“The grammar of the language is nearly fixed

by Mr. Gilchrist's learned and useful labours; "but it is still difficult to write in it with a "view to general utility. For the higher Ma"homedans and men of learning will hardly

peruse, with satisfaction, a book in which the "Persian has not lent its aid to adorn the style. "To the rest a larger proportion of Hindoo is "more acceptable. The difficulty of ascer

taining the point equally removed from either “extreme, would be considerably lessened, were "there any prose compositions in the language, "of acknowledged purity. But unfortunately

no such standard exists: no works of any description indeed have been found but poems. “Lately some translations in Hindoostanee prose "have issued from the college of Fort William ; “but as they have not yet stood the test of time, " and are very little known in the country, they "could not safely be referred to as a standard. "Thus I have been left to the guidance of my "own judgment far more than I could have "wished.

In regard to the Arabic and Persian Translations, both of which, Mr. Martyn superintends; as well as the Hindoostanee, he thus writes :

"In the Persian and Arabic Translations there "are happily no such difficulties. The valuable

"qualities of our Christian brother, Nathaneal "Sabat, render this part of the work compara❝tively easy. As he is, I trust, a serious "Christian, the study of the Word of God, " and the translation of it, are of course a mat"ter of choice with him, and a rigid adherence

to the original, a point of duty.* As a scholar "his acquirements are very considerable.

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He

was educated under the care of the most "learned man in Bagdad; and, having conti"nued to exercise himself in composition, he "has acquired in consequence a critical acumen, "and great command of words. His ill state " of health renders it impossible to say exactly "when the work he has undertaken will be "finished; but if nothing untoward happen to "interrupt us, you may expect the New Testa

*The solicitude of these Translators to infuse the true meaning of the original into their versions, and not to trust entirely to the English Translation, will appear from the following observations of Mr. Martyn in his last letter.-" The Psalms we must leave till the end of the New Testament, for this solid reason, that I do not understand a considerable portion of that book. Much of the present Translation is certainly unintelligible. It appears to me, that the two Royal Authors have suffered more from the plebeian touch of their interpreters, than even the Prophets, or any others but Job. Hebrew has been of late my constant meditation."

ment, in the three languages, in the course of

❝ two years.

THE JEWS.

THERE are three remarkable prophecies concerning the Jews.

1. "The children of Israel shall abide many "days without a King, and without a Prince, "and without a sacrifice, and without an image, "and without an Ephod, and without Teraphim." Hos. iii. 4.

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2. "The Lord shall scatter thee among all

people, from the one end of the earth even “unto the other." Deut. xxix. 64. And yet, "the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be “reckoned amongst the nations.” Num. xxiii. 9.

3. "Thou shalt become an astonishment, “ a proverb, and a bye-word among all the na❝tions whither the Lord shall lead thee.

Among these nations shalt thou find no ease, “neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest.” Deut. xxviii. 37. 65.

The first of these prophecies is very remarkable; for who ever heard of a nation "abiding

,, many days" without its civil and religious polity, and surviving its political existence? The very assertion seems to involve an absurdity. Did the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Greeks, or Romans survive their civil and religious polity?

The second prediction is not less singular than the former; for if the Jews were to be received among the nations of the earth, why should they not be reckoned with the nations ?" Would any man, in a remote age, venture to foretel that there was a certain nation, which, in the ages to come, would be received and tolerated by all other nations, merely to be persecuted?*

*To this day the Jews" are not reckoned" with the English nation. The prophetical record influenced the last parliamentary proceeding respecting them. In 1753, a Bill was passed to naturalize the Jews; but after a few months it was repealed, the voice of the people demanded that the devoted nation should "not be reckoned with them." So true it is that our last national deliberation concerning this people was influenced by the ancient prophecy.-The time is now come when Parliament may restore to the Jew the franchise of a fellow-creature, without contravening the Divine decrees. It is prophesied again, that " Israel shall return to the Lord their God," and that the period of this event is not far remote. In obedience then to the dictate of this prophecy, let our Christian nation proceed, without delay, to take away the reproach of the Jewish people; and announce the act in the most public and solemn manner, as an example to the rest of the world.

But the third prophecy is such as must afford a contemplation to infidelity, to the end of time. The Jews were to become "an astonishment, " and a proverb, and a bye-word among all the "nations," because they shed the blood of the Saviour of the world. Now it is not surprising that Christians should reproach them for such a crime. But how should we expect that they would be "trodden down of the heathen 66 world," who never heard of such a Saviour? Behold the Hindoo, at this day, punishing the Jew, without knowing the crime of which he has been guilty!

These three prophecies have been manifestly fulfilled; and if we had no other evidence, this is sufficient to prove "that there is a God, and "that he hath made a revelation to man."

There is a fourth prophecy concerning this people, which will shortly be accomplished. The Prophet Hosea, after foretelling that the children of Israel should abide many days without a King, adds these words:-" After"wards shall they return, and seek the Lord "their God, and David their king; and shall "fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Hosea iii. 5.

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The question, which is now in the mouth of every Christian, is that which was asked in the