of its triumph and glory may be said to have declined soon after the death of Ephraem, in the year 372; but it continued to exert an important influence, especially in translations, down to the time of Bar Hebraeus, or Abulpharag, in the thirteenth century.

We might devote an article to the Syriac version of the Old and New Testaments alone, of which the excellences, though generally acknowledged, are far too little understood. The fact that Syriac is so closely allied to Hebrew would, primâ facie, confer importance on a version of the Old Testament into the cognate tongue, apart from the acknowledged fidelity of the Peschito translation. How much more does the fact that our Lord and his apostles spoke in Syriac confer value on the translation of the New Testament made at a time when the language was vernacular to those who executed it! It is not improbable that in this Syriac version we have, in many cases, the exact words employed in their public ministrations by our Lord and his apostles. And yet this precious monument of ancient piety and learning was not known in Europe until the middle of the sixteenth century, when Ignatius, the patriarch of Antioch, sent Moses of Merdin to obtain the aid of the Roman Pontiff in printing it. Compared with the Greek original and the Latin Vulgate, its criticism is but recent, and therefore scanty and imperfect.*

once slumbered in darkness and was the prey of worms, shakes itself from the dust, and puts on the garb of Russia binding, under the supervision of Sir Frederick Madden. The resurrection of these faded parchments has. in many cases, raised human thought from the charnel-house, and given immortality to what was long considered dead. This is the temple of their fame, in whose niches that which remains of the poet, the philosopher, the historian, or the divine, is now enshrined. This is the palace of the former great ones of the world of mind, where, in silent state, each shall sit, probably until the day of doom, disturbed only by the curious student or desultory visitor. But let us spend a short time with these spectres of other years.

We begin with the venerable relics which have more than their antiquity to recommend them the manuscripts which God has made the depositories of the documents on which our faith as Christians is built. This is a Syriac manuscript from the collection of Rich, named after that successful explorer of oriental treasures. To preserve it from injury, it is enclosed in a case, which, when opened, presents a compact volume of the size which we moderns call royal octavo, and about two inches and a half in thickness. It is bound in Russia, its contents being lettered on the back. This is a copy of the version of the New Testament in Syriac, which we have already mentioned; it is described in the catalogue as exceedingly old, the inscription of its transcriber fixing its completion in the year of the Greeks 1079, or A. D. 768, making its present age nearly eleven centuries. A man may well feel awed when opening a production written by hands so long since shrouded in the tomb, in regions far away, and relating to topics so sublime. The material is the finest vellum, more or less discolored by age; indeed, much more so than two earlier. The writing is in double columns, some of the Nitrian manuscripts a century or and, like most ancient documents, is exceedingly correct, clerical errors being comparatively rare. The ink is very thick in consiststand out somewhat in relief; and, except ence, more like a pigment, making the letters No want is more pressing, in relation to bibli- where damp has injured it, the writing is cal learning, than a good critical edition of the quite intelligible, as though written but Syriac Scriptures, formed by the aid of the numer- yesterday. The titles of the separate books, ous ancient MSS. which are now known to exist. and the headings of the ecclesiastical divisWe believe such a task is contemplated by the ions, are written in red and green ink, of so Rev. W. Cureton, and earnestly hope he may be able to complete it. To say nothing of the stores good a color that they give the page a gay of the Vatican, there are materials in our own appearance. The beginning of the volume, as Museum of the highest value in relation to such a far as the third chapter of Matthew, is lost; recension. Manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures but the deficiency has been supplied, in a have been brought from Egypt at the expense of larger character, by a more modern writer. our government, and are waiting for some prac- A note informs us that the work was finished tised hand to unlock their treasures. Criticism, more than a thousand years ago by a certain on the Greek side, has pretty nearly exhausted Sabar Jesu, in the monastery of Beth Cocensi. its stores, and it may therefore be hoped that attention will now be turned to this rich, but scarcely cultivated field.

In order to convey to our readers some idea of the remains of the past, to which so high a value is justly attached, we may describe briefly a Syriac manuscript, which we had lately an opportunity of inspecting in the British Museum. After glancing at other objects in that grand national repository, we made our way to the manuscript departinent, where the written lore of past ages, which published by the American missionaries in Oroomiah, in that country. We have been agreeably surprised to find, that although there is a great admixture of words of Persian and Arabic origin, the Syriac is sufficiently prominent to give to the language its character. The work is in quarto, and is entitled, "Rays of Light." It consists of missionary and miscellaneous articles on religious subjects. We rejoice in this happy symptom,

O Sabar Jesu! we mentally exclaimed, on whose handiwork we are now looking, who

wert thou? what was thy history? what drove | count of the heresies which disturbed the thee from the world to the company of monks, Eastern Church in the four first centuries, and what was the extent of thy literary labors? more copious, perhaps, than is extant in any This age knows nothing of thee but thy name, other record. thus inscribed by thyself in red letters at the It thus appears that from the time of the close of thy great undertaking. Thy course formation of the Peschito versions to Ephrawas silent and contemplative, for a work like em, the Syriac language was employed as this could only be wrought in the solitary cell, an important instrument for affecting the puband with concentrated attention. We will lic mind. We have no doubt that many not say, On thy soul may God have mercy, as works of genius appeared in the long interval, thy fellow-scribes so often write at the close as well as those of Bardesanes. But we must of their tasks; but we will hope that, while look to Ephraem as the great master of Syriac giving to after ages this monuiment of Chris- literature, for in his time the language was in tian truth, thou didst feed upon it in thiue its complete manhood. How much he wrote own spirit! Sabar Jesu, thou wast different it is impossible to say; but his surviving in thy language, thy dress, and thy habits, compositions are voluminous, and have yet, from the men of this generation, but thou for the most part, to be introduced to the pubwast a Christian, and didst, we hope, drink lic. It is doubted by some whether he underof the same living waters as supply our wants, stood Greek; it is certain that he did not and we therefore gladly call thee brother. write in it; and, consequently, his works We trust thou art now at rest, and wilt stand extant in that language are only translations. in thy lot at the end of the days! Yet it is by these versions that he is generally Edessa appears to have been renowned for estimated as an author, his genuine Syriac its literature very early in the Christian era. writings having been neglected, in the too Tradition ascribes its conversion to Thomas prevalent ignorance of that language. Great the apostle. There are reasons for thinking facility is given for the study of them by the that these translations of the Bible were made magnificent edition published at Rome by the there; but it is certain that the place was Assemans in the early part and about the celebrated for its schools of learning. Asse- middle of the last century. In six large man states, that "in the city of Edessa there folios, nearly all the confessed works of this was a school of the Persian nation, estab-celebrated Father of the church have been lished by some one unknown, in which Chris- collected, and edited with a critical sagacity tian youths were taught sacred literature." and elaborate care which must ever confer Indubitable proofs are furnished by Dr. Bur- honor on the editors. Three volumes contain gess of a very early literary vitality in this the Greek translations, and three the Syriac celebrated city. Here Bardesanes Hourished originals- the latter being in nearly all cases in the second century, and here Ephraem productions different from the former. Of preached and wrote in the fourth. Much these three volumes, about one and a half are curious information respecting Bardesanes, occupied with a Commentary on the Old Tesespecially in relation to the Syriac Hymnol- tament, which deserves more attention than ogy, is found in the scarce tract named at the it has yet received. The other volume and a head of this paper. He was a Guostic Chris-half contain hymns and homilies on every tian, who, by the charms of oratory, and by variety of topic concerning Christian life and musical adaptations to hymns and other met- doctrine.* rical compositions, bewitched the people with his heresies. His works have perished, except some fragments found in the writings of Ephraem; but, from the testimony borne by ancient writers, he must have been a man of rare genius, able greatly to influence the public mind.

It was in opposition to the influence exerted by the memory and the writings of Bardesanes, that Ephraem, the Deacon of Edessa, as the " champion of Christ, put on his arms, and proclaimed war against the forces of his enemies." Thus originated a noble monument of Christian literature, in the form of a set of polemical homilies, which have come down to us in the original Syriac. They are entitled, in the Roman edition, Sermones Polemici adversus Haereses. They contain an ac

Bibliotheca Orientalis, tom. iv., p. 69.

