Bush is read and remembered. No one forgets the weighty stroke with which the future is apocopated and dislocated in every joint at the word of command. Professor Nordheimer is read too. But what was it he said? Nothing more than common. We take this occasion to rebut what has been charged upon Professor Bush's style as a fault, too great prolixity, too great a redundancy of expression. If the professor's volley of grape-shot effects the desired execution, the expenditure of the powder is no loss.

In reviewing that part of the grammar which regards the tenses, we find Professor Bush not at all ready to adopt either the theory of Ewald, or that of Professor Lee. These last two grammarians both started with a peculiar hypothesis, at variance with the common system. Ewald considers the tenses of the Hebrew to be two in a very extended sense, and calls them the perfect and imperfect. His perfect includes what has been and what is, and is the common preterite; his imperfect comprises what is not yet finished, and what will be, and is the common future. Professor Lee changes what is commonly considered the future tense into a present. It is strange how apparently dissonant these theories are from each other; yet they all really approximate; and certainly the proposition of Pro. fessor Lee deserves greater consideration than it has met with in this country, defended as it is by many phenomena of the language which he adduces in support of it. However, the subject being not yet sufficiently digested, Professor Bush has not departed from the beaten track; yet we might have expected here some illuminations from his striking pen, and that he would not have suffered this subject, and that of the conversive vav, which depends on it, to sit in darkness. We hope he will carefully review this matter in his third edition. From the fact of the commonly called future being derived from the infinitive construct, there is more reason to believe that it has a present signification than a future one, since the natural force of the infinitive is to describe what is, which may be more particularly exemplified in Greek and German infinitives with the article.

He

Nordheimer divides the verbs into perfect and imperfect. says the imperfect verbs "have been improperly called by grammarians irregular. We say improperly, because in Hebrew we meet with none of those arbitrary deviations from the normal mode of inflexion which are of such frequent occurrence in Greek, for example, and the modern languages of Europe." But the truth is, there can be no impropriety in the term irregular, if they depart in any one manner from the common form of the verbs in the same language, whether that term be applied to the same kind of deviation or not in any other language. Regular and irregular are relative terms, and it is not necessary that they should have the same extent and kind of application in all languages. Professor Bush very ably answers Nordheimer on this subject in pages 113, 164.

In proceeding to the classification of nouns, we think the plan of Professor Bush far more simple than that of Professor Nordheimer, as well as far more philosophical and just. Professor Stuart has thirteen declensions, following the cumbrous system of Gesenius. Professor Lee has five species of segolate nouns, eleven species of nouns not segolate, and four classes of augmented nouns.

The

classification of Professor Bush is an excellent digest of the scheme of Ewald; and for all practical purposes it is far better than any that has yet appeared.

It appears that all the grammarians of America, Stuart, Nordheimer, and others, have recognized the merits of Ewald; but none but Professor Bush has brought him out in any popular form. His theories are too abstruse, and his manner too complicated for the general reader; and it is only by comparing Professor Bush's grammar with the work of Ewald itself that any one can properly appreciate the great service the former has conferred on the student by eliciting the sentiments of his author in a plain, simple, yet elegant style. In passing on to the genders of nouns we will just quote the following passage in farther illustration of Ewald's theories :

"From what has been said above, it appears, that of the two methods of distinguishing the genders, viz. by form and signification, neither is an absolutely sure criterion. The second, that of the sense, is probably the most primitive and legitimate; but even this is rendered uncertain by reason of the imaginative character of the early periods of antiquity, or of the oriental nations generally, which has given rise to a vast number of ideal feminines, in contradistinction to physical ones. Viewing nature with the most vivid perception, they seem to have conceived of all objects, not only those whose gender was externally visible, but all others which bore a resemblance to them, as clothed with the same attributes. Whatever was possessed of a higher, more original, and independent life and energy, was ranged under the masculine; while that which was comparatively inferior, weak, and dependent, was on the same principle referred to the feminine. On this principle we may suppose it is that the Hebrew words for earth, or land, or city, being conceived as the sustaining mother of the inhabitants, are uniformly feminine. Hence all names of particular countries and towns are of the same gender; nay, even the names of nations and tribes may be construed as feminine, inasmuch as land and people are cognate ideas."

The syntax is sufficiently full and comprehensive for a language in which there is scarcely any; and a useful grammatical analysis of the first chapter of Genesis closes the work, in which all the preceding rules on punctuation and etymology are referred to and applied. The Grammar has the usual quantity of grammatical forms, paradigms, and what is peculiar, a praxis, or exercise to each section; so that while the mere reader is continually entertained with philosophical illustration, the learner is usefully employed by reducing to practice all the essential rules.

