Scripture
By J. C. Philpot
What a gift to the church of God is the inspired word of
truth! Next to the gift of his dear Son and the grace of the Blessed Spirit,
may we rank the gift of those "Holy Scriptures which are able to make" the
regenerate soul "wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ
Jesus." But though it is so unspeakably precious to have in our own language
at our side, in our hands, and sometimes in our hearts, the inspired word of
Him who made heaven and earth, of Him in whom we live, and move, and have
our being, of Him who by his Spirit and grace enables us to look up to
himself as the God of all our mercies, of all our hopes, and all our
comforts, yet from the very commonness of the gift, we are apt much to
undervalue it. As light, air, water, or even food, clothing, shelter—those
indispensable requisites to the support of natural life—are little prized
because of daily, hourly use; so the Scriptures, which contain in them the
food of the soul, are less valued than they should be, because they are a
book familiar to us from childhood. Much in the Holy Scriptures which would
strike our minds with astonishment, were it for the first time read, has
become so familiar, from constant repetition, as almost to fall listlessly
on the ear. The creation of the world and of our first parents; the fall in
paradise; the flood, with the preservation in the Ark; the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah: the history of Abraham; the diversified scenes of
Israel's sufferings and victories; or, to come to the New Testament, the
simple, touching narrative of the life, sufferings, and death of Jesus, in
the gospels—were these beautiful descriptions less familiar from constant
repetition, how they would arrest our attention, how they would charm our
ears, and seem pregnant with interest in every line! True it is that, then,
as now, we should as much need the Blessed Spirit to apply them to our
hearts, but we should not read them or hear them read as listlessly as we
now too often do.
Have our readers ever considered the wonderful variety to
be found in the Scriptures?—we mean the varied form under which God has been
pleased to reveal his sacred truth? Let us devote a few minutes to the
expansion of this thought, as perhaps it may cast a light on that peculiar
mode of instruction which is presented to us in the Song of Solomon.
If it had so pleased him, God might have confined himself
to one form of holy instruction, as, say for instance such positive
directions as we find issued relative to the tabernacle. (Exod. 25-30.) But
as in creation, variety of form, size, color, sheds beauty on all the works
of his hands, so in the word of his grace, variety gives new beauties to
revelation. Let us consider a few instances of this variety, which may serve
more fully to open our meaning.
1. The first and most prominent form is that of
history, forming, both in Old Testament and New, a large portion of
the sacred volume. All events being under his control and directed to his
glory, and some being stamped with more evident marks of his special
interposition, God has seen fit to record such as in his unerring wisdom
should be for the perpetual instruction and edification of the church. But
what remarkable features are stamped on Bible history, viewed as a special
form of revelation!
Consider, first, its antiquity: how it stretches
back to the beginning of all time; no, we may say, into eternity itself.
What should we know of the creation or the fall, but for the Bible? And if
the creation of man in his original purity and his fall into sin and death
had not been thus divinely revealed, what a mystery, what a perpetual
stumbling-block would this life and this world, with all their sins and
sorrows, have ever presented!
But besides the antiquity, what a certainty does
the historical part of the Bible afford of the circumstances related, and
how different in this respect from the fabulous, obscure narratives of
heathen historians! What a charming simplicity, too, and tender
pathos, combined, where needed, with strength and energy,
do we find in the historical pages of holy writ! As an obvious instance, how
tender, yet simple and life-like, is the history of Joseph. As a mere record
of Israel's preservation, a bare outline of Joseph's history would have been
sufficient. But what a loss would those beautiful details have been which
have given such life and power to that pathetic narrative! The noble speech
of Judah, the yearnings of Joseph's heart, restrained until they broke out
into such floods of weeping that "the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh
heard;" the tender pathos of those words, "I am Joseph; is my father yet
alive?" in which, laying aside all the dignity of the first prince of Egypt,
he gave vent to the pent-up affections of 20 years, with a hundred other
traits of divine beauty in that touching narrative—where can we find a
parallel in works written by the finger of man? The whole history of David,
too, and specially his combat with Goliath, his last interview with
Jonathan, his flight from Jerusalem, with his touching self-reproach and
submission, his watching at the gate for tidings about Absalom—Absalom the
rebel, the incestuous adulterer, yet still Absalom the darling of the old
man's heart—with that heart-rending cry, when Cushi, not daring to tell the
whole, yet told enough to fulfill his worst fears, "O my son Absalom, my son
Absalom! would God I had died for you, O Absalom, my son, my son!"—apart
from all the divine truths conveyed by this unequaled narrative, who does
not feel its consummate tenderness and beauty?
We cannot, from wanting space and other reasons, dwell
upon particulars, or in the New Testament we might point out the history of
Lazarus with the strongly-contrasted character of the two sisters and the
God-Man in the midst, weeping as man, raising the dead as God; the last
supper, with the washing of the disciples' feet; the scenes in the garden
and at the cross; the walk to Emmaus; the ascension from Mount Olivet, and a
thousand other traits in the gospels, as full of tenderness and beauty,
apart from their divine character. So, what simple yet noble pictures have
we in the Acts of the Apostles! Paul's miraculous conversion; his
unparalleled labors and zeal; his boldness when, at the risk of his life, he
rushed into the theater at Ephesus; his touching parting at Miletus; (Acts
20;) his noble speeches before Felix and Festus; his voyage and
shipwreck—what traits of beauty shine through all his history! As in a noble
landscape, or an exquisite painting, or a beautiful piece of music, besides
the general effect, a thousand single traits of beauty or harmony start
forth to charm the eye or ear, so in the word of God, besides the general
sublimity and harmony that are stamped on the whole, innumerable features of
beauty leap forth to the observing eye. In creation there is not only
beauty, but a prodigality of beauty, from the gleaming stars overhead to the
kingfisher's bosom or the butterfly's wing; and thus in the Scriptures there
is not merely an exquisite grandeur stamped on the whole, but an overflowing
beauty gushing from every page.
2. But history is only one form of divine
revelation. There are what we may call devotional writings.
The Holy Spirit, not only inspired men of God to breathe forth prayer and
praise, not only taught them to sigh and groan, rejoice and sing, but
instructed them to commit to writing those breathings of their soul after
the living God. As these divine breathings were usually set to music and
sung in the tabernacle worship, they were called "Psalms."* What a manual of
living experience, what a standing model and exemplar of vital communion
with God, what a perpetual stream of consolation and edification to the
church of Christ these divine compositions are and ever have been, it is
unnecessary for us here to mention. From the lowest depths of trouble and
sorrow to the loftiest heights of joy and praise, there is no state or
stage, movement or feeling of divine life in the soul, which is not
expressed in the simplest and sweetest language in the Psalms. They are thus
not only a test and guide of Christian experience, a heavenly prayer-book, a
daily devotional companion, a bosom friend in sorrow and joy, a sure chart
for the heaven-bound voyager, and an infallible standard of divine teaching,
but a treasury of strength and comfort, out of which the Holy Spirit blesses
the waiting soul.
* The word "Psalms," which is taken from the Greek, means
literally the soundings of the strings of the lyre, and thence the divine
songs which were sung to stringed instruments.
3. But there is prophecy also, reaching
forth from the first promise given in paradise down to periods still buried
in futurity. Here, as in a continually unfolding roll, are written by the
finger of God events of the deepest importance, and especially the
sufferings and glory of Christ, and, as one with him, the sufferings and
glory of the church. Nor are these prophetic strains mere cold predictions,
mere dry, formal declarations of future events. Mingled with the strains of
the prophetic harp, flow in the full tide of harmony, promises, warnings,
threatenings, rebukes, exhortations, all teeming with that peculiar energy
and power which stamp the word of God as truly divine.
Poetry, too, and oratory—poetry such as
uninspired poet never reached, oratory such as human eloquence never
attained to—lend their charms, giving to prophets such as Isaiah language as
exalted as their theme. Nor let these be thought out of place. Poetry and
oratory, in their purest, highest state, are but the expression of
impassioned thought, lofty, burning language being the necessary vehicle of
lofty, burning ideas. Thus as the thoughts of God are higher than those of
men, the language of God is higher than that of men; and what is called
poetry and oratory being but lofty thoughts in lofty words, poetry and
oratory are the necessary vehicles of divine thought. To point out a tenth
of these beauties of thought and expression would require pages; but as one
instance, take Isaiah 63, and read it as a dialogue, which indeed it is,
between Christ and the church. The church seeing in the distance a mighty
personage advancing, bursts forth with the inquiry, "Who is this that comes
from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?" The Redeemer answers,
"I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." "Why are you red in your
apparel?" again inquires the church, "and your garments like him that treads
in the winevat?" The Redeemer answers, "I have trodden the winepress alone;
and of the people there was none with me; for I have trodden them in mine
anger, and trampled them in my fury; and their blood is sprinkled upon my
garments, and I have stained all my clothing." What poetry, what oratory,
are here; how sublime the thoughts, how noble and impassioned the language!
Similar beauties may be found in almost every chapter.
4. But instruction is also conveyed under a more strictly
condensed and didactic form, as in the "Proverbs," where the
wisest and deepest lessons of moral teaching are couched under short, simple
sentences, alike pithy and pointed, and from their concise, antithetical
style, easy to be remembered. Happy the man who could direct his moral
conduct, we might add, even his habits of life and business, according to
the rules laid down in the Proverbs; happier he who can receive the
spiritual counsel veiled under these moral rules, and act up to their spirit
and divine meaning!
5. Nor are letters—that charming mode of
communion between distant friends—wanting as another form of divine
instruction. The Epistles, we know, of Paul and other apostles
constitute a large portion of the New Testament. How overflowing with holy
affection are these letters to churches and individuals; how pregnant with
grace and truth; how richly do they unfold the doctrines of the gospel; how
copious are they in promise, how comprehensive in precept, how pointed in
reproof; how tender to console, how faithful to warn, how impregnated
throughout with heavenly savor and dew! These features are, indeed, so
prominent in the Epistles, that it is superfluous to point them out to those
who read them with an enlightened eye. But one feature may, perhaps, have
escaped the observation of some of our readers, who, dwelling chiefly on
single verses, may not have paid much attention to the epistle as a whole;
we mean the subtle but strong chain of close argument which
distinguishes some of Paul's epistles, especially those two masterpieces,
the Epistle to the Romans and that to the Hebrews. Take, for instance, the
eleven first chapters of the Epistle to the Romans. Were we called upon to
do so, we believe we could point out a logical series of the subtlest and
strongest reasoning in those chapters so powerful and masterly, that hardly
a word does not contribute a link to the chain:—were it necessary, we, think
we could trace out the deeply important subject which he there handles, that
is, the justification of the believer, and show the gradual unfolding of his
argument, the way in which he supports it from the Scriptures, the decisive
conclusion to which he comes, the objections he anticipates and answers, the
consequences he draws, until he winds up the whole with, "O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" But how many of the Lord's
people have read and re-read those eleven chapters, and with profit too, and
comfort to their souls, on whom this masterpiece of reasoning, as a complete
chain of logical argument, is almost utterly lost. What oratory, too,
has he poured forth. Read, in this point of view, the first chapter of the
Epistle to the Hebrews. With what majestic dignity, even in our translation,
which is far inferior to the original, it opens; and how it rises and
swells, like a noble organ, until it peals forth that full strain, "Are they
not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation? "(Heb. 1:14.) Look also at Heb. 12:18-24. How
beautifully are the two dispensations contrasted! How we seem transported,
on the one hand, to the foot of Sinai, until we seem to see the very
mountain burning with fire and overshadowing the flames which burst through
the "blackness, and darkness, and tempest;" and on the other, carried in
spirit to Mount Zion, hovering round which we seem to view the "innumerable
company of angels," and on the mount itself, "the general assembly and
church of the first-born which are written in heaven." Apart from the
blessed truth conveyed in these verses, what beautiful imagery, what
life-like touches, what breathing eloquence, what sublimity of thought, and
fullness yet compression of language, shine through the whole. Again, what a
picture of human wickedness does the pen of Paul draw in Rom. 1:20-32. How
concise, yet how pregnant the language; how damning the catalogue of crimes;
how burning the words that denounce them. What a concentration of thought
and expression, the very essence of true oratory, is observable in verses
29-31! And in that acknowledged masterpiece of eloquence, Rom. 8:28-39, how
the language keeps rising in power and grandeur, until death, life, angels,
principalities, powers, things present and things to come, height, depth,
and creation itself, are all challenged to separate the elect from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
6. But we are now brought to another form of divine
revelation, which we hardly know how to name, lest our meaning be
misunderstood, but we may venture to call it a Sacred Drama.
By the expression we do not mean anything approaching theatrical
representation, but the introduction of distinct people and scenes, and the
carrying on of a dialogue, in which the parties express their affections and
feelings to each other. Our readers will at once perceive that we mean the
Song of Solomon. We do; but not exclusively, for we have it shadowed forth
in other parts of Scripture, as Job. 1, 2, and Ps. 24, 45. But it is most
fully carried out in the Song of Solomon, which is a celebration of the
mutual love and delight in each other of Christ and the Church.