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S. Van Mierlo

Summary of the Divine
Plan

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The Message of the Kingdom

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Three Spheres

---------------

Alphabetical Analysis

Also -

HOPE

---

THE ABOVE HEAVENS

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"Practical Truth in
Ephesians"

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A Study in Pentecost

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Heavenly Places

by Charles H. Welch
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Bible
Studies

The One Great
Subject of

The
Word

RIGHT DIVISION

By Charles H.
Welch

RIGHT DIVISION

by E.W.
Bullinger

RIGHT DIVISION

by Tom Ballinger

Present Truth

The Foundations of Dispensational Truth

Introduction To Acts 28

Dispensational Expositions

ACTS
28. The Dispensational Boundary

None Other Things

The One NEW MAN

Tested
Truth

Things That Differ

Before and After Acts 28:28

Who is
YOUR Apostle

The Ministry of
Paul

LO-AMMI

A
Study in Pentecost

The Elect Remnant

Time and
Eternity

Death,
Soul and Hell

Do YOU have an Immortal
Soul?

Satan

The Gift, Hope
and the Prize

The Fullness

Three
Spheres of Blessing

The Bride and
The Body

Structures or
Parallel Lines

Adoption

Children
vs. Sons

Earthly Things

EONS AND
WORLDS

Predestination

"Written"

Dispensational Outline Of The Books Of The N.T.

75 DIFFICULT
QUESTIONS

Gementria in Christ's
Geneaolgy

The Scope of a Passage May Best Be
Discovered by Its
Structure
By E.W. Bullinger

INTRODUCTORY: THE
HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT.

Every Word of God is pure;
and His words, like all His works, are perfect. Perfect in order, perfect
in
truth, perfect in the use of number, perfect in
structure.

"The works of Jehovah are great: sought out of all them
that have pleasure therein" (Ps. cxi. 2).

Those who seek out His
works find wondrous treasures; and see perfection, whether revealed by
the
telescope or the microscope. Neither of these exhaust those
wonders. Both are only relative, and limited by human powers of
sight.

It is the same with that most wonderful of all His works-His
WORD. Use what powers of human intellect we may, we find that we know
only "in part"(1 Cor. xiii. 9). Pursue any line of truth as far as our
human minds can go, and we come to a wall of adamant, which we can neither
mount over, pierce through, nor pass round; we return baffled, but
solemnized by the fact that we know "in part."

We shall not be
surprised therefore to find literary perfection as well as spiritual
perfection. For there is
perfection of literary form, as well as
perfection of spiritual truth.

The correspondence between parallel
lines must always have been visible even on the surface to any one
who
carefully observed the Scriptures even as literary
compositions.

Josephus,' Philo Judwus, Origen, Eusebius, Jerome,
Isidore, among the Ancients, professed to have
discovered metres
in the Hebrew original. They were followed by others among modern
scholars,
some of whom agreed with them, while others refuted
them.

In spite of Bishop Lowth's Larger and Shorter Confutations,
which showed that all efforts to discover
the rhymes and metres which
characterize common poetry must be fruitless, some few writers
have
persevered in such attempts even to the present
day.

"Bishop Lowth was the first to put the whole subject on a
better and surer foundation; reducing the
chaos of mediaeval
writings to something like order. His works were based on one or two who
had
preceded him, and had laid the foundations on which he built
with such effect that he came to be
universally recognised and appealed
to as the ultimate and classical authority in these matters."'

But,
as we have said, Bishop Lowth built on the foundations laid by
others.

Abravanel, a learned Jew of the fifteenth century, and
Azariah de Rossi 3 in the sixteenth century,
were the first to
demonstrate and illustrate the phenomena exhibited in the parallel lines
of Holy Scripture.

Azariah de Rossi published, in 1574-5, in
Mantua, his celebrated work which he called Meur Enayim, or, The Light of
the Eyes. It was a remarkable work and almost an encyclopedia of biblical
literature in itself. Several of its chapters have been translated and
published separately, in Latin and English. One chapter  (ch. Ix.)
was sufficient to kindle Bishop Lowth's enthusiasm; and he translated it
in his Preliminary Dissertation  to his last great work, his
translation of Isaiah (London, 1833). But, before this, Lowth had already
used De Rossi's wonderful work to such purpose that in 1753 he published
his Praelections on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews. This caused quite a
sensation in the biblical world, and soon became of European fame.

Bishop Jebb, Sacred Literature,
p. 15.

2 Rabbi Bon Isaac ben Jehudah, a celebrated
Spanish-Jewish statesman, philosopher, theologian, and commentator,
born 1437. His commentaries anticipate mach of what has been
advanced as new by modern theologians (Kitt.o, Enc. Bib. article by
C. D. G.).

3 e z.„.:ah Min H:,-adnn;,n- as the Jews call him,
was born in Mantua,
1513.

Meanwhile
Christian Schoettgen (born 187) had published in 1733-42 his Horce
Hebraicce et Tatlmudicae (2 vols.4to), at Dresden and Leipzig; Bishop
Lowth does not appear to have known of this work, for it anticipates him,
and under the heading "Exergasia Sacra" it lays down the very doctrine
which it remained for Lowth to improve and elucidate. Schoettgen lays down
ten canons, and he illustrates each with three examples.

