60 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. GLORIFIED SPIRITS. [WILLIAM RATHBONE GREG, is author of various works, political and literary-"Political Problems for our hands which have so long been joined in love may slowly unclasp, to be stretched forth towards the approaching glory; that the glance of tenderness which we cast on the companion at our side may become faint, Age and Country;" "The Creed of Christendom," "Liter-languid, and hurried before the earnest gaze ary and Social Judgments;" Truth versus Edification;" "Enigmas of Life;" "Rocks Ahead, or the Warnings of Cassandra ;" &c. Mr. Greg is a man of intellectual power, and fine aspirations. Though unorthodox in opinions he is sound at heart, religious in feeling, and a sincere well-wisher of humanity. He is most popular on directly practical questions, with a philanthropic turn. Mr. Greg (born in Liverpool about 1810) succeeded John Ramsey M'Culloch in 1864 as Comptroller of H. M. Stationery Office. The following extracts are from the most eloquent of his writings the "Enigmas of Life" He died in 1881.] Whether in the lapse of ages and in the course of progressive being, the more dormant portions of each man's nature will be called out, and his desires, and therefore the elements of his heaven change; whether the loving will learn to thirst for knowledge, and the fiery and energetic to value peace, and the active and earnest to grow weary of struggle and achievement, and to long for tenderness and repose, and the rested to begin a new life of aspiration, and those who had long lain satisfied with the humble constituents of the beatific state, to yearn after the conditions of a loftier being, we cannot tell. Probably. It may be, too, that the tendency of every thought and feeling will be to gravitate towards the great centre, to merge in one mighty and all-absorbing emotion. The thirst for knowledge may find its ultimate expression in the contemplation of the Divine Nature-in which indeed all may be contained. It may be that all longings will be finally resolved into striving after a closer union with God, and all human affections merged in the desire to be a partaker in His nature. It may be that in future stages of our progress, we shall become more and more severed from the human, and joined to the divine; that, starting on the threshold of the eternal world with the one beloved being who has been the partner of our thoughts and feelings on this earth, we may find, as we go forward to the goal, and soar upward to the throne, and dive deeper and deeper into the mysteries and immensities of creation, that affection will gradually emerge in thought, and the cravings and yearnings of the heart be calmed and superseded by the sublimer interests of the perfected intelligence; that the with which we watch "the light that shall be revealed." We might even picture to ourselves that epoch in our progress through successively loftier and more purified existence, when those who on earth strengthened each other in every temptation, sustain ed each other under every trial, mingled smiles at every joy and tears at every sor row; and who, in succeeding varieties of being, hand in hand, heart with heart, thought for thought, penetrated together each new secret, gained each added height, glowed with each new rapture, drank in each successive revelation, shall have reached that point where all lower affections will be merged in one absorbing Presence; when the awful nearness of the perfect love will dissolve all other ties and swallow up all other feelings; and when the finished and completed soul, before melting away into that sea of light which will be its element for ever, shall turn to take a last fond look of the now glorified but thereby lost companion of so much anguish and so many joys! But we cannot yet contemplate the prospect without pain: therefore it will not be yet; not till we can contemplate it with joy: for heaven is a scene of bliss and recompense, not of sorrow and bereavement.. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. Two glorious futures lie before us: theprogress of the race here, the progress of the man hereafter. History indicates that the individual man needs to be transplanted in order to excel the past. He appears to have reached his perfection centuries ago. Men lived then whom we have never yet been able to surpass, rarely even to equal. Our knowledge has, of course, gone on increasing, for that is a material capable of indefinite accumulation. But for power, for the highest reach and range of mental and spiritual capacity in every line, the lapse of two or three thousand years has shown no sign of increase or improvement. What sculptor has surpassed Phidias? What poet has transcended Eschylus, Homer, or the author of the Book of Job? What de THE PROPHETIC LANGUAGE. 61 Tout aspirant has soared higher than David the paths of comets and the causes of the tides; whe or Isaiah? What statesman have modern discovered, what before his time no one had even sustimes produced mightier or grander than pected, that rays of light are differently refrangible, and Pericles? What patriot martyr truer or that this is the cause of colours; and who was a diligent, nobler than Socrates? Wherein, save in penetrating and faithful interpreter of nature, antiquity, mere acquirements, was Bacon superior to and the sacred writings. In his philosophy, he mainPlato? or Newton to Thales or Pythagoras? tained the majesty of the Supreme Being; in his manVery early in our history individual menners, he expressed the simplicity of the gospel. Let beat their wings against the allotted bounda-mortals congratulate themselves that the world has ries of their earthly dominions; early in nature." Newton died March 20, 1727.] seen so great and excellent a man, the glory of human history God gave to the human race the types and patterns to imitate and approach, For understanding the prophecies, we but never to transcend. Here, then, surely are, in the first place, to acquaint ourwe see clearly intimated to us our