A Very Peculiar Practice Series 2' title='A Very Peculiar Practice Series 2' />Preface to Lyrical Ballads. William Wordsworth 1. Famous Prefaces. The Harvard Classics   Famous Prefaces. The Harvard Classics. Preface to Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth 1. THE FIRST volume of these Poems has already been submitted to general perusal. It was published, as an experiment, which, I hoped, might be of some use to ascertain, how far, by fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation, that sort of pleasure and that quantity of pleasure may be imparted, which a Poet may rationally endeavour to impart. I had formed no very inaccurate estimate of the probable effect of those Poems I flattered myself that they who should be pleased with them would read them with more than common pleasure and, on the other hand, I was well aware, that by those who should dislike them, they would be read with more than common dislike. The result has differed from my expectation in this only, that a greater number have been pleased than I ventured to hope I should please. Several of my Friends are anxious for the success of these Poems, from a belief, that, if the views with which they were composed were indeed realized, a class of Poetry would be produced, well adapted to interest mankind permanently, and not unimportant in the quality, and in the multiplicity of its moral relations and on this account they have advised me to prefix a systematic defence of the theory upon which the Poems were written. But I was unwilling to undertake the task, knowing that on this occasion the Reader would look coldly upon my arguments, since I might be suspected of having been principally influenced by the selfish and foolish hope of reasoning him into an approbation of these particular Poems and I was still more unwilling to undertake the task, because, adequately to display the opinions, and fully to enforce the arguments, would require a space wholly disproportionate to a preface. For, to treat the subject with the clearness and coherence of which it is susceptible, it would be necessary to give a full account of the present state of the public taste in this country, and to determine how far this taste is healthy or depraved which, again, could not be determined, without pointing out in what manner language and the human mind act and re act on each other, and without retracing the revolutions, not of literature alone, but likewise of society itself. Far Cry 1 Pc Full Games. I have therefore altogether declined to enter regularly upon this defence yet I am sensible, that there would be something like impropriety in abruptly obtruding upon the Public, without a few words of introduction, Poems so materially different from those upon which general approbation is at present bestowed. It is supposed, that by the act of writing in verse an Author makes a formal engagement that he will gratify certain known habits of association that he not only thus apprises the Reader that certain classes of ideas and expressions will be found in his book, but that others will be carefully excluded. This exponent or symbol held forth by metrical language must in different eras of literature have excited very different expectations for example, in the age of Catullus, Terence, and Lucretius, and that of Statius or Claudian and in our own country, in the age of Shakespeare and Beaumont and Fletcher, and that of Donne and Cowley, or Dryden, or Pope. I will not take upon me to determine the exact import of the promise which, by the act of writing in verse, an Author in the present day makes to his reader but it will undoubtedly appear to many persons that I have not fulfilled the terms of an engagement thus voluntarily contracted. They who have been accustomed to the gaudiness and inane phraseology of many modern writers, if they persist in reading this book to its conclusion, will, no doubt, frequently have to struggle with feelings of strangeness and awkwardness they will look round for poetry, and will be induced to inquire by what species of courtesy these attempts can be permitted to assume that title. I hope therefore the reader will not censure me for attempting to state what I have proposed to myself to perform and also as far as the limits of a preface will permit to explain some of the chief reasons which have determined me in the choice of my purpose that at least he may be spared any unpleasant feeling of disappointment, and that I myself may be protected from one of the most dishonourable accusations which can be brought against an Author, namely, that of an indolence which prevents him from endeavouring to ascertain what is his duty, or, when his duty is ascertained, prevents him from performing it. The principal object, then, proposed in these Poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men, and, at the same time, to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect and, further, and above all, to make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing in them, truly though not ostentatiously, the primary laws of our nature chiefly, as far as regards the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement. Humble and rustic life was generally chosen, because, in that condition, the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language because in that condition of life our elementary feelings coexist in a state of greater simplicity, and, consequently, may be more accurately contemplated, and more forcibly communicated because the manners of rural life germinate from those elementary feelings, and, from the necessary character of rural occupations, are more easily comprehended, and are more durable and, lastly, because in that condition the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature. The language, too, of these men has been adopted purified indeed from what appear to be its real defects, from all lasting and rational causes of dislike or disgust because such men hourly communicate with the best objects from which the best part of language is originally derived and because, from their rank in society and the sameness and narrow circle of their intercourse, being less under the influence of social vanity, they convey their feelings and notions in simple and unelaborated expressions. Accordingly, such a language, arising out of repeated experience and regular feelings, is a more permanent, and a far more philosophical language, than that which is frequently substituted for it by Poets, who think that they are conferring honour upon themselves and their art, in proportion as they separate themselves from the sympathies of men, and indulge in arbitrary and capricious habits of expression, in order to furnish food for fickle tastes, and fickle appetites, of their own creation. Peter 2 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. But ye. Like St. Paul in 2. Thessalonians 2 1. St. Peter turns with an outburst of triumph to the happier and more practical and attractive theme. All the most splendid titles of the old Israel belong in a fuller sense to these Hebrews who have joined the new Israel. With Peter Davison, Graham Crowden, Barbara Flynn, David Troughton. A surreal comedy series tracking the career of Stephen Daker, a young doctor who works for the. NEWS. news by mark mcginlay and kate white. DEAR READER, WELCOME TO ISSUE TWO OF THE PECKHAM PECULIAR, A FREE LOCAL NEWSPAPER FOR PECKHAM AND NUNHEAD. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of. Preface to Lyrical Ballads. William Wordsworth 1800. Famous Prefaces. The Harvard Classics. A Very Peculiar Practice Series 2 Dvd' title='A Very Peculiar Practice Series 2 Dvd' />In 1. Peter 2 5 they are bidden to aim at being what here they are said to be. Comp. Colossians 3 3 Colossians 3 5. A chosen generation. Better, a chosen, or elect race. As originally the clan of Abraham was selected from among all the families of the earth Amos 3 2, so out of the clan of Abraham after the flesh were these men selected to be a new clan, or race. They are not merely individuals selected one by one and left in isolation, but a tribe consolidated, only the bond henceforth is not merely one of common physical descent. A royal priesthood, an holy nation. These words are a direct quotation from Exodus 1. LXX. version. The Hebrew has a kingdom of priests, as in Revelation 1 6 according to the best reading which would mean, Gods organised empire, every member of which is a priest. Nor is the thought far different here. A Very Peculiar Practice Series 2' title='A Very Peculiar Practice Series 2' />The word royal does not seem intended to imply that every Christian is a king, or of royal birth though that, of course, may be shown from elsewhere, but describes his belonging to the King as we might speak of the royal apartments, the royal borough, the royal establishment, or even of the royal servants. The substitution, therefore, of royal priesthood for kingdom of priests brings out more clearly the personal relation to the Personal King. But if the writer had said royal priests, the notion of organisation would have slipped out of sight altogether. By way of compensation, therefore, it is restored in the substitution of priesthood see Note on 1. Peter 2 5 instead of priests. This, and the next phrase, an holy i. Israelite nation as they stood beneath Mount Sinai. This must be taken into consideration in dealing with the doctrine of the Christian ministry. The sacerdotal office was as common to all Israelites under the Law as it is to all the new Israel under the Gospel. A peculiar people. This curious phrase is literally, a people for a special reservation. It is, no doubt, intended to represent Exodus 1. Greek and the Hebrew, the variation being due to a recollection of the Greek of two other passages of the Old Testament Isaiah 4. Malachi 3 1. 7. The word rendered peculiar means properly making over and above, and would be represented in Latin by the word peculium, which means a mans private pocket money, as, for instance, the money a slave could make by working over hours, or such as a wife might have apart from her husband. When children speak of a thing being their very own it exactly expresses what we have here. From this sense of making over and above, by working out of hours, the word comes in other places to mean earning by hard work, in such a way as to establish peculiar rights of property over the thing earned. So in Acts 2. 0 2. St. Paul is probably thinking of the passage of Isaiah above referred to, both the hard earning and the special possession are intended the Church of God, which He won so hard for His very own, by His own blood. Here, perhaps, the thought of earning is less obvious, and it means a people to be His very own. Comp. Thessalonians 5 9, and Ephesians 1 7, where according to Dr. Lightfoot it means for a redemption which consists of taking possession of us for His own. That ye should shew forth the praises. This is an adaptation, though not exactly according to the LXX., of Isaiah 4. St. Peters mind by the word rendered peculiar. The word praises is put here in accordance with the English version there. The Greek means virtues, or powers, or excellencies, a rare word in the New Testament see 2. Peter 1 3. And the word for shew forth, which is nowhere else found in the New Testament, means by rights to proclaim to those without what has taken place within. This strict signification is very suitable here. St. Peter says that God has taken us for a people peculiarly near to Him, and the purpose is, not that we may stand within His courts and praise Him, but that we may carry to others the tidings of what we have been admitted to see. This was the true function of the old Israel, Do My prophets no harm Psalm 1. They were not elect for their own sake, but to act as Gods exponents to the world. This function they abdicated by their selfish exclusiveness, and it has descended to the new Israel. St. Peter and St. Paul are at one. Of him who hath called you out of darkness. This is to be understood of the Father, not of Christ. For one thing, the act of calling is almost always ascribed in the New Testament to God Himself and for another thing, it is probable that St. Peter regards our Lord as Head of this people of God, just as He is corner stone of the Temple, and High Priest of the hierarchy. The act of calling literally it is, who called, not who hath called was that of sending the preachers of the gospel to them, i. St. Paul and his followers comp. Peter 1 1. 2 1. Peter 1 2. Here again, then, we have St. Peter speaking in praise of St. Pauls mission, and, indeed, speaking in the same tones of unbounded admiration His marvellous light. But could Hebrew Christians be said to have gone through so great a change in becoming believers Had they been in darkness We may answer that St. Peters use of the word marvellous is no affectation of sympathy. He himself found the change to be what he here describes, therefore there is no difficulty in supposing that other Hebrews should have found it so too. Besides which, the state of the Jews immediately before Christ and without Him is often described as darkness. See Matthew 4 1. Luke 1 7. This very passage is quoted a few years later by St. Clement of Rome chap. Dr. Lightfoot has clearly established that St. Clement was a Jew. Psiservice Exe Protexislicensing. Verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation. The pronoun ye is emphatic. St. Peter is drawing a contrast between the disobedient and unbelieving Jews and Christian people whether Jews or Gentiles he ascribes to Christians, in a series of phrases quoted from the Old Testament, the various privileges which had belonged to the children of Israel. The words, a chosen generation, are from Isaiah 4. The Cornerstone is elect, precious the living stones built thereupon are elect likewise. The whole Christian Church is addressed as an elect race, one race, because all its members are begotten again of the one Father. A royal priesthood. Instead of holy, as in ver. St. Peter has here the epithet royal. He follows the Septuagint Version of Exodus 1. Hebrew has a kingdom of priests. The word royal may mean that Gods elect shall sit with Christ in his throne, and reign with him Revelation 3 2. Revelation 5 1. 0, and that in some sense they reign with him now over their lower nature, their desires and appetites or, more probably, the priesthood of Christians is called royal because it belongs to the King a priesthood serving Jehovah the King, just as we speak of the royal household Weiss, quoted by Huther. An holy nation. Also from Exodus 1.