perfectly holy, when he is not. This would be the belief of error. And it is easy to see what effect the belief of error, particularly of such an error as this, must have upon one who is sanctified only in part. And as I am persuaded, that those who think themselves completely sanctified are mistaken, I cannot but conclude, that their opinion of themselves, is really thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think, and that its hurtful influence upon their feelings and conduct will erelong become visible.

My second remark is, that we, who do not believe the doctrine, are in some danger of injuring ourselves and others by opposing it. The preaching and the writings of those who maintain the doctrine contain a great portion of most precious truth." And it is by this mixture of truth, that the error is made plausible, and insinuates itself into the minds of others. Now the danger is, that by means of the opposition we make to the particular error which they hold, we shall be led to believe the important truths contained in their writings with less firmness, to love them with less sincerity, and to use them less profitably. The Lord preserve us from this danger, and so influence our minds and hearts, that we shall most heartily believe that portion of the truth which is exhibited in the writings referred to, and shall give it even a higher place in our thoughts and in our preaching, than we have heretofore done. Thus, while we prove all things, may we hold fast that which is good.

My last remark is, that we ought not to be over anxious on account of the temporary prevalence of error. We ought to exert ourselves to the utmost in the spirit of love, to defend and propagate the truth, and confute error; to cherish the sincerest desires, and offer up the most fervent prayers for the good of our fellow men, and for the advancement of the reign of Christ. Thus faithfully performing the duties which devolve on us, we may, with confidence and with quietness of mind, commit all the interests of the church to the God of truth, who will certainly take care of his own cause, and will, in his sovereign Providence, confound every false doctrine far more effectually, than we can by our arguments. And this he often does by letting error run on, till its nature is acted out, and its fruits are made manifest to all. It pleases the most High God to carry forward his plan of redeeming mercy through various and mighty conflicts. And every conflict will be made a means of clearing up and establishing divine truth; and will in the end contribute to

the glory of God, and the good of his people. The errors, as well as the wrath of man, will be made to praise God. This mixed, disordered state, this war of elements in the moral world will continue a while longer; but it will not last always. Better days will come to the church on earth, and an eternal day of perfect light, and purity, and joy to the church in heaven.

ARTICLE IX.

REVIEW OF NORDHEIMER'S HEBREW GRAMMAR.

A Critical Grammar of the Hebrew Language. By Isaac Nordheimer, Phil. Doct., Prof. of Arabic and other Oriental Languages in the University of New-York. In two volVol. II. New York: Wiley & Putnam. 1841.

umes.

By Tayler Lewis, Esq., Prof. of Greek in the University of New-York.

THE ardent lover of Philology might justly regard, as its chief excellence, the happy position which it occupies between the subjective and objective sciences. Whether we employ these terms or others of a similar import, the distinction conveyed by them is important and clear. Science relates to the world within, and to the world without. It is, therefore, internal and external, subjective and objective, logical and experimental, intuitive and inductive, or essential and phenomenal. Each of these sets of terms presents ultimately the same distinction, and, in reference to it, two modes of scientific inquiry are suggested, which may be denoted by the same or corresponding appellations. In the one class, without aiming at great accuracy, we may include mental philosophy in all its various departments, together with logic, ethics and the pure mathematics, which is only a knowledge of the mind's necessary conceptions in relation to space and figure; in the other, the whole range of the physical sciences. In the one class, the soul goes not out of itself to seek for facts or make experiments. Being at the same time object and subject, it views itself either by introspection, or through a reflex objective medium of its own creation. The knowledge obtained does not consist so much.

in new discovered facts, as in seeming recollections of what had previously been concealed beneath the soul's own consciousness; although forming as real a part of its being, as its best known, its most familiar thoughts and emotions. In the other class all is external, a posteriori,-inductive,-never exceeding the limit of those generalizations, to which experiment is the only guide. Theories here are themselves experiments. Even when best founded, they are but hasty generalizations, in which the impatient mind, in order to obtain a better field of view, ventures to assume an advance position, to be retained only in case subsequent induction should fill up the links which connect it with previously ascertained facts."

We have said that Philology possesses the middle ground between these two grand departments of science; or rather, that it belongs equally to both. Language is an emanation of the mind, and may thus be regarded as part of the mind itself. When actually formed, however, it is as clearly objective as the phenomena of astronomy or chemistry. It is what the natural sciences would be, were nature really, and not merely in the dreams of the transcendentalist, the creation of the soul that contemplates its laws. Language is the objective medium through which the mind views itself, the intelligible species of its own creation (if we may use the language of the schoolmen), by which it impresses, with its own image, the sensible species of the external world, and transmutes them into that knowledge, which becomes a part of its intellectual being. These remarks are applicable to language in its most extensive sense, as that medium of communication from soul to soul, which, however it may vary in its modes, must be supposed necessary for every rank of being beneath him to whom all things are immediately present in their unveiled essences.

Its modes of investigation partake of the same character. It may be studied by the a priori, or by the inductive method. It may be regarded as a type of the soul, or as the object of experiment, having a phenomenal existence in vocal enunciation or written characters. These two methods may be united, and it is their happy union that gives rise in certain minds to that exquisite delight which is found in the study of philology; especially, that part, which relates not so much to the external dress, as to the inner spirit. Induction here is not so much the instrument of discovery as of verification. The mind goes forth into the field of experiment, with full confidence, that its

a priori views will be realized; whilst in every process of the kind, other modes of conception are suggested, which, when verified in their turns, open still more distant views, and impart a deeper insight into those processes of the soul, which, although constantly going on within us, lie beneath the surface of ordinary consciousness. It is thus a constant source of ideas begetting ideas, branching forth into all the relations of our being, and producing in the study of verbal combinations, and the various modes of mental conception exhibited by them, a more delightful excitement, and a nobler exercise of the soul than can be found in all the synthesis and analysis of natural science.

These remarks are applicable, in some degree, even to the etymological department of philology. The very sounds, forms and inflections of words, instead of being arbitrary, have without doubt some relation to the laws of the mind, and the modes in which its conceptions are varied. These, however, may be supposed to be more immediately connected with the sensitive, than with the rational soul, and are therefore less capable of a priori explanations. But in the department of Syntax, or the combination of words in logical propositions, mind meets mind with a delightful and unwavering confidence in the identity of human nature in all ages, and with a full belief of finding in the languages of David and Homer, the same analogies of thought that exist in our own. It is true that peculiar emotions, modified by peculiar external circumstances, may have given such a prominence to certain modes of conception, as to render frequent in one tongue, what is comparatively rare in another; yet without introducing any that are absolutely new, or not to be traced in some form in every human dialect.

That excellency of method which we have been regarding in the abstract, the author of the work before us has most happily and practically exemplified. His first volume was most favorably noticed by several periodicals, both at home and abroad. The second has even a higher claim to commendation, not only for the great beauty and neatness of its execution, but still more, for the perspicuity of its style, and the intrinsic excellence of its matter. He has composed, not simply a book of reference, but one which can be read through repeatedly, both by scholar and critic, with unfailing interest. It is this very circumstance, which tends to blind the mind of the reader

to one of its principal merits. The delightful ease with which we pass over its pages, the interesting manner in which the author has laid open to us the processes of our own minds, the many apposite and beautiful examples adduced by way of illustration, the absence of all pedantry, its freedom from far-fetched theorizing and illogical reasoning produce such an impression of ease, truth and clearness, that we almost claim the thoughts and conclusions as our own, so spontaneously do our own minds meet those views which are everywhere presented. It is this, which makes it at first difficult for the reader to conceive the vast amount of labor which the work must have cost, the great care which must have been used in arranging principles in such natural succession, the toilsome minuteness of investigation which has produced so great a number of apposite illustrations, and that watchful avoidance of prolixity whereby the author has been enabled successfully to condense, into an octavo volume of 350 pages, such an amount of practical knowledge and philosophical investigation.

We might enlarge upon the style, arrangement and typographical beauty of the work. Its chief merit, however, as before observed, is the well-sustained union of the subjective and objective, or a priori and inductive modes of investigation. The latter, when used alone, produces an uninteresting collection of facts, and of rules, apparently arbitrary, founded upon them. Unlike the results of induction in the physical sciences, they present the phenomena of principles with continual exceptions; and these, at times, almost as numerous as the cases which seem to be embraced by the rule. The impression is thus produced, that every thing in language is arbitrary; that its principles are not to be found already deposited in the soul itself, but must be obtained only by induction from without, and retained only by the iron grasp of memory. This must be so, as long as the external manifestation is alone the object of study. A resort to the other process shows us, that these exceptions are only apparent, and that with each variety of expression, there is also connected-whether we can discover it or not-a corresponding variation in the mode of conception. The one process presents the mere anatomy of language, the other supplies it with nerves and muscles. The one furnishes the materials, the other builds them into a living, organic system.

There are also strong objections to exclusive theorizing. Theories in syntax, it is true, are not like theories in chemistry.