These citations are not

of correspondence and similitude. prophecies, though they are said sometimes to be fulfilled. This method of explaining Scripture by the way of illustration, will enable us to solve many difficulties relating to the prophecies. Similar instances, are to be found in some classic authors.

The following table presents a list of the passages, thus quoted from the Old Testament, by the writers of the New, in the way of illustration:

IV. Quotations and other passages from the Old Testament which are alluded to in the New.

The following table presents a list of the principal passages of this description:

Numb. xiv. 23. 29. 37. & xxvi. 64, 65. Heb. iii. 16, 17. Jude verse 5.

Concerning the class of quotations contained in the preceding table, it has been remarked, that when the inspired writers quote a passage from the Old Testament, merely in the way of allusion, it is enough that the words which they borrow, emphatically express their own meaning. It is not necessary that they be precisely the same with those of the passage alluded to, nor that they be there used, either of the same subject, or of a similar subject. Thus, Deut. xxx. 12-14, which was originally written concerning the law, is by Saint Paul accommodated to the Gospel, (Rom. x. 6-8,) with proper variations and explanations.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS.

I. NATURE of Hebrew Poetry.

The diversity of style, evident in the different books of Scripture, sufficiently evinces which of them were written in prose, and which are poetical compositions; though the nature of the Hebrew verse cannot now be exactly ascertained. The grand characteristic of Hebrew Poetry, is what Bishop Lowth terms Parallelism; that is, a certain equality, resemblance, or relationship, between the members of each period: so that, in two lines or members of the same period, things shall answer to things, and words to words, as if fitted to each other by a kind of rule, or measure. Such is the general strain of Hebrew Poetry, instances of which occur in almost every part of the Old Testament, particularly in the ninety-sixth psalm.

II. Gradations of the poetical parallelism.

The poetical parallelism has much variety and many gradations; which may be referred to four species, viz. : Parallel Lines Gradational, Parallel Lines Antithetic, Parallel Lines Synthetic, and Parallel Lines Introverted. An example or two of each of these shall be given, which will enable the attentive reader of our admirable authorised version readily to discover others as they arise: for, that version being strictly word for word after the original, the form and order of the original sentences are preserved; and this circumstance will account for its retaining so much of a poetical cast, notwithstanding it is executed in prose.

1. Parallel Lines Gradational are those in which the second or responsive clause so diversifies the preceding clauses, as generally to rise above it; sometimes by a descending scale, in the value of the related terms and periods, but in all cases with a marked distinction of meaning. This species of parallelism is of most frequent occurrence, particularly in the psalms and the prophecies of Isaiah. The following example is given from the evangelical prophet, ch. lv. 6, 7.:

Seek ye Jehovah [or, the LORD] while he may be found;

Call ye upon him while he is near;

Let the wicked forsake his way,

And the unrighteous man his thoughts:

And let him return unto Jehovah, and he will compassionate him;
And unto our God for he aboundeth in forgiveness.

"In the first line, men are invited to seek Jehovah, not knowing where he is, and on the bare intelligence that he may be found; in the second line, having found Jehovah, they are encouraged to call upon him by the assurance that he is NEAR. In the third line, the wicked, the positive and presumptuous sinner, is warned to forsake his way, his habitual course of iniquity; in the fourth line, the unrighteous, the negatively wicked, is called to renounce the very thought of sinning. While, in the last line, the appropriative and encouraging title, OUR GOD, is substituted for the awful name JEHOVAн, and simple compassion is heightened into overflowing mercy and forgiveness." (Bp. Jebb's Sacred Literature, pp. 37, 38.) See further instances in Isa. li. 1. 47. Joel ii. 7. Psalm i. 1. xxi, 1, 2, and xxiv. 3, 4.

2. Parallel Lines Antithetic are those in which two lines correspond one with another, by an opposition of terms and sentiments; when the second is contrasted with the first, sometimes in expressions, sometimes in sense only This is not confined to any particular form. Accordingly, the degrees of antithesis are various, from an exact contraposition of word to word, sentiment to sentiment, singulars to singulars, plurals to plurals, down to a general disparity, with something of a contrariety in the two propositions. Thus, Prov. ch. x. 1.

A wise son rejoiceth his father:

But a foolish son is the grief of his mother.

Here every word has its opposite, the terms "father" and "mother" being relatively opposite.

3. Parallel Lines Constructive are those in which the parallelism consists only in the similar form of construction; wherein 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 constructive parts; such as noun answering to noun, verb to verb, member to member, negative to negative, interrogative to interrogative. This form of parallelism admits of great variety, the parallelism being sometimes more, sometimes less exact, and sometimes hardly at all apparent. Psalm xix. 7—11, will furnish a beautiful instance of this description of poetical parallelism.