sidered the object referred to, cannot lead to material difference. The Vulgate and Beza's version are in precise accordance with the structure of the Greek. In the original Syriac, as in the French version, there is no articulate distinction between the proper name and appellative, which is of the feminine gender.* Therefore, had our Lord meant himself, he must have so signified by gesture, as he may have done in allusion to the temple of his body: "Destroy this temple." John, xi. 19. I am inclined to think, that our Lord alluded to himself, and to the fulfilment, in his person, of that remarkable prophecy of Isaiah, xxviii. 16; where the foundation, the sure foundation,† is declared to be Christ, the chief corner-stone, upon which the whole stress and bond of the superincumbent structure depends: and this prophecy is quoted from the Septuagint, in direct allusion to Christ, by St. Peter himself, 1 Peter, xi. 6, &c; and by St. Paul, Romans, ix. 33; where it is mixed up with another quotation from the same Prophet, (Isaiah, viii. 14,) of similar tendency. St. Paul, likewise, (Ephesians, xi. 20, and 1 Corinthians, iii. 11,) clearly alludes to the fulfilment of the above prophecy, in the person of Christ, as the foundation. The terms in the Septuagint, and in the Epistles, are Пerpa, and A100s. The Apostles and Prophets are the foundation-stones of that edifice, of which the chief corner-stone is Christ, as testified by St. Paul, Ephes. xi. 20, 21. And in the quaint description of St. Ignatius, in his Epistle to the same people, following up the Apostle's figurative allusion: "Believers are the stones of the temple of the Father, prepared for his building, and drawn up on high by the cross of Christ, as by an engine; using the Holy Ghost as the rope, faith being the support, and charity the way, that leads to God."-Section ix. Wake's translation. Let Christ be abstracted, and the building tumbles to the ground. Take away one of the foundation stones, and the living temple still rears an uninjured front from porch to pinnacle. The great majority of the Fathers, including Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, refer the word Rock to Peter's confession of faith while, on the other hand, Beveridge, Pearson, Horsley, Clarke, Whitby, Doddridge, and others; as well as the chief authorities of the Roman Catholic church, refer the word to Peter. But I appeal from human opinions to the grammatical construction of the passage. After careful research I am inclined to think, that Пerpos, Пeτpa, and A10os, mean, in usual signification, a stone, such as may be propelled for offence, or transported for architectural purposes. In 1 Peter, xi. 7, 8, the words Atos and Пerpa are * Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram.—Vulgate. BEZA. strictly synonymous with Herpos in its proper signification:* whereas in Matthew, viii. 24, Пerpa is of different import, meaning, evidently, the substrate rock:† therefore, I will not draw any inference from the distinctive import of a term of various application; but rather seek its particular significance and relation from its position and force in the grammatical construction and, that the words En Tavτη τη IIηтpa, allude to our Lord, and not to his Apostle, appears clearly from the context. If our Lord had made use of a paronomasia, a figure, though apparently unsuitable to the solemn dignity of inspiration, occasionally used by the Hebrew prophets, would it not have been requisite, for the connection, to repeat the same term; which, surely, would have been as well suited to the application, as Aos is to a similar application in Isaiah, xxviii. 16. But the circumstance of the Evangelist having selected another term, the usual signification of which is synonymous with Пerpos, seems to manifest a pointed exclusion of Peter; as if the Evangelist's prophetical forecast shrank from the enormous errors, of which that interpretation was to be falsely made the basis. If Peter had been alluded to, would not the genius of the Greek have dictated the expression, Е σo, Ileтpe, rather than Επι ταυτη τη πέτρα. In the Confession, the article is used emphatically in the Apostle's affirmation of the nature and offices of the Messiah; but the article is not used in our Lord's affirmation of the name of the Apostle; nor in John i. 43, where our Lord assigns to him the cognomen, ПIEτpos. And yet, had our Lord alluded to Peter, would not grammatical construction, as well as the natural sequence of the conversation, have dictated a reply couched with correspondent emphasis: which mode of expression would also have confirmed the reference beyond doubt.