Search -
On spiritualising Scripture: the confessions of a millenarian
On spiritualising Scripture the confessions of a millenarian Author:William Graham Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CONFESSION THE THIRD. TT is not, dear brother, with any ambitious de- signs, or any longing after either present or posthumous fame, that I make these Confess... more »ions; but simply because truth is valuable, and I wish to act out the convictions of my conscience. I can never, in these confessions, expect to rival, much less surpass, Augustine and J. J. Rousseau. My aim is a more humble one, which is, as far as possible to oppose the literal interpretation of Scripture, and thus raise up a barrier to the progress of fanaticism of all kinds, and especially to the fanaticism of the Millenarians. But let me recapitulate a little, that we may see whereto we have attained, and how we may proceed still farther on the same path of liberal and spiritual exegesis. (1.) We have seen that Origen invented the spiritualising method, giving to every passage a threefold signification, corresponding with the body, soul, and spirit of a man; and these methods he named the literal, the moral, and the spiritual. The literal is clear and distinct, always of minor importance, often unproductive and even absurd. The moral is attainable by the common understanding ; but the spiritual is deep and hidden, seen only by the spiritual eye, heard only by the spiritual ear, caught only by the spiritual hand— a depth of divine profundity which the spiritualising faculty alone can fathom, and which the most spiritual cannot fathom, fully. Let this principle be fully developed in your mind, and you will be able to steer clear of all the absurdities of the literalists ; your course will be calm and serene; not in the earthly atmosphere of clouds and storms, of historical monuments and geographical facts, but the celestial course of the eagle, in which no vulgar materialism impedes you, no mists darken your spiri...« less