Imatges de pàgina
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deceased, his true affection and his calamitous fate. When the days of mourning were ended, suitable presents were made to the friendly host, and Helon, Salamith and Salumiel returned from the Perca over the Jordan to Jericho."

This calamity is represented by the author as a punishment of the pride of Helon, who, according to a notion which Judaism was not unlikely to inspire, believed his own prosperity to be a mark of the peculiar favour of heaven, and thought that his zeal for the law, and his delight in the services of the Temple, had already advanced him to the rank of a chæsidean, or perfectly righteous man. He is gradually recovering his composure, and learning to think more humbly of himself, when Myron, who has been wretched from the consciousness of the sorrow which he had brought on his friend, seeks a reconciliation, and obtains it chiefly through the mediation of Salamith. His return is the cause of fresh calamities. Finding that it was to Salamith that he owed his forgiveness, he goes one evening, in ignorance of Oriental manners and the fury of Oriental jealousy, to the Armon, or female apartment, to express his gratitude to her. She warns him of his danger, but before he has made good his retreat, Helon appears. Their protestations of innocence are unavailing Myron is contumeliously driven from the house, and Salamith, being brought before the judges of Jericho as an adultress, declares herself willing to undergo the fearful ceremony of drinking the water of jealousy. For this purpose she is conveyed to Jerusalem. The author, though in general very remote from the modern German school of theology, appears to have adopted the opinion of Michaëlis, that this was intended as a trial of the power of conscience on the mind of the culprit, and that the method to which the priests trusted for obtaining the truth, was to accumulate horrors upon her, which nothing but the force of innocence could enable her to bear. She is led through the streets of Jerusalem, exposed to every species of indignity, harassed with exhortations to confess her crime, and at last produced, before the whole people, to take the test which the law prescribed. She bears

all with the most admirable meekness and dignity, and, having drunk the water uninjured, is declared innocent of the charge. Helon, though forgiven by his wife, cannot forgive himself for the pain he has caused her; and remains in a state of the deepest dejection, till his conscience is relieved by the sacrifices on the day of atonement. The change in him is chiefly brought about by his intercourse with the old man of the Temple, a venerable personage, into whose mouth the author puts those interpretations of the Jewish rites and history, with reference to the expected Messiah, which he supposes to have prevailed among those who, avoiding the sectarian tenets of Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, were desirous to fulfil the law without addition or diminution. By him Helon is taught the folly of his former presumptuous self-righteousness, and to consider the sacrifices of the law as the appointed means of reconciliation with God, till the Messiah should come, to take away the sin of the people. His cheerfulness returns, and he celebrates the feast of Tabernacles, which closed the annual cycle of Jewish festivals, with more true religious feeling than any of the preceding. On their return to Jericho, they hear that the plague has broken out, and determine all together to go to Alexandria, to see Helon's mother: but before they can embark at Joppa, news reaches them that she is dead. They set out, however, and for several days have a prosperous voyage. Myron, who has become a proselyte of the gate, is one of the party.

"The Phoenician vessel in which they had embarked, ran swiftly along the coast, and Jamnia, Ashdod, Ascalon, Gaza and Raphia, were soon left behind. The mind of Helon was as clear and calm as the mirror in which the sea reflected the bright blue heavens. His grief for the death of his mother had only increased his trust in the Divine compassion, which had bestowed on him that perfect peace of mind which neither in death nor life sees any thing to fear. One morning they were watching the broad red dawn, announcing the approach of day. All were in an unusual frame of mind. Helon, full of tranquil joy, was relating to his friends, as they sat

around him on the deck, the course
of Divine Providence, with respect to
hiin in the year that was just com-
pleted, and how it had conducted him
to that true peace of mind which he
had sought in vain before. 'I could
call upon the whole world,

• Praise Jehovah, all the world,
Serve Jehovah with joy!
Come into his presence with rejoicing.

Confess that Jehovah is God.
He has made us and we are his,
His people and the sheep of his pas-

ture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
His courts with songs of praise.
Bless him, praise his name!
For Jehovah is good, his mercy is ever-
lasting,

And his faithfulness from generation
to generation.'-(Psalm c.)

