It Christian Tract Society. THE sixth anniversary of this Society was holden on Wednesday the 16th of November last, at the old London Tavern Bishopsgate Steet. At the meeting for business Willian Frend Esq. was called to the chair. The Report of the Committee was read by the Secretary. commenced by stating the continued prosperity of the Society during the last year; though owing to some circumstances which were explained, neither the number of New tracts published, nor the total number circulated during that interval had been so great as in the former year. Only one New tract had been printed and two of the former tracts reprinted,making altogether 9000 copies. The Committee stated however, that they had left two Manuscript Tracts to be published by their successors, and intimated that it was likely a new volume would be completed against the annual distribution of the Tracts to the subscribers. It appeared that up to this time the Society had printed in all about 200,000 Tracts, of which about 140,000, have already been circulated. The Society's property was stated as follows: Estimated value of the stock in £. s. d 245 0 0 140 0 0 385 0 0 58 12 0 £326 8 0 The Committee having stated their opinion that considerable inconvenience had been experienced from the Anniversary of the Society being held in November, it was resolved, that in future the annual meetings shall be held on the first Thursday in the month of February, and that the next Anniversary be postponed to the first Thursday in February, 1816. Thanks were voted to the several officers of the Society, for their services during the last year. The following gentlemen were elected into office for the year ensuing. JAMES ESDAILE Esq. Treasurer. Rev. THOMAS REES Secretary. COMMITTEE. Rev. R. Aspland, Mr. Foster, Mr. Silver, Mr. Spyring, Mr. Parker, Mr. Hart, Mr. Gibson, Mr. Titford, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Parkes, Mr. Hall. AUDITORS. Mr. E. L. Mackmurdo, Mr. W. Frend. Mr. John Taylor. The subscribers and other friends to the Society afterwards dined together to the number of Eighty. John Christie Esq. in the Chair. The evening was spent in a manner highly to the satisfaction of all present. Among the gentlemen whe addressed the meeting were the Treasurer, (James Esdaile Esq.) Mr. Alderman Wood, Mr. Alderman Goodbehere, Mr. Frend, Mr. Rutt and Mr. Gibson. We rejoice to be able to add that a considerable ad dition was made to the list of subscribers. Manchester, Dec. 31, 1814. THE Quarterly Meeting of Ministers, generally denominated Presbyterian, in Manchester and its vicinity, was held on Dec. 28. 1814. Twenty-one ministers present. The Rev. Mr. Parker performed the devotional services, and the Rev. D. Jones preached from Eccles. vii. 10. Two new members were added to the associa tion. The next meeting will be at Rochdale on Good Friday. Mr. Parker will be the preacher, and Mr. Whitelegg his supporter. The dinner, at which forty-two Gentlemen were present, was at the Bridgewater Arms. Among other topics of less importance, the circumstances of our Unitarian brethren at Oldham were pressed upon the attention of the meeting, and about fifty pounds was immediately subscribed for the purpose of erecting an Unitarian Chapel in Oldham. It may not be improper here, perhaps, to inform our Unitarian brethren in general, that con-tributions for the above purpose are to be transmitted to the Rev. Wm. Harrison, Manchester. In the course of the after noon, the Treasurer of the Manchester New College, York, (to whom our great obligation can never be forgotten) gave information respecting that valuable Institution highly interesting to the meeting. Our Dissenting brethren throughout the United Kingdom cannot be too much impressed with the value and advantages of such an Institution, and they doubtless will never suffer it to languish for want of adequate support and countenance; on the contrary, they will exert themselves to improve its present flourishing state. It is an Institution eminently well calculated for the education of the gentleman and the divine. The business of the Lancashine and Cheshire Book and Tract Socity was transacted the following morning. The state of its finances is flourshing, and there is a prospect of its proving very useful in promoting its object-The knowledge of christian truth and the practice of virtue. MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF OR, W. J. OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS; The Christian's Survey of the Political World. When Greece had obtained that superiority over her neighbours, which has been so much celebrated in the literary world, all the nations around her were held in sovereign contempt. It was forgotten in what abject state this country lay a few centuries before; and it was not anticipated that the descendants of these giants in literature, science and politics, would become the most abject and despicable sinves, unmindful of the fame of their anestors, and incapable of manly exertion, This is no uncommon error, each nation in its turn embraces a similar feeling of contempt for those who are less distinguished, or less favoured by circumstances, calculated to improve