The life and work of St. Paul

690 APPENDIX.
And again [Paul's rhetorical skill like the course of a stream] "Sudatur ab
eruditissimis viris in oxplicandis poetarum ac rhetorum consiliis, at in hoc rhetore longe
plus sudoris est ut deprehendas quid agat, quo tendat, quid velit; adeo stropharum
plenus est undique, absit invidia verbis. Tanta vafrities est, non credas eundem
hominem loqui. Nunc ut turbidus quidam fons sensim ebullit, mox torrentis in morem
ingenti fragore devolvitur, multa obiter secum rapiens, nunc placide leniterque fluit,
nunc late velut in lacum diffusus exspatiatur. Rursum alicubi se condit ac diverse loco
subitus emicat; cum visum est miris maeandris nuno has nunc illas lambit ripaa,
aliquoties procul digressus, reciprocate flexu in sese redit " (Id. Paraph. Dedicat.).
CASAUBON. "Ille solus ex omnibus scriptoribus non mihi videtur digitis, calamo, et
atramento scripsisse, verum ipso corde, ipso affectu, et denudatis visceribus " (Adver-
saria, ap. Wolf., p. 135).
On the other hand, CALVIN, after alluding to his anakolutha, ellipses, &c., adds
"Quae suiit quidem orationis vitia sed quibus nihil majestati decedit caelestis sapientiae
quae nobis per apostolum traditur. Quin potius singulari Dei providentia factum est, ut
sub contemptibtti verborum humilitate altissima haec mysteria nobis traderentur, ut non
humanae eloquentiae potentia, sed sola spiritus efficaci& niteretur nostra fides."
HEMSTKRHUSIUS [Character of St. Paul's flowers of speech]. "Eloquentia ejus non
in nosculis verborum et rationin calamistratae pigmentis
et pondere rerum. ... In ejus epistolis nullae non exstant oratorum figurae, non illae
. . . sed indolis excelsae notis
quidem e rhetorum loculis et myrotheciis depromptae
coelesti ardore inflammatus haec scriptionis lumina sponte sub manum praevenientia
. . . Verum affectus animi
pergignebat." 1
REUSS.
"
Ordinairement il d6bute par des phrases on ne peut plus embarrassees. . . .
Mais dds qu'il a trouvS la bonne veine, combien son style n'est il pas le fiddle miroir de
son individuality J n n'est ni correct, ni classique ; il lui manque la cadence sonore. Des
antitheses paradoxales, des gradations pleines d'effet, des questions pressantes, des
exclamations passioimees, des ironies qui terrassent 1'opposition, une vivacite, enfin, qui
ne permet aucun repos au lecteur, tout cela alterne avec des epanchements naifs et
touchants, qui achevent de gagner 1 coeur " (TMol. Chrdt. ii. 11).
R. H. HUTTOS.
" Who that has studied St. Paul at all has not noticed the bold
soaring dialectic with which he rises from the forms of our finite and earthly thought to
the infinite and the spiritual life embodied in them? What ease and swiftness and
power of wing in this indignant upward flight from the petty conflicts of the Corinthian
Church; the upward flight which does not cease till the poor subjects of contention,
though he himself was one of them, seem lost like grains of sand beneath the bending
of nature which made St. Paul now and then
sky ! . . . The all but reckless prodigality
use a stratagem, and now and then launch a thunderbolt, in the fervour of his preaching,
is the spring of all his finest touches, as when he wishes himself accursed from Christ if
it could save his Jewish brethren " (Essays, 321 330).
The AUTHOR of "Saul of Tarsus." "If he staggers under the greatness of his
subject, if he is distracted by the infinity of the interests which he treats, if every word
which rises to his lips suggests a host of profound and large associations, if the care of all
the Churches, gives all the facts a varied but a real significance. . . . Human speech
must be blamed for its poverty ; human experience, which has developed speech, for its
narrowness. His life was ever in his hand, his heart was on his lips. The heart was
often too great for the speech " (p. 229).
MAKTINEAU. "What can be more free and buoyant, with all their variety, than his
writings? Brilliant, broken, impetuous as the mountain torrent freshly filled, never
smooth and calm but on the eve of some bold leap, never vehement but to fill some
receptacle of clearest peace, they present everywhere the image of a vigorous Joy.
1 See next Excursus.