Chapter XVI: Appendix: Great Precedence Question 287 (15)

If we look to the nature of the human mind itself, if we consider its longings, how comprehensive is its range, how great its capabilities, how little its best and highest faculties are satisfied with the objects that are placed before us upon earth, how many marks this dispensation bears of being a temporary, and, as it were, an initiatory dispensation, is it not monstrous to pretend that we are giving to the human being such a cultivation as befits his nature and his destiny, when we put out of sight all the higher and more permanent purposes for which he lives, and confine our provision to matters which, however valuable (and valuable they are in their own place), yet of themselves bear only upon earthly ends? Is it not a fraud upon ourselves and our fellow-creatures? is it not playing and paltering with words? is it not giving stones to those who ask for bread, if, when man, so endowed as he is, and with such high necessities, demands of his fellow-men that he may be rightly trained, we impart to him, under the name of an adequate education, that which has no reference to his most essential capacities and wants, and which limits the immortal creature to objects that perish in the use?--_W. E. Gladstone._

On the whole subject of National Education, how enlarged and liberal are the views taken by the Bishop of Oxford, in one of his recent Sermons. “Our National Education is at this moment surrounded by many difficulties. Among the chief of these are those which spring from the relations of our Church and State. There is no use in disguising from ourselves the fact that these questions exist, and some of them press for settlement. I believe it to be the more manly and the more Christian way freely to admit their existence, and to lend our aid with all honesty in working out their true solution. We cannot, of course, concede one of our principles. We must teach the truth as we have received it--whole, unmixed, uncompromised. But this point secured, whatever we can do we ought to do, by a kindly regard to the feelings of others, by an allowable co-operation and all lawful concession, to loose the hard knot which discord has tied, and unite the hearts of this people in the mighty work of educating its youth to do good service to our God, and to maintain truth and righteousness throughout his world.”

_The Book of Psalms._

On the Psalms, that inexhaustible treasury of divine wisdom and prophetic inspiration, Hooker asks:

“What is there necessary for man to know which the Psalms are
not able to teach? They are to beginners an easy and familiar
introduction--a mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge;
in such as are entered before, a strong confirmation to the most
perfect amongst others. Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice,
grave moderation, exact wisdom, repentance unfeigned, unwearied
patience, the mysteries of God, the sufferings of Christ, the
terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Providence
over this world, and the promised joy of the world which is
to come, all good necessarily to be either known, or done, or
had--this one celestial fountain yieldeth. Let there be any grief
or disease incident to the soul of man--any wound or sickness
named, for which there is not in this treasure-house a present
comfortable remedy at all times ready to be found.”

With what satisfaction the pious Bishop Horne composed his Commentary on these sacred lyrics of the Sweet Singer of Israel, may be judged from the following passage from the Commentator’s Preface:

“Could the author flatter himself that any one would have the
pleasure in reading the following exposition which he hath had
in writing it, he would not fear the loss of his labour. The
employment detached him from the bustle and hurry of life, the
din of politics, and the noise of folly. Vanity and vexation
flew away for a season; care and disquietude came not near his
dwelling. He arose fresh as the morning to his task; the silence
of the night invited him to pursue it; and he can truly say that
food and rest were not preferred before it. Every Psalm improved
infinitely on his acquaintance with it, and no one gave him
uneasiness but the last; for then he grieved that his work was
done. Happier hours than those which have been spent in these
meditations on the Songs of Sion, he never expects to see in
this world. Very pleasantly did they pass, and move smoothly and
swiftly along; for when thus engaged, he counted no time. They
are gone, but have left a relish and a fragrance on the mind, and
the remembrance of them is sweet.”

Elsewhere the Bishop thus characterizes the Psalms:

“Calculated alike to profit and to please, they inform the
understanding, elevate the affections, and entertain the
imagination. Indited under the influence of Him to whom all
hearts are known, and all events foreknown, they suit mankind in
all situations; grateful as the manna which descended from above,
and conformed itself to every palate. The fairest productions of
human wit, after a few perusals, like gathered flowers, wither
in our hands and lose their fragrancy; but these unfading plants
of Paradise become, as we are accustomed to them, still more and
more beautiful. Their bloom appears to be daily heightened; fresh
odours are emitted and new sweets extracted from them. He who
hath once tasted their excellences will desire to taste them yet
again; and he who tastes them oftenest will relish them best.”

