Again, a new interest is imparted to the page of history. It is not, as it often seems to be, a record of disconnected events, a medley of inconsistent and confused details, a labyrinth to which no clue can be found. It is not merely a scroll of mourning, lamentation and woe, revealing the punishments which God inflicts on sinning nations. One purpose, could we ascertain it, runs through the great volume. One key alone will unlock its mysteries. Were our eyes only illumined, like those of the ancient prophet, we should discover, not horses of fire or chariots of fire, but one vast, orderly, consistent plan, events great and small taking their appropriate places in the scheme; all tending to one final, auspicious consummation, for which the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together until now. The history of the world would be the history of redemption. The first qualification for what we call a secular historian would be faith in Christ, and faith in the coming redemption of mankind. History would be the last work in which an infidel or a mere scholar could engage. His insight would be of necessity feeble, his judgments shallow or incorrect. To do his work aright, he must assume as far as possible, the position of the Divine mind, or like the apocalyptic angel stand on the central, illuminating orb. He needs clearness of vision, a delicate discrimination, an enlightened moral sense and a hopeful frame of spirit more than learning, or judgment or any intellectual gift. From this discussion the reasonableness of the foreign missionary enterprise is apparent. It is not an isolated work. It is not to be charged with enthusiasm or fanaticism. It is falling in with the great teachings of history and acting in accordance with the general course of nature and Providence. It is eminently a rational undertaking. It would hasten the developments of history and impart efficacy to powers otherwise inadequate. It would reäffirm and invigorate the voices of nature. It would demonstrate the perfect unity between the kingdoms of Providence and grace. From the general course of Divine Providence the true philanthropist may derive great encouragement. He has no possible ground for despondency. His co-workers are God and his truth, the Holy Spirit, the Redeemer with his atoning death and interceding power, the verdict of his own reason, the testimony of conscience, his holiest sympathies and feelings; and not these alone, "Thou hast other Powers that will work for thee, air, earth and skies. There's not a breathing of the common Wind that will forget thee! Thou hast great allies! Thy friends are exultations, agonies, And love and man's unconquerable mind." 1848.] Greek Translation of Psalm CXXXVII. 375 Long ages past are on thy side, the present and the dim future. Thine are the revolutions of States and empires. Thy work in doing good is consentaneous with all changes from the birth of creation to its end. Willing or unwilling all agencies coöperate, not one is exempt. By invincible necessity or voluntary choice, all things shall work together, till those new heavens and that new earth appear wherein dwelleth righteousness. -"From heaven the clouds shall roll, The earth no longer be the vale of tears. The rose; the pagan lifts the adoring eye; The exiled Hebrew seeks the day-break in the sky." ARTICLE IX. GREEK TRANSLATION OF PSALM CXXXVII. [For the following translation of the 137th Psalm into Greek hexameters, we are indebted to MR. CHARLES SHORT, of Roxbury. De Wette's version of the Psalm as found in "Die Heilige Schrift," edition of 1839, has been followed by the translator. This version is prefixed. A few Notes are subjoined.—E.] 1. An Babels Strömen, daselbst saßen wir, und weinten, indem wir Zions gedachten. 2. An den Weiden im Lande hängten wir unsre Harfen auf. 3. Daselbst forderten von uns unsre Sieger Gesang, und unsre Quäler Freudenlieder: Singet uns Gesänge von Zion." " 4. Wie sollten wir singen Jehova's Gesang im Lande der Fremde? 5. Vergess' ich dich, Jerusalem, so vergesse [mich] meine Rechte! 6. Es klebe meine Zunge an meinem Gaumen, wenn ich dein nicht denke, wenn ich Jerusalem nicht seße über die höchsten meiner Freuden! 7. Gedenke, Jehova, den Söhnen Edoms den Unglückstag Jerusalems: die da riefen: „Reißt um, Reißt um bis auf ihre Grundveste!" 8. Tochter Babels, du Verwüsterin! Heil dem, der deine Kinder ergreift und zerschmettert an Felsen! Ἥμεθ ̓ ὅτ' ἄμμες ἐπὶ χθονὶ ἀμφὶ ῥοὰς ποταμοῖο, Πῶς δὴ ἡμεῖς τοῖσί γ' ἀείσομεν ἄλλοθι πάτρης ; C. S. Notes. The 137th Psalm for tenderness and poetic beauty is hardly excelled by any composition in the entire collection. The reader is introduced at once into the midst of the sad scenes of the exile, and can almost look upon the neglected harp and hear the wailing lamentations. The Psalm was evidently composed subsequently to the return of the Jews from Babylon, yet not long after that event. It is not to be regarded simply as an expression of the feelings of which any captive Jew, endued with quick sensibilities, might be conscious, or as an outburst of patriotism; it is a record of pious emotion, of the fervent desires of the poor exiles that they might see the city of their solemnities again, and join in the worship which had once been paid to their fathers' God. They would rather be door-keepers in their national house of prayer than live amid all the sensual delights of Babylon. The Psalm is naturally divided into three strophes. Vs. 1-3 express the sorrow of the exiles in their remembrance of Zion. It would be doing violence to their most sacred feelings to comply with the demand of their proud oppressors to sing to them the songs of Zion. Vs. 4-6 give utterance to the passionate determination of the 1848.] Imprecations in Psalm 137. 