hat Gott und dem Koenige gesegnet," i. e., "has blessed God," &c. So likewise Job i, 5, " It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts," verse 11, "But put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face;" chap. ii, 5, "Touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face;" and verse 9, "Curse God and die;"-are all translated "bless," instead of curse, in the German.

Without carefully considering the circumstances of the case in each of these places, and the evident connection they have with a very explanatory context, one might be led to the immediate conclusion that blaspheme and curse, in the above quoted passages, are doubtless correct; and bless, therefore, entirely improper; but it is nevertheless admitted, by the best commentators and Biblical critics, that the latter word is in strict accordance with the original, and that, consequently, the German is right, and the English wrong.

On the first of these passages, 1 Kings xxi, 13, or rather on the tenth verse, Dr. A. Clarke remarks in a note on the place, "The words literally are:-Naboth hath blessed God and the king; or, as Parkhurst contends, Thou hast blessed the false gods and Molech.' And though Jezebel was herself an abominable idolatress, yet, as the law of Moses still continued in force, she seems to have been wicked enough to have destroyed Naboth, upon the false accusation of blessing the heathen Aleim and Molech, which subjected him to death, by Deut. xii, 6; xviii, 2–7.". It seems very reasonable, however, to suppose that Naboth was accused of having blasphemed God his Maker, by which he forfeited his life, and of having cursed the king, which was viewed in the light of treason, and through which his property was confiscated to the government and it was his vineyard Ahab desired to possess.

Job i, 5, is rendered by Dr. J. M. Good, in his valuable commentary on this book, "Peradventure my sons may have sinned nor blessed God in their hearts." And by Dr. Clarke, "It may be that my children have blessed the gods in their hearts;" in imitation of their idolatrous neighbors.

In the German, chaps. i, 11, and ii, 5, are both, in part, proposed as questions. "Was gilts, er wird dich ins angesicht segnen?" What avails it? he will bless thee to the face. Dr. Clarke has it, "If he will not bless thee to thy appearances." That is, if thou continuest the hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side, and refusest to touch his bone and his flesh, he will be perfect, and fear thee, and eschew evil still; but let him be placed in adverse circumstances, and he will bless thee only according to the dispensations of thy providence. But this was not the fact, for Job blessed God for taking away as well as for giving. It is thought that the language of Job's infidel wife, in chap. ii, 9, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse"-properly bless, "God and die!" is strongly ironical. As if she had said, "Dost thou still serve and bless God, when he has taken away thy sons, and thy daughters, and all thy worldly substance, and has smitten thee with sore boils from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot? Then bless on and die!

Daniel iii, 25. Nebuchadnezzar, speaking of the four men in the fiery furnace, says, "The form of the fourth is like the Son of God." VOL. VIII.-January, 1837. 5

The German of this is, "Der vierte ist gleich, als, waese er sin sohn der goetter." The literal English of which is, "The fourth is like, as though he were a son of the gods." Of the English as above quoted, Dr. Clarke observes, "A most improper translation. What notions could this idolatrous king have of the Lord Jesus Christ? for so the place is understood by thousands." He says the term "signifies a son of the gods; that is, a divine person or angel: and so the king calls him in verse 28-God hath sent his angel and delivered his servants. And though even from this, some still contend that it was the angel of the covenant, yet the Babylonish king knew just as much of the one as he did of the other." The doctor's view of the sonship of Christ might have assisted in drawing out this note; but it is evidently very just, and a sufficient comment on the text.

Matthew xx, 23, "But to sit on my right hand and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it was prepared of my Father." This text is thought by some to favor the doctrine of Christ's inferiority and subordination to the Father, or to oppose his essential divinity; and to support the doctrine of election, connected with the final unconditional perseverance of the saints. The German, and every orthodox commentator I have yet seen, omits the words in italics, it shall be given, introduced or interpolated by one translator to make up the supposed sense of the speaker; and the passage can be interpreted consistently with the analogy of faith, and the whole tenor of the Bible, only by reading it as in the German. "Is not mine to give but to them for whom it is prepared of my Father." It surely belongs to Christ, as the Redeemer and Judge of men, to dispense to them hereafter rewards and punishments, according to the moral character of their actions.

The punctuation of the Scripture is of merely human authority; and in many places a slightly different pointing gives an entirely different meaning to the passage. Let one example suffice for

illustration.

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John xiv, 2. "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Luther placed a comma instead of a period after the word you," in the first sentence; and read it in connection with the third verse, thus:-"In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have said unto you, I go to prepare a city for you. And were I even to go to prepare a city for you, I would come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am ye might be also." This is, no doubt, what the Saviour intended should be understood by his words; for heaven has been prepared for the rightous "from the foundations of the world,”—or, from eternity in the purpose of God. This example may teach us that as the punctuation of the Bible, as well as the division of it into chapters and verses, the summaries of the chapters, and the subscriptions at the close of the several epistles in the New Testament, is not of divine authenticity, it should influence us in our interpretations of Scripture so far only as it agrees with the context, with real or verbal parallel passages, supports the character of an infinitely perfect Being, and conduces to the glory of God, in

accomplishing or favoring the great object originally proposedthe salvation of man.

But I must close, as I have extended my observations beyond what I originally intended already. The importance of the subject is my only apology. I. H. Y.

Hollidaysburg, Pa., January 14.

MRS. SIGOURNEY'S LETTERS.

Letters to Young Ladies. By MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY.-Fourth Edition. New-York. Harper & Brothers, 1837. Pp. 259.

THAT female education is a subject of primary importance, is no longer to be denied. Its due estimate forms one of the noblest characteristics of the era in which we live. Since the time when woman was seen "last at the cross, and earliest at the grave," no age has gone by in which her rank in the scale of being has been so duly appreciated. It is woman's own effort that has effected this change. The writings of Hannah More, Felicia Hemans, and other female authors of whom Europe boasts, have not only rescued their sex from the imputation of mental inferiority, but have shed a glorious lustre on the intellectual character of our common To this illustrious list, America may justly add the name of Lydia H. Sigourney.

race.

The poetry of Mrs. Sigourney has long been familiar to the reading public. It has been generally and justly admired in her own country; and its praise has been echoed back from Europe. It displays great brilliancy of fancy, and sweetness of versification. But it is its moral beauty that constitutes its most striking charm. In purity of thought, in tenderness of sentiment, in devotional pathos-the melodious strains of our fair country woman have seldom been surpassed by any efforts of the uninspired muse.

But it is in the department of prose, that we now present this accomplished writer to our readers. The third edition of her "Letters to Young Ladies," in which the author so greatly extended and improved her original plan as to make it, in fact, a new work, was published in this city, toward the close of December last. We understand that the demand for the work was so great, that the edition, though a large one, was all sold in the course of a few weeks. The fourth edition is now published.

We mention the avidity with which this work, in its présent extended and matured form, has been sought after, as a circumstance creditable to the literary taste of the age. It deals in no fiction; it recounts no romantic adventures. Its appeals are plain and practical. It treats woman, not as the gay insect of a day,

but as a rational, accountable, immortal being. It seeks not merely to gratify her fancy, but also to give expansion to her understanding, and sensibility to her conscience. It aims to make her useful and happy here, and to prepare her, by an increase of knowledge and piety, for the companionship of angels hereafter.

The volume before us treats of the acquisition of knowledge, industry, domestic employments, health and dress, manners and accomplishments, and the culture of the moral, social, and religious duties. Beside a preface, and an appeal to the guardians of female education, it contains sixteen letters addressed to young ladies, the object of which is to elevate the literary, moral, and religious character of the sex.

The author presses upon the youth of her sex the importance of knowledge. But it is not only the culture of the intellect that she urges. The education of the heart is her favorite theme. From that garden, whence come the issues of life, she seeks to root out every weed, and in it to plant and cherish every lovely flower. She presents religion decked in its own heavenly rainbow; and urges its acceptance in accents so gentle, so bland, so full of the milk of human kindness and Christian love, that we would fondly hope she could not plead in vain with the tender youth of her sex.

The style of the author is marked with the same sweetness of diction that distinguishes her verse. It is simple, precise, and yet glowing with poetic fervor. The work everywhere abounds with historical and classic allusions, evincing that the memory of the au thor is "rich with the spoils of time." But we proceed to sustain our remarks by extracts from the work.

In her preliminary address to the guardians of female education, the author shows the influence of woman on society, especially under a republican government; and hence she infers the paramount importance of her intellectual and moral culture. The address throughout is very eloquent. We select a large portion of it in the following copious extract.

"Is it not important that the sex to whom nature has intrusted the moulding of the whole mass of mind in its first formation, should be acquainted with the structure and developements of mind ?-that they who are to nurture the future rulers of a prosperous people should be able to demonstrate from the broad annal of history the value of just laws, and the duty of subordination-the blessings which they inherit, and the danger of their abuse? Is it not requisite that they on whose bosom the infant heart must be cherished should be vigilant to watch its earliest pulsations of good or evil?-that they who are commissioned to light the lamp of the soul should know how to feed it with pure oil?-that they in whose hand is the welfare of beings never to die, should be fitted to perform the work, and earn the plaudit of Heaven?

"That the vocation of females is to teach, has been laid down as a position which it is impossible to controvert. In seminaries, academies, and schools, they possess peculiar facilities for coming in contact with the un

folding and unformed mind. It is true, that only a small proportion are engaged in the departments of public and systematic instruction. Yet the hearing of recitations, and the routine of scholastic discipline, are but parts of education. It is in the domestic sphere, in her own native province, that woman is inevitably a teacher. There she modifies by her example, her dependents, her companions, every dweller under her own roof Is not the infant in its cradle her pupil? Does not her smile give the earliest lesson to its soul? Is not her prayer the first messenger for it in the court of heaven! Does she not enshrine her own image in the sanctuary of the young child's mind so firmly that no revulsion can displace, no idolatry supplant it? Does she not guide the daughter until, placing her hand in that of her husband, she reaches that pedestal, from whence, in her turn, she imparts to others the stamp and coloring which she has herself received? Might she not even upon her sons engrave what they shall take unchanged through all the temptations of time to the bar of the last judgment? Does not the influence of woman rest upon every member of her household, like the dew upon the tender herb, or the sunbeam silently educating the young flower; or as the shower, and the sleepless stream, cheer and invigorate the proudest tree of the forest? "Admitting, then, that whether she wills it or not, whether she even knows it or not, she is still a teacher-and perceiving that the mind in its most plastic state is yielded to her tutelage, it becomes a most momentous inquiry what she shall be qualified to teach. Will she not of necessity impart what she most prizes, and best understands? Has she not power to impress her own lineaments on the next generation? If wisdom and utility have been the objects of her choice, society will surely reap the benefit. If folly and self-indulgence are her prevailing characteristics, . posterity are in danger of inheriting the likeness.

"This influence is most visible and operative in a republic. The intelligence and virtue of its every citizen have a heightened relative value.— Its safety may be interwoven with the destiny of those whose birthplace is in obscurity. The springs of its vitality are liable to be touched, or the chords of its harmony to be troubled, by the rudest hands.

"Teachers under such a form of government should be held in the highest honor. They are the allies of legislators. They have agency in the prevention of crime. They aid in regulating the atmosphere whose incessant action and pressure cause the life blood to circulate, and return pure and healthful to the heart of the nation.

"Of what unspeakable importance, then, is her education who gives lessons before any other instructer-who preoccupies the unwritten page of being-who produces impressions which only death can obliterateand mingles with the cradle dream what shall be read in eternity? Well may statesmen and philosophers debate how she may be best educated who is to educate all mankind.

"The ancient republics overlooked the value of that sex whose strength is in the heart. Greece, so susceptible to the principle of beauty, so skilled in wielding all the elements of grace, failed in appreciating their excellence whom these had most exquisitely adorned. If, in the brief season of youthful charm, she was constrained to admire woman as the acanthus leaf of her own Corinthian capital, she did not discover that, like that very column, she was capable of adding stability to the proud temple of freedom. She would not be convinced that so feeble a hand might have aided to consolidate the fabric which philosophy embellished and luxury overthrew.

"Rome, notwithstanding her primeval rudeness, seems more correctly than polished Greece to have estimated the weaker vessel.' Here and there, upon the storm-driven billows of her history, some solitary form towers upward in majesty, and the mother of the Gracchi still stands forth in strong relief, amid imagery over which time has no power. But still, wherever the brute force of the warrior is counted godlike, woman