able to distinguish the tenses of the verb, as well as the cases of the noun, if he would succeed in his critical investigations. When he is able to reduce a sentence or compound word to its elementary principles, so as to ascertain the radical meaning of the words employed, he may then, and not till then, undertake the office of a verbal critic, and endeavor to fix the precise meaning of an author whom he may consult.

6. In consulting the sacred Scriptures-and indeed all ancient authors that we may comprehend adequately their meaning, it is not only necessary that we should understand their language, but it is equally essential that we should acquaint ourselves with their history, their geographical situation, their peculiar customs, their proverbial modes of speech, their civil and ecclesiastical polity, as also the history and customs of the people with whom they were, at different times, associated, or with whom they came into collision, in their disputes and wars. This item comprehends a vast compass of knowledge, but without which a student may in vain seek a solution of many passages of sacred Scripture. Every one, who is at all conversant with those venerable records of truth, knows that there are in them almost perpetual references to historical facts, to geographical boundaries, to civil institutions, and religious ceremonies, not as respects the Jews only and the early Christians, but also as respects other nations, sometimes distinctly named and enumerated, such as the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Idumeans, Edomites, and Canaanites, in the Old Testament, and the Greeks and Romans in the New Testament. Now, without some tolerable acquaintance with these nations, which can be acquired only from history and geography, how is it possible for us to understand the point of an allusion to those peculiar customs and usages by which they were severally distinguished?

Did, indeed, the same habits exist among us as were prevalent among them, we might not find it so difficult to comprehend these things. But though the customs of oriental nations are much less fluctuating than they are among us and the nations of Europe, yet they have varied less or more, so that many things which were perfectly familiar to the minds of those who wrote in those days, are now obsolete, and have been substituted by others, perhaps, however, equally unintelligible to all who have not an intimate and thorough acquaintance with their civil and religious history. must therefore be evident to every one, that none are competent to make a thorough and critical investigation of those words and sentences which refer to these ancient and antiquated customs, with which the sacred Scriptures abound, but those who have travelled over the records of antiquity, and familiarized themselves with those national peculiarities by which those nations, some of whom are now swept from the earth, were at that time distinguished.

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This branch of knowledge is especially necessary to enable us to understand the bold and lofty figures with which the Scriptures abound. It is well known that, among all the books ever written, either ancient or modern, there are none so distinguished by their figurative language, by trope and metaphor, as the Holy Scriptures. These metaphors are taken from history, from natural scenery, from warlike fetes, from civil and religious customs, rites, and cere

monies, from architectural and other monuments, from friendships and antipathies, from their mountains and valleys, flocks and herds. Now, though we may ascertain the literal meaning of the words used by those authors without an acquaintance with all these things, yet it is impossible to understand the point of the allusion, the suitableness of the figure, so as to perceive the analogy between the literal and figurative meaning, unless we have been made acquainted with the facts and things whence the metaphor is taken. Who, for instance, can comprehend St. Paul's allusion to the Grecian games, though perfectly intelligible to him and his readers, without a knowledge of the manner in which they were celebrated? Equally unintelligible must be Daniel's interpretations of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and the writing upon the wall in the king's palace, to those who are ignorant of the history of those times. These are selected merely as an illustration of our meaning, in this branch of the subject.

7. Though we may rely with confidence upon the general faithfulness of our translation of the sacred Scriptures, yet an acquaintance with the language in which they were written is no trifling acquisition to the biblical student. We do not intend to say that this is essential to qualify a man to become a minister of the Gospel. In this respect the times are altered. Time was, and especially at the memorable era of the Reformation, as well as for many years subsequent to that event, when all the learning in the world was locked up in a foreign language; and hence the several nations of Europe agreed, by common consent, to make the Latin tongue a general medium of communication with each other. Law, physic, and divinity were taught in this language. To this and to the Greek language, all went, as to a common source, for information; and what they learned from this source, they communicated to others, generally, through the medium of the same language. Indeed, it seemed to be a common impression, that the people in general, those of them who did not understand Greek and Latin, had nothing to do with a knowledge of letters, nor with the sciences, and hence no pains were taken to instruct them. This may account for the fact that the Holy Scriptures were denied to the people, and the strenuous manner in which they were withheld from them by the Catholic priesthood, even after the lights of the Reformation had dispelled in some measure the clouds of ignorance and superstition.

