures, in which it was specially displayed; yet there are none wherein it was lavishly exhibited, or extended beyond the immediate occasion for it: hence it must have operated in them all according to some orderly law. Whatever God does must be regulated and influ- enced by his wisdom and benevolence. There can be no excep- tions. Every effect in nature is the result of some law peculiar to itself; and the miracles, so far as they were effects in nature, must also have originated in laws peculiar to themselves. The planets revolve, trees grow, animals live, and men exist; but each department of nature stands by its own respective laws. The laws that result in the production of an oak are different from those which conduce to the existence of a man. The Lord, in guiding the laws which produce vegetation, does not interfere with those which contribute to humanity. They are distinct productions growing out of the activity of different laws. Thus every effect in nature comes into existence by the operation of its own orderly laws; and we cannot view the miracles recorded in the Word in any other light. It does not appear to us to have been any more requisite to interfere with the common laws of nature in order to produce a miracle, than it is requisite to suspend the laws of vegetation in order to produce a man. Miracles, as specific productions, must have been the result of specific laws, operating in harmony with the designs of infinite beneficence. A miracle may be called a new temporary crea- tion, mercifully adapted to the wants of a low and depressed condition of the human character. They have been performed OMNIPOTENCE HAS ITS LAWS. 329 only in times of darkness and distress, and have ceased as virtue and intelligence have been enabled to fix themselves with men. In the Jewish Church, external miracles stood in the place of internal intelligence; in the Christian Church, spiritual intelli- gence supplies the place of outward miracles: and as the Chris- tian dispensation is more excellent than the Jewish, so intelli- gence is superior to a miracle as a means of forwarding the designs of God for leading men to heaven.* Those who make so free with Omnipotence as to suppose that it can do anything which their imaginations may suggest, have not been rightly informed concerning it. "God is not the author of confusion." f He acts omnipotently when he acts according to order; and a true idea of this Divine attribute can be formed only by connecting its ojDerations with the laws of order. God is essential order, because he is love itself and wis- dom itself. The universe and all its parts were created in order and with order. The order of creation and its laws are physical evidences showing that God operates in these things according to fixed principles. Omnipotence was necessary to produce creation; Omnipotence is requisite to preserve it. These results are effected by Omnipotence through the laws of order, Avhence it is plain that God acts omnipotently by those means. Everything is what it is by means of the order, and conse- quently of the laws, of its existence. Man is distinguished from the animal, the fowl from the fish, and the tree from the stone, by the laws of order which are proper to their being. This is a universal truth. To change the laws of existence would be to change the things themselves. This fact being disclosed in every department of nature, is a plain revelation that God is God by virtue of the laws which are appropriate to his being, and, consequently, that he can no more depart from the laws of his own nature and remain God, than a man, if deprived of the laws of manhood, could remain a man. Hence it is easy to see that the order approi)riate to the Divine -Being can only render itself manifest by the invariable observance of his own laws, — * See these views more extensively treated in a discourse by the author, on the Revealed Nature and Orderly Operations of Omnipotence ; also a chap- ter on Miracles, in his "Peculiarities of the Bible." t 1 Cor. xiv. 33. 330 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. laws wliicli have been provided by his own infinite under- standing. The Omnipotence which the miracles display is to be consid- ered as special instances for special pur2)oses; but that in no case was there an^^ interference with the established laws and orderly operations of the universe. The wisdom of God would not have fixed certain laws of action at one time, which that same wisdom must have foreseen would afterwards liave to be disrupted to bring about some other end. This, however, must have been the case, if the flood were a miracle of the kind sup- posed. If that event took place according to the popular appre- hension, then it was a miracle which has no analogy with any other that is recorded in the Scriptures, for it would not only have inverted the whole order of tlie earth's condition, but also have disturbed its orliicular and other motions, and so have interfered Avith all the laws of physical action throughout the universe. These consequences show that it ought not to be considered a miracle of such a kind. But where is it said to have been a miracle at all ? It is not so spoken of in the his- tory itself, nor is it ever alluded to as such throughout the whole Scriptures. So far as the narrative is viewed in a literal sense, the occurrence is represented to have resulted from two natural causes, namely, "rain," and the rising of water from some other source called the "great deep." The idea of its having been a miracle of so stupendous a kind, and requiring super- natural agency upon so extensive a scale, springs Avholl_v out of the literal interpretation: it is this, and not the history itself, which demands it. Commentators have taken a view of the su])ject which more matured inquiries prove to involve a great number of insuperable difficulties, and then, to help themselves out of these embarrassments, they assert it to have been a mii-- acle, and plead the ability of Omnipotence to perform it. The idea of its having been a miracle in any ordinary sense of the term has been engendered by, as we think, a total misaj^pre- hension of the subject; and the appeal to Onniipotence for its execution is resorted to in complete forgetfulness of its order and its laws. But upon these points we cannot longer dwell. What has been said concerning them is very general, and partakes in some TEMPTATIONS. 331 measure of the character of a digression. However, we have seen from them that neither science nor tradition contributes any facts to prove that the deluge of the Scriptures was that natural event commonly supposed; also that the resort to mir- acle and Omnipotence, though it may silence inquiry, overlooks their laws, and does not bring any satisfactory light to explain the subject. Let us then endeavour to examine it upon the same principles that we have adopted for the deciphering of the l^receding histories.* In closing the last chapter, it was shown that the clean and unclean beasts which Noah took with him into the ark were very similar to the tame and ferocious animals that are predi- cated to be in the Lord's holy mountain, and that the signifi- cations of the two circumstances closely resemble each other. It is easy to see that painful trials must have been among the first consequences of clearly discovering that antagonistic affec- tions and thoughts existed in the same mind or Church: "for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness ?' ' f Opposing sentiments and loves will not harmonize: the unclean may be brought into a state of quiescence and subjection to the clean, but the process for effecting it is one of great anxiety and tempta- tion. Temptations, then, are the subjects Avhich we believe to be treated of under the figure of a flood. These, with the Noachic people, were the means of purification and safety, be- cause they provided for the emergency, and were enabled to overcome it; while all those who yielded to their influence necessarily perished. This is the spiritual philosophy of the circumstance, and the general instruction it was intended to communicate: as such it harmonizes with the whole scope of revelation, which is to warn us against evil and teach us the way * " Was it a flood of water or of wickedoess ? Those who have not re- flected much on spiritual things are startled even at the mention of a spirit- ual flood, although the thing itself is not at all unknown or unfamiliar. They have been so long accustomed to the vulgar idea, and are habitually so persuaded of the value of natural life, that, although the destruction of virtue and truth by torrents of iniquity is far more appalling to the wise, to the heedless it seems of little moment." — Dr. Bayley's '■'■ Divine Word Opened,^^ p. 597. t 2 Cor. vi. 14. 332 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. to good. Temptation is one of those means by which the re- generation of the well-disposed is promoted; it also brings about the desolation and consequent destruction of all those in whom evil obliterates the capacity of salvation. But to understand this matter it will be necessary to make ourselves acquainted with its nature. Temptations consist in all those things by which men are in- fluenced to think, and so to believe, what is false; and to love, and so to do, what is evil. The internal straits, mental suffer- ings, and distress, which are experienced during their operation, arise from the efforts which they make to destroy something that is good and true in the internal man. The experience of temptations may be taken as a proof that man is inclined towards the evils which they suggest. But for this tendency he could not be tempted. When a man is tempted, it is a sort of reve- lation to him that he has a bias in that direction, and of this fact it is important that he should be aware, if he would suc- cessfully resist and overcome it. It is also true that the experi- ence of temptation proves that there have been present in its subject some degree of charity and faith, since without these he would not be qualified to see its danger or feel its pain. Whence, then, do these temptations originate, and by what are they resisted ? To answer these questions satisfactorily, we must go one degree farther- back in the inquiry than is usually contemplated. It is a doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures, fre- quently expressed with much clearness, that man is, by virtue of his spiritual nature, in association Avith certain inhabitants of the spiritual world; that, so far as he is possessed of anything that is good and true, he is the companion of some of those happy beings whom the Lord sends forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation : and that, so far as he is prin- cipled in anything that is evil and false, so far he is the confed- erate of some of those spirits of darkness who are called the devil and Satan: but that, because man is more or less of a mixed character, there are attendant upon him during his life- time in the world spiritual beings of each class; evil spirits who excite man's fallen propensities, and good spirits who defend him by means of any intelligence or virtue he may have cher- NATURE OF TEMPTATIONS. 383 ished. The pains of temptation arise from the combats of these principles, and their resistance of each other. That some may doubt the circumstance of good and evil spirits attendant upon the human race is to be expected. The world is not yet cleared of sceptics in spiritual things; mere naturalism may have its advocates for a long time yet, but this is no evidence against the fact that invisible spiritual beings do exercise an influence over men's sentiments and conduct. The sensualist may say this opinion is superstition ; but the Scrip- tures set it forth as a fact, and there are phenomena to prove that it is so. All persons who have attended to what frequently takes place in their own minds possess the evidence. How suddenly do thoughts and feelings sometimes arise in the mind, even when it is directed some other way, and to the production of which neither premeditation nor desire has contributed. They spring up spontaneously : sometimes they are of a favour- able and encouraging description, and at others they are of a most fearful and diabolical character. Whence do they come ? We are not sensible of having made any effort to produce them, yet there they are. These experiences, when connected with the assertion of the Scriptures that good and evil spirits are present with the human race,* enable us to conclude very reasonably concerning their origin. But whatever hesitation there may be to accept this view of the source of temptations, there can be no doubt as to their ex- istence. In general they are of two kinds,— those which affect the understanding and any truths it may possess, and those that act upon the will and any goodness it may have acquired. * Psa. xxxiv. 7: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him." Psa. xci. 11 : "He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." 1 Pet. v. 8 : " Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Dr. S. Johnson, in his philosophical tale of " Rasselas," has made Imlac, in speaking of a kindred subject, say, "This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth : those that never heard of cue another would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence ; and some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears." 884 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. When men are tempted to doubt, and so to reject the truths in which they have been educated, and with the value of which they have been favourably impressed, they will find, if they }je attentive to what is taking place within them, that there is at the same time excited the remembrance of many evil actions of which they have been guilty. These will be attended with numerous anxieties, and they will produce much perturbation and painful disquiet; still these temptations are somewhat mild when compared with those that assail the will, or an}^ of the good things which affection and habit have fixed upon it. If those who suffer from these temptations will carefully observe what is transpiring in their minds, they will find that they are not so much distressed by the recollection of the misconduct into which they may have fallen, as by some powerful influence urging them on to gratify some cupidity or to indulge some lust; they will also find that a restlessness of feeling and moral agony, attended by an obscurity concerning truth, will prevail, accord- ing to the depth and severity of the temptation endured. These temptations are productive of two different conse- quences, according to the manner in wliich they are received by the subject of them. It must needs l)e that temptations will come, and woe is the unavoidable result of their activity. But those who resist them increase their virtues, and so are saved; while those who yield to them enlarge their vices, and so must j-terish. Hence, the antediluvians whose wickedness was great were destroyed; while those whose obedience gave them grace in the eyes of the Lord were saved. The wicked take in the evils of temptation like sponges imbibing water: the good repel theln, and by that resistance they increase the sources and energies of virtue, till at last their characters are raised above them. Noah is called righteous because of his resistance, and he was saved in consequence. The grace and righteousness said to have been found in him were the qualification by which, as it is written, he did according to all that God commanded him. As man in his fallen state is inclined to what is evil and false, and as the Lord is solicitous to raise him out of that degrada- tion, he must, in order to effect it,' experience temptation. His affections cannot be changed from iniquity to holiness without the endurance of a struggle. The impression which earthly and THE FLOOD A TEMPTATION. 