even by worldly men, to which the attention which it merits has not been given. The point to which we refer is, that through the demoralising effects of Sabbath railway traffic, the lives of the community are from day to day placed in the hands of an over-wrought class of men, who have been, and are subjected, in mind and body, to the deteriorating influence of this unhallowed traffic. This habit of Sabbath desecration may render the higher officials and directors first careless in making such arrangements, as they, in many cases, easily could, whereby railway labour on the Sabbath-notwithstanding the compulsory enactment-might be greatly diminished, and, as a native result, may render all railway servants more or less careless and incapacitated for attending with proper vigilance to those numberless arrangements necessary to be made and executed with the utmost regularity and exactness, in order to ensure the public safety. A goodly number of those so engaged on the Lord's day withstand, or are enabled to resist, the influence of the system, in some degree, by the pain which it gives them to be so occupied. But by the mass of those so employed, the conscience has become callous as to this kind of sin, and, consequently, to other kinds of sin also, in greater or less degree. Men of the highest class, in respect of moral intelligence and principle, are precluded from taking part in the management or in the labour of the railway system in its extended ramifications, and a large portion of this is necessarily in the hands of a class of men whose moral principle is by no means of a high order. One, therefore, necessarily feels less confidence, as to his safety, on a line of railway on which Sabbath desecration is extensively practised, than on one in which there is an earnest aim at having as little of this as possible; and he also can discern a difference in the very aspect as well as in the conduct of the officials, according as the Sabbath is more habitually and recklessly desecrated by the company with which they are connected. This, and other evil effects of the systematic violation of the divine law by railway traffic, are of a very serious character; and the longer they are overlooked, the more appalling are the results which are to be expected. The great Lawgiver and Disposer is long-suffering; but though God does not speedily execute the sentence which He has passed against every evil work, He so deals generally with the transgressors of His law, that their sin at length may be read in their punishment ON THE MASORETIC DISTINCTION OF PIEL & PUAL. (From a Correspondent). According to the system of Hebrew Grammar generally taught, the verb is presented to the student under seven forms, popularly called conjugations-viz. (1), KAL, i.e. the light, simple form of the verb; (2), NIPHAL, the passive of Kal; (3), PIEL, the intensitive of Kal; (4), PUAL, the passive of Piel; (5), HIPHIL, the causative of Kal; (6), HOPHAL, the passive of Hiphil; (7), HITHPAEL, the reflexive of Kal or Piel, but sometimes only the passive of these, in which last signifi cation, however, there can be no doubt, the passages in which it is clearly established ought to be regarded and pointed as HOTHPAEL (the passive of Hithpael), and to form an additional conjugation, though the Masorets have not carried it out as they might have done. If, then, we take the verb "to kill," as a specimen of a perfect Hebrew verb, we have presented to us these forms, thus: Kal, he killed; Niphal, he was killed; Piel, he killed violently; Pual, he was killed violently; Hiphil, he caused to kill; Hophal, he was caused to kill; Hithpael, he killed himself; and Hothpael, he himself was killed. With regard to KAL, we have only to remark that verbs in that form are either transitive, or intransitive, or BOTH. Among the latter and דקק דמה דבק גמר הגיח גזר בשל בקק בער בלל אמן אזר are such as others too numerous to mention. PIEL is distinguished from KAL only by the Masoretic vowel-points -an invention of the seventh or eighth century after Christ, designed to distinguish the various shades of meaning that belong to many Hebrew words whose consonants are the same. As stated above, the Piel is said to be the intensitive of the Kal; but we have carefully gone over all the verbs which are pointed as Piel, and our deliberate conclusion is, that the punctuation does not accomplish its end, that it is neither necessary nor useful, and that it is really injurious, as tending to perplex the student with a complicated system which is worthless as a guide or standard. There are about 806 verbs which are represented as having the Kal form, but no Piel; and, on the other hand, about 114 verbs which are represented as having the Piel, but not the Kal. Passing by these, as not affording an opportunity of judging how far the two forms agree or differ from each other, we pass on to those verbs which have both forms. There are about 272 such; but when we look at them more closely, we find that in about two-thirds of them (viz., 174) the meaning of the Kal and Piel forms are identically the same-i.e., that the Piels are not intensitive of their Kals, and that consequently the whole object of the elaborate punctuation is lost. With regard to the remaining 98 verbs, where there appears to be a reasonable ground for the distinction of Kal and Piel, it may be remarked that in all languages there are words whose varied shades of meaning can only (and easily) be known from the context, without introducing varied spelling; and (2) that it is simply impossible to carry out the principle of distinguishing every such shade of meaning, as the Masorets themselves have tacitly acknowledged, by leaving such a word as man, which in the Kal conjugation alone has five different meanings-viz., (1), to murmur; (2), to celebrate; (3), to meditate; (4), to remember; and (5), to plot, with the same points throughout; and the noun Dp with ten meanings-viz., (1), the act of judging; (2), the place of judgment; (3), a forensic cause; (4), the sentence of a judge; (5), a fault or crime; (6), right; (7), a rule of judging; (8), a privilege; (9), a custom; (10), a fashion,-is in the same position. The real truth of the matter is, that these 98 Piels indicate generally the transitive meaning, while their Kals are as generally intransitive; but this can form no sufficient reason for attempting to distinguish them by different points, which would not also require all the verbs referred to above under KAL (which are BOTH transitive and intransitive), to be distinguished likewise, as well as n and D, which there is no possibility of doing-the Masorets themselves being judges. In a word, then, there are hundreds of instances in which Piels and Kals are distinguished by different vowel-points, where, nevertheless, the meaning is precisely the same; and, on the other hand, there are hundreds of instances where no such distinction has been made in the Kal, though all the reasons applicable to the ore case will apply to the other. The Masoretic punctuation of Piel is therefore a shallow and worthless attempt to accomplish an impossibility, in the very nature of things; and by our simply allowing the Kal to have its undeniable right of having a transitive and an intransitive meaning, we consign the Masoretic Piel (and, of course, its passive Pual) to its merited repose of perpetual oblivion. Critical Notices. Rome and Civil Liberty; or the Papal Aggression in relation to the Sovereignty of the Queen and the Independence of the Nation. By the Rev. J, A. Wylie, LL.D., Professor in the Protestant Institute of Scotland; Author of "The Papacy," &c. &c. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co. Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot. 1864. THIS is no ordinary book, neither has it come at an ordinary time. Would that every friend of civil and religious liberty were awakened to the consideration of the appalling principles and facts laid bare by the band of this anatomist of Popery. The author of "The Papacy" has already proved to the world that he is not only thoroughly read in the dogmas of Popery, but deeply skilled in tracing the numerous windings of "the Mystery of Iniquity," as brought to bear on social life. Next to clear conceptions of the nature of Popery, is a right appreciation of the stage of its historical development, and its practical aggression, according to existing circumstances. Dr Wylie combines the elements of the ripe student with those of the acute observer. He knows, not only what the Papacy is, as predicted in prophecy, and delineated in history, but also what it is in every-day life-whether in Rome, on the Continent, or in Great Britain and Ireland. He has shown effectually what the claims of liberty and religion demand-viz., the readjustment of the argument with Rome. Pursuing the present course, we feel assured that he will reach the readjustment attained at both the First and Second Reformations, when Popery was formally abjured, and the friends of truth and liberty bound by covenant obligations to stand by each other and the truth of God. In fact, the entire aggression of modern times may be traced back to the violation of our National Covenants, and the gradual removal of the bulwark raised by the Reformers against the system of antichrist. From the recent experience of organised Popery, as regards mob-violence, and the attempts to suppress freedom of action and discussion, it is evident that we are approaching a crisis in which mere theoretic opposition to Popery must be supplanted by counter-organisation, in order to the defence of civil liberty. Dr Wylie forms a just estimate of existing circumstances, when he states in his preface, "that every century or so we should readjust the argument with Rome." The reason he urges is obvious to every one at all acquainted with the history of the Papacy. "The immortal vorks of Barrow, Chillingworth, and Stillingfleet, are an exhaustive refutation of the Church which changes not; but they are not an exhaustive refutation of the Church which does change. They do not, and could not, meet the Papal aggression-the special phase assumed by the Church of Rome in our century." This is the object of the book-" a readjustment of the argument, so far as that aggression is concerned." After a careful perusal of this work as a whole, we feel warranted in expressing the conviction that the esteemed author has been eminently successful. There is a breadth and comprehensiveness in the plan a grouping of facts and details-a terseness and power of argument-a searching and withering sarcasm—a candour and clearness of statement-combined throughout with an elegance of diction and a moral earnestness,-which fascinate the mind, and enlist our deepest sympathies. You feel at once the radiance of Bible light and the clouds of moral darkness passing in review-"the mystery of godliness" confronting "the mystery of iniquity." From the extent of the field traversed, and the mass of matter, in the shape of evidence presented, it is impossible, in a brief notice, to give any idea of the work as a whole. It is divided into five parts, entitled-I. The Reformation: its Scottish Phase. II. The Papal Aggression. III. Illustrations from Recent European History. IV. Maynooth, Convents, Chaplaincies, &c. V. Miscellaneous. We can only indicate some of the topics discussed in the first part; such as "The Papacy the Great Actor in European History"-"The true Jus Divinum; or, the one Fundamental Principle of the Reformation"-"The two Jurisdictions and the one Liberty"-"The two Champions and the one Victory"-"The three Battles; or, the King, the Prelate, and the Patron". "What the Reformation testifies of itself. What Rome testifies of herself." Under these various headings, and others with which they are associated, there is a deeply interesting discussion of first principles. There is, in fact, a rare combination of philosophy and faith brought to bear upon the varied phenomena of the Reformation. Our author has kept clearly in view the relation between moral principles and the facts of history. He sees at once the spiritual agency of Satan manifested in the living form of the Papacy, while the Papacy itself is the moving spring of European history. But he sees, moreover, the "shadow of Omnipotence sweeping over the currents" of European history-confounding human politics, and foreshadowing the utter destruction of the Papacy. He also shows conclusively the danger of giving any countenance to, or becoming leagued with, a system doomed to destruction. But, alas! we seem, as a nation, given up to infatuation. Even with the violence of Popery daily before us, we are repeating the folly of attempting the conciliation of Rome to "excommunicated heretics." We know that Rome is pledged to hate and destroy Protestants of every class-that she curses them from the altar in their persons and interests, and yet we open the national treasury to train a priesthood, the sworn foes of civil and religious liberty. Certain it is, that Britain is preparing the scourge that will yet inflict heavy chastisement. In mob-violence she is even now receiving a bitter foretaste of what she may expect when systematised tyranny shall seize the reins of social power. Nothing could be more suitable or seasonable than this work on "Rome and Civil Liberty;" and yet we fear it will not be read or pondered as it merits. It is too good, and too true, to please this superficial age. The most solemn warnings will not break the slumbers of the multitude. What can we expect from the most convincing arguments, when even mob-violence and bloodshed-now so common throughout the cities of the land-fail to arouse us to a sense of danger? We cordially recommend this work to all our readers, and only regret that space forbids the insertion of extracts at present. The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, D.D. Edited by the Rev. Alexander THIS additional volume of Sibbes sustains alike the character of the The Complete Works of Stephen Charnock, B.D. With Introduction by the Rev. THIS volume of Mr Nichol's Standard Divines needs no commenda- 1 |