"We sorrow"-He who sheds not tears Must more or less than mortal be, And THOUGHT may gaze until she view She had of all that earth can boast, And all that wisdom values most: Can make her happiness the less; The page of Providence, there seems In her short day, concentred beams To her, a happy lot was given, To her, ere one short year had pass'd, A bride, a mother, and at last, Homerton. JAMES EDMESTON, as wholly distinct from that of common life, as calculated immediately for expressing the passions: if, therefore, it were to be reduced to the plain rule and order of reason, if every word and sentence were to be arranged with care and study, as if calculated for perspicuity alone, it would be no longer what they intended it, and to call it the language of passion would be the grossest of solecisms. The other thing to be noticed, is, that in the poetry of the Hebrews in general, there is a much more frequent change or variation of the tenses than occurs in common language. The chief aim of such a transition is, to render the subject of a narration or description more striking, and even to embody and give it a visible existence. Thus, in all languages, in prose as well as poetry, it is usual to speak of past as well as future events in the present tense, by which means whatever is described or expressed is in a manner brought immediately before our eyes; nor does the mind contemplate a distant object, by looking back to the past or forward to the future. But in this respect there is a great peculiarity in the Hebrew language. For the Hebrew verbs have no form for expressing the imperfect or indefinite of the present tense, or an action which now is performing: this is usually effected by a participle only, or by a verb substantive understood, neither of which are often made use of in such passages as these, nor indeed can be always conveniently admitted. They therefore take another method of attaining this end, and for the sake of clearness and precision, express future events by the past tense, or rather by the perfect present, as if they had actually taken place; and, on the contrary, past events by the future, as if immediately or speedily to happen, and only proceeding towards their completion. Of the first of these forms of construction, namely, the expressing of the future by the past tense, an instance which we just now quoted will demonstrate both the nature and the effect. Moses foreseeing, by the impulse of divine inspiration, the miserable neglect of the true worship into which the people of Israel were universally to relapse, reprobates in the following terms the vices of that ungrateful people, as if they had been already committed in his immediate presence: Their evil disposition hath corrupted his children, which are indeed no longer his. Thus he speaks as if he were the actual witness of their depravity, and present at those impious rites with which they were about to violate a religion, divinely instituted through his means. Nothing can be more efficacious than this kind of anticipation to the clear, evident, and almost ocular demonstration of things. On this account it is a very common mode of expression in the prophetical writings; and in this, as in every other excellence, Isaiah particularly challenges our highest admiration. Observe only with what exactness and perspicuity he has delineated the journey of Sennacherib towards Jerusalem, and the different stages of the army; insomuch that the light and evidence which the Prophet throws upon the circum stances of the prediction, falls nothing short of the clearness and accuracy of an historical narration : He is come to Aiath; he hath passed to Migron; At Michmas he will deposit his baggage. They have passed the strait; Geba is their lodging for the night: Ramah is frightened; Gibeah of Saul fleeth. Cry aloud with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; Hearken unto her, O Laish; answer her, O Anathoth. Madmena is gone away; the inhabitants of Gibeim flee amain. Yet this day shall he abide in Nob: He shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Sion. Thus the plague of locusts is denounced, and described, as if it had already happened, by the prophet Joel: For a nation hath gone up on my land, Who are strong and without number: They have destroyed my vine, and have made my fig-tree a broken branch. They have made it quite bare and cast it away: the branches thereof are made white. The field is laid waste; the ground, the ground mourneth.' The Prophet is undoubtedly here speaking of a future event; for, the very devastation, which, to strike the more forcibly on the mind, he has thus depicted as an event already past, is threatened by him in the sequel under another image to be immediately inflicted, unless the people repent of their wickedness. Thus far the Hebrew language differs not materially from others; those future actions or events which other writers, for the sake of force and clearness, express in the imperfect present, the Hebrews express in the perfect present with equal effect. In another point, it must be confessed, they differ essentially from other writers, namely, when they intimate past events in the form of the future tense: and it must be added, that it is a matter of considerable difficulty. These apparent anomalies, however, are not without their peculiar force and beauty. That many of them should cause difficulty and obscurity, considering the great antiquity of the Hebrew language, is not to be wondered at. Some light may notwithstanding be reflected upon the subject, by a careful attention to the state of the writer's mind, and by considering properly what ideas were likely to be prevalent in his imagination at the time of his writing. There is a remarkable instance of this form of construction in that very song of Moses, to which we have been alluding. After mentioning the divine dispensation, by which the Israelites were distinguished as the chosen people of God, he proceeds to state with what love and tenderness the Almighty had cherished them, from the time in which he brought them from Egypt, led them by the hand Joel i. 6, 7. 