The pure and sweet feeling with which this excellent prelate dwells on his past labours, if labours they can be called, could scarcely have been greater, had he foreseen the immense circulation which his work enjoys, and the universal esteem in which it is held.

A more recent Commentator concludes his remarks on the last Psalm with these touching words: “I shall never again so dwell upon them on earth. My God! prepare me for heaven, and for joining there in the songs of the redeemed in the high services of eternity.”

_The Book of Job._

Diversified are the opinions of the most learned critics concerning the author of the Book of Job, the period at which it was written, in what part of the world the events there recorded occurred; and, though last not the least difficult and perplexing, whether the whole composition may not be regarded rather as allegorical than natural and true. Dr. Mason Good observes of this poem, in his Introductory Dissertation on the Book of Job:--

“It is the most extraordinary composition of any age or country,
and has an equal claim to the attention of the theologian, the
scholar, the antiquary, and the zoologist--to the man of taste,
of genius, and of religion. Amidst the books of the Bible it
stands alone, and though its sacred character is sufficiently
attested both by the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, it is
isolated in its language, in its manner, and in its matter.
Nothing can be purer than its morality, nothing sublimer than
its philosophy, nothing simpler than its ritual, nothing more
majestic than its creed.”

Perhaps all our readers may not be aware that, with the exception of the first two chapters and the last ten verses, the book is poetic--it is everywhere reducible to the hemistich form; but whether it is to be considered as dramatic or epic has not been determined. That Moses was the author of this sublime composition seems now almost universally agreed upon by learned commentators. The work itself, moreover, possesses internal evidence to the truth of this statement, many parts of it harmonizing with his acknowledged writings. Dr. Mason Good contends that--

“In his style the author appears to have been equally master of
the simple and the sublime--to have been minutely and elaborately
acquainted with the astronomy, natural history, and general
science of his age--to have been a Hebrew by birth and native
language, and an Arabian by long residence and local study; and
finally, that he must have flourished and composed the work
before the Egyptian Exody. Now it is obvious that every one of
these features is consummated in Moses, and in Moses alone;
and that the whole of them gives us his complete lineaments
and character; whence there can be no longer any difficulty in
determining as to the real author of the poem. Instructed in
all the learning of Egypt, it appears little doubtful that he
composed it during some part of his forty years’ residence with
the hospitable Jethro, in that district of Idumæa which was named
Midian.”

Against the supposition that Moses was the author of the Book of Job, it has been alleged that the word “Jehovah” frequently occurs in it--a word which was first revealed to Moses by the Almighty, preparatory to his undertaking the deliverance of the Hebrew nation. But, although we are told that this term was communicated to Moses for the first time in Exodus vi. 3, we yet find it used nearly thirty times in the Book of Genesis; we may, therefore, with Dr. Mason Good, suppose that he was in possession of this name long before the promulgation of this poem; and the novelty of the communication might have induced him at once to exchange whatever term he had antecedently employed for this new and consecrated term.

It seems now to be universally agreed upon that the land of Arabia Petræa, on the south-western coast of the lake Asphaltites, in a line between Egypt and Philistia, surrounded by Kedar, Teman, and Midian, all of which are districts of Arabia Petræa, situated in Idumæa, is the land of Edom or Esau. With regard to the supposition of some learned authors, that the book is wholly allegorical, Dr. Chalmers does not concur in such a conjecture. He appears to have thoroughly studied the arguments both for and against such a theory, and to have decided against it. He is conclusively of opinion that Job was a real character, and that the history recorded of him is a statement of facts. “There is,” says our author, “a very distinct scriptural testimony for the inspiration of his book in 1 Cor. iii. 19.”

Uz, where Job lived, was Edom. “We disclaim,” says Dr. Chalmers, “all consent to this being an allegorical and not a literal history; and we found our disclaimer on the subsequent references in the Bible to Job as to a real personage; as in James, v. 11, and still more in Ezekiel xiv. 14-20, where he is ranked with Noah and Daniel, whose reality no one doubts. Would the prophet have thus mixed a fictitious with real and historical characters?”

It is also worthy of remark, that the history of Job, although much altered from the original, is still well known among the Asiatics. Though our author does not consider Job’s history, as a whole, as being allegorical, yet he thinks the transcendental or supernatural parts of it may be so; and he compares these passages with those in 1 Kings xxii. 19; Zech. iii. 1; and Rev. xii., all of them representations more or less resembling similar ones in Job.--_Times journal.