"And through all the vicissitudes of my life, in calamity and in death, these words shall be my comfort, which the last of the prophets spoke, when the oracle of prophecy was about to be closed in silence :'

The Lord whom ye seek will come
speedily to his temple,
And the angel of the covenant whom
ye desire.

Behold he cometh, saith Jehovah of

Hosts.'

"While he thus spoke, delightful anticipations of futurity seemed to take possession of his soul. All who sat around him were silent; for the power of his faith seemed to communicate itself by an indescribable operation to their minds. All at once, confused voices exclaimed throughout the ship, a storm, a storm! The heavens grew black with clouds, the tempest rose, and the waves beat on every side against the ship. They endeavoured to avoid the shore, which was rocky and produced breakers which threatened every moment to overwhelm the vessel. The Phoenician mariners called on their gods, the children of Israel prayed to Jehovah. Helon stood in the midst of threatening waves and terrified men, tranquil and full of confidence. At once the ship received a violent shock, and sprung a leak. Their efforts were in vain. Salamith flew to Helon's arms, and each repeated to the other passages from the Psalms. All hope of

safety was at an end, and sounds of terror and lamentation were heard on every side. Suddenly, the ship struck violently upon a rock and went to pieces. The crew sunk, and no one could bid another farewell. Helon supported himself for a short time upon a spar, and looking round saw Salamith and her father sink. Alone for a few moments with the stormy and scarcely conscious, he struggled waves. One of tremendous height came rolling onward; Helon exclaimed amidst the uproar of the elements,

The angel of the covenant

Behold he cometh, saith Jehovah of
Hosts,'

and was buried in the waters.

"After an hour the storm had ceased. And the storms of this world, too, had ceased for those who had found death in the waves and life in the bosom of their God."

The melancholy impression which the close of this story will leave on the mind of every reader of feeling, even in this imperfect sketch, is the best proof how well the author has succeeded in the fictitious part of his which distinguishes it above all the and it is this circumstance work;

stories which have been written as vehicles of antiquarian information. He has deprived us of the means of judging how far it is an exact picture of the Jewish life and sentiments in the period assumed, by entirely withholding references to authorities, on the insufficient ground, that they would be useless to the unlearned and superfluous to the learned. We are glad, however, to perceive that the remonstrances of his German readers have induced him to promise to supply this great deficiency, by giving his own notes, and those which the Dutch Professors, Vanderpalm and Clarisse, have added to a translation which has appeared in Holland. Full and accurate references alone can enable us to use such a work with any confidence for the purpose of instruction, and correct, in some measure, the fallacy which leads the reader to feel as if he really had contemporary authority for the facts and descriptions which it contains. The picture of the Jewish people is probably idealized, and we

can scarcely believe that their national festivals were celebrated with such a high-wrought enthusiasm, and such a renunciation of all selfishness and animosity as are here ascribed to them. But we must allow an author to ennoble what he finds a delight in describing; and we can readily forgive an error on the side of praise, in respect to a people whom it has sometimes been deemed a point of duty by Christians to paint in the blackest colours. Great taste and devotional feeling has been shewn in the manner in which quotations from Scripture, especially from the Psalms, are introduced, and the best modern versions have been every where followed. Should the book ever be rendered accessible to English readers, it will be found a very pleasing medium of conveying historical, geographical and antiquarian knowledge, and will gratify the taste while it improves the heart.

SIR,

K.

THAT can account for the pre

sincerely believing themselves the disciples of Christ, can honestly so sophisticate almost every word they admit him to have uttered on the subject of his relation to God, as to fasten upon him the blasphemy of his being the COMPEER of God?" But my momentary bigotry brought a blush into my cheek, and with sincere compunction and shame let me now record my "wonder" at the almost unanimous faith of Christendom. It is indeed true, that prescription, establishment, fashion, will, to multitudes, in every age, make black white, and white black but even among the modλes of believers are there not to be found thousands and tens of thousands who attach all the credit and conclusiveness that the most devoted inquirers after divine truth alone can attach to every insulated asseveration of the "Teacher come from God," as well as to the whole tenour of his doctrine, and yet, upon his own supposed shewing, coequalize, not identify, him with his Father and his God? In the opinion of such disciples at his feet as these, he must, somewhere or other,

