is in effect to impeach his wisdom and truth, and exhibit his word as unworthy of trust. 3. Some hesitate to receive this prediction of the restoration of the Israelites on the ground that they cannot see that it can answer any end that seems to present a sufficient reason for so extraordinary a measure. The question, however, whether God has revealed their return, is not to be determined by the estimate those persons may form of its wisdom, but by the terms of the prophecy. Whether the ends it is to answer, or the results that are to spring from it are seen to be worthy of his perfections or not, his wisdom and righteousness furnish an ample certainty that they will be suitable to the grandeur of his attributes, and the great interests of his kingdom which they are to affect; and God, to intercept doubt, has revealed in the prophetic song with which the prediction is closed, the impressions with which it is to be contemplated by those who are to be the subjects of it, and shown that instead of distrust or indifference, it is to be regarded by them with wonder and gratitude, and celebrated with praises and thanksgivings throughout the world. What a beautiful method of conciliating the faith of his people now, and inspiring them with gladness and praise in the prospect of the wonderful event. The exposition of these predictions by the laws of figures thus shows, with invincible certainty, that the restoration of the Israelites of which they treat, is to be a literal one, and confutes accordingly the attempt of the spiritualists to divest them of that meaning, and substitute an arbitrary mystical sense in its place. Their error is as gross and unpardonable, as it were to attempt to apply their theory of a mystical meaning to the decalogue, the doctrine of atonement, justification, pardon, the resurrection, a future life, or any other teachings either of God or of men. What is meant by the spiritualization of the Scriptures by interpreters? Give an example of it. Is there any express authority for this treatment of the sacred word in the Bible itself, or in the laws of language? For what purpose is it used by expositors? Is there any ground for the pretext, that the passages which they thus treat have a figure in them that gives them such a representative sense? Is the principle on which they construe the passages which they spiritualize accordant with the law of the allegory? What is the first difference between them? What is the second? What is the first false result to which the application of the law of the allegory would lead these writers? What is the second false result to which it would lead them? What is the third erroneous result to which it would conduct them? What is the fourth? What is the fifth? What is the last absurd result to which their method leads them? Would these errors and absur dities be avoided by a strict adherence to the laws of figures? By what figure are shoot, branch, root, and stump used, Is. xi. How is it proved that there How that there is no hypoca What is 1 What is the figure, v. 2? What is the figure, v. 3! In what sense is the verb used? What are the figures, v. 1? What are the figures, v. 5; and what is the sense which they convey? What is the figure, v. 6-8 is no metaphor in the passage? tastasis in it? Who then are the subjects of the acts foreshown; the animals mentioned, or men? What is the figure, v. 9? In what respect is the figure beautiful? What is the first figure, v. 10; and what is foreshown in the passage? the second figure, v. 10; and what does it indicate? How is it proved that the event predicted is not metaphorical? What is the true import of the passage then? What is meant by the second affirmation, v. 10? What is the import of the third? How is it proved that it is not used by the hypocatastasis? How that it is not symbolical? What is the figure, v. 11? What is the first figure, v. 12? By what figure is wings used? What are the figures, v. 13? What are the first figures, v. 14? What is the last? By what figure is tongue used, v. 15? By what figure is shake the hand used, v. 15? By what figure is highway used, v. 16? How is it proved that the prediction of the return of the Israelites is not a prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles? On what principle do the spiritualizers proceed, in endeavoring to give it such a meaning? How does it appear that their assumption is mistaken? What is the second? What is the first figure, What is the first figure, chap. xii. 1? What are the figures, v. 2? What, v. 3? v. 4, 5? What the second? What is the figure, v. 6? What is the first truth taught, chap. xii.? What is the second? What is the peculiar beauty of the method employed in the chapter to foreshow the restoration of the Israelites ? CHAPTER XVII. MUSICAL FEET, AND THE MODULATION OF VERSE. ONE of the principal sources of the pleasure which verse yields, especially to the cultivated, is its rhythmus, or the music of its measured sound, when properly pronounced, resulting from the order in which the long and short syllables of which it is formed are combined. Besides the beauty of the thought, the graces of the expression, and the splendor of the scenery, Milton's great poem undoubtedly had to his ear the charm also of a musical movement, or modulation, that answered to the stately march of the verse; that rose now to passion, and now subsided to softness; and, like the successive parts of a great musical composition, terminated at the principal pauses, sometimes in a peal or abrupt interception, as it were, of a note ere it is finished, and sometimes, and more frequently, in a gentle and soothing cadence, like a distant strain that fades away on the ear, or the soft and delicate amen in which a rapturous chant sometimes breathes out its last accents, and sinks into silence. To discern this musical element, and feel its full force, a knowledge is necessary of the means by which its fine movements and subtle charms are produced. That which mainly distinguishes verse from prose is, that it consists of a regular alternation or succession of syllables that differ in length; the long occupying in the pronunciation twice the time of the short, or receiving an emphasis that gives them to. the ear an equivalent distinction. The different combinations in which the long and short syllables are united are called musical feet. The principal are: w The Pyrrhic, or two short syllables, marked The Spondee, or two long syllables, marked The Iambic, or one short and one long syllable, marked ̄ ̄. The Trochee, or one long and one short syllable, marked. The Dactyl, or one long and two short syllables, marked The Anapest, or two short and one long syllable, marked The Amphimacer, or a long, a short, and a long syllable, marked |