§ In the Confession the article being repeatedly emphatic, and in the 18th verse, Е#ɩ τaντη TMη TETра being also emphatic, we should consider these members to be co-ordinate in the construction. The correspondence of the terms of the respective clauses strongly supports this connection; for ouros, the demonstrative, is cognate to the article . Whereas, had Peter been alluded to, EXCIVOS, the demonstrative, correspondent to the pronoun ov, would have been used. If our Lord had intended to point out Peter, as the Rock on which his church should be built; and that He had accordingly conferred on him a name significant thereof; should we not ex * Λιθος προσκόμματος, και πέτρα σκανδάλου. † Όστις οικοδόμησε την οικίαν αυτού επι την πέτραν. - Εκβάλλω εις τα θεμέλια Σιων λίθον πολυτελή, εκλεκτον, ακρογωνιαίον, &c. $ See Middleton's doctrine of the Greek article. pect, from analogy and fitness, that the derivative import would have been declared and applied, when the name itself was conferred; as in the case of Abram, Genesis, xvii. 5, and of Jacob, Genesis, xxxii. 28. But some years previously to the confession, when our Lord addressed Peter with an affirmation of his Jewish name, Συ ει Σιμων ὁ υιος Ιωνα, and conferred on him a new name, Σv xλn@non Kypas, no allusion of that kind is made, although the Evangelist adds the Greek interpretation of the name, ὁ ερμηνευεται Πετρος, John i. 43. From these considerations it would appear, that the only sense, strictly accordant with etymology, grammatical construction, and the scope of prophecy, is that which refers the word rock to Christ. An arrangement of the coordinate clauses may assist in elucidating this view: Christ confessed: Peter blessed : Σν Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ Ο ΥΙΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΤΟΥ ζωντος. Μακαριος ει, Σιμων βαρΊωνα. Christ confessed revealed: Ότι σαρξ και αιμα ουκ απεκάλυψε σοι, αλλ' ὁ Πατηρ μου, ὁ εν τοις ουρανοις. Peter's name affirmed: Christ the foundation: Peter's delegation of office: Κάγω δε σοι λεγω, ότι συ ει Πετρος. Και επι ΤΑΥΤΗ ΤΗ ΠΕΤΡΑ οικοδομησω μου την ηκκλησίαν, Και δώσω σοι τας κλεις της βασιλείας των ουρανών. ουρανοίς, Και ὁ εαν λυσης επί της γης, εσται λελυμένον εν τοις ουρανοίς. The two emphatic clauses refer to Christ, and AYTHE refers to ΠΕΤΡΑ, not to εκκλησιαν. The last section is quoted as a sample of the triplet in the theory of parallelism, a system first applied to the poetical portions of the Old Testament by Bishop Lowth; afterwards enlarged, and applied to the New Testament Scriptures, by the late learned and ingenious Bishop Jebb. I would not, however, found a critical exposition on a theory which never can become a safe or legitimate rule of interpretation; nor is it the peculiar characteristic of the poetry of the Hebrews; for the sacred compositions and works of fiction of Oriental nations, even when not metrically arranged, exhibit a certain proportion and resemblance between the members of the construction, which is well adapted for musical chant or modulation, and may be aptly termed parallelism.* The Hebrew prophet, wrapt in a mysterious and ineffably sublime possession, described the crowding and shadowy future, not in the tedious consecutiveness of detail, but by rapid inter See, for example, the Koran, the lyric poetry of the Arabians and Persians, and the romantic tales and narrations of eastern nations. locutions, and in bold outlines, vigorous, characteristic, and wonderously expressive. Hence was his diction figurative, yet sententious, and struck into a certain natural harmony of coordinate partitions and modulated returns-not according to regular rhythm, but by sympathy of the ear with the imaginative power. Energy is ever rounded by beauty; and whatever interests and exalts the understanding, affections, and imagination, must be poetry. The important passage, which forms the subject of this brief essay, has literally been "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence," to many generations; and the above observations have been made to show, that, consistently with the prophecy of Isaiah, with etymology, and the strict grammatical construction, the term Rock must be referred to Christ, and not to his apostle. To use St. Paul's words, 1 Corinthians, x. 4, 'H πεтра ŋv ¿ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ. [These remarks on the modus of prophecy