THE CHARACTERISTICS AND LAWS FIGUEATIYE LANGUAGE DAYID N.LORD 3@*0t3TU& for ust in 33til* Class**, %z^oo\g, aitlr Collies. " Nnm cum sit ornatus orationis ranus et multip.ex, convesiatque alius alii, nisi fuerit accommo- datus rebus atque personis, non raodo non illustrabit earn, sed etiam destruet, et vim rernm in coutrarium vertet." — Quintilianus. NEW YORK: FRANKLIN KNIGHT, 138 NASSAU STREET. 1854. 7 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, By DAVID N. LORD, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. JR. CRAIGHEAD, Printer and Stereotype^ 53 Vcsty Street, JV. Y. -?° CONTENTS and of supplication for his aid. What a beautiful method of sanctioning and LAWS OF FIGURES. 227 encouraging trust and prayer in the most perilous conditions! What an effective means of showing that his infinite graciousness inclines him to desire and hear their cries for salvation, as truly and natu- rally as their sufferings and fears prompt them to apply to him for relief! What is Professor Stuart's theory respecting God's interposition celebrated in the Psalm? What is the view entertained by Rosen- miiller, Hengstenberg, and others ? What reason for his view does Rosenraiiller give ? What is a proper answer to it? Is there not as much reason to believe this interposition was real, as that other visible manifestations of God that are narrated by the prophets were ? What is a proper answer to Hengstenberg's view ? Is there any more reason to regard this interposition as merely conceptional, than there is to ascribe that character to all the other similar manifestations that are recorded in the sacred volume ? Is the question one of great moment? What are the figures in v. 1 ? What is indicated by the expres- sion, servant of Jehovah ? What is the first figure, v. 2 ? By what figure are rock and fortress, v. 2, used ? What other figures are there in the verse? What is the word rendered rock used to denote? Explain the sense in which the several figures are employed. What are the figures in v. 5 ? Show how they are used. What were the dangers to which the Psalmist was exposed ? What historic passage indicates it ? By what figure is temple used, v. 6 ? How is it proved that shake and quake, v. 7, are used lite- rally? What event do they signify? What is the figure, v. 8, 9? What figure is used v. 10 ? What are the words used by it ? What is the figure v. 11, 12? What is the figure in v. 13? By what figure is arrows used v. 14? Is there any figure v. 16? How is it proved that there is not? What are the facts, then, which the 228 RESULTS OF THE verse narrates ? What figure is used v. 1*7-19 ? What view of this narrative do those expositors entertain who regard it as figurative ? What is the first proof that they are wrong ? What is the next proof of their error ? What is the third proof of it ? How many metaphors are there v. 10-14? Who is the agent in them? How does it appear that the acts related in those verses cannot have been acts of any other being than God ; nor any other acts exerted by him than those the language directly imports ? What is the figure, v. 20 ? What is the analogy on which it is used ? What are the figures, v. 21, 22, and how are they used ? What is the figure, v. 23, 24? What is the figure, v. 27 ? By what figure is way used, v. 30 ? What other figures are there, v. 30 ? What is the figure, v. 31 ? What is the first figure, v. 32 ? What is the second figure, v. 32 ? What is the first figure, v. 33 ? What does the comparison illustrate ? By what figure is placing on heights, v. 33, used ? What is the figure, v. 34 ? What figures are there in v. 35, and how many ? What figure is there, v. 36 ? What is it that is celebrated, v. 31-36 ? What figure occurs, v. 37-39 I What is celebrated in those verses ? What is the figure, v. 40, 41 ? How is it used ? What are the first two figures, v. 42 ? What is the next ? What is celebrated in the verses that follow ? What is the figure, v. 43 ? Which is the word used by it ? What word is used by a figure, v. 44, 45 ? Why is it used by a metaphor ? What word is used by the first figure, v. 46 ? Why is it used S What other figure is there in the verse ? What is the figure, v. 47, 48 ? Is it clear, then, from the law of figures, that the interposition cele- brated in the Psalm was really such as the language describes ? Is the omission of any notice of the event in 1 Samuel xix. any proof that no such theophany took place ? Is the extraordinariness of the event any proof that it did not really occur ? What is the first thing which the events celebrated in the Psalm exemplify ? What is the second ? LAWS OF FIGURES. 229 CHAPTEK XVI. THE RESULTS OF THE LAWS OF FIGURES IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. Another more frequent and mischievous error, is the spvritualization of the Scriptures, and especially the prophetic portions of them, by the assumption that the persons, objects, acts, and events of which they treat are used representatively of others of a different class, and without any regard to analogy ; and thence that the persons, acts, and events which the Vj foreshow are not those mentioned in them, but another set belonging to a different sphere. Thus it is held, that in the prophecies of the Old Testament, Israelites stand for Gentiles, Jerusalem and Zion for the church, and the acts and events that are pre- dicted of the Israelites for 'acts and events of a dif- ferent kind, of which Gentiles are to be the subjects. For this extraordinary construction not the slightest reason can be given, except a wish to get rid of 230 KE8ULTS OF THE teachings which, though specific and indubitable if construed by the established laws of language, are at variance with certain favorite theories respecting God's purposes, or the measures it becomes him to pursue in the government of the world. It is veiled, indeed, under the pretext or fancy, that the passages which are thus interpreted are figurative y but no figure is identified that gives them the meaning which the construction ascribes to them ; and no such figure exists. The allegory, even, were they held to be allegorical, would not invest them with such a representative sense. But they are not alle- gorical ; 1st, because the allegory is always in its descriptive part in the past tense, but these predic- tions are altogether in the future ; and, 2d, because there is no such resemblance, as the allegory requires, between the Israelites, Jerusalem, Zion, the return of the Israelites, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, which are held by the spiritualists to be representatives, and the Gentile church, and the conversion of the Gentiles universally, which they are said to represent. In the first place, as the land of Israel, Jerusalem, and Zion are in those prophe- cies treated according to their nature, as places, and the Israelites are exhibited as to return to and inhabit them ; if they are taken as representatives of the Christian church, then, on the principles of LAWS OF FIGURES. 231 analogy, that church must also be taken as a mere place, or combination of places, bearing the same relation to the Gentiles who are to enter them, as the land of Israel and Jerusalem do to the Israelites who are to return to them. Their construction thus empties those prophecies of all their spiritual signi- ficance which it professes to unfold, and turns them into mere announcements that Gentiles are to go to a locality or localities that are or have been the scene of worship by Gentiles bearing the Christian name. In the next place, as the persons whom the predictions in question foreshow are to return to Palestine and Jerusalem are Israelites exclusively, the descendants of the people of that name that once inhabited that country ; if their predicted return is a mere representative of analogous acts of Gentiles, then, on the one hand, the return of Gentiles which is foreshown must be a mere return to localities or places where Gentiles bearing the Christian name had formerly offered worship ; as the predicted return of the Israelites is a return of that kind ; and, on the other, the Gentiles who are to return to those places are not Gentiles promis- cuously of all nations and all religions, but only such Gentiles as are descendants of Christian Gen- tiles who once offered worship in those localities; precisely as the Israelites who are exhibited as to 232 RESULTS OF THE return to Palestine are exclusively descendants of Israelites who once dwelt in that land. These pre- dictions, accordingly, instead of indicating, as the spiritualizing interpreters imagine, the conversion of the whole Gentile world, are limited, by the principle of representation on which they afTect to proceed, to the descendants of Gentiles who once offered worship as professing Christians in the loca- lities to which they are to return, which were to their Christian ancestors as places of worship what Jerusalem was to the ancient Israelites. In the third place ; as the Israelites who are represented as to return to the land of their forefathers are exhibited as returning from exile in foreign lands, where they had long been scattered and oppressed ; in order to such a correspondence as the law of allegoric representation requires, the Gentiles whom their return, it is held, foreshows, must also return from dispersion and exile in foreign countries, at a distance from the national home of their ancestors. Where, then, are such Gentiles to be found, unless it be in the colonies that have been planted by the European nations on this continent, in India, and in the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans during the last three hundred and fifty years ? And are the people of this country, who have descended from European — British, French, German, Swiss, Italian, LAWS OF FIGURES. 233 Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, and Norwe- gian — Christians, who reside on this continent, to migrate back to Europe, to the localities in which their ancestors once offered their worship? That is the prediction couched under these pro- phecies undoubtedly, if the principle of interpreta- tion is legitimate on which these writers proceed. What a beautiful result of their attempt to give them a higher spiritual signification than God employs them to express ! In the fourth place ; the Palestine and Jerusalem to which the Israelites are to go back, is Palestine in its desolation, and Jeru- salem in ruins. If the parallel is to hold, then, the religious places to which the Gentiles are to return in the lands whence they have emigrated, are also to be in a state of depopulation and ruin. This implies that the countries, the cities, and the sites of ancient Christian edifices are, when the predicted return takes place, to be swept with devastation, and con- verted into a waste. What religious motive, then, can be supposed to exist for such a return ? Is God to be any more accessible in those ancient sites, after they have been doomed to depopulation and waste by his avenging justice, than in the religious edifices of this and other lands, where the descend- ants of Europeans reside ? Does any special prero- gative attach to the sites of the old cathedrals. 234 RESULTS OF THE abbeys, monasteries, and churches that were debased by the superstition of the Catholics for ten or twelve centuries, and in thousands of instances are still ; or to the religious buildings of Protestants, that in them alone acceptable worship can be offered ? Is not this implied in the supposition, that the con- struction for which these writers contend is legiti- mate, and that an imperative motive is to exist for such an extraordinary migration back of European descendants from this and other lands ? What a fiVtering issue of this attempt to spiritualize the word of God, and raise the blessings it foreshows to a higher nature than he has thought proper to give them ! In the fifth place ; the Israelites who are to return to their ancient land, are to return, at least generally, it is foreshown in several passages, in alienation from God, and many of them are to perish in the war in which they are thus to be involved with the anti-christian powers (Zech. xii.). If, then, the parallel is to hold, the Gentiles also who, according to the construction of these spiritual- ists, are to return to the lands of their ancestors, are to return, generally at least, in alienation from God. "What conceivable motive, then, is to prompt their migration back ? Is it to be superstition, the desire of wealth, or the ambition of conquest ? And finally, as on the principle on which these spiritual- LAWS OF FIGURES. 