The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-12-18
THE TURE SEAS o N.
sACRED POETRY OF THE HEBREwS-ANTI-
sLAvERY-PoPULAR EDUCATIoN-GEOL-
oGY, AND ENGLISH SACRED LITERATURE
AND TRAGIC POETRY, &c.

AND TRAGIC POETRY, &c.
Rev. DIR. Raphan ON the Sacred Poetry Of
tho Hebrews.
pr. Raphan delivered Monday evening" the 18th
inst the sixth and last Of series Of lectures the
Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews He thought 1T right to
rseaptulats what he had said In previous dsoourses
The of the po try, applied to the writings
OF the prophets ls that w,ils this poetry is founded
nature is the utterahcs of this more powerful and
ardent emotions 1t is the only appropriate msie OF ex
rres,pg ,ur highest and hoest feelings 1t ~ marked
by four oh first is original for it bor
rowe tn from nons secondly, it II natural for it dis
penleth with art thirdly 1t pure for its value exceed
eth thing and fourthy It Is universal for it adaps
it, s to every class age and couaty We seek in vain
1, ind these qualification any xhers else. Ths poetry
Of the Bible has this great advantage that the Hebrew
language is pc ;uliarly adapted to poesy The Bbs is
div ed into fsur periods the Hrs offers to patr
arsAa history together with the book of job the second
gives the foundation Of the Hebrew n. ton and
it's Iitcrat re- with the sublime sopg If Deborah;
In the third period we have seen how the lyric
poetry of the He orews arrived at its perfection as for
example, the books Of Psalms and Proverbs Wa have
seen how the events Of Hebrew history have bssn handed
down to us by the lays sacred song and
Ia the fourth period the singers Of Israel
ftier Tone and announce the history of unborn ages
In this they stand unrva led and alone. While other
m ions have produced orators and poets
Hebrews alone have produced prophets This rule ad
mits Of but ons exceptions In the person Of BAaam the
dicions Noses has preserve Ia his book. His prophe
eies are easily to be discerned for they claim
writings of He (hs lscturer) had spoken before
Of tbs schools Of the prophets Nab founded by Aoaes
When Moses was seat to Pharaoh, ee Exodus vii I) he
dissained tbs ONCE on the ground Of An impeachment in
his sPsssh and h' was ans,'rsd "Aaso. thy brs.
WAS NAbt, meaning orator and speaker,
Again, in another nse it msaus poetry; hence
as ahss as IN ths sa ots.
verse Is, speaks Of Nabi as teacher SO in Genesis
Abraham Is called Nabi, teacher. Hence the prophets
poet and teacher all combaed. But 1t was not 40
ct first. When Samuel founded these schools Of the
phst not called Nabi, but Hosea Chs sssr.) We
may conclude that these schools were tometning like
the colegates Of the middle ages The pupils
though this school, like all human institutions degene
rated iu the of time there be doubt that
it beneficial nstitation at arst. Moses was the
nr1t who established the rights Of the prophets Samuel
did TO more than carry out his Ian This
institution Of Noses to him and his mission power
before which K Dgs quaied David, who trembled not
before tho giant Philine stood mute and trembling be-
fore Nathan the Prophet when IKE latter addressed him.
- Elijah confronted him on the property which he
nnlAwfully possessed and told him that where he
then stood the dogs would lick his blood such were the
prophets portion Of whose writings preserved as
be no doubt There doubt that the -elve
h Isaiah ana EZEKIEL xs pnas snsy
such other poet has eq Jailed The wonderful
in which their predictions becoming fulfilled prove
their sacred authenticity In order that shond
understand the sphit in which they wrote we should
under stand the purpose for which they wrote And his
first, exhor.aton, and secondly attsstAon to all
coming generations, to whom they offer the strongest
proof Of their divine orgiu They deliver their prophs
meta hor and comparison fro inc natural Lang Of
prophecy They reach the highest point Of the sublime
1t seems to DO the great province Of prophetic:
poetry to excite the passions Ne other style Of
poetry can exercise such . sway over passion,
feeling, and reason. Prophecy INDUCES in the OF
and partly from the past history Of the people.