WHAT can forent day, have either explained away these cate

amongst Protestants of that most marvellous modification of the Christian faith yclept Trinitarianism? "Thinks I to myself," the other day, as I sat revolving in my mind the unvaried, uniform and iterated averments of its Divine "Author and Finisher." "Why callest thou me good? None is good but one, that is God." "I ascend to my God." "The words I speak unto you, I speak not of myself." "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." "The Son can do nothing of himself." "I live by the Father." "My Father is greater than I." "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." "To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give," But I might, literally speaking, transcribe, as every reader of his Bible well knows, a considerable proportion of our blessed Saviour's discourses into your pages, before I had exhausted THE SON'S attestations to his inferiority to THE FATHER, his nothingness without HIM, and but for HIM. As fully impressed with the divinity he claimed as with that he disclaimed, "Is it possible," I caught myself vociferating, "is it possible, that men,

.....

gorical depositions of unqualified subjection to, of absolute dependance on, "the only true God," or have taught also some antagonistical doctrines, so utterly irreconcileable with their naked meaning, as to warrant any possible evasion of it. For any such direct contradictory elucidations I look, however, in vain': indeed, I am not aware that the stoutest-hearted champions of creed and article-theology have gone so far as to assert, that what he who " spake as none other man spake," said at one time, he directly unsaid at another. We must, therefore, have recourse to the remaining member of the alternative for the solution of our problem. And here, let me avow, however little creditable to my judgment the avowal may be deemed, that in a solitary, quite anomalous text, I, for one, do recognize an apology for almost any but a perverse or ludicrous interpretation of our Saviour's assertions in the passages enumerated, and in others of a like import. The Baptismal text I never

I have never read the admirable dissertation of Tyrrwhitt on this text,

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expression (well or ill founded) which this supposed command of our Saviour's makes upon a mind convinced that Paganism is as much the doctrine of Christianity as Trinitarianism is, what must be its effect on those who identify Trinitarianism with Christianity? Will they not believe any thing rather than offer violence to its more obvious import? Will any Procrustean process seem illegitimate to them, that can torture Scripture into a seeming harmony with this extraordinary but decisive text? Is it not, indeed, matter of fact, that this great vital organ of the orthodox system generates rather than merely fills all the arteries and veins which flow to and from it? What vagary of the human brain could less assimilate with the whole or any part of Scripture, than does the grave and idolized dogma extracted from this singular anomaly in the sacred page? And yet in the opinion of those who deem it treason to divine truth to question the evidence by which this solitary testimony to Tritheism, under another name, is supported, is there one in a thousand who does not, with Postellus, trace its ramifications in almost every volume of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures? Shall I be contradicted when I say, that the minutest degree of scepticism, as to the authenticity of the Baptismal text, would do more to disenchant Athanasianism of its charms, than whole folios of demonstration opposed to the tenet which this text seems to involve will be able to do in a long succession of ages? assertion be disproved, if I

Will my

without being reminded of the notable boax practised by our facetious monarch on the literati of his day. His argument all along disproves the assumption on which it is founded.

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worms, allow me to occupy a small space with a brief account of two small tracts, printed together, in a volume which though figured as an octavo is not larger than an octodecimo.

The whole title is as follows: "Precepts, or, Directions for the well-ordering and Carriage of a Man's Life, through the whole Course thereof: left by William, Lord Burghly, to his Sonne at his death, who was sometimes Lord Treasurer of this Kingdome. Also, some other Precepts and Advertisements added, which sometimes was the Jewell and Delight of the right Honourable Lord and Father to his Country, Francis, Earle of Bedford, deceased. In two Bookes. London, printed for Thomas Jones, and are to be sold at his Shop in the Strand, neare Yorke House, 1637."