235 izers proceed, no Gentiles are to migrate to Europe but the descendants of Christian ancestors there, these predictions, instead of indicating, as these writers imagine, that the whole Gentile world is to be con- verted, relate exclusively to the descendants of Christian ancestors, and present no intimation what- ever that the pagan nations of this continent, the isles of the Pacific and Indian oceans, or the pagans and Mahomedans of Africa and Asia, are to be converted to God ! Such is the issue of this boasted method of spiri- tualizing the prophecies of the Scriptures! Was there ever a more lawless perversion and degrada- tion of the word of God? Was there ever a method contrived that more effectually emptied it of all its true meaning, and reduced it to a level with the meanest compositions that have proceeded from the pen of wild enthusiasts and ignorant dreamers ? Had the writers who pursue this method of inter- pretation but made themselves acquainted with the laws of figurative and literal language, they would have been withheld from thus torturing and defacing the Scriptures. No such figure exists in the pro- phecies, or is known to human language, as they assert and professedly make the basis of their spiri- tualizing constructions. There are no figures but those which we have enumerated; and they are 236 RESULTS OF THE invariably used, according to their several laws, as we have stated them ; and consequently, instead of sanctioning the construction of the spiritualizers, they show, in the most demonstrative manner, the error of their theory, and brand it with disgrace, as a monstrous perversion. This is exemplified by the interpretation, by the laws of figures, of the prophecy of the restoration of the Israelites, Isaiah, chapters xi. xii. : A DESIGNATION AND EXPOSITION OF THE FIGURES OF ISAIAH CHAPTERS XI AND XII CHAPTER XL The exhibition of a prince of the house of David as a shoot from the root of Jesse, with which the prediction commences, was suggested probably by the figure at the close of the tenth chapter, by which the Assyrian monarch and his army are represented as the forest of Lebanon. Though in number, strength, and magnificence, they were like the trees of that mountain, they were to be felled by the Almighty at one stroke. On the other hand, though the house of David was to be divested of its power, and like the stump of a tree that has long been cut down, seem on the point of extinction, the great LAWS OF FIGUKES. 237 personage was at length to be born of it who had already been predicted as the mighty God, the ever- lasting Father, the Prince of Peace, who should re- gather the tribes of Israel from their dispersion, redeem the world from the curse of sin, and reign over it for ever in glory. The prophet first exhibits his descent, draws his character, and depicts his peculiarities as a king ; and then describes the con- dition of the animal world and of mankind under his reign ; foreshows the restoration of the Israelites and reconciliation of Judah and Ephraim ; and finally, chapter XII., recites the song in which they are to acknowledge and celebrate God's grace to them. 1, 2, 3, 4. Metaphors in the use of shoot and branch for a descendant of Jesse, and stump and roots to denote the line of which that individual was to be born. " And there shall come forth a shoot, or sprout, from the stump of Jesse ; and a branch shall grow from his roots," v. 1. The exhibition of the family of Jesse as a stump, implies that it was to be stripped of its royal prerogatives and reduced to ruin, before the time came in which the predic- tion was to be accomplished. The same image is used, chap. liii. 2. " He shall grow up before him as a tender plant ; and as a root out of a dry ground." He is denominated the Branch also by 238 RESULTS OF THE several other prophets ; and the same character is given by them as by Isaiah, of his reign. " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute justice and judgment in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safety ; and this is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness."'" Jeremiah xxiii. 5, 6 ; Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12. He is undoubtedly, therefore, the Messiah, and the earth is to be the scene of his reign. Some have, indeed, referred the prediction to Hezekiah ; but that prince presents no resemblance to this monarch in wisdom and righteousness ; nor did the conditions of the Israelites, the Gentile nations, or the animal tribes, during his sway, exhibit any cor- respondence to those that are here foretold. ~No restoration of the Israelites from captivity then took place, no reconciliation of Judah and Ephraim, no change of the ferocious animals to harmlessness, and no spread of the knowledge of God throughout the earth, and conversion of the Gentiles. 5. Metaphor, in the use of rest upon, to denote the perpetual presence of the Spirit, — " And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him ; the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of LAWS OF FIGURES. 239 Jehovah," v. 2. The Spirit of seven characteris- tics, comprising all the great attributes which he exerts and displays in his influences on men, and symbolized in the Apocalypse by the seven lamps and seven eyes, is to abide and co-operate with him perpetually; not occasionally only, as with other princes of the house of David, and with the pro- phets. 6. Hypocatastasis. " And he shall smell — inhale or detect the odor of things — in the fear of Jehovah," v. 3. This unusual expression has received a variety of interpretations, and is in a degree obscure. The act of smelling is used, however, it is probable, by substitution for the act of determining by a piercing glance, or searching scrutiny, the moral qualities of men and their actions. The nature of many material things as agreeable or offensive, healthful or hurtful, is ascertained by their scent. The exercise of that sharp and powerful sense by which the qualities of the minutest emanations from bodies are detected, is put for a corresponding exercise of a keen and delicate sensibility to moral qualities in discerning the characters of men. That this faculty of instantly and infallibly detecting their moral nature is to be exercised by him in the fear of Jehovah, is a beautiful trait. Unlike other monarchs, who are often betrayed into rashness and 240 RESULTS OF THE injustice by their great talents, lie is to be as abso- lute in his benignity and rectitude as in his intelli- gence. This is indicated also by the description that follows — " And he shall not judge according to the sight of his eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of his ears. And he shall judge in right- eousness the poor; and give judgment in equity to the meek of the earth," v. 3, 4. He is not to found his decisions on external appearances, nor be misled by the professions of men, but will perfectly com- prehend them and judge them according to their nature. 7, 8, 9. Metaphors. " And shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and shall slay the wicked with the breath of his lips," v. 4. To smite with the tongue is to denounce or condemn, Jere- miah xviii. 18. To slay with the breath of the lips is to pronounce a sentence of death, or consign to slaughter. His tongue is elliptically called the rod of his mouth. The sense is the same as though the expression had been, He shall smite the earth with his tongue, which is the rod of his mouth. In accordance w T ith this Christ is exhibited in the Apo- calypse, xix. 15, 21, as slaying the armies of the wild beast with a sword proceeding from his mouth ; and, 2 Thess. ii. 8, as consuming the Man of Sin with the breath of his mouth. It is to be at that LAWS OF FIGURES. 241 crisis, doubtless, that he is to exert the acts here ascribed to him. 10, 11. Metaphors, in denominating righteousness and faithfulness a girdle. " And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins," v. 5. The office of the girdle of an eastern monarch was to bind his robe to his body so as to give symmetry to his form, and render his dress compatible with freedom and dignity of motion. A loose robe would both be ungraceful and an obstacle to ease of action. Righteousness and faithfulness are to fill an analogous office among Christ's regal attributes, uniting them all in perfect harmony and grace, and. giving freedom and majesty to his acts. What a beautiful delineation of his character ! He is to form his estimate of men, not from appearances and professions, but from a perfect comprehension of their nature ; he shall judge and vindicate the poor and meek in uprightness, but convict and condemn the wicked ; and truth and righteousness shall be as conspicuous elements of all his official actions, as the girdle is in the official dress of a magnificent monarch. These traits of his reign indicate that the period to which that part of the prophecy refers is still future. There has, been no such discrimination in his providence hitherto, between the righteous and the wicked ; and that it 11 242 RESULTS OF THE is to be in a time that is yet to come, is made certain by the prediction that next follows, of the change at that period of the ferocious and poisonous animals to mildness and harmlessness. 12. Comparison of the lion in eating straw, with the ox. " And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the falling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young shall lie down together ; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cocka- trice's den," v. 6-8. Many distinguished commen- tators have regarded this passage as tropical, and held that the ferocious and poisonous animals are used by a metaphor to denote men of similar natures, and that the prediction is that they shall suppress their evil passions, and live in peace and concord with the righteous, whom they suppose the domestic and tame animals represent. Thus, Theo- doret says : " By gentle and ferocious creatures he expresses the different manners of men ; likening a rapacious disposition to the wolf, but the mild to a lamb ; and again the mixed or varying to the leopard, which is a spotted animal ; but the simple and humble to the kid. So he compares to the lion LAWS OF FIGURES, 243 the proud and imperious ; the bold to the ox ; and another differing from those to the calf;" and he held that the prediction had its fulfilment in the church of the fourth century in the union of empe- rors, prefects, and other officers of the imperial government, with the unofficial and poor in the rites and worship of the church. Jerome also spiri- tualizes it in the same manner. " Interpreted by the life-giving Spirit, the meaning is obvious. The wolf Paul, who had before persecuted and wounded the church, of whom it was said, Benjamin, a rapa- cious wolf, dwells with the lamb — either with Ananias, by whom he was baptised, or the apostle Peter to whom it was said, feed my lambs. And the leopard which ne\ er before changed its spots, washed in the fountain of the Lord, lies down with the kid — not the scapegoat, but that which was slain for the passover / It should be noticed that it is not the lamb and kid that change their habits, but the wolf and leopard imitate their harmlessness. Also the lion, before the most ferocious animal, and the sheep and calf dwell together, as we daily see in the church : — the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, monarchs and subjects dwell together and are governed by little children, by whom we understand the apostles and apostolic men, unskilled in speech but not in knowledge." It is interpreted 244 RESULTS OF THE on the same theory by Cocceius, also, Yitringa, and commentators generally. They are nn question ably, however, mistaken. If the passage has in fact the meaning which they ascribe to it, it is not, as they assume, by a metaphor that it acquires it. The wolf, leopard, lion, and bear, are not used by that figure, inasmuch as they are themselves the subjects of the affirmation, not the predicates, as they would be were they used metaphorically. In metaphorical expressions universally the figure lies altogether in the predicate, not in the agent or object to which it is applied : as the tempest howls, the wind sighs, the fields smile. In these metaphors it is the verb that is transferred from its natural use and employed in ascribing an act to the tempest, wind, and fields, which they do not literally exert, but that only resembles the effect they produce. If ferocious and meek men had been metaphorized as these writers assume, there would have been a direct affirmation that the one class are the wolf, leopard, lion, and bear, and the other the lamb, kid, ox, and cow. They treat it precisely as though the expression were, Cruel and bloody men are wolves, leopards, lions, and bears; the poor and meek are lambs, kids, oxen, and cows ; but the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the cow and the bear shall feed, and the LAWS OF FIGURES. 