the supreme object of hope, and fear, and love, is with us. From this truth we receive also assistance in difficult duties. The labours we have to perform are often arduous and anxious. The service is often painful. It may be necessary to grieve those whom we love, to contradict those whom we respect, and oppose those whose power is superiour to our own. But with us is one whom we love and respect more than any other, and whose power is above defeat. We act with a persuasion that our master looks on and ap proves. The interests which are dearest to us are objects dear to him also. We confidently hope for success because he stands by us and animates our efforts. If defeat and disappointment should ensue, we do not feel that our labour is lost. God can yet make it conduce to some good purpose. At least we have shown our attachment and devotion to our sovereign. It is enough for us to know that he smiles on our conduct, though he does not bring it to the issue we desired. In the worst case that can happen, in case we have mistaken our duty, if we can successfully appeal to him for the purity of our intentions, we are not without grounds of consolation, for God approves the motives which actuated us. The conviction that God is present should inspire us with constant zeal and activity in our duty. The approach of a prince shall fill every eye with joy, quicken the beating of every heart, and cover every face with smiles. The passing of a general along the line, on the eve of battle, kindles every soldier's spirit, stiffens and swells every muscle, and fires every eye. Shall not we then reflect upon the doctrine of the divine omnipresence till the impression that he is here, quickens our love and zeal, chases away our sloth and cowardice, and fills our hearts with a generous devotion to our prince, the Lord of Hosts. But it is chiefly in the anticipation of futurity, and especially upon the bed of death, that the value of this doctrine is realized. We see ourselves continually approaching the limit of our present race. We approach it steadily and rapidly. We see one after another passing a certain point in their existence beyond which we lose sight of them. Thus persuaded, and constantly reminded that the course in which we are, soon enters a region on which rests a cloud of inpenetrable obscurity, it is a high consolation to know that his presence goes with us. The christian drawing near the close of life is aided by the circumstances of his situation, and often too, as I think we ought to be lieve, by the unseen ministrations of the Spirit, to apprehend the nearness and certainty of invisible things, and especially to comfort himself with knowing that God is with him. The pains he endures are laid upon hiw by one who sees what he suffers, and is present to witness the temper and character which are then exhibited. We are apt to feel as if, after leav ing this world, we must pass throug a region not only unknown to us, but desolate and unoccupied even by the presence of the Deity. But when the near expectation of leaving this world helps us to see it as it is, we learn to feel that all on which we most depended here, stood in a nearer relation to God than we apprehended, and was more immediately the work of his hands. The fact that God is omnipresent assumes a new importance; and he who is seen to have wrough all things concerning us in the present state, is seen to fill all space. The soul cannot be out of God's pres ence, and while in his presence, cannot, if reconciled through Christ, fail of his favour and support. Without any other knowledge, therefore, of the future than this, that God is every where, and with no other knowledge of its future situation, than that God will be its friend, the soul might ven ture forward without dismay. But that faith which "is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence e things not seen," or in words less fig urative, a confidence in things hoped for, and a conviction of things not seen-this faith apprehends not only the existence and presence of God, but the existence and nearness of the things revealed in his word, and beholds him present to do the things he has promised. Darkness creeps gradually over all created things, till the eye can no longer distinguish the countenances of friends who watch around the bed; but it is filled and delighted with the view of new and heavenly objects. The ear becomes dull to the voice of even conjugal endearments, but listens with rapture to the invitations and directions of the Father of spirits. Driven from the tenement of its earthly sojourning, the soul rests on the hand of the Almighty, and has no fear of loneliness or desertion. It is by such a sense of the presence of God, that the dying christian, while his mortal nature sinks, rises above humanity, and becomes like unto the angels of God: and those who came to comfort and support the failing spirit, find themselves neglected and disregarded; not because the dying brother undervalues the friendship and kindness that brought them around him, but because he has a better helper, a more tender comforter, a more faithful, and powerful and present friend. They who came to comfort by their sympathy, find the weakness they came to sustain to be stronger than their strength, and instead of administering they receive assistance. impression of his presence, that we can find it both pleasant and profitable. And why should we not cherish this idea? They who desire to please God will find this, one of the surest means of enabling themselves to please him, and of increasing the happiness to be found in his service. When the sinful think of this divine attribute, they do not commonly take in the whole character of God. They often see only the frown of his anger and the scourge of his justice. But let them dwell upon his character. They will perceive mingled with the sternness and severity of the judge, the inviting features of mercy and forgiveness. They wrong him as much as they deceive