Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1848-05-10

Of Moses himself:) whether he had il alto
gether from the tradition, or whether he
collected it from the more ancient wHitten
or printed memorials.
The account Of the creation. Of the fall
/ Of man, and all the antidiluvian part of
: the history, carries strong internal eviden-
ces of having been copied or tif may
express MYSELF translated from hierog-
lvphic or symboiical record the story is
of the most perfect simplicity. the discour-
ses Of the persons introduced are given
as if taken down verbatim from their
: mouths, AMI the narrative is scarcely any
thing more than the connecting link OF the
discourses; the geneaIogies are given with
precision; and this is one of the most re-
markable pecu!ia...;es Of the OIL Tesla
rnent: the rest is an fsura,ive; the Rib,
the Garden. the tree of Life and the
knowledge of Good and Evil, the Apple,
the Serpent are all images which seem to
indicate heroglyphic origin. All the
historical books. both of the Oh and New
Testaments, retain the peculiar charac-
teristics that have noticed; the simpici-
~ and brevitv OF the narrative. the prac-
tice of repeating all discourses in the iden-
Of firurative symbolical and alleeoricai
language. But of the rules of compost
ton, prescribed by the Grecian schools.
the unties Of Aristotle, or the congrui,ies
ofiigures taught by the Greek phlologists,
not feature is 70 be seen. The Psalms
are collection of songs; the song ofSol-
ONION is a pastoral Poem; the Proverbs
are a collection Of moral sentences and
: al Nv II
mon TO his son, with the addition OF others
Of the same description; the Prophetic al
books are partly historic al-they contain
the narrative Of visions and revelations OF
the Deity to the Prophets who record
them.
In the New Testament the four Cos
pels and the Acts of the Apostles are his
torical.-they contain memories of the
life Of Christ and some Of His apostles.
and the proceedings of some of His prin-
clpal apostles, for some years after His de-
cease. The simplicity of the narrative
is the same as that of the Old Testament;
the style in general indicates an age when
reading and writing had become more
common and books more multiplied. The
Epis.les of Paul are the productions Of a
mind educated in the learning Of the age
from his history it appears that he was not
only capable of maintaining an argument
with the Doctors of the Jewish law, but of
discussing principles with the Stole and
Epicurean philosophers; his speech az Ath-
ems is specimen Of eloquencc worthy of
an audience in the native country of De-
mosthenes. The Apocalypse of John re-
sembles in many respects some of the
prophetical books Of the Old Testament:
the figurative, syn.bolical and allegorical
language of these books, show range
Of Imagination suitable only to the record
of dreams and visions-their language is
in many parts inexplicably obscure. 1t
has been, ana it is to this day, among the
follies and vices of many sects of Chris
tians to attempt explanation ofthem adap
ted to sectarian purposes and opinions
The style Of none Of the books, either OF
the Old or New Testament, affords gem
eIal model for imitation to a writer Of the
present age; the principles and rules for
composition derived from Greek and Ro-
man schools. and the example ofthe prin-
: cipal writer's, have been SO generally a.
doptcd in modern literature: that the Scrip
tures-diflcring SO essentially from them
could not be initiated without great at
fectation: but for pati.os of narrative; for
the selections of incidents that 90 direct
" to the heart; for the dicturesdue of char
acter and manner; the selection of Cir
cumstances that mark the individuality Of
persons; for copiousness, grandeur and
subliminary Of imagery, for unanswera-
bic cogency and CIoseness Of reasoning;
and for irresistible force of persuasion, no
book in the world deserves TO be so un-
ceasingly studied, and SO profoundly med
itated upon as the Bible.
| shall conclude here the series Of let
tiers, which | proposed about two years
ago to write you for the purpose Of exhort-
ing you to search the Scriptures. and of
pointing out to your consideration the gen.
eral points of applications; with view 10
which. thought this study might be made
profitable to the improvement and useful
ness of your future life. There are other
and particular points to which may here
after occasionally invite your attention.
| am sensible how feeble and superficial
what have written has been, and every
letter has convinced me more and more
of my own incompetency to the adequate
performance of the task | had assumed:
but my great object was to show you the
Importance of devoting your own facul-
ties to this pursuit: to read the Bible is Of
/ itself laudable occupation and can
scarcely fail of being useful employment
of time; but the habit of rejecting upon
VIVA, You have read is equ ally essential
as that Of reading itself, to give i. all the
efficacy of which il is susceptible. There
! fore recommend TO youto set apart a small
portion of every day to read one or more
chapters of the Bible, and always read it
with reference to soma particular train Of
observation orrefection. In these letters
| have suggested to you four general ones.
Considering the Scriptures as Divine
/ Revelations; as historical records; as a
/ system of morals: and as literary compost
tons. There are many other points Of
view in which they may be subjects of