ginning of the Old Teftament, and the completion of it first mentioned in the very beginning of the New! For, the first promife of a Meffiah was, that he should be (not the feed of Adam, as he would have been called, if to defcend from an human father, but) the feed of the woman, because he was to be born of a virgin. Therefore the Apoftle fays; when the fulness of time came, God fent forth his fon, made of a woman. And that it was God, not man, who was to prepare a body for the Meffiah, appears from the 40th Pfalm, according to the Apostle's very remarkable quotation of it: where the Meffiah is prophetically reprefented as faying unto God,-A body didft.. thou prepare for me; then said 1, Lo! I come as in the volume of the book it is written concerning me.' Having thus endeavoured to illuftrate their prophecy, contained in the text, and to defend the application of it to the Virgin Mary's conception and the birth of Jefus Chrift, our learned author now briefly states the fecond prophecy, which is thus expreffed in our present tranflation. For before the child fhall know, &c. • That this verfe contains a diftinct prophecy, fays he, may be proved thus. 1. The words preceding have been proved to be confined to the Meffiah, whofe birth was then distant above feven hundred years; whereas the words here are confined to fome child, who was not to arrive at years of difcretion, before the two kings, then advancing against Jerufalem, should be themselves cut off. zdły: Some end was undoubtedly to be answered by the prefence of Isaiah's fon; whom God commanded the prophet to take with him, on this vifit to Ahaz: and yet, no ufe at all appears to have been made of this fon, unlefs he be referred to in this fentence. And lastly. These prophecies are manifeftly diftinguished by being addreffed to different perfons: the firft being plural, and addreffed to the house of David; but the fecond is fingular, and therefore is addreffed to Ahaz. We fee then, that the prophet addreffed himself at large to the house of David, when he foretold the birth of the Meffiah; which, though the event might be very diftant, would give prefent confolation, as it affured them of the prefervation of the houfe of David; but that he addreffed himself in particular to the king, when he foretold the Speedy deftruction of the two kings his enemies. • This tranfition will be more evident, if we render the first word but; as the fame word is rendered juft before, in this fame paffage. The word alfo, now rendered the child, fhould be here rendered this child: and the fenfe of the verfe may be then cearly afcertained. The neceffity of this laft rendering has been obferved by more than one expofitor; but perhaps no one has quoted any parallel inftance, or, produced proper authority for this neceffary change of our tranflation. But; that we may not be charged with offering violence to an expreflion, in order to defend the Evangelifts, or to confute their adverfaries; fome authority fhould be produced, in a point on which fo much depends: and I fhall mention several paffages fimilar to the cafe before us. When Jacob blefied Jofeph's two fons; he laid his hands upon their heads, and used the very Jame word in the plural number, which Ifaiah here ufes in the fingular. And as that word is rendered these children, by the authors of the Greek and other very ancient verfions; we have their joint authorities for rendering the word here this child. The authors of our own tranflation have not indeed rendered the word in the text this child: but they have fhewn, that it may be fo rendered: because they have themfelves, in feveral other places, expreffed the emphatic article by this and that in the fingular number, and by thefe in the plural. Thus, in Jeremiah xxiii. 24.—I have not jent these prophets in Numbers xi. 6.—there is nothing before our eyes, but this manna: in 1 Samuel xxix. 4.—make this fellow return: and to omit other inftances, we read in Jeremiah xxviii. 16. (what it is impoffible to tranflate ctherwife) this year thou falt die. : ; But, besides thefe inftances, in which fimilar words may and must be fo rendered, agreeably to cur prefent tranflation in this fame verfe of Ifaiah, there is the authority of our old English tranflation for both the alterations here proposed: for the very first printed edition, and (at leaft) two others, render thefe words-But or ever that child, &c. And, to obviate any prejudice against the other alterations before proposed, it should be obferved, that (fo far from being now firft thought of, to favour any new opinions) almost all of them are the very readings in our former English Bibles; from which our prefent has been varied, in this and other inftances, very improperly. The tranflation of the principal word here by this child being thus vindicated; it may perhaps be afked, who this child was; and the anfwer is-a fon of Ifaiah, called Shear-jafhub; whom God had commanded the Prophet to take with him, upon this occafion; but of whom no ufe was made, unless in the application of these words; whom Ifaiah might now hold in his arm; and to whom therefore he might point with his hand when he addreffed himself to Ahaz, and faid, But before this child fhall grow up to difcern good from evil; the land, that thou atorreft, fhall be forfaken of both her kings. The child's name is evidently prophetical; for it fignifies a remnant, remnant, or the remainder fall return. And probably he was fo called, because born the year before, when fuch multitudes were carried captivés into the land of Ifrael: and this, by way of prediction to the Jews-that, thoug they had loft one hundred thousand men by the fword in one day, and double that number by captivity; yet those who remained alive, the remnant, certainly should return to their own country. This prophecy was foon after fulfilled. And therefore this fon, whofe name had been fo confolatory the year before, was with the utmoft propriety brought forth now, and made the fubject of a second prophecy-nainely, that before that child, then in the fecond year of his age, fhould be able to diftinguish natural good from evil, before he should be about four or five years old; the lands of Syria and Ifrael, spoken of here as one kingdom on account of their prefent union and confederacy, fhall be forfaken of both their kings which, tho' at that time highly improbable, came to pafs about two years after; when thofe two kings, who had in vain attempted to conquer Jerufalem, were themfelves deftroyed, each in his own country.' : As the fubject of the fermon, from which we have given pretty large extracts, is both curious and important, and treated with great judgment and accuracy, we could not fati fy ourfelves without giving our readers a particular account of it. With refpe&t to the notes, thofe who are converfant in Hebrew literature will find many excellent obfervations in them, which throw great light upon the celebrated paffage in question, and which, at the fame time that they fhew how well qualified Dr. Kennicott is for the great work he is engaged in,, fhew likewife the importance of his undertaking, and the great advantages which may reasonably be expected from it. As to what Dr. Kennicott has advanced in anfwer to the bishop of Gloucefter's late reflections on the collation of the Hebrew MSS, we fhall only fay, that we have read this part of his work with great pleasure, and are perfuaded that it will afford no small entertainment to almost every reader. The doctor defends himself with becoming fpirit, and expofes the arrogance and inconfiftency of the bishop in a very proper manner. MONTHLY CATALOGUE. 14. An Ode to the late Thomas Edwards, Efq. Written in the Year 1751. By Dr. Akenfide. Folio. Pr. 6d. Dodfley. THE learned writer who is the fubject of this ode, in a pre face to fome Remarks on feveral occafional Reflections, published in the year 1744, took occafion to cenfure an obf rvation of Dr. Akenfide on the ufe of ridicule, and at the fame time the following paffage in the Doctor's poem entitled, The Pleasures of Imagination : Others, of graver mien, behold; adorn'd This defcription he calls an infult on the whole body of the clergy.' But the impartial reader, when he confiders that a Jublimity of demeanor is not a diftinguishing characteristic of the whole body, will be of a different opinion. In the year 1751, foon after the publication of Mr. Pope's works, with notes by Mr. W. Dr. Akenfide returns the compliment, and addreffes this piece of fatire to Mr. Edwards, author of the Canons of Criti~ cifm, bidding him affume the lyre in vindication of Mr. Pope, and tell, How difpleas'd was every bard How Virgil mourn'd the fordid fate Beneath a tutor who fo late * With Midas and his rout combin'd By fpiteful clamor to confound That very lyre's enchanting found, Tho' liftening realms admir'd around: How Horace own'd he thought the fire Did farther fuel fcarce require How During Mr. Pope's war with Theobald, Concanen, and the rest of their tribe; Mr. Warburton, the prefent lord bishop of Gloucester, did with great zeal cultivate their friendship; having been introduced, forfooth, at the meetings of that respectable confederacy: a favor, which he afterwards fpoke of in very high terms of complacency and thankfulness. At the fame time, in his intercourfe with them, he treated Mr. Pope in a moft contemptuous manner, and as a writer without genius. Of the truth of thefe affertions his lordship can have no doubt, if he recol How Milton fcorn'd the fophift vain On this occafion, continues the poet, Shakespeare debonnair and mild Brought that ftrange comment forth to view; Than his own fools or madmen knew: If the reader thould enquire why this Ode is now published, fifteen years after it was written, we can only answer, that the bishop of Gloucefter has thought fit to reprint the animadverfions we have already mentioned, in the last edition of his Divine Legation. 1 15. Beauty, A Poetical Effay. In Three Parts. Becket. 4to. Pr. Is. In the first part of this fhort effay the poet describes the beauty of nature, the rural profpect, the chrystal fountain, and the flowery field; in the fecond he traces the power of beauty in the female face; in the third he investigates the moral beauty of the foul. As a specimen we shall give the author's advice to the ladies, On artificial locks, which tow'ring rife A monftrous pile, and feem to threat the skies, recollects his own correfpondence with Concanen: a part of which is still in being, and will probably be remembered as long as any of this prelate's writings.' See the Canons of Criticifm by Mr. Edwards.' |