Clear conceptions. and clear, conceptions of all which is represented there, he will be interested. He will find new and striking scenes coming up continually to view, and will be surprised at the novelty and interest which this simple and easy effort will throw over those very portions of the Bible to which the ear has become most completely familiar. I wish now that every one of my readers would really try this experiment. It will do very little good merely to read the foregoing directions and resolve generally to try in future to form vivid and clear conceptions of what is described when you are reading; you must make a particular effort to learn to do this. Now the next time you sit down to reading the Bible, turn to the 5th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, and picture to yourself as vividly as possible the scene described there. Do not think of a shore in general, but conceive of some particular shore. Give it shape and form. Let it be rocky or sandy, or high or low, bordered with woods, or with hills, or with meadows. Let it be something distinct. You may, if you please, conceive it to be a long sandy beach, with a lofty bank and a verdant field behind; or you may have it an open wood, sloping gradually down to the water's edge; or a rocky, irregular coast, full of indentations; or a deep and narrow bay, whose shores are overhung with willows. Let it assume either of these forms, or any other which your fancy may pørtray, and which may suit the circumstances of the narrative; only let it be something distinct-clear and distinct in all its parts; so that if you had power to represent upon canvass by painting the conceptions of your mind, you might execute a perfect picture of the whole scene. To do this properly will require time and thought. You must be alone, or at least uninterrupted, and your first effort will be a difficult one. The power of forming clear and vivid conceptions of this kind varies greatly in different individuals. The faculty can, however, be cul West's picture of Christ rejected. Effect upon the assembly. tivated and strengthened by exercise. Historical painters, that is, painters of historical scenes, are enabled to produce very great effects by the possession of this power. West, for example, formed in his own mind a clear, and vivid, and interesting conception of the scene which was exhibited when the crowd of angry Jews rejected the Savior and called for his crucifixion. He painted this scene, and the great picture which he has thus produced has been gazed at with intense interest by many thousands. I saw this picture in the gallery of the Athenæum at Boston. The gallery is a large and lofty apartment, lighted by windows above, and containing seats for hundreds. As I came up the stairs which lead into the room, and stepped from them upon the floor of the apartment, I found a large company assembled. The picture, which was, as I should suppose, ten or fifteen feet long, stood against one side of the apartment, and before it, arranged upon the seats, were the assembled spectators, who were gazing with intense interest, and almost in perfect silence, upon the scene. As we came forward before the canvass we felt the same solemn impression which had silenced the others, and it was interesting and affecting to observe, as party after party came up the stairs, talking with usual freedom, that their voices gradually died away, and they stood silent and subdued before the picture of the Savior. Yes; there stood the Savior in the middle of the picture, passive and resigned, and with a countenance whose expression plainly said that his thoughts were far away. The Roman governor stood before his palace endeavoring to persuade the mob to consent to their prisoner's release. The uncovered and hard-featured soldiery sat at his feet upon the cross which they had been carrying, and were holding in their hands the spikes with which the limbs of the innocent one before them were to be pierced. All the other attendant circumstances were Writing questions, God's command to Abraham. most vividly and strikingly represented. The mob were there, with fury and rage and hate in every variety upon their countenances. Barabbas was there, with his look of hardened and unsubdued guilt and the centurion's little daughter, whose life Jesus had saved, stood by her father, apparently entreating him to interpose his power to rescue her preserver. Now West must have possessed, in order to succeed in executing such a work, the power, first, of forming a clear mental conception of the scene, and secondly, of representing this scene by colors on the canvass. The former of these only is the one necessary for the object I have above described, and you ought, while reading accounts of Scripture scenes, to form as vivid and distinct conceptions of the scenes described as if you were actually in tending to represent them by the pencil. 2. Writing questions. A young man, with pen and paper before him, sits down, I will suppose, to the examination of some portion of the Bible, intending to write questions upon the passage, such as he would ask if he were hearing a class in a Sabbath School. Suppose he opens to the account of Abraham's offering Isaac. The following is the passage; I copy it, that the reader may the better understand the questions.. 1. And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abra, ham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Behold, here I am. 2. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went into the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with Questions upon the passage. the ass: and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. He reads this narrative carefully, verse by verse, and writes a question for every important fact stated. Perhaps the questions might be somewhat as follows. The reader, in examining them, is particularly requested to compare the questions individually with the verses in which the answers are contained. I ought also to remark, that I do not offer these as examples of good questions, but only as a specimen of such as I suppose most young persons would write. 1. To what land did God command Abraham to go to offer up his son? 2. How was he to be offered? 3. Was he to be offered on a mountain? 4. How did Abraham travel? 5. What time did he set out? 6. How many attendants had he? 7. How long a journey was it? 8. What is stated in the 6th verse? I have written these questions as I imagine they might be written by intelligent young persons. Some of them are however evidently not good, A leading question ought not to be asked, i. e. one so written as to imply what the answer is; nor ought it to be so written that the answer should be simply yes or no. No. 3 of the above is a leading question. No. 8, too, is a bad question. It is not important that one should remember what is told in any particular verse. It would have been better in some such form as this: 8. What arrangement was made after they arrived at the mountain? In order however, that my readers might understand what is actually attainable by young persons in such an exercise, I asked a boy to write for me some questions Questions written by a boy. on Acts, 19, and I insert them just as he gave them to me. It was his first attempt. "When Apollos was at Corinth, what did Paul do? Who did he find there? What did he say to them? What answer did they make ? What did he then ask them What did they say? What did Paul then say? When Paul had laid his hands upon them, what happened? How many men were they? Where did Paul then go? What did he do? What did he do when divers were hardened? For how long a time did this continue ? What happened to those who dwelt in Asia? By whose hands did God perform special miracles? What is said in the 13th verse? What is the meaning of exorcist? How many were there that did so? What did the evil spirit say? What did the man in whom was the evil spirit do? What did they do? To whom was this known? What fell on them? Whose name was magnified? What did many do who believed? What did many do who used curious arts? After these things were ended, what did Paul design to do? Who did he send into Macedonia? What were their names? Where did he stay? What happened at that time? What was the cause of it? Who was Demetrius ? What accusation did he bring against Paul? What did he say was in danger? What did they do when they heard these things? What happened to the city? What else did they do? What kept Paul from going in to the people? |