Also both a b c and a b c. Ps. ii. 2, and xc. 4. Why rage the nations, against Jahveh and his anointed? For a thousand years are in thy sight as the day of yesterday when it passes away, Ps. ii. 7; iii. 8; vii. 9. Still more complicated combinations are met with, as 3:1 and 3:2. Hence a b c d. Another very important form of the many-membered verse deserves special attention. It is a further development of the above varieties by means of contraction and abbreviation. Two of the members of these long verses are contracted into a single long member, thus forming members of 10-12 syllables. The result is rather a rhetorical than a musical form, more adapted for recitation than singing. But the long member so produced is generally the first in the verse. This verse in its most common form may be represented thus, A c d. Mountains of Gilboa, no dew, no rain fall upon you, and you fields of offering! For there the shield of the heroes was tarnished, Saul's sword not anointed with oil. 2 Sam. i. 21; Ps. lxii. 4, 5, 10, 11; xxxix. 2; xxxii. 4, 6. The second member is rarely thus extended, yet there are instances. Ps. xix. 8-11 is of the form A B; Ps. xvii. 14, of ABde. This is in brief, passing over a few lesser variations, the structure of the lyric verse. The gnomic verse is the most simple and regular of all, consisting of two members, each of 7-8 syllables, though later poets use a longer and more complex form. The dramatic verse of Canticles presents peculiarities, while the prophetic verse borders upon prose. The lyric verse, as the creation of the freest and highest poetic inspiration, is freest and most varied, running readily into any of the above forms. But the structure of a Hebrew lyric presents strophes as well as verses. The inspiring thoughts may be too great to be expressed in one outbreak, in one picture. The poet must return to it to present it again and again; or his subject needs to be exhibited in different aspects, situations, and localities. Or the struggles and antitheses must be expressed, together with their reconciliation. A lyric, therefore, often falls into strophes. The number of these any lyric may contain is various. While the triple division, as strophe, anti-strophe, epodos, is the most natural and common, there are lyrics with two, and many with more strophes. The number of verses forming a strophe is equally various. Two verses, or even one, suffice, as 2 Sam. iii. 33 f., or Psalm xxix., the heart of which, vv. 3-9, forms three strophes; but three are most common, Psalm cxxxiv. and cxxxiii. In songs consisting of a single strophe four or five verses are less usual, but in those consisting of several strophes very common. The last words of David, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1-7, is an instance of four-versed strophes, with this peculiarity that the first strophe has verses with common members, while the following ones have four long members : Thus saith David the son of Jesse, thus saith the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet singer of Israel : the Spirit of Jahveh speaketh through me, Israel's God hath spoken; to me spake Israel's rock. 1. Ruleth one over men righteously, ruleth God fearingly it is the brightening of morn, ariseth the sun, a morning without clouds, after sunshine, after rain, verdure from the earth. 2. For is not my house so with God, that an eternal covenant he established for me, guaranteed fully and secured? for all my salvation and desire, verily, shall he not make it grow? 3. But the destroyers-as abhorred thorns are they all, for not with the hand will one grasp them, but whoever comes near them must be armed with iron, and the wood of spears; and with fire they are wholly burnt up forthwith. Strophes of five and six verses are large, and longer ones are rarely met with; in lyric poetry none with more than ten verses. The relation of strophes to each other is important. Lyrics have either a graduated or a uniform strophic structure. The graduated structure is either descending or ascending, lessening or enlarging with the progress of the song. The descending structure is the appropriate form for elegies, and its model is David's lamentation over the death of Jonathan and Saul,* 2 Sam. i. 19-27; while the ascending structure is natural to songs of thanksgiving, the model of which is Psalm xxx.+ But the uniform structure is the most usual. Lyrics occur with apparently neither the graduated nor uniform strophes; but upon close consideration it will appear that the irregularities are not such as to allow another division. The introduction of other voices in the singing of a lyric causes changes in its strophic form. A song may be prefaced and concluded by other voices than those of the appointed singers. The whole assembled people, or a priest in the name of God, may summon the singers, and the whole company may join in a final verse. Compare Exodus xv. 21; verse 18, the two songs of Deborah, Judges v. 2, 11 at the end, verses 12 and 31. In Psalm xlvi. and xlviii. a chorus, to be sung by the people, comes in at the end of each strophe. Compare Psalms cvi., cvii., xxiv. 7-10. After the end of the seventh century, B.C., we meet with poems without strophes, as Ps. cvi., lxxxix. In the place of strophic structure we find alphabetical. Either each verse begins with the twenty-two letters of the alphabet in suc cession, as: Ps. cxlv. 1, 2; Adore thee will I, my God and King, and praise thy name for ever and ever. Ps. xxxvii., xxv., xxxiv.; Lam. i., ii. Or a regular * Our space forbids a translation, but the strophes are, 1. vv. 19-24, 2. vv. 25, 26; 3. v. 27. † 1. v. 2; 2. vv. 3-6; 3. vv. 7—13, Songs with two equal strophes : Ps. xxiv, 1-6; xxviii. 6-9; with three: Ps. vii.; xxxi. 2—19; xxxv.: with four; Ps. iii. 12; polystrophic: Ps. xviii. number of verses (Lam. iii., every three; Ps. cxix., every eight) is allotted to each letter in order, as : Ah! I am the man that saw affliction-by the rod of his wrath, Lam. iii. 1-6. Or, with yet greater art, each verse-member is in alphabetic order, as: Ascribe praises with the whole heart to Jahveh Celebrated are the works of Jahveh Ps. cxi. 1, 2; cxii. Our author treats of many other important facts relating to the lyric poetry of the Bible, but we are compelled to pass them over. Little more than a bare outline of the most salient facts of this interesting subject, which he lays before us in his book with fulness and beauty, has been attempted. Should the notice suggest further inquiries, reference need only be made to him for further light; for the whole subject is discussed profoundly and elaborately. And not only the Hebrew student but the student of literature in general, will be well repaid by, study of this work; for Hebrew poetry is poetry at its well-head, and the history of its origin and growth throws great light upon the origin and growth of all poetry. Hull. J. FRED. SMITH. TRADES UNIONS. AMONG the speeches that were delivered at the conference lately held between working men and the ministers of various Churches, there were several specially bearing on the subject of trades unions. The speakers, who were skilled artisans and members of these societies, complained that the Christian Church had no sympathy with the actual troubles of the labouring classes, that it concerned itself with matters in which they are not interested, and that it had nothing to say on those with which they are most concerned. Elsewhere it was hinted that Christianity is essentially opposed to economic science; that, instead of prudence, it advises trust, and that it does not sanction the accumulation of property, but, on the contrary, condemns all provision for the future. The complaint of one speaker was in the form of an accusation against the preachers, who, he said, are accustomed, in all references to trades unions and to strikes, to condemn the working men, and to lend their influence to the masters, whose cause they invariably approve. There is, unquestionably, very much in these complaints that deserves and will repay careful attention. As a matter of justice to those who make them, every public teacher ought to ask how far they are true; and as a means of increasing his usefulness, to which they refer, he would do well to make himself acquainted with the subject. It should be observed that the remarks quoted above are of two kinds; the one set being a matter of sentiment, the other a reason against Christianity as a social power. We will look at the latter first. It is really only an expression of a too general opinion that Christianity and science are necessarily hostile in their nature and action. The idea in the case of economic science has been unfortunately fostered by the foolish fears and ignorant opposition of some Christian people in regard to political economy. They have called it a harsh system, and its professors selfish and hard-hearted. They have regarded its deductions as laws invented by its students for the purpose of regulating society, and have so come to the conclusion that it is necessarily severe. On the other hand, rash students of political economy have preached it as a new gospel, as a means of curing all evils, eradicating poverty, and enriching all. We are getting wiser now, it is to be hoped. We shall be wiser still when we thoroughly grasp the idea that political economy and the Gospel, having totally different aims, cannot come into collision. The aim of the one is simply to observe the tendencies of human nature in reference to the creation and distribution of wealth; the other undertakes to correct these and all other tendencies when they are wrong, and to foster them when they are right. Hence the former is a science, its laws being only generalizations from its observations, not edicts which it promulgates; the latter is a moral power which is intended to act on human motives, and to improve the disposition. When it is added that Christianity condemns all accumulation of property, and calls upon its disciples to forsake all things for its sake, while political science would encourage the opposite, and approves of saving, it may be replied, first, that the statement respecting Christianity is not true; and, secondly, that political economy condemns hoarding and selfishness just as much as does Chris |