The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-24 00:00:00

THE RAINBOW OF THE COTENANT.

I begin to wonder who was the first man to
analyse the rainbow and arrive at a clear idea of
the causes which combine in its production. The
falling shower and the direct light of the sun or
moon must, from the first unfolding of this won-
drous revelation, have been seen to be its primary
elements. The allegory of the winds, in the 23d
book of the Iliad, indicates more than a superficial
knowledge of this grand phenomenon, and Virgil,
in the )Eneid, almost antedates the philosophy of
Descartes and Newton, and Martial was not far
from a scientific definition. Aristotle believed him-
self to be the first who had seen a lunar rainbow,
the loveliest of all aerial spectacles, except on those
rare occasions, when the aurora borealis displays its
darting flushes ruby and emerald, amethyst, in this
climate. But Pliny knew almost as much as we
do about it—certainly as to its primal causes—
as he expressed it, " Quod ergo iris sit refractie
aspectus est ad solem manifestum est," and Plutarch
cites it as an index of the knowledge of his
time. Whatever may have been the thoughts of
Adam, when the sunshine first resolved into pris-
matic colours, in an arch expanding over the region
of the happy garden, those of Noah might well be
more profound, for the rainbow became a part of his
life, and through him a pledge of divine er too
to
the end of the world. " I do set my bowm in
clouds"—marvellous utterance of a Father consi-
derate of His children's feathers. Those words
s
possess me, as I look out over the,grey sky w
NV h i c h
the rainbow glowed a few minutes since, and they
seem to me to have all the force of an authority
for research into the mind of God, the mind of
man, and the ways of nature. The cause of
the awful devastation of the globe is for ever
rendered beautiful ; the descending shower,
for forty days continued to submerge the offenders
against divine justice, seems to be woven into a
robe of divers colours, and made pre-eminently
inspire
n ''-
beautiful, that they may henceforth cease to s,"
dread. The fleecy clouds that hold me in listless
reverie half an hour since, and that are
now dim-
ming into ashy hues, seem to be impressed
similar evanescence and unsubstantiality,with
that
man
may look upon them henceforth as his triends, that
once were the destroyers
mofhtist race. And how
an rainbow taken
deep a hold has that post-diluv.
of the mind of mar.. It
us
fact we find cropping
out ire the old mytholo•
fansgie s ,
in
ns
thein thverocceasrsrylio'nng of Apis ; and the fth e records of that
anndteheradinobvoewi-ncoloured
combi-
nation of the rainbow
hiero-
glyphics and mytholog •
names of the two attendants cal rites. Bryant cites the
Charmion, as the 9di ants on Cleopata, Eiras, and
ting the Rainbow and the Dove, as
priestlyindica-
ting
The • office, and bring doves to a later
in Egyptian history a remembrance of the circum-
stances under
which the earth was again peopled.
rainbow was certainlyrenowned the most f
Arkite emblems, and 1 know why Hesiodshould
designate it "The Great Oath," except through the
prevailing power of a tradition, diving in its origin.
As such, Homer knows it well, and, in accordance
with established usage in the ancient world, he
calla it, in a hymn to Selene, the sign and intima-
tion (of divine promise) to mortals. The appeal to
it by the deity as something superior to the secondary-
gods is characteristic of Hesiod, who describes
Iris as the servant of Jove, who fetches from afar,
in a golden cup, the waters of many names,
making her the representative of covenant and of
purification. Osiris entering the ark, Deucalion
reproving the lawlessness of the men of violence
by whom he was surrounded, Nannacus sacrificing
in the temple, are but versions of a history,. of
which the heavens bear the best secular meo mor oiau r
after the special and divine record given for ' r
edification." But did Noah understand t
myet e p u -
port of the rainbow, as a key- essence the
_s r ies
We
of man's relations to the divine essence ?
nw not, but it is a key for all that ;and herein
wee see how the discoveries of science lend help
to theology, and indicate truths that lieand
spirit.—liibberd's "Brambles and Bay Leaves."