The Syriac writers after Ephraem are very numerous, but none possess his genius. They are all referred to, with notices of their lives and characteristic catalogues of their known writings, in that marvellous production of learned industry, the Bibliotheca Orientalis of J. S. Asseman. This work, like the edition of Ephraem just referred to, we owe to the patronage of the Popes, and the treasures of the Vatican would that two such potent instruments were always as usefully employed! - both turned to account by the master-minds of the Assemans and their coadjutors. may be confidently said that this work contains literary wealth not likely to be soon ex-hausted; and that Syriac literature is more

It

It is from this portion of Ephraem's writings. that Dr. Burgess has selected the pieces translated in his volume. He has accompanied the translations with some valuable notes.

indebted to it than to any work besides, the editions of the Holy Scriptures excepted. As a catalogue, it indicates where materials for illustrating the Syrian church, its language and literature, are to be found; but it does far more than this. It gives lengthened extracts from the writers enumerated; to such an extent, indeed, that Syriac lexicography would be marvellously enriched if these stores alone were properly examined and applied. There is only one deduction to make from the praises we are able to bestow on both these works -the edition of Ephraem and Bibliotheca they are necessarily very expensive, and consequently not always available to those who might make good use of them.

the diligent study of it. If this vast amount of composition had consisted merely of hymns, its neglect would have been less surprising; but it includes every description of subject, from discourses of great length to the short hymn properly so designated. We have here polemical treatises on doctrine, religious poems, meditations, and prayers.

It would be considered an extraordinary circumstance in the case of any Greek or Latin author, whose works are printed, that the metrical form of his writings should not be recognized; and yet this is what has happened to Ephraem. It is a fact which speaks loudly of the little attention given to Syriac learning. Nor is this a matter of mere literary We have said enough to show that Syriac curiosity. It concerns the whole Christian and literature is very extensive in its existing ministerial life of these communities of Syria monuments, and that it supplies abundant and their pastors, and reveals views of early materials for a laborious scholarship yet to Christianity most interesting and curious. work upon. But we must now turn to an As far as we can judge from existing docuaspect of it singularly interesting and remark- ments, all Ephraem's pulpit efforts were metable, as exhibited to us in the volume of Dr.rical, and his hearers were instructed from Burgess. We quote his words :—

books, the metrical verses of this literature are

:

time to time with compositions of rare felicity of invention and strength of argument, clothed in a form highly poetic.

The metrical writings of Ephraem have, for the most part, far more than the external and adventitious form of poetical composition; they are essentially poetic in their conception and execution. We cannot now present proof of this; but our readers may judge for themselves, by the few pieces which Dr. Bur

When the student comes in contact with the Syrian church literature, either in manuscript or printed books, he is attracted by the singular fact, that much of it is in a metrical form. We lay stress on the word student, because a superficial investigation will leave the phenomenon unnoticed, as has indeed happened to men of learning. Both in manuscripts and printed generally written as prose, only a point indicat-gess has translated. We cannot compare him ing the close of a rhythm, and that not always of any of their remains, but he is favorably with of his predecessors, from the want any so that such works may be consulted occasionally, as books of reference, without their artificial contrasted with those who come after him. construction being perceived. But apart from For the greater part, the latter are circumall marks of distinction, as soon as these compo- scribed by the few topics especially related to sitions are read and studied in their individual them as churchmen, and can lay no claim to completeness, their rhythmical character becomes general literary knowledge and genius. But evident, sometimes from the poetical style of Ephraem, while confining himself very much what is thus circumscribed by these prosodical to biblical thoughts, is copious in his fancy, measures, but always from the moulding and and has a considerable creative imagination. fashioning which the language has to undergo before it will yield up its freedom to the fetters . of verse. This then is the sphere of our present undertaking, and it will be our duty to trace up this metrical literature to its origin as far as his torical light will guide us; to say something on the laws by which its composition appears to be regulated; to glance at its existing monuments; and then, more especially, to treat of the works of Ephraem, the great master of this literature, a few of whose compositions are now brought before the English public. - Pp. xxii., xxiii.

Now, when it is known that all the extant writings of Ephraem in Syriac, with the exception of his Commentary on the Old Testament, are composed in this metrical form, and that in the Roman edition they occupy a folio volume and a half, it may excite surprise that this extraordinary feature should not have had more attention, and engaged scholars in

The external form of Ephraem's versification is varied, but in all cases the rhythm is reckoned by syllables-not by feet, as is generally the case in the Greek and Roman verse. The Syriac metres are six in number, consisting respectively of four, five, six, seven, eight, and twelve syllables. Each of these is found in strophes or stanzas of various lengths, from three or four to twenty or thirty verses. Many pieces are composed of different verses. Ephraem appears to have exercised much ingenuity, in giving the charm of variety to his compositions in accommodation to the popular taste of Edessa. Sometimes his pieces have rhymes, but these are of rare occurrence;

are not to be blamed for this, for they have, in The editors of the Syriac works of Ephraem their prefaces, pointed out all the metrical pieces, and expatiated on their various merits.

sometimes they have similar endings in the | homilies, thirteen in number, on the Nativity, lines. It is a singular fact that, while the occupy forty folio columns of Syriac, and may great number of forms and metres in our mod-be properly considered as a continuous work, ern hymn-books is a ground of objection with although thus divided for convenience. some persons on the score of taste, the hymns Our readers may perhaps expect a specimen of the Syrians of the fourth century go far be- of the literature we have been describing, and yond them in their capricious and fanciful we select the first hymn from the volume bearrangements. If, as is to be presumed, these fore us. It is in Tetrasyllabic metre in the were all accommodations to musical times, we Syriac, and consequently terse and compressed have presented to us a Christian service, en-in its composition. deavoring by every possible variety to keep up the attention and life of the worshippers.

But there is another notable feature of these compositions, which is thus referred to by Dr. Burgess :

Historical evidence is quite conclusive as to the popularity of the practice of alternate singing in the early Syrian church, and as to the important use made of it both by Bardesanes and Ephraem, as an instrument for moulding And its influand fashioning the public mind.

ances.

ence is founded in nature, exciting as it does an
interest in a public service, and keeping alive an
enthusiasm in more private musical perform-
There are at least two dis-
tinct forms of this practice manifest in the works
of Ephraem. The first has the character of the
dialogue, or rather of the amoebæic poems of
Theocritus and Virgil; when two persons, or
more, carry on a conversation on a topic form-
But
ing the subject of the composition.
the second form of the responsive chant is more
common; it consists of a chorus at the end of
each strophe, formed either by a repetition of a
portion of the poem, by a prayer, or by a doxol-
ogy.
- P. liv.

When we ask the very natural question Who invented these metres, or first introduced metrical compositions into Christian worship? we get no reply, the whole matter being involved in obscurity in the first and second centuries. Tradition assigns the invention to Bardesanes. Harmonius, the son of Bardesanes, is said to have been educated in Greece, and afterwards to have improved upon his father's discovery, by the introduction of Greek metres. We incline to think that the Syrians very early introduced into their language the metrical forms of the Greek and Latin literature; but whether the church originated the practice of metrical writing, or adopted it and improved upon it, is probably still an open question.

ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD.

O my Son, tenderly beloved!
Whom grace fashioned

In his mother's womb,

And divine goodness completely formed.
He appeared in the world
Suffering like a flower;
And Death put forth a heat
More fierce than the sun,

And scattered its leaves

And withered it, that it ceased to be.

I fear to weep for thee,

Because I am instructed

That the Son of the King hath removed thee
To His bright habitation.

Nature in its fondness,
Disposes me to tears,

Because, my son, of thy departure.

But when I remember the bright abode
To which they have led thee,

I fear lest I should defile

The dwelling-place of the King
By weeping, which is adverse to it;
And lest I should be blamed
For coming to the region of bliss
With tears which belong to sadness;
I will therefore rejoice,
Approaching with my unmixed offering.

The sound of thy sweet notes
Once moved me and caught mine ear,
And caused me much to wonder ;
Again my memory listens to it,
And is affected by the tones
And harmonies of thy tenderness.
But when my spirit groans aloud
On account of these things,
My judgment recalls me,

And listens with admiration

To the voices of those who live on high;
To the song of the spiritual ones
Who cry aloud, Hosanna!
At thy marriage festival.

In the liturgies and service books of the To appreciate the genius of this Syrian diSyrian Christians many hymns are interspersed, vine it is necessary to compare his hymns and it is from these shorter pieces that the with those of the early Latin and Greek current opinion respecting the character of the churches. This may be conveniently done, metrical writings has been formed. Certainly as far as the latter are concerned, by consultif Ephraem had only written these shorter ing Daniel's Thesaurus Hymnologicus.* A pieces, they would have been worthy of atten- great difference will, with a few exceptions, tion; but the value of the metrical literature be at once perceptible in the freedom and is greatly enhanced by its being the vehicle general literary expansiveness of Ephraem, of discourses on controversies, and doctrines, as

