SECTION VII. DIGNITY OF THE SCRIPTURE LANGUAGE. Οἱ δὲ πανημέριοι μολπῇ θεὸν ἱλάσκοντο, Μέλποντες Εκάεργον· ὃ δὲ φρένα τέρπελ ̓ ἀκούων. HOM. THERE is a certain coldness and indifference in the phrases of our European languages, when they are compared with the oriental forms of speech; and it happens very luckily, that the Hebrew idioms run into the English tongue with a particular grace and beauty. Our language has received innumerable elegancies and improvements, from that infufion of Hebraifms, which are derived to it out of the poetical paffages in Holy Writ. They give a force and energy to our expreffions, warm and animate our language, and convey our thoughts in more ardent and intense phrafes, than any that are to be met with in our own tongue. There is something fo pathetic in this kind of diction, that it often fets the mind in a flame, and makes our our hearts burn within us. How cold and dead does a prayer appear, that is composed in the most elegant and polite forms of fpeech, which are natural to our tongue, when it is not heightened by that folemnity of phrase, which may be drawn from the Sacred Writings. It has been faid by some of the ancients, that if the Gods were to talk with men, they would certainly talk in Plato's style: but I think we may say with justice, that when mortals converse with their Creator, they cannot do it in fo proper a style as in that of the Holy Scriptures. If any one would judge of the beauties of poetry that are to be met with in the Divine Writings, and examine how kindly the Hebrew manners of fpeech mix and incorporate with the English language; after having perused the book of Pfalms, let him read a literal tranflation of Horace or Pindar. He will find in these two laft fuch an abfurdity and confusion of style, with fuch a comparative poverty of imagination, as will make him very fenfible of what I have been here advancing. Since we have therefore fuch a treasury of words, fo beautiful in themselves, and fo proper for the airs of mufick, I cannot but wonder that perfons of distinction fhould give fo little attention and encouragement to that kind of mufick which would have its foundation in reason, and which would improve our virtue in proportion as it raised our delight. The paffions, that are excited by ordinary compofitions, generally flow from fuch filly and abfurd occafions, that a man is afhamed to reflect upon them seriously: but the fear, the love, the forrow, the indignation, that are awakened in the mind by hymns and anthems, make the heart better, and proceed from fuch causes as are altogether reasonable and praise-worthy. Pleafure and duty go hand in hand; and the greater our fatisfaction is, the greater is our religion. Musick, among those who were styled the chofen people, was a religious art. The fongs of Sion, which we have reason to believe were in high repute among the courts of the Eastern monarchs, were no thing else but pfalms and pieces of poetry, that adored and celebrated the Supreme Being. The greateft conqueror in this holy nation, after the manner of the old Grecian lyricks, did not only compofe the words of his divine odes, but generally fet them to mufick himself: after which, his works, though they were confecrated to the tabernacle, became the national entertainment, as well as the devotion of his people. The first original of the Drama was a religious worship, confifting only of a Chorus, which was nothing else but an hymn to a Deity. As luxury and voluptuousness prevailed over innocence and religion, this form of worship degenerated into Tragedies; in which, however, the Chorus fo far remembered its firft office, as to brand every thing that was vicious, and recommend every thing that was laudable; to intercede with heaven for the innocent, and to implore its vengeance on the criminal. Homer and Hefiod intimate to us how this art should be applied, when they represent Q 4 present the Muses as furrounding Jupiter, and warbling their hymns about his throne. I might fhew from innumerable paffages in ancient writers, not only that vocal and inftrumental mufick were made use of in their religious worship, but that their most favourite diverfions were filled with fongs and hymns to their refpective Deities. Had we frequent entertainments of this nature among us, they would not a little purify and exalt our paffions, give our thoughts a proper turn, and cherish those divine impulfes in the foul, which every one feels, that has not stifled them by fenfual and immoderate pleasures. Mufick, when thus applied, raises noble hints in the mind of the hearer, and fills it with great conceptions. It ftrengthens devotion, and advances praise into rapture. It lengthens out every act of worship, and produces more lafting and permanent impreffions in the mind, than those which accompany any tranfient form of words, that are uttered in the ordinary method of religious worship. |