scorn and "implacable disgust "-the man that "ministers and serves the altar" with "affectation;" who seeks "To dazzle me with tropes, As with the diamond on his lily hand, And play his brilliant parts before my eyes, When I am hungry for the bread of life." And he breaks forth into a censure that may commend itself to public speakers in both religion and politics: "O popular applause! what heart of man Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms?" On goes the keen-eyed poet, lashing, in calm but burning words, the vices and follies of his day, which with "potent spell" draw all society into their vortex "Waste youth in occupations only fit For second Childhood, and devote old age And he asks the reader to "Basket up the family of plagues That waste our vitals.” "The country mourns, Mourns because every plague that can infest Of the edifice that policy has raised, Swarms in all quarters: meets the eye, the ear, And suffocates the breath at every turn.” This terrible catalogue of disorders winds up with a comparison to the plague of frogs "Polluting Egypt: gardens, fields, and plains Were covered with the pest. Nor palaces, nor even chambers, 'scaped ; And the land stank-so numerous was the fry." I have here glanced over the second book of the poem only. The four succeeding books contain delineations not less characteristic and appalling. I regret to omit many vivid pictures. The following is the summary of the moral state of the country near the close of this impressive work: "All pastors are alike To wandering sheep, resolved to follow none. Those who would extend this literary excursion through English life a century ago and upwards, may consult the volumes of the Spectator, in which the peculiarities of the age are lashed with inimitable humour. Never surely was literary amusement so mingled with the moral probe! I cannot attempt an analysis here of such a work. I may mention one striking paper-a Form of Subscription for a supposed Association of Honest men of all parties, who were to bind themselves, at the peril of their lives and fortunes, never to call black white or white black.1 I must observe that the word "honest is used by these writers in the old Ciceronian sense, meaning conscientious in thought, word, and deed—a virtue worthy of a prominent place in every Litany. This was evidently the meaning of the word in the time of Pope, who writes— "A wit's a feather, and a chief's a rod; An honest man's the noblest work of God." Speaking of the Spectator and Pope reminds me of a circumstance not irrelevant to the present argument. The "Messiah” was first given to the world in the pages of the Spectator, and is found in the fifth volume, No. 378. The copy I made for my first paper was taken from an old volume of "Elegant Extracts." It was so long since I had read the Spectator that I had forgotten at the time that Pope had given in the margin references to the passages in Isaiah on which his poem was founded; but they are less copious than I have shown them. Johnson, in his Life of Pope, observes that the "Messiah" was first submitted to Steele and published in the Spectator. The peculiarity to which I now refer is contained in the introductory lines by Steele. Commencing with a quotation from Virgil's Eclogues, he writes thus: "I will make no apology for entertaining the reader with the following poem, which is written by a great genius, a friend of mine in the country, who is not ashamed to employ his wit in the praise of his Maker." The words I have italicized fairly imply that it was a very unusual thing, and required some courage, for a man of genius to make Scripture mysteries a subject of his talents. And it is no less remarkable that the literary world-Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and Deists alike-received the poetical gem with a strange silence. No theological pen busied itself about the matter; and the first biographer of Pope mentions the poem without a remark. If any one remains sceptical as to whether the moral and religious state of England at the period referred to was at the worst, I may suggest another means of evidence-the canvases of Hogarth! 1 Spectator, vol. ii. No. 126. These inimitable works place, with slight caricature, the scenes of the day in which the artist lived before our very eyes. It would be hard to conceive a lower depth of the civilized sphere than is depicted in these singular productions. Man, woman, and child mingled in associations sickening to look upon. Even the very animals and things inanimate seem to partake of the social demoralization. Who has ever contemplated the scenes without unutterable disgust? "Marriage à la mode""The Rake's Progress "-"The Harlot's Progress" "-"The Last Stake"-"Cruelties"-"Drunkenness"-"Amusements”—“ Electioneerings "—" Church Services," etc. Bad as we are still, surely a new leaf has been turned over since that potent pencil transferred from the thumb-nail and the sketch-book to the canvas those romance-like sketches of civilized and religious people! But where are we to look for the cause of the social transformation now going on? This inquiry will form a subsequent matter for consideration. We must return to the leading thread of this essay. Another feature common to all the prophets demands attention. It is noteworthy how copiously figurative language is employed in speaking of both Advents. Those portions which are applied to the Incarnation are fulfilled in an absolutely literal manner only as regards the grand leading fact. Phenomena never realized in the letter form an inseparable part of the diversified enunciations. Christ did not as predicted by Daniel. literally take "the throne of David." 