when he said, "I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord."

This like-mindedness is also according to the precepts and example of Christ. The Apostle often appeals to this powerful argument. Thus, to the Ephesians, he says, "Walk in love, even as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us." The whole Gospel of our Redeemer is calculated to cherish such a spirit. It presents to us," one body, one spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all." Our Lord, in his prayer, just before he was betrayed, repeated again and again the petition already quoted, that his disciples might all be one. And, in his own conduct, how careful was he to prevent, among his followers, every discordant sentiment and jarring feeling! How forcibly did he inculcate humility and mutual forbearance by his own spotless example! How willingly did he himself sacrifice every thing for the sake of others; how cheerfully submit to every office of benevolence; how meekly allure men to the reception of his heavenly doctrines; how candidly listen to every objection; how patiently resolve every doubt; how fearlessly maintain truths the most unwelcome to the public ear, yet with a meekness and a dignity which ought to have disarmed malice itself, and to have converted even his enemies into friends. Surely, for the professed followers of such a Saviour, to be otherwise than like-mind. ed among themselves, or, at the least, studious of cherishing such a spirit as tends to produce this blessed effect where it does not already exist, would be a paradox indeed.

3. The Apostle exhibits to us an important end to which this likemindedness conduces; namely, that we may "with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." The glory of God should be the great object of the Christian's desire, as it

is the first petition of his daily prayer, "Hallowed be thy name.' Now, in no way can we honour him more than by a devout union of heart and mind in his service. While the Roman converts were eagerly disputing among themselves, they were unfitted for thus joining together in the homage due to their common Lord; they had neither one mind nor one mouth; so that there could be no profitable worship of a social or public nature. Such a state of things the Apostle earnestly deprecates; and, in doing so, he introduces a circumstance well calculated to effect his conciliating purpose; for he speaks of the great object of worship, as "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," thus reminding us of those affecting motives to Christian unity already alluded to, and all of which flow from the cross of Christ. As though he had said, Not merely by the terrors of the law; not merely by the dread of punishment; but by our professed love to our dying Saviour, and by our gratitude to God the Father who freely gave him as a sacrifice for our transgressions, let us be like-minded one towards another; let us imitate his meek and affectionate example; let us dread to violate the unity of his church; let us guard against a spirit of discord or disorder; and let us endeavour to grow daily in those heavenly virtues which are the bond of peace, and unanimity, and joy.

For the Christian Observer.

ON THE USE AND IMPORTANCE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES.

THE slight degree of attention paid by the great body of theological students in this country, to the original language of the Old Testament, has been often and justly lamented. At different periods of our history, we have indeed had men among us who have cultivated this department of literature with splendid success, and applied it

with signal ability to the elucidation of the Scriptures. But still it cannot be denied that little comparatively has been done, and that our countrymen, while they have extended their researches to almost every subject, either literary or scientific, have been far eclipsed by the continental nations, both in the number of those who have devoted themselves to this study, and in the extent to which their inquiries have been carried. By far the greater part even of our clergy are entirely unacquainted with the Hebrew text, and few indeed are critically versed in its niceties; though upon them, as the accredited guardians of religion, devolves the office of explaining and enforcing the truths which it contains. This circumstance will appear the more surprising, when we consider the ardour with which theological studies in general have been prosecuted amongst us the number and variety of our religious controversies, both among the members of our own church, and the seceders from her pale-and the zeal, for which we have long been distinguished as a nation, for practical piety and devotion.

In the hope that some of your readers may be induced to consider this subject with the attention which it deserves, and be led to the cultivation of a much neglected field of inquiry, I beg to offer a few thoughts, upon the use and importance of Biblical studies. It

is gratifying to witness the growing interest which they have of late begun to excite in our universities: (I allude more particularly to one of them:) nor can we speak too highly of those whose zeal and piety have been employed in enkindling the flame. May it spread far and wide, and be the means under the merciful providence of God, of promoting in an eminent degree that "sound knowledge and religious education" for which, in our university pulpits, we are statedly called upon to pray.

Much might be said relative to the advantages to be reaped from Hebrew literature, considered merely as a literary pursuit. To the antiquarian and philologist it opens

a

most interesting and extensive field of view. But it is in its more particular application, as being the channel through which, from the earliest times, the streams of Divine Revelation have flowed, that it has an especial claim to our regard, Like the Ark of the Covenant, it has been for ages the depository of those sacred records, which were written with the finger of God, and conveyed to mankind a transcript of his will.

As the Bible is the only source from which a knowledge of true religion can be derived, it becomes a matter of the first importance, that the language in which it is written be properly explained; for any inference which is deduced from incorrect or imperfect views of it, is an inference, not from the word of God, but from the opinions of men. It is impossible to say how many false ideas have been formed upon the most momentous truths, how many unscriptural tenets maintained, how many disputes excited from the circumstance of our making a translation, and not the original Scriptures, our text book in divinity. The excellence of our English version is universally admitted; but the study of Oriental literature, and of Biblical criticism, like every other pursuit which has occupied the time and ingenuity of man, has been making continual progress since that translation first appeared. Without therefore in any degree depreciating either the labours or the learning of those excellent men who bequeathed to us this invaluable testimony of their powers of learning and sound criticism, we may fairly infer that every biblical student of the present day would derive incomparable benefit, were he to imitate their example as well as profit by their experience, and lay the foundation of his theological

knowledge in an accurate and extensive acquaintance with the Hebrew text. In the case of the New Testament, every sound classical scholar will be ready to admit, that, although a translation may suffice extremely well for the practical and devotional study of its contents, it is only by a careful attention to the Greek original, that he can become thoroughly embued with the spirit of its several authors, and enter into all those nicer shades of meaning which distinguish their respective compositions. Now, whatever be the value of this argument as far as concerns the due interpretation of the New Testament, it is equally applicable to the language of the Old. We are too much in the habit of considering the Scriptures as a single and entire volume, to be interpreted throughout upon identically the same principles, without any reference to the distinguishing character of the authors of its several parts, or the peculiar use of words in the ages in which they respectively wrote. The canon of Scripture being complete, and our attention being habitually directed to it through the medium of a translation, which, being coeval in all its parts, has thrown a clothing of the same texture over many things essentially distinct, we forget, while studying its contents, that ages intervened between the composition of its extreme books,

and that the same or similar circumstances which modified the beautiful language of Greece, exerted an influence of the same kind, though perhaps differing in degree, upon the vernacular tongue of the Jews. The analogy that subsists between the changes incidental to language, and to the beings whose ideas it embodies, holds good in this as in other instances. The golden and silver ages of Hebrew literature are perfectly distinct, and à correct understanding of their varieties is essential to a full knowledge of Scripture. The language of poetry again is different in some

respects from the sober livery of prose. Now all this, whatever be its value in the due interpretation of the Bible, must be lost to one who is ignorant of the language employed. It is true that the less instructed may avail themselves of the light which has been thrown upon these subjects by the labours of the learned; but we might as well expect to see with the eyes of another man, as to reap the full advantage of another man's intellectual labours, unless our own minds be to a certain degree informed. Without this prerequisite, we have not the means of judging respecting the accuracy or even the probability of such matters as are brought before

us.

We cannot, in short, have an opinion of our own. The necessary consequence of this inability is, that our views are confined, and our judgment becomes enslaved to the opinions of others, in whose assertions we have been taught implicitly to confide.

It is not intended, in these remarks, to exalt above its proper rank, the value of human learning, as subsidiary to the study of the Scriptures-nor to place it at all in competition with that teaching of God which is indispensably requisite. Neither, again, is it intended to imply that it is the duty of all divines to forsake the province of expository theology, and to give themselves to the critical study of divinity. Let the basis of our knowledge be laid in deep humility. Let us earnestly desire and heartily pray for the continual illumination of God's Holy Spirit, without which, though we had investigated all the stores of antiquity, we should be but as the sounding brass and the tinkling cymbal. But let us at the same time open our eyes to the fact that we are living under an ordinary, not an extraordinary, dispensation of that Spirit; and that we cannot attain, but by his blessing on our diligent research, that knowledge which in the miraculous ages was

conveyed by immediate inspiration. Where the degrees of piety, diligence, and all other circumstances are equal, the best theologian and most learned man will make the most useful divine. It becomes us therefore, in our measure, to aim at what may be extensively useful, though not to the exclusion of other things, which our particular circumstances may render more expedient.

Upon the importance of duly understanding the Old Testament, we might fairly build the necessity of Hebrew learning. But this is not all. The influence which its language has exercised upon that of the New gives it an additional importance, of which the biblical student ought not to lose sight. Without a competent knowledge of it, we cannot avail ourselves of the labours of such men as Lightfoot and Schoettgen, whose researches in Rabbinical literature have enabled them to illustrate its phraseology to a degree which could scarcely have been conceived This knowledge is also necessary to enable the Biblical student duly to appreciate that irrefragable argument for the genuineness of the Christian Records which arises from the peculiar style and dialect in which they are penned. The Latinisms which a classical scholar will detect in them, may convince him that the age of their appearance must have been subsequent to the triumph of the Roman arms, and the consequent introduction of many of the political terms of Roman origin into the conquered lands. An acquaintance with Hebrew will give additional value to the argument. Every chapter of the New Testament affords decisive evidence, to one who is versed in Oriental idioms, that it could have been written only by a Jew. work written in Greek, embued with the phraseology and idiomatic expressions of Palestine, and bearing distinct marks of being composed under the preponderance of the

A

Nor,

Roman power, carries along with it incontestable proof of the date to which it should be assigned. amidst the mass of evidence upon which we build our holy faith, is this a consideration lightly to be regarded.

Another benefit, and one of no small importance, resulting from an enlarged acquaintance with Biblical learning in its purest form, is its tendency to promote peace, and to soften the asperity of religious disputation. The most vehement of all controversies are those which are founded in prejudice and contracted views. The higher we ascend in the search of truth, the more do we rise above the mists and exhalations which brood upon the valley beneath. In the progress of our inquiries, if we do not arrive at the same conclusions with others, we learn at least that there is room to differ, and can endure to see our fellow-student adopt a different persuasion to our own, without feeling a conviction that ours must inevitably be correct. It is true, indeed, that "knowledge puffeth up "--but it is knowledge when abused: and I must again remark, that I am not instituting a comparison between piety and learning; but between a pious man, who has superadded the blessings of learning to those of religion, and an uninformed though devoted servant of God. How many of the disputes and schisms which have rent the Christian church might have been avoided, but for that positiveness, which is the inseparable companion of ignorance!

It has been objected to the study of Hebrew that it tends to unsettle the mind, and to involve in perplexity many points, which but for its interference, would have been clear and undisturbed. It may indeed, as enlarged knowledge always will, teach us to call in question some positions which we may have imbibed in our very childhood, and from long acquaintance have learned to consider sacred. But no thinking man will allow this to be any

argument against improvement in Biblical any more than in any other science. The immutable interests of truth can never suffer from knowledge well applied.

It is well known that Oriental literature has been of late years prosecuted with astonishing success upon the continent, and especially in the universities of Germany. The most philosophical grammars in Hebrew, as in other languages, with the most copious and accurate lexicons of the Oriental tongues, have been imported from that country into our own. Happy would it have been, had the knowledge so well acquired, been in all instances directed to the purest ends. But this unhappily has not been invariably the case. A system of interpretation has been widely adopted by the continental theologians, which, if fully acted upon, would rob Revelation of all its peculiarities. There are indeed, even among their own body, honourable exceptions of persons who have stood forward in opposition to the wild hypotheses of the German theologists; but the infection has spread far and widely, and has produced consequences which the Christian student cannot sufficiently lament. It is extremely desirable that the lovers of sound doctrine should meet such critics as those to whom I allude, upon their own ground. The writings of the German divines are beginning to be extensively circulated in this country, and will undoubtedly be more so, from the quantity of philological information which they convey. The only safeguard against the wild and unscriptural opinions conveyed in them, is to be found in the successful culture and proper application of Biblical knowledge. With the same weapons also must we combat, as they from time to time arise, the false and injurious doctrines which the Unitarians of our own country are continually endeavouring to obtrude upon the pages of the sacred volume. The most illiterate Christian, with the CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 279.

vernacular version in his hand, may indeed easily refute their unscriptural opinions; but as they appeal from this simple process to elaborate philological arguments, it is necessary that the sound Biblical student should be able to meet them in this arena, and thus to overturn, as has hitherto been most triumphantly done, their unhallowed speculations.

An extraordinary zeal for the diffusion of the truth in foreign lands is one of those characteristics of the present age, upon which it is impossible for a considerate and Christian mind to reflect without feclings of the most lively satisfaction. The Christian beholds in this anxiety a pledge of the reality of that principle which has given it birth. He dwells upon it with delight, as affording a happy anticipation of those glorious days, pointed out, as be believes, in the shadowy forms and obscure though glowing language of prophecy, when the blessing which he has long considered his own will cease to be so in a peculiar and distinctive manner; the knowledge of God's word, like the light and heat of the great luminary of heaven, having gone forth unto all lands, and the sound thereof unto the ends of the earth. To both Jew and Gentile the voice of invitation is now addressed, that the wall of partition being broken down, they may all become one fold under one Shepherd. The expedients to which Christian benevolence may have recourse for the furtherance of these objects, are as diversified as the various situations and circumstances of those in whose breasts it dwells. Perhaps, however, it may not be too much to say, that a life devoted to Oriental studies in general, and with an especial reference to Biblical criticism and interpretation, might, by God's blessing, be a gift, than which it would be impossible in the present state of the church to cast one more valuable into the treasury of Christian love. A knowledge of Hebrew and of the U