themselves when they refuse or neglect to think of that in his character which is suited to win their hearts. The goodness of the Lord leadeth to repentance; and by not knowing, or not considering this, they go on to increase the terrour of those attributes they so much dwell upon. Let them give as many. thoughts to the consideration of his goodness, as they do the attribute, of justice, and let them see if it will not be a more pleasant and profitable subject of attention. Far be it from me, however, to dissuade them from the consideration of his justice. Doubtless it shall fall on the impenitent with more terrible weight than any of us apprehend. But as the character of God could not, in fact, be an amiable one, unless he were a benevolent being, and would be less amiable than it is, if he were not a forgiving God: so, if we do not think of his benevolence, and of his readiness to forgive, it is to us less amiable and inviting, and we lose the benefit of the account which he has given us of his goodness and grace. It is a perverted and deceitful heart that withdraws our atteution from what is most attractive in the character of God, and fixes on what is to be sure equally a part of his character, but is less suited to gain our affections, and might, at least in that shape in which it is conceived of by many of the wicked, belong to a 44 Such are some of the uses of this doctrine. That it may be thus useful to us, we must familiarize it to our minds. It can never serve these high purposes and minister these rich consolations, except to those who cherish habitually the recollection of it. The idea of the presence of a being so great and awful in majesty, cannot leave us masters of ourselves, nor can we exercise our mental powers with any freedom, while the thought of him is new. It is not until we have habituated ourselves to act under the Vol. 2-No. VII, character unamiable and malevolent. Many pious people doubtless impair the pleasures of religion in a similar manner. Having experienced their readiness to fall into sin, and found how efficacious the fear of God's Judgments is to deter them from transgression, they give too large a portion of their thoughts to those attributes which impress them with awe. In the case of children too there is to be found an abuse of this doctrine of the same sort. The child is taught, as it should be, that God is every where present, and knows all things. The occasions on which it is reminded of this truth, and the purposes to which ît is applied, give rise to an errour of some importance. The child is reminded that God is present to witness his misconduct oftener than he is told that God is present to witness his obedience. He is warned that God hears his lying and profanity, oftener than he is told that God observes his truth and decency. This awful doctrine, in the hands of many becomes nothing but an instrument of parental government. An attribute thus grand and mysterious is made a mere auxiliary to parental authority. Accustomed to regard it only as an *object of terrour, the child learns to dislike and strives to forget it. A doctrine so full of consolation is so strongly associated in the mind with feelings of dread and alarm, that the impression and the injury often continue through life, and are felt even long after the man may think himself 'a christian and an object of favour with this ever present Deity. The doctrine of the divine omnipresence is one which we may exclude very much from our thoughts. We are continually ready to lose the sense of it. We ought to strive, therefore, to make it agreeable, that it may the more easiły dwell with us. It is worth some study to make the persuasion and feeling of the divine presence a welcome and cheerful thought. The strict holiness of the Deity will always with the wicked be an objection against 'cherishing the idea of his presence. Yet let not this difficulty be magnifi ed by neglecting any of the attributes of his character. It has sometimes been a subject of inquiry in what sense God is present in Heaven with angels and the spirits of just men made perfect; in what sense he will be present to all holy men after the resurrection. It does not seem probable that the Supreme Being, except in the person of Christ, will ever be the permanent object of perception to any order of his creatures, in any state of being. He may make such manifestations of himself as he did to Abraham and the patriarchs, or such as to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and afterwards in the temple. Perhaps his providence will there be such as to show more conspicuously the hand of the Almighty: but his nature seems to forbid that he should ever be perceived to be present, in any such way as finite beings are. He ap pears to be distinguished from all inferiour beings, by the manner in which he manifests his presence, no less than by his prerogative of being present in every place. But enquiries on this subject must be unavailing, and there fore, unprofitable; except as it shows the narrowness of our views, and the feebleness of our understanding, and so inculcates the duty of humility. We ought to fix our minds on what is practical, and learn from this doctrine to pray unto God with livelier faith and meditate on his character with more frequency and delight. We should study his word with more care, struggle against temptation with more perseverance and courage, per form our duties with more confidence, and be less intimidated at the ap proach of death. Let the knowledge of this wonderful attribute have such a happy influence on our minds that we may sincerely join in the language which closes the psalm before mentioned. "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." E. K. Miscellaneous. For the Christian Spectator. no other foundation than the specula On the original number of letters in tions of the learned, who, knowing the Greek Alphabet. Ir is said by Pliny, the elder, "that Cadmus brought from Pheuicia into Greece, sixteen lettters." This assertion has been adopted by Bochart, (Charaan, i, 20.) Montfaucon, (Paloog. Græc. ii, 1. p. 117.) J. J. Bellermann, (Handbuchder biblischen Literatur, Th. i, p. 66.) and other writers of distinction, also by many grammarians, as Matthiæ, (Ausfuhr. Griech. Gram. p. 11.) the author of the Gloucester Greek Grammar, (Appendix, p. (Appendix, p. 111.) etc. but there are several reasons for doubting its correctness, which lead us to conclude that the original Greek alphabet consisted of twenty-two letters, the number which is now found in the Hebrew. 