245 lion shall eat straw like the ox. Their construction accordingly involves in fact the interpolation of a passage before that of the prophet, declaring men of the two classes to be the animals of the corre- sponding natures ; by which men are made the theme of the several propositions, instead of those brutes ; and the subjects of the prediction thereby entirely changed. It is a monstrous violation, therefore, instead of a legitimate interpretation of the passage. Whatever its meaning is, the animals mentioned in it are the subjects of the prediction, not men. If any of the language were used by a metaphor, it would be the verbs, not the nouns that are their nominatives. But the verbs plainly are not employed by a metaphor, as the wolf, leopard, and lion, are undoubtedly capable of the acts ascribed to them. And, moreover, nothing would be gained by supposing them to be used by that figure ; as there are no analogous acts which they can be presumed to indicate that would not involve as great a deviation from their present habits as those whi ;h these verbs literally express. Nor is there any other figure in the passage by which men are made the subjects of the prediction. The animals are not used by an allegory as repre- sentatives of men of resembling dispositions. None of the numerous writers, who in fact treat them as 24:6 RESULTS OF THE though they were employed in that relation, regard the passage as allegorical ; and it is certain that it is not from the consideration that there is no express declaration that the wolf, leopard, lion, and other animals, are used as the representatives of men. The allegory always openly announces who it is that the agents or objects which it employs denotes, and what their actions are, also, which it exem- plifies. Nor are they used by the hypocatastasis ; as in that figure, as well as the metaphor, the trope lies wholly in the predicate, not in the subject to which it is applied ; and its chief difference from the metaphor is, that the acts, events, or conditions of one class which it ascribes to its subject in place of another, are. compatible with that subject's nature, as well as those which the substituted acts, effects, or conditions are employed to illustrate. Thus, in the command, " If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out : it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell-fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched; for every one shall be salted with fire," — the eye, an organ of the body, is substituted for an affection of the mind, and pluck- ing out the eye, put for suppressing or eradicating that affection ; but the substituted act is as physi- cally possible to the agent, as the act of restraining LAWS OF FIGURES. 247 or suppressing the affection which it is employed to represent ; and the agent and subject of the substi- tuted act, are the agent and subject also of that for which it is substituted. If the passage in question, then, were supposed to be used by that figure, the animals would still be the subjects of the acts denoted by those that are ascribed to them, as abso- lutely as they would had the verbs been used by a metaphor. There is no ground, however, for the supposition that they are employed by the hypoca- tastasis. There are no analogous acts which those literally expressed by the verbs can be presumed to represent. There are none of a resembling kind that are any more appropriate than those to their nature. But there is no other figure bv which the language could possibly be made to denote men and their actions. There is, in fact, no figure whatever in it, except the comparison of the lion with the ox in eating straw. The animals must, therefore, by the laws of language, be the sole subjects of the prediction; and the acts foretold of them, those which they are in fact to exert. 13. Comparison of the prevalence and abundance of the knowledge of Jehovah throughout the habi- table earth, to the prevalence and abundance of the water where the earth is covered by the sea. " They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, 248 RESULTS OF THE because the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," — v. 9. What a forceful and impressive similitude ! As the waters cover that part of the globe which is occupied by the sea, and are present at every point of it : so the knowledge of the Lord is to spread over all that part of the earth that rises above the ocean, and is inha- bited by men. The holy mountain is Mount Zion. They who are not to hurt nor destroy in all the holy mountain, are supposed by Calvin, Hengstenberg, Maurer, Alexander, and others, to be men. Jerome, Cocceius, Yitringa, and many others, suppose them to be the asp, basilisk, and ferocious animals of the preceding verses ; and that is undoubtedly the true meaning, as they are the antecedent of the verbs. The reason that the universal knowledge of the Lord is alleged as a proof that they are then to be harmless is, that at the period when that knowledge is to become universal, the curse brought on man, the animal world, and the earth, is to be repealed. — Chap. lxv. 17-25. The prophet next predicts the conversion of the Gentiles, and the restoration of the Israelites at that epoch. 14. Elliptical metaphor, in denominating the Messiah the Boot of Jesse; whom he had before called a branch from his roots, and a sprout from LAWS OF FIGURES. 249 his stock. " And it shall be in that day, that the Root of Jesse, which stands as a signal to the nations, unto him shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious," — v. 10. Or more simply, " And it shall be in that day, that the Gentiles shall seek unto the Root-sprout of Jesse, which stands as a signal to the nations, and his rest — that is, his place or station — shall be glorious." That he is to stand and be as a signal to the nations, that is per- ceptible at a distance, and that the place of his rest shall be glorious, indicate that he is to be visible. In the corresponding prediction, chap. iv. 5, it is foretold that Jehovah shall then create on every dwelling-place on Mount Zion, and on her assem- blies, a cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming iire by night ; which is to be an ele- ment, doubtless, of its glory. The verb translated seek unto, signifies to inquire of, or consult for instruction in respect to his will and their duty, and shows that he is directly to communicate with them and make to them new revelations. There is a similar prediction, chap. ii. 3 : " And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his w^ays, and we will walk in his paths ; for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem." 11* 250 RESULTS OF THE "We are thus shown that the glorious place of his rest is to be Mount Zion ; and that the nations are to go thither for the purpose of being taught what he requires of them ; and that he is to speak or com- municate to them his word, as he did to his ancient people and the prophets, and impose on them his law. The period when this is to take place is in the last days, and manifestly from his visible presence and communication directly with men, after his advent. 15. Comparison of the Root of Jesse to a signal to the nations. As conspicuity is doubtless the relation in which he will be to them as a signal, it indicates that he is to be visible, and in a mode that will bespeak his deity. The passage is thus a clear revelation that he is then to appear in person, and that the Gentile nations are to recognise him as the Messiah, and submit to his sceptre. There is no law of language by which it can bear any other mean- ing. It is not metaphorical, except in the denomi- nation of the Messiah as a Root-sprout of Jesse which stands. The acts affirmed of the Messiah and the Gentiles, and the characteristic of the place of his rest, are not employed by hypocatastasis for others of an analogous nature. If they were sup- posed to be used by that figure, the persons and place of which they are affirmed would still be LAWS OF FIGURES. 251 the subjects of those which they are employed to denote. But they are not substituted for others of a different kind. In the first, " unto the Root-sprout of Jesse which stands as a signal," the attitude ascribed to the Root-sprout is appropriate to him considered as a signal. It was for that reason, doubtless, that he was denominated a Root-sprout, instead of a Branch of Jesse; that he might be exhibited in an attitude of loftiness and conspicuity suited to the office of a signal or standard to the nations. No other attitude would accord with that relation. A mere branch extending horizontally from the stock, and near the ground, would be unsuitable to it, The attitude ascribed to the Root- sprout must therefore be taken as denoting precisely what it directly expresses, not as put for a position of a different kind. This is made indisputable, moreover, by the law of the metaphor, which, when an agent or object has been made the subject of that figure, requires that the acts, conditions, or qualities that are then affirmed of it shall be appropriate to the nature that has been metaphorically ascribed to it. Thus Judah, being declared to be "a lion's whelp," is then treated in the other affirmations that are made of him as like that animal. " From the prey, my son, thou art gone up ; he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion : who shall 252 RESULTS OF THE rouse him up ?" In like manner, the Messiah being exhibited as a Root-sprout, the act or attitude that is ascribed to him is conformable to that nature, and must be taken, therefore, as denoting that which it directly expresses, not as a substitute for another of a different kind. "We have thus the most absolute certainty from the laws of language, that there is no other figure in that part of the passage than the metaphor ; and that that which it ascribes to him is nothing else than a visibility and conspicuousness to the nations, by which he shall be to them like a signal that may be seen at a distance. In the second affirmation, "and unto him shall the Gentiles seek," or repair, as to an oracle for knowledge in respect to the future ; or of him shall they ask counsel — the act ascribed to the Gentiles cannot be supposed to be used as a substitute for another of a different kind. There is nothing in the ascription that requires or suggests such a suppo- sition. In Christ-s command to pluck out the eye, and cut off the hand and foot, if they offend^ the exhibition of those organs as offending is suppositi- tious, and the direction to eradicate and exscind them founded on that supposition, and requires to be construed accordingly. No one infers from it that the foot or hand is in fact to be cut off, or the eye plucked out, in order to one's preventing him- LAWS OF FIGURES. 253 self from sinning. Instead, it is seen that they are used simply to show that the affections and passions, which are the real occasions of sin, are to be sup- pressed and eradicated in a manner as stern, self- denying, and effective for them, as the excision or eradication of an important bodily organ would be, were that the necessary means of avoiding trans- gression. But in the prediction in question, " unto him shall the Gentiles seek for knowledge," or, " unto him shall they apply for counsel," there is no such substitution of one act for another. That is itself a natural and appropriate act : it is suitable to the visibleness and conspicuity in which it is shown in the preceding clause he is then to appear to them ; and there is no other act more natural and appropriate either to them or him of which it can be used as** a substitute. To treat it, therefore, as employed by a hypocatastasis to denote a different act, were not only groundless, but in violation of the law of that figure. We have thus the utmost cer- tainty that it is used in its literal and not in a figu- rative sense. Such is the fact, also, with the last affirmation, " and his rest — or the place of his manifestation — shall be glorious." There is no room for the suppo- sition that glorious is used as a substitute for another quality. It cannot denote an invisible and spiritual 254: RESULTS OF THE property or characteristic, for it is attributed to a place or natural locality, and must signify, therefore, a property or characteristic of a locality, and that is perceptible to the senses. We have thus not merely a probability, but the most absolute demon- stration from the nature of the hypocatastasis, that none of the affirmations of the passage are used by that figure. Nor is it symbolical. The .Root of Jesse and the nations are not symbols seen by the prophet in vision. They were not beheld by him in the condition and exerting the acts ascribed to them. The events pre- dicted are predicted as future, not represented as wit- nessed by him. There, moreover, is no other being of whom the Messiah could be a symbol. No other is ever to fill such an office towards men. Nor is there any other body of men than the Gentiles, whom the Gentiles could symbolize. They would of necessity denote themselves, if used as symbols, as there is no other class whom they can be sup- posed to signify. They have no adaptation to repre- sent Israelites ; and they are, moreover, expressly discriminated from them in the prediction that immediately follows. That the Root of Jesse and the Gentiles are used to denote not any other agents is certain also, from the comparison of the office the Messiah is to fill towards them, to that of LAWS OF FIGURES. 