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will equally apply to their consciences, by principles which will always have a reference to their practice, by promises which will always carry consolation to their hearts. By the Christians of all countries Paul will be considered as a cosmopolite, and by those of all ages as a contemporary. Even when he addresses individuals, his point of view is mankind. He looked to the world as his scene, and to collective man as the actor.

CHAP. X.

The Style and Genius of Saint Paul.

THOUGH Saint Paul frequently alludes to the variety of his sufferings, yet he never dwells upon then. He does not take advantage of the liberty so allowable in friendly letters-that of endeavouring to excite compassion by those minute details of distress, of which, but for their relation in the Acts of the Apostles, we should have been mainly ignorant.

breaking the subject into more parts, and giving results instead of facts.

Though more at liberty, Paul makes a sober use of his privilege; though never ambitious of ornament, his style is as much varied as his subject, and always adapted to it. He is by turns vehement and tender, and sometimes both at once; impassioned, and didactic; now pursuing his point with a logical exactness, now disdaining the rules, of which he was a master; often making his noble neglect more impressive than the most correct arrangement, his irregularity more touching than the most lucid order. He is often abrupt, and sometimes obscure: his reasoning, though generally clear, is, as the best critics allow, sometimes involved, perhaps owing to the suddenness of his transitions, the rapidity of his ideas, the sensibility of his soul.

But complicated as his meaning may occa sionally appear, all his complications are capable of being analyzed into principles; so that from his most intricate trains of reasoning, the most unlearned reader may select an unconnect. ed maxim of wisdom, a position of piety, an aphorism of virtue, easy from its brevity, intelligible from its clearness, and valuable from its weight.

How would any other writer than the Apostle have interwoven a full statement of his trials An apparent, though not unpleasing, disconwith his instructions, and how would he have nection in his sentences is sometimes found to indulged an egotism, not only so natural and so arise from the absence of the conjunctive parts pardonable, but which has been so acceptable in of speech. He is so affluent in ideas, the images those good men who have given us histories of which crowd in upon him are so thick-set; that their own life and times. That intermixture, he could not stop their course while he might however, which excites so lively an interest, and tie them together. This absence of the conis so proper in Clarendon and Baxter, would necting links, which in a meaner writer might have been misplaced here. It would have served have induced a want of perspicuity, adds energy to gratify curiosity, but might not seem to com- and force to the expression of so spirited and port with the grave plan of instruction adopted clear-sighted a writer as our apostle. In the by the apostle; whilst it comes with admira-sixth chapter of the second of Corinthians, there ble grace from Saint Luke, his companion in travel.

Saint Paul's manner of writing will be found in every way worthy of the greatness of his subject. His powerful and diversified character of mind seems to have combined the separate excellences of all the other sacred authors-the loftiness of Isaiah, the devotion of David, the pathos of Jeremiah, the vehemence of Ezekiel, the didactic gravity of Moses, the elevated morality and practical good sense, though somewhat highly coloured, of Saint James; the sub. lime conceptions and deep views of Saint John, the noble energies and burning zeal of St. Peter. To all these he added his own strong argumentative powers, depth of thought and intensity of feeling. In every single department he was eminently gifted; so that what Livy said of Cato might with far greater truth have been asserted of Paul,-that you would think him born for the single thing in which he was engaged.

We have observed in an early chapter, that in the Evangelists the naked majesty of truth refused to owe any thing to the artifices of composition. In Paul's Epistles a due, though less strict degree of simplicity is observed; differing in style from the other as the comment from the text, a letter from a history; taking the same ground as to doctrine, devotion, and duty, yet branching out into a wider range,

are six consecutive verses without one conjunction. Such a particle would have enfeebled the spirit, without clearing the sense. The variety which these verses, all making up but one period, exhibit, the mass of thought, the diversity of object, the impetuosity of march, make it impossible to read them without catching some. thing of the fervour with which they are written, They seem to set the pulse in motion with a corresponding quickness; and without amplifi. cation seem to expand the mind of the reader into all the immensity of space and time.