1. The most ancient account concerning Cadmus, namely, that of Herodotus, who lived five hundred years before Pliny and Tacitus, says nothing concerning the number of Cadmean letters. The same is true of the account given by Diodorus.‡ The later notices also, on this subject, differ as to the number of letters originally introduced. According to Aristotle, (apud Plin. Hist. Nat. vii, 56.) it was eighteen. According to another account, seventeen. The more common opinion was that of Pliny, stated above. From this disagreement, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, very naturally inferred, that the different opinions had Isidori Origg. i, 4. by tradition, that all the letters were not of Phenician origin, endeavoured, by analyzing the alphabet, and seeing what letters could be dispensed with, to determine the number which formed the original alphabet. The Phenicians would probably have introduced into Greece, all the letters which existed in their alphabet at that time, and for which the Greeks had any use. Now we have no proof that the Phenician, or any Semitic alphabet, ever consisted of less than twenty-two letters. The acrostic poetry of the Old Testament, in which the verses, half verses, or paragraphs, begin successively with the different letters of the alphabet, furnish ample evidence that the number and order of the Hebrew letters, was the same at the time these portions of the bible were written as at present. Specimens of this kind of poetry are found in Psalms xxv, xxxiv, xxxvii, cxi, cxii, cxix, cxlv. Prov. xxxi, Lament. i-iv. The Samaritan and Syriac alphabets, have each twenty-two let ters. The present Arabic contains twenty-eight letters, but before the introduction of the Nischi charac ter, in the tenth century, the Arabians had only twenty-two. Some have thought that the Phenicians had originally only sixteen let ters, because about that number is found on ancient Punic inscriptions and Jewish medals. But these monuments have been but imperfectly deciphered, and the remaining letters may probably yet be discovered. The inference, moreover, would prove too much, for these inscriptions were, without doubt, made after the Phenician alphabet was completed. 3. A comparison of the Greek || NEPI JOYDEGENG OVORATA. Opp. ed. and Semitic alphabets as to (1.) the Oxon. T. ii, p. 21. names, (2.) the forms, (3,) the sounds, and (4,) the order or what is equivalent, the numerical value of the letters, will show that the original Greeks were acquainted with the whole twenty-two letters and probably introduced them all into their language. The comparison will be made immediately with the Hebrew, because that alphabet is most familiar to the reader. The similarity of the Greek characters is vastly greater with the Samaritan or Phenician than with the Hebrew, but the correspondence of the two alphabets, will generally be evident from other sources. them the Latins derived their F. It was disused, however, by the common Greeks as a letter, and employed only as a numerical sign (exter μov Bau) equivalent to 6. It ap pears to have been afterwards recalled by the Greeks, and placed at the end of their alphabet. In this situation it had only the vowel sound. Here it was called Y Y that is, unaspirated. In Hebrew it was used both as a consonant and as a vowel. The Phenician He, corresponds very well in form both to the digamma F and the . The correspon dence in the name and numerical value of the επίσημον Βαν ; and in the sound of the digamma, is as exact as we could wish. 'Zain 1=7 Heth =8 Hebrew Alphabet. Aleph =1 Greek Alphabet. Alpha A=1. The Semitic Aleph, if we may judge from the Masoretic punctuation, was both a consonant and a vowel. As a consonant, it was a slight breathing like the spiritus le nis (2) of the Greeks, or like the impulse given to the voice when we at tempt to pronounce deed in two syllables de-ed, or corner, as if divided thus, corn-er. As a vowel, its sound was generally that of a in father, or a in hate. The Greek Alpha appears to have obtained only the vowel sound. Daleth 4 He =5 Delta A=4 Epsilon E=5 The Hebrew He, in the beginning and middle of words, was a consouant, sounded like h in English; but in the end of words it was usually a vowel. The Greeks used E at first to express an h, or a rough breathing (); but afterwards employed it only as a vowel, and, to mark that change, called it Ev, that is, unaspirated. The form of the Greek Epsilon E, is he Phenician He Э inverted. Vau 16 Thur Bar s=6. (digammaF.) (lat. F.) There is no letter corresponding to Vau in the usual Greek alphabet at this place. But the Eolians, and probably at first, all the Greeks, had what is called from its shape F digamma, or double gamma; and from Zeta 2=7 H=8 Eta D=40 Mu M=40 J=50 Nu N=50 Mem Nun Samech 60 Xi E=60 The place of Xi, in the ancient Greek alphabet was probably filled by a character called Sigma, (that is Samech.) But the sound of Sigma being confounded with that of San (that is, Shin) one S was rejected as superfluous, and Xi, a compound let ter, substituted in its room. Ain y=70 Omicron 0-70 Ain was a consonant or breathing in the Semitic languages, but some times used in Syriac as a kind of vowel. The Greeks treated it as they did the other aspirates. See remarks on Aleph, He, Vau, Heth. D=80 Pi п=80 Pe Tzadde 90 επίσημον Σαντι 3 The Greek used as a nume ral to denote 900. From the analogy of the other xoruz, we may in |