lent, in whom is all my delight.' What idea does a plain reader receive from the assertion, that the Psalmist's goodness extended not to the Lord, but to the saints that are in the earth? The new translation relieves his perplexity by the following simple lines. 'I have said to Jehovah, Thou art my Lord; I have no happiness without thee! The holy that are in the land, and the excellent, In them is all my delight.' 6 6 In the common version of that exquisite Psalm, the Fortysecond, beginning As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God,' there are many lines which no one would wish to see altered, or need to have explained. But in the seventh verse we read, Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.' We know, indeed, from many other places in the Scriptures, that great afflictions are represented under the similitude of overwhelming waters, just as in our own language we say floods of grief to express great sorrows; and therefore we want no explanation of the second clause of this verse. But this does not assist us in getting at the meaning of the first clause, 'Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts.' When we open the new translation, we are at once enlightened, for we read there, Deep calleth for deep; thy cataracts roar; All thy waves and billows have gone over me.' 6 The Fifty-eighth Psalm is an invective of David against wicked rulers. In the ninth verse we find the following obscure language, Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.' The translation of Mr. Noyes, together with the note appended to this verse, gives us ideas instead of mere sounds. 'Before your pots feel the heat of the thorns, Whether fresh or burning, they shall be blown away.' The note informs us that 'This verse contains a proverb, of which the meaning is, Your plans shall be defeated, or shall indeed have no chance of succeeding. The proverb is probably drawn from fires made in the desert for culinary purposes, which the wind sometimes destroyed.' Psalm Seventy-fourth is a lament, or mournful plea with God, on account of the desolation of the temple, either by the 14 VOL. XI. N. S. VOL. VI. NO. I. Babylonians or Chaldeans, and other grievous afflictions of the Hebrew nation. It begins, in the common version, O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.' So far it is sufficiently intelligible. 'Lift up thy feet' it thus proceeds, in the third verse, unto the perpetual desolations, even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.' Here, too, the reader may possibly understand the meaning of the Psalmist, and perceive that the help of the Lord is called to the desolate and violated condition of the temple; but he will not perceive it by any means so readily as he will in the new translation, which gives the verse thus; 'Hasten thy steps to those utter desolations; Every thing in the sanctuary the foe hath abused!' Nor will he comprehend the fourth verse in the common translation, Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs,' so distinctly as when it is rendered to him as in Mr. Noyes's translation, 'Thine enemies roar in the place of thine assemblies; But when he comes to the fifth verse, in connexion with the sixth, he will, in all probability, be entirely at a stand. He will read, 5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. 6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.' What relation, he may exclaim, what manner of relation has the former verse with the latter, and what can the former mean? The following translation will immediately bring him out of palpable obscurity into clear light. '5 They appeared like those who raise the axe against a thicket; 6 They have broken down the carved work of thy temple with axes and hammers.' Not only is the darkness now cleared away, but a graphic delineation is introduced into the place where the darkness had been. The bands of sacrilegious invaders are shown to us among the tall columns and richly carved tracery of the temple, laying about them with their instruments of destruc tion, and are compared to a company of wood-cutters, seen plying their work amidst the living pillars, arches, and foliage of a forest. The picture which is thus suddenly brought into the light, the figure which thus leaps out of obscurity, are of the most striking description. Instead of groping and hesitating in an unknown place, we are brought at once into the reality of a moving and resounding scene. In that fine and solemn Psalm, the Ninetieth, which is ascribed to Moses,* and which is used in the Episcopal Burial Service, the beauty of the passage beginning, 'The days of our years are threescore years and ten,' and consisting of the tenth and two following verses, is much marred, as we have always thought, by the mistiness of the eleventh verse; Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath." Nor is this rendering much improved in the old version retained in the Book of Common Prayer; though the first clause of the verse is correct. 'But who regardeth the power of thy wrath? for even thereafter, as a man feareth, so is thy displeasure.' The last clause is as obscure as in the common version. But let us read the whole passage as we find it in the new translation, substituting, however, 'weariness' for 'weakness,' which we understand to be an error of the press. 