255 a standard or signal ; as in that figure the agents or objects it is employed to illustrate, are always those that are expressly named. 16. Hypocatastasis. "And it shall be in that day, that Jehovah shall stretch out his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people that shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea," v. 11. Extending his hand is put for analogous acts of his providence, to deliver or repossess himself of his people. Pathros is the Thebais, or upper Egypt. Cush is Ethiopia and a part of southern Arabia, inhabited by the same race. Elam is a part of Media, Shinar Mesopotamia, and Hamath a city of Syria, on the Orontes. The period of this interposition for the restoration of his people is defined as that in which the Poot of Jesse shall visibly manifest himself in glory at Jerusalem, and the Gentiles shall go there to learn his will. It is to be after his advent therefore. The dispersion of the Israelites at the present time, is obviously such as is contemplated by the prophecy. They are scattered not only throughout Egypt, Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, and Persia, but throughout the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean and western seas. 17. Hypocatastasis. " And he shall set up a 25G KESULTS OF THE signal to the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and bring together the dispersed of Judah from the four wings of the earth," v. 12. Setting up a signal, like the standard of an army, is put for some analogous act or sign which will show to the Israelites that it is his will that they should return to their ancient land ; and like the pillar of cloud and fire in their journey from Egypt, indicate the points at which they are to assemble, and the route by which they are to proceed. 18. Metaphor in the use of wings to denote the distant regions of the earth, east and west, north and south. 19, 20. Metaphors in the use of depart and cut off. " And the envy of Ephraim .shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah ; and Judah shall not vex Ephraim," v. 13. To depart, which is to move from one place to another, is not literally predicable of envy, which, instead of a real subsistence, is but an act. It is used by a metaphor to denote that the envy of Ephraim shall cease. Those two branches of Israel are no more to be rivals, but to be united under one government. To cut off, is literally to exscind, or separate by cutting, as a bough from a tree, or a limb from the body. It is applied to the adversaries of Judah, to denote that they are to be LAWS OF FIGURES. 257 put to death. That Ephraim is no more to envy Judah, nor Judah to vex Ephraim, is because they are to be gathered together as one nation under the Messiah, and implies therefore that their restoration is to be real, not figurative. It was as rival and hostile powers that they envied and harassed one another. It is in their national capacity, or re-union as tribes, that they are to abstain from rivalry. Otherwise the prediction would be incongruous. How will it be a peculiarity of that period, any more than of the present age, and others that have passed since their dispersion, that they do not envy and vex each other, if they do not exist in such a relation as to render it possible ? 21. Metaphor. "And they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines, towards the sea," v. 14. The act ascribed to them is that of a bird pouncing on its prey ; and denotes a violent assault, and con- quest of them. Some suppose, from the fact that there is no longer a people there who are known as Philistines, that the term must be used by a figure to denote persons sustaining an analogous relation to the church. But denominatives formed from the names of countries, are applied to the inhabitants of those countries without any consideration of their national descent; as European, Asiatic, African, Syrian. In like manner Philistines may be used 258 RESULTS OF THE for the inhabitants of Philistia, although they may not be descendants of the ancient race of that country. 22. Elliptical metaphors in denominating the native inhabitants the sons of the east. " Together they shall spoil the sons of the east," v. 14. That is, those who not only possess the region, called the east, but had their birth and nurture there. 23. Hypocatastasis. "And they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Amnion shall obey them," v. 14. The act of laying their hand upon Edom and Moab, is substituted for seizing them by conquest, or taking possession of them. 24. Elliptical metaphor in the use of tongue, to denote a narrow branch of the sea terminating in a point. " And Jehovah will destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea." The sea, the extremity of which is to be destroyed, is the Arabian gulf. The verb, in the original, signifies to devote to destruction. 25. Hypocatastasis. " And he will shake his hand over the river with his vehement wind, and strike it into seven streams, and make them tread it in shoes," v. 15. Shaking his hand is substituted for an act of will or providence. The figure bespeaks in a sublime manner his infinite power. He has but to beckon, and a resistless wind strikes the LAWS OF FIGURES. 259 stream, and driving it into seven separate channels, leaves the original bed dry. The river is the Euphrates. 26. Hypocatastasis, in the use of highway to denote a way that is freed from obstructions and made easy of passage. " And there shall be a high- way for the remnant of my people that shall be left from Assyria, as there was for Israel in the day of his coming up from the land of Egypt," v. 16. That a literal highway, or artificial road, is not meant, is seen from its resemblance to that of the Israelites in their march from Egypt to Canaan. They had merely a way freed from its natural obstructions, not a road made by art. It is used to show that a way will be opened to them by the removal of all great obstructions, like the Red Sea and the Euphra- tes, and the provision perhaps in the desert between Assyria and Palestine, of water and food, as they were provided for the Israelites in their journey- ing through the wilderness. 27. Comparison of the highway from Assyria with the way of the Israelites from Egypt. This prediction of the restoration of the Israelites to their ancient land is regarded by many commen- tators as a prediction of their conversion to Chris- tianity and admission to the church. Some suppose that their return to Palestine from the places of 260 RESULTS OF THE their dispersion is used by a metaphor to denote their accession to the church. It is, however, wholly mistaken ; as the act ascribed to the Israel- ites is compatible with their nature and condition, not an act that is only practicable to some other class of agents, as it should be, in order to be ascribed to them by a metaphor. They are actually dispersed through all the countries mentioned by the prophet, and their return is no more an impossible or unnatural act, than their migration there, or movement in any other direction. It is certain, therefore, from the principle of the meta- phor, — which is the ascription of a nature, act, or condition, to an agent or object that does not belong to it, — that the act here affirmed of them is not employed by that figure. Those writers, however, in fact, though unaware of it, proceed on the assumption that this prophecy is symbolical instead of figurative; for they treat the act of returning to Palestine as representative of a conversion to Christ, Edom and Moab as sym- bols of anti-christian or unchristianized countries or powers, and the conquest of those countries as the conquest of the enemies of the church, or the heathen. But this is as erroneous as the other. The prediction is not symbolic. The Eoot of Jesse, the Gentiles, the Israelites, the countries from which LAWS OF FIGURES. 261 they are to return, the act itself of their return, Edom, Moab, and the children of Amnion, and their conquest of those countries and that people, were not exhibited to the prophet in vision, and the acts and events beheld by him which are foretold of them. They are predicted as to take place at a future day, not represented as witnessed by him, as a visionary spectacle, as they would have been had they been symbols. Moreover, the act of returning to Palestine is not a proper symbol of a conversion to God. A return to Palestine does not necessarily involve or imply even a nominal conversion to Christianity. Thousands of Israelites migrate thither now, without any relinquishment of their disbelief that Christ is the Messiah. Besides, as the Christian church is, at the period when the prophecy is to be fulfilled, to be established in all the lands from which the Israelites are to return, as is shown by the prediction that the Gentiles are then to seek to Christ ; a return from those lands where the Chris- tian faith is universally to be held, is not a proper symbol of a conversion to Christ. It would be merely to move from one christianized region to another, which presents no resemblance to a change from unbelief to faith, and from enmity to love. And finally, if the countries in which they are dis- persed, the land they are to possess, and the act of 262 RESULTS OF THE returning, are symbols of things of a different nature, then must the Israelites themselves and the Gentiles be taken as symbols of men of different classes ; which is impossible, as there are no others among the inhabitants of the earth. The assumption that the prophecy is symbolic is thus altogether untenable. We have, therefore, all the demonstra- tion that the laws of language and symbols can furnish, that the event it foreshows is such a resto- ration of the Israelites to their ancient country as it literally describes. CHAPTER XH. This is confirmed by the acknowledgments and celebrations which the prophet next shows they are to utter on that occasion, which imply that their condition as a people is altogether changed ; and by extraordinary interpositions and displays of power, such as would be involved in a miraculous restora- tion to their national country, like that which is described in the preceding prediction. 1. Apostrophe to the Israelites, though not ex- pressly named, — as now no longer two nations, but a single people, and implying, therefore, their literal restoration and re-union. " And in that day thou LAWS OF FIGURES. 263 — Israel — shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee," v. 1. 2. Metaphor, in the exhibition of anger as turned away ; — which signifies a motion in space, to denote that it is no longer exercised towards them. " Though thou wast angry with me, thine auger is turned away, and thou comfortest me," v. 1. 3, 4, 5, 6. Metonymies of the effect for its cause or source, and of a work for its subject. " Behold God is my salvation ; I will trust and not be afraid ; for Jah Jehovah is my strength and song.; and he is become my salvation," v. 2. Salvation is put for Saviour, or the author of salvation ; strength for the author or source of strength, or him who exerts the strength that gives deliverance and safety ; and song for the subject of the song, or him who is cele- brated in it, and occasions the joy which it ex- presses. 7. Hypocatastasis. "And ye shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvation," v. 3. Springs of salvation are salutary springs, or springs that refresh, invigorate, and give health. To draw water with alacrity and gladness from such springs, is put for embracing with promptness and exhilaration the blessings generally provided for them by God, who is the source of their salvation. 8. Apostrophe. " And in that day shall ye say, 264 RESULTS OF THE Praise ye Jehovah ; call upon his • name, make known among the nations his exploits, remind that his name is exalted. Praise Jehovah, because he has done excellent things ; known is this in all the earth," v. 4, 5. They are here exhibited as address- ing one another, and exhorting to this commemora- tion of Jehovah's wonderful works towards them. 9. Metaphor in the use of exalted, which denotes elevation in space, to signify that his name is mani- fested in such a manner as to attract in a higher measure .the adoration and love of his people. 