throughout their correspondent members. To walk, implies casual intercourse; to stand, closer connection; to sit, fixed and permanent intimacy; the counsel, the ordinary place of meeting or public resort; the way, the select and chosen footpath; the seat, the habitual and final resting-place; the ungodly, negatively wicked; sinners, positively wicked; the scornful, scoffers at the very name or notion of piety and goodness.* It would be useless to enter here on the much litigated | other, not only in their general sense, but specially question respecting the nature of Hebrew poetry, or to exhibit the arguments adduced on either side. Referring the reader to those works whose names I have already quoted, I shall endeavour to give a general view of the subject, taking bishop Jebb's treatise as my guide, and illustrating his theory by those examples which furnish the most striking evidences of its truth. This mode of composition appears to have arisen from the manner in which they were accustomed to sing or chaunt their sacred hymns. They were accompanied with music, and sometimes alternately sung by opposite choirs, when they resembled the στροφὴ and άντιστροφὴ in the chorus of the Greek tragedians. At other times one choir performed the hymn itself, while the other sang a particular distich, which was regularly interposed at stated intervals. Thus Moses and the Israelites chanted the ode on the shore of the Red Sea, and thus many of the psalms seem to have been sung.† On other occasions either choir sung one verse responsively; the second constantly adding a line in some measure correspondent to that chaunted by the first. Thus in psalm cxxxvi. 1, Sing praises to Jehovah, for he is good, which, Ezra (iii. 10. 11) informs us, was sung by the the song of the women, concerning Saul and David, (2 Sam. xviii. 7), and thus does Isaiah describe the seraphim as chanting the praises of Jehovah-" they cried to one another," that is, alternately Holy, holy, Jehovah God of hosts! The whole earth is filled with his glory. (Isa. vi. 3). The 24th psalm furnishes the most striking example of this mode of chanting. It was composed on the induction of the ark to Mount Sion.+ The poetical parallelism is sometimes striking, while at other times it requires considerable skill and practice to develope it. Our translation is so very literal that it is generally preserved, wherever it occurs in the original. It is divided into four species: 1. Parallel lines gradational; 2. Parallel lines antithetic; 3. Parallel lines synthetic; and, 4. Parallel lines introverted. 1. Parallel lines gradational are those in which the responsive clause graduates, either in a descending or ascending scale, though generally in the latter; and this takes place, not only in the general meaning, but frequently in almost every word of the proposition. Oh! the happiness of that man Who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, And hath not sat in the seat of the scornful!* The exclamation with which the psalm begins applies equally to each line of the succeeding triplet. In the triplet itself each line consists of three members; and the lines gradually rise one above the • See Horne's Introduction, vol. ii. 470, 1, 2. Much of this No. is derived from his chapter on the poetry of the Hebrews. + See Bishop Lowth, Lecture xxvii. Bishop Horsley, in his translation of the psalms, has arranged them so as to exhibit their construction to the best possible advantage. 2. Parallel lines antithetic, are when two lines correspond one with another, by an opposition of terms and sentiments." This species is of comparatively rare occurrence in the superior kinds of Hebrew poetry, though not inconsistent with them. Much of the acuteness and elegance in the proverbs of the wisest of men are attributable to this antithetic form-this constant opposition of diction and sentiment. A wise son rejoiceth his father: But a foolish son is the grief of his mother. (x. 1) The memory of the just is a blessing: (x. 7) 3. Parallel lines synthetic or constructive, are "when the parallelism consists only in the similar form of construction, in which word does not answer to word, and sentence to sentence, as equivalent or opposite; but there is a correspondence and equality between the different propositions, in respect of the shape and turn of the whole sentence, and of the con structive parts; such as noun answering to noun, verb to verb, member to member, negative to negative, interrogative to interrogative. This species of parallelism includes all such as do not come within the two former classes." Thus in the nineteenth psalm The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple; The judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are just altogether; And sweeter than honey, or the dropping of honey-combs. Of the preceding species of parallelism, Dr. Jebb When thou passest through waters, I am with thee; (Isa. xliii. 