last-mentioned object, he enumerates the diffusion of an European language in India; permitting, under proper restriction, the acquisition of land by Europeans; establishing sources of distinction in society, in opposition to that of caste, to weaken its influence; stimulating the action of the wants of the people; endeavouring to acquire an influence over the priesthood, which might be exerted to relax their jealousy; and making superior attainments the route to profit and honour. The following remarks of Col. Stewart, with reference to this branch of his subject, are so just and so well expressed, and moreover so much in unison with the sentiments contained in the leading article of our present number, that we quote them with pleasure: Their prejudices are inwoven with unequalled art with the frame of society, and with the very texture of their minds; and, if we would alter their opinions, and produce a change for the better, we must begin by placing them in a condition to dissolve those associations with the fundamental principles of the human constitution, on which the durability of their condition has been founded. How vain, hitherto, have been the attempts to convert the people from the absurd and puerile observances of the superstition which they profess, to the pure morality, and the simple and beautiful truths of the Christian religion; and for no other reason, but because it is impossible that ignorance and darkness should comprehend the religion of knowledge and of light!—as well might we hope to force the fruit from a tree, before it had put forth its leaves and its blossoms! Cultivate their understandings, and enlarge their minds, and they will turn of themselves from their monstrous idolatries and fantastical imaginations, in quest of something with which human reason can reconcile itself; then offer them your religion, and it will be eagerly received, in all its perfection, without the risk of profanation by their misapprehensions. The dark and gloomy forest, with which the land is overshadowed, must be cleared away; the earth laid open to the genial influence of the sun and of the air, and the soil subjected to the plough and to the harrow, if we would commit the good seed to it with any hope of return. In doing so, we shall but imitate the wisdom of Providence in the dispensation of mercy, by which this boon was bestowed upon the world; half the generations of men were suffered to pass away, ere the light of the Gospel arose; and it came not till the progress of human reason had merited the blessing, by the readiness of the more advanced portion of the species to abjure their errors. I have alluded to the subject, not only as a motive to those who are zealous for the -conversion of the heathen, to promote the intellectual improvement of the people, but because they run the risk of marring the very end they would accomplish. They must press their direct efforts with caution, if they would not render the means abortive by which these efforts alone can ever succeed. Instruction the people may be readily made to receive, if it come not in the garb of a hostile religion; and before a very moderate intellectual cultivation, such ridiculous absurdities as constitute the objects of their veneration could not stand for an hour. It is the opinion of the author that the great defect of our government consists in the exclusion of the natives from a share in it; and that the original mistake we committed, was in not seeing that in superseding the active powers of the Mogul system of government (in which there was a regular gradation of power and responsibility connecting all parts of the population together), its forms were no longer adapted to the governing principle which we introduced. Col. Stewart, therefore, is an advocate for entrusting political power in the hands of those who, not merely from defect of education, religious antipathies, and the natural impulse of ambition which the mere possession of power implants, but from the more legitimate motives which impel mankind to spurn the dominion of foreign masters, must be tempted to employ it to our prejudice; and he appears to think, that in subverting the old government, we should have abrogated all its forms, which the people, from from habit, regarded with veneration. We would remind Col. Stewart, that the Mogul system, which he seems to admire, in comparison with ours, was equally exclusive. In fact, until the strong discriminations between the conquerors and the conquered are entirely lost and forgotten, or until their relative numbers are nearer upon a par, it seems next to madness to arm the latter with power which they have the strongest temptations to abuse. Col. Stewart seems to admit that the separation of India from this country would be the probable consequence of admitting the people to any share in the administration of government; and asks, "can it be supposed that a connexion between countries lying at the opposite extremities of the earth can, in the nature of things, be perpetual? and is it to be assumed that we are at present free from such a danger?"