תהלה כז translation. As a specimen, we give the first six verses of the twentyseventh Psalm, with the English and Hebrew titles. PSALM XXVII. A Psalm of David. 1 THE LORD is my light and my sal- Came upon me to eat up my flesh, against me, My heart shall not fear: Though war should rise against me, In this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the 4 אַחַת שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵאֵת יְהוֹה LORD, That will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall 5 כִּי יִצְפְּנֵנִי בְּסְכּוֹ בְּיוֹם רָעָה And now shall mine head be lifted 6 וְעַתָּה יָרוּם רֹאשִׁי עַל אֹיְבַי The reader will notice that the second verse of the translation is enclosed in braces, because it differs from the Hebrew order, which is as follows: "Upon the coming against me of the wicked to eat up my flesh- The preacher in expounding to his congregation one of the Psalms of David, will find it very convenient to have the original by the side of the English version. For private reading and meditation, also, such an arrangement will be found very pleasant and profitable. We feel confident that this little volume will be a favorite with Hebrew scholars; and that, when they have once become habituated to it, it will be, to many of them, a vade mecum. THE BIBLE AND THE CLASSICS.1 A BOOK from the South has always been comparatively a rare thing, like the rara avis of Horace, or Virgil's rari nantes in gurgite vasto. And the phenomenon grew more and more infrequent as the Southern states drew nearer to the gulf of secession. The public may well be surprised, therefore, at the appearance in 1861, the year of the great rebellion, of this beautiful octavo of 560 pages on the Bible and the Classics, from the pen of the lamented Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia, and from the press of those good Presbyterians, Robert Carter and brothers, of New York. It appears from the author's preface, that after laboring in vain more than forty years to persuade others, in his view better qualified, to undertake the work, the bishop, whose praise has long been in other "churches" besides his own, felt it his duty to forestall scepticism and cavilling by attempting an elucidation of the real bearing of the poetry and philosophy of heathen nations, and especially of the Greek and Latin classics, upon the Bible. This he has done with much zeal and industry. He gives a list of more than fifty distinct works, which he has consulted in the preparation. As might be expected, perhaps, the majority of these were standard works among the last rather than the present generation of scholars. Still the number is not small of such recent authors as Wiseman, Wilkinson, Rawlinson, Trench, Guyot, Hitchcock, Hugh Miller, Taylor Lewis, Fairbanks, etc. Of German authors he has made little use. Müller on the Eumenides is the only German work which appears in the list. He has made free use of these works, and of Articles in American Quarterlies, extracting copiously from them, and scrupulously giving credit for his extracts. Among others, he has drawn pretty largely from the columns of the Bibliotheca, particularly from the articles on the Theology of Aeschylus and Sophocles. With a modesty equal to his integrity and his well-known charity, the author claims only to be a compiler. The book is a thesaurus of opinions and arguments quoted directly or indirectly from an immense number of writers, on the connection between profane and sacred literature; and for these, it is really valuable to clergymen and others interested in that most important subject, though they will not always find these as well arranged and digested as they could wish. The following sentences from the preface will indicate the author's point of view: "There is no sentiment more generally admitted, than that 'the universal consent of mankind points to truth.' If, notwithstanding great perversions and corruptions, the various religions of earth point to some early facts common to them all, we have only to examine diligently where the first and true account is to be found, and then show the origin and history of all departures from the same." I The Bible and the Classics. By the Right Reverend William Meade, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers. 1861. OWEN'S XENOPHON'S ANABASIS.1 PROFESSOR Owen's first edition of the Anabasis was published nearly twenty years since, and was the first of his classical works. As originally prepared, it was very favorably received and extensively used. The present edition has been prepared after an additional experience of twenty years in classical teaching, and increased familiarity with the language, acquired by editing several other valuable classical works. Nor are Professor Owen's own studies and experience the only advantage with which he comes to the preparation of this new edition. There has been marked progress in the study of Greek in the period referred to; and much valuable apparatus, in grammatical works, in travels illustrative of the topography, and in antiquities, is now accessible, which did not then exist in so definite and reliable a form. The present edition shows the rich fruits of these advantages, and is itself an index of our classical progress. Besides the grammatical references in the Notes, there are very