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"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." When he thus recognises the impossibility of avoiding death

Οὔτις ἄποινα διδοὺς. . . . V. 1187.

None for a ransom from grim death can flee,
Or grievous trouble, but by Fate's decree,

we remember that the Preacher also says (viii. 8), “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death ;" and the resemblance of the words of the Psalmist (Ps. xlix. 6) is still more striking; They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches,-none of them can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him ;-that he should live for ever, and not see corruption." When we find our poet complaining that

Καὶ σώφρων ἡμαρτε. . . . V. 665.

The wise man fails, the fool obtains renown,
And honor comes to every low-born clown,

the sentiment, though less purely moral, resembles that of Solomon (viii. 14), "There be just men, unto whom it hap peneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous." And when he adopts a tone of grave warning, and admonishes his young friend

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'Speak not with boasting tongue-no man can say

What things the night may finish, or the day,

we seem to hear the very echo of the solemn voice of the wise king (Prov. xxvii. 1)-"Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."

But while such convictions as these were the professed rule of our poet's life, the rule certainly had its exceptions; and though no reader can fail to admire the lofty moral tone of his works, he will as inevitably notice the vast infe riority of the highest perfection of heathen ethics, as herc exhibited, to the morality of the Gospel. We might search

in vain through the whole range of ancient literature for purer precepts, more elevated sentiments, and nobler feelings. than may here be found on every page; and yet the forgiving, self-denying, beneficent spirit of Christianity is wholly wanting. The refining, elevating, civilizing influences of superior rank and liberal culture, had developed the better faculties of the poet's nature; but they had no power to restrain the darker and stronger passions of his depraved heart. The greater part of his poetry, like the quotations already made, is both pure and noble; but other portions present so violent and startling a contrast, as almost to induce us to distrust their authenticity, and to believe that a mind capable of such conceptions as the former would never have stooped to the production of the latter. Sentences enjoining moderation and self-restraint are followed by convivial snatches and descriptions of scenes of excess and revelry;* warm expressions of affection, and earnest inculcations of the duties of kindness and hospitality, are strangely blended with denunciations of his enemies and fierce longings for revenge; and in the midst of moral reflections and exhortations to virtue, we are startled by passages of covertly immoral or openly licentious meaning. Such apparent contradictions are, in fact, easily explained; for they plainly show that our poet's practice by no means coincided with his theory, and that his own life was not always regulated by the precepts he urged upon others. Our poet's moral theory, as we have seen from his words, was certainly lofty and admirable; and these aberrations from its welldefined course, are very evidently the workings of the same "deceitful and desperately wicked" heart which, in all men, can see the right, and yet the wrong pursue." With the

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aid of the "light that was in him," which his writings reflect, he came far short of the spirit of that system which breathes nothing but "good will towards men;" and while his own words tell us that his " conscience was a law unto him," they also clearly show that he wilfully disregarded and disobeyed its dictates.

One of them (v. 503) begins with the word Oívoßapiw—“I am heavy with wine"-a confession in itself,

It has been already intimated that Theognis was regarded in ancient Greece as a teacher of wisdom and virtue. Welcker, in his valuable Prolegomena to Theognis, has cited a number of Greek authors, who testify to the high morality of his writings. Xenophon thus speaks of him: "This poet has discoursed on no other subject than the vir tue and vice of men; and his poetry is an essay (úyμμ) upon men, just as if a horseman should write about the equestrian art." "To this testimony," says Welcker, "considerable authority is added by a passage from Plato, where Theognis is favorably compared to Tyrtæus, as to bravery: 'We say, indeed, that this man (Theognis) was far braver than the other (Tyrtæus) in a very severe conflict; almost as much as his justice, and prudence, and wisdom are superior.'" Welcker next quotes a long passage from Isocrates, part of which is as follows: "They say that these (Hesiod, Theognis, and Phocylides) are the best counsellors for (the regulation of) the life of men." These passages give ample evidence of the estimation in which Theognis was held by the Greek writers of the best authority.

