severely chaste and sternly sweet, and everywhere subdued to a calm and tranquil felicity; all the qualities that fall under the jurisdiction of Taste being kept strictly subordinate to the ends of moral and spiritual edification. The author, though studiously concealing his name, frankly avows himself an Oxford man. But the work does not, that we can perceive, smell in the least of Oxford, or any other particular locality or association: it carries an atmos phere of transparent catholicity; and, in short, complies, as far,it seems to us, as human imperfection will allow, with that noble canon of Science drawn up by Lord Bacon, where, referring to the various idols that infest the mind of man, he legislates thus: "These idols are to be solemnly and forever renounced, that the understanding may be thereby purged and cleansed; for the kingdom of man, which is founded in the sciences, can scarce be entered otherwise than the kingdom of GOD, that is, in the condition of little children." It was in pursuance of the same spirit, apparently, that another hand set itself to the task of A Plain Commentary on the Psalms. The results are now before us, and we bespeak for them a warm and cordial welcome to the firesides and the closets of our brethren. In exactness and variety of learning, in simplicity and earnestness of purpose, in diligence and carefulness of execution, the work, we believe, does not fall behind its predecessor; but it seems to us considerably inferior in the attractions of style, and by no means evinces such a vigilant and sensitive delicacy of taste. Nevertheless, taking the whole together, we may safely pronounce it, for the uses chiefly contemplated, as much better than any other English achievements in the same field, as those others are better than none. The plan of the work is exceedingly simple and clear. And the whole is ordered in such keeping with the end, that for a due understanding of the matter, nothing more is required than plain common sense, enlightened by "those things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health." In the first place, we have two Introductions, one prefixed to each volume; in which is set forth. without any superfluous display of learning or criticism, whatsoever seems to be of general interest or utility as to the history, the composition, and the character of the Psalms, and also as to the use made of them in the Church both Jewish and Christian. Then, at the end of each Psalm, is drawn together and condensed all the information that has survived touching the authorship, and the date and the occasion of the writing. As to the rest, it is simply a running commentary on the Psalms, rigidly restrained to such points as seemed needful or serviceable, to give them their proper devotional effect; or adapted to make the reader's mind conversant with holy and beautiful thought. The leading motive of the work is thus stated in the Preface: "When the Psalms for the day are read at family prayers, certain verses, and even entire Psalms, are constantly recurring, to the full meaning of which those who join in them have no direct spiritual clue, and which therefore jar on their feelings, and make the reciting of them an act of some difficulty, or at least not an act of devotion. The case is the same, sometimes in a greater, sometimes a less degree, with Christians in their private devotions. Here a guide to the true meaning of those parts of the Psalms which they do not perfectly understand would be a very great gain. And it would also be so to all who join regularly in the morning and evening public services of the Church." As to matter and method. The work is professedly founded on the Fathers; but its basis is by no means limited to them. As a reason for going to other sources, the author justly observes, that while on plain passages there is a richness and copiousness of teaching which embarrasses the commentator to select from, in those places of real difficulty, where he is truly in need of an interpreter and helper, the Fathers cannot help him, because they comment always on the Greek and Latin versions, and not on the original Hebrew; which latter in very many places differs materially from both the others. So that the author's general course was to follow in the footsteps of the Fathers, taking their very words, wherever this was possible; insomuch that half the work at least is borrowed verbally from them; the sermons of St. Augustine on the Psalms being his chief guide and constant model. But, where the Fathers left him alone, he has sought help from the English divines, especially those of the time of Charles I. and Charles II.; and whenever, in them or other writers, he found an apt illustration or pious thought which threw light on the text, he set it where it seemed best to stand. The author also tells us, that in the writing his great difficulty lay, not in the scarcity, but in the abundance of materials. That the Psalms are so full of deep meanings, and have suggested so many divine thoughts and holy musings to good men in all ages of the Church, that the labour was mainly that of selection. That he has omitted all critical discussions on disputed passages, and merely given that sense which, upon due comparison, seemed the best; and that in many cases, where several lines of interpretation have been given by the earlier writers, he has confined himself to that one which seemed most