Page:The Works of Abraham Cowley - volume 1 (ed. Aikin) (1806).djvu/119

the purposes of religion," is surely a very singular and narrow sentiment. Who would not rejoice at the recovery of some of those historical records which are expressly mentioned as containing at large, facts only given in abridgment by the extant Jewish writers? And what reader of the Bible, not destitute of common feeling, will concur in the critic's assertion, that the effect of the theocratical system is to prevent us from readily sympathising in the joys and griefs of those who lived under it? That mind must indeed be strangely impressed with the character of theocracy, which is rendered incapable of being interested by the natural circumstances in the adventures of Joseph or David. That the intermixture of poetical fiction in such narrations is a matter of much delicacy, will readily be acknowledged; since if the additions are not perfectly conformable to the original ground-work, they will prove offensive to those who are firm believers in the authenticity and importance of the scriptural records. But there seems no reason why the amplifications and ornaments usual in sober epick poetry should not be as admissible in a subject of Jewish history,