glance at the events of Solomon's reign, but looked only through such imagery to the events of the reign of Christ!

I have one consideration farther. It will not be denied that God, who saw the end from the beginning, and who shaped the whole course of his providence to aid the developement of the scheme of redemption, could make the course of events through which the Hebrew nation passed, and the whole history of that nation, so to correspond, both as to manner and form, with the history of the Christian church, that the one should aptly prefigure the other. Nay, it will not be doubted, that he has actually done this. That he has not only shaped the institutions and rites of the Hebrews, but also the leading events in their history, so as to give them a typical character, is an admitted fact. It was ordered by the providence of God, that David's victories and establishment upon the Hill of Zion, should have an apt resemblance to the confirmation and completion of the reign of Christ; and that Solomon's reign should have a similitude to the spiritual reign of Christ; and that the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity should be strikingly emblematical of the breaking forth of the strength and glory of the church, as of an army that had leapt into being from the bones of the valley of vision. These, and numberless other correspondencies, were caused by the providence of God; and these, or the like, have been used by the Spirit of inspiration, as media of presenting and illustrating the matters of revelation. In this respect, the course of events was made to harmonize, in design, with the typical institutions; and like those institutions had become, so to speak, a consecrated instrument of revelation. Taking this fact into consideration, it seems every way natural, that pairs of objects or events should be found in sacred prophecy describ

ed as one event.

It is not my design, in this article, to give a selection of instances of the double meaning, with a detail of reasons for so interpreting them. But I must briefly notice two or three examples. The first is that of the promise of rest to the Hebrews in Canaan. Paul, in the fourth chapter of Hebrews, directly labours the proof that this promise had a double meaning, implying not only a rest in the promised land, but also a rest properly called God's rest,-a rest which Joshua did not give, which David holds out as yet attainable, near five hundred years after Canaan was in actual possession,-a VOL. I.

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rest peculiar to the people of God. Now I conceive the question here is, did Jehovah, when he made a promise of rest in Canaan, intend also to convey, in those very terms, the promise of a rest to believers in heaven? If he did, he spoke in language which has a double meaning. If he did not, Paul was mistaken in so understanding him.

Should it be said, that the two are essentially one and the same thing, this, I think, would be said without reason. A possession of that land is, in its nature, as distinct from the rest in heaven, as the type is ever different from the antitype. Canaan was doubtless secured by many, who will never reach the rest which remains to the people of God; and many whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and who were denied the rest in the literal sense, among whom was Moses, will yet, we trust, inherit the rest of heaven. These facts show, that two distinct objects were included in that promise. And I see not how the conclusion of a double sense in this case can be avoided.

Again; the close connexion in which an unquestionable prediction of Christ stands with the prophecy of the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, in Isa. 52: 13, seems unaccountable on any principle of interpretation which excludes a double meaning. The verse preceding, i. e. the twelfth, must be understood of the national deliverance. And the necessity is equally strong for understanding the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth, of Christ and the spread of Christianity. For in the New Testament, Acts 8: 34, 35, the passage is so applied. Yet the preceding and succeeding verses are evidently connected as the parts of the same scene. Even the seventh verse, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him,” &c. is understood by Paul, Rom. 10: 15, of the preachers of the Gospel, while yet it occurs in the very midst of the description of the release from the captivity. I see not how this passage can be interpreted, without understanding, with Hengstenberg, that, "under the veil of this temporal deliverance lay concealed, at the same time, the spiritual one."

In the history of the fall of man, there are also some strokes of language with a double sense. When we are told of the serpent's tempting Eve, we are told, as I suppose, both of what was done by Satan, and by the literal serpent. That Satan's suggestions found their way to the mind of Eve, through the medium of the real serpent, I conceive to be evident from the fact, that Eve, when called to account, said,

"the serpent beguiled me;" and from the fact that the serpent is distinctly introduced in the history, as one of the beasts of the field, and his superiour cunning spoken of. This I think excludes the opinion of some interpreters, that the temptation came through no visible source, but was a mere suggestion to the thoughts of Eve. And then, if there was a real serpent employed in this case, the curse pronounced on the serpent had a double meaning,—it was a curse affecting the animal serpent, and affecting "that old serpent, which is called the Devil and Satan." So also, the death which came upon Adam by reason of his offence. It was the death of the body and spiritual death,-two things in nature very diverse.

But I will not detain the reader with farther examples. It now only remains to notice the objections which have been made to the double sense. These, as far as I have been able to collect them, are all reducible to one, and that is, the contrariety of a double sense to the laws of language. When it is objected, that the second sense, if there be such a one, is a sense not conveyed by the language itself,-that the reader who applies the laws of interpretation common to other books, can have no security that he has arrived at the principal and most important meaning,—that, on this principle, the laws of language cease to guide us, and we want another revelation to interpret the first,-that a sense is hereby given to words foreign to the usus loquendi of the language,—that there are no limits to this second sense,-and that the second sense is unnecessary; all these objections are branches of that before mentioned, and stand or fall with it. I shall have need, therefore, only to consider this.

Is the objection valid, that, "If I admit a double sense in the Old Testament Scriptures, I admit that they are not to be interpreted according to the laws of common language?" That the Bible is to be interpreted by the same general laws of language as other books, is a principle which may not be surrendered,-which cannot be, without surrendering the Bible itself, as an intelligible guide of faith and duty. But it is essential to the understanding of other books, that the reader be able to put himself into the condition of those to whom the book was first addressed, to attune his sympathies to the peculiarities of their sentiments, and to copy their modes of conception. And as the language of different nations varies according to their knowledge of things, and accommodates itself to the expression of objects and relations, according as

they exist in the mind of the writer, any peculiarity in their mode of conceiving and presenting things and their relations, must, by a law of language, be taken into account by the interpreter. For this reason it is, that "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, and neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." On the same principle, a man must have a soul that can, to some extent, sympathize with that of the poet, in order fully to enter into his meaning. Now I apprehend, that when this very essential law of language is taken into the account, when the peculiar nature of Jewish institutions and Jewish history, and the effect of these upon the modes of thinking, both of the writers and first readers of the Old Testament, are considered, it will appear that their language, having, in some instances, a double sense, was no more peculiar, than was required by the circumstances and objects described. And the reason why no other writings have a double sense, is that no other writings have occasion to present objects bearing such peculiar mutual relations. We do not then depart from the general rules of interpretation, when we admit a double sense.

ART. III. SOUTH AMERICA.

By THEODORE DWIGHT, Jun., New-York.

"Atlas Historico, Geneologico, Cronologico, Geografico, &c., de Lesage, escrito por el Conde de las Casas, Traducido por un Espanol Americano. Paris,

1826" "Ensayo Historico de las Revoluciones de Mexico, desde 1808 hasta 1830. Por D. Lorenzo de Zavala. Tomo primero, Paris, 1831. Tomo segundo, 1832." "Meditaciones Colombianas, del Sr. Garcia del Rio." "Exposicion que el Secretario de Estado en el Despacho de Hacienda del Gobierno de la Nueva Granada, hace al Congreso Constitucional del ano de 1833, sobre los negocios de su departamento."

To

"Memoria en que el Gobierno del Estado Libre de Mexico, da cuenta al Honorable Congreso Constitucional, de todos los ramos que han sido a su cargo en el ultimo ano economico. Presentado el dia 30 de Marzo de 1833. luca, 1833." "Consideraciones sobre Espana y sus Colonias. Por Don Jorge D. Flinter. Coronel de Infanteria al servicio de su Majestad Catolica, y Comendador de la Real Orden Americana de Isabel la Catolica. Nueva York, 1833." "Poesias de Jose Maria Heredia. Nueva York, 1825."

A GREAT number of works have appeared, within a few years, in relation to the southern parts of the American continent; and the titles of those above mentioned, will afford

some idea of the variety of subjects to which they are devoted.

Histories, or sketches, have appeared of the wars of independence in Colombia, Chili, &c., but as they are either too voluminous for common readers, or limited to events already several years past, we choose to refer to the South American translation of Lesage, as it contains an authentic epitome of events in all those countries, down to the time of its publication. That part of the work which relates to South America, is not to be found in the original, having been written by the translator. Mr. Zavala's work on Mexico is added to our list, as it extends to a later period, and relates to a country which claims our first attention, on account of its situation on our own borders. This book belongs to a number of publications of various kinds which have appeared in different parts, in favour of political principles corresponding with our own; while the "Meditaciones" of Garcia del Rio, (now Minister Plenipotentiary of the Ecuador at Bogota,) may stand as a representative of the aristocratic and monarchical doctrines, in a few instances openly opposed to them. The official reports to the Congress of New Granada, and that of Mexico, belong to a class of valuable productions, which are annually published and widely circulated, as in the United States; affording both to natives and foreigners much important information. Col. Flinter, in a small pamphlet, urges upon the government of Spain the recognition of South American independence, on principles which are probably destined to a speedy triumph in the cabinet of the mother country.

The poetic literature which has been called forth in South America, by the surpassing richness of its scenery and the interesting events of its history, may be represented by the Odes and Songs of Heredia, and will claim as much attention in this article as can be spared from themes of more serious interest.

The indifference which is so extensively felt in this country, with respect to the condition of the southern portions of our continent, is, in our view, much to be lamented, and that on several accounts. When regarded in their proper light, the changes which have taken place there within a few past years, are calculated to give us instruction as well as encouragement. Yet we, by common consent, turn from the contemplation of that continent, vast as it is, and inti