335 sensual delights have made upon his character, renders it diffi- cult to lift him out of it, and the act of so doing will be attended with resistance. He is closely attached to worldly things; and it requires more effort to produce the separation than it does to continue it when it is accomplished. Like the severance of iron, when in contact with the magnet, the effort to sustain the con- nection is great so long as they touch each other; but effect their separation, and it is easily maintained. But the difficulty of separating man from his evil influences will be increased if he lean towards them; and if he entirely refrain from co-operating in the means of rescue, his deliverance is impossil)le. The obstacle, however, is lessened in proportion to the force with which he inclines to what is good. These things may be com- pared to a man Avho has fallen into bad society, and whom his friend endeavours to lead away from them. Such society is urgent that he should remain, participate in their coarse enjoy- ments, and treat his friend with indifference and disdain. If he incline to their solicitation, the greater is the difficulty which his friend will have to promote his rescue, because his wicked associates are encouraged by his inclination, and they become more importunate; but if he lean towards the advice of his friend they are discouraged, and he is finally induced to leave them, though in the process much coarse and ribald treatment may be displayed. Such wicked society is man's evil influence, and his friend is the Lord, who is wishful to deliver him. Al- though, then, temptations are inseparable from man's present condition, the good or evil which results is largely dependent on the way in which he employs his freedom. Those w^ho use it to resist impurity are preserved; but those who do not will ob- viously perish. Now these temptations are, in the Scriptures, represented by a flood, and their different effects upon different classes are described by the Noachic people having risen above them, and the residue having sunk beneath them. Thus, while the popular view of the subject regards it to have been a catastrophe relating to the bodies and the natural lives of men, we look upon it to have been a calamity affecting the souls and spiritual lives of men, and thereby to the injury and de- struction of their physical existence. It is written, that "evil 336 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. shall slay the wicked." * Experience proves that this is true of natural things, and reason shows that it must be so of sj^iritual. The event called the flood is not to be considered less real to that ancient community, and all that vitally concerned them, because it is not regarded to have taken place in the way com- monly supposed. We believe spiritual things to be as real as any natural things can possibly be. Indeed, the reality of things natural is contingent upon the reality of things spiritual, more or less remotely. The flood, considered as a spiritual phenomenon, was equally, nay, more afflicting and disastrous to society, than any notion which can be associated with the cir- cumstance, considered as a physical occurrence. Look for a moment at the terrible idea of mankind having been so power- fully inflamed by filthy lusts of every description, that they were not only immersed therein, and so profaned all they knew of spiritual and religious truth, but that they also closed up every avenue in their minds by which heavenly influences could reach and operate upon their remains. A reflection upon these melancholy circumstances cannot fail to show that it must have brought in upon them destructive influences as a flood, and have overwhelmed in eternal ruin all who fell therein. This view of the deluge is eminently calculated to strike the reflect- ing with dismay. It is consistent with the spiritual design of revelation, to disclose to posterity spiritual information concern- ing the moral turpitude of their predecessors, and the influences which their conduct and condition have had upon the world. It makes known to us that it was not merely a scene in the nat- ural world, by which the civilizing influences of religion were destroyed, but that it was a spiritual circumstance which afflicted and destroyed society; and that, upon the principle, "where the tree falleth, there it shall be," f it must have induced some inordinate condition even in the infernal world. But, as it was said, the Scriptures speak of temptations as a flood. For instance, the Psalmist says, ' ' Save me, God ; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. — Let not the ivaterflood overflow me, * Psa. xxxiv. 21. t Eccles. xi. 3. ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. ^ 337 neither let the deep swallow me up." * Here it is plain that the waters which were come into his soul, and the waterfloods from which he was so earnestly wishful to be delivered, were not floods of natural water, but the infestations of false prin- ciples, by which he was so severely tempted and distressed. Again, speaking of the Lord's protection in times of such spir- itual danger, it is said, " For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in the time when thou may est be found; but in the floods of great waters they shall not reach him." f To the same purpose it is written, "He bindeth the ^oods from over- flowing." [j; So, also, in the prophet, it is declared, "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."§ Jeremiah, likewise, treating of the temptations which arise from false principles, signified by Egypt an4 the army of Pharaoh, inquires, "Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers ? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers." || Daniel, when predicting that the Messiah should be cut off, and that the city and sanctuary would be destroyed, says, "And the end thereof shall be with a/oorZ";^ which plainly means, that those evils which attend the rejection of the Messiah, his doctrine and worship, will terminate in the production of the most dangerous temptations. Amos, announcing the perversities of the Jewish Church, describes the Lord as saying, ' ' Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein ? and it shall rise up Avholly as a flood ; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt." *=^ Wliere, by the land rising up as a flood, is" denoted the Church, inflated by its false persuasions; and by its being cast out and drowned as by a flood, is signified the desolation which their temptations Avould induce. Many other illustrations of this idea could be produced from the Scriptures; we will, however, just advert to another. The Apocalypse, treating of the Man-Child, born of the woman, clothed with the sun, by which was represented the birth of genuine truth in * Psa. Ixix. 1, 2, 15. f Psa. xxxii. 6, amended translation. I Job xxviii. 11. § Isa. lix. 19. II Jer. xlvi. 7, 8. Tf Dan. ix. 26. ** Amos viii. 8. 24 338 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. the Church from heavenly affection, says, "And the serpent cast out of his mouth ivater as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth."* Here, by the serpent, which is also called a dragon, is represented the sensual condition of a perishing church; by the waters, which issued out of its mouth as a flood, are denoted the abundance of false reasonings and per- suasions which it produces, especially with the view of over- whelming the good and the truth by which it is about to be exposed. By the earth, which helped the woman, is denoted the new Church, which receives and cherishes heavenly affections; the earth opening its mouth, and swallowing up the flood which the dragon cast forth, denoted that the understanding of the people of this new Church will be so enlightened by truth that they will be capable of resisting and dissipating all the tempta- tions which sensual reasonings may produce. It is, then, very evident that the Scriptures employ the idea of a flood to repre- sent the infestation of false principles, with their evil conse- quences, and that those who resist them will be enlightened and saved, while those who yield to them are benighted, and must perish. It was a flood of this description in which the antediluvians perished. The mere circumstance of being drowned as to the body is no corresponding consequence for the sins of the soul. Many good men have so died: many wicked men have not so ' suffered. There is no connection between such a natural catas- trophe and the spiritual state of the people. It is the soul, and its condition, of which the Scriptures treat. The principles which give it everlasting life, and the perversities which produce its eternal death, are the things which God has condescended to reveal, and which men should strive to know. But these conclusions will have their certainty brought out with greater clearness if we inquire into the meaning of what are described to have been the sources of this catastrophe. These sources are two, — the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep, and the opening of the windows of heaven, f Surely, * Rev. xii. 15, 16. t Gen. vii. 11. SOURCES OF THE DELUGE. 389 every one whose mind is not entirely pre-occiipied with tlie idea of a physical occurrence being intended, must see that these sentences were not constructed with a view to express it. The style is highly tigurative, and resembles very closely that em- ployed by the prophets, of which one instance will suffice: " He who fieeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the 'windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.'" '-^ Neither the Mosaic terrors nor those of the prophet refer to any natural phenomena. ' ^Foundations of the great deep!" What is there, in mundane things, answering to these expressions? Conjectures on this subject were abundant a cen- tury or less ago, f but they have vanished before the progress of philosophy, and now, nothing that can with any reasonable- ness be said to answer the description is known to science. ^^ Windows of heaven!" What are they ? J Surely the phrase *Isa. xxiv. 18. t It was long thought to be a vast abyss of water in the centre of the earth. Many speculations upon the matter may be seen iu King's "Morsels of Criticism," vol. ii., pp. 355, 417. Englefield, with a view to find a suffi- cient quantity of water to cover the whole earth fifteen cubits, supposed the globe of earth to consist of a crust of solid matter one thousand miles thick, enclosing a sea or body of water two thousand miles deep, within which was a central nucleus of two thousand miles in diameter ; and then concluded that he had found about one hundred and thirty-seven times more water than would have been required for the submergence of the earth. Other philosophers think that_^rc, and not water, is iu the centre of the earth. We have nothing to say about these speculations and calculations : it is requisite, in the first place, to iuquire for the facts. The conclusion about the water is arrived at on supposititious grounds only, for which there are no philosophical data. Dr. P. Smith considers the phrase to mean merely the general collec- tion of oceanic waters. X This is thought to be a Hebrew phrase for the sky. It is interesting to observe the frequency with which modern critics endeavour to remove the difficulties of expression with which the Scriptures are considered to abound, by referring them to oriental genius. It is found to be exceedingly conveni- ent so to do ; but it does not explain the matter. We have still to ask. Why was that mode of expression so peculiar to Eastern genius? and, Wlieiice did it arise? That there are both propriety and good judgment in ascribing many expressions to that source, may be readily admitted ; nevertheless, their figurative character remains ; nor is the circumstance of their having been originally employed, representatively, to denote spiritual things at all 340 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. ought not to be understood to mean the clouds of the earth, whence it is known the showers descend: to open these, when they prevail, is to disperse them, and so let in the sunshine, and not pour down thc^ir rain. Moreover, the clouds are Avaterv vapours originally derived from the earth, and the densest of them will not contain more water than would cover very slightly the locality in which it may be discharged. If the whole atmos- phere surrounding the earth were saturated with water to its fullest capacity, and then precipitated, the result, according to Mr. Rhind,* Avould not deluge the earth more than seven inches. Rain can only contribute to the production of a flood in a comparatively small district. Numerous destructive in- stances of this kind are well known; they were occasioned by continued evaporation from the ocean, with successive and long- sustained discharges of rain. But this could not be universal. The laws of evaporation, and the capacity of the atmosphere for holding water, render it impossible except by a miracle; and that we have no right to invent, in the absence of all proper authority for so doing. But as the earth supplies the clouds with all the rain that ever descends from them, they, as the unndoivs of heaven, cannot be considered as any source separate from the fountains of the great deep, supposing them to mean the oceanic waters; nevertheless the different sentences must be in- tended to express some distinction. If the phrase, "windows of heaven," be regarded merely as an orientalism, denoting the clouds and their rain, and if it be remembered that those clouds can have no water to precipitate but what is first raised by evaporation from the earth, then we are compelled to say the flood was produced by the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep onhj ; because the deep was the only source whence the water was supplied, the rain l^eing merely a means for its dis- tribution: but this, we hold, is not in agreement with the design disturbed by it. Therefore, in referring peculiarities of expression to be found in the Scriptures to the genius of the people, or to the idiomatic char- acter of the language spoken by them, and from which such expressions are derived ; and considering them to mean certain natural things, poetically expressed, their spiritual, which is their chief design, must not be over- loolced. * Rhind's " Age of the Earth," p. 100. THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN. 341 of the narrative, which plainly presents two distinct sources of the catastrophe, and thus shows us that natural things are not intended to be described. When it is rernemljered that the flood is significant of tempta- tions in general, and it is known that they arise from two specific causes, which are evil in the will and falsehood in the understanding, it will not be difficult to find the proper relatives for those two phrases, namely, — fountains of tiie great deep being broken up, and windows of heaven being opened; for by the former, it will be seen, is denoted extreme temptation arising from evil influences upon the will; and by the latter is signified severe temptation operating by falsehood upon the understanding. The will of man is compared to the deep, because it is so in reference to the things of love. In our own language it is employed as a figure with that signification. Those in whom intense affection is excited are said to love deeply. It matters little whether the object of it be good or not, it is the dep^/t of the love, and not the character of the object, which is spoken of. A like mode of expression is frequently employed in the Scriptures: great sin is called deep corruption,* and the rebellion of Israel is said to have been a deep revolt, f The will, as a seat and receptacle of affection, is influenced by a variety of conflicting sentiments and feelings, which keep it in continual agitation, and in this respect it is also as the deep, considered as an ocean: sometimes those feelings are more tranquil and subdued, at others they are more tumultuous and fearful; and in this, likewise, it presents an analogy to the deep. It is in consequence of this signification, that the prophet, speaking of the Assyrian, says, " The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high ; " J ])ecause by the Assyrian is denoted the rational jn-inciple. The waters are declared to make him great, because truths regenerate and make it good; and the deep is declared to set him up on high, to signify the elevation which is attained by the activity of the 2vill. The deep before us is called great, to denote that it had been good, for greatness is goodness in a spiritual sense; and the fountains thereof refer to and signify all those affections by * Hos. ix. 9. t Isa. xxxi. 6. J Ezek. xxxi. 4. 342 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. which that characteristic had been procured. Every one sees that affection is a spiritual fountain, through which arise innumerable joys. But we. are informed that all these were broken u]): the will, as a will for good, was now disrupted, and had become a lust; and the affections, as the fountain through which had arisen orderly delight and blessedness, were now entirely destroyed. Therefore it is evident that the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep denotes extreme tempta- tions, arising from evil influences upon the will. But while the fountains of the great deep signify the affec- tions of the will, the windows of heaven denote the perceptions of the understanding. It is by those perceptions that we are enabled to behold anything (^f spiritual truth, and the under- standing, when enlightened thereby, is as heaven, by virtue of the wisdom that is present. They are the wdndows through which the mind derives all its illustrations; and they are the windows of heaven Avhen they are turned to heavenly things, and admit the light of heavenly truth to illustrate the under- standing. This had been the case with them in previous and better times, though it was not so at tlie period wliich is before us. The will, having become a lust, would needs corrupt the understanding also. It is a law that where the deeds are evil, darkness Avill be preferred to light.* Those windows are said to have been opened, yet not for a good, but for a destructive purpose. This opening implies an unguarded exposure, and so a carelessness as to what may enter, in which case falsehood is sure to find its way. Though they were open, it was not to receive heavenly light, but to admit some destructive influence: this is plain from the whole tenor of the narrative. The nature of that influence must have been false reasonings and persua- sions, and these produced extreme temptations and delusions in the understanding. It was when the things of the will and understanding were so entirely disarranged and perverted, that the rain is said to have been ujoon the earth forty days; because by the rain is here not meant rain, but the influx of evil and false principles into these two faculties of the human mind. This must be evident to all who can see the flood to have been an inundation * John iii. 19. RAIN SIGNIFICANT OF INFLUX. 343 of wicked persuasions and delights, which the Psalmist calls the floods of ungodly men which made him afraid. Rain, when mentioned in a good sense in the Scriptures, denotes the influence of holy enjoyments from the Lord: hence they are called ' ' showers of hlessing " ; * and among many features of his Divine care for the Church is that of ' ' making it soft with showers ";t and he himself is said to "come down like rain upon the mown grass." J These blessings are com- pared to rain because there is an analogy between the natural effects of gentle and seasonable showers, and the spiritual results of orderly and refreshing influx. In a literal sense it irrigates the soil, increases its fertility, and renders it capable of producing the food which is requisite for our ph3'sical sustenance; in a spiritual sense it softens the asperity of man, improves his docility, and enlarges his power of bringing forth the meat necessary for promoting life eternal. But when rain is spoken of in an opposite sense, and from which disastrous consequences ensue, as in the case of the subject before us, then it denotes the influx of impurity from the infernal world. The context Avill always determine which is the character of the influx treated of. § While some rains are gentle and eminently useful, others are violent and lamentably destructive; and tl^e latter are frequently employed in the Scrip- tures as the emblems of spiritual desolation. As for instance, it is written, " The tabernacle shall be for a covert from storm and from rain"; II where the tabernacle is mentioned for the Church; and this, considered in reference to its wisdom and virtue, was to be a protection from the storm, because by that, in respect to wind, is denoted a tumultuous influx of false per- suasions: it was also to be a shelter from the rain, because by that is represented a destructive influx of evil loves. Ezekiel, speaking of those who daub the wall with untempered mortar, — by which is to be understood all such as confirm themselves in * Ezek. xxxiv. 26. f Psa. Ixv. 10. J Psa. Ixxii. 6. ? Influx is a flowing down or into a subject, and is distinguished from in- fluence, which simply means acting upon a subject. In the above case it denotes the inflowing of wicked spirits into the minds of men with a view to their destruction. II Isa. iv. 6. 344 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION, false ideas of religion by the fallacies of appearances, — repre- sents the Lord as saying, "There shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it";* where by an overwhelming shower is denoted a destruc- tive influence. So also, in his prophecy against Gog, it is de- clared, " I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain";f where, again, by an overflowing rain is plainly meant an in- undation of pernicious influences, by which they would be de- stroyed. The Lord said, " Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." J Here the building of the house is another form under which the devel- opment of the Church with man is represented. When this is grounded on genuine truth, represented by the permanent roch^ it is capable of resisting and outliving any storm of temptation by which it may be assailed; but when it has its foundation in shifting falsehood, denoted by the unsteady sand, then, when storms of temptation arise, it is eminently unsafe, and it will be sure to perish when the rains thereof descend, the floods come, and the winds blow. Other passages could easily be produced to show that rain, when spoken of in a destructive sense, is significant of those dangerous influences which overwhelm those in whom the will for good has been destroyed and the understanding of truth un- cared for: but these are sufficient. They will convince the re- flecting that temptations, and their desolating consequences on the souls of men, and so the complete destruction of the most ancient Church, are the subjects treated of under the flgure of the deluge. This, indeed, is still farther evinced by the circum- stance of its being said that ' ' rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights"; for that number, in the Scriptures, is continually associated with subjects in which temptations are conspicuous. Of Scripture numbers, considered in the abstract, we have already spoken; § and many instances might be ad- * Ezek. xiii. 13. f Ezek. xxxviii. 22. X Matt. vii. 26, 27. I See pp. 242, 259. RAIN FORTY DAYS AND NIGHTS. 345 duced, in which it is evident that natural computations are referred to merely for the sake of their sj)iritual sense. The "^ Molten Sea" is said to have been "ten cubits from the one brim to the other; and a line of tliirty cubits did compass it round about";* but the number of the circumference does not geometrically answer to that of the diameter. So also it is written that "the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years " ; f but this period does not agree with the Scripture chronology, and it is mentioned only because it was requisite to the correct expression of the spiritual sense; | and the forty days' and nights' continu- ance of the rain is intended to denote the severity of the temp- tation, rather than the time of its duration. ' That the Scriptures employ the number fortij in connection with tlie subjects of temp- tation is remarkably evident. Of the children of Israel it is said that they should ' ' wander in the wilderness forty years, until the carcases of their fathers were wasted. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years. ' ' § The Lord is said to have l)een grieved forty years with that generation. || It is written of Egypt that it should be ' ' utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited foi^ty years." ^ Jonah cried, and said unto the Ninevites, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."** The prophet was directed to lie upon his right * 1 Kings Yii. 23. f Exod. xii. 40. X This is shown by the Rev. R. Hindmarsh, as follows: "Moses sprang from Amram, Amram from Kohath, and Kohath from Levi, and Kohath went with his father Levi into Egypt (Gen. xlvi. 11). Now the age of Kohath was a hundred and thirty-three years (Exod. vi. 18) ; the age of Amram one liuu- dred and thirty-seven years (verse 20) ; and the age of Moses, when he stood before Pharaoh, eighty years (Exod. vii. 7). All these years added together make only three hundred and fifty, which are considerably short of four hundred and thirty, and therefore it is impossible the children of Israel could have been four hundred and thirty years in Egypt." — Letters to Br. Priestley, Second Edit., p. IfiO. 2 Numb. xiv. 33, 34. || Psa. xcv. 10 H Ezek xxix. 10, 11. ** Jonah iii. 4. 346 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. side, and bear the ini(|uity of tlie house of Judah forty days. * Moses "abode in the mowni Jortxj days awiX forty nights, neither did he eat bread nor drink water,'' f praying for the people lest they should be destroyed. It is said that the people "were led forty years in the wilderness, to huin})le them, and to prove them." X In all these instances we find that the number forty is associated with some afflicting circumstance; and when it is farther remembered that the Lord Jesus Christ "was in tlie wil- derness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts, "§ men can no longer have any scepticism about the number /oWy denoting the severity of temptation; and, conse- (juently, tliat the rain for forty days and forty nights in the case of the deluge represented the painful sufferings of temptation in every state, whether of light or darkness. This was the circumstance in which we conceive the wicked antediluvians to have perished: they yielded to its urgency, and so were finally overwhelmed: while the people called Noah were saved, because they resisted and overcame it. These different effects of temptation, which may be easily con- ceived, are represented to us by other circumstances recorded in the Scriptures. Those which attended the journeyings of the children of Israel in the wilderness toward the land of Canaan afford a remarkable example. Their looking back to Egypt, and murmuring for its fleshpots; their idolatry and backslid- ings; their vicissitudes and disasters; their plagues and desola- tions, are all plain evidences of their having sustained tempta- tions. But the history of those events, viewed in its complex, is intended to show forth the two different and general effects of temptations upon distinct classes of mind and character, namely, the exaltation of some and the destruction of others. The salutary effects of temptations are exhibited to us in those who, having endured and overcome the hardships of the desert, were finally introduced into the; ])romised land; and their de- structive consequences are disclosed in the distresses which befell those who perished in the wilderness. All who were above twenty years old on their departure out of Egypt died in the wilderness, witli the exception of Caleb and Joshua. Those * Ezek. iv. 6. t Ueut. ix. 9. X Deut. viii. 2. I Mark i. 13. Peter's reference to the deluge. 