well as matters of Christian practice. A set of In three volumes. Halle & Leipsic, 1841-1846

contrasted with the narrow and mere doctri- | embraced of turning the sorrows of the benal productions of the Greek and Latin hymn reaved to the best account - his Syriac pieces writers. The Greek and Latin hymns are on death, as far as published, amounting to mostly only adapted for ecclesiastical use, eighty-five. Great public events were in a while a great number of Ephraem's pieces similar way suggestive of materials for pubhave an interest as extensive as human lic worship. Several homilies exist, written nature. This characteristic is doubtless at- in the times of pestilence, from which Syria tributable in part to his freedom from the suffered so much. And this freedom to adopt fetters of religious conventionalism and theo- new modes of teaching was not confined to logical polemic. It is true the controversies occasional services, it evidently pervaded the respecting heresies had distracted the church ordinary performance of divine worship. Putbefore his time, but they had not resulted in ting all these signs and motives of vigorous the bard stereotyping of the mind in the pre- life together, we are at no loss for a reason scribed formulas which soon afterwards took why, in the fourth century, the church at the place of a free exposition of Scripture, Edessa flourished. and obstructed the developement of religious

life.

But, as time rolled on, system and mechanical routine gradually took the place of sponThis remark suggests some examination of taneous movement; age by age custom became the relation of the early religious life and lit- stronger in its influence, and at length aserature of Syria to the forms of Christianity sumed the office of a supreme arbiter in the which now prevail in that country. If our church. Some centuries after Ephraem his readers wish to pursue the sad comparison at successors were satisfied with his thoughts, and greater length than our space will now per- ceased to put forth their own. Imperceptibly, mit, we refer them to the volume of Dr. Bur-yet surely, like the gathering frosts of winter, gess and the Bardesanes of Hahn for the former period; and, for the modern churches, to the other works placed at the head of this article. By these aids very different are the pictures we get of the working of Christianity in nearly the same places, but as eras separated by fifteen centuries. How comes it that in the one epoch there is life- ardent, impassioned, and practical; in the other, only a slight movement in the debilitated members, and a hectic flush upon the brow?

conventionalisms and church laws bound all free aspirations in their icy chains, until the Syrian churches became what they now are. The times changed, but men did not change their modes of action with them. The language of Ephraem ceased to be a living one, and yet continued to be the vehicle of the hymns and liturgies of the church. No active spirit appeared, to accommodate the utterances of divine truth to new and different circumstances; and even if genius had conceived the design, it was immediately repressed by the doctrine that what was new could not be sanctioned because it was irregular. When we read the works written by modern travellers who have visited these churches, we learn that they now pride themselves on their orthodoxy and zeal for ecclesiastical forms and traditions, or maintain the direct succession of their ministers from the apostles. A sorry substitute for the want of apostolic life and doctrine!

It seems that no restoration of earnest

In ancient times, there were doubtless fixed ritual arrangements by which the Syriac churches were governed, but, whatever they were, they were not so cumbrous or stringent as to destroy the freedom and paralyze the action of the religious life. The ecclesiastical system then existing allowed a latitude in the conception of new methods of Christian operation and in carrying these into action. While moving within the orbit of a church system, Ephraem was not rigidly confined to any linear course in it, but could move right and left as his conscience might guide him, Christianity can be expected among these or as the profit of the people might seem to ancient Syriac churches, until the barrier of demand. The public service of that age conventionalism is thrown down, and their reseems to have adinitted a variety of form; its ligious teachers labor among them as Ephraem boundary lines were sufficiently elastic to did at Edessa, adapting their teachings and allow of novelties in the external accompani-operations to existing wants and circumstances. ments of worship. For example, on the occasion of a death, Ephraem was wont to compose a piece appropriate to each special instance, and which, as the case might demand, lamented the premature decay of the flower of infancy and youth, the mysterious removal of the head of a household, or the descent into the tomb of ripe old age, each instance suggesting fitting biblical topics and consolations. The great variety of this class of his writings shows us that every opportunity was

Various efforts have been made by the Episcopal churches of the West to vivify their brethren in the East, but it is plain that too much attention has been given to their antiquities, and too little to their practical religious wants. If it is true that a superstitious attachment to that which is old, has led to the low state of these communities, it must be desirable to correct rather than cherish that feeling, and to move stagnant thought by opening up new channels. In this way the