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succession being necessary in order to make the generated being χρόνος [Time].

But, in his view, all things exist spiritually, and essentially, in God; whether they are within the perception of creatures or not. That whole sum of being, therefore, which we call past, present, and future, and which in our view is successional [ó nas zgóvos], exists as one in the Divinity; and this whole is, there, an existence [air].

Indeed, Plato and Timæus appear, at times, to have thought, that the infinity of spiritual existence in the Divinity, would be, being exhibited to the perception of creatures (that is, generated) continually [Si Tekovs] in xgóvo [Time], or apparent successional being. So that xgóvos Time, considered as a whole, is a complete image of the Divine Spirituality.

χρόνος

As, therefore, aiar [EXISTENCE] is infinite LIFE, at once perfect and full, the whole of which is ever present to itself;' so'zoúros [Time] is a flowing image of such LIFE;' and this without reference to positive duration.

The meaning of the entire passage in Timæus Locrus, then, may be correctly expressed, in paraphrase, thus: 'Generated successional being, as a whole, is an image of that ungenerated comprehension of being which appears to us successionally, but which, in essence, we call EXISTENCE, or spirituality; for as, according to an eternal exemplar, the idanic world, this heaven was generated; so according to the exemplar EXISTENCE in God, this apparent successional being was fabricated together with the world.'- This is saying the same as Plato says after him; that xgóvos [apparent successional being] is a movable image of constant EXISTENCE in Divinity.

P. 96. C. Mind alone can discern God, the EXISTENTIAL, the ruler and generator of all these things [Osov đẻ tòv μèv αἰώνιον νόος δρη μόνος τῶν ἁπάντων ἀρχαγὸν καὶ γενέτορα τουτέων]. But this [God, the universe,] which is generated we perceive by sight, &c.

It would be difficult to assign any other meaning than spiritual to this αἰώνιος. The antithesis in the text imperatively requires it. Even should we say eternal, we should mean spiritual.

P. 105. A. The world, being full of Gods and men, and other living beings, which were fabricated according to the most

excellent image of the ungenerated and EXISTENTIAL idea [εἰδεος ἀγενάτω καὶ αἰωνίω.]

The subject of this alorios is spirit itself. Whether Timæus intended to express its spiritual nature by this word, is willingly submitted to the reader. I readily believe he did. But I have no right to believe that he intended to express its perpetuity of duration by this adjective; until it shall appear, that air, the parent noun, signified perpetual duration in that age; against which meaning the evidence produced is almost unanimous, and in no case positively in its favor. While, on the contrary, the evidence of a spiritual import in both that word, and the few discovered instances of αἰώνιος, is equally decisive.

In regard to air, it carries about it an atmosphere of spirituality, in almost every instance in which it occurs in ancient Greek, within our present view; as the reader must have perceived without comment of mine. In many of the instances, its plain meaning is either Spirit or Life; or spirituality considered as state of vital or intellectual energy,

the secret, invisible state of existence and action in which the perceiver and the thing perceived are scarcely, if at all, different from being one and the same.

In regard to alunos, in every discovered instance, the context invariably leads you to something spiritual. It carries you, either among souls in Hades; or into the immaterial realm of abstract ideas, essences, intellectual paradigms, or actual spiritual existences in the Divine Being. A sense of spirituality is forced upon the mind, wherever, as yet, we read this word; and, in some of the instances, no other sense than spiritual can be consistently attached to it. Remember, now, that these are the earliest instances of aivios in classic Greek, so far as yet appears; that they occur in writers who are treating expressly of spiritual subjects, even subjects similar to those on which Moses, the inspired, writes, although they are void of his simplicity and truth; that these instances occur in Greek writers, who, probably, were not wholly unacquainted with Scriptural forms of expression, in a Greek translation of the Books of Moses, where this adjective appears so often with reference to God, a SPIRIT, and things relating to Him.

Compare this with the spiritual import so extensively prevalent in air, throughout the more ancient writers; and

with its special sense of spirituality as used by Timæus and Plato, when they are introducing the adjective into their language; — and, the inference is almost irresistible, that the ancient, earliest, and first known meaning of airios, in classic Greek, is spiritual. I must, therefore, hold to this meaning, which is thus supported; to the rejection of that relating to duration, for which I cannot yet find any support. When, also, I search the Scriptures, pursuing after Divine truth through the medium of language, I must needs take with me this spiritual import of these words, to bear what evidence it may, in elucidating the sense of those Hebrew terms to which, in ancient days, they were thought fully to correspond.

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Professor Stuart must forgive me for doing this, notwithstanding his having affirmed, that airios, in the sense of spiritual, is an utter stranger to classic Greek.'