our species. In our days it has been gravely discussed, whether the Blacks are not of an inferior race to ourselves; and it has been argued, that nature designed them to be slaves to the Whites; that is, that the God of Nature had distinguished the sons of Adam into two classes, and that one part of the family should inherently possess the right of maltreating the other part at its pleasure. Where, it was contended, are to be found any proofs of manly intellect under a black skin? Their minds are low and grovelling, and their bodies to be inured to labour only under the lash of the task-master? How could it be otherwise, when all the avenues to knowledge were shut up to them; all the rewards of individual exertion were denied to them? The experience of the last ten years is worth more than folios of controversy. We have seen the Blacks in a different situation. They have broken their chains. They have asserted their rights. They have indeed committed murders and massacres; but in these acts of cruelty and barbarity, they have only followed at a humble distance the example of their White and more civilized brethren, The splendour of a court, the gorgeous parade of the prince; the magnificent address, the pride of rank, the diss play of shews, distinguish the mansions of white royalty: how easily this is to be done, and how fit the sable sovereigns are to vie with their brethren, has been seen in the court of the sovereign of Hayti. There remains another kind of comparison, and in this the sable court does not appear to be at all inferior to any of those which are now displaying their talents at the Congress of Vienna. Hayti is expecting an attack from France. In these cases it is usual for courts to issue a manifesto, explaining the justice of their cause; and the last month has exhibited to Europe a specimen of political views, as they are entertained by our brethren, whose skin is differently coloured from our own. These are the men, who a few years back, groaned under the lash. They are now sensible of the benefits of freedom, and with their liberty they have acquired just notions of their rights. Amidst the numerous proclamations that have issued from the White courts, not one is superior to the manifesto of the Emperor of Hayti; and, if we may judge of the probability of excellence in other branches of knowledge, from this specimen of diplomatic talent, we may anticipate researches in science, and productions of literature from our hitherto degraded brethren, that shall vie with the finest of those who have hitherto vainly conceived, that they were entitled to as ma nifest superiority over the Africans as the Greeks claimed over the Barbarians. Whe knows, indeed, whether England herself may not sink to a state as base as that of Greece, when in future black universities the tables may be turned, and the White become the degraded colour. This reflection may be of use in the present times, when writers are so fond of feeding the pride and vanity of this nation, by displays of the greatness of its dominion, the strength of its navy, the num ber of its towns, the splendour of its wealth, the superiority of its skill in arts and manufactures. A volume has been lately published, in which all these things are brought under the nicest rules of calculation, and in reading the details of our greatness, we cannot but reflect on the message of the prophet to Hezekiah, after he had entertained the embassadors from Babylon. The true question on the situation of states is the nse they have made of the advantages they have enjoyed; and here we shall, perhaps, find more cause for humility than pride. Great Brtiain, by the reformation, was placed in a more favourable situation than the Catholic coun 48 Title" Son of God."---Illustration of Heb. ii. 17. ly magnified. This may be inferred, with some appearance of reason, from the mountainous nature, barren soil, and narrow extent of the country of Midian; though the ingenious and learned authors of the Jewish Letters to Voltaire, have laboured to remove this objection with much strength, excepting the weakness of comparing that poor rocky country, to the rich and level soil of the Campania of Rome. But the chief argument is to be drawn from the 48th and 49th verses of the same chapter, in which it is said that the Hebrew forces consisted of twelve thousand men (sup posing then this number not magnified) returning from the conquest and plunder of Midian without the loss of one man. Yet the country is described as containing some towns, and even castles, which were taken and destroyed. The Midianites must therefore have been able to make but a very weak resistance, or rather none at all; consequently must be inferior in number and substance to the preceding magnified account. SIR, That the authority or power exercised by our Saviour was a given, a received power from his Father and our Father, his God and our God, is, I am firmly persuaded, a truth which can be discredited only by impeaching the credibility of his own repeated and unvarying asseverations, and can therefore scarcely be permitted to rank, with scriptural Christians, amongst the topics of theological controversy. But, with regard