10 The days of our life are seventy years, And, by reason of strength, may be eighty years; For it vanisheth swiftly, and we fly away. 11 Yet who attendeth to the power of thine anger ? That we may imbue our hearts with wisdom!' Here the sense flows on uninterruptedly and affectingly. We are not coldly stopped, after the pathetic truths of the tenth verse, to question the signification of the eleventh, but are rather brought to apply its serious and searching inquiries to our own souls. * For the gratification of those who may like to see what sort of 'hidden treasures' the author of the Psalterium Americanum spent his time in 'digging for,' we subjoin the following portion of a note on this Psalm. One of the Ancients has a pious fancy here. The name of Moses is, One drawn from under the waters. And so, says he, This is a Psalm especially cut out for all Baptized Persons.' A single word, appropriately thrown in, is often, in Mr. Noyes's translation, a guide to the explanation of a dark and doubtful saying. We shall not be like to perceive the meaning at once of the fourteenth verse of the Sixty-eighth Psalm, as it stands in the common version. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.' But we shall immediately understand the comparison, by reading, 'When the Most High destroyed the kings in the land, It was white with their bones like Salmon.' And equally important is frequently a slight change of collocation. For instance let us take the ninety-eighth verse of the Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm. Thou, through thy commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.' We might, in reading this, make the mental inquiry, Who are ever with me, 'thy commandments,' or 'mine enemies'? The collocation might lead us to answer, 'mine enemies.' But this answer would be wrong, and we should not have hesitated at all, if we had read thus; "Thou hast made me wiser than my enemies by thy precepts; For they are ever before me.' We have said much in praise of this new translation, but not more than we think is justly due to it. We have observed some instances in which Mr. Noyes has departed from the common version, where we should have preferred an adherence to it; and one or two more, in which his translation has not seemed to us to convey so probable a meaning as that of some other interpreter. It is very seldom, however, that he has not left a doubtful text plainer than he found it; and for continuity of sense and harmonious flow of sound, his Psalms are to be read throughout with more pleasure and profit than any other translation of them with which we are acquainted. Regarding this volume as intended for popular use, rather than as a critical help to the student, we have noticed it in a corresponding manner. Should Mr. Noyes favor us, as we hope he will, and that soon, with an additional volume of notes, we shall expect to examine his labors more thoroughly. We do not look to see this or any other translation supersede the one in common use. We regard it as altogether improbable, as almost impossible, that all English Christendom will for a long period to come, if ever again, unite in adopting the same version of the Scriptures, should that of king James be repudiated. Let the common version, then, remain in our families, in our schools, in our churches. It is a bond of union among us all, of all denominations, the value and strength of which may be greater than we know. But let us understand it; and let us have helps to the understanding or correction of it, that we may read it intelligently as well as reverently. Our apparatus for this purpose need not be cumbersome or expensive. A family will hardly want any other aid, for instance, to the right understanding of the Psalms, than this new translation by Mr. Noyes. Let it be kept by the side of the Family Bible, as the interpreter of a very important portion of it. Let the translator's excellent Preface be carefully read, and then, with the help of the few notes scattered through the book, we know not what will be wanting to the profitable perusal of those divine and ancient songs. ART. VII. The Slavery of the British West India Colonies delineated, as it exists, both in Law and Practice, and compared with the Slavery of other Countries, Ancient and Modern. By JAMES STEPHEN, Esq. Vol. II. Being a Delineation of the State in point of Practice. London. 1830. 8vo. pp. xliv, 452. WHEN the slave-trade was abolished by Great Britain in 1807, it was confidently expected by the friends of that measure, that it would soon lead to the mitigation and abolition of slavery. In this confidence they remained inactive for a few years. It at length became apparent that no measures of importance for the improvement of the slaves would be voluntarily adopted by the colonial legislatures, New efforts were therefore made by the friends of humanity to call into action the energy of the British government to soften and finally abolish the system of oppression which disgraced the colonies of the empire. Among other means adopted for this purpose was the establishment, we believe about ten years ago, of a Society for mitigating and gradually abolishing Slavery throughout the British Dominions. This society has continued in successful operation ever since its first formation, and has done much to forward the great work |