But this bright era, so much deprecated by those who profess to have the keys of knowledge, and whose interest it is to keep the doors of information locked up from those people, broke the spell by which the human mind had been so long held in this enchantment, and gradually poured upon the world the light of truth through the medium of their vernacular language. The translation of the sacred Scriptures into the languages of Europe, by which the treasures of Divine knowledge were laid open to the people, created a new era in the history of literature and science; and it has taught mankind that an Englishman is just as capable of acquir ing knowledge through the medium of his own language, as Grecian or a Roman was, by means of the Greek or Latin. Another effect, no less beneficial in its results, has been, that the litera

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ture which had been locked up in the cabinets of princes, and was unapproachable by the common people in consequence of having been taught in the learned languages, is now made accessible to all who can read and understand their mother tongue. Not only the sacred Scriptures, but all books of knowledge, have been faithfully translated into English, and plentifully diffused in the community, and thus put within the reach of all who have the leisure, disposition, and other means of acquiring information. This is a reformation in literature, no less important for the human mind, to enable it to emancipate itself from the thraldom of ignorance, than was the reformation in religion and morals for the deliverance of the soul from the degrading and ruinous slavery of sin.

These facts are mentioned to show that the same necessity does not now exist for a critical knowledge of ancient languages as did formerly. These fountains of knowledge have been opened by learned and scientific men, whence the streams of truth and knowledge have flowed out to water the land. Of these streams all may drink and be refreshed without being able to ascend to the fountain whence they flow. But, we do not wish to be misunderstood upon this subject. We do not mean to say that because there have been wise and learned men heretofore, to whose indefatigable diligence we are so much indebted, that the necessity for a succession of them ceases to exist. All we mean to say is, that such have been the results of their pious and learned labors in cultivating this prolific field, that we may now "reap that on which we have bestowed no labor," having been furnished-thanks to their learned industry— with such helps, that though we cannot work with the same tools, we need not despair of participating with them in the rich reward at last-provided we improve our high privileges with a wise and conscientious diligence.

With these remarks in behalf of those who may think it their duty and privilege to labor in the Gospel field with less polished implements than their predecessors, we proceed to say, that still it is an unspeakable privilege to be able to trace the streams of truth to their fountain, that we may ourselves test the integrity and faithfulness of those translations which have been transmitted to us from our ancestors by comparing them with their originals. Neither is this a small advantage. The truth of God always has had, has now, and doubtless always will have enemies-learned, acute, philosophical, and philological enemies. These will, as they ever have done, avail themselves of every aid which ingenuity, impelled on by a malignant hatred to Christianity, can possibly invent. They will impugn the integrity of translations, and to sustain themselves in their opposition, resort to philological criticisms, to verbal distinctions taken from the original Scriptures, and all this with a view to invalidate the Divine authority of the word of God. These enemies must be met and vanquished. But how is this to be done? Shall the theologian content himself with a mere spattering knowledge of things, and thus allow the learned infidel to triumph over him as an ignorant dolt? This would be a triumph greatly to be deprecated by the friends of truth. And it is a consoling thought, that amid the sharp conflict which has been carried on between truth and error for ages, during which the enemies of revelation

have resorted to every artifice that learning and ingenuity could invent, the cause of truth has always had such able and learned advocates to defend it, that it has stood firm, not only because it 66 was founded upon a Rock," but because its friends were able to meet their antagonists on their own ground, to contend with them with their own weapons, and to overthrow them with the strong arm of truth. Did the enemies of revelation resort to history, ancient and modern, to geography, geology, and tradition, to invalidate the authority of the Holy Scripture? Its advocates, in setting up their defence, showed that they were equally well acquainted with all these topics, and that, when rightly understood and applied, instead of militating against the truth, they all contributed to its defence and establishment? Did their antagonists resort to their philological criticisms to show that our conscientious translators had mistaken the words of the sacred writers, or had wilfully perverted their meaning? How triumphant have been the vindications! The heterodox Socinian has gained less to his cause by resorting to his criticisms upon the original words of Scripture, than the orthodox theologian has by the manner in which he has been able to repel his attacks. This, to be sure, is a homage we owe to truth. But it is likewise a homage to that love of learning and sound knowledge which truth inspires. Let but its friends lay down their weapons, and cease to ply themselves with those helps which an acquaintance with the learned languages affords, and the enemies of the truth would soon spring up in increased numbers and boldness, and bid defiance to the "armies of the living God."

