Lives of the apostles of Jesus ChristBacon, David Francis
Religion
Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ
Bacon, David Francis
Apostles
most awful scenes of ancient miracle would, to the fancy of the dweller
of mountainous Palestine, have seemed stripped of their most imposing
aids. Sinai, Horeb, Moriah, Zion, Ebal, Gerizim and Tabor, were
the classic ground of Hebrew history, and to the fiery mind of the
imaginative Israelite, their high tops seemed to tower in a religious
♦sublimity, as striking and as lasting as their physical elevation.
From these lofty peaks, so much nearer to the dwelling place of God,
his soul took a higher flight than did ever the fancy of the Greek,
from the classic tops of Parnassus, Pelion, Ida, or the skyish head of
blue Olympus; and the three humble gazers, who now stood waiting there
with their divine Master, felt, no doubt, their devotion proportionally
exalted with their situation, by such associations. It was the
same spirit, that, throughout the ancient world, led the earliest
religionists to avail themselves of these physical advantages, as they
did in their mountain worship, and with a success just in proportion
as the purity and sincerity of their worship, and the high character of
its object, corresponded with the lofty grandeur of the place.
♦ “snblimity” replaced with “sublimity”
“Not vainly did the early Persian make
His altar the high places, and the peak
Of earth-o’er-gazing mountains, there to seek
The spirit, in whose honor shrines are weak,
Upreared of human hands. Come and compare
Columns and idol-dwellings, Goth or Greek,
With nature’s realms of worship, earth and air;
Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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