Bishop
Jebb (born 1775 at Drogheda) published his Sacred Literature in London,
1820: and, until Thomas Boys began to write in 1824, Jebb's work had
remained the last word on the subject. It was a review of Lowth's work and
"an application of the principles so reviewed" to the illustration of the
New Testament.

But both these works of Bishops Lowth and Jebb were
almost entirely confined to the verbal correspondences in parallel lines;
and never proceeded beyond short stanzas; and, even then, did not rise
beyond what Lowth called "paralbelism" and Jebb called "Sacred
Composition."

It was reserved for Thomas Boys to raise the whole
subject on to a higher level altogether, and to lift it out of the
literary parallelism between words and lines; and to develop it into the
correspondence between the subject matter and truth of the Divine
Word.

In 1824 Thomas Boys soon followed up Bishop Jebb by
publishing his Tactics Sacra, and in 1827-30 his Key to the Book of
Psalms.'

While the successive works of Bishops Lowth and Jebb were
enthusiastically and generally received, yet the works of Thomas Boys not
only had to fight their way through much opposition, but are now
practically unknown to Biblical students. Whether it is because they
afford such a wonderful evidence of the supernatural and miraculous in the
Bible, and such a proof of the Divine Authorship of the Word of God, that
they are therefore the special object of attack by the enemies of that
Word (both Satanic and human) He alone knows. But so it is.

1 This was only a description
of his principles of Correspondence, which he applied to some
sixteen Psalms. It was the privilege of Dr. Bullinger to edit Thomas
Boys's manuscript; and, from pencilled notes in Boys's Interleaved
Ilebrew Bible (Bootliroyd's Edition with Commentary, to complete and
publish, in 1890, the whole of the Psalms with a Preface, and Memoir
by his friend the Rev. Sydney Thelwall (who had been a personal
friend of Boys), then Vicar of Westleigh, North Devon. An
Introduction and Appendix were added by Dr. Bullinger as editor.
This work was called A Key to the Book of Palms to preserve a
continuity with Boys's own
title.

Bishop
Jebb, however, we are thankful to say, in the Second Edition of his Sacred
Literature (1831), does recognize Boys's work in a note on page 74. He
says, " Since the publication of Sacred Literature, this peculiarity of
composition has been largely and happily illustrated, in his Tactics
Sacra, by the Rev. Thomas Boys."

In 1851 Richard Baillie Roe made a
great effort to revive the subject by publishing An Analytical Arrangement
of the Holy Scriptures according to the principles developed under
the name of Parallelism in the writings of Bishop Lowth, Bishop Jebb, and
the Rev. Thomas Bobs.

This appears to have shared the same fate as
all the others. Roe's book gives us too much as well as too little. It
gives too much of dry analysis, and too little of the end for which it is
made. Moreover, it is not improved by departing from
Boys's simplicity; and serves only to complicate the subject by
adding much that is arbitrary in arrangement. It may be said of
Roe's method, that what is true is not new; and what is new is no
improvement.

The facts being as thus stated, it shows that the
subject has either not yet been grasped nor understood by Bible
students; or, that it makes too much for the Inspiration and Divine
Origin and Authority of the Word of God; and that there are spiritual
powers, working with the human, whose one great object is to make the Word
of God of none effect (Eph. vi. 12 and 17).

And yet, we may say
that, no more powerful weapon has yet been placed in our hands outside
that Word, which is "the Spirit's sword." It affords a wondrous proof of
Inspiration; it gives us a clearer and more comprehensive view of the
scope of the Scriptures, than the most learned and elaborate commentaries
can ever hope to do; and it is capable of even turning the scale in
doubtful, doctrinal, and critical questions.

By its means the
student is led to views and truths, and reflections which, without it,
would never have occurred to him. And it is not too much to say that until
the Correspondences of the Biblical Structure are duly recognized we shall
never get a correct translation or a true interpretation of many passages
which are to this day dark and confused in both our Versions, the R. V. as
well as in the AV
Preaching on another subject, Bishop Lowth truthfully
and feelingly observed that " It pleased God, in His
unsearchable wisdom, to suffer the progress of the Reformation to be
stopped mid-way; and the effects of it to be greatly weakened by many
unhappy divisions among the reformed."'

The same may be said of the
Law of Correspondence in the Structure of the Word of God, so wonderfully
discovered and developed; and yet, needing to-day almost to be
rediscovered, and certainly to be developed in its application to the
whole Word of truth.

Parts of the world, remaining yet unexplored,
are eagerly sought out without stint of labour or money. Would that
the same zeal could be seen applied in the interest of this great
subject.

THE PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE STRUCTURE
OF
SCRIPTURE.

Having said thus much on the History and
Importance of the Structure of Scripture, it is necessary that we
should present an account and description of it in some kind of order
more or less complete.

We do not propose to wade through all the
Divisions and Subdivisions which have been suggested or laid down in
connection with Parallelism as it relates to Lines. Our general object is
to understand the Word of truth; and our special object is to consider how
we may, by its means, arrive at the scope or subject of a particular
passage.