to his own construction of the particular title which he was pleased to assume, ħthe following contrast may not per aps have so forcibly struck some of them as it always does your correspondent. When the chief priests challenged him, "Art thou then the Son of God?" he replied, as categorically, "Ye say that I am." When they that were in the ship worshipped him, i. e. did him homage under that appellation, he does not appear to have evaded or rebuked so proper a mark of their re spect. When the devils fell down before him with a like salutation, he charged them only not to make him known. To Martha's memorable confession of her faith (would it had been universally deemed as exemplary!) his silence gives implied assent. And Peter's received from him a similar testimony of approbation. But mark now the difference, when the Jews with that propensity to misunderstand his meaning, so familiar on all occasions to those advocates for another kind of Messiah than he seemed likely to prove, charged him also in so many words, with "making himself equal with GOD," by assuming the apellation of his Son: " Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are GOD (Elohim). If he called them GOD, unto whom the word of GOD came," &c. Conscious of being GOD the Son, could he at such a moment have made such a reply? Is there any point, any applicableness in the retort, but upon the admission, the open avowal that he considered himself man, man only, man as they were men, to whom the word of GOD came? If this be not to disclaim divinity in point of nature, what could have been? Can more unequivocal interpretation be given to the import of the title, Son of GOD, on the ground on which he presumed to adopt it? Against such unambiguous evidence, would the hypothesis of an apostle, if such could be found, weigh one feather in the scale? Yours, TE TACE. Illustrations of Scripture. [From an interleaved Bible.] Heb. ii. 17." It behoved him to be made like unto his brethren," i. e. it was fit and right, the obligation not pressing on Christ, but being spoken of absolutely. In exactly the same way, Casar in his Commentaries, § 3. Damnatum pœnam sequi oportebat, ut igni cremaretur, viz. It behoved him, being condemned, to be punished, by being burned. REVIEW. "Still pleas'd to praise, yet not afraid to blame."---POPE. Art. 1.-The Book of Job, literally translated from the original Hebrew, and restored to its natural Arrangement: with Notes critical and illustrative; and an introductory Dissertation on its Scene, Scope, Language, Author and Object. By John Mason Good, F. R. S. Meni. Am. Phil. Soc. and F. L. S. of Philadelphia. London: Black, Parry and Co. 1812, 8vo. pp. 491. HE requisite to a was most probably on the confines of Idumæa, if not a part of it:" and in this opinion we are disposed to acquiesce. We do not differ greatly from Mr. G's., which is well supported by the authority and reasoning of Bishop Lowth. But we submit, whether the Dissertator has not expressed himself with somewhat too much of confidence? He justly commends the "modesty" of Eusebius: and in the event a second The qualifications requ of Job, edition of his Translation, he will per are of no ordinary standard. How far they belong to Mr. Good, must be determined by a diligent and candid review of his performance. Various literary productions have made this gentleman known to the public: and even they who are least partial to him as a writer, must admit that in industry he surpasses most of his contemporaries. In the present number we shall examine his introductory Dissertation, To his eulogium on this noble poem--to his general estimate of its character and importance---we feel little hesitation in subscribing. And we shall now accompany him in his inquiry into "the scene" of the book, " its scope, object and arrangement; its language, and the difficulties attending a translation of it; its author and æra; and the doctrines which it incidentally developes." I. "Nothing," says Mr. Good," is clearer than that all the persons introduced into the ensuing Poem were Idumæans, dwelling in Idumæa, or, in other words, Edomite Arabs." Bochart, Spanheim, and the writers of the Universal History, place the land of Uz in Sandy Arabia, which Rosenmüller, whose Prolegomena, &c. in Jobum have now reached this country, considers as likely to be its position.* Indeed, on looking into Jer. xxv. 20, 21, we find that Uz and Edom are spoken of as distinet from each other. Of the spot upon which Job dwelt, Blayneyf remarks, "It * Prolegom. 