The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1866-05-10
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.

! Il Ii
If we turn from Heather to Jewish
Literature, we find the latter inferior to
the former in eXquisiteness Of form, in
polish of style, in graceful imagery and
in the charm which a language singu-
larly flexible and picturesque imparts
but far inferior to it in depth, in moral
sublimity and in power to stir the deep
or feelings of the heart. There Was
open to the Jew a world of thought and
emotion that was entirely unknown to
the Greek or Roman. 70 him Jehovah
had revealed himself in visible majesty.
He had seen Him in the cloud and in
the pillar of fire. He had heard the
laundering, and trembled before the
lightnings Of Sinai. He had been the
eyewitness of numberless and most I'M
pressive manifestations Of Divine justice
and mercy, and had gazed with awe
upon the glory Of the Shechinah. Upon
the idol worship OF other nations, he
looked With contempt. No image Of
stone or brass could adequately embody
his idea Of the Infinite One. As he
entered within the sacred temple he felt
himself in the presence of Being Of
wisdom and power, before whom man
and all his works were less than nothing,
and vanity. These exalted conceptions
of the Deity, are easily traced in all the
the manifestations of Jewish intellect.
There is in the Literature Of the Jews 4
sincerity, an earnestness, a fiery energy,
a grandeur of imagery, an awful sub
Unity, united at the same time With an
almost rude simplicity, and an artess
pathos, such as are to be found in the
the Jew had not entered into the perfect
light and liberty of the gospel. He
was under the stern bondage of the law.
Regarding his own nation as the be-
yoved and chosen people of GoD, the
only heirs of salvation, the pale of his
sympathies was narrow, and he cared
but little for the sufferings or joys Of
those in whose veins the blood of Abra-
ham did not flow. BY the multitude of
those ceremonial observances which
his education was almost exclusively
directed, he became formal, far more at
tentive to the letter than the spirit, and
unable to discern anything beautiful or
good except within the limited sphere
of his own peculiar institutions. Com
pared with Grecian, Jewish Literature
is sarrow in It's scope, rigid in its form,
intoieranS in its spirit. The former
represented the natural mantle latter
man under yokes and bonds. In Gre
can Literature, therefore, we see the
highest point Of culture to which the
natural man can atain-the loftiest work
ines of MS intel,ect-the most splendid
Efforts of his genius. IN Jewish Lite
nature we see the productions Of mind
systematically enlightened, yet not free.
T. Is mind cropping in the dim twilight
rot boldly and joyously walking forth
ir the clear siansaine-.oo much occupied
with the grea5 truths respecting The
Deity, immortality, and the nature and
forms Of worship 70 employ It's aetivit.
il artistic ezaations-and yet compre
bending bet very iEnpertectly the truths
to which it directed its energies. O.
tie true character OF Sop, Of the real
nature of his government, and of the
redemptive work to be wrought by the
promised Messiah, he had bat indistinct
and feeble conceptions. Hence he stood
IL a peculiar oosition-separated on the
ore hand from the Heather, and GA the
other from the Christian. He had neither
the freedom OF The natural man, nor the
higher freedom Of tire hew man IN
Christ. lie was under system OF legal
discipline, which had for its end, not
the cultivation of the intellect to it
highest point of perfection, but the im
planting Of the germs o. spiritua
life. From this brief survey, we car
easily answer the question, what i