To these testimonies cited by Welcker, we add the opinion of one of the Greek fathers. Basil (of Cæsarea), in a discourse urging upon young men the advantage of the study of the ancient classics, cites Theognis as an instance of a heathen writer, from whose works lessons of virtue may be drawn; and he quotes several of his moral precepts, which he commends to the youth whom he addresses.*

Some explanation is necessary upon a point which would at first appear to introduce a degree of ambiguity into the moral precepts of Theognis. He sometimes uses the words ἀγαθός, ἐσθλός, δίκαιος, &c., and their opposites, κακός, δειλός, dixos, &c., in a social rather than a moral sense, so that "good" and "bad" mean simply "noble" and "plebeian," "aristocrat" and "democrat." We know that this use of the class of adjectives referred to is by no means confined to Theognis, or to the writers of his time or class; but this fact only extends the difficulty without relieving it. Any attempt to divide those passages which contain words sus

* Basil Tρos TOUS VEDùs, &c., sec. ix.

ceptible of this double interpretation into the two classes of political and moral precepts, would, we think, lead to no satisfactory result. Welcker has attempted this, to some extent; but we can discover very little internal evidence in any of the passages he quotes, to show which of them Theognis intended should convey a political, and which an ethical signification. Nor are we sure that such a classifi cation would be of any practical use. We find more satis

faction in looking for the cause of this confusion of epithets in the early history of Grecian society, and especially in the education and personal fortunes of Theognis. By birth a member of the aristocracy of Megara, he was, of course, imbued with all the prejudices of his rank; his ideas of lawlessness and violence, of defiance to all government, both divine and human, were derived from what he had seen and heard of those below him in station. For there he saw resistance to authority which he believed to be lawful, just, and countenanced, if not actually ordained, by the supreme deities; there he saw wickedness joined with misery; and, it may be supposed, was at very little pains to inquire whether the association thus presented to him was accidental, or necessary and perpetual. And when to these prejudices of birth and education was added the effect of a successful rising of these despised plebeians, resulting in a revolution which drove him from home, friends, and fortune, we surely can feel no surprise that our poet identified the names of vice and democracy, and came to look upon virtue and those refined manners and elevated sentiments which accompany it, as the special and exclusive heritage of high rank and noble lineage.

These fragments, otherwise so confused and irregular, evidently preserve, to some extent at least, the order of time. The moral and political advice throughout is addressed to one person-Kyrnus, the son of Polypas. The first pages are filled chiefly with forebodings of approaching disturbance. Then follow complaints of poverty, and all the misfortunes the revolution had brought upon him, with denunciations against the despoilers of his house and fortune.

* Welcker's Prolegomena, p. xxx.

His return succeeds, with all the rejoicings and bright expectations of a happy future; and among these occurs the mention of the Persian invasion. Indeed, to nothing do we think that these fragmentary writings have more resemblance, than to a continuous daily record, not only of the events and occurrences, but also of the thoughts, feelings, and opinions, the joys and sorrows, regrets and wishes of a chequered and eventful life. They appear to us like the contents of the note-book of a man of a high order of poetic genius-a sort of poetical ephemeris-in which the facts of his personal history, the feelings occasioned by the various. changes of his fortunes, the lessons of wisdom derived from his own experience, and the precepts of morality and integrity which he had found most advantageous for his own guidance, are thrown into easy and graceful verse,-chiefly for the benefit and instruction of a young man for whom he felt a paternal friendship and solicitude.

ART. VIII.-DR. SCHAFF AS A CHURCH HISTORIAN.

History of the Apostolic Church, with a General Introduction to Church History. By Philip Schaff, Professor in the Theological Seminary at Mercersburg, Pa. Translated by Edward D. Yeomans. New York. Charles Scribner, 145 Nassau steet, 1853, pp. 684.

WE have been said to exaggerate the Romanizing tendencies of Dr. Schaff. The only satisfactory way of meeting the charge is to complete the analysis of his system, and bring its true character into the light as clearly and faithfully as we can.

The theory of Dr. Schaff we have not felt it necessary to touch, at least not in a distinct and separate way. This had been done, and well done, to our hand. A very able writer laid open its dangerous and inevitable tendencies, in the Christian Intelligencer, almost immediately after the appearance of the book. The Princeton Review followed

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