Extracts.

The Arabic Language.

THE Arabic language is unique. Here even Hebrew yields, and scarce any other tongue pretends to enter into competition. With the exception of the hieroglyphics, there are but fragments of Egyptian under the names Amharic and Coptic, and they are comparatively modern, and existing only in copies of parts of the Scriptures. Ancient Syriac and Chaldee are no longer living tongues, Chinese is comparatively barren; Sanscrit exists only in its literature, Greek and Latin are mere moderns in comparison, while Hebrew itself is no longer spoken. We cannot, of course, say that Arabic is entirely uncorrupt even in the Koran, but in all essential points the Bedaween who to-day lie in a circle round their fire in the desert, speak the same language as that spoken before Rome was cradled, or Cadmus brought letters into Greece. Yet this is but a very small part of this interesting subject. The Arabic is kindred with the Hebrew. It is not a mere likeness by which we may guess from one to the other. It is a close connexion-a consanguinity in structure, in modes of thought and expression. It is a resemblance such as obtains between Spanish and Portuguese, between German and Dutch, or almost between dialects of the same language. The words are often almost identical, and the roots precisely the same. The consequences that flow from this are most striking. The first is the obvious confirmation of the truth of the intimate union of the stream when it sprung into two branches from the parent source. Isaac and Ishmael could almost now converse together, if Israel had not been scattered amongst every people under heaven and so lost his language, with his independence, whilst his wild brother has preserved both. The second of these consequences has powerfully influenced sacred literature. It will be observed that the only work extant in pure Hebrew is the Old Testament Scriptures. All other Hebrew books are written in a corrupt dialect called Rabbinic. It frequently occurs in the interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures that words appear but once or seldom, so that the meaning is not quite certain. When words occur frequently, it will be seen that the method of translating is to recur to other passages where the same word appears. When this cannot be done, recourse is had to the root of the word; but this cannot always be ascertained with certainty, and it is not always—though far more frequently than in modern language a certain test. What is to be done? Arabic literature is copious; turn to its condensation in four noble folios, called Freytag's Arabic Lexicon, and there is, perhaps, the very word, or one clearly allied to it, preserved in the living language of Hagar, or in a hundred volumes. This resource was so useful, the mine so rich, that it became a perfect passion with Gesenius to refer every thing the least obscure in Hebrew to Arabic roots.

The Arabic language itself, independently of association, is singularly noble. Its copiousness is almost beyond belief. Besides endless inflections of verbs, and a wonderful variety in the meaning of each, there are sometimes hundreds of words, literal and figurative, for the same idea. Thus, the Arabs say that they have one thousand names for a sword, five hundred for a lion, &c. Of course a vast number of these are figurative. Indeed, they boast that no uninspired man can become a master of Arabic. A slight acquaintance, even, with Oriental languages, fills every one with admiration of this powerful and beautiful tongue.

The book of Job, though written in Hebrew, is strongly Arabic in its character. As Carlyle says, "I call that, (the book of Job,) apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with pen. One feels, indeed, as if it were not Hebrew-such a noble universality, different from patriotism, or sectarianism, reigns in it. A noble book!-all men's book! It is our first, oldest statement of the never-ending problem-man's destiny, and God's way with him here in this earth. And all in such free, flowing outlines-grand in its sincerity, in its simplicity, in its epic melody, and repose of reconcilement. There is the seeing eye, the mildly understanding heart. So true every way; true eyesight and vision for all things; material things no less than spiritual. The horse-' Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?' he laughs at the shaking of the spear!' Such living likenesses were never since drawn. Sublime sorrow, sublime reconciliation; oldest choral melody as of the heart of mankind; so soft and great; as the summer midnight, as the world with its seas and stars! There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit."-Pres. Quarterly Review.

Nonnus and his Metrical Gospel.

ABOUT four hundred miles up the Nile, and one hundred miles below Thebes, there is found on the eastern bank the Egyptian bender or town of Ekhmirn, the ancient Chemmis or Panopolis, once one of the most considerable cities of the Thebaid. Herodotus says that it was the only town of Egypt, in his time (B.C. 450), where Greek customs were in vogue, and he ascribes this to the worship of the Grecian Perseus, which was there celebrated. He, moreover, ascribes this worship to the fact that the demigod Perseus was a descendant of a citizen of this Egyptian city. Remains of the city's former glory are strewn about its present degenerate representative. In the year 410 after Christ, the poet Nonnus was born at this place, who is known to us by two metrical works of like poetic merit, but of very different import. One is a long epic poem in forty-eight books, written in a rambling and bombastic style, whose subject is the life of Dionysius or Bacchus. It shews great mythological learning, but is a most wearisome book to read.

The other is a metrical version of St John's Gospel, a famous edition of which was published in 1627, at Leyden, by the celebrated Daniel Heinsius. Heinsius has displayed a tedious amount of learning in his "Exercitationes' on Nonnus, under the name of the "Sacred Aristarchus." Nonnus lived when the Western Empire was tottering to its downfall, and when the weak Theodosius II. was preparing the Eastern Empire for its long career of confusion and civil war. Literature had degenerated with the state, and neither the poetry nor the history of this period can bear any honours from the impartial critic. The value, therefore, of the works of Nonnus must be sought from other than their poetic or rhetorical qualities. The "Dionysiaca" derives its importance from the mass of mythological lore collected in it, while the "Metrical Gospel" furnishes us with a valuable view of St John's Gospel as read and understood by a learned Egyptian of the fifth century. We see, for example, in the latter, that the disputed passage on the woman taken in adultery (chap. vii. 53-viii. 11) was not found in the version that Nonnus used, for he omits it altogether in his paraphrase. Another remarkable omission is the passage, chap. vi. 41-54. These omissions are rather matters of curiosity, than arguments against the authenticity of the parts omitted, such negative arguments being of little value when positive arguments can be brought so readily and so numerously on the other side. As examples of the style of paraphrase which Nonnus adopts, we introduce a few quotations, losing sight, of course, of the metre. The first five verses of the Gospel are thus treated: "Timeless, unattainable, in the unutterable beginning was the Word, of like nature with his equal-aged Father, a Son without a mother. And the Word was the Light of the self-existing God, Light from Light. From the Father he was undivided, coseated with him on his eternal throne. And the Word was the highborn God. He from the beginning shone forth with the eternal God, the Artificer of the world, being older than the world. And by him were all things, both those which breathe not, and those which breathe; and without the working Word nothing sprang into being which was. And life, dear to all, was innate in him, and the all-nourishing life was the light of dying men. And in the murky world the earth-surrounding splendour shone with heavenly rays, and the darkness did not grasp it."

The beginning of the beautiful fifteenth chapter is thus rendered: "In the new-blooming world I am the vine of life, and my Father is the vine-dresser. And the branch of beautiful leaves which does not learn to bear clusters, this he severs; and that which is decked with the vinous fruit, my Father, the husbandman of life, knows how to cleanse with its new-grown leaves, that it may bear larger fruit."

From these example it will be seen that the translation is a paraphrase, but its expansions are natural and suggestive. Such paraphrases are the best commentaries, arousing thought, while sustaining unbroken the connexions of the text.

We cannot help remarking, that the study of the ancient com

mentators and paraphrasers would be found most delightful and profitable to modern Christians. There is often a freshness of illustration and style in their comments and notes, for which we might seek in vain in our recent Biblical annotators. With all the faults of Nonnus, his paraphrase is full of warmth and life, and amply repays a reading.Professor Howard Crosby.

American Prophetical Literature.

We had no adequate notion of the number of this class of religionists, or the peculiarities of their doctrinal belief, until our attention was called to a report published in The World's Crisis, a second-advent paper printed in Boston, on the 11th of January. This report was prepared by Rev. Daniel T. Taylor of Worcester. It presents the first and only statistical and analytical statement of the number of clergymen holding second-advent views, the number of people belonging to the secondadvent body, the variations in their doctrines, the number and nature of their publications, &c., ever published. The materials for the report were all collected by Mr Taylor, with much difficulty, and although the information is not so full and complete as is desirable, the work forms an excellent basis for future labour in this direction, and contains many facts that will interest not only his own, but other denominations. prominent features of his report we condense below.

The

By means of letters and circulars, Mr Taylor has collected the names and residences of nearly six hundred preachers and evangelists, scattered throughout nineteen States, the Canadas, and Nova Scotia, who promulgate the speedy advent of Christ to reign in person on the earth. The following table will shew their locality:

Allowing for some known not to be included in this list, and others not heard of, Mr Taylor considers it safe to take six hundred as the whole number. Five females are included in the list, also four coloured ministers and two Indians. Not all of them are in active service, but the great majority preach more or less. The theological character of the list is thus stated:

It takes in all at the East who assume to sustain the views in general of William Miller. It includes all in the West who hold the English Literalist view of prophecy, as presented in the doctrines of the Age to Come. It includes all who make more prominent than the second advent the annihilation of sinful beings at the judgment. It takes in all who, with the Seventh-day Baptists, regard only Saturday instead of Sunday, as being truly sabbatical time. It embraces all who, whether they be antimillenarian or premillennial, see the coming of the Lord to be at hand. In fine, all who may be represented by the doctrines of the leading Adventual papers, whether printed at Battle Creek, Rochester, New Haven, New York, or Boston. Some object to the name Adventist, and prefer individually, or in conference, to be termed Christians, but are included because of holding doctrines in common with all Adventists, so-called, while ministers of the Christian denomination are not intended to be represented in the list. All hold the age as near ending. All believe in the speedy personal advent. All reject

a temporal millennium before He comes. All look for Christ to come in this century. All hold to the final redemption of the earth, and its possession by the meek. And all profess to wait for and love the appearing of the Redeemer.

The main points of difference among the Adventists are three in number, and relate to the nature and destiny of man, the one thousand years spoken of in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, and the subject of holy time. On these points, the five hundred and eighty-four clergymen above enumerated are thus classified :—

First.-1. Believers in literal life and death, and utter and final destruction, 365. 2. Believers in the conscious death-sleep and eternal pain, 67. 3. Those perplexed and undecided, 9. 4. Those not reported, 143.

Second.-1. Believers in the first-day Sabbath as being more or less holy and divinely obligatory, 199. 2. Believers in no divinely-appointed holy day under the gospel, but who worship on Sunday, 166. 3. Believers in and observers of the seventh-day Sabbath, 57. 4. Those not reported, 162.

Third. Believers in the premillennial advent and personal reign, 251, (of this class, 57, viz., the seventh-day Sabbath keepers, hold the one thousand years reign with Christ to be in the New Jerusalem in heaven.) 2. Believers in the premillennial advent and personal reign, and holding the English Literalist view, or Age to Come, 102. 3. Believers in antimillenarianism, or the one thousand years in the past, but holding to an eternal personal reign on earth, 27. 4. Those perplexed and undecided, 20. 5. Those not reported, and consequently unknown, 184.

A still further classification of these preachers shews that only eighty-six are performing the work of a pastor in the care of a local church. Only ten are reported as filling the office of both pastor and evangelist, though doubtless there are four times as many. The remaining four hundred and eighty-eight are put down as evangelists;