velation that it has survived the hostility of ages, and triumphed in every hour of threatened danger and alarm; he can say, what flesh and blood hath not revealed to him, ' He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself."

The statements of human teachers may mislead us, and, at best, they are but mixed and imperfect; but here is an oracle ever to be relied on; for "the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

"The

3. They are perfect oracles. law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." This perfection is twofold, -1st. As to the source whence the Bible emanates; and 2nd. As to the actual matter it contains. It is the only infallible standard of truth and holiness; just because it came from God, and unfolds his actual will. It stands out before all generations, in its own integrity and purity, as "the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." To set up any other standard is treason against the Author of the Bible. He gave it, once for all, to be "a light to our feet, and a lamp to our path." As nothing can be added to this standard, so nothing must be taken from it. It is the appointed luminary of this dark region, and those who walk beneath its rays shall have the light of life. The church is as much bound to yield to this teacher as the world. All men, all systems, all views, all creeds, all ages, are to be tried by this only infallible oracle: the slightest deviation from this perfect directory, the most trifling addition to its hallowed contents, is an offence against Him who hath said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away."

4. They are exclusive oracles. They stand solitary and alone in our world, the monuments of God's truth, holiness, and grace. All other pretended oracles are false and deceitful, and carry along with them no decisive marks of a celestial origin. Whenever God spake, he verified his appeals by the tokens of his omniscience and of his power.

The history of those successive revelations, which are now contained in the Old and New Testament Scriptures, may be traced amidst the demonstrations of matchless skill, almighty energy, and divine foreknowledge. Where is there any other oracle in our world, to tell us of God's love in Christ Jesus to guilty and dying men? "The heavens indeed declare his glory, and the firmament showeth his handywork ;" suns and systems, worlds and atoms, nature in all her life, and beauty, and order, proclaim his eternal power and Godhead; but to the Bible alone and exclusively are we indebted for the knowledge of the stupendous truth, that God can be "just in justifying the ungodly;" that he is "in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing unto them their trespasses." Had this truth never been revealed by God, it could never have been discovered by man. The book, therefore, which makes it known to us is an exclusive oracle; and the deference which is to be paid to it can be nothing less than that which is due to the voice of God. It is of no use to tell us that the church, through her ministers, is the publisher of salvation; we ask, whence did her ministers derive their message? Was it not from the word which God himself has spoken? and shall we confound the erring messenger with the divine and infallible oracle? Assuredly not. "Let God be true, though every man should be a liar." We will not only say with the immortal Chillingworth," the Bible, the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants;" but we will say, "the Bible, the Bible alone, is the only sure oracle of the church." We proceed very briefly,

II. TO JUSTIFY THE EPITHET APPLIED TO THE SCRIPTURES, WHEN THEY THE LIVELY

ARE DESCRIBED AS

ORACLES."

1. They are lively oracles," because they reveal a life-giving message. Their great and comprehensive object is to make known the way of life to a race of creatures ready to perish. To the accomplishment of this one mighty

purpose of the Infinite Mind, all the resources of inspiration have become tributary. Its first promise, its institution of bloody sacrifice, its long line of prophets, its matchless narrative of Him of Nazareth, its ministry of divinely commissioned apostles, all its accounts of the early triumphs of Christianity, point to one and the same grand object, viz., the setting forth of pardon and eternal life, by faith in the great propitiatory. The divine oracles, indeed, embrace a vast variety of themes, and present to our contemplation a succession of divine dispensations; but one mighty thought pervades the whole, and that thought is redemption by the blood of the Lamb. In Scripture all other subjects are incidental; this alone stands out with a prominence entitling it to be regarded as the primary object and aim of the divine oracles.

What cause for gratitude and praise may be found in the fact, that the Bible is so replete with the message of God's love to a sinful and miserable race! Salvation is its all-pervading theme; it is the alpha and omega of its blessed disclosures; it gilds and irradiates every page, and makes it the book of books to every soul oppressed with a sense of its own guilt and pollution in the sight of God.

The Scriptures might have been styled the oracles of God, had they contained no promise of life in Christ Jesus; had they been simply a discovery of "wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of the Almighty;" but they could never have been described as the "lively oracles," had not the chief burden of their message been, that "God is love,” yea, that he "so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have eternal life."

attention of a slumbering and sin-stupified world to eternal interests. Dark and prejudiced as is the mind of fallen man, it has not yet ceased to be a truth, that, "The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword; piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." When the Holy Spirit takes this sharp two-edged sword into his hand, and wields it with Almighty energy, how does it slay the enmity of the human heart against holiness and truth? How does it divide between the soul of man and its most darling lusts? How does it prostrate in the dust the self-righteous pretensions of a long life?

How does it annihilate all

hope of mercy, but as it is seen beaming and brightening from the cross of Christ? How does it sustain its own express character, as the word of the living God?

