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Again:

For he hath destroyed the gates of brass ;
And the bars of iron he hath smitten asunder:

Verse 16.

To this couplet the reader may, for himself, apply a similar plan of criticism: and, having done so, he will feel abundantly convinced, that not only a great poetical, but a great moral loss, would be sustained, were we to invert the order, and read:

For the gates of brass he hath destroyed;

And hath smitten asunder the bars of iron:

By such a commencement and conclusion, the soul would be imprisoned: but it is only with "a free spirit," that we can duly celebrate the praises of Almighty God.

The excellencies of the original, thus faintly but faithfully exhibited, are nearly lost in our two authorised versions; and, indeed, in almost every modern translation. The Septuagint and Vulgate have retained the order, but, in some respects, weakened the force, of the original words; the former reads:

ότι εχόρτασε ψυχην κενην·

και πεινωσαν ενεπλησεν αγαθών:

ότι συνέτριψε πυλας χαλκας·

και μοχλους σιδήρους συνέθλασεν.

the latter:

Quia satiavit animam inanem ;

Et animam esurientem satiavit bonis :

Quia contrivit portes æreas;

Bishop Horsley, too, has preserved the order, but, in the first two lines, has departed from the simplicity, of the original; in the third line, the word shivered, is eminently happy; it presents a picture of the thing:

For he hath fed to the full the longing soul;

The soul famished with hunger he hath filled with good: For he hath shivered the gates of brass

;

And the bars of iron he hath cut asunder.

Dathe has reversed the order in the first line of each couplet; and, in so doing, has much diminished the impression :

Nam sitientibus explevit sitim;

Atque esurientes abunde satiavit :
Quod fores æreas effregerit;

Et claustra ferrea avulserit.

The interlineary version of Arias Montanus, perhaps does the greatest justice: a version, which, notwithstanding its barbarous latinity, is often inexpressibly felicitous; merely because it is literal, and because it scrupulously preserves the original order of the words: (5)

Quia saturare fecit animam cupidam;

Et animam famelicam satiavit bonis :
Quia contrivit portas æreas;

Et vectes ferreas concidit.

Under this head, one other example will suffice: it is a noble burst of moral indignation :

Woe unto them who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

Isaiah, v. 20.

The reader cannot fail to observe, that, in this triplet, evil, darkness, and bitterness, are so disposed as to retain throughout, their " bad pre-emi

nence."

The figure of speech, for such it may be called, the grounds and reasons of which I have here attempted to explain, has not been unnoticed by commentators and critics (6); several, indeed, have observed the phænomenon; but not one, that I am aware of, has hitherto explored the rationale of it. Some are disposed to maintain that it is purely classical; and it does sometimes occur in Greek and Latin authors (7); but it is so prevalent, and so peculiarly marked, in the Sacred Volume, that it may be justly accounted a Hebraism; and, as I am disposed to believe, a feature of Hebrew poetry. Rhetoricians have given it various names; for example, segno, chiasmus, synchysis, epanodos: the last is its most frequent appellation. That, which I have ventured to call the introverted parallelism, is a species of epanodos; and, in every instance of it, the reasons may be clearly shown, why this order has been chosen. On this subject, more will be said, when I shall have proceeded some way in the examination of parallelisms occurring in the New Testament: meantime, the next section must unavoidably be devoted to further preliminary

matter.

F

NOTES ON SECTION IV.

Competent

(1) The parallelisms distinctly marked.] judges have, with good reason, accounted this technical distribution, of no slight importance. The following are the words of the late Archbishop Newcome: "In the best "editions of the Bible, the poetical parts should be divided "into lines answering to the metre of the original. The "common editions would be made too expensive by such a "distribution, which would occupy a large space: but this "inconvenience may be avoided, by placing each hemistich ❝ within inverted commas; or by any other proper mark of "distinction for the pause. Dr. Kennicott's words on "this subject are: Si universa in bibliis Hebræis carmina, "more poëtico, lineis brevibus, et plerumque fere æquali"bus (saltem ubi non fuerint corruptæ) nunc demum imprimerentur, mirum quantum elucesceret statim sacræ "poetæ mens; idque in mille locis, ubi, sub usitata prosæ "forma, difficillimum est ullam, saltem veram, expiscari "sententiam. Præf. ad Vet. Test. Hebr. § 20.”

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Abp. NEWCOME, Min. Proph. pref. p. xxxviii.

In addition to this doubly-sanctioned recommendation, it may be observed, that, where the parallelisms are either alternate, or introversive, or in any manner separated by the intervention of other lines, the stanzas or paragraphs should be so ranged, as, by typographical indentures, to make the parallelism of line with line, however remote from each other, at once apparent to the eye. Thus (and I speak from experience) the reader may be enabled to discover at a glance, niceties both of structure, and of meaning, which, in the ordinary mode of printing, might pass unnoticed, after frequent, and even close perusal. In the

above passage of Isaiah, and throughout the present work, I have been attentive to this distinctness of exhibition.

(2) Experimenta lucifera.] "Tum vero de scientiarum " ulteriore progressu spes bene fundabitur, quum in histo"riam naturalem recipientur, et aggregabuntur, complura "experimenta, quæ in se nullius sunt usus, sed ad inven“tionem causarum et axiomatum tantum faciunt; quæ nos “lucifera experimenta, ad differentiam fructiferorum, appel"lare consuevimus. Illa autem miram habent in se virtu"tem et conditionem; hanc videlicet, quod nunquam fal"lant aut frustrentur." Nov. Org. I. xcix.

"Plurima in historia nostra, captui vulgari, aut etiam "cuivis intellectui rebus præsentibus assuefactæ, videbuntur "curiosæ cujusdam et inutilis subtilitatis. Itaque de hoc "ante omnia et dictum et dicendum est. Hoc scilicet; "nos, jam sub initiis, et ad tempus, tantum lucifera expe"rimenta, non fructifera quærere; ad exemplum creationis "divinæ, quod sæpius diximus, quæ primo die lucem tan"tum produxit, eique soli unum integrum diem attribuit, neque illo die quicquam materiati operis immiscuit.

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"Itaque, si quis istiusmodi res nullius esse usus putet, "idem cogitat, ac si nullum etiam lucis esse usum censeat,

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quia res scilicet solida aut materiata non sit. Atque "revera dicendum est, simplicium naturarum cognitionem "bene examinatam et definitam instar lucis esse; quæ ad "universa operum penetralia aditum præbet; atque tota ag"mina operum et turmas, et axiomatum nobilissimorum "fontes, potestate quadam complectitur, et post se trahit; ❝in se tamen non ita magni usus est. Quin et literarum "elementa per se et separatim nihil significant nec alicujus "usus sunt; sed tamen ad omnis sermonis compositionem "et apparatum instar materiæ primæ sunt."-Ibid. I. cxxi.

(3) The hundred-and-seventh psalm.] The substance of some of the following remarks I have ventured to reclaim, recast, and, I hope, also to improve, from notes annexed

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