sense of nothing but material things, we cannot see truth and reason, in themselves, as spirits do these things are of a different nature from our sight; and therefore we are obliged to conceive them as they are reflected to us in the glass of the visible forms, and sensible qualities, of outward things.

It is the excellence of this mode of speaking that it is not confined to the people of any particular nation or language; but applies itself equally to all the nations of the earth, and is universal. It was not intended for the Hebrew or the Egyptian, the Jew or the Greek, but for man; for that being who is composed of a reasonable soul and a fleshly body; and therefore it obtains equally under the Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian Dispensation; and is of common benefit to all ages and all places. Words are changeable; language has been confounded; and men in different parts of the world are unintelligible to one another as barbarians; but the visible works of nature are not subject to any such confusion: they speak to us now the same sense as they spoke to Adam in Paradise; when he was the pupil of heaven, and their language will last as long as the world shall remain, without being corrupted.

Thus,

But

Thus, for example, if we take the word of God, we have a sound which gives us no idea ; and if we trace it through all the languages of the world, we find nothing but arbitrary sounds, with great variety of dialect and accent, all of which still leave us where we began, and reach no farther than the ear. when it is said, God is a sun and a shield, then things are added to words, and we understand that the being signified by the word God, is bright and powerful; unmeasurable in height, inaccessible in glory; the author of light to the understanding, the fountain of life to the soul; our security against all terror, our defence against all danger. See here the difference between the language of words and the language of things. If an image is presented to the mind when a sound is heard by the ear, then we begin to understand; and a single object of our sight, in a figurative acceptation, gives us a large and instructive lesson; such as could never be conveyed by all the possible combinations of sounds. So again, when we are told of a being whose name is the devil, we go to the derivation of the term, and find it signifies an accuser; and accusation may be true or false. But, when instead of the word, we have a serpent as a figure of him, we

are

ate aware of his nature, and of our own danger. We understand that the devil is insidious and insinuating; that his tongue is double; and his wounds poisonous and fatal. When we are told that he is the prince of darkness, then we find that he promotes blindness and ignorance amongst men, as darkness takes away their sight; and that he is contrary to God, who is light. When the devil is said to be a lion, then we understand, that as hunger makes the furious beast wander about the desert in search

of prey; so the devil, with an appetite to destroy and devour, is always going to and fro in the earth, to watch and take advantage of the ways of men.

So plain is this sort of teaching, and so effectual, that if I were to begin with the first elements of instruction to a child, I think I would teach this ideal language in preference to all the languages of the world; for this is the life and soul of all the rest, and the best preparation of the mind for receiving the wisdom of God, who hath every where instructed us after this form which, while it helps the understanding, has a wonderful power to engage the attention and please the imagination. Man from his childhood is strangely delighted with pictures; and the passion lasts to the end of his life: for when

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when the eye ceases to be entertained as a child is, the mind will have its pictures for amusement and learning; and the wisest and greatest among mankind have been captivated by them in all ages.

As philosophy derived much of its influence from the powerful imagery of poetry in the ancient tragedies of Greece; so is the religion of revelation greatly assisted and enforced by its figurative language; always pertinent and instructive and, on proper occasions, exceedingly sublime and beautiful.

The two ends of poetry, as they are laid down by the greatest master in the art, are to profit and to delight; to give the best instruction under the most pleasing form. The means it uses for the attaining of these ends, is to inform the mind by presenting to the imagination those pictures and images of truth, which are to be gathered either from created nature, or the actions of men, and the various scenes of animal and social life. Philosophy and

poetry differ in this respect; that the one instructs by words, and delivers its precepts literally; the other by the images of things: and if these images are lively and proper, then the mind is delighted with a moral as the eye with the effect of a picture. Therefore good poetry, under

under proper restrictions, is one of the greatest and best works of human art ; and hath always been accounted divine, as proceeding from the assistance of heavenly beings. Even in the oratory of prose, the method of managing well an allusion or comparison is of great value, because it is of great effect. He is the most agreeable speaker, who can open and adorn the argument of his discourse by some apt representation of truth from the nature of things. But in religious subjects, where it is of the utmost consequence that men should hear attentively, and be persuaded effectually, there this manner is most valuable of all.

How beautiful is that admonition of Saint James, from the propriety of the imagery under which the moral is conveyed! He exhorts to govern the tongue; which though so small a member of the body, is yet of such great effect, that to govern the tongue is to govern the whole man. "If any man offend not in word, the

same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle "the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the "horses mouths, that they may obey us, and "we turn about their whole body. Behold "also the ships, which though they be so great, " and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they "turned about with a very small helm, whither