10. Apostrophe. " Cry out and shout, O inha- bitant of Zion, for great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel," v. 6. This is addressed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem in distinction from the Israelites generally ; and indicates, like the predic- tion that his rest shall be glorious, that Zion is then to be the scene of great and majestic displays of his presence. 1. The contrast which Christ's reign is to present to theirs who have hitherto swayed the earth, is worthy of his perfections, and shows that his pre- sence and rule is to be an infinite blessing to the race. The great monarchs of the nations who pre- cede him, are like ferocious brutes that naturally prey on the harmless and helpless animals. But omniscience, omnipotence, infallible wisdom, and LAWS OF FIGURES. 265 Infinite righteousness and benignity, are his attri- butes ; and in place of oppressing and destroying, he is to protect and vindicate the weak and unoffend- ing ; and instead of justifying and prospering, is to convict and punish the wicked. 2. This prophecy plainly shows that Christ is to exert the rule here ascribed to him in person and visibly to men, that he is then to discriminate per- fectly between the good and the evil, that all noxious and ferocious creatures are to become harmless, that the earth is to be filled with the knowledge of him, that the Gentiles are to recognise and acknowledge him as the Messiah, and repair to him for instruction respecting his will, and that the Israelites are then to be restored by extraordinary means to their ancient land, and re-united as a nation. As these great futurities are thus revealed, and with a clear- ness and certainty that cannot be evaded, except by a violation of the indisputable and fundamental laws of language, they are to be received with as entire trust as any of the other events that God has made known for our faith. To disbelieve them, is to dis- believe him. To attempt to expunge them from the prophecy, and introduce others in their stead, is not to interpret, but to put aside his word, and substi- tute another in its place. To denounce them as unworthy of his perfection.', as some unhappily do, 12 266 RESULTS OF THE is in effect to impeach his wisdom and truth, and exhibit his word as unworthy of trust. 3. Some hesitate to receive this prediction of the restoration of the Israelites on the ground that they cannot see that it can answer any end that seems to present a sufficient reason for so extraordinary a measure. The question, however, whether God has revealed their return, is not to be determined by the estimate those persons may form of its wisdom, but by the terms of the prophecy. "Whether the ends it is to answer, or the results that are to spring from it are seen to be worthy of his perfections or not, his wisdom and righteousness furnish an ample cer- tainty that they will be suitable to the grandeur of his attributes, and the great interests of his kingdom which they are to affect; and God, to intercept doubt, has revealed in the prophetic song with which the prediction is closed, the impressions with which it is to be contemplated by those who are to be the subjects of it, and shown that instead of distrust or indifference, it is to be regarded by them with wonder and gratitude, and celebrated with praises and thanksgivings throughout the world. What a beautiful method of conciliating the faith of his people now, and inspiring them with gladness and praise in the prospect of the wonderful event. LAWS OF FIGURES. 267 The exposition of these predictions by the laws of figures thus shows, with invincible certainty, that the restoration of the Israelites of which they treat, is to be a literal one, and confutes accordingly the attempt of the spiritualists to divest them of that meaning, and substitute an arbitrary mystical sense in its place. Their error is as gross and unpardon- able, as it were to attempt to apply their theory of a mystical meaning to the decalogue, the doctrine of atonement, justification, pardon, the resurrection, a future life, or any other teachings either of God or of men. What is meant by the spiritualization of the Scriptures by inter- preters ? Give an example of it. Is there any express authority for this treatment of the sacred word in the Bible itself, or in the laws of language ? For what purpose is it used by expositors ? Is there any ground for the pretext, that the passages which they thus treat have a figure in them that gives them such a represen- tative sense? Is the principle on which they construe the pas- sages which they spiritualize accordant with the law of the allegory 8 What is the first difference between them ? What is the second ? What is the first false result to which the application of the law of the allegory would lead these writers ? What is the second false result to which it would lead them ? What is the third erroneous result to which it would conduct them? What is the fourth ? What is the fifth ? What is the last absurd result to which their method leads them? Would these errors and absur- dities be avoided by a strict adherence to the laws of figures ? By what figure are shoot, branch, root, and stump used, Is. xi. 268 RESULTS OF THE LAWS OF FIGURES. 1 ? "What is the figure, v. 2 ? What is the figure, v. 8 ? In what sense is the verb used? What are the figures, v. £? What are the figures, v. 5 ; and what is the sense which they convey ? What is the figure, v. 6-8 ? How is it proved that there is no metaphor in the passage? How that there is no hypoca- tastasis in it? Who then are the subjects of the acts foreshown; the animals mentioned, or men ? What is the figure, v. 9 ? In what respect is the figure beautiful ? What is the first figure, v. 10 ; and what is foreshown in the passage ? What is the second figure, v. 10; and what does it indicate? How is it proved that the event predicted is not metaphorical ? What is the true import of the passage then ? What is meant by the second affirmation, v. 10 ? What is the import of the third ? How is it proved that it is not used by the hypocatastasis ? How that it is not symbolical ? What is the figure, v. 11? What is the first figure, v. 12? By what figure is wings used ? What are the figures, v. 13? What are the first figures, v. 14? What is the last? By what figure is tongue used, v. 15? By what figure is shake the hand used, v. 15 ? By what figure is highway used, r. 16? How is it proved that the prediction of the return of the Israelites is not a prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles ? On what principle do the spiritualizers proceed, in endeavoring to give it such a meaning? How does it appear that their assumption is mistaken ? What is the first figure, chap. xii. 1 ? What is the second ? What are the figures, v. 2 ? What, v. 3 ? What is the first figure, v. 4, 5 ? What the second ? What is the figure, v. 6 ? What is the first truth taught, chap. xii. ? What is the second ? What is the peculiar beauty of the method employed in the chapter to foreshow the restoration of the Israelites ? MUSICAL FEET, AND MODULATION OF VERSE. 269 CHAPTEE XVH. MUSICAL FEET, AND THE MODULATION OF VERSE. One of the principal sources of trie pleasure which verse yields, especially to the cultivated, is its rhythmus, or the music of its measured sound, when properly pronounced, resulting from the order in which the long and short syllables of which it is formed are combined. Besides the beauty of the thought, the graces of the expression, and the splendor of the scenery, Milton's great poem undoubtedly had to his ear the charm also of a musical movement, or modulation, that answered to the stately march of the verse ; that rose now to passion, and now sub- sided to softness ; and, like the successive parts of a great musical composition, terminated at the prin- cipal pauses, sometimes in a peal or abrupt inter- ception, as it were, of a note ere it is finished, and sometimes, and more frequently, in a gentle and soothing cade, ce, like a distant strain that fades 270 away on the ear, or the soft and delicate amen in which a rapturous chant sometimes breathes out its last accents, and sinks into silence. To discern this musical element, and feel its full force, a knowledge is necessary of the means by which its fine move- ments and subtle charms are produced. That which mainly distinguishes verse from prose is, that it consists of a regular alternation or succes- sion of syllables that differ in length ; the long occu- pying in the pronunciation twice the time of the short, or receiving an emphasis that gives them to. the ear an equivalent distinction. The different combinations in which the long and short syllables are united are called musical feet. The principal are : The Pyrrhic, or two short syllables, marked w \ The Spondee, or two long syllables, marked ~ ". The Iambic, or one short and one long syllable, marked " ~. The Trochee, or one long and one short syllable, marked ~ w . The Dactyl, or one long and two short syllables, marked \ The Anapest, or two short and one long syllable, marked ". The Amphimacer, or a long, a short, and a long syllable, marked " ' w ". THE MODULATION OF VERSE. 271 The Amphibrach, or a short, a long, and a short, marked w . Other feet, of which there are several of three and of four syllables, are seldom used in English verse. The differences of the several species of verse lie partly in the number, and partly in the nature of the feet of which they are formed. Each species consists mainly of one particular foot. Thus heroic, or blank verse, like Milton's Para- dise Lost, has ten syllables to the line, and they are generally iambics, or feet consisting of a short and a long syllable. A trochee, or a spon- dee, is introduced perhaps once in two or three lines ; sometimes because the words forming those feet are requisite to the most* vivid exhibition of the act, feeling, or quality that is described or expressed, and more often for the purpose of giving variety and sprightliness to the modulation. Thus Milton's first line consists of an iambic, a spondee, and three iambics ; his second, of five iambics ; his third, of a spondee, a trochee, and three iambics ; his fourth and fifth, of iambics ; his sixth, of a spondee and four iambics ; his seventh and eighth, of iambics ; his ninth, of a trochee and four iambics ; and his tenth to the pause, of a spondee and one iambic and a half: 272 MUSICAL FEET, AND " Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into our world, and all our woe, "With loss of Eden, till one greater man Restore iis, and regain the blissful seat. Sing, heavenly muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning, how the heavens and earth Rose out of chaos." Thus of fifty-two feet, all but six are iambics. All ten syllable lines, whether blank verse or rhyme, are in like manner formed mainly of iambics. So also are all octo-syllabic poems, such as Scott's Marmion and Byron's Giaour. In sacred verse, the eight syllable, or long metre, the eight and six syllable, or common and short metre, are formed of iambics, with the exception occasionally of a trochee, or spondee, as the first foot of a line, in long metre, all the lines have four feet ; in common metre, the first and third have four, the second and fourth, three feet ; in short metre, the first, second, and fourth have three feet, the third four. There is also an eight syllable verse, formed of an iambic and two anapests, as : " The moment a sinner believes." THE MODULATION OF VEESE. 273 Lines of eleven syllables consist of but four feet, the first being usually an iambic, trochee, or spondee, and the others anapests, or dactyls. When the dactyl is first, the last foot is a trochee. Thus : " I would not hVe alway, I wish not to stay, Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way, The few lurid mornings that rise on iis here Are enough for our woes, full enough for our cheer." In the last hymn quoted in the volume, the first and third lines have a dactyl first, and close with a trochee; the second and fourth begin with an iambic and close with an anapest. Lines of seven syllables are formed of three feet, two trochees and one amphimacer : " What could your Redeemer do More than he has done for you ?" Seven and eleven syllable lines are usually employed only in songs, hymns, or poems of such moderate length, that the unvarying recurrence of the same movement does not tire. Were iambics, however, to be used exclusively in eight and ten syllable lines, the modulation would be too mono- tonous. To avoid that, trochees especially are used at the commencement, and occasionally in other 12* 274 parts of a line ; and. now and then spondees also, though less frequently ; and the use of those feet, particularly the trochee, is the means of producing the most delightful changes in the rhythm, and giving sprightliness and elegance to the movement. Thus in the passage immediately following that quoted from Milton, trochees are used in the third, fourth, and fifth lines, that vary the movement, and give it a life and rapidity far greater than a mere series of iambics would possess. " Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God, I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme." Here the prolonged or heavy accent of fast, that, and things, at the beginning of the third, fifth, and seventh lines, and of while at the commencement of the last half of the sixth, by reversing the movement the verse would otherwise have, breaks the mono- tony, and gives a vivacity and charm to the modula- tion like that produced in music by passing from a long to a short note, and from a short to a long THE MODULATION OF VERSE. 