8. Another qualification equally essential for a right understanding of words, is a careful attention to the synonymes of a language. That there are a multitude of words nearly synonymous in sense is obvious, not only from the numerous classes of words which are found in every language which has been highly cultivated and long used as a living language, but also from the very fact that all lexicographers resort to the use of one or more words of more familiar import, to explain others whose meaning is not so apparent. To study, therefore, the nice shades of difference between the meaning of words of kindred signification, as well as the exact sense in which the several terms of synonymous meaning are used, together with the sense designed to be affixed to any important word by the author who uses it, is the imperative duty of all those who would accurately comprehend the meaning of an author or speaker.

9. Above all other things, a sincere and ardent love of truth is indispensable to a student in this, as well as in every other department of knowledge. A child comes to the study of his alphabet without any of those prepossessions and prejudices with which a person has to contend, who has already formed his creed, or made up his judgment respecting the truth or falsity of a proposition or theory. Hence, it is often affirmed that a childlike simplicity, by which is meant an honest intention, should characterize the man who is in the pursuit of truth. The child listens attentively to the lessons of his teacher, receives with honest simplicity all his instructions, and with the most implicit confidence reposes himself upon the wisdom and fidelity of his instructer. It is this disposition of mind which quali fies him to receive what is imparted without hesitation and with so VOL. VIII.-January, 1837.

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much facility. It is true that the child, not having a judgment to distinguish between truth and error, is liable to be imposed upon by a designing instructer; and that very simplicity of mind which characterizes childhood, makes it therefore the more important that lovers of truth only should have the charge of youth.

But something of this same simplicity, this oneness of intention, this honest desire to know the truth and to follow it, should possess the minds of all those who come to the investigation of any word or proposition. Those who approach this or any other subject with prepossessions for or against any particular theory, are perpetually liable to make their prejudices the key to unlock the meaning of words, and their preconceived opinions the basis of truth. Such, certainly, are not qualified to judge impartially. And this remark applies with peculiar force when the study of the sacred Scriptures is undertaken.

9. But here the question arises, how shall a man qualify himself for this sort of criticism? Can he, unaided and alone, acquire that knowledge of the structure of language which is essential to enable him to trace out the etymology of words, to ascertain their radical signification, and to apply them in speech or writing to the purposes of instruction? Can he, in this way, accurately understand the use of metaphorical terms, peculiar modes of speech, and the numerous allusions to customs now obsolete, to nations now extinct?

To all general rules there are exceptions. As a general rule, then, we think none but those who are destitute of the knowledge we are commending, will affirm that all this can be accomplished without the aid of a competent instructer. Whatever may be awarded to some giant minds, impelled on in the pursuit of knowledge by an irrepressible desire for usefulness, and there have been a number of such, it must be admitted, as a general truth, that to excel in any branch of literature and science, there must be a foundation laid in youth by suitable instruction, and this foundation must be built upon by a constant and persevering application of the mental and moral powers to those subjects which naturally strengthen and expand the mind.

But even those who have acquired literary distinction chiefly by their own efforts, have had some of the advantages of an early education. It may indeed be doubted whether any man could even acquire a knowledge of the alphabet of his mother tongue, unless he had some one to teach him. And without at least this amount of knowledge, what progress could any one make? When, however, a man has had the common advantages of a school education in his youth, has contracted a taste for improvement, and has the facilities now so generally afforded to all for the acquirement of literature and science, he may, by suitable application and persevering industry, climb the hill of science and enjoy the pleasures of surveying the pleasant fields of knowledge spread out before him. Let not such, therefore, be discouraged. Though they may have to labor hard and long, yet what they thus acquire, will be the more deeply radicated in their understandings and hearts, the more highly prized and faithfully applied to practical purposes.

But if these would acquire an accurate knowledge of words, they