We Solomon ikening Mount Lebanon, stately in Its
size very emblem Of dignity to tho strength q man,
fulness to female loneliness When the prophets speak
Of the fate Of countries And them taking their image
ploys the very Of Noses the line Of emptiness and
the plummet Of shass Th, proves that Isaiah ia
mar with the works Of Noses and thu. he could quote
his language. Nor is this Al. The triumph the
Egyptians, the mama in the wilderness and other hiato
,ical fact afford him bjects imagery In like man.
the giving Of the law Mount Sinai is imagery
which the prophets have and again ployed.
S: they DC not us s' ss b i & to
yst sublime is the prophecy of the Scripture. and
tbs souls Of those who hear him. But in these
prophecies We find also truhstrict invxr .bs truth
None are asttsred: The aycoPh.nt ia dashed, and
lately to consider the prophets posts but the
prophets had nothing in common with tho motives Of
poets Thsy had neither love Of fame, Of public ap.
pl.use, or Of Disqualification These the motives Of
ordinary poets The prophets entertained tas idea
Of self thsir task was an enormous to improve aud
proys Jet they poes fsshoners of poetry OF the
ghtiest effect artists too they panters and archi
tsct Of the gandsst style But whether they paint or
dvnsat soquence has been gsntsd to Isaiah Next to
bim Is jeremiah irresistible in bis pathos Next in order
y Ezekiel who scars siOit in mighty chariot great,
Thes come the minor prophets minor in extent but not
minor In holiness or beauty Each has his peculiar
STYLE He who studies them in the original viii
taxa the one for the other. But there is
the same great proof that they all em ,nate
tom the same spirit. Whistler they indulge
Ia the losst imagery graphic dsscrptiveness
then their object is not much beauty the truth of
God the holiness of God, and faith in Cod and this
binaton gives their language lasting and unfading i'm
portsrce, because 1t comes from nigh This enables
them to become the unang oraclss Of faith until the
end Of tms he who studies the PROPHETS will hni ia
them every phase and progress of the human mind Tx
time Will come when every man will look up TO the pro-
phsts and understAnd the prophecies As their parsoss
was holy SO their amer sublime Isaiah ani Jere.
niAh would each require entire lecture do any jus
tee to their merits The banshmen of tho psopls and
their form the subjects Of their posry Tie
lamentations of jeremiah the last pro- ucions that
we're written in pure Hebrew. He talks of the IN
which has fallen from the peoples head aad by this he
means the loss OF their language. Malachis poetry
n Of high order, but he Is very obscure.
Any Hebrew scholar must be struck with tina
difference between him and the elder prophets, he
mes no longer the imagery Of Noses Then the voice
orrophesy became mute, and sacred poetry heard
no mere Upwards of two thousand years have passed
since the Book Of the Prophets closed Since then 1t
has been in the hands Of Jews and Christians alike Both
have devoted their attention to unfodin, its beauties
he (he ectuer) had prssumed to tread in their steps
He trusted that he had done iaparaly and that al
though his views light differ from those Of many Of his
audience he hoped that in the of his lectures he
had hurt no ones feelings.
At the close of the lecture Mr. Ketchua rose aud de-
sired 70 express his unqualified appreciation of Dr. Rap
hAps lectures he thought that in the exhibition Of
lucid Language and of refined ste few lectures could
have surpassed those Of the reverend lecturer He noed
Aot say that the subject was ono Of the grsatest
interest ard highest subimty He rejoced that Rap
ball had kept oil the debateabls ground between
Jew and Christian he regretted to small at
tendance present. and would not believe that 1t
cause the learned lecturer Jew that people did
attend he moved the following resolution which was
unanimously carried
Resolved That the Of this meeting rendered to
the Rev Dr. Rapha for the great ability research, and
good TASTE exhibited by him in his lectures
Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews and that
repeat these lectures In suitable pacs the
part Of the city.