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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 hath 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 pre-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 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 honor 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 toward 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; honor to
whom honor." 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 armor 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 providentiam ne in cancupiscentiis 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
ornament, 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 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 can be 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, 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 with patience all the
evils of this life. It is "Behold," he says, "now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving no
offence in anything, that the ministry 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 labors, in watchings, in fastings; by
pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, of God, by the armor of
righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and
dishonor, 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 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 first-born 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 anything to
the charge of God's 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, notwithstanding 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 labor 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 pot 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 present 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 fervor of eloquence.
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