The book is by no means to be compared with Professor Bush's former work. The plan, the style, the spirit of it, is altogether different. It is equally suited to the dullest capacity as to the more inquiring mind; and all obstacles to the acquisition of Hebrew may now be said to be fairly removed. It is a book which ought to be in the hands of every student of the Bible, and become the textbook of theological seminaries. If we seem to speak high in its praise, it is because we think it is a book that ought to be fairly brought out before the public, being the first and only elementary treatise on Hebrew grammar in which the subjects are handled in an easy, elegant, and popular style, and in which philosophy and practical utility are serviceably blended. However excellent Pro

fessor Nordheimer's performance may be, yet it is certainly deficient in those peculiar qualities which constitute that pre-eminence of the work of Professor Bush by which he has supplied a long felt desideratum. We close by wishing that the work may pass through many editions until it has obtained for the author that extended reputation to which his labors and talents are justly entitled.

From the [U. C.] Christian Guardian.

BAXTER'S WORKS, WITH A BRIEF NOTICE OF THAT EXTRAORDINARY MAN OF GOD.

The Reformed Pastor; showing the nature of the Pastoral Work. Abridged from the works of the Rev. Richard Baxter, by Thomas Rutherford.

A Call to the Unconverted. By Richard Baxter.

The Saints' Everlasting Rest; or, A Treatise on the Blessed State of the Saints, in the enjoyment of God in glory. Extracted from the works of Mr. Richard Baxter, by John Wesley, A. M., late Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford.

As the seventeenth century was remarkable in the civil and ecclesiastical history of Great Britain for protracted agitations, violent convulsions, and essential changes in its whole administration and system of government and legislation; so is it equally memorable for an unequalled number of able and profound writers in the several provinces of Christian theology and Biblical criticism. On this subject, an elegant writer has well observed, that "amid all the disturbed and unsettled circumstances which prevailed during that period, both in church and state, many eminent men arose who devoted their enlarged and active powers with unweariable constancy to the investigation of sacred truth, who esteemed that truth beyond all earthly treasure; and who, in spite of persecution, privation, and sorrow, embraced and maintained it with unyielding firmness. They explored the literary sources of Scripture interpretation with a diligence and skill seldom surpassed; and they labored to exhibit the doctrines and precepts of the Christian revelation in all their native harmony and force, while they applied them with singular fidelity and zeal to the renovation of the heart, and the safe guidance of the life. Being dead,' they 'yet speak;' and in the venerable remains which they have bequeathed to posterity, they still claim and receive attention. The Christian student, who aspires to clear, comprehensive, and manly views of inspired theology, feels that he is amply repaid by an assiduous application to those mighty masters of a former, and in many respects less favored age."

Among the most distinguished divines in the Establishment [the Church] during that period were Jeremy Taylor, Leighton, Hall, Bull, Tillotson, Patrick, Lowth, Whitby, Pearson, Sherlock, Stillingfleet, Usher, Burnet, and others; and among the immortal men and eminent divines who preferred sacrificing their livings and enduring reproach, imprisonments, and poverty, to the enjoyment of wealth and honor, with the sacrifice of a good conscience-and many of whose names will be known through their writings to the

