' Latimer says, 'You shall
perceive
that God, by this example,
shaketh us by the noses and taketh us by the ears.
shaketh us by the noses and taketh us by the ears.
James Russell Lowell
The charge is of profanity, brought in by
persons who proclaimed African slavery of Divine institution, and is
based (so far as I have heard) on two passages in the First Series--
'An' you've gut to git up airly,
Ef you want to take in God,'
and,
'God'll send the bill to you,'
and on some Scriptural illustrations by Mr. Sawin.
Now, in the first place, I was writing under an assumed character, and
must talk as the person would whose mouthpiece I made myself. Will any
one familiar with the New England countryman venture to tell me that he
does _not_ speak of sacred things familiarly? that Biblical allusions
(allusions, that is, to the single book with whose language, from his
church-going habits, he is intimate) are _not_ frequent on his lips? If
so, he cannot have pursued his studies of the character on so many
long-ago muster-fields and at so many cattle-shows as I. But I scorn any
such line of defence, and will confess at once that one of the things I
am proud of in my countrymen is (I am not speaking now of such persons
as I have assumed Mr. Sawin to be) that they do not put their Maker away
far from them, or interpret the fear of God into being afraid of Him.
The Talmudists had conceived a deep truth when they said, that 'all
things were in the power of God, save the fear of God;' and when people
stand in great dread of an invisible power, I suspect they mistake quite
another personage for the Deity. I might justify myself for the passages
criticised by many parallel ones from Scripture, but I need not. The
Reverend Homer Wilbur's note-books supply me with three apposite
quotations. The first is from a Father of the Roman Church, the second
from a Father of the Anglican, and the third from a Father of Modern
English poetry. The Puritan divines would furnish me with many more
such. St. Bernard says, _Sapiens nummularius est Deus: nummum fictum non
recipiet_; 'A cunning money-changer is God: he will take in no base
coin.
' Latimer says, 'You shall perceive that God, by this example,
shaketh us by the noses and taketh us by the ears. ' Familiar enough,
both of them, one would say! But I should think Mr. Biglow had verily
stolen the last of the two maligned passages from Dryden's 'Don
Sebastian,' where I find
'And beg of Heaven to charge the bill on me! '
And there I leave the matter, being willing to believe that the Saint,
the Martyr, and even the Poet, were as careful of God's honor as my
critics are ever likely to be.
II. GLOSSARY TO THE BIGLOW PAPERS
Act'lly, _actually_.
Air, _are_.
Airth, _earth_.
Airy, _area_.
Aree, _area_.
Arter, _after_.
Ax, _ask_.
Beller, _bellow_.
Bellowses, _lungs_.
Ben, _been_.
persons who proclaimed African slavery of Divine institution, and is
based (so far as I have heard) on two passages in the First Series--
'An' you've gut to git up airly,
Ef you want to take in God,'
and,
'God'll send the bill to you,'
and on some Scriptural illustrations by Mr. Sawin.
Now, in the first place, I was writing under an assumed character, and
must talk as the person would whose mouthpiece I made myself. Will any
one familiar with the New England countryman venture to tell me that he
does _not_ speak of sacred things familiarly? that Biblical allusions
(allusions, that is, to the single book with whose language, from his
church-going habits, he is intimate) are _not_ frequent on his lips? If
so, he cannot have pursued his studies of the character on so many
long-ago muster-fields and at so many cattle-shows as I. But I scorn any
such line of defence, and will confess at once that one of the things I
am proud of in my countrymen is (I am not speaking now of such persons
as I have assumed Mr. Sawin to be) that they do not put their Maker away
far from them, or interpret the fear of God into being afraid of Him.
The Talmudists had conceived a deep truth when they said, that 'all
things were in the power of God, save the fear of God;' and when people
stand in great dread of an invisible power, I suspect they mistake quite
another personage for the Deity. I might justify myself for the passages
criticised by many parallel ones from Scripture, but I need not. The
Reverend Homer Wilbur's note-books supply me with three apposite
quotations. The first is from a Father of the Roman Church, the second
from a Father of the Anglican, and the third from a Father of Modern
English poetry. The Puritan divines would furnish me with many more
such. St. Bernard says, _Sapiens nummularius est Deus: nummum fictum non
recipiet_; 'A cunning money-changer is God: he will take in no base
coin.
' Latimer says, 'You shall perceive that God, by this example,
shaketh us by the noses and taketh us by the ears. ' Familiar enough,
both of them, one would say! But I should think Mr. Biglow had verily
stolen the last of the two maligned passages from Dryden's 'Don
Sebastian,' where I find
'And beg of Heaven to charge the bill on me! '
And there I leave the matter, being willing to believe that the Saint,
the Martyr, and even the Poet, were as careful of God's honor as my
critics are ever likely to be.
II. GLOSSARY TO THE BIGLOW PAPERS
Act'lly, _actually_.
Air, _are_.
Airth, _earth_.
Airy, _area_.
Aree, _area_.
Arter, _after_.
Ax, _ask_.
Beller, _bellow_.
Bellowses, _lungs_.
Ben, _been_.
