Isa. lvi. 7. (and Jer. vii. 1)) {

IV. Quotations and other passages from the Old Testament which are alluded to in the New.

The following table presents a list of the principal passages of this description:

Judges, the whole book, generally Acts xiii. 20. Heb. xi. 32. 1 Sam. viii. 5. and x. 1.

Acts xiii. 21.

1 Sam. xiii. 14. xv. 23. xvi. 12, 13. Acts xiii. 22.

1 Kings xvii. 1.and xviii. 42-45. James v. 17, 18.

Concerning the class of quotations contained in the preceding table, it has been remarked, that when the inspired writers quote a passage from the Old Testament, merely in the way of allusion, it is enough that the words which they borrow emphatically express their own meaning. It is not necessary that they be precisely the same with those of the passage alluded to, nor that they be there used, either of the same subject or of a similar subject. Thus, Deut. xxx. 12—14. which was originally written concerning the law, is by Saint Paul accommodated to the Gospel, (Rom. x. 6-8.) with proper variations and explanations.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE POETRY OF THE HEBREWS.

I. NATURE of Hebrew Poetry.

The diversity of style, evident in the different books of Scripture, sufficiently evinces which of them were written in prose, and which are poetical compositions : though the nature of the Hebrew verse cannot now be exactly ascertained. The grand characteristic of Hebrew Poetry is what Bishop Lowth terms Parallelism, that is, a certain equality, resemblance, or relationship between the members of each period: so that, in two lines or members of the same period, things shall answer to things and words to words, as if fitted to each other by a kind of rule or measure. Such is the general strain of Hebrew Poetry, instances of which occur in almost every part of the Old Testament, particularly in the ninety-sixth psalm.

II. Gradations of the poetical parallelism.

The poetical parallelism has much variety and many gradations; which may be referred to four species, viz. Parallel Lines Gradational, Parallel Lines Antithetic, Parallel Lines Synthetic, and Parallel Lines Introverted. An example or two of each of these shall be given, which will enable the attentive reader of our admirable authorised version readily to discover others as they arise: for, that version being strictly word for word after the original, the form and order of the original sentences are preserved; and this circumstance will account for its retaining so much of a poetical cast, notwithstanding it is executed in prose.

1. Parallel Lines Gradational are those, in which the second or responsive clause so diversifies the preceding

clauses, as generally to rise above it, sometimes by a descending scale in the value of the related terms and periods, but in all cases with a marked distinction of meaning. This species of parallelism is of most frequent occurrence, particularly in the psalms and the prophecies of Isaiah. The following example is given from the evangelical prophet, ch. lv. v. 6, 7.:

Seek ye Jehovah [or, the LORD] 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 unto Jehovah, and he will compassionate him; And unto our God, for he aboundeth in forgiveness.

"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. In 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 renounce the very thought of sinning. While, in the last line, the appropriative and encouraging title OUR GOD is substituted for the awful name JEHOVAH, and simple compassion is heightened into overflowing mercy and forgiveness." (Bp. Jebb's Sacred Literature, pp. 37, 38.) See further instances in Isa. li. 1. 47. Joel ii. 7. Psalm i. 1. xxi. 1, 2. and xxiv. 3, 4.

2. Parallel Lines Antithetic are those, in which two lines correspond one with another, by an opposition of terms and sentiments; when the second is contrasted with the first, sometimes in expressions, sometimes in sense only. This is not confined to any particular form. Accordingly, the degrees of antithesis are various, from an exact contraposition of word to word, sentiment to sentiment, singulars to singulars, plurais to plurals, down to a general disparity, with something of a contrariety in the two propositions. Thus, Prov. ch. x. 1.