OF THE PASSIONS. 



459 



Interwoven with the mystic sublimity of Platonism, which pervades more 

 especially the spirited and lofty verses of Lorenzo de' Medici. It next 

 allied itself equally with classical mythology, generalizing- the " Jehovah, Jove, 

 or Lord," as Mr. Pope has it, of Christians and Heathens ; under which sys- 

 tem every Pagan deity had his name continued, and was regarded as nothing 

 more than a separate attribute of the true God. Sannazaro and Pontano, 

 like the Portuguese epic poet Camoens, are full of this absurd amalgamation ; 

 but from the time of Vida to the present day the devotional effusions of the 

 Tuscan muse have been purged from foreign dross, and in subject as well as 

 in style, while highly impassioned, are equally pure, pious, and erudite. 

 Were I to be called upon to point out the two best sacred poets of modern 

 times, I should instantly name Ftlicaja and Klopstock; both men of exem- 

 plary goodness, whose lives were dedicated to religion, and who, while they 

 wrote from the heart, adorned their compositions with every classical ex- 

 cellence. Bion has nothing sweeter- or more touching than Klopstock ; 

 Pindar nothing more ardent or sublime than Filicaja. 



Yet, to determine the question fairly, whether religious subjects can afford 

 a proper ground for poetry, or the language of the passions, it is necessary to 

 look back to nations of a ver}^ remote antiquity, and who cultivated such 

 attempts as a national pursuit. Surely, if the erroneous and extravagant 

 mythologies and superstitions of ancient Greece possessed interest enough to 

 concentrate equally the fond attention of the poets and the people, and to be 

 laid hold of as the standard theme of odes, dramas, and epopees ; if the sacred 

 fictions of Isis and Osiris, of Ornnizd and Ahriman, of Brahma and Pracriti, 

 were deemed the noblest subject for song in Egypt, Persia, and Hindostan ; and 

 song, too, composed by the most learned hierophants and the most celebrated 

 bards of their day, in colleges expressly founded for the occasion ; what 

 ought we not to look for in countries of coeval antiquity, preternaturally illu- 

 minated with the principles of genuine religion, and where colleges also were 

 founded of the same mixed kind for the same lofty purpose 1 What ought 

 we not to expect from the rapt patriarchs of Idumsea, or the inspired prophets 

 of Salem ; from the magnificent schools of Dedan and Theman, or those of 

 Naioth and Mount Zion 1 From the two latter, more especially, since one of 

 their chief, and certainly one of their most pleasing, duties was to compose 

 a regular series of sacred odes and other canticles to the praise of the great 

 Creator, and to sing them daily to the skilful sound of psaltery, tabret, and 

 harp, in sweet, alternate concert ; and accompanied with the symphonious 

 movements of solemn attitudes and sacred dance. We have not time for ex- 

 amples, pleasant as the task would be to introduce them ; but the question 

 seems to be unanswerably settled, by the general and well-known history of 

 these countries, and the exquisite specimens of their sacred lyrics which have 

 descended to our own day ; and which prove unequivocally that the language 

 of the passions, of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, of compunction and 

 triumph, are directly fitted to become the language of devotion ; and that the 

 purest and sublimest religion is capable of giving rise to the purest and sub- 

 limest poetry. The Bible, indeed, which is the first book we should prize and 

 the last we should part with, is as much superior to all other books, whether 

 of ancient or modern times, in its figurative and attractive dress, as it is in 

 its weighty and oracular doctrines ; in the hopes it enkindles and the fears it 

 arrays. In its exterior as in its interior, in its little as in its great, it displays 

 alike its divine original. 