The Scriptures are "the lively oracles," not only because they reveal life; but because they become the instrument of imparting it, and the main element in the spiritual being of a new-born heir of glory, for “of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures;" and we are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."

And these "lively oracles" are the instrument not only of converting men, but of building them up in faith and holiness." Sanctify them," said Christ, "through thy truth; thy word is truth."

Seeing," said Peter to the Jews of the dispersion," ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." All the great principles and motives which promote holiness are contained in the Bible; and when in prayer we look up for the teaching and grace of the Holy Spirit, those principles and motives acquire a resistless energy, and, “beholding as in

a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord."

To these "lively oracles," too, are we indebted for the preservation of the church from fatal error, and for a fixed standard by which we have been enabled to recover lost truth. Age after age has beheld error succeeding to error, like the waves of the troubled ocean; but the "lively oracles" of God, like some mighty embankment, some lofty and precipitous rock, has opposed a barrier to the foaming billow which threatened to ingulf the church. There is no security for the members of the true Church, in any times, and particularly in evil times, but in keep

ing close to the oracles of God. They were the only standard of Apostolic appeal; they are the only revealed rule of faith. The church never erred, but as she forsook the Bible; she was never reclaimed from error, but as she returned to seek her rest, her security, and her moral beauty in a close adherence to the written word. These "lively oracles" procured us the blessings of the Reformation; and they will yet silence and confound those false oracles of human tradition, and high church authority, which threaten to make England once more a tributary and a vassal to the see of Rome. "Search the Scriptures," reader, “ for in them ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Christ."

SIR, - I HAVE repeatedly been requested to state publicly my reasons for not employing a dancing-master in the establishment for the education of Young Ladies, over which I have the happiness to preside; and I am induced now to comply with the wishes of my friends by the hope that I may be instrumental in awakening parents to a more serious consideration of the subject, than it has hitherto received.

To the act of dancing I see no moral objection, but it is so entirely associated with the gaieties of life, and is so peculiarly calculated to encourage the vanity and levity natural to our fallen character, that I could not feel it right to be the means of introducing young immortals into the vortex to which it leads.

Christians are enjoined not to be conformed to the present world; and a very little experience will convince us, that great watchfulness is demanded from those who desire to obey this precept. I trust Christians are not likely to be conformed to the world in those practices which are glaringly opposed to the will of God; but I do think

them in great danger of being conformed to it, in its more specious appearance of innocent enjoyment and indulgence. I am very far from branding the society of the gayer classes with the severe epithets sometimes used; but I think their pleasures awfully contrary to the spirit of the gospel, and I know by experience that their tendency is to banish all remembrance of the Divine presence, and to unfit their votaries for the chief end of man, to glorify God. These views will condemn equally the select and private dance, and the public and brilliant assembly.

The principal arguments urged in favour of dancing are,-1st, That it is a pleasing exercise, and affords at once healthful exercise and pleasant amusement. 2nd, That it is very beneficial to the carriage, and general activity, and grace of the person. In reply to these objections, I would acknowledge that dancing is a pleasing exercise; but I really think too much importance is attached to it on this account it is far from being the only or the favourite amusement of young people; and I

have generally observed that it is irksome to them, unless attended by exciting accompaniments.

I would also grant that it is beneficial to the carriage; but it is not the only means by which a graceful deportment may be obtained. Drilling, with

calisthenic exercises, are quite as well calculated to effect this object, while they afford equal advantages in point of exercise.

These are arguments as frequently urged by pious parents as by others; but there is another which is most naturally and powerfully felt by those. who wish their children to mingle in scenes of worldly gaiety, while it appears to me a strong motive for inducing the pious to keep their children ignorant of the art it is, that the young people appear to disadvantage in society, and are not qualified to take a part in the fashionable amusement.

I believe that many pious parents are not aware of the temptations to which they expose their children by having them taught an accomplishment which enables them so readily to fall into the engagements of such scenes. Next to the preservation afforded by Divine grace, ignorance appears to me the best defence against such alluring pursuits. Indeed I cannot understand how parents can expect restraining grace for their children unless they use every means in their power to preserve them unspotted. Their own precepts must likewise receive a continual counteraction, first, by the taste for pleasure which has been imbibed in the dancingroom, and then, by the cruel inconsistency of having them taught an accomplishment which they are required never to practise.

A sincere desire to promote the welfare of our youth has influenced my conduct, and the same feeling now prompts me to place the subject before parents; and I pray that it may meet with such attention as may lead many to determine to train up their children in the way in which they desire them to walk. I feel no doubt that, if such

simplicity and consistency were maintained in the education of the children of those who profess to believe the word of God, we should not so often see them departing from the path of life, and entering into the pleasures of sin, but that we should realise the fulfilment of the promises upon which parents may rely, while they are bringing up their offspring in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Perhaps some may think that I have ascribed too much power to the fascinations of worldly pleasure. I have viewed the subject in the light in which my memory paints it, and I believe most lively young people experience its influence to be very great; if this were not the case, the arguments against dancing would lose much of their force. The pleasures of sin are only for a season; but the injury done may be eternal.

I remain, Sir,

Yours, &c.,

M.

P.S. Since writing the above, I have perused Mr. James's admirable work, "The Christian Professor," and rejoice to find the sentiments upon which I have acted, beautifully and explicitly enforced.

I will quote the passage, in the hope that the opinion of one so highly esteemed, may add weight to the judgment of an individual who has endeavoured to follow the Lord, even to her own serious loss, as it regards temporal prosperity.

“Christian parents are not quite satisfied about the practice of sending their children to a dancing-master, and yet they do it, and doubt all the while. They fit them to go to balls, and then tell them they are not to go: qualify them for an amusement, and then keep them from it; give them a taste for a gratification, and then deny it to them."

The Book of the PROPHET ISAIAH, translated from 'he original Hebrew; with a Commentary, critical, philological, and exegetical: to which is prefixed, an Introductory Dissertation on the life and times of the Prophet; the character of his style; the authenticity and integrity of the book; and the principles of prophetical interpretation. By the Rev. E. HENDERSON, D.Ph., author of "Lectures on Divine Inspiration," Biblical Researches and Travels in Russia," "Iceland," etc. Svo, pp. 486.

79.66

Hamilton, Adams, and Co.

FROM our former brief notice of this learned translation of one of the most important of the prophetic books, many of our readers have doubtless put themselves in possession of the means of determining as to the real character of the work, as well as the accuracy of our opinion in reference to it. It will readily be admitted by any competent judge who takes the trouble of investigating these pages, that the author's task has been one of great labour and critical research. Nor are these the only recommendations of this translation and commentary. They are not more the product of a sound scholarship, than of a mind deeply imbued with reverence for the authority of God's holy word; a quality vitally necessary to the critical investigation of any inspired document.

Great as are the merits of Bishop Lowth's translation of Isaiah, it must have given pain to any one jealous for the honour of divine truth to perceive how largely that learned prelate indulges in mere conjectural emendation; a style of criticism much to be deprecated as applied to any ancient book, but which when brought to bear on the text of Scripture cannot be too earnestly rejected. An honest collation of manuscripts, a thorough acquaintance of oriental scenes and habits, an accurate knowledge of the etymology and syntax of the Hebrew tongue, and a skilful use of the cognate dialects, -are fair and honourable methods for arriving at the meaning of the inspired writers, and are necessary steps towards effecting a sound translation of any book of Holy Scripture; but to foist into the sacred text such additions as may be suggested by a luxuriant imagination, is a method of translation greatly calculated to impair the integrity of God's word, and is opposed to all sound principles of scriptural philology.

VOL. XIX.

Dr. Henderson has entered his warm protest against this imaginative and deceit ful method of "handling the word of God," and has strictly confined himself within these limits which belong to the biblical critic, deeply sensible of the responsibility attaching to the translator or interpreter of the sacred volume.

"Having," observes our author, "during a period of thirty years endeavoured to render myself familiar with the language in which Isaiah wrote, and with the kindred dialects, whence so much help is to be derived; having perused the principal biblical and oriental productions which have appeared, both in this country and on the continent; and having, for some time past, more largely taken up Scripture exegesis as part of my official duty, I trust I shall not be deemed obtrusive in thus offering my contributions on the altar of sacred truth.

"In executing the task which I prescribed for myself, it has been my aim to fix the reading of the text; to clear up philological and other difficulties; to mark the peculiarities of style; to trace the logical connexion; to catch the spirit, and ascertain the meaning of the prophet; and, as far as possible, to express that meaning in language true to the original, yet not ungrateful to an English ear."

These pretensions, though modestly urged, are well sustained. The translation, for the sake of exhibiting more distinctly the beauties of the Hebrew parallelisms, is thrown into the rhythmical form, in doing which the author has been guided mainly by the divisions formed by the Hebrew

accents.

It did not comport with the translator's plan, nor with the limits set to himself in executing his task, to indulge in much doctrinal or practical exposition. He has, therefore, contented himself with simply ascertaining the express meaning of the sacred text; but in doing so, it will often be found that he has supplied the very best materials for doctrinal elucidation, and practical and experimental appeal. We should have been glad if one so well qualified as the author had seen fit to add a page of strictly theological statement and reflection at the close of every chapter. We cannot help thinking that it would have added materially to the value of the Commentary, while it would not have swelled the volume beyond due bounds. If our suggestion should meet his eye, and should

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