edifying, or most in accordance with the general tone of the whole. "In doing this," says he, "I am, no doubt, open to many very just criticisms. It may be said, perhaps, that on Psalms which are in themselves very plain, more has been said than was needed; while, in the case of others which are harder to understand, clearer and more probable explanations might have been given. It may be so; for the object I have always had in view was not to produce a work of literary perfection; but only to bring before my reader, who might be poor, young, and unlearned, in plain, and even homely language, some of the deep and mighty thoughts which the Psalms had suggested to St. Athanasius, to St. Chrysostom, to St. Augustine, to St. Jerome, and the holy men who followed in their track; and to leave these thoughts to work their way by their own grandeur, their own power, their own truth, and their own beauty." The Introduction to the second volume, among other things, traces the history of the Psalms through the several versions used in modern times. As the matter is very curious and valuable, we will force room for its leading points. Having given an account of what is generally known as the Septuagint version, the author goes on to state, that after the establishment of the Christian Church that version came into universal use among the Christians who spoke Greek, was read in the churches, and taken by all the Greek Fathers as the basis of their comments. That in the western parts of the world a translation was made from the Septuagint at a very early period, which was known as "the Ancient Italic version." That this was used by the Latin Fathers before the time of St. Jerome, who made with great care and industry a new translation of the whole Bible, which, though based partly on the Ancient Italic, was far more correct. This, with some few variations, is what is now known as "the Vulgate," and is used by the churches of the Roman obedience. But of the Psalms St. Jerome made two translations; the first at Rome, under the direction of Pope Damasus; which was little more than a correction of the older Italic version: the second afterwards in Pales tine; which is that contained in the Vulgate. Of these two versions, the first was long used in the western part of the Church, but gradually gave way to the second, which, from being first used in Gaul, was called the Gallican. At present, the use of the former is confined to some few churches in Rome and Milan; the Gallican version being used everywhere else in the Latin Church, except perhaps occasionally in Spain. The English Church, also, has two Psalters; the one being that in the Prayer-Book, the other that in the authorized translation of the whole Bible. The preface to the Prayer-Book tells us that "the Psalter followeth the division of the Hebrews;" that is, the Psalms are numbered as in the Hebrew Bible, and not as in the Septuagint and the Vulgate. This Psalter, which we use in our daily prayers, is taken from the Bible that was printed in 1539, under the authority of Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Coverdale; the translation being made by correcting the Vulgate from the Hebrew. Our author adds, that this version of the Psalms " is most justly esteemed for its majestic grandeur, its musical flow of style, and its being admirably adapted for chanting. For these reasons, it was always preserved when the other portions of Scripture in the Prayer-Book were made to conform to the authorized version. Though not rendered quite so accurately from the Hebrew as the Bible version, yet it gives the sense upon the whole with equal correctness; and though it contains a few obsolete words, together with some expressions which we now consider homely, it has become so dear to the affections of English Churchmen, that it would be impossible now that it should be changed. It has been truly said, that the three noblest versions of the Psalter in existence are St. Jerome's Latin version, Luther's German version, and, last in the order of time, though not in merit or in beauty, the version of our English PrayerBook." OUR LEFT-HAND DRAWER. HARDSHIPS OF MISSIONARY LIFE.-Much has been said, of late,—justly and nobly said, touching the character and condition of our Missionaries in the Domestic field, their faithful labours, their slender provisions, their sharp experiences, their unrepining manhood.. All who, in the spirit of humanity, have turned their thoughts in that direction; and who, under the pressure of life's sterner discipline, have "found their kindred in a world where want and sorrow are ;"-all such must have seen, that in the case of these servants of the Church, there is great cause for sympathy, and for that sympathy, too, which cannot rest without doing something to relieve its objects. An instance of cruel hardships, bravely borne, has lately come to our knowledge; and the story is so moving in its pathos, it touches so deeply some of the best and holiest sentiments of the human breast, that we cannot forbear to make it known to others. A short while since, the wife of a western missionary wrote to a female friend of hers at the East, who also happens to be an acquaintance of ours. We have been favoured with a sight of the letter. It was, we know, written purely for private eyes; the writer will be greatly surprised to see it in print, if indeed the pages containing it should ever meet her eye: nevertheless, it is borne in upon us, we scarce know why, that we must publish some portions of that letter; even at the risk of grieving, perhaps offending, the brave and noble heart that dictated it. We trust it may, we cannot doubt it will, be the means of drawing the sympathies, perhaps something besides the sympathies, of our brethren at the East, not only to the particular case in question, but to other similar cases, and indeed to the condition of our western missionaries generally. The letter is dated "November 26, 1857." We subjoin as much of it as can with propriety be made public: "My dear : I believe I have been owing you a letter ever since the death of my son It ought not to be so, but sorrow and sickness, and afterwards busy, busy life for a long while interrupted all my correspondence; and I have, I believe, written to nobody, during the last two years, excepting my mother and one sister. Even now, I can scarcely find a moment's time from family cares; but Brother mentions me so kindly in his last letter, that I must take it anyhow, and tell you myself of my welfare. "Shall I give you a chapter of my experience as a missionary's wife? Our house has just four rooms in it, a study, and a bedroom opening into it; a kitchen, and a bedroom opening into that. This last is my domain. We live the other side of the creek from the town, quite a distance from all friends; and our nearest neighbours are of the Irish-Cabin sort. Help is very scarce here, and I kept a miserable Irish girl all Summer, in order to have some help during my sickness. She stayed with me, and got two meals after the baby was born; went up-town, and I never saw her again until the babe was nine days old. My husband was quite sick with a cold, and most dreadfully harassed by -'strial, for which he was making preparations; no other girl could be had for love or money; a nurse is an unheard-of thing here; and my only help was a son eight years old, and a little niece a half-head taller than he. One of my friends came from town, and dressed baby for three days. thing else I did for myself, and never missed a baking the whole time. thing that could be, was brought to my bedside, and I attended to it. meals were to be cooked, my niece drew a lounge to the bedside, helped me on it, and then moved it to a door opening into the kitchen; and there I lay, telling the children when the stove was hot enough, and when the things were Every Every- cooked. Sometimes we got into so tight a place, that my husband was obliged to help, but this was not often. On finding me at the ironing-table when baby was only ten days old, he sent me back to bed, and ironed, himself, for two hours. We got a washerwoman only as a great favour, and could not get anybody to iron the clothes. I have been up every morning at five, since baby was nine days old, and have done all the work except washing, and have had regular school in the mornings for two weeks, and one music scholar. My baby is a poor puny little thing. She has had sore mouth and measles, does not thrive at all; and I have to feed her. I think worry and hard work have lessened her nourishment considerably. I am obliged to feed her both night and day,—a thing I never did before. She frets so much that she has to be held a great part of the time. My hands are full. 66 Hard times is the excuse for not paying the minister's salary. Without it we could not lay up wood for the Winter, and have been obliged to buy a load at a time as we needed it, or had the funds. My husband went last week to on this ——— business," [as member of an ecclesiastical court,] “leaving me some wood, and money to buy more. It turned cold very suddenly; all the wood we hailed was already sold. I sent up-town to one of our friends to engage some for us, but the weather was so bad none came in for two days after. Our house is very old and open. We shivered in bed, and baby's cup of milk froze by the bedside one night. Bread, butter, and milk had to be thawed, next morning, before we could eat. As soon as we could, I and my two helpers turned out in the snow to pick up sticks, or anything that would do for fuel. We could not find enough, and I had to send my son to borrow wood. He got five sticks of unsawed wood, and the children and I sawed it. Was not that pretty well, to be done the day my babe was four weeks old? I had a girl one week before my husband went to but she left a few hours after he did, without having given me any previous intimation of her intentions. Don't blame my husband; he thought he was leaving me quite comfortably provided for. My apology for being so egotistical is, that you should profit by my experience, and never wish to have your husband Rector of a western village parish." THE CHURCH AT HOME. THE JOURNAL of the Seventy-fourth Convention of New York has made its appearance with great promptness, and in a style of workmanship that does great credit to all who have had any hand in it. It makes a volume of 268 closely-printed pages, octavo. The printing is remarkably neat and clear. As to the contents, there has evidently been no sparing of pains and diligence, to make them complete and accurate. The Rev. Secretary, Dr. Eigenbrodt, must have laboured most intensely and perseveringly both in the preparation of them, and in the putting of them through the press. He has deserved well of the Diocese. Those who have ever meddled much with such tasks of dry |