Nothing is diffused into weakness. If his conciseness may be thought, in a very few in. stances, to take something from his clearness, it is more than made up in force. Condensed as his thoughts are, the inexhaustible instructions that may be deduced from them, prove at what expansion they are susceptible. His com. pression has an energy, his imagery a spirit, his diction an impetuosity, which art would in vain labour to mend. His straight-forward sense makes his way to the heart more surely than theirs, who go out of their road for ornament. He never interrupts the race to pick up the golden bait.

Our apostle, when he has not leisure for reflection himself, almost by imperceptible me. thods invites his reader to reflect. When he appears only to skim a subject, he will suggest ample food for long-dwelling meditation. Every

sentence is pregnant with thought, is abundant | verse, there are no fewer than seventeen fundain instruction. Witness the many thousands mental, moral, and religious monitions, comof sermons which have sprung from these comprising almost all the duties of a Christian life paratively few, but most prolific seeds. Thus, in the space of a few lines. The selection of his if he does not visibly pursue the march of eloquence by the critic's path, he never fails to attain its noblest ends. He is full without diffuseness, copious without redundance. His eloquence is not a smooth and flowing oil, which lubricates the surface, but a sharp instrument which makes a deep incision. It penetrates to the dissection of the inmost soul, 'to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.'

words is as apt, as his enumeration of duties is just. He beseeches his converts to know them that are over them, and very highly to esteem them in love for their works' sake;' while to the performance of every personal, social, and religious duty, he exhorts them.

The correctness of his judgment appears still more visibly in the aptness and propriety of all his allusions, metaphors, and figures. In his epistle to the Hebrews, he illustrates and enforces the new doctrine by reasonings drawn from a reference to the rites, ceremonies, and economy of the now obsolete dispensation; sending them back to the records of their early Scriptures. Again, he does not talk of the Isthmian games to the Romans, nor to the Greeks of Adoption. The latter term he judiciously uses to the Romans, to whom it was familiar, and explains, by the use of it, the doctrines of the grace of God in their redemption, their adop tion as his children, and their inheritance with the saints in light;' on the other hand, the illus

The numerous and long digressions often found, and sometimes complained of, in this great writer, never make him lose sight of the point from which he sets out, and the mark to which he is tending. From his most discursive flights he never fails to bring home some added strength to the truth with which he begins; and when he is longest on the wing, or loftiest in his ascent, he comes back to his subject enriched with additional matter, and animated with redoubled vigour. This is particularly exemplified in the third chapter of the Ephesians, of which the whole is one entire parenthesis, emi-tration borrowed from the rigorous abstinence nently abounding in effusions of humility, holiness, and love, and in the rich display of the Redeemer's grace.

In the prosecution of any discourse, though there may appear little method, he has frequent ly, besides the topic immediately in hand, some point to bring forward, not directly, but in an incidental, yet most impressive manner. At the moment when he seems to wander from the direct line of his pursuit, the object which he still has had in his own view, unexpectedly starts up before that of his hearer. In the recapitulation of the events of his life before Festus and Agrippa, when nothing of doctrine appears to be on his mind; he suddenly breaks out, Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?' He then resumes his narrative as rapidly as he had flown off from it; but returns to his doctrine at the close, with the additional circumstance, that Christ was the first that should rise from the dead;'-as if, having before put the question in the abstract, he had been since paving the way for the establishment of the fact.

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which was practised by the competitors in the Grecian games; to fit them for athletic exercises, would convey to the most illiterate inhabitant of Achaia, a lively idea of the subjugation of appetite required in the Christian combatant. The close of this last mentioned analogy by the apostle, opens a large field for instruction, by a brief but beautiful comparison, between the value and duration of the fading garland worn by the victorious Greek, with the incorruptible crown of the Christian conqueror.

But whether it be a metaphor or illustration, or allusion, he seldom fails to draw from it some practical inference for his own humiliation. In the present case he winds up the subject with a salutary fear, in which all who are engaged in the religious instruction of others are deeply interested. So far is he from self-confidence or self-satisfaction, because he lives in the constant habit of improving others, that he adduces the very practice of this duty as a ground of caution to himself. He appropriates to himself a general possibility, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.'