347 who entcird iiitt^ Canaan were either a new or more obedient race. The extinction of the former represented the destructive effects of temptations on those who yield to them: the preserva- tion of the latter, and their introduction into the land of i)romise, exhibit the salutary results of temptations on those who resist and overcome them. They produce death on those who follow their own heart's lusts, but they induce a superior degree of spiritual life in all who endure and conquer them. One class perished in the disasters of the wilderness, another class were rescued from them, and entered into Canaan. There are, then, several parallelisms between the circumstances which attended the formation of the Israelitish Church in Canaan, and the es- tablishment of the ancient Church with- Xoah. The difference is more in outward form than in essential things. Thus the land of Canaan was to the Israelites who were saved from the dangers of the wilderness what the ark was to Xoah, who was preserved from the inundation of the flood. The death of those who died in the desert was to the formation of the Church in Canaan what the destruction of the antediluvians was to the estaljlishment of the Church with Noah. Caleb and Joshua, being the only sur\'iving adults who were delivered from the bondage of the Egyptians and the trials of the wilderness, were, to the planting of the Israeliti.sh Church, wliat Noah and his house, as the only parties who escaped from the rains and the flood of the ancient world, were to the covenant then established. These parallelisms arise, as we have said, from tlie similarity of essential ideas intended to be included in both narrations, though the outward structure of the one is a real, and that of the other only a figurative history. Concerning the deluge, as a temptation from which the Noachic people were delivered, Peter says, ' ' The long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a pre- paring, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure* whereunto even baptism doth aLso now save *1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. The original -woid here nsed is airirtrrov, antitype. The theological meaning of the terms type and antitype is, that the type is an impression, image, or representation of some model, which is termed the antitype. But there is some reason to ask whether this is not an inversion of the true scriptnral sense? If the water by which. Noah was saved were 348 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. US." Here the Apostle calls the circumstance of l)eing saved by water a figure of baptism, because by the waters of baptism are signified purification, effected by means of temptations sustained and conquered. Calling the deluge a figure affords no evidence as to the real character of the event. Things purely spiritual can be types, equally with things natural. Moses was shown the pattern of the tabernacle in a vision on the mount. * As, then, the Apostle aflirms that the waters of Noah were a figure of the waters of baptism, and as the waters of baptism are a symbol of i^urification acquired by overcoming temptation, it follows, upon his evidence also, that such was the signification of the deluge from which Noah was saved. Those who perished in it were those who yielded to the abominations to which they were incited. The death which they suffered, as being that which is primarily treated of, was of a spiritual kind, being induced by the love and life of evil. This is the death of Avhich the Scriptures speak as the event to be avoided : "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you Avhom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath jDOAver to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you. Fear him." f He who killeth and casteth into hell is the devil, that is, evil; for this, in its complex, is so personified: to fear him is to oppose evil influences; wherefore it is written, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." | Tlie antediluvians did not so fear and resist: their wickedness was great in the earth, and every thought of the imagination of their heart was evil continually; hence they perished. It is to be observed that it was every living substance which the Lord had made that Avas about to be destroyed. That it is important to remark. It is, indeed, said that the Lord would do it, because it appears to the wicked, when, by ignorance and misdoing, they bring calamity upon themselves, that the Lord is its author. Of this mode of speaking of the Divine character the antitype of that by which baptism saves ns, then the waters of baptism were the type. Thus, that which succeeds au impression and proceeds from a model is really the type. In John xx. 25, it is said, rbv rvnov tuv rjluv, which literally means, the type of the nails. * Exod. XXV. 40 ; Heb. viii. 5. f Luke xii. 4, 5. | Jas. iv. 7. GOD NOT THE AUTHOR OF CALAMITIES. 349 we have already treated. All that the Lord made was pro- nounced to have been very good: there is no intimation of the animal or vegetable world having departed from its original excellence; nor is there any reasonable ground to suppose that any such things which may have survived the flood could have regarded the extermination of their predecessors as a calamity. It was man alone who had strayed from the ways of purity and knowledge, and he alone could contemplate death as a terrible catastrophe. The destruction of the insentient and irrespon- sible objects of nature cannot be reasonably attributed to God, from whose wisdom and goodness they have proceeded. As the Creator of all that is good, he cannot also be the destroyer ! His continual efforts are, according to the Scriptures, to pre- serve and bless, to remove the evil and increase the good. He, therefore, cannot destroy Avhat he has really made; such an act would imply a condemnation of his own wisdom. It is evil which the Lord is solicitous to remove, so far as it can be done consistently with man's freedom and responsibility. This evil he did not make, although there have been men who have so believed and taught.* Wicked persons, so far as they acknowl- edge God, believe him to be the author of the calamities they bring upon themselves. Such a false position is a consequence of the inverted state of their mental character. Job's wife so regarded the affliction of her husband, and bade him "curse God, and die";f but she talked as one of the foolish women. Nevertheless, the providences by which the Lord hinders the manifestation of particular evils, and so causes their cessation and removal, are, by such persons, considered as the destruc- tion, by God, of what he himself has made. The passage, then, which represents the Lord as saying, "Every living sub- * " If God foresaw tliat Jndas would be a traitor, Judas necessarily became a traitor, nor was it in his power to be otherwise." — Martin Luther. See De Servo Arbitrio, fol. 460. "God not only foresaw that Adam would fall, but ordained that he should." — Calvin. Inst., b. 3, chap, xxiii., sec. 7. "God is the author of every action which is sinful, by his irresistible will." — Dr. Twiss, part iii., p. 21. What shocking and detestable sentiments ! t Job ii. 9. 350 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. stance that I have made will I destroy," refers to the dissipa- tion of those evil principles which had gained a fierce ascendency over society, and, so far as this could not be effected without it, the permission of means Ijy which society itself was to be dis- solved. It was not the things of orderly nature, but the prin- ciples which had disordered humanity, that had to be destroyed. These had become living substances with men; and men, in the midst of their wickedness, regarded them as God's creation: and this is the reason why he is said to have made them. They were opposed to his merciful design in our creation, and, there- fore, the permission of means for the removal of obstacles which stood in the way of manifesting his good providence is perfectly consistent with that clemency and wisdom which regard eternal ends in all they do. But what were the means so permitted ? They were the waters of temptation. Evil, having become an infixed principle in man, attracted corresponding influences from the infernal world. Those influences destroy all who give themselves up to their impulses and suggestions; though, when tht^y are resisted and conquered, good enters into man, and he becomes exalted. For, by temptation, man is brought acquainted with his evils, since he cannot be tempted to anything unless he is in some measure previously inclined to it: thus, temptations act as a sort of revelation to man, as before observed, informing him of the evils which he loves. If he do not resist them, then of course they triumph, and he falls: this was the case with the antediluvians who perished; but if he repulse them and conquer, then his evils are so dispersed that goodness and truth from the Lord can flow into his affection and thought, and so produce salvation. This was the case with Noah, and it became the ground on which the Lord could establish a covenant with him. When ^'■the waters increased,''' "the ark went up " ; that is, when temptations were urgent, the men of the Church acquired, by their resistance, a spiritual elevation: but when "the waters prevailed," "the high hills were covered"; by which we are informed that, Avhen temptation conquered, good was over- whelmed. The inundation of every good from the Lord is rep- resented by "the covering of all the high hills that were under the whole heaven." Hills denote elevated principles: hence we THE HIGH HILL COVERED. 351 read of the hill of the Lord, and the mountain of his holiness; * and that to cover them signifies to overwhelm them, is evident without farther explanation. How fearful was this state of temptation ! yea, how awfully destructive was its character ! For in obtaining an ascendency over the moral sentiments and spiritual hopes of men, we are informed that "all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowls,, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man." f This serial statement of the death of all animated nature is intended to express the extinction of all those spiritual principles of evil and falsehood which had become living things with the antediluvian people, and which gave to them a peculiar malignity of character. It is exceedingly difficult to conceive how the death of all natural creatures should have been involved in the transgression of man ! What had the irresponsible beasts done that they must perish ? It does not remove the difficulty to say that God willed it so: he could not have willed it without a sufficient reason; for all he does i)roceeds from intelligence, and regards a moral. The narrative gives no reason; and reason finds it diffi- cult to see what moral could be inculcated l:)y such a course. Some may say it was to display the terribleness of God's anger ! We have no sympathy with such a notion. He creates to sus- tain by laws of preservation and perpetuation, and in no case to destroy. The change and dissolution to which material things are sul)ject arise from the action of laws peculiar to their exis- tence, and they do not properly come within the meaning of tlie word destroy as it is here employed. There is no perceptible connection l^etween the infliction of death upon the beasts of the earth, and the punishment of man's iniquity, unless, per- haps, in cases where they are viewed as property, which will hardly be contended for in the present case. But why should this infliction have ])een upon the terrestrial creatures only? Why were the marine animals to escape ? as they must have done, because the means adopted for the supposed destruction of others could not have exterminated them. If terrestrial beasts must die in consequence of man's transgression, why were the fishes spared? It is said that all the fowls perished; * Psa. xxiv. 3; xlviii. 1; Isa. ii. 3. f Gen. vii. 21. 352 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. but as there is a great variety of aquatic birds, which would scarcely have been destroyed by the rising of the waters, is it not highly probable that they escaped the danger ? Interroga- tories of this nature might be indefinitely extended, because they are founded on the idea of the narrative describing a phy- sical circumstance, which we think these investigations show to be a mistaken view of it. The fact that it is not a literal his- tory, but the description of spiritual phenomena, at once dis- arms science and philosophy of all their difficulties, and enables us to think of it on spiritual, which are its proper, grounds. It has been shown on several occasions during the progress of this work that various orders of animated nature are mentioned in the Scriptures as types or symbols of certain moral senti- ments and intellectual principles of man. It was adverted to when speaking of the fourth and fifth days' creation; also when treating of Adam's naming the creatures; and likewise in notic- ing their introduction into the ark. We therefore need not adduce farther illustrations. The principle involved in those explanations is applicable to the case before us. It leads us at once to see that the animals which are mentioned to have per- ished at the deluge were significant of certain principles of life, which were extinguished through the inflowing of those false persuasions and evil loves from which the flood resulted. It is, however, of importance to observe in what those princi- ples of life consisted. The people had been, for many genera- tions, descending deeper and deeper into the mire and filth of their corruptions, and the posterity now treated of had become the sink of all that was vile in perversity and lust: these are the various principles of degenerate life belonging to this abandoned condition, that are specifically referred to by the animals Avhich perished in the flood. All man's noble affections and elevated sentiments had previously passed away in the degeneracy that had set in, and those which now remained were low and sen- sual merely. The unhallowed nature of these perversities and loves had closed the interiors of that people against the recep- tion of all heavenly influences, so tliat, in addition to their own vicious inclinations, they were acted upon by urgent impulses from the infernal world, through the inundations of which they finally perished from the earth, carrying with them all the OF THE BEASTS WHICH PERISH. 353 fallen appetites and persuasions peculiar to the race. These, we say, were represented by the general description, ' ' All flesh died that creepeth upon the earth, as to fowl, and as to beast, and as to wild beast, and as to every reptile creeping upon the earth, and every man." It is to be remarked that the animals described to have perished are called ' ' creeping things. ' ' The fowls, the beasts, and wild beasts, are all included in the gen- eral statement that * ' all flesh died that creepeth upon the earth. ' ' This is said of them to indicate the earthly persuasions and delights of men; and in order to represent the dispersion of their peculiar enormities, these creeping things are said to have died. That flesh is mentioned in the Scriptures to denote man in general is well known; and therefore it is easy to see, when he is spoken of as flesh that creepeth upon the earth, that his cor- poreal and earthly condition is described. The foivls of this state represented his perverted reasonings and false persuasions ; the beasts were significant of lusts of various sorts; wild beasts denoted the inordinate delights of the sensual man; and reptiles meant all those pursuits which are grovelling, earthly, and dis- gusting. The interior principles of those people had become altogether vile; the life of their understandings was a mere ani- mus of false persuasions; the life of their wills had degenerated into abandoned lusts, and they perished in following the wicked- ness to Avhich they were impelled. To show that the peculiar kinds of false and evil principles which had been developed in society were to be extirpated, it is said that "all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth," and which, in one complex, are called ' ' every man ' ' ;* man here denoting the profane character which he had become. Such we conceive to have been the horrible nature of the flood — that is, of the inundation of false principles and evil loves into the minds and hearts of men — that it not only overwhelmed the spiritual lives of all those who had not prepared to resist their suggestions and impulses, but it also promoted a disas- trous termination of their natural existence. It may not be easy for some to see how those evil influences, * Gen. vii. 21, 25 354 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. operating upon the mind, were capable of producing such a physical result, because we live under an economy in which the Redeemer has mercifully provided against the return of events which might have afforded illustrative evidence and examples. Yet they are not entirely without a witness, as we shall see presently. The first means adopted to prevent the recurrence of such a calamity was the reconstruction of the human mind, by the separation of the will from the understanding, and thereby mak- ing provision for the security of remains. This means, although up to a certain period it realized the promise that "all flesh should not be cut off any more by the waters of a flood," 3^et it was not a full and complete preventive against its possibility. For we find that evil influences from the infernal world had again obtained an ascendency over at least a certain portion of the human race, at the time of the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, since it is written, ' ' For this purpose Avas the Son of God mani- fested, that he might destroy the works of the devil "; * and he said, ' ' I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."! At this time the Gospels inform us of several instances in which evil spirits had not only taken possession of the minds, but had obsessed the very bodies of mankind, so much so as to endanger their physical existence. We will only advert to two examples. When Jesus went ' ' into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way ' ' ; these were cast out, and they entered into a herd of swine, which ran " into the sea, and per- ished in the waters." X Again, one of the multitude brought unto Jesus his son, who had a dumb spirit, " and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him, and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming; — and ofttimes it cast him into the fire, and into the water, to destroy him."§ These facts, taken in connection with the circumstance that the Lord was manifested to destroy such works — they being phenomena which were peculiar to the time, and of considerable prevalence — (for the Apostles state, as one of the consequences of their ministry, that *1 John iii. 8. t Joli" x- 10. X Matt. viii. 28-32. i Mark ix. 17-22. EVIL SPIRITS POSSESSING MANKIND. 355 the devils were subject to them through the Lord's name) — afford us historical evidence of an unquestionable kind that in- fernal influences were capable of compassing even the natural death of society, when it had voluntarily sunk into perversities and lusts. That which can be done to an individual can be done to a multitude. But by the redemption that the Lord effected, and by the glorification of his humanity, which was accomplished in the process of that work, a safe provision and complete barrier have been raised against the return of such a state of things, and therefore it is that they are happily not within the experiences of Christian society. It was, however, in some measure realized by society at the period of the Lord's coming, and we refer to this circumstance merely to illustrate the idea of direful persuasions opening in man channels for the reception of that malignant and suffocating influx, by which we conceive the antediluvians to have perished. Surely every one may see that when men are so separated from the Divine prin- ciple that they possess no spiritual life therefrom, but are merely influenced by sensual impulses, similar to those of beasts, no society can be formed and governed by the laws of use and order; because when men are of such a nuture, and so without heavenly guidance, they become, as it were, insane, and rush openly into the commission of every evil, one against another, acquiring stimulus thereto from an infernal origin, in which case the human race must perish. This, indeed, is going directly to the root of the catastrophe; but, upon more general principles, it must be conceded that "evil will sla}' the wicked," * at least as to all spiritual hopes and happiness; hence it is easy to conceive that this, when manifested in the life with unrestrained malignity, must bring about the physical destruction of the society among whom it prevails. The truth of this idea is known and acknowledged. Most persons are acquainted with cases in which individuals have brought on their own death by the pursuit of criminal indulgences. How many of our race perish annually from drunkenness and other enormities ! How much more extensive would this calamity become, if it were not for counteracting in- fluences ! That which can sweep away an individual may carry * Psa. xxxiv. 21. 356 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. off a community. Has it not done so ? What says authentic history ui^on the subject? It shows us many cities, yea, whole nations, that have been swept from the map of existence, and of which nothing remains but the scanty vestiges of ruin, to mark their profligac}^, or chronicle their end ! How many lands have been depopulated through the depravity and ignorance of their inhabitants ! How has Nineveh become a waste, and Babylon a desolation ! The prophets answer, and say it was through the wickedness of their inhabitants.* The blinding of their eyes, and the hardening of their hearts, having led them to a forgetfulness of God, and a disregard for their neighbour, also opened out innumerable channels for the admission of principles and the performance of acts by which destruction came. While, then, we hold that the flood consisted in- the direful influences of evil and false principles, by which the light of religion was extinguished, and the emotions of virtue de- stroyed; we also conceive that these principles were productive of characteristics and proceedings which were dangerous to per- sonal safety; and consequently, that they were, as external causes, the means of sweeping from natural existence a peculi- arly profligate and abandoned race. The manner in which these causes operated to dissolve society and terminate its exist- ence was, doubtless, very various. Evil is diversified in all its kinds; and it displays its malignity in a multitude of ways, all of which are more or less fatal in their results to the people who walk therein. The narrative, however, does not deal with ex- ternal causes; it treats of those that are primary in such results; consequently, of man having ceased to live according to the order of heaven, and, thereby, of his having become the subject of temptations, in which his moral sentiments and religious life Avere finally overwhelmed. Hereby "all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died." f Those in whose nostrils was the breath of life were the people who had constituted the most ancient Church during the time of its integrity. Of them it is written, the Lord God breathed into their nostrils the breath of life " ; | which means, the im- * See Jer., chaps, xlix. and 1.; and Nahxim throughont. t Gen. vii. 22. t Gen. ii. 7. MORAL EVIL PRODUCTIVE OF NATURAL DEATH. 357 plantation of love, and faith originating therein: these princi- nles as we have seen, were successively abandoned and de- stroyed, and now the seeds thereof, which had been hereditarily transmitted to the last posterity of the antediluvian community, were by them entirely extinguished. Wherefore i is said everything died in whose nostrils was the breath of hves: and hence it follows, that all who were in the dry land perished, be- cause thereby are represented those who had become as it were, parched with lusts, and in whom there were none of the remains of celestial and spiritual life. Everything of this character passed away, and thereby the cessation of the people with whom It took place. "Noah only remained ahve, and they that y^erewiih him in the ark":* the reason is, as previously in i- mated, because the Noachic people found grace in the eyes of he Lord, and were righteous in his sight. The grace denoted that they retained some truth; their righteousness shows that they possessed some good: and these were the principles which en- abled them to erect the ark, collect the fowls and beasts, rise above the waters of temptation, and receive the covenant which God established, for the purpose of commencing an entirely new dispensation of Divine things, as the Adamic or most ancient Church had, after innumerable corruptions, divisions, and per- versities, passed away in the manner we have attempted to de- '' Here we terminate our exposition of the most remarkable events recorded in the first seven chapters of Genesis. \\ e have endeavoured to show that they were not written to express that literal sense which they are commonly understood to do. W e have regarded the history as purely figurative, not only because such a mode of expressing spiritual and intellec ual sub3ects was common to mankind in the early ages of enlightened so- ciety, but also because such a method of indicating internal and spiritual things of the Church is in agreement with the Divme style of communication evinced throughout the whole ^^ od, and likewise because this kind of composition is eminently adapted to portraying the interior principles of men by means of appropriate representatives and correspondences chosen fiom * Gen. vii. 23. 358 THE WORD AND ITS INSPIRATION. the world of nature — the figures employed not being the analo- gies of human rhetoric, but types of the Divine selection. This being the ground we have taken for the explanations, we have not hesitated to produce many of the difficulties which obviously surround the common views of the subjects discussed, Ijecause we were desirous of showing to those who hold such views, the inconsistencies they have to encounter, and the con- tradictions they must believe, if they will retain them. These difficulties, however, are not to be understood as being urged against the narratives themselves; but only against that which we conceive to be their erroneous interpretation. We repeat this, that the reader, in drawing his conclusions, may discriminate between our belief in the Divine character of the documents themselves, and our disbelief of those opinions which they have been supposed to express. The path we have pur- sued in this investigation effectually avoids all tlieir difficulties, and maintains throughout a rational consistency and religious character. We have seen that those early portions of the Word treat of the rise and perfection of the most ancient Church, which was pre-eminently Man, in the enjoyment of the intelligence of love. We next contemplated the existence of the sensual principle, pointing out the nature of its seduction, and the decline of the people. Then, in the people represented by Cain and Abel, we saw the separation of faith from charity, with their respective characteristics; also the death of charity, by which faith became a fugitive and a vagabond principle in the Church; and that this likewise j^erished in the time of the first Lainech. After- wards it was shown that those histories reveal the rise of heresies in a variety of forms, and disclose the enormities of the imagi- nation and heart of which they were productive among man- kind; and, finally, that they announce an awful inundation .of false persuasions and evil influences, by which all branches of society were overwhelmed, with the exception of the Noachic people, who were saved from the catastrophe, because they resisted and conquered those temptations in which others fell and perished. The narrative, therefore, is a consecutive history of the states experienced by the most distinguished Church which has ever CONCLUSION. 