The laws which govern this Parallelism of lines we
will re-state as briefly as may be consistent with clearness. The main
principles are as follows:

Parallel Lines are:

(1) COGNATE'
or GRADATIONAL, where the same thought is expressed in different or
progressive terms:

"Seek ye Jehovah, while He may be
found;

Call ye upon Him, while He is near."-(Isa. Iv.
8.)

1 Sermons and Remains of Robert
Lowth, D.D., p. 78.
2 This is Bishop Jebb'e improvement of Bishop
Lowth's word "synonymous, as including different as well as
practically equivalent terms.

2)
ANTITHETIC Or OPPOSITE, where the terms or subjects are set in
contrast:

"Faithful are the wounds of a
friend;

But deceitful are the kisses of an
enemy."

-(Prow. xxvii. 6.)

(3) SYNTHETIC, or
CONSTRUCTIVE, where the terms or subjects correspond in a similar form
of

construction,
either as equivalent or opposite. (As in Ps. xix. 7-10. Isa. xliv. 28-28.)
It

discriminates and differentiates between the thoughts, as well as the
words; building up truth by layers,

as it were, placing one on the other.

"O the happiness of that
man,

Who bath not walked in the counsel of the
ungodly;

And bath not stood in the way of
sinners;

And bath not sat in the seat of the
scornful."
Psalm 1:1

(4) INTROVERTED, where, whatever
be the number of lines, the first line is parallel with the last; the

second with the penultimate (or next to the last); the third with the
antepenultimate (or next but one to the last);  and so throughout,
until we come to the two corresponding lines in the middle.

This
was the discovery of Bishop Jebb ; and could not be seen until a larger
number of consecutive lines were  examined.

" Make the
heart of this people fat,
And make
their ears heavy,
And
shut their eyes
Lest
they see with their eyes,
And hear with
their ears
And understand with their heart."-(Isa. vi.
10.)

Here, the correspondence is manifest.

It was, however,
as we have said, reserved for Thomas Boys to lift the whole study out of
the sphere of
words and lines; and see the Law of Correspondence
between subjects and subject-matter. Instead
of occupying us with lines
he bade us look at what he designated members. These members
consisted
of verses, and whole paragraphs. And the larger paragraphs
were soon seen to have their own peculiar structure' or
expansions.

This brings us to the consideration of what we
have called the Structure of Scripture.
Most of our readers will
be acquainted with the practice of marking their Bibles by ruling lines
connecting the same word or words as they recur on the same or the
adjoining page. The words recur, because the subject recurs; and the Law
of Correspondences not only explains the practice of. such Bible markings,
but shows why it can be done.

The principles and phenomena of the
Laws of Correspondence are exceedingly simple, however perplexing they may
appear to the eye at first sight. A little attention will soon make all
clear to the mind as well as to the eye.

There are practically only
two ways in which the subject is repeated:

1. By
Alternation.

2. By Introversion.

1. Alternation.

This
is where two (or more) subjects are repeated alternately.

(a) We
call it Simple Alternation where there are only two subjects each of which
is repeated in alternate lines. Thus

A |
---------------------

B|----------------------
A|----------------------

B|----------------------

Here,
the letters are used quite arbitrarily, and merely for the convenience of
reference. Thus, the subject in the passage marked with an Italic letter
(A) is the same as the subject in the passage marked with
the
corresponding Roman letter (A) ; while the B subject is the
same as the B subject, the similar Roman
and Italic letters
indicating their similar, opposite and contrasted, or common
subject.

1 The reader will find further
elucidation on this subject in Figures of Speech, by the same
author.

(b)
Where the two subjects are repeated more than once we call it Repeated
Alternation,

and indicate it thus

A1
|--------------------
B1|--------------------
A2|--------------------
B2|--------------------
A3|--------------------
B3|--------------------

And so on: all the members
marked A corresponding in subject; and the members marked B
corresponding in like manner. There is no limit to this
repetition.

(c) Where there are more than two subjects alternating
then we call it Extended Alternation; and there will be as many pairs, or
sets of members, as there are subjects (unless, of course, these are
repeated, when it would be a Repeated Extended
Alternation):

A|--------------------

B|--------------------

C|--------------------

A|--------------------

B|--------------------

C|--------------------

2.
Introversion.

This is where the subjects are repeated, not in
alternation, but in introversion; i.e. from opposite ends. In this case
there will be as many subjects as there are pairs of introverted members.
Suppose we have an example of four subjects. This will give us eight
members, in which the 1st will correspond with the 8th; the 2nd with the
7th; the 3rd with the 6th; and the 4th with the 5th.
Thus:

A|--------------------

B|--------------------

C|--------------------

D|--------------------

D|--------------------

C|--------------------

B|--------------------
A|--------------------

Now,
with these few simple facts and phenomena, it is possible to have a very
great variety. For they are practically unlimited, and can be combined in
so many ways, and in such varying numbers, that there

seems no
end to the variety. But, all conform to the above simple laws, in which
there is no exception.

EXAMPLES OF EACH PRINCIPLE -  Part
Two

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