Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-01-12
STOCK TRANSACTIONS.
fRrroRrrp DAILY u n. H. yIAso, sASKrAl
San Francisco, Jan. l2-l Pm.
b n PROPHETS.

The propheticsl books Of the Old Tes-
lament are neglected by most readers Of
the Scriptures, because so large o por-
ton of them are not Ineligible. This
is partly due to defective translation,
but still more to want of acquaintance
with the circumstances in which they
were written and the special purposes
aimed at by the writers. Some devout
people make a sort of Improvement"
Of them by taking them in a general
sense as applicable to mankind at large
and conveying in q vaguely glorious way
some hints of the divine purpose in the
worlds future history ; and they gather
up isolated good words and phrases and
repeat them, with the same effect that
the Catholic counts his beads and re-
peats his Ave Maria in a language which
he does not understand, or that the de-
vout Chinaman, more economical Of his
pains, pins his prayers to a windmill
and so makes the elements his media
tors. Prof. Cowles, of 0berlin, has pro-
duced a brief commentary upon the
twelve short prophetical books, from
Hosea to Malachi inclusive, that COM
plete the Old Testament anon. II is
designed to be both critical and practi-
cal, and as the author has devoted much
time tor forty years to their study in the
original Hebrew, the book should be a
valuable help to the comprehension Of
this part of the Scriptures. So, indeed,
it appears to be, and its improved tran
station of the text and its connected his
torical illustrations Of the matters treat
ed give generally a correct idea Of the
meaning and purpose of the old pro-
phets, who were in fact preachers rather
than Projectors of future events, as is
commonly supposed. For the most part
they occupied themselves with denuncia-
tions of idolatry and other forms of
w~ickedness, into which the an
cient saints were continually laps
ing, and with predictions of the
natural results Of such evil courses.
here and there relieved by glimpses
Of some future glory to dawn
upon the world in a coming AEGEAN ex-
pectation that has prevailed in all ages,
and still prevails. Mr.. Cowles' book
will be criticised by modern students rs
rather ancient in its methods, and too
literal and dry in the Interpretation of
the lofty poetry and h%yperbole of the
East. The author is sometimes appar-
emily led into perversions Of the writer's
meaning by his strong wish to tranfuse
the Old Testament with the ideas Of the
New, and to find in the former q Gospel
which is not there and of which the
writers had no definite conception. He
does not, however, fall into the absurd
ity of giving to the text a double sense,
one manifestly applicable to the matter
in the prophets mind and understood
by his hearers, and the other reaching
over many centuries to a new and bet
ter dispensation. On the other hand,
his liberalism in some cases is as ex-
treme as his tendency to exaggerate the
fgurative in others; for instance, where
he understands Hosea to be actually
commanded of God TO take a vile woman
for his wife, and to live and suffer with
her many years, in order to furnish to
him as a prophet q striking example and
figure Of speech by which to illustrate
the wickedness Of the Jews in forsaking
the true God and going q astray after
idols. The prophets account of the
state of Jewish society at the time shows
that there were plenty of such misera-
bio examples at hand, and that there
was no necessity that he should immo-
late himself in order to furnish one If
this account must be interpreted liter
ally, as Mr.. Oowles insists, 1t is easier
to believe that Hosea was mistaken in
the source Of the spiritual suggestion
than that the Supreme Being gave any
such direction. These faults of the
commentator, however, do not counter
balance, with the discriminating stu
dent of the Scriptures, the real excel
lencies Of his book. a