nightly forbiddance. The soothsayer, seized with the fear of God, refuses to go. More noble messengers and more splendid presents arrive, to prevail on him to consent: his heart is all readiness,—but the prohibition still lies upon him, and he declares that he can do nothing to break that bond. Jehovah sees his covetous wishes, and requires of him to make it appear before the king and the people of Moab, that no word of cursing could fall from the lips even of the most avaricious of hired prophets, contrary to the command of God: thus he permits the journey, and they depart. The heart of the prophet now began to change; for it was not certainly to bring Balak a curse that he had set out, and his journey was inconsistent and dangerous if he could really think of such a thing: he thought, therefore to elude and baffle the divine command, and take occasion to fulfil the expectation of Balak by throwing out some evil expression, to which the people of that day ascribed great efficacy. Then God was angry with him as he rode; his angel met him in the way, to warn him, who disregarded the divine voice in dreams, still more sternly. The dumb, serviceable beast sees the vision, and refuses to go on this alone,-according to the vulgar sentiment of the time, and especially after what had happened, and to the mind of a diviner,-must have seemed an unlucky omen; the kingdom of the spirit, was against him, the God Jehovah, who in two dreams had appeared to him. He disregards the omen, beats the animal, and urges her further. The vision leads on to a narrower path, and he is pressed to the wall; but he regards it not, and beats and urges again. Now comes he to a close place, where there is no outlet: the messenger of the Lord appears in its most formidable aspect; the ass drops down: he is enraged, he storms, and now-she speaks. She actually does speak in the impostor's ears; for this is told in the same tone, in which all the rest is told: in the same manner, in which it is afterwards said that God opened the eyes Balaam, it is said here that he opened the mouth of the ass. * The eyes of the prophet in his wild and angry mood were not yet lifted up, as is plainly signified; and Jehovah there opens his eyes. He sees the messenger of God with the fearful drawn sword, who reproves him, who speaks of * In the second volume of the "Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry," Herder speaks thus of the same history:-- a fearful phenomenon is to befall him in the way he actually hears and sees in a waking vision what is here related. How trifling, therefore, are the questions, whether the ass really spoke, and how she spoke, and in what way reason and speech were given her! She spoke to the false prophet in vision; that is, he heard a voice, and saw an appearance '--We do not know whether our readers will regard this as a very clear description. : slaying him, who pronounces his way perverse, that is, treacherous, false, audacious, and once more bids him in the most awful manner say nothing, but what the immediate divine impulse (ogun, enotaris, impetus Jehova) would have him say. Thus warned he proceeds, and in spite of his covetousness can do no otherwise. All his altars, all his offerings on the high places, are of no avail: no god of the hills here helps him : Jehovah meets him, and he cannot curse, he must bless. Twice he does it unwillingly; but the third time, as he feels the divine influence, he readily yields to it, and even adds a fourth blessing, higher than all the rest,-he blesses even to the latest times. No one, who has read what he uttered, can mistake the sublimest enthusiasm, the highest and as if immediate inspiration, of which human language is capable; and it resounds and springs upward from the unwilling lips of one, who was bought, and bought anew, to curse, when he blessed. It resounds from the lips of a man, who would deceive God, whose design was perverse when he came thither, who forgot the visions of the night, and gave no heed to all the portents of the way. A double vision of wonders was necessary to terrify him and this vision was, as it were, his own history. As God opened the mouth of the dumb beast, so must he too speak against his will and his welfare; as if the angel with the naked sword at the narrow part of the way was standing continually before him. Whoever will carry himself back into the belief of those remote ages, and especially as it existed in the mind of one of the oriental diviners, who were always full of dreams, full of visions, full of wanderings in other places and times, and are so still among all the nations where they are found ;-whoever will do this, will find every thing so in its proper place, and the whole history in such natural order, the dealing of God so adapted to Balaam's manner of thinking, and even the speech of the animal in the ear of the soothsayer so agreeable to the object of his oracular journey, that I should know how to alter no word in this whole relation, even on the score of natural expression, any more than I should in the noble oracles of Balaam's mouth. It was as the proudest garland of the Israelitish confidence of victory, that Moses inserted it ;-a garland, which an idolater and a knavish prophet for hire, under the immediate compulsion of Jehovah, even like a speaking brute, was obliged to offer. Can you conceive of a manner, in which Israel could be more beautifully or emphatically blessed? If you reduce the thing, however, to a fable, or a tale of imposture, I grant that this complexion of it will be better suited to the spirit of our times, and may satisfy it pretty well but the history is broken. Moses' aim and scope are destroyed, and the most resistless inspiration is become a poor trick; against the genius of the age, the popular belief, and the very words of Moses himself.