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sufficient Portion of his people, whose name is above every name, - Jesus Christ, yesterday, to-day, and forever the same. O, that we may cleave to Him, in life and death! O, that He may own us, in time and in eternity!

Farewell; and be always cheerful, hoping in God, who is the help of our countenance and our God.

UNPUBLISHED ANECDOTES OF DR. PAYSON.

NO. II.

WE are not certain but that an incident, somewhat similar to the following, is described in the memoir of his life:

Once, in the progress of a revival at his church in Portland, after having repeatedly invited meetings at his house, of those who wished to seek religion, he one day gave an invitation to all those young persons who did not intend to seek religion. Any one, who did not know Dr. Payson, would be surprised to hear that thirty or forty came. He had a very pleasant, social interview with them, saying nothing about the subject of religion, until just as they were about to leave, he closed a very few, plain and simple remarks, in the following

manner :

"Suppose you should see, coming down from heaven, a very fine thread, so fine as to be almost invisible, and it should come and very gently attach itself to you. You knew, we suppose, that it came from God. Should you dare to put out your hand, and brush it away?"

He dwelt a few minutes upon this idea, until every one had a clear and fixed conception of it, and of the hardihood which any one would manifest, who should openly break off, even such a tie.

"Now," continued he, "just such a slender, delicate thread has come from God to you, this afternoon. You do not feel, you say, any interest in religion; but by coming here this afternoon, God has fastened one little thread upon you all it is very weak and frail, and you can, in a moment, brush it away. But you certainly will not do so. Welcome it, and it will enlarge and strengthen itself, until it becomes a golden chain to bind you forever to God."

:

Dr. Payson always seized upon every uncommon occurrence, in his congregation, to turn it to religious account. So settled a habit was this with him, that, whenever, during the week, any extraordinary event happened, there was frequently, a considerable degree of interest felt among the people, in respect to the manner in which it would be made to tell, in the production of moral and religious impression, in their pastor's sermon on the next Sabbath.

Dr. Payson's meeting-house was situated on the corner formed by one of the principal streets in the city, and another narrow street, or perhaps lane, which opened into it. Across this narrow street, opposite the meetinghouse, the church had erected a convenient and pleasant conference

room, or vestry, as it is sometimes called. His people had become warmly attached to this building; a fact, which all who ever attended Dr. Payson's evening meetings, will readily understand.

One night, the inhabitants of the town were aroused by a cry of fire, and, on sallying out, we found the whole heavens in a glare, by the flames of this conference-room. It was built of wood, and the next morning nothing was left but a heap of black, smoking rubbish, and the whole side of the meeting-house, opposite, was browned by the scorching heat of the flames.

The next Sabbath, there was the most intense interest felt, by all in the house, when he arose in his pulpit, and stood prepared to name his text. The whole congregation seemed to say, by the eager and inquiring expression of their countenances, "What have you to say to us about this calamity?" And he pronounced his text as if he was replying. "If judgment begin at the house of God, what shall the end be to them who obey not the Gospel?"

There followed one of the most eloquent and powerful appeals we ever heard from his lips. He explained to us that one mode by which God endeavors to call sinners to him, and to arouse his people to repentance is his providence. He tries kindness; and when that fails, he tries frowns. He enumerated a number of events which had occurred, within a few past months, each more distinct and decided than the preceding; -" And now," said he, "he has come nearer still."

He then spoke for several minutes with great power and effect in regard to the loss they had sustained, pointing to the blackened ruins which were in full view. "Even this sanctuary," said he, "God has but just spared, and that, not without leaving upon it, the marks of his frown."

After farther remarks to his church, he turned to the congregation generally, and warned them of the danger of resisting God's calls. A few sentences only, however, remain, at this distant day, upon the writer's memory.

"I am no prophet," said he, "and I pretend to no extraordinary knowledge of God's will. But here is the solemn declaration of his word. TAKE CAKE, THEN, OF YOUR HOUSES. TAKE CARE OF YOUR STORES; for if this people, in spite of God's repeated warnings, will go on obstinately in sin, they must not be surprised, if he should arise in his anger, and send a sweeping conflagration to desolate the town."

The impression made by the view he took of this providence, as a solemn warning from God, was universal and most powerful. The sermon was extemporaneous, and Dr. Payson, it was understood, afterwards said, that he did not consider that calamities were always to be considered as judgments, though they ought to be regarded as warnings, intended to awaken us to penitence and to renewed fideity in the service of God.

(To be continued.)

For a notice to correspondents, see second page of the cover.

THE

RELIGIOUS MAGAZINE.

No. VI.

MARCH, 1834.

For the Religious Magazine.

POETRY OF THE BIBLE.

It is our design in the following article, to exhibit, in a popular manner, and for the use of the English student, some of the characteristics of Hebrew Poetry. Our object is mainly to give such information as may be interesting and useful in the Bible class, and Sabbath school.

