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appealing directly to the hearts of his dependent creatures, shewing what was their true quality, and thus exercising a prerogative belonging to himself alone, and which it would be blasphemy in any created being to pretend to. "Thou hypocrite," "ye hypocrites," are words perfectly proper from the lips of Him whose prerogative it is to search the hearts, and try the reins of the children of men, and therefore perfectly proper from the lips of Him who "knew all men, and needed not that any should testify (to him) of man, because he knew what was in man;" but equally improper would such language be if used by one created and finite being in reference to another, because it presupposes Omniscience.

Of the truth of this we have a highly instructive example in the case of the apostle Paul, a man who was favoured with a high degree of spiritual illumination, having heard and seen things in the highest heaven, which it was impossible to utter in human language. Notwithstanding this, however, Paul was only a mere man, and, like all other mere men, knew nothing of the secrets of the human heart; and therefore when, on a certain occasion, he ventured, under great provocation, to call the Jewish high-priest a "whited wall," which was only another term for "hypocrite," he apologized for having done so, pleading his ignorance of the office of the person to whom he had applied the opprobrious epithet, and quoting the Scripture which forbids men to "speak evil of dignities." But when or where do we ever find the Lord retracting one word which he uttered, or offering the slightest apology for any of his actions? To whom could he apologize? The very thought is blasphemous. He classes the whole Jewish nation together, from the high-priest to the lowest of the people, and denounces them as a seed of evil doers, children that were corrupters, whose hands were full of blood, and who were just about to fill up the measure of the iniquities of their fathers by imbruing their hands in his own blood.

Now, let it be observed, that for Him to speak after this manner; to convict the world of sin; to testify of it that its deeds were evil; to command all men every where to repent, and do works meet for repentance; to direct their minds to Himself as the true God, and the alone author of eternal life, was the very burden of his mission to this earth. And if in the execution of this mission of divine love and mercy, any wicked individual, as Herod, for example, should dare to interpose his fancied authority by ordering him to "depart hence," and threatening him with death if he did not, what reply can' we conceive as more appropriate to the circumstances of the case, than

that made by Jesus, in which he shews his perfect knowledge of Herod's character and quality as a most consummate dissembler, intimating at the same time that he was unmoved by his menaces ;that he would continue in spite of them in the meritorious and mighty work in which he was engaged, even to its completion;and that, as to his death, neither he nor any one else had any power over it,—he would, of himself, when the proper time should arrive, lay down his life, not, however, in Galilee, but in Jerusalem.

And here it may not be altogether irrelative to the subject to remark, how very inconsistent with themselves we sometimes find some of our most learned annotators on Scripture. On the words: topevÕevtes eitate тη aλwπekɩ (literally, "going say ye to that fox") the learned Dr. Bloomfield says in a note-" Not said by way of reproach, though Herod, from his consummate dissimulation, well merited the epithet." When, however, he comes to notice the expression : οτι ουκ ενδεχεται προφήτην απολεσθαι εξω Ιερουσαλημ, (“for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem,”) he says— "Which words contain one of the most cutting reproaches imaginable."

Now, if the Lord did not speak reproachfully when he so correctly described the character of Herod as an individual, denominating him a “she fox,” (the name Aλwang, alopex, in Greek is only feminine,) whence does it appear that he used "the most cutting reproach imaginable," when he, with equal correctness, describes the Jewish church as the killers of the prophets, the stoners of the messengers that had been sent to them? The whole passage, from verse 32 to the end of the chapter, is one connected series of the most merciful and faithful expostulations with the Jewish people that ever fell from the lips of the divine Saviour; it breathes nothing but the mourning of the divine compassion over their blindness and obduracy of heart; and just as well might Dr. Bloomfield attempt to find "the cutting reproaches" and the “acute dicta” of which he speaks, in the Lord's weeping lamentation over Jerusalem-(Chap. xix, 41—44.)—as in this passage.

Taking, then, all these considerations together, and comparing them with a host of passages bearing on the same point that might be adduced from the Old Testament, (such as Jer. ix. 1; xiii. 17,) what ground is there left for supposing for a moment that the Lord stooped to use the language of reproach or railing, in one single instance ? And now let the most fastidious critic take into his calm consideration the history of the Herod family, as it may be gathered

from the New Testament, and what scenes present themselves to his contemplation! Rich in materials for moral reflection are they all, but rich only for their atrocity will he find them. Let him commence his investigations with the history of Herod the Great, falsely so called, since he was great only for his vices; and, setting aside the atrocious murders he committed within the circle of his own family, (murders which made Augustus say it was better to be Herod's swine than Herod's sons,) let him confine his attention to the efforts of that great tyrant to destroy the Great Head of the Church, by the murder of the innocents. Let him then closely investigate the character of Herod Antipas, the same who beheaded John the Baptist; who sent the insulting and threatening message to the Lord, of which some notice has been taken above; the same who, with his men of war, set the Lord at nought, derided him, arrayed him in mock majesty, and sent him back to Pilate. Let him then proceed to inquire into the character and actions of Herod Agrippa, the great orator, the man who stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church, who killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, and who, to gratify the Jews, cast the apostle Peter into prison; and when he has duly considered the whole, let him candidly say whether the Lord did not most appropriately designate Herod Antipas when he applied to him the term Aλwrŋg (alopex) which literally signifies a DEVOURER OF THE VINEYARD. * What but this was the aim of the Herods with regard to the church or vineyard of the Lord?