2.) • Vide "Jebb's Sacred Literature," p. 41, where will be found many striking illustrations, admirably explained, and dissected with the most critical accuracy. And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them; (Isa. lxv. 21, 22.) In stanzas of four lines, the first sometimes responds, or is parallel, to the third, and the second to the fourth As the heavens are high above the earth; So high is his goodness over them that fear him: Sometimes, in the alternate quatrain, by a peculiar artifice in the distribution of the propositions, the third line forms a continuous sense with the first, and the fourth with the second: For thy husband is thy maker; And thy redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; (Isa. liv. 5.) 4. Parallel lines introverted. Stanzas so constructed that the first line be parallel to the last, the second to he penultimate, and so on. My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart also shall rejoice, Yea my veins shall rejoice, When thy lips speak right things. (Prov. xxiii. 15, 16.) And it shall come to pass in that day, (Isa. xxvii. 13.) Bishop Lowth divides the productions of the Hebrew poets into the following classes: viz. 1. Prophetic Poetry.-Under this head, as the name imports, we class the greater part of the prophetical writings. Passages evidently prosaical not unfrequently occur, though it seems difficult to assign a reason why they should be thus interposed. This species of poetry abounds in the most florid metaphors, allegories, and similes, and is remarkable for a pre-eminent degree of that brightness of imagination and sublime diction which are always found in a greater or less degree throughout the productions of the inspired penmen. 2. Elegiac Poetry.-In this class are comprised occasional passages in Job and the prophetical books, with many of the psalms. The lamentation of David over his friend Jonathan (2 Sam. i. 17-27), and the book entitled the Lamentations of Jeremiah may be noticed as additional instances. 3. Didactic Poetry delivers moral instruction in sententious verses, resembling the yvwpai or λóyou ἀρχαῖοι ἀνθρώπων φανέντες* of the ancients. this species are the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Of lxxviii. cv. evi. exxxvi. exxxix, and in Isaiah ix. 8x. 4. 6. Dramatic Poetry.-Different learned critics have conjectured that the Song of Solomon, the book of Job, and many of the psalms partake of a dramatic construction, but this seems very doubtful. 7. The Acrostic or Alphabetical Poems-"Consist of twenty-two lines, or twenty-two systems of lines, or periods, or stanzas, according to the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; and every line or every stanza begins with each letter in its order; i. e. second with (beth), and so on. There are still exthe first line or first stanza begins with N (aleph), the tant twelve of these poems (Psalms xxv. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxi. cxii. cxix. cxlv. Prov. xxxi. 10-31., Lam. i. ii. iii. iv). Three of these are perfectly alphabetical (Psal. exi. cxii. Lam. iii), the other nine are not." In order fully to appreciate the beauty of Hebrew poetry, it is indispensably necessary to possess an intimate acquaintance with oriental manners and customs; the physical peculiarities and productions of the countries where it was written, and perpetually to bear in mind, that, as their habits of thought were totally different from ours, so their mode of expression must be understood and considered with a constant reference to these incidental peculiarities. Garsden, 1840. men. THE OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY GHOST.* WE hold, and again and again we affirm, that the operations of the Holy Ghost upon the heart are indispensable to salvation. The word, indeed, is the instrument employed by the Spirit in the salvation of His operations are carried on by the word; consequently, sound doctrine is essential to salvation, because by sound doctrine he sanctifies the soul. "Sanctify them through thy truth," was one of our divine Intercessor's latest petitions; "thy word is truth." But it is possible to hold a sound form of doctrine in theory, and yet not experience its sanctifying power on the heart. Without the operations of God the Holy Ghost, enlightening the understanding, uniting the soul to Christ, sanctifying the nature, governing the conduct, and sealing us unto the day of redemption, no form of doctrine can save us. 66 Ex cept a man be born again-be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." It will be impossible .... to do more operations. Reference has already been made to his than touch very briefly on some of the Holy Spirit's operations in creation, providence, and raising the diate operations in the salvation of the soul. dead. I shall now confine myself to his more imme The operations of the Holy Ghost. He enlightens the understanding to an apprehension of spiritual things. The word of God describes man as naturally blind in understanding; not only The most that unassisted reason can attain is a heartfallen from God, but ignorant of the way of return. felt (though too often unacknowledged) sense of igno From a Lecture by the Rev. John Ellison Bates, M.A., Curate of St. Brides, Liverpool. Published in Unitarianism [Socinianism] Confuted;" a series of Lectures delivered in Liver pool, 1839. rance. If, however, the Holy Spirit opens the eyes, | Guide, he directs our daily walk in righteousness; as "the entrance of God's word giveth light; it giveth a Comforter, he gives faith and hope, joy and peace, understanding to the simple." Without his divine patience and consolation;* as an Intercessor, he is the teaching, even the inspired word is a dead letter. Spirit of grace and supplications+-helps our prayers, With reason may the perplexed inquirer exclaim, "I and teaches how to prayt; as the Spirit of wisdom want an inspired interpreter; where is this inter- and understanding, he instructs us in our ignorance; preter to be found? Where am I to look for as the Spirit of counsel and might, he directs in diffithis infallible authority, which is to explain to me the culties, and gives strength in weakness; as the exact sense of the bible, without which I cannot be Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, he saved, and to acquaint me with the very ideas of leads us into the paths of holy obedience. God?" O that such were the fervent and unfeigned desire of every one that hears me this evening! If you really feel you want an inspired interpreter, and are willing to accept one, it is my privilege to declare that God has provided for your wants in the gift of his Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit himself so bless the announcement, that it may prove such a message as Ananias conveyed to Saul- "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." Humble yourselves, brethren, before his divine Majesty; seek his promised help; and he, the Spirit of God, will, in answer to the prayer of faith, become your teacher, and guide you into all truth. Another of the Holy Spirit's operation, is the uniting the soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. By nature man is dead in trespasses and sins; nor can he live before God, either in gracious obedience to him here, or in glorious enjoyment of him hereafter, except he receive a new and spiritural life from him who is the Resurrection and the Life, even the Lord Jesus Christ. To make the sinner sensible of his sin and misery-to lead him to the Saviour for pardon-and to ingraft him into Christ, by a real and vital union, as a branch in the living vine, is the work of the Holy Ghost, “the Lord, and Giver of life." Brethren, let me ask you, one and all, have you received this life? "He that is in Christ is a new creature; old things have passed away, and behold all things are become new." Are you sensible of this change? Stop short of this, and you stop short of heaven; for " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." But if you know, by experience, the operations of the Spirit, uniting you by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, forget not the apostle's injunction, As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.." This leads us on to another part of the Holy Spirit's operations, the sanctification and renewal of our fallen nature. "He who begins a good work will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Not only does he implant a new principle of spiritual life in the soul; he also preserves, strengthens, and expands it. He mortifies the corruption of the old nature; he sheds abroad the love of God in the heart; he purifies and sanctifies the soul; he takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto us; whence the believer, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, is changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. It is further the work of the same divine Person, to govern the conduct. Allusion has been made to his government of the church generally; he also governs the individual christian: as the Spirit of Life, he makes us free from the law of sin and death; as a The last of his operations to which I shall refer is, the sealing the believer unto the day of redemption. He gives the children of God to know their present adoption; and he is the pledge and earnest of their future glory. Through his influence we "know in whom we have believed"-" we know him that is true;" the Spirit witnesses with our spirits, that we are children of God;" and (notwithstanding the avowal is censured by the world as an arrogant pretension to infallibility) we know that we are of the truth, for he that believeth in the Son of God hath the witness in himself, " and it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth." Yes, beloved brethren, if the saving operations of this blessed Spirit have been exerted upon your souls, if he has enlightened your understandings, and united you by a living faith to the Lord Jesus Christ; if he is sanctifying your nature, and governing your conduct; the world indeed, knoweth you not, because it knew Christ not ¶; it admits not your claim to be children of God-nevertheless the apostle says " Now are we sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know" (yes, we know, for God hath sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts,) "we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Even so, come Lord Jesus! Brethren, is this your faith? is this your hope? for this is the faith and hope of the gospel. If it be, give all the glory to him, to whom alone the glory is due. "Who maketh thee to differ, and what hast thou that thou didst not receive ?** Why is it that you (and I speak to Christians, not in profession only, whatever that profession may be ; but in hope, and by the power of the Holy Ghost), why is it that you have found rest for your souls in the atoning blood of God's dear Son? Why is it that you have been brought to know him, whom truly to know is life eternal? Why is it that while many, your superiors in talent, in ability, in intellectual endowments, are "far off," you have been made nigh by the blood of Christ? It is because "the grace of our Lord hath been exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus++," and therefore we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, Rom. xv. 5, 6, where the Holy Ghost is designated "the God of patience and consolation," in distinction from "Jesus Christ;" and "God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. xv. 18. brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by the gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ."* Let me not, however, be misunderstood: it is not the cold, speculative reception of this, or of any other truth, which can save the soul. It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The Holy Ghost must by his saving, sanctifying, influence, apply the truth, and give it its transforming power-a power experienced in the heart, and evinced in the daily conduct. Without this, you will stand in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ among those who have cried Lord, Lord, and yet not done the will of the Father which is in heaven. Let me, then, conjure those who are strangers to the Spirit's operations, to seek with earnestness, to seek without delay, this precious gift. God hath promised, saying, “ask, and it shall be given you; scek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.+ ner's heart, does not always pursue the samé course, or excite the same degree of humiliation and alarm, he always produces conviction of sin, and sets before the mind the frowns of an angry God and the terrors of the violated law. His ordinary mode of acting was thus described by our blessed Lord, when promising his presence to supply the loss occasioned by his own departure; of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." "He will reprove," or convince, "the world Under his awakening influences men shall perceive and feel the guilt of their former lives, the alienation of their minds from God, and the desperate wickedness of their own hearts. He shall shew them the necessity of some perfect righteousness for justification, of which in themselves they are altogether destitute; and press feelingly on their minds their want of judgment, or that personal holiness, which alone can qualify a fallen and depraved creature before the presence of God. And under such convictions, till the gospel is applied, which provides a remedy for every THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE, AND THE SPIRIT want, a consolation for every form of distress, OF ADOPTION: A Sermon, (For Whit-Sunday.) BY THE REV. ROBERT B. FISHER, M.A. "For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again will not the soul feel itself in bondage to corruption and guilt, and justly fear lest the indignation and wrath threatened by the law should be its bitter and eternal portion? Nor let us dare to think that God is a harsh and austere Being in thus revealing his terrors to the awakened sinner: let us not suppose that such a course is inconsistent with the richest love and tenderest mercy. God must support his character even in the estimation of the person whom he designs to make the monument of his grace. And can he suffer his justice and holiness for a moment to be obscured in the freest display of his forgiving love? The sinner, even when prostrate before a Redeemer's throne, must know and confess that a holy God would be justified if he were to speak in the accents of condemnation, and clear if he were to judge according to the most rigorous injunctions of his perfect law. He must know and confess that sin is I. The Holy Spirit in his operations on a dreadful evil, even though it may be washed the heart of man, acts as "the Spirit of bond-away in the blood of the cross; that God is age" causing fear. This is evidently implied just and holy and hateth all iniquity, amidst in the passage under consideration, as well as plainly stated in other parts of the inspired volume. The persons addressed by the apostle, though now possessing the confidence of faith, and the joy and peace which usually spring from it, had passed through a scene of terror and dismay. They had trembled in servile dread of the divine judgments, and, under a deep sense of their guilt and misery as transgressors of the law which worketh wrath, had almost sunk into despair. And though the Spirit, in renewing the sin the richest manifestations of his tender mercies; that the law requires perfect obedience, and denounces a curse on every transgressor, though that obedience has been rendered, and the curse borne on behalf of every believer, by him who is called the sinner's Friend. And can we wonder that the first work of the Spirit in the human heart is to produce a sense of bondage and of fear? Can we wonder that God confounds the sinner by the terror of his justice and holiness, before he administers the consolations of the gospel; that he humbles before he exalts? It is fitting, too, that men should duly, Comforter, or contradict the