are only intended to apply to those parts of the prophetic writings which are quoted in illustration of the system of parallelism.] Newcastle, January, 1835. JOHN LOCKE. (To be continued.) SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAREY, D. D., OF SERAMPore. THIS illustrious man has been called "the Protestant Xavier;" but while "the righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance," their names honoured, their labours recorded, and their memories blessed; because the advocates of truth, the friends of religion, and the devoted promoters of the glory of Christ-the votaries of ignorance, superstition, error, and delusion, however zealous, laborious, and active, must be ultimately consigned to "shame and everlasting contempt." The history of Carey is, however, truly interesting and instructive; and we avail ourselves of several notabilia that have appeared since his death, in different publications, to place before the readers of the CHRISTIAN EXAMINER the principal events of his life and the leading features of his character; though we doubt not the religious public will, ere long, be gratified with a fuller and more complete detail. Carey was one of a class of men, and no mean specimen, which belongs, not to a sect, but to THE CHURCH; a class that seems likely to be the means of effecting the accomplishment of the Redeemer's prayer—“ That they may be all one,--that the world may know that thou hast sent me." Before idolatry and all its attendant evils and crimes, "the N. S. VOL. IV. I truth as it is in Jesus,"-Missionaries find to be, in its purity and simplicity, "the power of God unto salvation;" and, therefore, apart from all that is sectarian, and peculiar, they preach "Christ and him crucified." May they go on doing so; and the kingdoms of this world become those of our Lord and of his Christ. But we are about to write, not an essay on the unity of the church, and the glorious simplicity of missionary enterprize, but a memoir of Carey. William Carey was born at Hackleton, in Leicestershire, on the 17th of August, 1761, and died on the 9th of June, 1834. It is recorded of the most long-lived of human beings, that the two most important events in his history were, that he was born, and that he died. These are so, as they regard the individual personally-whether the duration of his existence in this world be brief or more elongated; but to the human race, to the universe of being, it may have been otherwise in the case of Methuselah, it unquestionably was so in the case of Carey. He who spread the treasures of the word of God before so many myriads of the human race, before, "living without God and without hope in the world," has performed a service which, through the blessing of the Most High, influences and will for ever the destinies of countless multitudes of immortals. Carey's parents were poor; advantages in reference to education he had few; the profession to which he was destined by his friends was that of a journeyman shoemaker. Of the incidents in his life up till his eighteenth year, few deserving of notice are recorded; but at that time he was made the subject of the allimportant change; the new creation,-" born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Up till this period he had been, not only irreligious, but a scoffer of religion where it was exhibited, in its vitality, in others. Conversation with a fellow apprentice, the hearing of the Gospel from the Rev. Thomas Scott, the author of the well-known commentary on the Scriptures, and the perusal of Hall's " Help to Zion's Travellers," are stated to have been the means of opening his mind to the reception of the Gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mr. Scott, more than forty years after, said, "Carey heard me preach only a few times; and that, so far as I know, in my rather irregular excursions; though I often conversed and prayed in his presence, and endeavoured to answer his sensible and pertinent inquiries. But to have conveyed a single hint to a mind like his, may be considered as a high privilege and matter of gratitude." Thus it is, that often the Lord works; the instruments being unconscious, but the results glorious; and thus are the servants of the Lord encouraged, to be "instant in season and out of season;" to preach " publicly and from house to house," knowing that the Lord's word shall not "return to him void." The germ implanted, budded and brought forth fruit; the change was speedily evident to his own family and his former |