latest posterity, are Baxter, Bates, Howe, Owen, Pool, Charnocke, Philip Henry, Goodwin, Jackson, Calamy, Flavel, Gilpin, Clarke, Gale, Greenhill, Jacomb, Jenkins, Manton, Mead, Newcomen, and many more of equal merit and kindred spirit. In this galaxy of Christian excellence and pre-eminent talent, Baxter shone as a star of the first magnitude. He was beyond comparison the most voluminous author of that age of voluminous authorship. For example, the works of Bishop Hall amount to ten volumes octavo; Jeremy Taylor's to fifteen; Dr. John Goodwin's to twenty; Dr. Owen's to twenty-eight; but Baxter's would exceed sixty volumes. We have an edition of his practical and spiritual works in twenty-two large octavo volumés; but these form only a small part of what he wrote. And yet he was a martyr to sickness and pain throughout his whole life; and his labors as a minister and his engagements in public business formed his chief employment for many years, so that he speaks of writing as a kind of recreation from more severe duties! Baxter's writings have been divided into twelve classes: 1. Works on the Evidences of Religion; 2. Doctrinal Works; 3. Works on Conversion; 4. Works on Christian Experience; 5. Works on Christian Ethics; 6. Works on Catholic Communion; 7. Works on Nonconformity; 8. Works on Popery; 9. Works on Antinomianism; 10. Works on Quakerism, Baptism, and the Millennium; 11. Political and Historical Works; 12. Devotional Works. In theological warfare he was a giant; as a controversialist, on every subject he took in hand, whether political or religious, he had no equal in his day; and in every department in which he employed his talents as a writer, they appeared to great advantage. If some of his controversial works have been objected to for their severity, his devotional works have been universally admired for their sweetness and elevated tone of hallowed feeling. Grainger, in his invaluable Biographical Dictionary, says-" Richard Baxter was a man famous for weakness of body and strength of mind; for having the strongest sense of religion himself, and exciting a sense of it in the thoughtless and the profligate; for preaching more sermons, engaging in more controversies, and writing more books, than any other Nonconformist of his age. He spoke, disputed, and wrote with ease; and discovered the same intrepidity of spirit when he reproved Cromwell, and expostulated with Charles II., as when he preached to a congregation of mechanics. This champion of Nonconformists was the butt of every other religion, and of those who were of no religion at all. But this had no effect upon him: his presence and his firmness of mind on no occasion forsook him. He was just the same man when he went into a prison, while he was in it, and when he came out of it; and he maintained a uniformity of character to the last gasp of his life. His enemies have placed him in hell; but any man that has not ten times the bigotry that Baxter himself had, must conclude that he is in a better place." Dr. Isaac Barrow said, that Baxter's "practical writings were never mended, and his controversial ones seldom answered." In reference to his controversial writings, the Honorable Robert Boyle has observed, that "he was the fittest man of the age for a casuist, because he feared no man's displeasure, and hoped for no man's preferment." Bishop Wilkins has observed respecting him, that "he had culti

vated every subject which he had handled-and if he had lived in the primitive times, he would have been one of the fathers of the Church;" and "it was enough for one age to produce such a man as Baxter." Dr. Bates, in his sermon preached at the funeral of Baxter, says "his books of practical divinity have been effectual for more numerous conversions to God than any printed in our time; and while the church remains on earth, will be of continual efficacy to recover lost souls. There is a vigorous pulse in them that keeps the reader awake and attentive." Dr. Doddridge has observed in a letter to a friend-"Baxter is my particular favorite. It is impossible to tell you how much I am charmed with the devotion, good sense, and pathos, which are everywhere to be found in him. I cannot forbear looking upon him as one of the greatest orators, both with regard to copiousness, acuteness, and energy, that our nation hath produced; and if he hath described, as I believe, the temper of his own heart, he appears to have been so far superior to the generality of those whom he charitably hoped to be good men, that one would imagine that God raised him up to disgrace and condemn his brethren; to show what a Christian is, and how few in the world deserve the character." Dr. Adam Clarke has also remarked, that " as a useful writer, as well as a successful controversialist, Mr. Richard Baxter has deservedly ranked in the highest order of divines of the seventeenth century. His works have done more to improve the understanding and mend the hearts of his countrymen than those of any other writer of his age. While the English language remains, and Scriptural Christianity and piety to God are regarded, his works will not cease to be read and prized by the wise and pious of every denomination."

Of the practical and devotional works of Baxter, none have exceeded in usefulness and popularity throughout the Christian world, for a century and a half, those whose titles stand at the head of this article; to excite additional interest in the perusal of which we have introduced these remarks respecting the age and character of their sainted author. If any stronger interest can be awakened in the mind of the reader to the perusal of these works, it will arise from the circumstances under which the "Saints' Everlasting Rest" and the "Dying Thoughts" were written. The "Everlasting Rest" was written when the author was languishing in suspense between life and death; when, as he says, he "was sentenced to death by the physicians." In the dedication of the original unabridged work to his flock, the inhabitants of Kidderminster, (Works, vol. xxii, pp. 1, 2,) Baxter gives the following touching account of the origin and writing of that imperishable book:

"Being in my quarters, far from home, cast into extreme languishing by the sudden loss of about a gallon of blood, after many years' foregoing weaknesses; and having no acquaintance about me, nor any books but my Bible, and living in continual expectation of death, I bent my thoughts on my 'Everlasting Rest; and because my memory, through extreme weakness, was imperfect, I took my pen and began to draw up my own funeral sermon, or some helps for my own meditations of heaven, to sweeten both the rest of my life and my death. In this condition God was pleased to continue me about five months from home; where, being able