This "Thomas Jones," the bookseller, was a smart tradesman. He has dedicated the volume, which he describes as a new edition, to Richard, Lord Buckhurst, to express part of his thankfulness for the "goodnesse" he had received from this nobleman and from "the noble Earle" his father, and "the right vertuous Countesse," his mother. There is a vein of mirth in this writer from "his shop in the Strand, neare Yorke House." "Multiplicity of words," he tells Lord Buckhurst, "begets multiplicity of errors: especially in those whose tongues were never polished by art. It is true" (he waggishly adds), "I have much learning, but that is in my shop, and it is as true that I am ignorant, having not the happinesse to bee bred a scholar." He then quotes a Latin sentence to excuse his want of education, and that, without saying, as honest John Bunyan did, in the like case, “the Latin I borrow," viz., Non cuivis homini licet adire Corinthum.

I was somewhat curious to look into the paternal counsels of such a man as Cecil, Lord Burleigh, Eliza beth's far-famed minister, especially as he adinonishes his son that they will "season his youth like the deaw (dew) of age." They are moral and pious, but displaying withal a good deal of that worldly wisdom by which the author made his way through so many difficulties, and preserved his standing amidst so many mutations and perils.

Precept 1. is headed, rather oddly, "For the choice of your Wives." The wary politician here calls upon his son to use great providence and circumspection, for," says he, "it is in the choice of a wife, as in a project of warre, wherein to erre but once is to be undone for ever." He exhorts with regard to a wife, "Let her not be poore," and assigns the thrifty man's reason, "Because a man can buy nothing in the market without money." Amongst other advice on this point, he enjoins, "make not choice of a Dwarfe or a Foole, for from the one you may beget a race of Pigmeyes, as the other will be your daily griefe and vexation: for it will irke you so oft as you shall heare her talke, and you shall continually finde to your sorrow, that feele that crosse, that There is nothing so fulsome as a she-foole." And, after counselling against "drunkennesse," he lays down the following rule of husbanding: "Beware thou spend not above three of the four parts of thy revenue, nor above one-third part thereof in your house for the other two parts will but defray extraordinaries, which will always surmount your ordinaries by much for otherwise you shall live like beggars in continuall wants, and the needy man can never live happily, nor contented, being broken and distracted with worldly cares : for then every least disaster makes him ready to mortgage or sell: and that Gentleman that sels an acre of Land, looseth an ounce of Credit: for Gentilitie is nothing but antient riches: so that if the Foundation do sinke, the Building must needs consequently fall."

:

Under Precept 2, the title of which is, "For the Education of your Children," this sage father exhorts, "suffer not your sonnes to passe the

Alpes," alleging that by foreign travel they would learn "pride, blasphemy and Atheisme." One of his counsels is extraordinary, and may cause him to be ranked amongst the enemies of war upon Christian principles: if in the latter part of the sentence a little secular policy peeps out, it may well be forgiven for the sake of the rare "meekness of wisdom" that comes before." Neither by my advice," says he, "shall you train them (sons) up to warres for hee that sets up his rest to live by that profession, in mine opinion, can hardly be an honest man, or a good Christian; for, Every warre of itselfe is unjust, the (tho'?) good cause may make it lawful: besides it is a science no longer in request then use: for souldiers in peace, are like chimneyes in summer, like Dogges past hunting, or women, when their beauty is done."

Precept 5, "adviseth to keepe some great man to your friend, and how to complement him."

At p. 25, is "An Addition of some Short Precepts and Sentences, not impertinent to the former," I suppose by Lord Burleigh, though the following, numbered 21, is not quite such as would have been expected from his eminent wisdom. "Though I thinke no day amisse to undertake any good enterprise, or businesse in hand; yet have I observed some, and no meane clerks, very cautionarie, to forbeare these three mundayes in the yeare, which I leave to thine own consideration, either to use or refuse, viz. 1. The first Munday in April, which day Caine was born, and his brother Abel slaine. 2. The second Munday in August, which day Sodome and Gomorrah were destroyed. 3. Last Munday in December, which day Judas was born, that betrayed our Saviour Christ."

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We have, at p. 52, "A handfull of short questions, with their Resolutions," some of which are mere conundrums: e. g. Q. What waters of all others ascend highest? A. The tears of the faithfull," which God gathers into his bottle." Similar to this is the Joe Millar conceit which has often crept into very grave pulpits: Qu. Why cannot the heart of a man bee filled, although hee should enjoy the whole world? Ans. Because the whole Globe of the World

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