same as he first gave them to his country, speaks sufficiently in his favor.*

In Elizabeth's time, the teachers of Hebrew were surprisingly successful in rendering their students proficients in the language. It must not be understood by this remark that they could at all compete with the Hebraicians of the present age in enlarged and correct views of Hebrew philology; but that they attained to a remarkable facility in reading, writing and speaking the language. The celebrated Broughton, in comparison with whom Dr. Lightfoot declared himself a mere child in Hebrew and rabbinical learning, not only spoke and wrote the language with astonishing ease,† but taught Sir Rowland Cotton, when a child, to converse in Hebrew with fluency. Cartwright was as successful a student of this language. Beza, in writing to a friend, says of this celebrated polemic,-"Here is now with us your countryman, Thomas Cartwright, than whom, I think, the sun doth not see a more learned man.' Bishop Bedell was as familiar with the Hebrew as the English, constantly translating from the original when reading to his family. The profoundly learned Gataker followed the same plan with as much ease. This practice, by the way, was introduced into Scotland by the celebrated John Row about the same period as that respecting which we are now writing. and was followed in New-England.§ Indeed it seems to have been common, especially among the Puritan divines.

The students at that age were early taught to speak Hebrew-a practice too much forgotten at present. Broughton's method with his scholars was as follows,"He had his pupil constantly with him, and invariably required him to speak, both to himself and others, in Hebrew. He also drew up a vocabulary, which young Cotton constantly used. In this vocabulary he fixed on some place or thing, then named all the particulars helonging to it: as, heaven, angels, sun, moon, stars, clouds,

* Anderson's Annals of Eng. Bib.

A Jew once said to Broughton :-"O that you would set over all your New Testament into such Hebrew as you speak to me, you should turn all our nation."

M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 470.

Neal's New-England, I, 185.

etc.; or a house, door, window, parlor, etc.; a field, grass. flowers, trees, etc."* Such a course of study as theu obtained was, as might be expected, followed by great results. It ushered in the age of Selden, Lightfoot, Castell, Pococke, Walton, and Hyde-men who while they lived were admired alike for their piety and learning, and whose works, now that their authors are no more, give to England her only right to be regarded as the encourager and patroness of Hebrew literature.

We cannot, however, give to the Hebraicians of Elizabeth's time our unqualified praise. They bowed too humbly at the feet of Jewish grammarians and lexicographers. They filled their works with too much mishnic trash. Their veneration for antiquity was extreme. The knowledge of the cognate dialects, of the fundamental principles of language in general, and of the peculiar formation of the Semitic tongues in particular, was extremely defective. Well has Delitzsch said, that the sources of Hebrew knowledge are three, tradition, comparison, and philosophy, and that these three must be conjoined in one equable system. Now during the ages over which we have attempted to pass in review, tradition received almost exclusive attention, since, as Gesenius well remarks, "from Reuchlin to Buxtorf, grammarians adhered closely to Jewish tradition." The historico-analytical school of our time had then no existence.

While, however, we are right in repairing to Gesenius and Nordheimer for lucid definitions and grammatical frame-work, to Ewald for scientific investigations and fundamental research, to Hupfeld for correct information. on the doctrine of verbal sounds, and to Fürst, Bopp aud Humboldt for the connection of languages and the development of roots; let us also imitate the untiring energy, application, and reverential piety of our forefathers, and endeavor to prove to posterity that their descendants have neither lost their spirit nor their mental power.

The Reformation gave the first great impulse to Hebrew study. In the Puritan University of Cambridge, for so it may with propriety be called, with a sole reference to past ages, it preeminently flourished. Let the descendants of

* Brook's Puritans, II, 219.

the Puritans the sons of the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, follow out the designs of their ancestors and imbibe their noble enthusiasm, assiduity, and piety. To America has been given the high honor of taking the lead among the Anglo-Saxon race in this interesting and highly important pursuit. Long may she thus be distinguished. By her efforts, and by the exertion of all the friends of enlightened and sanctified learning, may the languages of the Sacred Writings receive that attention which they may with propriety demand, and which they will richly reward. Soon-very soon-may the period arrive," when all our studies shall revolve about the Word of Life, perpetually enriching and tending towards that holy luminary."

Montreal.

F. B.

ARTICLE III.

THE ATTRACTIONS OF THE CROSS.

The Attraction of the Cross; designed to illustrate the leading Truths, Obligations and Hopes of Christianity. By GARDINER SPRING, D. D. New York. M. W. Dodd.

1846.

Christ on the Cross. An Exposition of the Twentysecond Psalm. By the Rev. JOHN STEVENSON. First American, from the tenth London edition. New York. 1845. Robert Carter.

Emmanuel on the Cross and in the Garden. By Rev. R. P. BUDDICOM, late Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge. New York. 1844. John S. Taylor & Co. Meditations on the Last Days of Christ, consisting of ten Sermons preached at Constantinople and Odessa. By WILLIAM G. SCHAUFFLER. Boston. 1837.

BY THE EDITOR.

IT is a thing to be expected that a Christian literaturę should savor strongly of the spirit of Christianity;-both of its general influence, and of its specific character. It is not enough to ask that it should deal simply in topics to which Christianity has given an interest; which have received their development from Christianity; and in a manner which Christian institutions have suggested. This, in the hands of a Christian man, it will do. But even in the hands of the unbeliever it will do the same. Denying the basis of our religion and scoffing at its sacred interior, he will write under its chastening and refining influence. But a Christian literature ought often distinctly and avowedly, in its publications, to recognize Christianity. And if it recognize Christianity, why should it not recognize Christ, the Son of God, its author and end, its animating spirit, its centre, its substance and its

soul? This we maintain that it ought to do. It is not so much an honor to it to have done so, as it would be a shame and a reproach not to have done so. We are gratified, therefore, in being able to select among recent publications such as those which are quoted at the head of this article. We know not how large a circulation most of them have had; the last has been out of print for a considerable time, and we earnestly wish that some of the publishers would direct their attention to it. It indicates, however, the prevalence of the spirit of Christianity in the community, when such books appear on the catalogues of works on sale.

It is not our intention, in this paper, to enter into a critical examination of these volumes, or to bestow upon them. any thing more than a general commendation. They all have their excellencies and are worthy of a careful perusal. The last of them, especially, we have read and re-read with the highest satisfaction. We design, however, to speak in a serious and practical manner of the great theme which lies at the foundation of them all. Christ is set forth in them in the character of a propitiatory sacrifice or Lamb. In reading them, we contemplate him in that character. We look upon him in the approach of his intolerable agony and in the actual endurance of it, as our sacrificial victim. We see him only a little earlier, in point of historic succession, than John, the favored prophet, when he wrote,-" And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain." To the sight of such a sublime vision, with any thing like the same clearness and force, perhaps we may not expect to attain. But, in a spirit of devout piety, let us, in the language of Moses, "draw near and see this great sight."

We love to linger upon the book of the Revelations, because it exhibits Christ so frequently and fully in this character. We scarcely turn a leaf, but we meet some record of his propitiatory sacrifice. We scarcely indulge ourselves in a momentary glance into heaven, as the prophet unfolds it before us, but our eye rests upon Christ, as the once sacrificed, but now exalted Saviour, who was slain for our sins. No book in the Scriptures, if we except

VOL. XI. NO. XLIV.

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