ing the sacred Scriptures, in the offices of devotion. The spiritual and the intellectual nature of man is then, if ever, at its maximum of experience and of power, when permitted to mingle its workings with those of the Divine mind in revelation.

The defectiveness and poverty of our modes of education, together with the deadening effects of habit and routine, convert the reading of the most impressive of all books into an ineffectual ceremony. A living and a genuine culture in early life, a culture which should cherish the expressive powers of man, would effectually prevent these and similar results. That such would be the general issue, no one can doubt, who has observed the effects of faithful self-culture, in a single instance. Who can ever forget the impressions left on his mind by hearing, even once, a passage of Scripture read by the late Dr. Nettleton, with that characteristic depth and vividness of effect, which seemed to bespeak a soul communing, face to face, with the Invisible? Who, that was ever present on such an occasion, can forget the hushed and profound attention with which a congregation would listen to the deep and quiet, but thrilling tones of Channing, in the exercise of reading the sacred volume?

The mindless and heartless style in which the Bible is read, at school, when it is made a part of the requisite exercises for acquiring a merely mechanical facility in the process of reading, fastens itself upon the ear, as an unconscious standard of manner, for life ; so much so, that the majority of readers in the pulpit, seem never to imagine, that they can ever so far identify themselves with what they read, as to render it the common justice of a single true or natural tone of the voice.*

Could we, for a moment, divest ourselves of the influence of association, and,-standing aloof from things as they are,' in the second nature' of habit,-fasten our minds on the great thought, that the world contains a volume stamped with

* The weekly reading of the Bible, as a Saturday exercise, in the parish schools of Scotland, is usually accompanied by oral explanations from the teacher, and thus rendered an aid to good reading as well as to religious instruction.

the legible impress of Revelation, would not our just expectation be that those whose duty it is to minister at the altar, would covet, above all acquisitions, the ability to read it worthily and impressively? At present, the thing is not even thought of. The very idea startles the theological student, as something odd. But when you come to inquire into the case, you find that he has, all along, had his mind on a certain shabby, dingy-looking, much worn volume, out of which, in common with others of his age, he had, in the days of his boyhood, to learn to read, at school; or from which he had to read a single detached verse, in the daily routine of family devotion; or which, in the long, weary, warm, summer sabbaths, he used to hear droned over in the pulpit.

Mere animation, or a rhetorical style, in reading the Scriptures, is unquestionably offensive, both to just sentiment and good taste, and to be as carefully avoided as the other faults which have been enumerated. But while all artificial and fancied excellence, is, in the utterance of the words of sacred truth, a thing that only disgusts or shocks a sober mind, it is not less true, that genuine cultivation and diligent practice, are as successful in this, as in any other form of human effort, and that when the occupants of our pulpits shall have acquitted themselves in this as in other parts of their public duties, the power and authority, and the daily influence of the sacred volume, will penetrate society to an extent corresponding to the difference between a dormant and an active life,— a latent and an operative power.

Classification of the Parts of Scripture.

The Bible, regarded for the moment, as a volume which may be used for the purposes of audible reading, may be classified, in rhetorical arrangement, as follows:

1. Narrative passages, varying in style, with their subjects, from the familiar to the sublime,-as in the historical books of the Old Testament, and the Gospels, in the New.

2. Didactic and doctrinal passages,-as in the Epistles,

which, being addressed to the understanding and the reason, require modifications of voice in the forms, chiefly, of inflection, emphasis, and pause,—the intellectual instruments of effect in elocution.

3. Prophetic and Descriptive passages,-marked by the language of strong epic and dramatic emotion, and requiring a bold, vivid, and expressive style of voice.

4. Lyric passages,-requiring intense expression, in strains of joy, pathos, triumph, grief, adoration, supplication.

NARRATIVE PASSAGES.

The ancient rhetorical arrangement of 'low,' or familiar, 'middle,' and 'sublime,' or elevated styles, may be practically serviceable in arranging the narrative portions of Scripture, for the purposes of elocution. The first division, ('the low,') would comprise all simple and familiar narrations; the last, ('the sublime,') narrative passages of great elevation of style; the second, ('the middle,') would include whatever forms of narrative were neither so familiar as the first, nor so elevated as the third.

Passages which exemplify the style of familiar narration, demand attention to the due observance of two opposite principles of expression in elocution,-grandeur, and simplicity; the former being inseparable from sacred subjects,-the latter, from the peculiar style of language, in the Scriptures. The former mode of expression in elocution, unmodified by the latter, would assume the form of deep, 'pectoral,' and full ‘orotund' utterance,-a grave, round, ample, and swelling effect of voice. The latter mode of expression, on the contrary, would incline to 'oral' quality,-a higher, thinner, and softer utterance, approaching to that of colloquial style. The mild effect of this style of utterance, blending with that of ‘orotund' grandeur, softens and chastens it to a gentle expression, but does not impair its dignity. The effect on the ear is similar to that produced on the eye and the mind, by a noble deportment softened by condescension.

The common faults in the style of reading the familiar narrative passages of Scripture, are dry monotony, undue vivacity, pompous solemnity, rhetorical and forced variation. The analysis of the appropriate tone for such passages, would suggest that the familiar narratives of the books of Scripture, should be read with a deeper, softer, and slower voice, than similar compositions in other works; the whole style vivid, earnest, but subdued,-indicating, at the same time, the interest awakened by the events which are related, and the chastening effect of the reverence due to the sacred volume.

V. 1. And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, "Abraham :" And he said, "Behold, here I am." 2. And he said, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thy lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."

3. 'And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4. Then, on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5. And Abraham said unto his young men, "Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." 6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand and a knife; and they went both of them together. 7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, "My father :" and he said, "Here am I, my son." And he said, "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering ?" 8. And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering:" so they went both of them together. 9. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar

there, and laid the wood in order; and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham !" And he said, "Here am I." 12. And he said, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.'

Additional examples of familiar narrative may be found as follows: the Betrothing of Rebekah, Gen. xxiv.; Judah's Appeal to Joseph, Gen. xliv.; Samuel's Report to Eli, 1 Sam. iii. 1—18; the Blind Man restored to Sight, John ix. ; the Prodigal Son, Luke xv. 11-32.

EXAMPLES IN MIDDLE' STYLE.

Narrative passages which, according to rhetorical arrangement, may be classed under the head of 'middle' style, require, in reading, a tone of voice which is deeper, firmer, and more uniformly sustained, than that of simple and familiar narration, as exemplified in the preceding extracts.

A homely, anecdotic turn of voice, is decidedly objectionable, even in the reading of ordinary historical incidents, as utterly incompatible with the appropriate dignity and elevation of the subject; and the objection to such tones becomes insuperable, when the themes are those of sacred history. The effect of fireside, colloquial intonation, applied to the pages of the Bible, is similar, in its effect, to that of parody on elevated composition. It suggests degrading and ridiculous associations.

A formal and mechanical solemnity of tone, however, can never comport with the reading of a book so remarkable for perfect simplicity of style and natural turns of expression, as the sacred volume. Nor is it claiming too much for the appropriate reading of the Scriptures, to say that it demands the