appointed selves with the figurative language of the work-namely, to raise the masses to the prophets. This language is taken from the true standard of harmonious human virtue analogy between the world natural and an and capacity, not to strive ourselves to over-empire or kingdom considered as a world leap that standard; not to put our own souls politic. or brains into a hotbed, but to put all our fellow-men into a fertile and wholesome soil. If this be so, both our practical course and our speculative difficulties are greatly cleared. The timid fugitives from the duties and temptations of the world, the selfish coddlers and nursers of their own souls, the sedulous cultivators either of a cold intellect or of a fervent spiritualism, have alike deserted or mistaken their mission, and turned their back upon the goal. The philanthropists, in the measure of their wisdom and their purity of zeal, are the real fellow-workmen of the Most High. This principle may give us the clue to many dispensations which at first seem dark and grievous, to the grand scale and the distracting slowness of nature's operations; to her merciless inconsideration for the individual when the interests of the race are in question : Accordingly the whole world natural, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people; or so much of it as is considered in the prophecy. And the things in that world signify the analogous things in this. For the heavens, and the things therein, signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth, with the things thereon, the inferior people; and the lowest parts of the earth, called Hades, or Hell, the lowest or most miserable part of them. Whence, ascending towards heaven, and descending to the earth, are put for rising and falling in power and honour; rising out of the earth or waters, and falling into them, for the rising up to any dignity, or dominion, out of the inferior state of the people, or falling down from the same into that inferior state; descending into the lower parts of the earth, for descending to a very low and unhappy state; speaking with a faint voice out of the dust, for being in a weak and low condition; moving from one place to another, for translation from one office, dignity, or dominion to another; great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, for the shaking of dominions, so as to distract or overthrow them; the creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the beginning and end of the world, for the rise and reign of the body politic signified thereby. In the heavens, the sun and moon are, by the interpreters of dreams, put for the perSons of kings and queens. But in sacred prophecy, which regards not single persons, the sun is put for the whole species and race of kings, in the kingdom or kingdoms of the 62 THE STUDY OF NATURE RECOMMENDED. cities, the permanent heads of river politic; mountains and islands, for the cities of the earth and sea politic, with the territories and dominions belonging to those cities; dens and rocks of mountains, for the temples of cities; the hiding of men in those dens and rocks, for the shutting up of idols in their temples; houses and ships, for fami lies, assemblies, and towns in the earth and sea politic; and a navy of ships of war, for an army of that kingdom that is signified by the sea. world politic, shining with regal power and glory; the moon for the body of the common people, considered as the king's wife; the stars for subordinate princes and great men, or for bishops and rulers of the people of God, when the sun is Christ; light for the glory, truth, and knowledge, wherewith great and good men shine and illuminate others; darkness for obscurity of condition, and for error, blindness, and ignorance; darkening, smiting, or setting of the sun, moon, and stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom, or for the desolation thereof, pro- Animals also, and vegetables, are put for portional to the darkness; darkening the the people of several regions and consun, turning the moon into blood, and fall-ditions; and particularly trees, herbs, and ing of the stars, for the same; new moons, land-animals, for the people of the earth polifor the return of a dispersed people into a tic; flags, reeds, and fishes, for those of the body politic or ecclesiastic. waters politic; birds and insects, for those of the politic heaven and earth; a forest, for a kingdom; and a wilderness, for a desolate and thin people. Fire and meteors refer to both heaven and earth, and signify as follows: Burning anything with fire, is put for the consuming thereof by war; a conflagration of the earth, or turning a country into a lake of fire, for the consumption of a kingdom by war; the being in a furnace, for the being in slavery under another nation; the ascending up of the smoke of any burning thing for ever and ever, for the continuation of a conquered people under the misery of perpetual subjection and slavery; the scorching heat of the sun, for vexatious wars, persecutions, and troubles inflicted by the king; riding on the clouds, for reigning over much people; covering the sun with a cloud, or with smoke, for oppression of the king by the armies of an enemy; tempestuous winds, or the motion of clouds, for wars; thunder, or the voice of a cloud, for the voice of a multitude; a storm of thunder lightning, hail, and overflowing rain, for a tempest of war descending from the heavens and clouds politic on the heads of their enemies: rain, if not immoderate, and dew, and living water, for the graces and doctrines of the Spirit; and the defect of rain, for spiritual barren ness. In the earth, the dry land and congregat ed waters, as a sea, a river, a flood, are put for the people of several regions, nations, and dominions; imbittering of waters, for great affliction of the people by war and persecution; turning things into blood, for the mystical death of bodies politic—that is, for their dissolution; the overflowing of a sea or river, for the invasion of the earth politic, by the people of