Page images
PDF
EPUB

REVIEWS.

The Christian Philosopher; or the Connexion of Science and Philosophy with Religion. By THOмAS DICK, author of a variety of literary and scientific communications in Nicholson's Philosophical Journal, the Annals of Philosophy, &c. &c. First American edition. New-York: G. & C. Carvill, 1826. pp. 397.

It is well known to all who were familiarly acquainted with the late President Dwight, how much that great and good maa insisted on the duty of Christians studying the WORKS of God. Of his authority, the author of the work before us has availed himself, by quoting from his system of Theology, the following passage.

The works of God were by him intended to be, and are in fact, manifestations of himself; proofs of his character, presence, and agency. In this light, he requires men continually to regard them; and to refuse this regard, is considered by him, as grossly wicked and highly deserving of punishment, Psalm xxviii, 5. Isa. v. 12—14. I am apprehensive that even good men are prone to pay less attention to the works of creation and providence, than piety demands, and the scriptures require. We say and hear so much concerning the insufficiency of these works to unfold the character of God, and the nature of genuine religion, that we are prone to consider them as almost uninstructive in moral things, and in a great measure, useless to the promotion of piety. This how ever, is a palpable and dangerous error. The works alone, without the aid of the scriptures, would, I acknowledge, be far less instructive than they now are, and utterly insufficient to guide us in the way of righteousness. The scriptures

were designed to be a comment on these works; to explain their nature and to shew us the agency, purposes, wisdom, and goodness of God, in their formation. Thus explained, thus illuminated, they become means of knowledge, very extensive, and eminently useful. He who does not find in the various, beautiful, sublime, awful, and astonishing objects, presented to us in creation and Providence, inestimable and glorious reasons, for admiring, adoring, loving, and praising his Creator, has not a claim to evangelical piety." (System of The ology, Vol. III, p. 477.)

What Dr. Dwight so earnestly recommended to others, he himself practised in an eminent degree. "He looked at Nature with the eye of a poet, a philosopher, and a Christian. The majestic mountain and roaring cataract, the morning dawn and evening cloud, the shady grove and flowery meadow, were objects which raised his soul to ecstasy, and filled him with ever new delight. Nor were his views of nature limited to scenes of beauty and grandeur. He loved also to mark the laws that regulate the various works of God, from the minutest insect to the starry heavens. In them all, he saw proofs of His existence, power, and wisdom, and with grateful praise, recognised His goodness in the morning sun, and falling shower, and springing herb." (Memoir of President Dwight, Port Folio.)

The frequent and happy manner, in which many of the sacred writers allude to the scenery and the operations of the natural world, evinces how attentively they had studied them, and how deeply they were imbued with that delight and admiration, which such a study of them never fails to inspire. The same contemplation of the starry

heavens, that kindled so warm and exalted emotions in the breast of Mr. Addison, and that drew from him one of his most admired and finished passages,* had long before awakened a loftier feeling in the breast of the Psalmist, and given rise to a still more fervent and exalted strain. "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?" The green pastures and the still waters the rose of Sharon and the lily of the vallies-the cedars of Lebanon, and the dews of Hermon --objects of which the sacred poets make such fond and frequent mention, clearly evince how familiarly they held converse with the works of God. Nor are there wanting examples to show that they studied nature not only in her cheerful, but also in her solemn and awful forms, and recognised and adored the great Creator in tempests, when clouds and darkness were round about him-in storms, when his lightnings enlightened the world, and the hills melted like wax at his presence-in volcanoes, when in his wroth, the earth shook and trembled, the foundations of the hills also moved and were shaken; when there went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured. Nor were they inattentive to the monitory voice that issues from the fading leaf, and the withering grass, and the transitory flower of the field, when the wind passeth over it and it is gone. This practice of devout and instructive reference to objects in the natural world, was not confined to the sacred poets. How aptly, and how beautifully, does our Saviour himself enforce his lessons of heavenly wisdom, by referring us to the fowls of the air, that our heavenly

* Spectator, No. 565.