-No; but the evil is, that the danger would be greatly increased. This part of the pamphlet appears to us the only one which is hastily and unadvisedly written. Col. Stewart has inserted such a statement as this: "The protection to persons and property (in India) is most imperfect; of public instruction, there is nothing deserving the name; and the security afforded to the territory from foreign violence is the one only duty of govern ment that is tolerably performed." The alleged deficiency of profit from our Indian connections, Col. Stewart thinks is of itself presumptive evidence that there is something radically wrong in the management. He proceeds as follows: I think it may be shown that there are but two ways, in which any direct gain can be obtained from such a country as India. The one (and incomparably the most profitable and the best), by the fair returns of mercantile traffic, in an exchange of commodities equally beneficial to both; the other, by leaving the internal management of their own affairs entirely to the inhabitants, and the natural relations between the soil and capital, and capital, and industry, undisturbed, and exacting from them a pecuniary tribute. That, by collecting the rents of the country, and undertaking the functions of Government for the people, and to save out of them a surplus revenue, we never can, by possibility, realize any thing, if the people have the power (as they must have) of fixing the price of grain, and consequently the wages of labour-are propositions which I conceive to be equally indisputable. The consequence results not from any deep design on the part of the people, but from that relation between the things themselves, hy which such an equilibrium is insensibly adjusted. The surplus, in point of fact, has always hitherto proved a mere delusion, and such it always will be. He then recommends the abandonment for ever of all further views of foreign war, the removal of restrictions, the improvement of the people, the excitement of their dormant wants and energies, the introduction of a body of gentry (English colonists) who must increase those wants and create new ones, and the cultivation of amicable relations with neighbouring states. The results of a policy, of which these are the outlines, Col. Stewart describes in very animated and eloquent language. 66 Such is the nature of the work before us, which has many sound observations, and is well worthy of perusal. It will not, we apprehend, please the party whose views it is, in many respects, calculated to promote; because it contains not a syllable (a most ominous omission) concerning liberty of the press" in India, the watch-word of those sapient politicians, who think themselves privileged to confound causes with effects, and to invert the order of things, by making free discussion precede free institutions, which must likewise be the fruit of some advancement in science and civilization on the part of the people. Asiatic Journ, VOL. XXI, No. 124. 3. T A Key A Key to the Book of Psalms. By the Rev. THOMAS BOYS, A.M. London, 1825; 8vo. pp. 239. THIS is a further attempt to support and exemplify the doctrine or system of parallelism, a peculiarity discovered by certain writers in the composition of the Holy Scriptures, and which Mr. Boys endeavoured to develope in a work entitled "Tactica Sacra," to which the present publication may be considered as an appendage. The nature of the system of composition referred to may be comprehended from the examples which the author has given of its simplest form-the parallel couplet : In examining a verse, or other small portion of Scripture, we very commonly find that it falls into two equal, or nearly equal, lines, which mutually correspond: as in the following examples: a. | Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found; a. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak : a. | Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, Is. lv. 6. (1.) Ps. vi. 2. (2.) Deut. xxxii. 16. (3.) a. And the flesh of your daughters ye shall eat. Lev. xxvi. 29. (4.) a. Put away from thee a froward mouth, a. | And perverse lips put far from thee. Prov. iv. 24. (5.) In each of these instances the reader will readily perceive that a., the second line, corresponds to a., the first. These examples admit of subdivisions, wherein the parallel is still apparent, though of different kinds: the first and second, when subdivided, discover alternate parallelism; the other three exhibit specimens of introverted parallelism. The parallel couplet, however, contains the principle of both. There are other examples wherein the mode of arrangement is still more complex, partaking of the alternate and the introverted character. The present work is intended to prove that whole psalms are divisible according to the principles of parallelism. The author's object is, therefore, to furnish a key to the meaning of those compositions; for as the arrangement is necessarily dependent upon the sense, parallelism becomes, in the author's opinion, a very useful instrument in the hands of the Biblical critic. He goes, indeed, further: Moreover, if the arrangement which we discover be, as we allege, so intimately connected with the sense and topics of Holy Scripture, then is it by no means mere matter of criticism and curious disquisition, but a sacred thing. The neglect of such a subject will be disregard of Scriptural truth; opposition, previous to examination, will be inexcusable resistance to that truth; ridicule will be profaneness. The doctrine will be one, respecting which it will be the bounden duty of every person who possesses or aspires to the character of a religious teacher, to do what in him lies to procure all attainable information. It is the duty of all preachers of the Gospel to give this subject their attention; not, indeed, for the purpose of immediately bringing before their hearers a doctrine, yet unfixed in many of its leading particulars, and undefined in its extent; for the purpose, however, of being ultimately qualified to use, with judgment, with precision, and with effect, this new organ of Scriptural interpretation. The following example will serve to illustrate the mode of exposition which the the Reverend author employs in his work. It comprehends the whole of Psalm CI. A. 1. I will sing of mercy and judgment; unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. 2. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O, when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. A. B. 3. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. 4. A froward heart shall depart from me; I will not know a wicked person. 5. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. 6. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. : B. 17. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 8. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land: that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. (1.) The whole of this Psalm is a promise, or a declaration of the Psalmist's resolutions and intentions. There is, however, a distinction of an obvious kind. In A. and A., the first and third members, the Psalmist sets forth what he will do, and whom he will encourage; in B. and B., the second and fourth, what he will avoid, and whom he will discourage and destroy. In order to perceive the truth of this representation, it will be necessary for the reader to examine the several members for himself. In A. the Psalmist says, "I will sing," &c. "I will behave myself wisely," &c. "I will walk," &c.-So again, in A., " Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful," &c. "He shall serve me."-But B. and B., on the contrary, set forth what the Psalmist disapproves, and whom he will avoid, discountenance, or suppress. "I will set no wicked thing," &c. "I hate the work of them," "Whoso privily slandereth will I cut off." "Him that hath an high look will I not suffer." "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house," &c. " I will destroy all the wicked," &c. "That I may cut off all wicked doers.' &c. A "Perfect way,” (D’PN 117), is spoken of both in A. and A.—The reader will also observe many correspondences in B. and B. In each of these members the Psalmist describes the persons whom he will discountenance or destroy. Thus in B. he speaks of "The work of them that turn aside," ('DD ny); in B., of him "That worketh deceit," ('). In B. he says, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes;" in B., "He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." The Hebrew expression is the same in both instances, '', (3, 7.)-It is also the same Hebrew word, 'N, which is rendered in B. to "Cut off," (5.) and in B., to "Destroy," (8.) In the Hebrew, too, there is something very symmetrical in the opening clauses of B. and B., though it would be difficult to preserve the resemblance in a translation. לא אשית לנגד עיני דבר בליעל : לא ישב בקרב ביתי עשה רמיה : It is natural to inquire to what extent the principles of parallelism can be applied, for it is obvious that the utility of the discovery depends, in a great measure, upon their universal, or at least their general, applicability; Mr. Boys gives the following statement upon this material point :— In a table which I have drawn out for my private use, I have classed the Psalms under three heads; those in which I have not been able to discover any arrangement; those which I have partly arranged; and those in which I consider the entire arrangement to have been ascertained. The last class I divide into two kinds; those in which the arrangement is so plain, that, as I conceive, any candid person acquainted with the and laws of parallelism, would acknowledge it at once, if properly set before him; those in which I am satisfied in my own mind that the arrangement is correct, but could 3 T 2 not not expect to satisfy others without more or less of discussion and detail. ing, then, are the numbers: The follow 66 In endeavouring to explain the cause or causes of the peculiarity which is the subject of the present work, the reverend author observes, that some may conceive the correspondences to be merely accidental, some that they are evidently designed, and others may believe that there was no absolute intention to pursue a peculiar mode of arrangement, though there was no absolute unconsciousness in the mind of the author. Mr. Boys, however, sees no way of accounting for the various phenomena exhibited, but by supposing positive design and actual intention somewhere." He is inclined to conclude that "the intention and the consciousness of the arrangements pointed out in the Sacred Writings did exist in the mind of the writers: though it is very possible, as they composed in detail, that they were not so fully aware of the general results of their own labours, as we may now be, if we investigate them thoroughly, and have them exhibited to us in one view.” Mr. Boys pursues the argument at greater length, but we cannot follow him. The alarm which this doctrine of parallelism seems to have excited amongst some readers of the Scriptures appears to us very groundless and unreasonable. The doctrine may, indeed, be carried too far, and we should be sorry to see it applied to correct any part of the text. But it will be time to reject it when it plainly leads to such mischievous results: at present, the attempt of Mr. Boys is entitled to countenance and encouragement. At the same time we own that we are not sanguine as to any benefits which the student will derive from acquiring a knowledge of its rules; much less do we concur with the author in believing that the neglect of this doctrine will ever evince "a disregard of Scriptural truth;" or that this "organ of Scriptural interpretation" can ever be regarded as a sacred thing." Simplicity is the characteristic of the Holy Writings; and the moment we admit the indispensable belief of any occult or abstruse method of interpretation, we open a dangerous door to fraud and deceit. The peculiarity which Mr. Boys has treated of is a peculiarity which is visible in almost all oriental writings, especially poetry. We would undertake to point out very striking instances of parallelism in Hafez, Saadi, and Ferdouzi. This is no proof, indeed, that this species of arrangement is accidental; rather the contrary:-but it destroys the basis of the supposition referred to by Mr. Boys, that the intention did not exist in the mind of the penman who wrote, but in the mind of the Spirit who dictated. We shall regret it, if any thing which has fallen from us should leave an impression that we undervalue the labours of Mr. Boys. The work evinces piety, taste, and ingenuity; and the subject of which it treats well deserves examination. VARIETIES; |