1 He did not restore a vast typical Temple, or a gorgeous Sacrificial Ceremonial, as foretold by Ezekiel and Zechariah. When "Messiah was cut off," there was no "flood The words of Joel were declared to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost; yet the sun was not turned into darkness, nor the moon into blood. The glorious announcement of Isaiah respecting "the rod from the stem of Jesse" lacked no evidence of its accomplishment; but the beautiful picture describing "the wolf and the lamb dwelling together," and "the little child playing on the hole of the asp" was not naturally realized. Similar imagery -doubtless of great significance-abounds in the prophet. Let us turn to the thirty-fifth chapter, where we find the originals of the beautiful transformations described in Pope's poem. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall 1 Luke i. 32. see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." "And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." Passages such as these hardly require the reader to be reminded that they are altogether spiritual in application. And why should this feature be departed from when descriptions of an opposite character are met with; where the earth is described as a “desolation," "utterly broken down," and "moved exceedingly," as in the twenty-fourth chapter? Does not the one class of texts describe the man of the Church devoid of all heavenly form and beauty, whilst the other class describes him renewed in all the excellences of his better nature? Are they not equivalent, and positively so, to the apostolic description: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new "?1 There was undoubtedly utter devastation in many lands as described by the prophets, by sword, by famine, by fire, etc. ; yet the earth was not destroyed. The coming of God to judgment is commonly expressed in Scripture in the same intense imagery: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him." The historical books contain imagery of the same kind. Moses, speaking of the terrible Anakim, says, "A consuming fire shall destroy them."3 it is said, when the Decalogue was given, "the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven." 4 112 So In the sixtieth chapter of the prophet we find this destruction of nations on the one hand, and the exaltation of God's kingdom on the other, thus significantly expressed: "The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. .. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousViolence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor 3 Deut. ix. 3. 4 Deut. iv. 11. ness. : 1 2 Cor. v. 17. 2 Ps. 1. destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee. . . Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light." : It is difficult to conceive of any purely physical sense being assigned to such transcendent passages as these. Indeed, what writer of any eminence, on taking up such portions as the twenty-fourth and sixtieth chapters of Isaiah, ever thinks seriously of applying the prophetic language to "the great globe itself"? If it be objected that a figurative sense opens the door to unbridled fancy, we answer that the meaning is capable of being accurately construed from a collateral view of the style of the books of Scripture. Nevertheless, the key to this inspired style is to the world at large a desideratum involved in the general argument of our essay. And if the reader is desirous to be satisfied on this point, I shall be able to refer to copious illustrations. I would dwell for a few moments on the fortieth chapter of the prophet, in which the character of the Redeemer is so explicitly declared. Pope thus reproduces the subject: "Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers; The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity." 66 The strain is grand and striking; yet striking as it is, it falls short in force of the original. The words of Isaiah are: "O Zion, that bringest good tidings; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength: say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovih will come with strong hand. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd." The difference is important. The prophet does not say a God; but "your God, the Lord Jehovih." That is, your own God, Jehovah, the One Living God, who appeared to Abram and Moses; the Very God, in contradistinction to all the gods of the nations; He will come and be your Shepherd. This doctrine does not depend upon a few isolated passages; it is the concurrent testimony of the prophets and evangelists. The same intensity of description is found in the ninth chapter; and who can fail to be struck by the words there interwoven into the prediction respecting the Light about to "lighten the Gentiles"? "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be |