A New Effay on the celebrated Prophecy, Ifaiah vii. 14, 15, 16, compared with the Gofpel of Matthew i. 18-23. By Philip David Krauter, D. D. 8vo. 15. 6d. Dilly. We had defigned to enter fully into the fubject which this able veteran in the field of facred criticifm has examined with great ability. Much of it has, however, been anticipated; and to trace the recondite or collateral meaning of Hebrew words, is often attended with as little profit as entertainment. It is acknowledged that this prophecy is obfcure, and various attempts have been made to elucidate it: fome of these we no siced in Dr. Cooper's One great Argument,' vol. LXIII. p. 437. We fhall next attend fhortly to Dr. Krauter's explanation. Our author confiders the answer of Ahaz to the prophet as haughty and infolent- I will not afk neither will I try the lord. The words as they are reprefented are equivocal, and expreffive either of contempt or refignation: it is evident from the reply, that the prophet confidered them as contemptuous. He goes on in verfe 14.-Therefore the Lord himself, &c. or as our author would tranflate the prophecy Verfe 14. "Therefore will he (my God) give my Lord: (the Meffiah) he fhall be a fign unto you. Behold, the virgin big with child, and bearing a fon, and his name called Immanuel. Verse 15. "Butter and honey fhall every one eat. According to his knowledge (cognizance) shall be the rejecting of the bad, and the choofing of the good. Verse 16. "For before this youth fhall know (take cognizance) to reject the bad and choose the good, this land which thou, (the houfe of David) has rent, fhall be deferted by its two kings." From this tranflation it is evident that Dr. Krauter renders Adonai' my Lord the Meffiah; but to this there are many objections, and the ellipfis must be fuppofed in the first part of the verfe to fupply this term in the fecond. It is certainly an innatural interpretation. The fifteenth verfe is alfo eliptical, and the tranflator gives no good reafon why the prophet fhould turn from the confideration of the Meffiah to the flate of the kingdom in general. Butter and honey was to be the food of every one (v. 22.) and confequently of the child; and each perfon according to his knowledge muft choose the good and reject the bad. The peculiar circumftances relating to this child, the God with us, is that before the period of maturity, the land which was thus divided in confequence of the defection from Rehoboam fhall be deferted of its two kings. This last verfe is rendered with great accuracy and well elucidated. On the whole, we think Dr. Krauter has laboured diligently, but his great object feems to have been to draw from the words an uncommon meaning; and his interpretation is confequently a recondite commentary rather than a natural obvious tranfla tion. The difficulties which we mentioned in reviewing Dr. Cooper's work ftill remain, and we may now add to them; that while Ahab was preffed on by two kings, it was no great confo lation that, before a future child fhall come to maturity, the fceptre fhall have paffed both from Ifrael and Juda. It is evi dent, that to Ahaz the meaning must have appeared more obvious, that a child must have been prefent who was a type of the future Saviour, and to whom he applied what was meant for the Meffiah, while the other circumftances feemed to him to relate to his antagonists. Glory to God and Peace to Men, the blessed Effects of Divine Grace in the Redemption of Sinners by Jefus Chrift. Confidered by R. Taprell. 4to. 15. Richardfon. With a fteady view to his own glory, fays Mr. Taprell, the Almighty is pleafed uniformly and univerfally to proceed. No revolutions, no circumstances, no confiderations can break in upon this fettled defign, nor interrupt this harmony, and grand aim, of an infinite God.-Could we turn back the volume of ten thousand years, and add ten thousand more to that, in every page unfolded, and in all the immenfity of divine conduct, we should difcern, Glory to God in the higheft. Or, to change the figure, could we trace up all the streams to the eternal fountain, or could we fee all that flow from thence, we should perceive that, they are defigned to convey, from everlasting to everlafting, the glory of God through all the courts of Heaven, and, in time, through all the colonies of earth." Again; In all the plans, and in all the executions of the moft high God he unerringly confults his own glory.' This fentiment, in different words is often repeated; and we doubt not that all things will eventually contribute to the glory of God; but that it is his peculiar object is rather too hazardous an affertion. Thofe gentlemen who take upon them to deve lope the principles on which their Creator acts, as if they had been confulted on the occafion, or made confidants in his defigns, instead of promoting the cause of religion, too often exhibit a fpecies of blafphemy, unintentional indeed, which excites difguft, or provokes to laughter. Mr. Taprell's defign is, however, pious and laudable, and, in moft,of his religious fentiments, we thoroughly agree with him. We meet, indeed, with no refinements of science, or depth of argumentation, but he pretends not to either. He addreffes himself to the humble reader,' who may reap benefit from this well-meant discourse. A Sermon to the Poor. By. S. Palmer. 12mo. 4d. Buckland. A plain practical difcourfe from Matthew xi. 5. And the poor have the gofpel preached to them. Victory over Death. A Sermon preached at Sudbury, in Suffolk, April the 4th, 1790, on occafion of the Death of Mrs. Eliza beth Ray. By Robert Stevenfon. 8vo. 6d. Dilly. A pious and practical, rather than a laboured or a learned difcourfe. We perceive nothing which deferves our praises, Except the falutary tendency of the precepts, and the vein of piety (of piety perhaps a little too gloomy) which pervades the whole of the difcourse. POETRY. Ode on the Diflant View of France from Dover Cliff, in the Year 1789. 4to. 15. Becket. This little poem is written with spirit, and contains an ele gant compliment to our Gallic neighbours; which pleafed us the more, as from the infulting manner in which it opens we were not led to expect any thing of the kind. The liberal fentiments with which it concludes will please the reader : • Enlighten'd France! no more I view With cold contempt thy glittering coaft; To active worth is honour due Th' unfetter'd flave has cause to boast. Nor fingly now fhall dart its rays, But blend with thine in Freedom's spreading blaze. The felfifh thought, the taunting jest, Be banished from the liberal breast! Hie to fome dark, unletter'd shore, Britain and France contend no more. To vindicate on earth the Rights of Man.' Innocence: an Allegorical Poem. By Mifs Mary Young. 410. 15. 6d. Evans. Both the defign and the execution are entitled to praife. The allegory is good; the diction fmooth and easy. Lines on a late Refignation at the Royal Academy. 4to. 15. Robfon. Sir Joshua Reynolds is here complimented in a very elegant manner by Mr. Jerningham, at the expence of his academic brethren. An Ode on the Marriage of his Grace the Duke of Dorfet with Mifs Arabella Diana Cope, humbly dedicated and inferibed to their Graces the Duke and Dutchess of Dorfet. 4to. 15. 62. Forcs. Two dedications and a preface, informing us that they were intended intended for another work not yet published, constitute the greateft part of this extraordinary performance. The Ode is indeed the least part of it, and its shortnefs the only circumstance in its favour. Poems: confifting of Modern Manners, Aurelia, the Curate, and other Pieces never before published. By the Rev. Samuel Hoole, A. M. 2 Vols. 8vo. 6s. ferved. Dodfley. The three principal poems which are mentioned in the titlepage, have been taken notice of in our Review, and recommended as they occafionally made their appearance. The author rofe gradually in our favour; and we confider the Curate as much fuperior to MODERN MANNERS, and even to AURELIA, which, however, is certainly entitled to much praise. The additional poems in general are of little confequence, though wẹ were much pleafed with that entitled the Olde and new Barrone, written in imitation of that well-known and excellent old ballad, the Olde and young Courtier, which may be found in the fecond volume of the Reliques of Ancient Poetry. The contraft is well preserved, and the manners of the olde Barrone appear to us to be marked in a peculiarly striking and characteriftic manner in the following Hanzas: But, left our fonnes fhould say "former times were better than We'll look still farther backe if the courteous reader please, And their lorde's old villaines. The Baronne, proud and fierce, then kept his cafle wa,' Like an olde Baronne of the lande, And the lande's olde Baronne. His chambers large and dimme, with gaudy painting dight, With chimnies black with finoke, and windows of greate height,' Like an olde Baronne of the lande, And the lande's olde Baronne. There in a hall fo wide, and colde as any stone, He fed, in treezing state, idle fellows a hundred and one And the lande's olde Baronne.' Pooms i Poems by D. Deacon, jun. 4to. 4. Rivingtons. The poem of the greatest confequence in this collection is ens titled the Triumph of Liberty, occafioned by the centenary commemoration of the glorious Revolution.' It is chiefly des fcriptive of the joyful manner in which it was celebrated in the county of Derby, near the famous cot,' where conven'd England's prefervers, and the plan devis'd, Mr. Deacon's language is not always very highly polished or elegant, but we like the fpirit with which he writes: he appears to feel, and his fcenery is often depictured according to truth and nature. He thus enlifts himself among the numerous corps of the Duchess of Devonshire's panegyrifts: Devon benign, whofe graces to describe, A gem inimitable of grace attains.' Our author's fentiments differ very widely from ours in res gard to these deathless fongs; we can confidently affirm that the Caftalian fount has not been diminished in the flightest degree by the compofers of them. We have before now expreffed our furprise, not at the number of her grace's encomiafts, but at their acquitting themfelves fo aukwardly on fo flattering a fubject. Is there a conteft among the minor poets who fhall praise her most and worst? In the work before us we meet with nothing inferior to the abfurd line which ends the quotation. The other poems are not executed with equal abilities to that which we have no ticed. The author does not appear to have had a regular education, and many errors might be pointed out; but he is no way deficient in natural abilities and genius. Edinburgh: a Poem, in Two Parts. Also, the Weeping Bard: a Poem, in Sixteen Cantos. By Robert Alves, A. M. 800. 25. Printed for the Author. If this author is the fame whofe poems we reviewed in our LX ft volume p. 72. he is greatly improved fince that time. We, however, ftill find many paffages extremely incorrect and inelegant. There is a great peculiarity of diction throughout, but though fometimes rude and aukward, it is often highly animated and poetical. The fame diverfity occurs in the fenti ments; they are often truly beautiful and pathetic, and at other times as truly abfurd. The author muft undoubtedly be a very fingular kind of man. In the Weeping Bard,' the principal poem, he profeffes to delineate his own character, and the unfortunate events of his life: many passages in it are wildly pic picturesque, 7 |