There are no more instances of either word in the works of Timæus the Locrian.

I have pursued the inquiry in this particular way, chiefly, for my own satisfaction. I publish the result, because it may be acceptable to any inquirer, so disposed, to have a concentrated view of the entire usage of these words, in such ancient Greek writers as come within the examination. It is well to have witnesses to tell not only the truth, but the whole truth which they know, relating to the case in hand; and to have them so that they may be cross-examined.

If I have not been so fortunate as to elicit the true meaning of the words in question from these witnesses, still, there they are, the witnesses themselves. Let whoever will, question them as he will. But, until it is otherwise made manifest, I must continue to believe, that air and airios sustained a spiritual sense in ancient Greek; and expect to find them so employed in the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

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In conclusion; having ascertained that my former signature and date did not sufficiently indicate the responsible individual, and that some mistakes have happened in consequence; and having no desire to shrink from any proper responsibleness; I hereunto subscribe in fulness,

Yours in good will,

EZRA S. GOODWIN.

Sandwich, March 1, 1832.

ART. III. Natural Theology; or Essays on the Existence of Deity and of Providence, on the Immateriality of the Soul, and a Future State. By the Rev. ALEXANDER CROMBIE, LL.D., F.R.S., and M.R.S.L. London. 1829. 2 vols. 8vo.

THE subjects, which are ably discussed in these volumes, have at different periods in the history of our race, afforded the most striking exhibitions both of the weakness and the power of man, as a moral and intellectual being. One of the last and highest efforts of the human mind is to acquire and retain such views on these topics, as are in a good degree worthy of their elevated nature. Between the extremes of man's progress may be found every variety of groveling superstition, of fantastic or unripe speculation, and of noble, sublime, and spiritual trains of thought or argument. There is nothing irrational, useless, or painful, and almost nothing wicked, which has not, in one shape or another, at one time or another, appeared in religious belief or sacred rites; and, on the other hand, there is scarcely a form of exalted thought or feeling, scarcely a pure and lofty aspiration of the soul, or a strenuous exercise of intellectual strength, which has not been called forth and matured in the advancing course of the religious sentiment among mankind. We cannot cast an eye over the annals of the world without coming to the melancholy conclusion, that some of the greatest of man's errors have been on the holiest of subjects; but the same survey relieves us with the consoling testimony, that these subjects have likewise excited some of the highest mental efforts, cherished some of the most noble hopes, and led to some of the most beautiful and glorious results, of which our moral constitution is capable.

To these varieties, we suppose, may be ascribed in a great measure the different estimation, in which what is called natural religion has been held. The conclusions, to which it has led or may lead the human mind respecting God, immortality, and moral truth, have by some been set at nought as quite without value, if not worse than useless, and by others extolled as bearing the authority of absolute demonstration, and possessing the beauty of pure

spirituality. No small part of this discrepance of opinion arises probably from the difference in the aspects, which natural religion presents at the successive stages of its progress, from the first rude attempts of the mind to connect its thoughts with the invisible world to the elaborate, philosophical, and profound systems of the great masters of human reason. We need only turn to the accounts of savage or semi-barbarous tribes, to learn how poor and abject are the forms in which the religious sentiment there developes itself. Their religion is bound fast to their servile fears; and by these chiefly, if not only, it maintains an ascendency over their feelings. In that rude state, attention is scarcely at all arrested by that tranquil and beautiful course of nature, which to enlightened reason proclaims with a testimony so irresistibly powerful the agency of One, who hath formed all things well. Terrific and awful events are those, with which alone the thought of a mysterious Power, higher than their own, is associated. They take no note of the calm and glorious sunshine, of the regular and delightful vicissitude of the seasons scattering blessings around the circle of the year, or, in general, of the steady and noiseless operation of cause and effect in the stupendous machinery of nature. In that low stage of rational culture, man turns his attention to something more stirring and fearful, to the thunder that rolls over his head as if to sound the march of some tremendous power, to the lightning leaping from the sky as a messenger of vengeance and destruction, to the storm that sweeps into tumult the mighty waters, or tears from its ancient bed the deep-rooted forest. In these dismaying events only, the untutored savage sees the operation of a Deity. His religion is called out only by objects of terror, and its character, of course, partakes largely of this spirit. It fastens itself upon all the coarse and fierce passions, and is roused into action by none but agitating excitements. The worship which it dictates is of a corresponding character; its sacrifices are bloody, its ceremonies senseless, its rites barbarous. When we turn from such a view to contemplate the forms, in which natural religion appears in the writings and speculations of enlightened minds, of those who have brought the powers of a clear and comprehensive intellect to bear on the great

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