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Untitled Article
and conversation ; for myrrh was one of the ingredients of the holy . oil with which all the persons and vessels employed in the tabernacle service were anointed . , " It is impossible , " says our author , " that the Magi should have fixed by ehanbe upon articles so exactly symbolical of the sentiments proper to die occasion of spiritual worship . " Are we then to presume that they were acquainted with the nature of this worship , and consequently with the true character of the Messiah ? However intimately versed they might be m
this symbolical language , they must have had the ideas m order to express them at all . And if they possessed this language , how happens it that the analogies upon which it is" founded have ever since been forgotten , and that it has Ijeen left at this distance of time for Mr . Noble again to reveal them to the world" ?
The combat of David and Goliath symbolizes , we are told , ( p . 513 , ) the superiority of divine dependence over self-confidence . Such , doubtless , is the impression left on the mind by the perusal of the narrative in its plain and literal form ; but this is too simple and direct an . application to suit the taste of our author . The Philistines , we are given to understand , denote
those in every age of the church who profess to belong to it , and have an extensive knowledge of sacred subjects , but give themselves no concern about practice . The wars , then , between the Philistines and the Israelites denote the contests between the doctrine of salvation by faith alone , and the union of faith with charity . Giants , again , denote those who are in strong persuasion of their superior power and intelligence , and who are deeply grounded in pride and self-conceit . The armour of the Philistine represents the false reasonings and perversions of truth , by which such persons confirm themselves in their erroneous persuasions . David , on the contrary , is
generally allowed to represent the Lord Jesus Christ , as to that principle in his nature whereby , when in the world , he combated against and subdued the infernal powers which held man in bondage ; and hence , derivatively , he represents the faithful member of the church , who engages in spiritual conflicts in an humble dependence on the Lord alone . The smooth stones from the brook are the pure truths of the Divine word ; the stone smote the enemy in the forehead , to denote that the very first princi p le of the doctrine which makes every thing depend upon faith—that which forms the head of all the rest , is discovered at once to be erroneous when contrasted with the plain
declarations of Scripture . This strange and gratuitous perversion of a plain , historical narrative appears to us neither to require nor to deserve any further comment . As material things are thus the symbols of things spiritual , and the events of history are typical of analogous changes and revolutions in the church or in the' ' human soul , so the places in which such events are recorded to have m thehuman soul , so the places in which such events are recorded to have
happened , and , in general , the countries principally spoken of in sacred history , are to be taken as representatives of certain feelings and states of mind . According to this system of spiritual geography y ( p . 274 , ) the land of Judea symbolizes the true church , and all the graces which properly belong to it ; and hence the adjacent countries represent the general principles in the mind of man which have an affinity to those which are constituent
of the church . Around the central region , which denotes the vital love and knowledge of God , we allot various districts ta represent those parts of } Jhe mind whose functions consist of attachment to subordinate objects . And thus the map of the holy land and the surrounding countries is a fit delineation of that microcosm , < the ' mind of man ., Egypt-represents what belongs entirely to the natural man , but specifically the science or knowledge of the
Untitled Article
528 Review .- ~ Nobte on the Inspiration of the Scriptures .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1827, page 526, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1798/page/56/
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