But to enter on the particulars involved in the subject in question, would be to fill a volume; the above brief hints are only intended to suggest to the reader's mind the ground that might be legitimately taken, in attempting to rescue the words of the Lord from the misrepresentation of which they have been not unfrequently the subject, both directly and indirectly. Of the first kind of misrepresentation enough perhaps has been already said; of the second, which is the more dangerous of the two, it may be allowed to offer, in conclusion, a remark or two. In theological controversy it is no uncommon thing to find the combatants, for lack of argument, having recourse to personal abuse, and loading each other with the most ungracious and unwarrantable epithets. This of itself is sufficiently culpable, and cannot fail to produce the immediate aversion of every candid and well-informed mind; but the offence rises to the highest pitch

* From aλwo, whence alwσis, a taking, catching, &c., and payw, I eat, consume, devour, &c.

when those dealers in opprobrium attempt, as they often do, to shelter themselves under the example of the Lord. "Even the Lord himself," say they, "found it necessary to use the most severe language in censuring the vices of the men of his day." Preposterous and extravagant enough it is to find uninspired men arrogating to themselves "apostolical succession," for sheer self-arrogance it certainly is; but for foaming disputants, neither of whom, in numerous instances, understands what he contends for, to compare their scurrility with the dictates of Divine Wisdom, is, in the strictest sense of the common proverb, fairly to " Out-Herod Herod."

ΙΑΚΩΒΟΣ.

WHAT IS PRAYER?

"Prayer," says the highly gifted Swedenborg, "is discourse with * an intuition of those things which are the objects of

God; prayer."

*

According to this truthful definition, it may be considered the vivid and heartfelt contemplation of the facts of life-internal and external-a contemplation of the whole circle of being, religious, social, and domestic. It is a sincere and earnest view of what the soul does in the inner-world, as to motive, intention, will, wish, and thought, and of what the body does in the outer-world, as to word and works; thus of soul-life and body-life. It is the contemplation of these facts from the highest point of view which the mind can take. In some, that point, in consequence of moral depravity or of intellectual weakness, is exceedingly low and earthy; in others, it is higher, loftier, and better developed, because spiritual; whilst in the most highly gifted, because celestial, it commands the broadest and clearest survey of the mental scenery in the spirit-world within. Prayer, therefore, is the devout declaration of all that the soul can see of itself—of its nature, developments, and wants. It is an opening of the soul to God—a laying bare before him our most secret wishes, feelings, thoughts, and intentions-a realization of that most useful and necessary exercise, self-survey and self-condemnation-an expression of devout determination to live for God and man according to the truth, and to have, for a primary end, the eternally good, and the eternally useful. It is a humiliation of the soul before God— a verdict passed upon self for all acts originating in itself, and it is a full verdict, and in accordance with all that it can see of truth on the

one hand, and on the other, with all that it can see of its nature from the highest point of view which it is then able to take. It is the asking and upward-tending of a beholding and non-confident soul, that sees itself beset on every hand with trials and temptations-that knows its own weakness and God's power-that views the extent of the mental enemies arrayed against it, and seeks the aid of Him whose providential care is mightily operative in the protection of the Good and True. It is an opening of the whole being, like the sunflower, to receive the inspiring rays of love and light flowing from the "Sun of righteousness." It is a conversing of the soul with God concerning its eternal welfare-its full acknowledgment of what it is, and what God is--of its heart-felt and eye-seen relationship between itself and him-of what it has done in rebellion, and what he has done in mercy—of its errors of the past, and its amends for the future. It is, therefore, the contrite humiliation of man's rebellious nature, and the active workings of his superior nature. It is the pouring forth, in converse with the Divine, their gratitude, their wants, their fears, and their humiliations. It is a total shutting out of the world from end and motive-a stepping from this world into the inner-it is an entering our closet and closing the door-an attending to the Lord's voice, to his knocking, with every good motive, thought, wish, and intention; also an opening of the lower and outer faculties that TRUTH may come in unto us, and coöperate with us, and we with it. It is, therefore, an urgent and deeply-felt desire, on the part of man, that the Lord will come and dwell with us, that we may live with him, act with him, and will and think with him, that all which we do may be done well; and thus to be unto us a Father, a Friend, a Supporter, a Guide, a Teacher, and a Shepherd. It is the soul's wish that it may be like the vision-ladder of Jacobthat the infinite Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, will ever be at the top, in its most secret parts, regulating the ascent and descent of his holy angels-the goods and truths of his blessed Kingdom and Word. S. B.

ON JACOB BEHMEN.

To the Editor of the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY.
SIR,

As you gave insertion to a paper of mine, pointing out, and illustrating by quotations, many striking agreements between Behmen and Sweden

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