275 one, or the elevation or descent of the voice from one tone to another. This effect of the trochee at the commencement of a line is exemplified in the following passage : " Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate, With head uplift above the waves, and eyes That sparkling blazed, his other parts beside Prone on the flood, extended long and large, Lay floating many a rood ; in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monstrous size, Titanian or earth born, that warred on Jove, Briareos, or TyphOn, whom the den By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast Leviathan which God of all his works Created hugest that swim the ocean stream ; Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam, The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff, Deeming some island, oft as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind Moors by his side under the lee, while night Invests the sea, and wished morn delays ; So stretch'd out huge, in length the archfiend lay, Chain'd on the burning lake, nor ever thence Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will And high permission of all- ruling heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs, That with reiterated crimes he might 276 Heap on himself damnation, while he sought Evil to others, and enraged might see How all his malice served but to "bring forth Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy shown On man, by him seduced, but on himself Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured." If the trochees with which nine of these lines commence were exchanged for iambics, the modula- tion from its uniformity would be comparatively tame, like a succession of bars in music in a monotone. By introducing them with trochees, an effect is produced analogous to a change in a tune to a quicker movement, or to a variation of positions and attitudes in a dance. Another important element in the rhythm of verse is the caesura or pause, at or near the centre of the line, dividing it into two parts, that, though not always equal in syllables, are to be pronounced as near as may be in equal times. This pause, which is followed by another of equal length at the end of the line, gives a perpetual swell and subsi- dence, as it were, to the pronunciation, like the vibrations of a pendulum ; and varied as a portion of the lines are by trochees and spondees, invests it, to a tuneful ear, with the charm of a delicate musical movement. In the pronunciation, the THE MODULATION OF VERSE. 277 principal emphasis is thrown generally on a single syllable, sometimes on two in each branch of the line ; in the first generally on the second syllable, in the second also occasionally on the second, usually on the last, and sometimes both on the last and next but one to the last. Thus in Milton's lines : " About them frisking play'ed All beasts' of the earth, since wild', and of all chase' In wood' or wilderness, forest or den ; Sport'ing the lion romp'd', and in his paw' Dan 'died the kid ; bears, tigers, ounces, pards', Gam'boll'd before them ; the unwieldy el'ephant, To make' them mirth, used' all his might, and wreath'd' His lithe' proboscis ; close' the serpent, sly', Insinuating, wove, with Gor'dian twine, His braid'ed train, and of his fa'tal guile Gave proof unheeded." Paradise Lost, b. iv. Though the other long syllables are prolonged or accented beyond the short ones, a so much stronger emphasis is thrown upon these, that the others are made in a measure subordinate to them, and a pul- sation given to the movement that answers to the regular step in a stately march, or the measured breathings in a musical air. 278 - MUSICAL FEET, AND This bold and vigorous rhythm is characteristic of Milton's verse, and is one of the elements of the peculiar sweetness and majesty that distinguish it from others. Nearly all his lines consist of two groups of words, expressing different thoughts, or treating of different things, that admit naturally of a division by a pause. Thus : "Meanwhile', in utmost longitude, — where heav'en — With earth' and o'cean meets, — the set'ting sun — Slow'ly descended, — and with right aspect' — Against' the eastern gate — of par'adise — Lev'ell'd his evening rays ; — it was a rock' — Of al'abaster, — pil'd' up to the clouds', Conspic'uous far, — wind'ing with one ascent' — Acces'sible from earth; — one en 'trance high, — The rest' was craggy cliff — that overhung' — Still' as it rose, — impos'sible to climb. — Betwixt' these rocky pillars, — Ga'briel sat, — Chief of the angelic guard, — await'ing night ; — About' him exercised — hero'ic games — Th' un 'armed youth' of heaven, — but nigh' at hand — Celes'tial armory, — shields, helms, and spears' — Hung high', — with di'amond flaming and with gold'. — Thith'er came Uriel, — gli'ding through the even' — On' a sunbeam, — swift' as a shoo'ting star — In au'tumn thwarts the night, — when vapors fir'd' — Impress' the air, — and shows the mar'iner — THE MODULATION OF VERSE. 279 From what point' — of his com 'pass to beware' — Impet'uous winds." Paradise Lost, b. iv. A fine rhythm, though inferior to Milton's, marks the verse also of Thomson and Cowper. It is less perceptible in Young, who was occupied more with a pointed and epigrammatic expression than with harmony ; and often in Wordsworth, much of whose verse is mere prose compressed into lines of ten syllables, scarce a trace of it exists. It is eminently characteristic of Pope's versification, and constitutes one of its most exquisite charms* Thus in his Messiah : " Ye nymphs' of Solyma, — begin' the song ! — To heav'enly themes — subli'mer strains' belong. — The mos'sy fountains, — and the sylv'an shades, — The dreams' of Pindus, — and th' Aon'ian maids, — T)elight' no more. — O thou' my voice' inspire — Who touch'd' Isaiah's — hal'lowed lips' with fire ! — Rapt' into future times, — the bard' begun : — A vir'gin shall conceive, — a vir'gin bear a son — From Jes'se's root — behold a branch' arise, — Whose sa'cred flower — with fra'grance fills the skies; — Th' ethe'rial spirit — o'er its leaves' shall move, — And on its top' — descends' the mys'tic Dove. — Ye heav'ens from high — the dewy nec'tar pour, — 280 MUSICAL FEET, AXD And in soft si'lence — shed the kind'ly shower ; — The sick' and weak — the healing plant' shall aid, — From storm' a shelter, — and from heat' a shade : — All crimes' shall cease, — and ancient frauds' shall fail ; — Returning Jus'tice — lift aloft' her scale ; — Peace' o'er the world — her olive wand' extend, — And white-robed In'nocence — from heaven' descend." — Much of the subtle grace of Bryant's blank verse lies in the skill of the rhythm, the frequency of the transition from one foot to another, and at such points in the line as to produce a marked caesura, and give at once great boldness and delicacy to the modulation : " Yet not to thine eternal rest'ing-place Shalt' thou return alone,— nor' couldst thou wish Couch' more magnificent. Thou' shalt lie down' With pa'triarchs of the in'fant world, — with kings', The pow'erful of the earth, — the wise', the good, Fair forms', and hoary seers' of ages past, All' in one mi'ghty se'pulchre. — The hills', Rock'-rihbed' and an'cient as the sun ; — the vales', Stretching' in pensive qui'etness between ; The ven'erable woods ; — ri'vers that move In ma'jesty, and' the complaining brooks' That make' the mea'dows green ; — and poured' round' all' Old o'cean's gray and me'lancholy waste — THE MODULATION OF VERSE. 281 Are' but the soreinn dec'orations all' Of the great tomb' of man." Thanatopsis. Another means of varying and heightening the melody, is the cadence in which the verse is made to terminate at a full pause. In blank verse, the pause or full stop may take place on the first or any of the following syllables of the line. Of these, the most pleasing begin with a trochee ; and of those, the most graceful terminate on the third, the fifth, or the seventh syllable. As Milton's : " Sing", heavenly muse, — that on the se'cret top — Of O'reb or of Si'nai — didst inspire' — That shep'herd who — first taught' the chosen seed — In' the begin'ning — how' the heaven and iBarth — Eose" out of cha'os." There is a similar cadence in the following pas- " Whom he drew' — God's al'tar to disparage — and displace' — For one' of Syrian make, — whereon to burn' — His o'dious offerings — and adore the gods' — Whom' he had van'quished." 282 MUSICAL FEET, AND " Advise if this be worth' Attempting, — or to sit in dark'ness here — Hatching vain em'pires." Many of Milton's cadences commencing with a trochee, and terminating on the fourth syllable, are fine: " The tow'ers of heaven are filled' — With arm'ed watch, — that render all access' — Impreg'nable. — Oft' on the bordering deep' — Encamp' their legions ; — or, with ob'scure wing, — Scout' far and wide — in'to the realm' of night, — Scorn'ing surprise." " Thrones' and imperial powers, — offspring of heaven, — Ethe'rial virtues ; — or those ti'tles now — i Must' we renounce, — and, chang'ing style, be call'ed — Prin'ces of hell." Those commencing with a trochee, and termi- nating on the sixth syllable, have a similar charm : " Intermit' no watch — Against' a wakeful foe ; — w T hile' I abroad, Through' all the coasts — of dark' destruc'tion seek — Deliver 'ance for us all. — This en'terprize — None' shall partake with me. THE MODULATION OF VEESE. 283 " As' when heav'en's fire — Hath sca'thed the forest oaks — or moun'tain pines — With sing'ed top, — their stately growth, though bare', — Stands' on the blast'ed heath." Those opening with a trochee, and closing on the seventh syllable, have still greater beauty : " For this infer'nal pit — shall ne'ver hold — Celes'tial spir'its in bondage, — nor' the abyss — Long' under dark'ness cover." "He' above' the rest, — In shape' and gesture — proudly em'inent, — Stood' like a tower ; — his form' had not yet lost' — All' her orig'inal brightness." " Mil'lions of spiri'tual creatures — walk' the earth — Unseen,' both when we wake' and when we sleep' ; — All these' with cease 'less praise — his works' behold — Both day' and night. — How often' from the steep' — And echo'ing hill — or thick'et have we heard' — Celes'tial voices — to the mid'night air,' — Sole', or respon'sive, — each' to other's note' — Sing'ing their great' Creator !" There is a beautiful example of this cadence in the passage from Homer : " So' was the coun'cil sha'ken." 284 MUSICAL FEET, AND Those beginning with a trochee, and ending with the eighth syllable, have almost equal elegance : " So bent' he seems — On des'perate revenge — that shall redound' — Up 'on his own rebellious head." " For man' will hearken — to his gloz'ing lies,' — And ea'sily transgress — the sole' command, — Sole pledge' of his obe'dience. — So' will fall' — He' and his faith 'less pro'geny." When the cadence falls on the last syllable of the line, its beauty is still greatly heightened by its commencing with a trochee : " He spake'; — and to confirm' his words out flew' — Mil'lions of flaming swords, — drawn' from the thighs — Of migh'ty cherubim. — The sudden blaze' — Far round' illumined hell. — High'ly they raged — Against' the Highest, — and fierce' with grasp 'ed arms — Clash'ed on their sounding shields ; — the din' of war — Hurl'ing defi'ance — toward the vault' of heaven." " The fiend' looked up and knew' — His mount'ed scale aloft ; — nor more,' but fled' — Mur'muring, — and with him fled' the shades' of night." THE MODULATION OF YEESE. 