as made of the account of the Creation, from the manner in which he has
treated it, imbued and impregnated with the spirit of the time of which we
speak. Or what is there equal (in that romantic interest and patriarchal
simplicity which goes to the heart of a country, and rouses it, as it
were, from its lair in wastes and wildernesses) equal to the story of
Joseph and his Brethren, of Rachael and Laban, of Jacob's Dream, of Ruth
and Boaz, the descriptions in the Book of Job, the deliverance of the Jews
out of Egypt, or the account of their captivity and return from Babylon?
There is in all these parts of the Scripture, and numberless more of the
same kind, to pass over the Orphic hymns of David, the prophetic
denunciations of Isaiah, or the gorgeous visions of Ezekiel, an
originality, a vastness of conception, a depth and tenderness of feeling,
and a touching simplicity in the mode of narration, which he who does not
feel, need be made of no "penetrable stuff." There is something in the
character of Christ too (leaving religious faith quite out of the
question) of more sweetness and majesty, and more likely to work a change
in the mind of man, by the contemplation of its idea alone, than any to be
found in history, whether actual or feigned. This character is that of a
sublime humanity, such as was never seen on earth before, nor since. This
shone manifestly both in his words and actions. We see it in his washing
the Disciples' feet the night before his death, that unspeakable instance
of humility and love, above all art, all meanness, and all pride, and in
the leave he took of them on that occasion, "My peace I give unto you,
that peace which the world cannot give, give I unto you;" and in his last
commandment, that "they should love one another." Who can read the account
of his behaviour on the cross, when turning to his mother he said, "Woman,
behold thy son," and to the Disciple John, "Behold thy mother," and "from
that hour that Disciple took her to his own home." without having his
heart smote within him! We see it in his treatment of the woman taken in
adultery, and in his excuse for the woman who poured precious ointment on
his garment as an offering of devotion and love, which is here all in all.
His religion was the religion of the heart. We see it in his discourse
with the Disciples as they walked together towards Emmaus, when their
hearts burned within them; in his sermon from the Mount, in his parable of
the g