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Another metaphor, to which for its peculiarity we cannot help making a distinct reference, occurs in the twelfth chapter of the first of Corinthians. The figure with which he there instructs the Church of Corinth in the nature, use, and variety of spiritual gifts, whilst it bears a strong resemblance to the celebrated apologue with which Menenius Agrippa appeased the tumult of the Roman populace in the infancy of the Consular government, is still much superior to it. Saint Paul reproves their dissentions in a long chain of argument, where he illustrates the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in his distribution of

Saint Paul is happy in a mode of brief allusion, and in the art of awakening recollection by hints. It is observable often, how little time he wastes in narrative, and how much matter he presses into a few words; Ye, brethren, have suffered the like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men,-forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved; to fill up their sins always-for the wrath is come upon them to the utmost.' What a quantity of his tory does this sketch present! What a picture of their character, their crimes, and their punish-gifts, by a similitude taken from the component ment!

Nor does this brevity often trench on his explicitness. In the fifth chapter of the first Thessalonians, from the fourteenth to the twentieth

parts of the human body; which, though distinct and various, make up by union one harmonious whole. He explains their incorporation into Christ by the interest which the body has in the

several members, each of which by its specific office contributes to the general good. He proves the excellence of the dispensation to consist in that very variety which had produced the contention; and shows that, had the same powers been given to all, the union would have been broken as each portion would have been useless in a state of detachment from the rest, which now contributed to the general organization of the human frame.

As an orator, Paul unquestionably stands in the foremost rank. When the renowned Atheni an so 'wielded the fierce democracy,' as to animate with one common sentiment the whole assembly against Philip; when his great rival stirred up the Roman senate against their oppressors, and by the power of his eloquence made Cataline contemptible, and Anthony de. testable; they had every thing in their favour. Their character was established: each held a distinguished office in the state. They stood on the vantage-ground of the highest rank and reputation. When they spoke, admiration stood waiting to applaud. Their characters commanded attention. Their subject ensured ap. probation. Each, too, had the advantage of addressing his own friends, his own countrymen -men of the same religious and political habits with themselves. Before they started, they had already pre-occupied half the road to success and glory.

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Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning,' is the sun of his system, and round this centre every doctrine issuing from his lips, every grace beaming in his soul, moved harmo niously. Whilst he did not, like the exploded philosophy, invert order, by making the orb of day dependent on the lesser fires, which owe to him whatever light and heat they possess; he did not shrink, like the restorer of an astronomical truth, from the most decisive and effectual avowal of his opinions. It is curious to observe that both these persons shared a similar fate. The astronomer was rewarded for his discoveries with being thrown into prison by a pontiff of Rome; for the diffusion of moral light, the apostle was thrown into prison by an emperor of Rome. But mark, in the sequel, the superior influence of revealed truth over the conduct, to that of the clearest and best founded deductions of human reason. The philosopher was irresolute; the apostle persevered. Copernicus recanted what he knew to be truth, and was set free; Paul disdained liberty upon such terms and was put to death.

free.' He pointed them to life everlasting.'

This resolute avowal, this predominant conviction of the sublimest of truths, enabled Saint Paul to throw into his eloquence a heart and a life unknown to other orators; as a dying man, he spoke to dying men ;' and pleaded to the feel. ings of immortal beings for the life of their souls. Now turn to Paul!-A stranger, poor, perse- Others have selected noble objects, objects well cuted, unprotected, unsupported-despised be- worthy their genius and their zeal,-the love of fore-hand, whether he were considered as a Jew their country, liberty, and life. Paul embraced or a Christian; solitary, defenceless, degraded the same topics, but how ennobled in their naeven to chains-yet did he make the prejudiced ture! He taught his hearers to desire a better king vacillate in his opinion, the unjust judge country, that is, an heavenly.' He showed them tremble on his seat. The Apostle of the Gen-the liberty wherewith Christ had made them tiles owed none of his success to an appeal to the corrupt passions of his audience. Demos. thenes and Cicero, it must be confessed, by their arguments and their eloquence, but not a little also by their railing and invective, kindled strong emotions in the minds of their respective audiences. Now these vituperations, it must be remembered, were applied to other persons, not to the hearers, and men find a wonderful facility in admiring satire not directed at themselves. But in the case of Saint Paul, the very persons addressed were at once the accused and the judges. The auditors were to apply the searching truths to their own hearts; to look inward on the mortifying spectacle of their own errors and vices so that the apostle had the feelings of the hearers completely against him, whilst the Pagan orator had those of his audience already on his side.

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To crown all, Saint Paul has nobly exemplified the rule of Quinctilian. He owed the best part of his oratory to his being a good man,' as well as a good speaker. Otherwise,' says that great critic, though the orator may amuse the imagination, he will never reach the heart.' Conviction was the soul of his eloquence. He has no hesitation in his religious discussions. Whenever he summoned the attributes of his mind to council, decision always presided. His doctrines had a fixed system. There was nothing conjectural in his scheme. His mind was never erratic for want of a centre. Jesus

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In the various counsels or reproofs founded upon these divine doctrines, can we be surprised at the frequent interruption of an ejaculation or an apostrophe which he seems wholly unable to repress? Often do we participate those feelings which, as it were, break in upon his most subdued moments, and impel him to magnify that name, which is above every name, with ascrip. tion of glory, and honour and praise, and sainted adoration: With a kindred joy and elevation of soul, we seem to make even the most highly wrought devotional and practical effusions of so great a writer our own and so far from coldly condemning what we almost believe our own, we realize something of the observation of the finest critic of antiquity, that when the mind is raised by the true sublime, it rejoices and glories as if itself had produced what it had so much delight in contemplating.' 'No real Christian can read the doctrinal part of the Epistle to the Ephesians, without being impressed and roused by it, as by the sound of a trumpet.'*

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David, between whose temper and genius, and those of Saint Paul, there seems to have been a great resemblance, frequently manifests the same inextinguishable energy of soul. His heart, like that of the Apostle, is hot within him; the fire burns while he is musing. Many of the Psalms under such an influence become only one varied

*Macknight's Preface.

strain of laudatory prayer. In the nineteenth, for instance, he breaks out in admiration of the Divine law, almost to appearance on a sudden, and in such an inexhaustible diversity of expres. sion, as if he could never unburden the fulness of his overflowing heart. He describes it in no less than six different forms of perfection: and with every form, still resembling his great fellow saint of after ages, he connects a practical deduction. Thus by an infinite variety he proves that his mental opulence is above tautology, and at the same time shows that spiritual riches should be devoted to moral purposes. The law of the Lord so extolled converts the soul,-gives wisdom to the simple,―rejoices the heart,-gives light to the eyes,-is not only true, but righteous altogether.'

If Paul indulges the glowing expression of his own gratitude, it is to communicate the sacred flame to those he addresses; if he triumphs in ⚫ the enlargement of his own heart,' it is because he hopes by the infection of a holy sympathy to enlarge theirs. In catching, however, the sacred flame, let us never forget that, in his warmest addresses, in his most ardent expressions of grateful love to his God and his Saviour, he never loses sight of that soberness and gravity which becomes both his subject and his character. It is the King eternal, immortal, invisible -the blessed and only potentate-King of kings, Lord of lords,-He who hath immortality-who dwelleth in the light that no man can approach unto,-He who hath honour and power everlast ing, to whom, and of whom, he feels himself to speak.

May we venture to express a wish, that some persons of more piety and discernment, among whom there are those who value themselves on being more particularly the disciples of Saint Paul, would always imitate his chastised language. When the apostle pours out the fulness of his heart to his Redeemer, every expression is as full of veneration as of love. His freedom is a filial freedom, while their devout effusions are sometimes mixed with adjectives, which betrays a familiarity bordering on irreverence.*

If I am a father, where is mine honour: if I am a master, where is my fear?' They may indeed say with truth that they are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace. But does not the very word Throne imply majesty on the one part, and prostration on the other? Is not God manifest in the flesh' sometimes treated with a freedom, I had almost said a fondness, in which the divine part of his nature seems to be swallowed up in the human? Coarseness of whatever kind, may, it is true, be palliated by piety, but is never countenanced by it: it has no athnity to piety; it is only as the iron and the clay at the foot of the magnificent image, and is just so far removed from the true refinement and golden sanctity of taste, which will be learned by a due study of the first of models. If the persons so offending should plead warmth of affection, their plea will be admitted as valid, if in this feeling they can prove their superiority to their great master. In our own admirable

church service, this scriptural soberness of style is most judiciously adopted, and uniformly maintained. Portions of it are indeed addressed to the Second Person in the blessed Trinity; but we look in vain for any familiar expression, any distinguishing appellative.

Much less do Saint Paul's writings present an example, to another and more elegant class, the learned speculatists of the German school, as recently presented to us by their eloquent and accomplished eulogist. Some of these have fallen into the opposite extreme of religious refinement; too airy to be tangible, too mystic to be intelligible. The apostle's religion is not like theirs, a shadowy sentiment, but a vital principle; not a matter of taste, but of conviction, of faith, of feeling. It is not a fair idea, but a holy affection. The deity at which they catch, is a gay and gorgeous cloud; Paul's is the Fountain of Light. His religion is definite and substantial, and more profound than splendid. It is not a panegyric on Christianity, but a homage to it.

He is too devout to be ingenious, too earnest to be fanciful, too humble to be inventive. His sober mind could discern no analogy between the sublime truths of Christianity and the fine arts.' Nor would he have compared the awful mysteries of the religion of Jesus with those of Free Masonry,' any more than he would have run a laboured parallel with the mysteries of Eleusis, or the Bona Dea. Nor does he love to illustrate the word of God by any thing but his works. His truth hath no shades; in Him, whatever is right is absolute. Nor does he ever make error perform the work of truth, by ascrib. ing to 'enthusiasm' any of the good effects of religion. In the celestial armory of Christianity no such spiritual weapons as enthusiasm or error are to be found.

Had the Apostle placed the doctrines of revelation as congenial associates with the talent of poets and artists, he would have thought not only that it was a degradation of the principle of our faith, but an impeachment of the divine dispensations. God would have all men to be saved; Christ would have the gospel preached to every creature. Now if we compare the very small minority of ethereal spirits, who are fed by genius, who subsist on the luxuries of imagination, who are nurtured by music, who revel in poetry and sculpture, with the innumerable multitudes who have scarcely heard whether there be any such thing,-such a limited, such a whimsical, such an unintelligible, such an unattainable Christianity, would rob the mass of mankind of all present comfort, of all future hope. Paul would have thought it a mockery, when the Holy Spirit could alone help their infirmities, to have sent them to the Muses. To refer them to the statuary when they were craving for the bread of life, would be literally giving them stones for bread.' Nor would he have derided the wants of those who were 'thirsting for living water,' by sending him to the fountain of Aganippe.

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To be more serious:-To have placed the vast majority of the human race out of the reach of privileges which Christianity professes to have This remark applies more particularly to certain Hymns written in a very devout strain, but with a de-made commensurate with the very ends of the

votion rather amatory than reverential.

earth, and to have adapted to every rational in

habitant on its surface, would have been as base for spirit; they keep a magazine of airy specu and treacherous, unjust and narrow, as the to-lations, and shining reveries, and puzzling me. tality of the actual design is vast and glorious.

taphysics; the chief design of which is to drive to a distance, the profane vulgar; but the real effect to separate themselves and their system from all intercourse with the wise and good.

Even had those few eminent men who ruled the empire of intellect in Greece and Rome, attained, by the influence of their philosophical doctrines, to perfection in practice, (which was God could never intend we should disparage far from being the case,) that would neither his own gift, his highest natural gift, intellechave advanced the general faith, nor improved tual excellence. But knowing that those who the popular morals. In like manner, had Chris- possessed it, would be sufficiently forward, not tianity limited its principles, and their conse. only to value the talent, but to overvalue themquent benefits, to evangelists and apostles, or to selves for possessing it, he knew also that its men of genius, how insignificant would have possessors would require rather repression than been her value in comparison of the effects of excitement. Accordingly, we do not recollect that boundless benevolence which commands an eulogy on mere intellectual ability either in the Gospel to be preached to all, without any the Old or the New Testament. In the Old, indistinction of rank or ability. Through this deed, there is the severe censure of a Prophet blessed provision the poorest Christian, rich in on its vain exercise; thy wisdom and thy faith, can equally with Boyle or Bacon relish knowledge have perverted thee;' and in the the beauty of holiness in the pages of Saint New, the only mention of high imaginations,' Paul, though he may not be rich enough in is accompanied with an injunction, to cast taste to discover its picturesque beauties,' as them down,' and this in order to the great and exhibited in the pages of some modern philoso-practical end of bringing every thought into phic theologians.

captivity to the obedience of Christ.'

Ours is a religion, not of ingenuity, but of Saint Paul was deeply sensible of the neces obedience. As we must not omit any thing sity of circumscribing the passions, the powers, which God has commanded, so we must not in- and the genius of men within due limits. He vent devices which he does not command. The knew that they were not to be trusted to their talent of a certain Lacedæmonian was not ac- own operation, without positive institutions, fixcepted as an excuse, when he added to his war-ed laws, prescribed bounds. To subdue the like instrument a string more than the state al- pride and independence of the human heart, he lowed. Instead of being commended for his in- knew to be no less requisite than to tame the vention, he was cashiered for his disobedience: sensual appetites. He was aware, that to fill so far from being rewarded for improving his the imagination with mere pictures of heroic music, he was punished for infringing the law. virtue would not suffice for a creature like man, Much were it to be wished, that these deep under the influence of that disorderly and inthinkers and brilliant writers, to whom we al flammable faculty, without the infusion of holy lude with every consideration for their talents, habits, and the prescription of specific duties and would make their immense mental riches sub-defined rules. In fine, the discipline of Paul servient to their spiritual profit: and as Solon made his commercial voyages the occasion of amassing his vast intellectual treasures, so that they would consecrate their literary wealth, and devote their excursions into the regions of fancy to the acquisition of the one pearl of great price.

Too often persons of fine genius, to whom Christianity begins to present itself, do not so much seek to penetrate its depths, where alone they are to be explored, in the unerring word of God, as in their own pullulating imaginations. Their taste and their pursuits have familiarized them with the vast, and the grand, and the interesting and they think to sanctify these in a way of their own. The feeling of the Infinite in nature, and the beautiful in art; the flights of poetry, of love, of glory, alternately elevate their imagination, and they denominate the splendid combination, Christianity. But the new cloth' will never assort with the old garment.'

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These elegant spirits seem to live in a certain lofty region in their own minds, where they know the multitude cannot soar after them; they derive their grandeur from this elevation, which separates them with the creature of their imagination, from all ordinary attributes, and all associations of daily occurrence. In this middle region, too high for earth, and too low for heaven; too refined for sense, and too gross

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learns not so much to give play to his fancy, as to submit his will; and the first question which seems presented in his pages is not this, How bright are thy conceptions?' but 'How readest thou?'

The subject is too important, as a matter of caution, not to be placed in every possible light. Let us remember then that admiration is not conviction. There is something in perfection of every kind, which lays hold on a heart glowing with strong feelings, and a mind imbued with true taste. On this ground, even Rousseau could be the occasional eulogist of Christianity. He could institute a comparison between the son of Sophroniscus and the Son of Mary, with a pen, which seems plucked by a fallen spirit from a seraph's wing. His fine imagination was fired with the sublime of Christianity, as it would have been with a dialogue of Plato, a picture of Raffaelle, or any exhibition of ideal beauty.

Longinus, a still more accomplished critic in intellectual beauty than Rousseau, amongst the various illustrations of his doctrine in his beau tiful work, quotes the Almighty fiat at the creation, Let there be light, and there was light,' as a perfect instance of the sublime. He calls it a just idea, and a noble expression of the power of God.' Yet, though struck with this passage of the Jewish legislator, whom he coolly calls, no ordinary person, he was satisfied with

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