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39. But now to come to something more definite.
We have an example of the calm, subdued
style in the Apostle Paul, where he says: "Tell me, ye that desire
to be under the law, do ye not
hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the
one by a bond maid, the other by a
free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the
flesh; but he of the free
woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are
the two covenants; the one
from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar.
For this Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is
in bondage with her children.
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us
all;" and so on. And in the same
way where he reasons thus: "Brethren, I speak after the manner of
men: Though it be but a man's
covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth
thereto. Now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of
many; but as of one, And to thy
seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was
confirmed before of God in
Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after,
cannot disannul, that it should
make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the
law, it is no more of promise: but
God gave it to Abraham by promise." And because it might possibly
occur to the hearer to ask, If
there is no inheritance by the law, why then was the law given? he
himself anticipates this
objection and asks, "Wherefore then serveth the law?" And the
answer is given: "It was added
because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the
promise was made; and it was
ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is
not a mediator of one; but God is
one." And here an objection occurs which he himself has stated:
"Is the law then against the
promises of God?" He answers: "God forbid." And he also states the
reason in these words: "For
if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been
by the law. But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that
the promise by faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe." It is part, then, of the
duty of the teacher not only to
interpret what is obscure, and to unravel the difficulties of
questions, but also, while doing this, to
meet other questions which may chance to suggest themselves, lest
these should cast doubt or
discredit on what we say. If, however, the solution of these
questions suggest itself as soon as the
questions themselves arise, it is useless to disturb what we
cannot remove. And besides, when out
of one question other questions arise, and out of these again
still others; if these be all discussed
and solved, the reasoning is extended to such a length, that
unless the memory be exceedingly
powerful and active, the reasoner finds it impossible to return to
the original question from which
he set out. It is, however, exceedingly desirable that whatever
occurs to the mind as an objection
that might be urged should be stated and refuted, lest it turn up
at a time when no one will be
present to answer it, or lest, if it should occur to a man who is
present but says nothing about it, it
might never be thoroughly removed.
40. In the following words of the apostle we have the temperate
style: "Rebuke not an elder, but
entreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the
elder women as mothers, the
younger as sisters." And also in these: "I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable
service." And almost the whole of this hortatory passage is in the
temperate style of eloquence;
and those parts of it are the most beautiful in which, as if
paying what was due, things that belong
to each other are gracefully brought together. For example:
"Having then gifts, differing
according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let
us prophesy according to the
proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering;
or he that teacheth, on teaching; or
he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity; he that ruleth, with
diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be
without dissimulation. Abhor that
which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned
one to another with brotherly
love; in honour preferring one another; not slothful in business;
fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in
prayer; distributing to the necessity of
saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you:
bless, and curse not. Rejoice with
them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same
mind one towards another."
And how gracefully all this is brought to a close in a period of
two members: "Mind not high
things, but condescend to men of low estate!" And a little
afterwards: "Render therefore to all
their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom;
fear to whom fear; honour to
whom honour." And these also, though expressed in single clauses,
are terminated by a period of
two members: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another." And a
little farther on: "The night
is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness, and let us put on
the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying: but put ye
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof."
Now if the passage were translated
thus, "et carnis prividentiam ne in concupiscentiis feceritis",
the ear would no doubt be gratified
with a more harmonious ending; but our translator, with more
strictness, preferred to retain
even the order of the words. And how this sounds in the Greek
language, in which the apostle
spoke, those who are better skilled in that tongue may determine.
My opinion, however, is, that
what has been translated to us in the same order of words does not
run very harmoniously even in
the original tongue.
41. And, indeed, I must confess that our authors are very
defective in that grace of speech which
consists in harmonious endings. Whether this be the fault of the
translators, or whether, as I am
more inclined to believe, the authors designedly avoided such
ornaments, I dare not affirm; for I
confess I do not know. This I know, however, that if any one who
is skilled in this species of
harmony would take the closing sentences of these writers and
arrange them according to the law
of harmony (which he could very easily do by changing some words
for words of equivalent
meaning, or by retaining the words he finds and altering their
arrangement), he will learn that
these divinely-inspired men are not defective in any of those
points which he has been taught in
the schools of the grammarians and rhetoricians to consider of
importance; and he will find in
them many kinds of speech of great beauty, beautiful even in our
language, but especially beautiful
in the original,--none of which canoe found in those writings of
which they boast so much. But
care must be taken that, while adding harmony, we take away none
of the weight from these
divine and authoritative utterances. Now our prophets were so far
from being deficient in the
musical training from which this harmony we speak of is most fully
learnt, that Jerome, a very
learned man, describes even the metres employed by some of them,
in the Hebrew language at
least; though, in order to give an accurate rendering of the
words, he has not preserved these in
his translation. I, however (to speak of my own feeling, which is
better known to me than it is to
others, and than that of others is to me), while I do not in my
own speech, however modestly I
think it done, neglect these harmonious endings, am just as well
pleased to find them in the sacred
authors very rarely.
42. The majestic style of speech differs from the temperate style
just spoken of, chiefly in that it
is not so much decked out with verbal ornaments as exalted into
vehemence by mental emotion. It
uses, indeed, nearly all the ornaments that the other does; but if
they do not happen to be at hand,
it does not seek for them. For it is borne on by its own
vehemence; and the force of the thought,
not the desire for ornament, makes it seize upon any beauty of
expression that comes in its way. It
is enough for its object that warmth of feeling should suggest the
fitting words; they need not be
selected by careful elaboration of speech. If a brave man be armed
with weapons adorned with
gold and jewels, he works feats of valor with those arms in the
heat of battle, not because they
are costly, but because they are arms; and yet the same man does
great execution, even when
anger furnishes him with a weapon that he digs out of the ground.
The apostle in the following
passage is urging that, for the sake of the ministry of the
gospel, and sustained by the consolations
of God's grace, we should bear with patience all the evils of this
life. It is a great subject, and is
treated with power, and the ornaments of speech are not wanting:
"Behold," he says, "now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving no
offense in anything, that the ministry
be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the
ministers of God, in much patience, in
afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in strifes, in
imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in
watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by
longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy
Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of
God, by the armour of
righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and
dishonour, by evil report and good
report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well
known; as dying, and, behold, we
live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway
rejoicing; as poor, yet making many
rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." See him
still burning: "O ye Corinthians,
our mouth is opened unto you, our heart is enlarged," and so on;
it would be tedious to go
through it all.
43. And in the same way, writing to the Romans, he urges that the
persecutions of this world
should be overcome by charity, in assured reliance on the help of
God. And he treats this subject
with both power and beauty: "We know," he says, "that all things
work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to His
purpose. For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He
also called; and whom He
called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He
also glorified. What shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He
that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely
give us all things? Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that
justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For Thy sake
we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors,
through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
44. Again, in writing to the Galatians, although the whole
epistle is written in the subdued style, except at the end, where
it rises into a temperate eloquence, yet he interposes one passage
of so much feeling that, not withstanding the absence of any
ornaments such as appear in the passages just quoted, it cannot be
called anything but powerful: "Ye observe days, and months, and
times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon
you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am
as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how, through
infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the
first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not,
nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ
Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you
record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out
your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become
your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect
you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might
affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a
good thing, and not only when I am preset with you. My little
children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed
in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my
voice; for I stand in doubt of you". Is there anything here of
contrasted words arranged antithetically, or of words rising
gradually to a climax, or of sonorous clauses, and sections, and
periods? Yet, notwithstanding, there is a glow of strong emotion
that makes us feel the fervour of eloquence.
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