Few men probably have ever lived, who were more extensively and minutely acquainted with the literature of the world, than Sir William Jones. At the age of 25, he was pronounced the most learned man in Europe. His capacious mind had grasped nearly all languages, and feasted upon their beauties. He had drank deeply at the fountains of Greek and Roman Poetry, and was familiar with the sublimest strains of Oriental song. But in the Bible, he found beauties, which he could find no where else. He found that, in literary excellence, the Bible surpassed all other books; and has left his testimony that "the Scriptures contain, independently of a Divine origin, more true sublinity, exquisite beauty, pure morality, more important history, and finer strains, both of poetry and of eloquence, than could be collected within the same compass, from all other books that were ever composed, in any age, or in any idiom."

This testimony has met with a cordial response from many of the most elevated minds. All who have attentively studied the sacred writings, pronounce them superior in grandeur of senti

ment, and magnificence of imagery, and beauty of composition, to the loftiest efforts of unsanctified genius. Many men, who have had no heart to relish the purity of the Bible, have had minds which could dwell with delight, upon the sublimity of its conceptions.

Still it is undeniable that many persons read the Bible without relishing or even perceiving these beauties, by others so highly extolled. Instead of finding it replete with the fire of enthusiasm, and the loftiness of poetic conception, and the vivid delineation of the calm and the agitating passions of the human soul, it appears to them tame and obscure. The sound of its oft repeated verses, falls upon the listless ear, conveying hardly any idea to the mind.

There are two obvious reasons for this. One is, the habit of inattention with which the Bible is so often perused. The other is, that the manner of living, of speaking, and of thinking, which prevailed in the days of the sacred writers, is altogether different from the customs with which we are familiar. Allusions to the rich and varied scenery of Palestine, in reality surpassingly beautiful, convey no pleasure to the mind unacquainted with the significance of those allusions. The style of writing in those days, of pristine simplicity, was so different from that in vogue with the moderns, that we need some acquaintance with these peculiarities, to enable us to appreciate those bursts of sublimity, and touches of elegance, which lie beyond the apprehension of the careless and unthinking.

A large portion of the Old Testament is Hebrew Poetry. In order to understand this important and intensely interesting part of the sacred record, some acquaintance with the peculiarities of this style of writing is indispensable.*

Even the most inattentive reader observes a difference between the style of Genesis and of Isaiah. The one is plain historic narration; the other contains most magnificent sentiments, expressed in language, bold, abrupt and elevated. The common

*If the students of the Bible neglect to distinguish between what is poetry, and what is prose, he must necessarily be led into confusion. "To what strange conclusions should we be led," says Mr. Stowe, "were we to interpret Milton's Paradise Lost, in the same spirit, and by the same rules, with which we should read President Edwards on the Freedom of the Will." If a literal interpretation be given to highly figurative language, the whole sense intended to be conveyed is destroyed. The poetic language of the Hebrews, is unusually full of life and animation. Nearly all things are personified, and speak and act like living beings. Arrows are sons of the bow; morning stars are sons of the dawn. The pupil of the eye is the little man or daughter of the eye, on ac count of the reflected image which we see in the eye. The ocean is a child clothed with clouds, and swaddled with thick darkness. Such expressions are not intended for literal interpretation. The neglect of this distinction has been a most fruitful source of

строг.

language of the Hebrews is perfectly simple and unadorned. "It is plain, correct, chaste and temperate; the words are uncommon, neither in their meaning nor application; there is no appearance of study, nor even of the least attention to the harmony of periods. The order of the words is generally regular and uniform. Each circumstance is exhibited at a single effort, without the least perplexity or confusion of the different parts; and, what is remarkable, by the help of a single particle, the whole is connected, from the beginning to the end, in a continued series, so that nothing appears inconsistent, abrupt or confused. The whole composition, in fine, is disposed in such an order, and so connected by the continued succession of the different parts, as to exhibit the image of a sedate and tranquil mind.

"But in the Hebrew Poetry the case is different, in part at least, if not in the whole. The free spirit is hurried along, and has neither leisure nor inclination to descend to those minute and frigid attentions. Frequently, instead of disguising the secret feelings of the Author, it lays them quite open to public view; and the veil, being as it were suddenly removed, all the affections and emotions of the soul, its sudden impulses, its hasty sallies and irregularities, are conspicuously displayed."

The first two chapters of the book of Job are written in plain prose; they contain a simple narration of the circumstances and misfortunes of the patriarch, and are merely the introduction to the poem.

With the third chapter, the whole style is changed. Now there are touches of the most exquisite pathos, and again flights of most lofty sublimity. There is as great a dissimilarity between this and what preceded, as there is between the Paradise Lost and the prose compositions of Milton. The following is a specimen of the prose :

"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job'; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

Let us now turn to the metrical part, and we feel at once that we have entered upon an entirely different species of compo

sition.

Canst thou by searching find out God?

Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
It is high as heaven, what canst thou do?
Deeper than Hell, what canst thou know?

The measure thereof is longer than the earth;

And broader than the sea.

Job xi : 7-9.

* Lowth.

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