full references, through the first Book, to Kühner's Elementary grammar, and to Professor Hadley's grammar. The work in its present form, with the beautiful Porsonian Greek type, with pertinent and well-digested Notes, furnishes the student all the necessary material, in the best form, for a critical and comprehensive study of this beautiful narrative. Rev. Dr. Whedon's statement of the Doctrines of Methodism, which appears in the first Article of our present Number, forms the second Article in a Series, the design of which is to present the distinctive peculiarities of each theological school or sect, and to present them in such a form that the friends of that school or sect shall not complain that their views are misrepresented. The Series has been deemed important for obtaining, within a brief compass, an accurate knowledge of the present phases of theological belief among the different denominations of our land. See Prospectus of Bib. Sac. pp. 3, 4. The Anabasis of Xenophon; chiefly according to the text of L. Dindorf, with Notes for the use of Schools and Colleges. By John J. Owen, D.D., LL.D., Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages and Literature in the Free Academy in New York City. Revised edition. 12mo. pp. 436. New York: Leavitt and Allen. 1862. THE BIBLIOTHECA SACRA, No. LXXV. AND BIBLICAL REPOSITORY No. CXXVII. JULY, 1862. ARTICLE I. CHURCH-BOOK OF THE PURITANS AT GENEVA, (PRESERVED IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE HOTEL DE VILLE, GENEVA. BY HORATIO B. HACKETT, PROFESSOR AT NEWTON. WHO THE REFUGEES WERE. THE existence of this document became known to the writer during a recent visit to Geneva, in the course of some investigations relating to the translation of the Scriptures into English known as the Genevan Version, and prepared under the auspices of the English refugees in that city, in 1 This title may not be so exact, historically, as 'Notice of the English Colony'; but it may be sufficiently exact, even as characterizing the religious position of this class of men, and is adopted as more suggestive of the aspect of the document which sets forth its special claim to attention among us. This English Church at Geneva, according to Fuller, almost a contemporary historian, took stronger ground against traditions and ceremonies than any of the exiles who fled to the continent on account of their opposition to Romanism. 2 Les persécutions d'Angleterre contre l'Evangile faisoient, de ce temps, venir beaucoup d'Angloys à Genève, qui y dressèrent Eglise pour leur nation, vivans paisiblement et en bonne conversation.— (Chronique de Michel Roset, Livre V. Chap. 71. Ms. des Archives.) the age of Calvin and Knox. These refugees were the pioneers of the Puritans, and belong to the class of men who, during the evil days of the relapse into popery, under the persecuting Mary, sought an asylum in Switzerland and Germany. There, as Macaulay recites, they "had been hospitably received by their brethren in the faith, had sat at the feet of the great doctors of Strasburg, Zurich, and Geneva, and had been, during some years, accustomed to a more simple worship, and to a more democratical form of church government than England had yet seen. These men returned to their country, convinced that the reform which had been effected under king Edward had been far less searching and extensive than the interests of pure religion required. But it was in vain that they attempted to obtain any concession from Elizabeth. Indeed her system, wherever it differed from her brother's, seemed to them to differ for the worse. They were little disposed to submit, in matters of faith, to any human authority. They had recently, in reliance on their own interpretation of scripture, risen up against a church strong in immemorial antiquity and catholic consent. It was by no common exertion of intellectual energy that they had thrown off the yoke of that gorgeous and imperial superstition; and it was vain. to expect that, immediately after such an emancipation, they would patiently submit to a new spiritual tyranny. Long accustomed, when the priest lifted up the host, to bow down with their faces to the earth, as before a present God, It is an incorrect opinion that this version was designed specially for the English community at Geneva, or for the English refugees generally on the Continent of Europe. The authors of it, in their letter of explanation, address themselves to a much wider public: To our beloved in the Lord, the brethren of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This Genevan version was for a long time a rival of the now current version, which displaced the former only by degrees. Nine editions of it appeared in seven years after 1611, and it continued to be printed at intervals (sometimes by the king's printer, cum privilegio regiae majestatis) until 1644, and possibly much later. Under Cromwell measures were taken by Parliament to revise it, as superior to any other translation, but the political troubles put an end to the design. See the tract by Philalethes, p. 19. It is understood that some of the earliest clergymen who emigrated to this country used the Genevan version along with the authorized one, and that some of the first churches established here were better acquainted with it than with the other. |