Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

To make this direction more specific, we would say to every inquirer, 'Let your prayers be fervent, confiding, and perfectly submissive to the wisdom of God.' In sincerity, uprightness, and holy freedom of soul, pray concerning every doctrine, as the devout Watts did concerning the Trinity. 'Hadst thou, gracious Father, informed me in any place of thy word, that this divine doctrine is not to be understood by men, and yet they were required to believe it, I would have subdued all my curiosity to faith, and submitted my wandering and doubtful imaginations, as far as it was possible, to the holy and wise determinations of thy word.' Hadst thou been pleased, in any one plain Scripture, to have informed me which of the different opinions about the holy Trinity, among the contending parties of Christians, had been true, thou knowest with how much zeal and satisfaction and joy my unbiassed heart would have opened itself to receive and embrace the divine discovery.' Help me, heavenly Father,' he says, with an affecting simplicity, 'for I am quite tired and weary of these human explainings, so various and uncertain. When wilt thou explain it to me thyself, O my God, by the secret and certain dictates of thy spirit, according to the intimations of thy word?' Nor let any pride of reason, nor any affectation of novelty, nor any criminal bias whatsoever, turn my heart aside from hearkening to these divine dictates of thy word and spirit. Suffer not any of my native corruptions, nor the vanity of my imaginations, to cast a mist over my eyes, while I am searching after the knowledge of thy mind and will, for my eternal salvation!'

[ocr errors]

Again, to specify, we would say to every inquirer, Let the love of God, in you, be a strong, sustaining, absorbing, and most joyful affection. Let the love of man be, not an honored precept borne on the sacred page, but let it be a deeper feeling in the heart. Let it be unfeigned, disinterested, overflowing, full, generous, blessed.' What strength and satisfaction will he feel, who can use language like this? 'I may be uncertain about many things; I may be tried on some subjects with doubts, that I must feel most desirous to have cleared up; I may be wrong in my reasonings; I may err, for I am fallible; but I will only the more earnestly devote and dedicate myself to my duty and conscience; I will strive, with constant prayers and efforts, to be more and

more pure and faithful; I will cherish within me the unspeakable love of God; as I break loose from tradition, prejudice, and creeds, I will bind my heart to freedom, charity, self-denial, prayer, and all goodness.'

Let any man truly and heartily say this; let him thus enter into a more spiritual and intimate communion with the realities of those things about which other men dispute; let him be thus established in all the strong and blessed affections of his nature, and nothing can move him. Though the heavens be shaken, and the earth tremble beneath his feet, he has the strength and security of confidence in that Being, who made the heavens and the earth. Though the moral elements of the world be in confusion, he is calm. Though he himself may grapple with doubts, he does it with a cheerful and unfearing resolution, and a tranquil energy. Though men around him dispute, though they are filled with confidence, and are ready to overwhelm him with denunciations, though they beseech, and warn, and weep, none of these things move him. He can lift to his admonisher, and this is no uncommon situation in the religious differences of these times,— he can lift to his admonisher or his accuser, a calm and assured countenance, with no trace in it of anger, or resentment, or fear, or trouble, and can say to him, in reply to all his expostulations and warnings, Mistaken friend! troubled without cause, agitated without reason, sincere, I doubt not, but mistaken friend! I am happy, happy in the love of God, happy in the love of you, which all your misconstructions and mistakes cannot prevent; I have a principle within me, above your judgment, beyond your power to disturb. I am blessed, beyond your interference, in the contemplations of my own mind, in the abiding affections of my heart; and I feel a firm trust in God, that in these contemplations and affections, I shall be blessed for ever. Think not, frail, fallible, erring fellow-creature! think not, try not, so to disturb me. Truth never yet came into the world, but astonishment and reproach first gathered around its benign countenance, even though it were the countenance of Jesus; truth never yet came into the world, but lowering brows were bent upon it, and floods of misspent tears were shed over it. Yet do I not say,' might our modest defender of himself continue, 'yet do I not say that I hold the unerring truth. I may be wrong; I may err;

[ocr errors]

VOL. XI. N. S. VOL. VI. NO. III.

38

but of this I am sure, of this I have the most joyful certainty, that in the love of God I am blessed, blessed for ever.'

This, this is stability; and nothing else can sustain a solicitous and serious inquirer after truth amidst the difficulties that surround him. The agitation naturally attendant upon uncertainty, is itself considerable; but the power of society is often enough to make it overwhelming. Such is the constitutional sympathy which we are made to feel with the opinions and emotions of others, that a man is actually liable, and that without any blame on his own part, to partake of the horror that is felt against himself. This is a point of great importance to a class of Christians that is every where spoken against, and one that we may take some occasion fully to discuss. For the present we will only say, that he who would hold his heart firm' amidst all the disturbing influences incident to free inquiry, must hold it in the strength of conscious rectitude, and the assurance of fervent piety.

ごく

ART. II.1. Traditions of Palestine. Edited by HARRIET MARTINEAU. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. 1830. 12mo. pp. 148. 2. The Times of the Saviour. By HARRIET MARTINEAU. Reprinted, after Revision, from the English Edition. Boston: Leonard C. Bowles. 1831. 12mo. pp. 132.

THESE are not the titles of two separate works, but of one and the same work. The American volume is, as is professed in the title-page, 'reprinted, after revision,' from the English one. Judicious revision is often timely and useful. Alterations, if cautiously made, may be permitted, in a book which is reprinted on this side of the Atlantic. But the change of a title is a delicate matter. There is no clearer right to be established, than that of an author to name his own production. If we should chance to write a book,' which book should be thought worthy of republication in England, and it should appear there under another title than that which in the exercise of our best judgment we had bestowed upon it, we are ready to say that we

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

should probably dislike the proceeding, so much as to complain of it, as an uncommon and unjustifiable exercise of power. We cannot, therefore, approve of the change of title which has been effected in the present American edition of Miss Martineau's Traditions of Palestine.' Even if this original title is not quite so good as that of Times of the Saviour,' which we do not allow,-yet we maintain that the change ought not to have been made. It would have been sufficient to suggest it in the Preface to the author's consideration.

[ocr errors]

We make the above remarks unwillingly, for we are grateful to the American editor for bringing us acquainted with this delightful book, and we should be sorry to have it supposed that we are not grateful. We know, moreover, that every alteration which he has made, was prompted by a sense of duty to the public, and to the writer herself. It is our duty, while we acknowledge the taste of the editor, and our obligations to him, to express our disapprobation of the principle on which he has proceeded in this case.

The Traditions of Palestine' has been, under the name of "The Times of the Saviour,' so much read among us, and received with such decided approbation, that it is unnecessary for us to praise it, or to offer any particular account of its contents. One extract we must give, however, for the sake of those who have not seen the volume. It is from the first narrative, entitled 'The Hope of the Hebrew.' Two friends, Paltiel and Sadoc, with a companion whom they had overtaken, are seeking the 'Teacher along the shores of the Lake of Genesareth.

'The noon-day heats became oppressive: the way was now stony and sandy; the glare of the sun, reflected from the transparent lake, wearied the eye, and the travellers began to look around for a place of repose. Paltiel remembered, that at the distance of two furlongs from the spot where they now were, a cluster of palm-trees grew in a recess of the hills, where a fountain of cool water gushed from a rocky cleft. As soon as they arrived within sight of the trees, they perceived, by the motion of garments, that some one was already at the spring. On approaching nearer, they saw an aged man couched on the ground as if asleep, while a maiden watched over him. She had spread her veil to shade his face from the light; but when she heard the sound of footsteps and perceived that strangers were drawing near, she hastily replaced her veil, and bent over the old man, as if speaking to him. He arose and surveyed the

three companions, placing his hand above his eyes, as if even the softened light beneath the palm-branches was painful. Seeing that they paused, as if wishing yet fearing to join company with him, he courteously invited them to repose and drink. Before accepting his offer, Sadoc uttered the inquiry, which was ever uppermost in his mind, whether the Teacher had passed that way.

"He hath,

blessed be his name, and the name of Jeho

vah who sent him!"

"Thou believest on him!" said Sadoc with joy.

"I must needs believe on him," replied the old man, "for he hath wrought a great work of mercy on me. When yonder sun had been an hour above the mountains, all was dark as night to me, as it hath been for years past. I now see."

"And the Prophet hath done this!"

"He laid his hands on me, and the blessed light returned to me. I have seen the face of my child. The sparkling of the waters also, and the fruit and leaves of these trees, greener and fairer than they were in my remembrance, have gladdened my heart. Yet will they be more beautiful unto me tomorrow; for my sense is yet weak, and I can scarce even look upon you, though the face of man has been long as a dream unto me, and this hour is like a pleasant waking. Blessed be he, who hath gladdened my age with light!

[ocr errors]

"Amen, amen," murmured the maiden, as she sat with her head bowed on her knees.

"But the Teacher," exclaimed Sadoc, "how came he unto thee, and where?”

"I

"We rested beneath this tree," replied the old man. heard the steps of men, and knew that a company approached. My daughter believed that the Prophet was among them, and therefore I went forth and bowed before him. He asked if I believed on his words, and looked to him for the salvation of Israel; and then he removed darkness from me."

[ocr errors]

Again the maiden spoke in a low voice,

6.666

According to thy faith be it done unto thee.' Those words shall be hidden in my heart evermore."

[ocr errors]

"Wherefore have ye not followed him? inquired the Nazarene.

"I hastened to do so, when I should have bestowed my child in safety; but the Teacher saw that my spirit trembled within me, and he took my hand and led me hither, and desired me to abide, till the heat of noon should be overpast, And he gave us his blessing, and went on his way."

"Didst thou not fear before him?"

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »