who believe in the reality of experimental religion, and are sensible of its importance, and know that it is of great importance for them, living year after year in the neglect of it, on the simple ground that they do not, and cannot feel. At least, they do not feel so deeply as they think desirable and necessary. Their minds, they think, must be more strongly excited; they must be exercised with deeper sorrow and anguish; and strange as it may seem, they are desiring and longing for spiritual distress. They would give any thing they possess, if they could only be wrought up to that pitch of distress and anguish which they think their case requires. To persons such as these we would say, in the first place, it is impossible for you, in this state of mind, ever to feel the distress you desire. How can you? For the moment you begin to feel distress, your desire begins to be gratified, and this gives you joy; and how can joy and distress exist in the same mind, in relation to the same subject, and at the same instant?-But suppose you could feel all the distress that you desire; you would be not at all the better for it. There is no virtue or holiness in distress. And you would have no more natural ability, or higher obligations, to submit to God, than you have now. To be sure, it might be more likely, in that case, i. e. if your distress arose from proper considerations, that you would submit to God; for the motives in favour of submission would be more powerful. The motives from without would be aided and seconded by powerful motives from within. But you have motives enough now to lay you under entire obligation. You have motives enough now, if duly considered, and suffered to have their proper weight, to secure the concurrence of the will on the side of holiness. If you doubt this, then just look about you, and think over again the various and urgent motives of the gospel ;-motives drawn from heaven, earth, and hell;-from the justice of God, and his mercy-his love, and his wrath: and tell me, if here are not motives enough to lead you, and bind you, to an immediate and unconditional submission. Now, it is incumbent on you to consider these motives-to weigh them—and yield to them. And if your reluctant heart shrinks back from a consideration of them, it is incumbent on you to call them up, and press them home upon it, again and again. And if you cannot feel as much as you desire, then submit without feeling. At any rate, submit to God, and put an end to your protracted and wicked controversy with him. And if you cannot have, at present, a religion of strong feeling, have that which, in itself, is better-a religion of holy, settled principle,-a religion of voluntary devotedness to God, and of cheerful obedience to his known commands. The submission of the heart to God is the immediate duty of every sinner; and when the submission is made, it should be the business of after life, to repair the wastes and the mischief which sin had occasioned, and restore harmony to the disordered soul. It should be the business of life, to enlighten and improve those understandings which had been darkened and perverted by abuse and neglect; to repress those appetites and passions which had become strong by indulgence; and to revive and cultivate those nobler sensibilities which had been stifled under the cruel dominion of sin. The feeling of moral obligations should be cultivated, till it becomes so strong, that it cannot be resisted and set at nought with impunity. Our feelings of sympathy should be cultivated, till we find it easy to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to weep with them that weep. The nobler feelings of the soul should all be cultivated, till every external motive to duty shall find a chord of sympathy within; and then the way of life will be a way of pleasantness, and all her paths will be peace. At present, we cannot pursue this interesting subject farther; and with a few words relative to the author, whose classification of the mental powers has led us into the foregoing train of remark, we must conclude. Without affirming that we agree with Prof. Upham in every minute point of speculation, we have no hesitation in saying that his work is one of great value to the literary and religious community. It indicates throughout, not only deep and varied research, but profound and laborious thought, and is a full, lucid, and able discussion of an involved and embarrassing subject. The style, though generally diffuse, is always perspicuous, and often elegant; and the work, as a whole, will add much to the reputation of its author, and entitle him to rank among the ablest metaphysicians of our country. CONTENTS OF NO. VI. By Rev. C. E. Stowe, Prof. at Lane Seminary. By Rev. Edward W. Hooker, Benington, Vt. LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL REVIEW. ART. I. NO. VI.—JUNE, 1835. AUTHENTICITY OF THE PENTATEUCH. By Rev. C. E. STOWE, Professor of Bib, Lit., Lane Seminary, Cincinnati. ALL manuscripts and printed editions of the Hebrew sacred books begin with the five usually ascribed to Moses. The old Hebrew name was in (i. e. ch'mishshah chumshae thorah), the five-fifths of the law; or abbreviated an nan (i. e. ch'mishshah chummashim), the five-fifths. Each book by itself was called (chummash), a fifth. To this the Greek appellation corresponds, namely RETTEKOS (pentateuchos), the fivefold volume, from five and TEUKOs an implement or volume.* REVTE The more common Hebrew name of the Pentateuch is ninn (hatlorah), the law; so called because the books contain the civil and ecclesiastical law of the Hebrew nation. The Hebrew name of the separate books was the first word or words in each. Thus the first book was called (b'raeshith), in the beginning, from its first word; the second, iṛ (v'aeleh sh’moth), and these the names, from its first two words; and so of the rest. The names in our English Bible are derived from the Greek translation called the Septuagint, and were chosen by the Greek translators or editors as significant of the subjects or contents of the several books. Thus the first was called GENESIS, because it gives an account of the origin or genesis of the world; the second was called EXODUS, because it contains a history of the going out or exode of the Israelites from Egypt; and so of the rest. In investigating the subject of the authenticity of these * Rosenmueller's Prolegomena to Scholia on the Old Testament, Vol. i. p. 1, 2. VOL. II. 22 |