10. &c. 2 Joel ii. Vol. IV. K through the wilderness, and as it were, carried them in his bosom : all these, though past events, are expressed in the future tense: He will find him in a desert land, He will lead him about, he will instruct him ; It will readily be judged, whether this passage can admit of any other explication, than that of Moses' supposing himself present at the time when the Almighty selected the people of Israel for himself and thence, as from an eminence, contemplating the consequences of that dispensation. The case will be found similar in many other passages; as, in particular, more than once in that historical Psalm which is inscribed with the name of Asaph. After the prophet has exposed the perfidy of the people, their refractory conduct almost in the very crisis of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage, he in a manner anticipates in his mind the clemency of God and the repeated transgressions of the Israelites, and speaks of them as future. events: But he, moved with compassion, will pardon their iniquity, and will not destroy them; And frequently will turn away his wrath, Nor will stir up all his indignation. How often will they rebel against him in the desert, And will grieve him in the wilderness!" 1 The general disposition and arrangement of the hundred and fourth Psalm affords a most elegant exemplification of this construction. For the Prophet, instancing the greatness and wisdom of God in the constitution and preservation of the natural world, speaks of the actions and decrees of the Almighty in the present tense, as if he himself had been an eye-witness when they were brought to light; and displays their consequences and uses, and what are called final causes in the future tense, as if looking forward from the beginning through all future time. But although these and some other passages will admit of this explanation, there are many to which it will not apply. In these the situation and state of the authors are not so much to be considered, as the peculiar nature or idiom of the language. Now, if this unusual form of construction be the effect either of some sudden emotion in the speaker, of some new and extraordinary state of mind; or if, on any other account, from the relation on the subject, or the genius of the language, it be possessed of some peculiar force or energy; it will obviously follow, that it must more frequently occur in poetry than in prose, since it is particularly adapted to the nature, the versatility, and variety of the former, and to the expression of any violent passion; and since it has but little affinity to that mildness and temperance of language, which proceeds in one 1 Psal. Ixviii. 38, 40. uniform and even tenour. Thus, if we attend diligently to the poetry of the Hebrews, and carefully remark its peculiar characteristic, shall hardly find any circumstance, the regular and artificial conformation of the sentences excepted, which more evidently distinguishes it from the style of prose composition, than the singularity which is now under consideration. For, though it be allowed, that this idiom is not so entirely inconsistent with prose, but that a few examples of it might be produced1, yet it is concluded by bishop Lowth, that the free and frequent use of it may be accounted as the certain characteristic of poetry. 2 [To be continued.] Scripture Discussions: COMPRISING, THE OUTLINES OF A SERIES OF CATHOLIC DISCOURSES; With a view to promote Christian Moderation, and exhibit the Scripture Character of genuine Catholic Christianity. The Catholic and Protestant Versions of the Scriptures are employed; and the Discussion is conducted on the principles of Universal Liberty. By the Writer of the “SCRIPTUre EncyclopæDIA.” NO. I. PRELIMINARY EXPOSITIONS. 1 COR. X. 33. CATH.-Not seeking that which is profitable to myself, but to many, that they may be saved. Μη ξητων το ἐμαυτε συμφερον, άλλα το των πολλων, ἵνα σωθώσι. Not seeking mine own benefit, but that of many, that they may be saved. WHAT a fine example of the spirit and practice of Christianity, was represented in the life of this great Apostle! Paul, indeed, was "not a whit behind the very chief of the Apostles," in moral excellency and ministerial usefulness. In whatever respects we regard him-in whatever circumstances he is seen-we behold the man, the minister of Jesus, with admiration and rapture. How candidly and how honourably does he avow his principles, on the present occasion! Look at the paragraph (vers. 23-33.) of 1 See Jud. ii. 1, and xxi. 25; 1 Sam. xxvii. 9, 11; 2 Sam. xii. 31; 1 Kings xvi. 6; 1 Chron. xi. 8. ? Lowth, on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, Lect. 15. |