26. In his note on Jer. xxv, 20. haps at once imitate and praise this learned ecclesiastical historian, and enable us to verify the quotation made (ix.) from his works; of the substantial correctness of which, however, we do not doubt, though it has the appearance of being inaccurately printed. The manners of the Poem are, beyond controversy, Arabian ; a fact of far more importance than our answer to the question, In what district are Job and his friends described as living? Not that even this investigation is without its use; nor that we judge it unworthy of the notice of studious men. Still, we think it the least momentous of the matters which occupy our Translator's preliminary discourse, and not among the clearest. II. Ile states the subject proposed by the writer of the Poem to be "the trial and triumph of the integrity of Job." Such, no doubt, is the general argument of the hook. Its scope, nevertheless---the object of its author ---seems to have been higher; to vindicate the ways of God to man, by shewing that severity of affliction is no proof of the sufferer's guilt. The individual case of Job is subservient to this moral. Whether he really existed, has been a topic of dispute among scholars and divines. But we believe that historical truth is the basis of this work. The nature of the references in Scripture to its principal character,† afford a strong presumption that he is not the offspring of the poet's * Prælectiones, &c. xxxii. not. sub. init. + Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. James v. 11 Н Review.---Good's Translation of the Book of Job. fancy. As to the structure of the poem, we are of opinion that it is, for the most part, fabulous. The introduction, the concluding chapters, the preciseness and the care with which the leading speakers are brought before us, three several times, in rotation, have a very artificial appearance. Surely, Mr. Good contends for too much when he attempts to evince that in these circumstances there is nothing inconsistent with a narrative of facts. Will not sound criticism be satisfied with the admission that facts are the ground-work of the book? Rosenmüller's arguments to this effect,* are at once concise and forcible. Mr. Good assumes a doctrine to which we cannot accede respecting the Satan of the book of Job; and, for the better support of his theory, offers a construction of Chap. i. 8. ii. 3. upon which we shall animadvert in the pro'per place. He considers this poem as "a regular Hebrew Epic," and adds, "were it necessary to enter so minutely into the question, it might easily be proved to possess all the more pronainent features of an epic, as collected and laid down by Aristotle himself." This criticism, formerly maintained by a foreign author, has found an opponent in Eichhorn†, and is incapable of being supported. The book consists almost entirely of dialogue. There is so little action throughout that we cannot with reason style the poetry either epic or dramatic. And, though the composition is eminently sublime, beautiful and pathetic, yet, as Rosenmüller justly remarks, its merits are vindicated, and not lessened, by our forbearing to give it a technical classification: "Quod autem huic poemati et legitimi dramatis et epici carminis ti'tulum abjudicamus, nihil de ejus pretio derogatum imus, quod ii potius facere censendi sunt, qui ad alienam normam id inique exigere volunt, unde necesse est vitiosum et mancum videri, quod sane in suo genere est pulcherrimum et perfectissimum."t The present translator offers a valuable analysis of this composition, which he divides into six parts, in * Prolegom. 3---8. cluding the opening or exordium, These are as follow: 1.) Ch. i.---iii. 2.) iii.---xv. 3.) xv.---xxii. 4.) xxii. ---xxxii. 5.) xxxii.---xxxviii. 6.) xxxviii. Hereafter, we shall point out a few mistakes (such we conceive them to be), both of sentiment and language, in this part of the Dissertation. III. We have the pleasure of agreeing with Mr. Good in his general statement of the difficulties attending a translation of the book of Job, and of the necessity of a knowledge of Arabic to the translator. If in modern times the sense of the poem has been more fully developed than heretofore, we owe the benefit chiefly to the nicer care with which the study of the Oriental tongues and dialects has been pursued. Sacred criticism has received great assistance from the cultivation of this branch of learning; though, in the volumes of a few and even celebrated authors, it has often degenerated into puerile refinements. Even the mere English reader of the poem before us, must be aware of the arduousness of making a vernacular translation of it; as he cannot fail to perceive that our public version of Job, though executed by men of ability and erudition, is frequently obscure. Perhaps no book in the Old Testament has so much engaged the attention of critics and theologians widely varying from each other in their degrees of knowledge, taste and judgment. Yet most of them have thrown light upon this fine vestige of ancient genius; while room is still left for the efforts of future commentators and translators. IV. It is no easy task to ascertain the author and the æra of the book of Job. That is was composed before the delivery of the Jewish law, cannot, we imagine, be reasonably questioned. We are unable to discover in this poem any traces of persons and transactions subsequent to the period we have just mentioned: and, indeed, it remains to be seen whether allusions are here made even to much earlier incidents recorded in the sacred history? By whom the book was written, can be a matter only of conjecture. They who assign it to Moses, advance an opinion far more † Einleitung in das A. T. B. iii. 553, &c. plausible than any other which has (Ed. 3.) Proleg. 22. been hazarded on the subject: yet the examples adduced by Mr. G. as |