285 " We lose' the prime, — to mark' how spring — Our ten'der plants, — how blows' the citron grove,' — What drops' the myrrh, — and what' the balmy reed', — How na'ture paints her colors, how' the bee' — Sits' on the bloom, — extracting liquid sweet." Bryant's blank verse abounds with, fine cadences of these several classes : " These' dim vaults, These wind'ing aisles, — of human pomp' or pride 7 Eeport' not. No' fantas'tic carv'ings show The boast' of our vain race, — to change the form' Of thy fair works'." " Noise 'lessly around From perch' to perch — the sol'itary bird " Nes'tled at his root' Is beau'ty, such as blooms' not in the glare' Of the broad sun'." " These lofty trees Wave' not less proud'ly — that their an'cestors Moul'der beneath them." " Life mocks' the idle hate' Of his arch en'emy Death ; — yea, seats' himself Upon the ty'rant's throne, — the se'pulchre, 286 MUSICAL FEET, AND MODULATION OF VERSE. And' of the tri'mnphs of his ghas'tly foe Makes' his own nourishment." Forest Hymn. These cadences have thus far greater spirit and beauty than they would had they begun with an iambic instead of a trochee. What is it that mainly distinguishes verse from prose? What is a musical foot? What are the principal musical feet used in English verse ? What is the pyrrhic ? What is the spondee ? Describe the iambic and trochee. Define the dactyl and the ana- pest. What is the amphimacer ? What is the amphibrach? How many syllables are there in the line in blank verse ? Of what feet does blank verse mainly consist ? What other feet are sometimes employed in it ? Of what foot are eight syllable lines chiefly formed ? May trochees and spondees be sometimes used in them ? Of what foot are long, common, and short metre hymns formed ? How many syllables are there in the lines of long metre ? How many in those of common, and how many in those of short metre ? Of what feet are seven syllable hymns formed ? What feet are used in the construction of eleven syllable lines ? What foot is used at the beginning of ten syllable lines, to give variety and elegance to the modulation ? What is the second element in the music of blank and other ten syllable verse ? How is the line divided by the caesura ? How are the lines to be read to give them the proper rhythm or modulation ? Give an example from Milton. Give one from Pope. What other means are there by which the melody of blank verse is varied and heightened ? On what syllables in a line may a cadence terminate? With what foot do the finest cadences begin ? On what syllable do the finest close ? PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 287 CHAPTER XVIII. THE IMPORTANCE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF THE PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. The ear is as capable of being raised by cultiva- tion to a quicker perception and higher enjoyment of the harmony of verse, as it is of music, and as the fancy, taste, and other powers and sensibilities are of evolution and refinement by culture ; and just in proportion as a high beau-ideal is approached, the delight which fine verse yields is increased, and the possibility of a still higher and more varied pleasure is augmented. If the characteristics that have been pointed out are not at first distinctly appreciated, they will soon be unfolded by careful study, and become the vehicle of a delicate and lofty delight, with which those who have never particularly con- sidered them have no acquaintance. A few of the finest passages in which they appear, thoroughly analysed and revolved till all their peculiarities are 2S8 PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. comprehended, and their beauty fully felt, will contribute more to unfold the sensibility to what is graceful, elegant, and grand, and give truth, eleva- tion, and strength to the taste, than months and years of casual and unobservant reading ; make the understanding and comprehension of other passages easy and instantaneous, and raise the perception and enjoyment of every charm to a quickness and energy of which otherwise we could have no con- ception. An acquaintance with the principles of versifi- cation, and with the structure and laws of figures, is essential, in order to the proper reading, under- standing, and enjoyment of the psalms and hymns that are used in domestic and public worship. A knowledge of the office and the proper method of pronouncing a trochee at the commencement of a line is necessary to the correct reading, and fre- quently to the full appreciation of the sentiment of a hymn. It is used not merely to vary and heighten the melody of the verse, but often because the employment of an emphatic word or syllable at the beginning of the line is requisite to a vivid exhibi- tion of the act which it narrates or describes, or expression of the thought which it utters. There is an eminent example of this in the following passage of Paradise Lost, b. vi. : PBEJCEPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 289 " He' on his im'pious foes — right on'ward drove, — Gloom 'y as night, — un'der his burning wheels — The steadfast empyrean — shook 7 throughout — All' but the throne itself of God'.— Full soon' — Among' them he arrived, — in his right hand' — Grasp "ing ten thousand thun'ders, — which he sent' — Before' him, — such' as in their souls' infixed — Plagues". They, aston'ished, all resistance lost, — All cou'rage ; — down' thf ir idle weapons dropt. — O'er shields/ and helms, — and helmed heads he rode — Of thrones', and mighty seraphim prostrate' That wish'ed the mountains — now might be again' Thrown" on them, — as a shel'ter from his ire. — Yet half his strength he put not forth, — but check' ed — His thun'der in mid vol'ley ; — for he meant' — Not' to destroy, — but root' them out of heaven. — The overthrown' he raised, — and as a herd' — Of goats', or timorous flock', — together throng'ed, — Drove" them before him thun'ders truck, — pursued' — With ter'rors and with fu'ries, — to the bounds' — And erys'tal wall of heaven, — which, opening wide', — Roll"d in'ward, and — a spacious gap' disclosed — In"to the wasteful deep. — The monstrous sight' — Struck" them with horror backward ; — but, far worse', — Urg'd' them behind. — Headlong themselves they threw' — Down" from the verge of heaven ; — eternal wrath' — Burnt" after them — to the bot'tomless pit." This description is far more spirited and energetic 13 290 PKLN'CITLES OF VERSIFICATION. than it would have been, if, instead of the emphatic words with which so many of the lines, and espe- cially the last six, begin, iambics had been nsed. They not only give rapidity and power to the modulation, but the verbs that are used, consisting of a single syllable, were requisite to paint the scene with a vividness that corresponds to its awful nature. Ordinary iambic verbs would have rendered the spectacle tame, compared to the terrible energy with which it is now drawn. There are several exquisite cadences also in the passage. That in the eighth line, formed of the first syllable, falls on the ear with the abruptness and force of a thunder crash. The fine effect of a trochee at the commencement of a line, in giving force to the expression, and a grateful variety to the modulation, is exemplified in many of the psalms and hymns; as in the Hun- dredth Psalm, in eight syllables. In this, as in blank verse, an emphatic accent is usually to be thrown on only two or three syllables in a line : "Before Jeho'vah's aw'ful throne Ye na'tions bow with sa'cred joy. Know" — that the Lord' is God' alone ; He" — can create, and he' destroy. PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 291 44 His sov'ereign power, without' our aid, Made" us of clay, and form'ed us men And when', like wand'ring sheep' we strayed, He brought' us to his fold' again. " We" are his peo'ple,we' his care', Our souls', and all our mor'tal frame; What last'ing hon'ors shall we rear, Almigh'ty Ma'ker, to thy name ! 44 We '11 crowd' thy gates' with thank 'ful songs, High" — as the heavens' our voic'es raise ; And earth', with her ten thou'sand tongues, Shall fill' thy courts with sound'ing praise. 44 Wide" — as the world' is thy command; Vast" — as eter'nity thy love ; Firm" — as a rock' thy truth' shall stand, While roll'ing years shall cease' to move. 1 ' The trochees with which so many of the lines commence thus present the acts they are employed to express in a far bolder and more impressive attitude than they could have received had iambics been used, and give a vivacity and force to the modulation that brings it into harmony with them, and makes it as indicative almost of their vehe- mence as the emphatic monosyllables are by which 292 PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. they are so vividly depicted. On the other hand, the introduction of the first three lines in the last stanza with an emphatic trochee, renders the change to an iambic, and the enunciation of the fourth line, in the diminishing voice which the cadence requires, highly pleasing. The same effect of the trochee is seen in the following hymn : " How sweet' and awful' is the place, With Christ' within the doors ; While' — everlasting love' displays The choic'est of her stores. " While all' our hearts', and all' our songs', Join' — to admire' the feast, Each' of us cry, with thank'ful tongues, Lord'', — why was I' a guest ? " Why' was I' made to hear thy voice, And en'ter while there 's room, When thousands make a wretch'ed choice, And rather starve' than come ? " 'Twas the same love' that spread' the feast That sweet'ly forced' us in ; Else' we had still refused' to taste, And per'ished in our sin. PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 293 " Pi'ty the na'tions, our God ; Constrain' the earth to come ; Send' thy victorious word' abroad, And bring' the strangers home. u We long' to see thy church'es full ; That all' the chosen race May with one' voice, and heart', and soul', Sing' thy redeeming grace." The frequent change throughout the hymn from an iambic to a trochee, and from a trochee to an iambic, thus adds greatly to the point and grace of the expression, and the spirit and beauty of the rhythm. A spondee is sometimes used in place of a trochee, and with much the same effect, as in the third line of the following hymn : " Mor'tals awake, with an'gels join, And chant' the solemn lay ; Joy', love', and gra'titude combine To hail' the auspi'cious day. * In heaven' the rap'turous song began ; And sweet' seraph'ic fire Through all' the shining le'gions ran, And swept' the sounding lyre. I 294 PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. " The theme', the song', the joy' was new To each' angel'ic tongue ; Swift' — through the realms' of light' it flew, And loud' the echo rung. ** Down' through the por'tals of the sky The peal'ing an'them ran ; And an'gels flew, with ea'ger joy, To bear the news' to man. " Hark" — the cherubic ar'mies shout, And Glory leads' the song ; Peace' and Salva'tion swell' the note, Of all the heav'enly throng. " With joy' the chor'us we repeat, Glory to God on high ; Goodwill' and peace' are now complete, Jesus" is born' to die." The movement of seven syllable lines, formed of two trochees and an amphimacer, and with the accent usually thrown chiefly on two syllables, is very fine : " Rock' of Ages cleft' for me, Let' me hide' myself in thee ; Let the wa'ter and the blood' PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 295 From thy wound'ed side' which flowed, Be' of sin the dou'ble cure — Save 7 from wrath, and make' me pure." The modulation of the lines is sometimes rendered so expressive and vivacious, by the words of the feet of which they are constructed, that it is taken as the basis of the air that is composed for them, and made the vehicle of a most graphic representation of the acts they describe, and impassioned utterance of the sentiments they express. That was undoubt- edly the origin of the spirited tune to which Moore's version of Miriam's song, consisting principally of anapests, is set : " Sound' the loud tim'brel o'er E'gypt's dark sea', JehoVah has tri'umphed, his peo'ple are free'! Sing', for the pride' of the ty'rant is bro'ken ! His cha'riots, his horse'men, all splen'did and brave, How vain' was their boast ! for the Lord' hath but spoken, And cha'riots and horse'men are sunk' in the wave ! Sound' the loud tim'brel o'er E'gypt's dark sea', Jeho'vah has tri'umphed, — his peo'ple are free'! If the tones in which the successive syllables of these lines are naturally uttered, when pronounced with emotion, are written on a musical staff, it will 296 PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. be found that they present the outline of the beau- tiful air in which they are usually sung, and form a more graphic delineation of the great acts that are described in the words, and expression of the emo- tions with which the song should be recited, than any others that can be chosen. An intimate knowledge of the several figures is requisite also to a full appreciation of the images of the psalms and hymns, and the grace and force with which they invest the sentiments they are employed to express and illustrate. Many of them are made up almost entirely of figures, and often of the greatest delicacy, power, and dignity. The follow- ing, by Cowper, is an example : " 0, for a closer walk with God, A calm and heavenly frame ; And light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb. " Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord ? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and his word ? " What peaceful hours I then enjoyed ! How sweet their memory still ! But now I find an aching void The world can never fill. PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 297 " Return, holy Dove, return, Sweet messenger of rest ; I hate the sins that made thee mourn, And drove thee from my breast. * The dearest idol I have known, Whate'er that idol be, Help me to tear it from thy throne, And worship only thee. " So shall my walk be close with God ; Calm and serene my frame ; And purer light shall mark the road That leads me to the Lamb." Many persons, probably, who read this hymn feel that it is highly poetic and beautiful, and yet are unable to tell distinctly what it is that constitutes its peculiar charm ; and would be surprised if informed that the principal of the figures with which it abounds are of a class (the hypocatastasis) the very name of which they had never met in any book on rhetoric or poetry, and the principle of which they had never heard explained. Yet the figures that set forth the poet's thoughts with so much point and strength, and like the glow of sunset, shed a bright irradiance over the path the Christian is to pursue, are all of that class. Thus, in the first verse, walking with God, an external act, is put for 13* 298 PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. living conformably to his will ; and having a light to shine upon a road that leads to Christ, an external gift, is put for having a knowledge of the duties which he enjoins, or the things that are to be done in order to salvation. In the second verse, seeing the Lord, and having a view of Jesus, which are acts of the eye, are put by substitution for having just and refreshing thoughts of him. Feeling a void that gives pain, which is a corporeal affection, is put, in the third verse, for an analogous mental feeling of the loss or the absence of cheering thoughts of him. In the fourth verse, returning as a dove, an external act, is put for a return of the Spirit, by his influences to the mind; and his being driven from the breast, is put for his being driven from the soul. In the fifth verse, idol, an external object, is put by substitution for the object of unreasonable love ; and tearing it from the throne, for removing it from its place in the affections, or causing that it shall no longer be the object of sinful attachment. And in the last stanza, walking with God, an external act, is again put for living con- formably to his will ; and having a light to shine upon a road that leads to the Lamb, having a full knowledge of what he requires in order to salva- tion ; — images of great strength and beauty, and that invest the thoughts they are employed to express PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 299 with a vividness and grace they could derive from no other figure. The figure fills the same office in the following hymn : " God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform ; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. " Deep in unfathomable mines, Of never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs, And works his sovereign will. " Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break With blessings on your head. " Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace ; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face. " His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour ; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower. 300 PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. " Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain ; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain." In the first verse, moving in a mysterious way, planting footsteps in the sea, and riding upon a storm, which are corporeal acts, are put by hypo- catastasis for analogous acts of God's providence that are mysterious, untraceable, and full of terror ; and are far more expressive of the greatness, incom- prehensibleness, and majesty of his procedure, than any untropical or even metaphorical language that could have been employed. In the second stanza, unfathomable mines are, by an elliptical metaphor, ascribed to his skill ; and then, by a hypocatastasis, he is represented as treasuring up his designs, and working his will there; to signify, that while his purposes are shrouded from the gaze of mortals, and their execution, which is perpetually going on, is veiled from their observance, they yet are marked by boundless wisdom, and carried into effect with perfect skill. In the third verse, clouds threatening a tempest to the material world, but that descend in genial showers, are put by the figure for measures of providence, or events that seem to portend analogous evils to God's people, but that in fact are PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 301 to prove the sources of good to them. In the fourth verse, God's hiding a smiling face behind a frown- ing providence, is one of the most beautiful and most majestic figures in the whole compass of human language. With what inimitable reality, visibleness, and grandeur it invests the thought ! hiding the face lighted with a smile, a corporeal act, behind a threatening attitude of the instruments which he employs to accomplish his will, being used by hypocatastasis to signify his veiling his gracious dispositions towards them beneath measures of pro- vidence that seem to portend to them misfortune and destruction ! In the fifth verse, ripen and unfolding are used by a metaphor, to indicate the analogous evolution and maturing of God's designs ; and the bud having a bitter taste, and the flower of a sweet smell, are used by hypocatastasis to repre- sent the resembling forms which the measures God pursues assume as they advance in their accom- plishment; though, like a bud, distasteful at first and embittering, unfolding at length in the most graceful shapes, assuming the most delicate and beautiful tints, and giving forth a sweet and exhi- larating fragrance. In the last stanza,, the figure is used in an equally impressive though less pleasing form. Unbelief being pnt by metonymy for unbe- liever, the sightless being scanning God's material 302 PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. work, is then put by hypocatastasis for man attempting, in his spiritual blindness, to judge of God's moral and providential sway ; a picture as dark and sad as the other is bright and cheering. LESSONS. The following hymn is eminently fine. The greatness and splendor of the thoughts, the distinctness with which the objects they respect are presented, and the appropriateness and glow of the sentiments that are expressed, touch the heart, like a lofty strain of music, with an entrancing power, and fill it with a sense of divine beauty and bliss : " Father ! how wide thy glory shines ! How high thy wonders rise ! Known through the earth by thousand signs, By thousands through the skies. "But when we view thy strange design, To save rebellious worms ; Where vengeance and compassion join In their divinest forms ; "Here the whole Deity is known; Nor dares a creature guess Which of the glories brightest shone, The justice or the grace. "Now the full glories of the Lamb Adorn the heavenly plains ; Bright seraphs learn Emmanuel's name, And try their choicest strains. PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 303 ' O, may I bear some humble part In that immortal song ! , "Wonder and joy shall tune my heart, And love command my tongue." Though so eminently poetic, however, and shedding through the mind a sense of beauty and sublimity, its charms are not referable, except in a slight degree, to the images which it employs ; as there are but seven figures in it, and none of them are of the boldest cast. A passage of high poetic excellence, though almost without a figure, is quoted in a preceding chapter, and the reason stated that such compositions do not need the aid of tropes to invest them with their resistless attractions. Does this song owe the impression it makes to the same cause ? If so, let the scholar state what the secret of its beauty is. Let the figures also be pointed out that occur in it. The following hymn has a pointed expression, and a sprightly movement : " Servant of God, well done ! Rest from thy lov'd employ ; The battle fought, the victory won, Enter thy Master's joy. u The voice at midnight came, He started up to hear ; A mortal arrow pierced his frame ; He fell — but felt no fear. " The pains of death are past ; Labor and sorrow cease ; And life's long warfare closed at last ; His soul is found in peace. 304: PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. " Soldier of Christ, well done ! Praise be thy new employ ; And while eternal ages run Rest in thy Saviour's joy." Where lies the ground of the life and stirring power of this spirited hymn? Is it in the thoughts mainly, or largely in its images, figures, and modulation? There are three figures in the first stanza ; the first is an apostrophe ; what are the two others ? In the second there are four figures ; where are they, and of what kind ? There is a single figure in the third stanza ; what is it ? In the last there are two ; what are they ? Which of the lines commence with a trochee ; and what effect has that foot on the modulation? The following hymn has a quick and stirring movement : " Come, let us anew our journey pursue ; Roll round with the year, And never stand still till the Master appear. " His adorable will let us gladly fulfil, And our talents improve, By the patience of faith, and the labor of love. " Our life is a dream ; our time, as a stream, Glides swiftly away ; And the fugitive moment refuses to stay. " The arrow is flown ; the moment is gone ; The millennial year Rushes on to our view, and eternity 's here. " O, that each in the day of his coming may say — I have fought my way through ; I have finished the work thou didst give me to do. PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. 305 " that each from his Lord may receive the glad word — ■ "Well and faithfully done ; Enter into my joy, and sit down on my throne.' " Each long line consists of two short ones of equal length, and forming a rhyme ; and each short or half line contains two metrical feet. "What are they ; and in what order do they occur ? In the first stanza there are two figures ; where and what are they ? Is there any figure in the second stanza ? In the third there are four metaphors and one comparison ; point them out. In the fourth there are two figures ; designate them. There is one in the fifth ; what and in which expression is it? There is one in the last stanza ; point it out, and give its name. The rhythm of the following eleven syllable hymn, the first and third lines of which commence with a dactyl, and close with a trochee, the second and fourth begin with an iambic and close with an anapest, is very spirited and pleasing : " Daughter of Zion, awake from thy sadness ; Awake ! for thy foes shall oppress thee no more ; Bright o'er thy hills dawns the day-star of gladness ; Arise ! for the night of thy sorrow is o'er. " Strong were thy foes ; but the arm that subdued them And scattered their legions was mightier far ; They fled like the chaff from the scourge that pursued them ; Yain were their steeds, and their chariots of war. " Daughter of Zion, the power that hath saved thee, Extolled with the harp and the timbrel should be ; Shout ! for the foe is destroyed that enslaved thee ; The oppressor is vanquished, and Zion is free !'' This, when sung in an appropriate tune, and with suitable expression, 6teals over the heart with an entrancing power. Where 306 PEINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION. lies the secret of its charm ? What tropes are there in it ? "What especially is the figure that reigns in it throughout, and, like a flash of light from a midnight cloud, shedding illumination over hill and vale, and rendering their objects perceptible, kindles the fancy with the conception, and touches the heart with the feeling, that the redeemed people of Zion are present, listening to the chant, and exulting in the triumph which it celebrates ? THE EKD. BOOKS PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY FRANKLIN KNIGHT, 138 NASSAU STREET. THE THEOLOGICAL AND LITEEARY JOUKNAL, Edited by D. H". Lord. Issued Quarterly. Six volumes already completed, TOO pages each. $3 per volume. UP" This work, besides many other applications of the Laws of Figurative Language to Interpretation, contains an Enumeration and Explanation of all the Figures of the first twenty-eight chapters of Isaiah. Each future number also is to contain a like Exposition of a part of that Prophecy, till the whole is com- pleted. AN EXPOSITION OF THE APOCA- LYPSE. By D. N. Lord. $2. LETTEES ON PEOPHECY. By the Eev. E "Winthrop. 3l$e. THE MESSIAH IN MOSES AND THE PKOPHETS. By Eleazar Lord. $1.