359 existed upon this earth, during the process of its rise, fall, and extinction — the extinction of a celestial Church, whose primeval name was Adam, and which was succeeded by another, of a spiritual quality, under the appellation of Noah. Being deeply impressed with the truth of these views, we venture humbly to urge them upon the serious attention of the reader, and earnestly solicit him to think carefully and religi- ously upon them, for the purpose of adopting some rational and consistent conclusion; for, most certainly, a period is advancing in which will take place a complete revolution and thorough change of popular opinion concerning the meaning of those early portions of the Lord's most holy Word. May that change be effected under tlie Divine influence, and mankind have their eyes opened to the enjoyment of a purer light, and thus may they intellectually appreciate the wonderful things contained in His law. THE END. APPENDIX. THE SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCES. It is not known at the present day what correspondence is. That it is not known is from several causes. The primary cause is that man has removed himself from heaven by the love of self and of the world, for he who looks to himself and the world above all things, regards only things which are of the world, because these gratify the external senses and delight the natural inclinations, and pays no regard to spiritual things, which gratify the internal senses and delight the rational mind; wherefore they cast these things from them, saying that they are too high to be objects of thought. The an- cients did otherwise; to them the science of correspondences was the chief of all sciences; by that, also, they acquired in- telligence and wisdom ; and those Avho were of the church had by it communication with heaven, for the science of correspond- ences is an angelic science. The most ancient people, who were celestial men, thought from correspondence itself, like the angels; therefore, also, they spoke with angels, and the Lord often appeared to them and instructed them. But at this day that science is so entirely lost that it is not known what corre- spondence is. Now, because without a perception of what correspondence is nothing can be known in liglit concerning the spiritual world, nor concerning its inllux into the natural, nor even what the spiritual princi]ile is in respect to the natural; nor can anything be known in light concerning the spirit of man, which is called the soul, and concerning its operation in the body, nor concerning the state of man after death; therefore it is to be told what is correspondence and what is its qualit3% The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world, not only the natural world in general, but in every particular; 361 362 APPENDIX. wherefore, whatever exists in the natural world from the spiritual, that is said to be correspondent. It is to be known that the natural world exists from the sj^iritual world, altogether as an effect from its efficient cause. What is called the natural world is all that extense which is under the sun, and receives from it heat and light, and the tilings that thence subsist belong to that world; but the spiritual world is heaven, and to that world belong all the things which are in the heavens. Because man is a heaven and also a world in the least form after the image of the greatest, therefore there is with him a spiritual world and a natural world. The interiors, which are of his mind and which have reference to the understanding and will, constitute his spiritual world; and the exteriors, which are of his body and which bear reference to his senses and actions, constitute his natural world. Whatever, therefore, exists in his natural world, — that is, in his body, — and its senses and actions, from his spiritual world, — that is, from his mind, understanding, and will, — is called correspondent. What the quality of correspondence is may be seen in man from his face. In the face which has not been taught to dis- semble, all the affections of the mind present themselves visibly in a natural form as in their type; hence the face is called the index of the mind. In like manner, the things which are of the understanding are sensibly manifested in the speech, and the things which are of the will in the gestures of the body. Those things, therefore, which are done in the body, whether in the face or in the speech or in the gestures, are called correspond- ences. There is also a correspondence of man with heaven, and from that correspondence he subsists; for man does not subsist from any other source than from heaven. Heaven is distinguished into kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom and the other the spiritual kingdom. The celestial kingdom in general corresponds to the heart and to all things in the body that refer to the heart, and the spiritual kingdom to the lungs and to all things in the body that refer to them. The heart and the lungs also constitute two kingdoms in man: the heart reigns there by the arteries and veins, and the lungs by the nerves and movinsz fibres, lioth of them in overv force and action. APPENDIX. 363 In every man, in his spiritual world, which is called his spir- itual man, there are also two kingdoms: one of the will and the other of the understanding. The will reigns by the affec- tions of good, and the understanding by the affections of truth. These kingdoms also correspond to the kingdoms of the heart and the lungs in the body. The case is similar in the heavens: the celestial kingdom is the will-principle of heaven, in which kingdom the good of love bears rule, and the spiritual kingdom is the intellectual principle of heaven, and in that kingdom truth bears rule; these are what correspond to the functions of the heart and lungs in man. It is from that correspondence that heart in the Word signifies the loill, and also the good of love; and that the breath of the lungs signifies the understanding and the truth of faith: hence also it is that the affections are ascribed to the heart, although in reality they are not there seated nor thence derived. It is now to be shown that all things of the earth and of the world are correspondences. All things of the earth are distin- guished into three kinds, which are called kingdoms — namely, the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, and the mineral kingdom. Those things which are in the animal kingdom are correspondences in the first degree, because they live; those which are in the vegetable kingdom are correspondences in the second degree, because they only grow; those which are in the mineral kingdom are correspondences in the third degree, because they neither live nor grow. The correspondences in the animal kingdom are living creatures of various kinds, both those which walk and creep upon the earth and those which fly in the air. The correspondences in the vegetable kingdom are all things which grow and bloom in gardens, forests, fields, and plains. The correspondences in the mineral kingdom are the more noble and the baser metals, precious stones and those not precious, the earths of various kinds, and also waters. Besides these things those are also correspondences which by human industry are prepared from them for use, as food of every kind, garments, houses, edifices, and the like. The things which are above the earth, as the sun, the moon, the stars, and also those which are in the atmosphere, as clouds, mists, rain, lightnings, thunders, are also correspondences. 364 APPENDIX. The things which proceed from the sun and its presence and absence, as light and shade, heat and cold, are also correspond- ences; and likewise those which, hence, exist i'n succession, as the seasons of the year, which are called spring, summer, autumn, winter, and the times of the day, as morning, noon, evening, night. In a word, all things that exist in nature, from the least to the greatest, are correspondences. That they are correspond- ences is, because the natural world with all things in it exists and subsists from the spiritual world, and both from the Divine Being. All that is correspondent which from nature exists and subsists from Divine order. The Divine good, which proceeds from the Lord, makes Divine order; it begins from Him, pro- ceeds from Him, through the heavens successively into the world, and is there terminated in ultimates. The things which are according to order there are correspondences, and all things are according to order there which are good and perfect for use, for every good is good according to use. But what the correspondence of spiritual things with natural is, may be illustrated by examples. The animals of the earth correspond to affections; the gentle and useful to good affections, the fierce and useless to evil affections. Specifically cows and oxen correspond to affections of the natural mind; sheep and lambs to the affections of the spiritual mind; but winged animals, according to their species, correspond to the intellectual things of each mind. Hence it is that various animals, as cows, oxen, rams, she-goats, he-goats, he-lambs and she-lambs, and also pigeons and turtle-doves, in the Israelitish Church, which was a representative church, were applied to holy uses, and from them were made sacrifices and burnt-offerings; for tliey correspond, in that use, to spiritual things, which were understood in heaven according to correspondences. The reason why animals according to their kinds and species are affections is because they live, and everything has life from no other source than from affection and according to it; hence every animal has innate knowledge according to the affection of its life. Man, also, is similar to them as to his natural man, and therefore he is compared to them in common discourse, as, if gentle, he is called a sheep or a lamb; if fierce, he is APPENDIX. 365 called a bear or a wolf; if cunning, a fox or a serpent, and so forth. There is a similar correspondence with the things of the veg- etable kingdom. A garden in general corresponds to heaven, in relation to its intelligence and wisdom; Avherefore, heaven is called the garden of God and paradise. Trees, according to their species, correspond to the perceptions and knowledges of good and truth, from which are derived intelligence and wisdom. Wherefore, the ancients, who were in the science of corresjjond- ences, had their holy worship in groves; and hence, also, it is that, in the Word, trees are so often named, and heaven and the church and man are compared to them, as to the vine, the olive, the cedar, and others, and the good works which they do are compared to fruits. The food, also, which is from them, especially that which is from seed raised in fields, corres- ponds to the affections of good and truth, because these nour- ish spiritual life as earthly food nourishes natural life. And hence bread, in general, corresponds to the affections of all good, because that, more than the rest, sustains life, and also because by bread is meant all food. On account of this corre- spondence, also, the Lord calls Himself the Bread of Life; and, for the same reason, bread was in holy use in the Israelitish Church, for it was set upon the table in the tabernacle and called "the bread of faces," and, also, all Divine worship which was celebrated by sacrifices and burnt-offerings was called bread. On account of that correspondence, also, the holiest thing of worship in the Christian Church is the Holy Supper, in which there is given bread and wine. In what manner the conjunction of heaven with the world is effected by correspondence shall be briefly told. The kingdom of the Lord is a kingdom of uses ; on this account the universe was so created and formed by the Divine Being that uses may everywhere be clothed with such things as may he instrumental in presenting them, in act or in effect, first in heaven, and next in the world ; thus, by degrees and successively, even to the ultimates of nature. Hence it is evident that the correspond- ence of things natural with things spiritual, or of the world with heaven, is effected by uses, and that uses conjoin them; and that the forms with which uses are clothed are so far corre- 366 APPENDIX. spondences, and so far conjunctions, as they are forms of uses. In the world of nature, in its triple kingdom, all things which there exist according to order are forms of uses, or effects formed from use for use; wherefore, the things that are there, are corres- pondences. With respect to man, — as far as he lives according to Divine order, thus as far as in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbour — so far his acts are uses in form, and are correspondences by which he is conjoined to heaven; to love the Lord and the neighbour is to perform uses. Further, it is to be known that it is man by means of whom the natural world is conjoined with the spiritual, or that he is the medium of conjunc- tion; for in him, as before shown, there is a natural world and there is a si3iritual world : wherefore, as far as man is spiritual, so far he is a medium of conjunction, but, so far as he is mereh' natural and not spiritual, so far he is not a medium of conjunc- tion. Still, there continues, without man as a medium, a Divine influx into the world, and also into those things which are from the world with man, but not into his rational principle. As all things which are according to Divine order corres})ond to heaven, so all things which are contrary to Divine order cor- respond to hell. The things which correspond to heaven have all reference to good and truth; those Avhich correspond to hell, to evil and falsity. It was said above that the sjiiritual world, which is heaven, is conjoined to the natural world by correspondences, hence by means of correspondences there is given to man communication with heaven. For the angels of heaven do not think from natural things, as man does; wherefore, when man is in the knowledge of correspondences, he can be together with the angels as to the thoughts of his mind, and thus be conjoined to them as to his spiritual or internal man. In order that there might be conjunction of heaven with man, therefore, the Divine Word was written by pure correspondences; for all and each of the things which are there correspond. Wherefore, if man were acquainted with correspondences, he would understand the Word as to its spiritual sense, and thence it would be given him to know arcana, nothing of which he sees in the sense of the letter. For in the Word there is a literal sense and there is a spiritual sense. The literal sense consists of such things as are APPENDIX. 