Father feedeth-to the lilies of the field, excelling in beauty the princely robes of Solomon-to the spar rows which are not forgotten before God-and to the storm which beat harmless on the house that was founded on a rock, but which prostrated in ruins that which was built upon the sand.

How great is the blessedness of that man, who combines with the enthusiasm of the naturalist, the devoutness of the Christian; whose heart is warmed while his vision is charmed; whose love and gratitude to the Creator, mingles with the delight and admiration with which he inspects the works of his hands!

If, as is the opinion of some, the heathen mythology was fitted to enhance the interest inspired by natural scenery, peopling as it did, the sky, the air, the sea, and the abysses of the earth, each mountain, stream, and grove, with myriads of divinities, how much more is that religion fitted to heighten the same emotions, which leads the student of nature to believe and feel, that the glories of the evening sky, the vernal landscape, each glit tering gem, and enamelled flower, not only speaks the presence, but proclaims the loving kindness of his God! Who has so much reason as the Christian to find a fane in every sacred grove ?'

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Who can doubt that the writer of

the following passages from the hundred forty-eighth psalm, which Milton has so finely amplified in

Adam and Eve's morning hymn, and Thomson so successfully imitated in his Hymn to the Seasons, united in himself those qualities which are necessary to impart the highest possible interest to the works of creation,-an imagination ever kindling at the beautiful and sublime of nature, and a heart ever glowing with love and gratitude to the Creator. Praise ye him sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy wind fulfilling his word. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars. Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl.

We think the work before us well adapted to promote a union of that admiration of nature with piety towards its Author, of which we have cited such high examples. Although it comes after a long series of writings of the same class, it has the advantage of being better adapted than any of the others to the present advanced state of science; and though not a work of as great originality as several other kindred works, it still excels most of them in its tendency to promote at once the cultivation of the understanding and the affections. If

we

compare such writings as Ray's Wisdom of God in the Works of Creation, Sturm's Reflections, Wollaston's Religion of Nature De lineated, Derham's Physico-Theology, St. Pierre's Studies of Nature, Hervey's Meditations, and Paley's Natural Theology, we shall perceive that the uses which Christian writers have made of the works of creation and providence, are extremely various. Some have looked at nature purely through the medium of the understanding, and others through that of the imagination. One has sought only for proofs of the being and attributes of God; another, feeling the full

force of this evidence as soon as he opened his eyes upon the works of creation, and impatient of a laboured course of reasoning, has chosen to occupy himself in descanting on their beauty and magnificence, and the benevolence and glory of the Creator; and another still, while he attempted coolly to give a history of nature, found himself, as Saint Pierre remarks, “making a pause at every step he advanced, transported at the beauty of her divine productions."* Dr. Paley may be cited as an instance of the first; Hervey of the second; and our present author of the third. As the views with which these several writers have looked at the works of creation and providence were different, so their several degrees of merit ought to be estimated on different principles. Paley's Natural Theology is a work of the highest excellence, and we are inclined to think that as a piece of reasoning it has never been excelled. But Hervey can no sooner look at the starry firmament, or take a turn in a flower-garden, than he is transported at once away from the cold regions of argument, into the warmer and more congenial climes of poetry. Yet to many devout Christians, the "Meditations" of Hervey, are more edifying and more dear than the Reasonings of Paley. The disparaging manner in which Dr. Blairt spoke of Hervey's Meditations, is probably one great reason why this once favourite author has fallen into such neglect, we might almost say contempt. We cannot but think, however, that even when his merits as a writer merely are considered, he has been depressed below his proper level. No one can study nature long or attentively without being smitten with admiration at the perfection of her works. Hence, if the naturalist

*Studies of Nature, i. 1.
+Blair's Lectures, No. 18.

has a spark of poetry in his composition, it is sure to be kindled and to animate his descriptions.* If then one who undertakes merely to describe the works of creation is so prone to fall into raptures, and to leave simple prose as too tame to express his transports, much indulgence must certainly be granted to one, whose professed object it was not to describe nature, but to contemplate her in her most sublime and beautiful forms, exalted in all their characters, by reflecting the divine image of their Maker, and shadowing forth the glories of the redemption to a soul already strongly imbued with the love of God. Viewed in this light, the Descant upon Creation, which was intended to magnify the condescending love and mercy of Christ, by contrasting his humiliation and sufferings in the work of redemption, with his exaltation and glory in the work of creation, contains several passages of great beauty, and moves throughout in a very elevated strain. Let us take as an example of his style and spirit, the apostrophies to mines, fountains, and birds.

"Ye mines, rich in yellow ore, or bright with veins of silver; that distribute your shining treasures as far as the winds can waft the vessel of commerce; that bestow your alms on monarchs, and have princes for your pensioners: Ye beds of gems, toy-shops of nature! which form, in dark retirement, the glittering stone; diamonds, that sparkle with a brilliant water; rubies, that glow with a crimson flame; emeralds, dipped in the freshest verdure of spring; sapphires, decked with the fairest

*This tendency is strongly manifested in Wilson's Ornithology, and in the Entomology of Kirby and Spence. Any one who has perused the account of the Bald Eagle by the former, and the history of the white ants that hold in slavery a nation of blacks, by the latter, will be ready to assent to the correctness of this remark.

drapery of the sky; topaz, emblazed with the golden gleam; amethyst, impurpled with the blushes of the morning: He who tinctures the metallic dust, and consolidates the lucid drop; He, when sojourning on earth, had no riches but the riches of disinterested benevolence; had no ornament, but the ornament of unspotted purity. Poor he was in his circumstances, and mean in all his accommodations; that we might be rich in grace, and obtain salvation with eternal glory; that we might inhabit the new Jerusalem, that splendid city, whose streets are paved with gold; whose gates are formed of pearl; and the walls garnished with all manner of precious stones. Ye gushing fountains, that trickle potable silver through the matted grass: Ye fine transparent streams, that glide in crystal waves along your fringed banks: Ye deep and stately rivers, that wind and wander in your course to spread your favours wider; that gladden kingdoms in your progress, and augment the sea with your tribute: He who supplies all your currents from his own ever-flowing and inexhaustible liberality; He, when his nerves were racked with exquisite pain, and his blood inflamed by a raging fever, cried, I THIRST, and was denied (unparal lelled hardship!) in this his great extremity, was denied the poor refreshment of a single drop of water; that we, having all-sufficiency in all things, might abound to every good work; might be filled with the fulness of spiritual blessings here, and hereafter be satisfied with that fulness of joy which is at God's right hand forevermore."

"Ye birds, cheerful tenants of the bough, daily dressed in glossy plumage; who wake the morn, and solace the groves with your artless lays inimitable architects! who, without rule or line, build your pensile structures with all the nicety of proportion; you have each

:

his commodious nest; roofed with shades and lined with warmth to protect and cherish the callow brood; but He, who tuned your throats to harmony, and taught you that curious skill; He was a man of sorrows, and had not where to lay his head; had not where to lay his head, till he felt the pangs of dissolution, and was laid in the silent grave; that we, dwelling under the wings of omnipotence, and resting in the bosom of infinite love, might spend an harmonious eternity in singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb."

When, however, we venture to offer an apology for Hervey's Meditations, blending as they manifestly do, the spirit of the naturalist, the poet, and the Christian, we would not be misunderstood: the style is by no means adapted to ordinary purposes, and we need hardly add, that the reflections of Addison in Westminster Abbey, and his contemplations on the starry heavens,* are to be recommended to the young writer as much safer models of composition than the kindred productious of Hervey. We can

*Spectator, Nos. 26 and 565.

[blocks in formation]

not, however, extend the same apology to a writer who introduces, here and there, a passage in the style of Hervey's Meditations, in the midst of a plain didactic discourse; and hence, contrary to the common opinion, we are inclined to think that Hervey's Theron and Aspasio, a work consisting of familiar dialogues and letters, written for the most part in a plain, colloquial style, is more faulty in the manner of its execution than the Meditations; because here the florid passages appear like splendid pieces of patchwork, stitched upon a ground of very different texture.

Purpureus late qui splendeat unus et alter

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »