of God: if we had offended in slight matters, we had been anxious to forgive, and be forgiven, and to make up by kindness the failures of courtesy. We had prayed together, and sung together the praises of God; and when the morning of the Lord's day arose upon us, we were all in a state prepared to make that day a pleasant one. There was no force necessary to be used to bring the mind into a train for attending to holy things, for these had been the subject of our thoughts and conversation during the leisure hours of the preceding week; and there was only a question where best we might hear the word of God.

It is painful on some occasions to be obliged to speak the truth; it is not in the Established Church of Geneva that the word of God is now exhibited, but there are several small chapels, (the ministers of which have left the establishment,) where it is preached in the utmost simplicity. I must refrain from mentioning names, even in speaking well; but we attended two of these places of worship, the one in the morning, where the congregation were collected in a small upper chamber, in an obscure house: here were assembled poor humble persons, chiefly laboring men and women wearing large round straw hats. The minister read a chapter, and then one and another of the elders of the congregation got up and spoke upon it. After the reading and prayers, the Lord's supper was adminis tered, the elders passing the elements to the people as they sat in their places. I never saw more seriousness, decency, or simplicity; I could have fancied myself in an assembly of primitive Christians, in the times of persecution. But this, no doubt, is certain, that where piety is not honorable, and some degree of contempt is thrown upon professors, congregations will be more pure, than under other circumstances, where religion wears her silver slippers, there are many that will love to walk with her in the streets.

Returning from this service, the day being very fine, I walked in the garden, and sat reading in a bower of jessamine, whilst all in the quiet household were, no doubt, occupied in the nursery, each having his Bible as his companion: and inasmuch as the heart of each individual was more drawn out in the enjoyment of their Divine meditation, so much was that

individual enabled to enjoy and taste the rest of that holy day, which is commonly called the day of the Lord. These quiet and blissful hours brought us to our dinner time: we met as children meet in a beloved father's presence. We had all been drinking of the fresh spring which flows from the fountain of life; and if our conversation were not tied down to subjects professedly religious, there was a blending of pious feelings in all which was said. The religion there was not as a tawdry fringe sewn on the border of a garment, but as a golden thread wove into its very texture, and adding lustre to every part.

In the evening a little bell, sounding from within the adjoining premises, called us to our second service. My new friend would needs be my guide again; he led me into another garden, where near to the house which had been the Bishop's palace, stood a little chapel, all fair and neat within, though wholly without ornament; shaded without by many tall and graceful trees, and receiving the perfume of flowers through the open windows.

This place is known and the minister is known; it is the point to which all the distinguished English resort who visit Geneva; and many who have come there only to look on, have, I trust, nay, have, I know, there imbibed the first draught of the water of life.

But to whom shall we give the glory, when we poor sinful creatures are enabled to minister in the courts of our Lord; yet ought we not to bless God, who has placed this house of an interpreter in the very gateway, through which the traveller so often passes from France into the great seat of Anti-Christ; for it is a fact, and an astonishing one, that multitudes of thoughtless and half-enlightened English travellers, have been arrested in their progress in this place, and by the Divine mercy been there awakened from the error of their way, and rendered active servants of their God, in this little chapel, where perhaps they only went at first from curiosity, or it may be to ascertain how far they could understand an oration delivered in a foreign tongue.

But although I refrain from adding more respecting the minister of this chapel, I may be permitted to speak of the sacred music. I never knew what sacred music might be, till

my worthy new friend had introduced me to the little pious knot of holy persons in Geneva. Though months are passed since these strains of holy harmony have met my ears, yet the impression which they produced can never be effaced.

Another simple cheerful meal, another hymn and prayer, finished that pleasant day; and as I retired to my bed, I could not help repeating these words of good old Dr. Watts :

These are the joys he makes us know,

In fields and villages below;

Gives us a relish of his love,

But keeps his noblest feast above.

M. M. S.

THE STUDY OF THE HEBREW TONGUE.-LETter VI. MY DEAR FATHER,

As you have directed me to give you an account of my progress in the study of Hebrew, I will endeavor to gratify your wish by simply specifying the steps by which I have advanced to the little I know of that venerable and interesting language. But, first of all, I must thank you for the advantage of being placed under so kind and attentive an instructor. Facility of access," is the maxim which he is ever anxious to exemplify in conducting us to any new department of knowledge. He is aware, as my favorite writer, Douglas, has observed, that "the means by which one age outstrips another in the natural career of improvement, does not consist merely in the difference of time and trouble required for learning; but in the natural proofs by which the mind reduces the truths it learns to the simplest forms, throws off every thing extraneous from the method of arriving at truth, and instead of the various tentatives, by which the discoverer gropes his way into an unexplored region, takes the well-known and certain road to the term it wishes to arrive at."* Our tutor led us into a plain path, and, as we proceeded, little vistas opened of themselves, attracting us onward: so that our discoveries were felt to be the result of our own insensible perseverance, rather than objects discovered by severe urging on

* Douglas on the Advancement of Society, page 125.

his part, and laborious inquiry on ours. But to the detail I have promised

"To fix a thing on your memory," says a shrewd writer on grammar, "there is nothing like making it with your hand." I therefore first of all acquired a thorough knowledge of the alphabet, by writing and rewriting its characters. Then, I learned to know the use of the servile and radical letters. After this, I was requested to copy successively models of nouns, pronouns, and simple verbs, and to mark carefully the manner in which the different modifications of such words were composed, by the affixed, prefixed, and inserted letters. I now began to perceive how the warp and woof of this language is woven together. From the beginning of these exercises to my being able to analyze a regular verb, was a period of ten days; when I felt pleased at being able to translate any passages from the Hebrew Bible, which contained no passive, or irregular verbs.

Hitherto my path was very smooth and pleasant. I experienced no difficulty till I came to the consideration of the irregular verbs. I looked at their numerous examples in Yates's Grammar, and sighed at the thought of having to pass through such a thicket of words, which seemed fit only to entangle and bewilder my mind. Instead of having imposed upon me the fearful task of committing these paradigms to memory, I was directed to study the doctrine of the Masoretical points, not under the persuasion that they are essential to the language itself, but with the assurance that some knowledge of them would discover the cause of nearly all the irregularity to be met with in the composition of Hebrew verbs. A short time and a little patience enabled me to conquer this seeming difficulty in the acquisition of Hebrew.

There was, however, another difficulty with which I came in contact. I refer to the syntax of the language, especially to the power of its tenses. Their interchangeableness left me at great uncertainty. To peep at a translation is not lawful with us in learning Latin and Greek, and in construing Hebrew it was nothing but sheer necessity which caused me to look at the English version for the time assigned to the action of verbs. I was not a little puzzled with this difficulty, till my

kind preceptor put into my hand Granville Sharp's tracts" on the peculiarities of Hebrew Syntax." This fine scholar and most amiable christian has carefully studied this branch of sacred literature; and, as the result of long and careful investigation of his bible in the original language, he has presented the world with a few principles of interpretation by which the force of the Hebrew tenses are known with an accuracy which surprised and delighted me. The multitude of examples in proof of his rules swell the treatise into a volume; but the principles themselves, together with a sufficient number of examples, might be put into a few pages; and would form a most interesting manual of Hebrew syntax.

That you may judge of this system, I herewith send you a translation of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, assuring you, with great truth, that in preparing it, I was induced simply to try what meaning the influence of those grammatical principles would constrain me to assign to that portion of Holy Scripture. I do not therefore presume to assert, in opposition to other versions, that this is the true one. Such as it is I submit it to your scrutiny, and I will receive gratefully such correction as superior knowledge and paternal kindness may suggest to,

My dear Father, your affectionate,

ISAIAH LIII.

I. C. F.

Who is induced to rely upon our report? And the Arm of Jehovah, to whom is it revealed? For, he grew up before their face as a feeble sucker, and like a root from dry ground. No beauty was upon him, nor any attire. And we beheld

The

a Who is induced to rely upon, or constrained to believe, &c. verb is in that state which implies reciprocal action, called Hiphil in the grammars.

b" Before their face." It is not easy to determine whether in this place is a singular, or a plural pronoun. Perhaps the latter sense is preferable.

"No beauty nor any attire." Messiah was distinguished by no external attractions. No supernatural rays glistened on his countenance, which like that of Moses required a veil to behold it. Nor had he any official dress, like the robes of Aaron, "for glory and for beauty." How correctly does this prediction describe him who appeared only in the dignity of condescension.