صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

ON THE APPLICATION OF THE TERM " SAINT."

Ir is, we believe, a general rule in Biblical Criticism, that, in order to arrive at the true sense of the interpretation of any passage, especially where any obscurity hangs over it, the critic should keep close to the literal import of the terms used, neither straining the meaning of any, nor explaining it away by undue limitations, admitting no interpretation that is not in agreement with the context, and does not accord with the scope of the writer's argument.

In the spirit of this rule, which is a golden one, we have carefully examined all the passages, both in the Old Testament and in the New, in which the terms Saint and Saints occur, and have come to the unavoidable conclusion that the appellation Saint, as commonly used, is a gross misapplication, and ought to be excluded from the writings of all real Christians, and also from their common conversation.

That the Twelve Apostles were ayıoı (agioi) holy men, or Saints, in the true sense of the term, cannot for one moment be doubted; but that they were so in any other sense than that in which they themselves denominated those as Saints to whom their several epistles are addressed, is positively denied. On this point we hope the authority of the Apostle Paul will not be called in question. The persons to whom he wrote his epistles he denominates "Saints," in at least forty instances: these were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, men and women who had received the doctrines which he taught; men and women of all ranks and degrees of society, but, perhaps, chiefly poor, as he was continually raising contributions for them; they were, in one word, the whole company of professing Christians in any one place, or in several places; and in comparison with whose lives, when he reflected on what he had been when he was doing many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, shutting up his Saints in prison, and when they were put to death giving his voice against them, he declares himself less than the least of them all. With what advantage might the advocates of canonization contemplate this picture of genuine Christian humility, sketched by the master hand of the chief of the Apostles!

This very condensed view of the meaning of the term Saint, as used in the apostolical epistles, is fully borne out by twelve instances in which it occurs in the Book of Revelation.

In the Old Testament, wherever the term Saint occurs, it will be found to have the same extent of application; it will be found to be applied in common to the prophets, and to the people who obediently listened to the

voice of the prophets. The prophets were holy men of God, who spoke as they were moved by the Spirit of God;-they who believed them and obeyed them, were called " Saints," i. e. holy persons, persons set apart, as separated from the surrounding nations for the service of God; and although among the Jews such sanctity was, nationally considered, merely external, it represented the true separation of Christians from the world.

If, then, the above statements be, in substance, correct-and if they are not, let their fallacy be demonstrated,-we ask whence it is that the appellation "Saint" is denied to such distinguished characters as Moses and Aaron; David and Job; Isaiah and Jeremiah; Ezekiel, Daniel, and others? According to the "usus loquendi," that man would appear very ignorant of theological phraseology-possibly he might even be laughed at-who should say,-" Saint Aaron was the brother of Saint Moses," although Aaron is expressly called "the Saint of Jehovah," and is said to be the brother of "Moses the Man of God."

Keenly desirous do we feel here to have a tilt with Rome, and to ask the whole community of SAINTS registered in her Calendar, Whence came ye? But we pause; we would reflect;-we would remember the Divine advice,—"First cast out the beam out of thine own eye." We have the Evangelists and the Apostles Sainted in the commonly received version of the Scriptures; the Liturgy of our National Church acknowledges no small number of " SAINTS;"-nay, we have a service in it for 'ALL-SAINTS' DAY;"-we could not have a wider recognition of canonization. From this goodly company of saints and martyrs we could select not a few to whom our National Church, even in the present day, deems it a duty to pay very high honours, but of whose lives the less that is said so much the better; we shall content ourselves, however, with one specimen.

[ocr errors]

Let the reader just glance at the gold or silver current coin of these realms, or let him examine the blazonings of our heraldry, and he will find the effigy of a certain gentleman on horseback, represented as in the act of slaying a monstrous Dragon, that is the effigy of the "TUTELAR SAINT OF ENGLAND;" the effigy of GEORGE of Cappadocia; a man whose name is but another word for every thing that is infamous. We will not stain the pages of this publication by giving even an outline of the life of this miscreant; Gibbon, the historian, has done his character all justice; we would merely remark, that the Anglican Christian has much to be ashamed of in the vaunted exclamation of the poet-"England and Saint George."

* Certainly not the dragon mentioned by John in the Revelation.

In conclusion, we would observe, that the practice of Sainting the Apostles, to the omission of Moses and the prophets, seems to have originated with those who have fancied, and who still fancy themselves to be their successors. The Apostles need no successors; they can have no successors; the Twelve Apostles will never die; but, as a Scotch writer not unaptly once remarked, "They who usurped the successorship of the Apostles, paid them the compliment of Knighting them in return." We have most carefully observed, for years, the writings of Swedenborg, to see whether he ever Saints the prophets or the Apostles ;- -we have not yet met with one instance of his having done so ;-he gives them their simple names: why should any one who professes to consider him as an authority deviate from his noble example, and conform to a practice founded on the basest secularity?*

ΙΑΚΩΒΟΣ.

EXTRACTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S SPIRITUAL DIARY.

Concerning those who desire to enter into Divine Mysteries by natural philosophy, or by physics.

2299. There was a certain one, who, when the conversation was about spiritual things, perceived the subject materially, which I perceived in a spiritual idea, as [represented by] little white lines, which was a sign that spiritual things were conceived of in a material manner; which, however, are not material, because they are forces (vires) from substances. When, therefore, those who wish to enter into those things which are spiritual, and which belong to faith, from physical or natural philosophy, material ideas then remain with them, which are represented in the other life as above described. Such spirits, in the other life, are extremely anguished when they hear the truths of faith; yea, they are reduced to such anxiety that they scarcely think themselves capable of being healed, which I was this day permitted to know by experience from a certain spirit who was thus anguished for a long time, so as to despair of being healed, or saved ;—but there is no disease or evil which is irremediable, because the power of the Lord is infinite.

* "Canonization is necessarily very expensive, because so many persons must be employed about it; so many journeys must be made; so many writings for and against it must be drawn out. The expense altogether amounts to about 25,000 Roman crowns, or £6000. sterling. But it is generally contrived to canonize two or three at a time, by which means the particular expense of each is very much lessened, the solemnity (?) being common."-LOND. ENCY.

2300. Such spirits are characterized also by this, that they spread, to a very wide extent, their phantasies concerning spiritual things, and, as it were, close up the ideas of others so that they can scarcely perceive spiritual things otherwise [than materially]; wherefore unless they are reduced into another state, they can by no means, so long as they are of such a nature, be amongst the societies of the spiritual: whether they can be amongst the celestial I do not yet know, only that in such case their thoughts respecting the causes of things, and the like, must be removed.-June 11, 1748.

2301. But it should be well understood what is meant by entering into spiritual things by means of natural philosophy; namely, that it is never forbidden to confirm the truths of faith and spiritual things, by those things which are in nature; because there is a correspondence of all things, for then Truth governs, and natural truths serve to confirm it. Such is the nature of human minds, that in this manner they can better acknowledge spiritual things, for no one can have any idea of purely spiritual things, except by those which are in the world; even the words, by which the sense is expressed, involve material ideas. In that case, however, the Lord, who is the Truth itself, flows into the mind and leads, and thus illuminates it by things which confirm. Whereas to believe nothing, or not to acknowledge any spiritual truth, not even heaven, angels, spirits, the life after death, and many other things, except they are seen and perceived by natural philosophy, or, as they say, unless they are demonstrated to their senses, this is entirely interdicted, for in such case they become like those who thus begin to penetrate [like a camel through the eye of a needle]. [Matt. xix. 24.]-June 11, 1748.-Because they wish to see spiritual and celestial things from natural, which is impossible; for how can that which is composed enter into and penetrate those things which are components, or which compose? This is against all possibility; wherefore if a man attempts this, he is either disrupted [that is, separated from what is spiritual], and thus perishes, or he is so blinded that he can see nothing whatever. Whereas from spiritual things, as from components, things compounded can be clearly seen and distinguished.June 11, 1748.

On Drunkenness.

2422. I have conversed with spirits concerning drunkenness, which was confirmed by them to be an enormous sin; because thereby a man becomes a brute, and ceases to be a man, inasmuch as that which constitutes a man is the intellectual faculty; thus he becomes a

brute. Moreover, he thereby brings destruction upon his body, and thus hastens death; he also destroys that in luxury which might be of use to many.-June 27, 1748. It should also be added, that drunkenness appeared to them so filthy, that they abhorred such a life;which, however, mortals have introduced among themselves, as civil life.

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN GERMANY.

Bekentnisse Von Uhlich, &c.; or Confessions of Uhlich, in relation to the Protestant Friends, and to the Attacks they have experienced.

Ob Schrift? Ob Geist? Verantwortung, &c.

Whether Scripture or Spirit? An Answer to all my Accusers, by Gustavus Adolphus Wislicenus, a Clergyman in Halle.

Wislicenus und seine Gegner, &c. Wislicenus and his Opponents; or, a Declaration of Protestant Friends.

SUCH are the titles of some of the numerous works which are now streaming from the press in Germany, respecting a mighty convulsive movement in the Protestant or Lutheran Church in that country. We have heard much of Ronge and his movement; how, like a second Luther, he is arousing the Roman Catholics of Germany to a proper sense of their position in relation to the Pope and the corruptions of Romanism, and how the masses of the population have responded to his appeals, and have followed his counsels. The Pope is abandoned as the vicar of Christ upon earth; his infallibility is exploded; his arrogant pretensions as head of the church are rejected with scorn; and many gross perversions of Christian doctrine are denounced and condemned. Such is the movement among the Catholics of Germany, and its progress is still increasing. But of the agitation among the Protestants of Luther's fatherland little has yet been heard in this country. This agitation, however, is, in our view, more important than the other. It is more strikingly portentous of disruption in the Christian church than the Catholic revolution. It involves and exhibits the entire consummation of Christianity; it has sprung from "the 'cockatrice' egg, and spiritual devastation is the result.

[ocr errors]

But before we enter into particulars, we must take a view of Lutheranism and of Protestantism in general. The right of private judgment in

« السابقةمتابعة »