common expevalue the divine mercy. The salvation pro-rience of true believers. In the most cheercured for sinners is indeed great, great as less season of a dreary winter, when the delivering us from the unutterable torments shades of night cover the earth, and all of hell, and great on account of the price around is darkness and desolation, we do not which has been paid for it-the precious doubt that the sun is the fountain of light and blood of the Son of God in human nature. heat, and that we shall soon see it in the And what is so calculated to make us sen- highest heavens, as a giant refreshed with sible of its greatness, as that our minds should wine, fulfilling its appointed course, and anibe deeply impressed with the heinousness of mating every part of the visible creation with the guilt that it takes away, and the dreadful its invigorating beams. And if, when we nature of the punishment from which it de- have no apparent evidence to support our livers? The severity of pain increases the faith, we hesitate not to believe the fulfilment value of relief; the sense of danger magnifies of the divine covenant with reference to the escape. Let the condemned criminal be natural objects, that "seed-time and harvest, brought to the place of execution, and view and summer and winter shall not cease," the instruments of torture and of death, and why should we distrust the promise of a how will the pardoning mercy of his sove- Comforter, or fail to regard the Holy Spirit reign be enhanced! Let the rebel against the as the fountain of spiritual life and joy? Let authority of God experience in the agony of the sinner, experiencing the first work of this his mind but a faint perception of that indig- blessed Spirit, be humbled in the dust, under nation which is poured out on fallen angels a deep conviction of his depravity, guilt, and and condemned sinners, and what will be his misery; let him, hopeless of relief from every idea of the divine love and mercy when re- other quarter, look with the eye of faith, freshed with the consolations of the gospel, however tremblingly, towards the Sun of and cheered with the hopes of heaven? And Righteousness, which is risen on a spiritually is it not honourable to God, as setting forth dark and diseased world with healing in his some of his glorious perfections-is it not wings; and, if he cannot at once see the fulbeneficial to the souls of his people, in pro- ness of his salvation, if he cannot at once moting humility and gratitude, by leading experience in his own breast the consolations them duly to estimate their own guilt and of the promised Comforter, he may indulge the divine compassion, that the Holy Spirit the assured hope that the Spirit of adoption should in the first instance act as a Spirit of is his, and that he shall soon be enabled to bondage producing fear? to rejoice in his privileges as a child of God; for, his sins being cleansed by the blood of Christ applied by faith, he is delivered from wrath and the curse of the law; and the sanctification of his heart, as a necessary consequence, according to the covenant of grace, will assuredly follow. And are not such persons adopted into the family of God? "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Their justification through faith in a crucified Redeemer brings them into a new state, and makes them heirs of eternal glory; while in the process of sanctification a new nature is imparted to them, and they are fitted for temples of the Holy Ghost on earth, and qualified for an inheritance in heaven. And can we suppose that the blessed Spirit, who has convinced them of sin, and led them to the cross of the incarnate God, who has renewed their hearts, and from rebels against the divine authority has formed them into affectionate and obedient children, will never intimate to them their high distinctions and glorious prospects, nor cheer them with a sense of their heavenly Father's love? It cannot be. It must be said of them, "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father;" But let us not, even in the season of the greatest alarm, mistake the purposes of God. Convictions are designed to prepare the way for a conversion of the soul from sin to holiness; and the fear that hath torment will generally be followed, if the sinner resist not the operations of divine grace, by a sense of pardoning mercy and the consolations of a heavenly Father's love. For— II. The Holy Spirit, in completing his work in the heart of man, acts as a "Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." It is not, indeed, necessary to the safety of the soul, that the penitent sinner should have a full view of his interest in Christ, or experience the rich consolations of the gospel. From a mistaken idea of the nature of that salvation which the Son of God has purchased, and from ignorance of the freeness and fulness of the divine promises, or from a melancholy and morbid state of mind often induced by bodily disease, the really righteous who are accepted and justified through faith in Christ, may be oppressed with a servile fear, and "all their lifetime subject to bondage;" but these mournful exceptions to the general plan of God's gracious proceedings, do not disprove the character of the Holy Spirit as a |