98 



poetical narrative ? Tlie very cause, which invests them with the 

 sanctity of religious awe, repels as uncongenial the fictions and illu- 

 sions of the poet ; they may inspire the Psalmist to pour forth his soul 

 in praj'er and admiration and awe and holy love, hut they refuse to be 

 moulded by the epic poet in plastic figures, forms familiar to us, 

 and in which we discover extent, weight, colour, and all the 

 grosser attributes of matter. Let not the epic poet plead the example 

 of sacred writings. It is because of their sacredness that those forms 

 should not be taken from the altar and arrayed as dramatis personae, 

 and made to speak and act like other mortal beings, the earthborn 

 though ever so sublime fancies of the poetic muse.* Who can listen 

 to a conversation of God the Father and God the Son without the 

 silent shudder of a man guilty unwillingly of sacrilege ? Who can 

 bear irony put into the mouth of God ?f Who can undertake to justify 

 the ways of God to man except by prayer, and faith, and humble sub- 

 mission to Providence. ;J 



There was a time, when sacred history was the only subject of drama- 

 tical composition, when the Biblical account of the Fall, of the Flood, of 

 Moses and David, nay of the Birth, the Life, the Death of Christ were 

 acted on the stage. What was it, that called forth these phenomena ? 

 It was not the poetic, but the religious interest in the subjects of these 

 productions. We have overcome that period of imperfect develop- 

 ment of true religious sentiment and poetical art. We acknowledge 



* Hallam I^it. of Eur , vol. IV. c. 6, s. 25. " It is difficaU to enlarge or adorn sudi a 

 story by fiction. Milton lias done much in this way, yet he was partly restrained by tho 

 necessity of conforming to Scripture." 

 + Milton's Paradise Lost, v. 719. 



" Son, thou in whom my glory I behold 



In full resplendence, heir of all my might; 



Nearly it now concerns us to be sure 



Of our omnipotence, and with what arms 



We mean to hold, what anciently we claim 



Of deity or empire : such a foe 



Is rising, who intends to erect his throne 



Equal to ours throughout the spacious north; 



Nor so content, hath in his thought to try 



In battle, what our power is or our right. 



Let us advise, and to this hazard draw 



With speed what force is lefi, and all employ 



In our defeuce ; lest unawares we lose 



This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill." 

 t This justification of the ways of God to man is, after all, not so much contained 

 in the whole conduct of the poem, it is not practically exemplified by narrated events, 

 but theoretically set forth in isolated passages, more especially in the speech of God to the 

 Messiah, III. 80-134 :— " Only begotten Son," &c. 