367 in the world, but the spiritual sense of such things as are in the heavens; and, because the conjunction of heaven with the world is by correspondences, therefore such a Word has been given, that everything in it, even to an iota, corresponds. I have been instructed that the most ancient people on our earth, who were celestial men, thought from correspondences themselves, anct the natural things of the world that were before their eyes served them as means of so thinking; and because they were such, they were consociated with the angels of heaven and spake with them, and thus by them heaven was conjoined with the world. On this account that time was called the Golden Age, concerning which it is also said by the ancient writers that the inhabitants of heaven dwelt with men, and had intercourse with them as friends Avith friends. But after their time there succeeded those who thought not from correspond- ences themselves, but from the science of correspondences; there was conjunction of heaven also then, but not so intimate. Tliis time was what is called the Silver Age. Afterwards those suc- ceeded who, indeed, knew correspondences, but did not think from the knowledge of them because they were only in natural good, and not, like the former, in spiritual good. The time of these was called the Copper or Brazen Age. After their times man l)eeame successively external, and at length mereh'' corpo- real, and then the science of correspondences was altogether lost, and with it the knowledge of heaven and of most things relating to heaven. That they named those ages from gold, silver, and copper was also from correspondence, since gold from correspondence signifies celestial goodness, in which the most ancient people were ; silver, spiritual good, in which were the ancients that succeeded them ; and copper, natural good, in Avhich their next descendants were; but iron, from which the last age was named, signifies hard truth without good. ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY. The idolatries of the Gentile nations, in ancient times, had their origin in the science of correspondences. For all things which appear upon the earth correspond, not only trees, but also beasts and birds of every kind, and also fishes and other things. With the ancients there was a knowledge of this science, 368 APPENDIX. and it was the chief science among the wise. It was cultivated especially by the Egyptians, and hence their hieroglyphics. From that science they knew what every animal represented and signi- fied, also what was signified by trees of every kind, and what by mountains, hills, rivers, fountains, and what by the sun, moon, and stars. By means of that science they had also the knowledge of spiritual things, since these, which constitute angelic wisdom, were the origin of those representatives in nature. Now, because all their worship was representative, consisting of mere corre- spondences, therefore they held their worship upon mountains and hills, and likewise in groves and gardens, for gardens and groves signify wisdom and intelligence, and every particular tree something of these, as the olive, the good of love; the vine, truth from that good; the cedar, rational good and truth; mountains and hills signified the heavens. For the same reason they con- secrated fountains, and turned their faces to the rising sun in their adorations; moreover, the}- made sculptured horses, oxen, calves, lambs, and also birds, fishes, and insects, and set them in their houses and elsewhere, in their order, according to their correspondence Avith the spiritual things of the church which they represented. Like things they also placed in their temples, that they might recall to mind the holy things of worship which they signified. In process of time, when the science of corre- spondences became obliterated, posterity began to worship the sculptured things themselves as in themselves hoi}", not know- ing that the ancients, their fathers, did not see anything holy in them, but merely viewed them as, by the law of correspondence, representing and signifying holy things. From this origin sprang the idolatries that filled the whole world, not only Asia and the neighboring islands, but Africa and Europe. THE GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY DEEIVED FROM THE SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCES. How much the ancients excelled the moderns in intelligence may be manifest from this, that the former knew to what things in heaven many things in the world correspond, and hence what they signified; and this was known not only to those who were of the church, but also to those who were out of the church, as to the inhabitants of Greece, the most ancient of APPENDIX. 369 whom describe things by significatives, which at this day are called fabulous because they are altogether unknown. That the ancient Sophi possessed the knowledge of such things is evident from this, that they described the origin of intelligence and wisdom by a winged horse, which they called Pegasus, and his breaking open with his hoof a fountain, at which were nine virgins, and this upon a hill: for they knew that by a horse was signified the intellectual principle; by his wings the spiritual; by hoofs, truth in the lowest degree, which is the basis of intelligence; by virgins, the sciences; by hill, unanimity and, in the spiritual sense, charity; and so with the rest. But such things at this day are among those that are lost. THE FOUR CHURCHES. On this earth there have been many Churches, one after an- other; for where the human race is given, there a church is given; for heaven, which is the end of the creation, is from the human race, and no one can come into heaven unless he is in the two universals of the Church, which are to acknowledge a God and to live well; hence it follows that there have been Churches on this earth from the most ancient time down to the present. These Churches are described in the AVord, but not historically, except the Israelitish and Jewish Church, before which there were yet many; and the latter are only descril^ed there by the names of nations and persons, and by a few things concerning them. The Most Ancient Church is described by Adam and his wife, Eve. The following Church, which is to be called the Ancient Church, is described by Noah and his three sons, and by the posterity from them; this was large, and ex- tended through many kingdoms of Asia, which were the Land of Canaan within and beyond the Jordan, Syria, Assyria and Chaldaea, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Arabia, Tyre, and Sidon. That that Church was in these kingdoms is evident from various things that are related concerning them in the prophetical parts of the Word. But that Church was remarkably changed by Heber, from whom arose the Hebrew Church; in this, worship by sacrifices was first instituted. From the Hebrew Church 26 370 APPENDIX. sprang the Israelitish and Jewish Church, which was solemnly instituted for the sake of the Word, which was written out there. These four Churches are understood by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, the head of which was of pure gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs and feet of iron and clay. Nor is anything else understood by the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages mentioned by the ancient writers. That the Christian Church succeeded the Jewish is known. That all those Churches, in process of time, decreased even to the end, which is called their consummation, may also be seen from the Word. The consummation of the Most Ancient Church, which was caused by eating of the tree of knowledge, by Avhich is signified the pride of one's OAvn intelligence, is de- scribed by the deluge. The consummation of the Ancient Church is described by various devastations of the nations treated of in the historical as well as the prophetical Word, especially by the casting out of the nations from the land of Canaan by the children of Israel. The consummation of the Israelitish Church is understood by the destruction of the tem- ple of Jerusalem, and by the carrying away of the Israelitish people into perpetual captivity, and of the Jewish nation into Babylonia; and at length by the second destruction of the tem- ple, and at the same time of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of .that nation, which consummation is foretold in many of the prophets. The fourth Church is the Christian, instituted by the Lord, tlirough the evangelists and the apostles. Of this there have l)een two epochs — one from the time of the Lord to the Council of Nice, and the other from that Council to the present day. But this, in its progress, has been divided into three parts — the Greek, the Rdman Catholic, and the Reformed; but still all these are called Cliristian. Besides, within each general Church there liave been several particular ones, which, although they have receded, have still retained the name from the general one, as the heresies in the Cliristian. But the successive vastation of the Christian Church, even to its end, is described by the Lord in the twenty-fourth chapter of INIatthew, and other places; and the consummation itself is described in the Apocalypse. — From the Writings of Emavuel Siredenborg. INDEX. Abel, his mystical character admitted, 176. Abel represents charity, 176. Abel, what the firstlings of his flock sig- nified, 185. Abel, why the Lord had respect to his offering, 187. Abel, his character and death, and in- quiry respecting them, 195, 197, 198. Adam, book of the generation of, 26. Adam a community, 65, 66, 67. Adam naming the creatures, 97, 98. Adam, a help meet for him, 112. Adam, the principles by which he was distinguished, 121. Adam did not fall into every evil by one transgression, 131. Adam a free people, 127. Adam's transgression the beginning of the fall, illustrated in a note, 131. Affections compared to beasts, 308. Age, spiritual, 245. Ages, great, not of individual men, 241. Alone, it not being good for Adam to be, 108. Animals, difficulty in collecting them into the ark, 291. Anger no attribute of God, 150, 151. Animals to be provided for in the ark, 291. Animals significant, 99, 100. Animals which Adam did not name, 103. Appeal, concluding, 359 Antitype and type, 348 Ark, attempts to explain its arrange- ments, 290. Ark, dimensions not sufficient for all the animals, 290. Ark, requirements for the building of it, 292. Ark and flood represent spiritual things, 294. Ark, tebathj the word only used in refer- ence to the Noachic vessel, 295. Ark, what it represented, 296. Ark pitched within and without, 299. Ark, room, door, window, &c., their sig- nificance, 300, 301, 302. Ark, entering into, by Noah and his house, 306. Authority, its influence, 288. Article on faith only, 169. Beasts representative, 105. Beasts, clean and unclean, and fowl, their signification, 306, 307, 308, 310. Beasts which entered into the ark, and those on the holy mountain, compared, 311. Beasts which perished at the flood, 352. Beasts, various principles of degenerate life, 353. Beasts, wild, inordinate delights, 105, 353. Beginning, no history of, 12. Beginning, opinions about the meaning of the word, 9. Beginning, the, 30. " Bending," the language of God's book, 2. Belief of Scripture, and belief of men's interpretation, 288. Bible, what it was before the time of Moses, 25. Books, ancient, produced under Divine superintendence, 26. Book of the generation of Adam, 26. Breath of lives, what it is, 59. Buckland, Dr., his opinion about the pur- pose of the first chapter of Genesis, 6. Building a city illustrated, 234. Cain denotes the doctrine of faith only, 172. Cain, his character, and talking with his brother, 195, 196. Cain's countenance fell, 188. Cain and Abel two classes of religious communities, &c., 163, 166. Cain and Abel's occupations, difficulties respecting them, 164, 165. Cain and Abel, how made acquainted with the results of their respective offerings, 187, 188. Cain's offering of the fruit of the ground, what this was, 184. Cain's complaint and apprehension, 205, Cain, who he was to fear among men, 206. Cain not to be slain, 212. City the representative of doctrine, illus- trated, 231. Character springs from love, 58. Chloroform objected to when first em- ployed, 156. 371 372 INDEX. Church an ark of safety, 296 Church, the state of, and the state of the mind, run parallel to each other, 296. Church, how it should understand the early documents of Moses, 3. Churches give birth to the things of charity and faith, 171. Colenso, Dr., his statements the opinions of many, 4. Colenso, Dr., cited, .318. Commaneiments, ten, not promulgated to Moses for the first time, 259. Conscience, what it is, 198. Conception and birth of religious princi- ples, their longevity, 166. Corruption of the antediluvian world, peculiarity of their nature from the peculiarity of men's passions at that time, 254, 255,256. Corruptions, provision to be made against the recurrence of those which pre- vailed with the antediluvians, 260. Covenant with Noah, 260. Creation, Mosaic records of, give way before the discoveries of science, I. Creation of male and female, 50. Crime, how men pass into it, 146. Curious notions about the phrase, •' Male and female created he them," 109. Cush and Ethiopia, remarks concerning. 91. Day, opinions concerning the significa- tion of, 8. Day, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, 36, 40, 42, 46, 48. Daughters, the signification of, both in a good and a bad sense, 266. Daughters born to the sons of God, 265. Darkness, ignorance, called Night, 37. Death induced by criminal indulgences, 355. Deep, fountains of the great, 340. DelaBeche cited, 318. Deluge, mistaken opinions respecting it, 313. Death extant before the creation of man, 8. Depravity of the antediluvians, 278. Discrepancies of the literal history, 50, 51. Discrepancies about taking the beasts into the ark, 309. Discrepancy noticed and reconciled, 98. Distinction between the first and second chapters of Genesis, 98. Difficulties of the literal sense admitted, 4, 5. Difiiculties cut short, how, 6. Difficulties urged, not against the docu- ments, but their interpretation, 358. Diluvium, 317. Diluvial action different in different ages, 317. Disputes in the Church whether faith or charity is the primary principle, 174. Divine word for all time, 191. Document not intended to express physi- cal truths, 5. East, turning to the, in prayer, 75. East, children of the, 75. East, tradition of knowledge therefrom, 74. Eating interdicted, what this signified ; now in force, 140, 142, 144. Earth supposed to mean only a limited district, 12. Earth without form and void, the mean- ing of, 32. Eden, the use of knowing its geographi- cal situation considered, 68, 69. Eden an undiscoverable spot, 69. Eden significant of love, 71. Eden, why said to have been in the east, 74. Eden, the river of, without a name, 87. Eden, to be sent from, 148. Eden lost to all who transgress the Divine law, 148. Enochs, two; the heresy of one, 231. Enoch, the city of, a representation of doctrine, 232. Enoch denotes instruction, 234. Enoch from Seth, 250. Enoch, book of, 251. Enoch, his translation, 252. Error of the doctrine of salvation by faith only, 170. Ethiopia and Cush, remarks concerning, 91. Eusebius, a statement of his, 6. Eve, why so called, 170. Evil attributed to God, why, 348, 349. Evil influences from the internal world when God was manifest, 354. Evil spirits possessed mankind, 354. Evil slays the wicked, 356. Explanations, natural, vague, 7. Fall, the germ of it, 111. Fall, the Scripture account of it, 119. Fall, Dr. A. Clarke's view of it, 119. Fall a gradual event, how effected, 130. Fall completed when Jesus came, 133. Faith and charity, their characteristics, 167. Faith, how it becomes heresy, 202. Faith endangered when charity is dead, 211. Faith and charity separated, 167. Faith, what it is, not acceptable without charity, 173. Faith essential to charity, 184, 197. Faith destroyed by Lamech, 227. INDEX. 373 Father and mother, leaving them for a wife, 116. Fathers, the views of some of them con- cerning the early records of Genesis, 20. Face the idex of emotion, 222. Fear the result of wrong-doing, 207. Female characteristics, 51. Figurative language natural, 62, 63. Figurative language did not take its rise with mythology, 2. Firmament, expanse, why called heaven, .39. Fishes not named by Adam, 103. Fishes, their signification, 47. Fishes, why spared at the time of the flood, 351, 352. Flood, legends concerning it, 22, 23. Flood scarcely disturbed the earth's sur- face, 315. Flood, the narrative of, factitious history, 289. Flood could not drown the fish and some fowl, 351, 352. Flood, supposed locality of it, 319. Flood a direful temptation, 336. Flood, the sources of it considered, 338, 339, 340. Floods alluded to in Scripture, 322. Flesh, all, &o., died, 351, 352, 353. Fountains of the great deep broken up, 316. Fountains of the great deep, the mean- ing of, 338, 339, 340, 341. Fowls, their signification in a good and bad sense, 91, 105, 353. Freedom, its capability, 139. Fugitive and vagabond, what they are, 203. Garden of the Divine planting, 61. Garden eastward iu Eden, 75. Garden in Eden signifies intelligence in love, 72, 73. Garden, analogy between it and the mind, 85. Genesis, first chapter of, a history of the rise and attainment of manhood, 14. Genesis, first and second chapters, opinion as to how they should be considered, 9. Genesis, chapters i. and ii., the peculiar distinction of the narratives, 58, 59. Genus of the people among whom mytho- logical history was constructed, 20. Genus of the people among whom the antediluvian history was written, 26. Geology, the results of its teachings, 5. Geology, the demands of it, 8. Geology proves the earth to have expe- rienced great convulsions, 316. Giants mentioned in the Scriptures, 273. Giants as to character, 275. Gihon, its signification, etc., 91. God, the Spirit of, moving on the face of the waters, 33. God operates by laws, 327. " God said. Let us make man," consid- ered, 60. God ending his work, and resting, what are these, 56. God not a destroyer, 349. God desires that men should understand his word, 218. God changeth not, 280. God's providence, mistaken notions re- specting it, 280. God's interposition to preserve man, 284. Gold, its signification, 90. Goodness and wisdom essential to inno- cence, 186. Gopher wood, opinions about it, and its signification, 297, 298. Ground the external man, 160. Ground, the tilling of it, 175. Grace and righteousness of Noah, 304. Guilt, its progress illustrated, 147. Havilah, conjectures respecting, 90. Help meet for Adam, 113. Heaven and earth, the meaning of, 31. Hiddekel, its signification, 92. Hills, high, covered, 350. Heresies, prolific, 226. Heresies, their tendency, 202. History to be traced to the first Olym- piad, 21. History of mundane things would not advance our spiritual knowledge, 63. Human remains, 320. Hypotheses concerning the strata of the earth, 7. Hypotheses which have been held con- cerning the initial verses of Genesis, 10. Ideas, general and particular, 254. Illustrations from mythology concerning the origin of extraordinary persons, 116. Immunities of Protestant Christendom, 4. Influx, the meaning of, 343. Inequality of the supposed curse on the land, 158. Ingenuity employed to defend the doc- trine of faith alone, 172. Initial verses of Genesis, opinions about them, 10. Infernal influences, 206. Instruction by an internal dictate, and by external documents, 286. Innocence of two kinds, 1S6. Interpretation necessary, 3. Interpretation, modern, of the flood, 321. Inventions to remove the difiiculties of the letter, 13. Israelitish history, its commencement and design, 24. 374 INDEX. Josephus, his opinion of some of the writings of Moses, 20. Jesus Christ the son of God in a pre- eminent sense, 268. Knowledge, the tree of, 77, 82, 83. Knowledge of spiritual things the result of revelation, 14:3, 144. Land, dry, 41. Lamb, Dr., eited, 25. Lamb the symbol of innocence, 187. Lamech, the signification of his speech to his two wives, 227. Lameehs, two, 230. Law, the broken, 140. Lawful to see the forbidden fruit, 145. Learned criticism, facts established by, 19. Learned men have abandoned long- standing opinions concerning the early portion of Genesis, 6. Learned men not agreed about an ex- planation of the narrative of the flood, 313, 317, 318, 319. Light before the sun, theories about it, 9. Light, truth, called day, 37. Lights, two great, what they are, 42, 43. Light of stars that have reached our earth prove their great antiquity, 43. Living things destroyed, 349, 350. Longevity, theories respecting it, 238, 239. Longevity of opinions, 248. Longevity predicated of the line of Seth, 248. Lord, the, speaks to men by an internal dictate, 198. Lord speaking to the serpent, 154. Lyell cited on the antiquity of man, 318, 319. Lusts, 267, 269. Luther's statement concerning faith and the commandments, 170. Male characteristics, 51, 268. Male and female to be taken into the ark, 310. Man ignorant and innocent, 31, Man, what by original creation, 32. Man, how regenerated, 35. Man viewed under different aspects, 49. Man as an image of God, 60. Man required to think and reason, 292. Man blessed, 61. Man, how he becomes spiritual, 55. Man associated with spiritual beings, 332. Man, Adam, a community, 65, 66, 67. Man the author of evil, 131. Man as man, and as a husband, 15S. Man's prerogative, 52. Man's lowest nature, its tendency, 128. Man's days 120 years, 241. Mark set upon Cain, curious conjectures concerning it, 214. Mark, Scripture instances of setting a, 215. Marriage of affection and opinion, 225. Marriage a Divine institution, 264. Men called gods, 268. Men reason in favour of what they love, 269. Men, of renown, 277. Men, mighty, 276. Men, how they pass into crime, 146. Mental characteristics of the antedilu- vians, 261. Mercy of the Lord twofold, of wisdom and of love, 281, 282, 284, 285. Metals, their signification, 298. Mind, rise of, out of darkness, 1. Mind a microcosm, 1. Miller, Hugh, his theory, 11. Mind, degrees of, 88. Mind consists of will and understanding, 296. Miracle, the flood nowhere so called, 330, 331. Moral evil induces natural death, 357. Mythological and traditional intimations of the deluge, 22. Nakedness without shame, 116. Name, to call by a, 106. Names of individuals frequently express the idea of communities, 163. Names of places significant, 85. Names of animals founded on some of their characteristics, 103, 104. Natural and spiritual laws, 201. Nephilim, 275. New states induced upon the Noachic peo- ple, 261, 262. Noah, his grace and righteousness, 357. Nod, the land of, its meaning illustrated, 219, 224. Night excluded from the meaning of the term day, 38. Numbers signify spiritual ideas, 243, 247. Number 666 illustrated, 243. Numbers 10 and 12, 258, 259. Objects of Christian faith said to be mys- terious, 172. Objections urged of weight only against men's opinions, not against the docu- ments, 27. Offerings of Cain and Abel the first inti- mations of Divine worship ; what those offerings were, 179. Offerings under the ceremonial law, types, 180. Offerings of Cain and Abel not like those of the Jewish sacrifices, 187. Omnipotence has its laws, 328, 329. INDEX. 375 Old views uprooted, 13. Origen, his opinion cited, 21. Parallelism between the flood and other events recorded in Scripture, 347. Passages from the Word illustrating the signification of numbers, 242, 259. Passages from the Word in which floods are mentioned which are not floods of water, 337. Parable of Jotham illustrated, 80. Peter's reference to the deluge considered, 347. People of whose origin there is no his- tory, 66. People, why they did not seek for safety in the ark when the waters rose, 293. Perception and its use, 250. Peculiarity in the character of the Adamic people, 255. Phrat, its signification, 93. Piety necessary to Scripture interpreta- tion, 3. Pison, its signification, 89. ' Pison and Gihon unknown, 88. Populace, what they have been taught to believe on the subject of the deluge, 314. Population, supposed, at the time of the flood, 321. Pratt (Archdeacon, of Calcutta), his re- mark on the seventh day, 15. Pratt's, Archdeacon, view of the designs of Scripture, 6. Presence of the Lord, going from the, 220. Predestination and grace, controversies about them, 234. Predestination, correct ideas about it, 233. Profane use of the Word, 269. Profanation, what it is, 275. Progress of guilt illustrated, 147. Rain could not produce a universal inun- dation, 340. Rain, passages of Scripture illustrated in • which the word occurs, 343, 344. Rain, forty days and forty nights of, 345. Rain denotes influx, 342, 343. Rationale of Adam's fall, 146. Remains, what, and how their safety was provided for, 242, 258, 354. Records, early, of Genesis cannot be his- tory, 13. Reasonings of criminals, 199. Regeneration before and after the fall, 65. Regeneration, how its early states are built up with something selfish, 299. Religious dissensions, their origin, 190, 193. Religion endangered by evil lives, 210. Religion as the result of perceptions, 218. Redemption provided against the recur- rence of obsessions, 355. Repentance and grief of man, not of the Lord, 279, 280. Repentance and grief of the Divine mercy, 281. Reptiles never endowed with the capa- bility of speech, 118. Reptiles denote grovelling pursuits, 353. Rhind, Mr., his opinion as to rain pro- ducing the deluge, 340. Resemblance between some points in mythology and some in the early parts of Genesis, 21. Revelation makes us acquainted with spiritual things, 54. Richness of ancient Egyptian soil, 159. Rival parties in religion, their bitterness illustrated, 190. Rivers the symbols of wisdom, 86. Rivers, mythological intimations respect- ing some, 86. River of Eden parted into four heads, 95. Sabbath, a representative institution, 16. Sacrifice of animals in itself irrational, 99. Science, the facts of, inconsistent with the Mosaic cosmogony, 6. Scriptures, two modes of speaking of them, 27, 28. Senses inlets for certain knowledge, 122. Senses, their deception, 129. Sensual principle, its subtlety, 136. Seed to be kept alive, 310. Sects in the Adamic Church illustrated, 229. Sevens and twos, 309. Seventh day a celestial state with man, 54. Seventh day cannot mean the seventh day in the ordinary acceptation of the word, 56. Seventh day called the Sabbath, how it is holy, 15, 57, 58. Seventh day, why no labour was to be done thereon, 57. Separation of the will from the under- standing, 262. Serpent, the, and its deceptions, 118, 129. vSerpent which poured out water as a flood, 338. Serpent, as a symbol, illustrated from his- tory, 123, 124, 125. Serpent, the sensual principle, illustrated, 126. Serpents, the power to take them up and to tread upon them, 134. Serpents which the rod of Aaron and the rods of the magicians became, 134, 135. Serpent of brass, 135. Seth instead of Abel, 236. Seth significant of anew faith, 237. Shepherd, its signification, 177. INDEX. Six days' work, epitome of its meaning, 70. Six days' creation, what it was, 53. Simplicity of the Word, 28. Smith, Dr. Pye, cited, 23, 24, 319. South, Dr., on man's understanding in paradise, 75, Spiritual intelligence the main purpose of Grod's communication to men, 14. Spirit of Lord striving, 270. Spiritual sense of the early chapters of Genesis their only sense, 64. Sons of God, what they are considered to have been, 263. Sons of God seeing the daughters of men to be fair, 269. Streams, their signification, 86, Suffocating influx among the antedilu- vians, 355. Summary of histories, 358, Teachers of truth, builders of the city of God, 235, Ten commandments, 259. Temptations, their nature explained and illustrated, 333. Temptations treated of under the figure of the flood, 332. Theories about light before the sun, 9. Theories of interpretation, 10, 11, 12, 13. Thorns and thistles, what they signify, 160. Tilling the ground, 175, 201. Transgression produces doubts, 223. Traditions of the deluge considered, 323. Tradition and science do not afford any materials for explaining the flood to have been a natural phenomenon, 326. Trees of the garden, opinions concerning them, 76. Trees, the general signification of, 78. Trees of life and knowledge, 77, 82, 83. Tree of life still extant, 84, Type and antitype, 348. Understanding and will separated, 169. Universal destruction of some sort in- tended to be described by the deluge, 314. Universality of the flood relinquished by scholars before geology became a sci- ence, 319. Use of knowing where Eden was, 68, 69. Various principles in man, 120. Vengeance to be taken of those who slew Cain, 211. Vegetables not named by Adam, why, 104. Ventilation of the ark, difficulties con- cerning it, 290. Vision of dry bones, 115. Volcanoes extinct, ancient, in the south of France, 318. Waters gathered together, what, 40. Waters denote knowledges, 40. Waters that become seas, 41, Waters commanded to bring forth crea- tures that have life, 46. Wisdom communicated by an internal dictate, 96. Wiseman, Dr., cited, 23. Wise and friendly character of revelation, 29. Wicked, the, can be clever, 209. Wife of Cain, 225. Will and understanding separated, 169. Will, how it became a lust, 278. Wives, the choice of, 264. Windows of heaven, 339, 340, 341, 342. Womsin's desire towards her husband, 156. Woman the type of affection, 225. Woman the selfhood of the man, 157. Woman, the multiplication of her sorrows in conception, 150, 155. AVords, their signification, 298. Word for all time and all men, 219. Word of God a work of God, 289. Words in the Bible have a signification frequently different from their giam- matical meaning, 2. AVorship, its acceptance and rejection, 189. Writing, different styles of, 1. Years and numbers, 246. Youth, spiritual, 245. The Church's One Foundation* By rev. B. F. BARRETT. Price, 75 cents. The New York Independent says of it : "These sermons will appeal to a wide company of readers outside of the New Church, to whose uiinistry the author belonged. 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