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ness would be less ready to perceive his defects; and, when perceived, more apt to extenuate them. The appropriative term his, wanting in the case of the father, is added in that of the mother; probably to heighten the pathos. A passage of Seneca may help to illustrate this distinction. "Non vides, quanto aliter patres, aliter ma"tres indulgeant? Illi excitari jubent liberos ad studia "obeunda mature, feriatis quoque diebus non patiuntur "esse otiosos, et sudorem illis, et interdum lacrymas ex"cutiunt: at matres fovere in sinu, continere in umbra "volunt, nunquam flere, nunquam tristari, nunquam la"borare." De Provid. cap. ii. tom. i. p. 306. ed. Elzev. 1672.

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34

SECTION III.

BISHOP LOWTH, in the eleventh page of his Preliminary Dissertation, has the following words:

On

First, of parallel lines synonymous: that is, which "correspond one to another, by expressing the "same sense in different, but equivalent terms." Now, I must confess, it appears to me questionable whether there be any, and very certain that there are not many, parallelisms in Scripture, strictly synonymous; not many, perhaps not one, consecutive pair of lines, in which "the same sense" is expressed in different, but equivalent terms." this point, indeed, the excellent author of the dissertation himself seems to have felt some misgivings for, to the definition just cited, though in itself complete, and (assuming the subject-matter to be true) very clearly, adequately, and neatly expressed, his Lordship annexed a supplemental elucidation. Conscious, it would seem, that his definition did not accurately correspond with the phonomena, he had recourse to guards and limitations ; and, it so happens, that those guards and limitations are at variance with, and destructive of, the original definition. The whole passage stands as follows: "Parallel lines synonymous; that is, "which correspond one to another, by expressing "the same sense, in different, but equivalent "terms; when a proposition is delivered, and is

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immediately repeated, in the whole, or in part, "the expression being varied, but the sense entirely "or nearly, the same." (1) That is, (if we assume the definition to agree, as it ought to agree, with its further explanation, and their correspondent terms to be mutually convertible) a part may be equivalent to the whole; and the same sense, may be not the same sense, but only an approximation to the same sense. The truth is, the Bishop's explanation should have led him to re-examine his definition; to compare that definition with a sufficient number of scripture parallelisms from whence to form a safe induction; or, at least, to try it closely by the test of his own examples: had his Lordship taken these steps, he might probably have seen cause to cast about for a nomenclature and a definition, more accordant with the real state of the

case.

The fact appears to be, that, (with the exception of those rare instances, where, for the sake of emphasis, not only the same sense is repeated, but the same words) in the parallelisms commonly termed synonymous, the second, or responsive clause invariably diversifies the preceding clause; and generally so as to rise above it, forming a sort of climax in the sense. This last variety has been noticed and exemplified by Archbishop Newcome, in his Preface to Ezekiel (2): but that learned Prelate would seem by no means to have suspected its frequent occurrence, much less its general pre

valence, in that class of parallelisms usually styled synonymous.

Within a brief compass, this point cannot probably be more fairly brought to issue, than by examining Bishop Lowth's own examples, of what he terms parallel lines synonymous; to the critical student, I may venture to promise both information and satisfaction, if he will institute this inquiry for himself; while, partly for his sake, but more especially for that of general readers, I shall produce, and observe upon, two of those examples, couched in the very language of the Bishop's own exact and elegant translation:

O Jehovah, in thy strength the king shall rejoice;
And in thy salvation, how greatly shall he exult:
The desire of his heart, thou hast granted him;
And the request of his lips, thou hast not denied.
Psalm xxi. 12.

The gradation of member above member, and line
above line, in each couplet of this stanza, is unde-
niable: "salvation" is an advance upon "strength;"
and how greatly shall he exult," an advance upon
" he shall rejoice :" again, "the request of the lips,"
is something beyond "the desire of the heart,"
it is desire brought into act. The gradation in the
last members of the last two lines, may not be equally
obvious; but it is by no means less certain: "thou
"hast granted; thou hast not denied:" the ne-
gative form is here much stronger than the positive;
for it is a received canon of biblical philology, that
verbs of negation, or, what amounts to the same

thing, adverbs of negation prefixed to verbs, have, in such cases, the force of expressing the opposite affirmative with peculiar emphasis:- for example; "the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who taketh his name in vain :" that is, WILL ASSUREDLY HOLD Exod. xx. 7. Again:

HIM GUILTY.

And he blesseth them, and they multiply greatly;
And their cattle he doth not diminish:

Psalm cvii. 38.

that is, he EXCEEDINGLY INCREASETH. See Glass. Philol. Sacr. pp. 801. 988. or in Dathe's Edition, pp. 231, 411. On this principle, in the above passage of the twenty-first Psalm, thou hast not denied, means, thou hast ASSUREDLY OF ABUNDANTLY

GRANTED.

Seek ye Jehovah, 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 to Jehovah, and he will compassionate him;

And unto our God, for he aboundeth in forgiveness.

Isaiah, lv. 6, 7.

In

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. 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

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