the waters; drying up of waters, for the conquests of their regions by the earth; fountains of waters, for If the world politic, considered in prophecy, consists of many kingdoms, they are represented by as many parts of the world natural, as the noblest by the celestial frame, and then the moon and clouds are put for the common people; the less noble, by the earth, sea, and rivers, and by the animals or vegetables, or buildings therein; and then the greater and more powerful animals and taller trees, are put for kings, princes, and nobles. And because the whole kingdom is the body politic of the king, therefore the sun, or a tree, or a beast, or bird, or a man, whereby the king is represented, is put in a large signification for the whole kingdom; and several animals, as a lion, a bear, a leopard, a goat, according to their qualities, are put for several kingdoms and bodies politic; and sacrificing of beasts, for slaughtering and conquering of kingdoms; and friendship between beasts, for peace between kingdoms. Yet sometimes vegetables and animals are, by certain epithets or circumstances, extended to other significations; as a tree, when called "the tree of life" or "of knowledge ;" and the beast, when called "the old serpent," or worshipped. THE STUDY OF NATURE RECOM- [JOHN RAY (or WRAY), born at Black Notley, Essex, England, 1627, was the son of a blacksmith. He was educated at Cambridge, and was for a time lecturer on Greek, and Mathematical instructor in Trinity College. Later he took church orders, which he soon resigned. INOCULATION FOR SMALL-POX. He achieved high distinction as a naturalist, and is the author of numerous valuable works, among which are: "Catalogus Plantarum Angliæ " (1670); "Methodus Plantarum Nova " (1682); "The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creation " (1691); “A Collection of English Proverbs" (1690). He died in 1705.] Let us then consider the works of God, and observe the operations of his hands: let us take notice of and admire his infinite wisdom and goodness in the formation of them. No creature in this sublunary world is capable of so doing beside man; yet we are deficient herein we content ourselves with the knowledge of the tongues, and a little skill in philology, or history perhaps, and antiquity, and neglect that which to me seems more material. I mean natural history and the works of the creation. I do not discommend or derogate from those other studies; I should betray mine own ignorance and weakness should I do so; I only wish they might not altogether jostle out and exclude this. I wish that this might be brought in fashion among us; I wish men would be so equal and civil, as not to disparage, deride, and vilify those studies which themselves skill not of, or are not conversant in. No knowledge can be more pleasant than this, none that doth so satisfy and feed the soul; in comparison whereto that of words and phrases seems insipid and jejune. That learning, saith a wise and observant prelate, which consists only in the form and pedagogy of arts, or the critical notion upon words and phrases, hath in it this intrinsical imperfection, that it is only so far to be esteemed as it conduceth to the knowledge of things, being in itself but a kind of pedantry, apt to infect a man with such odd humours of pride, and affectation, and curiosity, as will render him unfit for any great employment. Words being but the images of matter, to be wholly given up to the study of these, what is it but Pygmalion's frenzy to fall in love with a picture or image. As for oratory, which is the best skill about words, that hath by some wise men been esteemed but a voluptuary art, like to cookery, which spoils wholesome meats, and helps unwholesome, by the variety of sauces, serving more to the pleasure of taste than the health of the body. ALL THINGS NOT MADE FOR MAN. There are infinite other creatures without this earth, which no considerate man 63 For can think were made only for man. it seems to me highly absurd and unreasonable to think that bodies of such vast magnitude as the fixed stars were only made to twinkle to us; nay, a multitude of them there are that do not so much as twinkle, being, either by reason of their distance or their smallness, altogether invisible to the naked eye, and only discoverable by a telescope; and it is likely, perfecter telescopes than we yet have may bring to light many more; and who knows how many lie out of the ken of the best telescope that can possibly be made? And I believe there are many species in nature, even in this sublunary world, which were never taken notice of by man, and consequently no use to him, which yet we are not to think were created in vain; but may be found out by, and of use to, those who shall live after us in future ages. But though in this sense it be not true that all things were made for man, yet thus far it is, that all the creatures in the world may be some way or other useful to us, at least to exercise our wits and understanding, in considering and contemplating of them, and so afford us subject of admiring and glorifying their and our Maker. Seeing, men, we do believe and assert that all things were in some sense made for us, we are thereby obliged to make use of them for those purposes for which they servo us, else we frustrate this end of their creation. Some reproach methinks it is to learned men that there should be so many animals still in the world whose outward shape is not yet taken notice of or described, much less their way of generation, food, manners, uses, observed. JOHN RAY. All men are mad in more or less degree INOCULATION FOR SMALL-POX, EIGHTY YEARS BEFORE JENNER. [LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU, was born at Thoresby, Notts, England, in 1690. She was a daughter of the Duke of Kingston, and second cousin to the novelist Fielding. Besides the literary distinction that she obtained through the brilliant "Letters" written during her travels, she is noted for having introduced small-pox inoculation into England. Died in 1762.] |