--I should never have done, were I to attempt to go through with all the false colours, which have been laid on the good old Hebrews, borrowed from modern times, and especially from the poets: indeed my letter has grown into an essay already. ON THE USE OF THE WORD "MYSTERY." FOR THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLE. To use words in a wrong meaning, or without any meaning, is an old offence. It is a cause of great complaint, that language, which is designed to be the vehicle of ideas, should in so many cases degenerate into mere sound, or become the instrument of deception. This is, perhaps, peculiarly true of certain words and phrases derived from scripture, especially such words and expressions, as have been particularly connected with theological systems, or have become, in any degree, technical. Every one knows in how vague a manner, and how much at random, scripture terms are quoted and applied; and perhaps the language of the Bible, from the very nature of the book, is more liable to this abuse, than any other language. There is no book which requires so much explanation to make its true sense understood in many places, and which at the same time is so much in common use. Hence arises, in a considerable degree, that indefinite and obscure use of scripture phraseology, which is so general. Almost every one reads the bible; but few are possessed of the means of understanding its various parts, and fewer still will apply the means with impartiality and a desire to find the truth. The consequence is, that many words and phrases from the sacred writings are used in a very unmeaning or very incorrect manner. Besides, we are very apt to be pleased with being able merely to quote the bible, and to think it no mean proof of our proficiency in religion, that we can on every occasion promptly repeat some passage of scripture. To most minds there is something so satisfying in the mere use of scripture language, that it is a matter of little consequence, whether any definite ideas are attached to it, or not; hence, words come to take the place of things, and hence we so often hear or find not only grossly incorrect, but sometimes even ludicrous, applications of verses and sentences from the sacred writings. Perhaps there is no word, of which the use is more frequently indefinite or incorrect, than the word "mystery." It is often made to hide the want of meaning, or to shield from examination ideas which are totally inconsistent with each other. It serves to put an end to discussion, when men have nothing else to say, and when nothing else can be said. It is a convenient resort alike for those, who do not think clearly, and for those, who are unwilling to relinquish their opinions to the force of any objection. Whatever things are unintelligible, absurd, or contradictory, may, by the aid of this single word, be secured from inquiry, and be converted into essential articles of christian faith. If, for instance, we ask, how God can be strictly and properly one being, and yet consist of three persons, "the same in substance, equal in power and glory," each infinite, and each possessing supreme divinity, the answer is ready,-it is a mystery. If we ask, how one of these persons, Jesus Christ, could be at once "God and man in two distinct natures, and one person forever," could at one and the same moment know all things, and not know all things,-be suffering on the cross, and reigning in heaven, the only reply is, that it is a mystery.-We are told, that this being, who was both God and man, suffered to make an atonement for sin, and that this infinite expiation was rendered necessary by the infinite evil of sin :-if then we enquire, how God could both offer up the sacrifice and receive it, how the divine nature could suffer, and how, if it did not, the death of Christ could be an infinite atonement, or any thing else than the death of a man,-our questions are easily met by saying that the whole is a mystery.-If we are confounded at the doctrine of man's inability to do the will of God, at the same time that he is required to do it, and venture to ask, how that Being, who is represented as invested with the attribute of justice and with the true character of a father, could bring mankind into the world" under his wrath and curse," and then condemn them to endless misery for not doing that, which He had rendered it impossible for them to do,-the same answer is still at hand,—it is the mysterious dealing of God with his creatures.-To the reflecting mind it may seem a most revolting inconsistency, to suppose that God, who "is no respecter of persons," who "is good unto all and whose tender mercies are over all his works," should "out of his mere good pleasure from all eternity elect some to everlasting life," and send the rest to irrecoverable ruin and eternal punishment;-but to silence all objections and quell every feeling of moral sensibility, we are taught that this is too mysterious for man to understand, and that God hath a right to do what he will with his own.-In short, it would be an almost endless task to follow the various abuses of this word on religious subjects. To many it brings with it the recommendation of silencing the inquiries of reason, and humbling the pride of the depraved heart; and with many doubtless it is the sincere expression of heartfelt reverence and pious awe. Those, who quote the language of scripture in the loose and indistinct manner mentioned above, will probably feel satisfied with using the term in their own way, merely because they find it in the bible; and not attending to the sense, in which it is used in different places of the sacred writings, will claim for their own application of it the sanction of divine authority. It may be profitable, therefore, briefly to remark upon all the passages, in which the word mystery occurs in the New Testament, that we may see whether we can there find any authority for those uses of it, which are so common and so incorrect. Matth. xiii. 11.-"Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." This was said by Christ, immediately after he had delivered the parable of the sower, in reply to the question, "why speakest thou unto them in parables?" The "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," in this place, are evidently not any incomprehensible doctrines of religion, but those obscure and figurative expressions, which Christ had just used, respecting the nature of his kingdom and the reception and fate of christianity.-These our Lord tells his disciples they were in a condition to understand, while to others they would appear dark and unintelligible. The same explanation must of course be applied to Mark iv, 11, and Luke viii, 10. Romans xi, 25.-" For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery," &c. Here the word "mystery" has a meaning, which it often bears, viz. something which had not before been made known or revealed, but which is now made known, and in this place, it refers, as the succeeding passages shew, to the future conversion of the Jews to christianity. Romans xvi, 25.-" According to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but is now made manifest," &c.-In this passage, the same general meaning of the word, as occurs in the last citation, is expressed by the apostle; it is what was kept secret, but is now made manifest. There is a difference of opinion concerning the particular thing which St. Paul here means by "mystery." Some, with Locke, think it is the calling of the Gentiles, while others suppose it to be the christian religion, which before the coming of Christ was not known; except what might be gathered from the general and obscure expressions in the prophetical writings, and these |