377 exiles never to profane the Lord's songs by singing them in a foreign land, and never to forget their beloved city. Vs. 7, 8 invoke destruction upon the Edomites for their cruel conduct at the time Jerusalem was destroyed, and also upon the Babylonians for their oppressive acts. V. 1. . Euphrates, Tigris, Chaboras, etc., and the canals which intersected the country. The exiles would naturally resort to the banks of the streams as shady, cool and retired spots, where they could indulge in their sorrowful remembrances. The prophets of the exile saw their visions by the rivers, Ez. 1: 1. Dan. 8: 2. 10: 4. V. 2. weeping willow, the salix Babylonica of Linn., with pendulous leaves, which grows on the banks of streams. The suffix in in refers to Babel. The was an instrument much used in joyful festivals, Gen. 31: 27. 1 Sam. 10: 5. 2 Sam. 6: 5; the ceasing to play upon it denoted a great and public grief or calamity, Is. 5: 12. Ez. 26: 13. Apoc. 18: 22. Job 30: 31. "we have let our harps rest, for our oppressers," etc. V. 3. one or some of the songs, comp. Ps. 132: 11. V. 5. Had the captives complied with this demand in a strange country, among the heathen, they would have desecrated their sacred hymns, and as it were denied their native land. "Then let my right hand forget," i. e. her musical skill. V. 6. 66 Chief joy, lit. head chief perfume or fragrance. Let my tongue also refuse its office." of my joy. Comp. Cant. 4: 14 V. 7. In regard to the cruel and faithless conduct of the Edomites at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, see the Prophecy of Obadiah. Lam. 4: 21, 22. Jer. 49: 7-22. Ez. 25: 12—15. The Edomites being related to the Hebrews, had been spared by God's command, when the Hebrews invaded Canaan. Yet they stood by at the siege of Jerusalem and stimulated the Chaldeans in their work of destruction and death. "Neither shouldst thou have stood in the cross-way to cut off those of his that escaped." "The cup also shall pass through unto thee, thou shalt be drunken." Imp. Piel. in Jerusalem, a periphrasis for the Genitive. V. 8. has been explained in a variety of ways. Seventy: zaλainwoos; Vulg. misera; others, destroyer, powerful, violent, or fierce. Perhaps it best suits the context to regard it as expressing what is already accomplished; it is so certain, in the view of the psalmist, that the ruin will come, that he uses the past Part. as if the work were now completed. "O daughter of Babylon, the destroyed!" The imprecations in this Psalm, as Hengstenberg remarks, are only an individualizing of the declaration of our Lord, "With what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again." The destruction of the children of the Babylonians is a just recompense for their cruelties towards the Jews. He, who finds fault with the spirit of these verses, and denounces it as a relic of a barbarous age, has very inadequate or erroneous views both of the principles of the Divine government, and of the deeper necessities of his own moral nature. When outrageous cruelty or wickedness of any kind, meets with retribution, we feel that it is condign, just, deserved, and this feeling is consistent with the tenderest compassion. Milton's lines find a response in the breast of every right minded reader : Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, ARTICLE X. MISCELLANIES AND CORRESPONDENCE. MUNICH THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. Ir is a matter of the deepest regret that in the establishment or enlargement of our cities, in the founding of our public buildings, colleges, etc., there have not been some controlling minds possessed of cultivated taste and enlarged views, that would have given a form and direction to architecture, uniting at the same time economy and convenience with the highest principles of art. In the first place, a suitable locality should be chosen, so that the general effect of an edifice would be most impressive. Then the material-stone if possible-should be selected, whose color, durability, massiveness, etc., would conform, as nearly as possible, to the object of an institution. Then that plan should be adopted, which would admit ultimately, if means are at first wanting, of those chaste and sublime ornaments, which are in fact, not mere ornaments, but become teachers of the young, the guides of taste, and ultimately useful in the highest degree, because their influence, though unseen, is ever active, ever insinuating, ever moulding the plastic souls of the youthful beholder, after their own ideal of beauty. But how sadly have all these things been neglected in our country. Our colleges, that profess to teach the principles of rhetoric and taste, must teach by negatives and contrast, must |