evil of the two to allow a polygamist convert, whose wives do not choose to leave him, to retain them, exhorting him, by God's Grace, to live as a faithful servant of God among them, and, like Abraham of old, to command them and his children after him, to do justice and judgment, and to keep the way of the Lord.'"

Over against this we may set a few passages in which the American Missionary shows his superior acquaintance with the facts that ought to determine the question:

"We might speak of the evils of Kafir polygamy in a commercial, political, and social point of view, and show how a sanction of it, as lawful,' is a sanc tion of tyranny and oppression, indolence and avarice; and how the whole system is no better than a system of grinding slavery. We have already alluded to this, but the subject deserves a further illustration. The men look upon the women as an inferior class, especially fitted and designed for servitude. Not only are all the wives of a man generally as much subject to his despotic will as a company of slaves to their master, but among most of the tribes or nations there is also a grade of subordination running through the whole company of wives. The husband sets one, generally the first, over the rest. These, the rest, are mere common women-serviles, not only to the busband, but to the superior wife. The second, also, in some tribes, is over the third, the third over the fourth, and so on. Hence, while on the one hand, the whole system of polygamy is one of grinding oppression to the entire female sex, yet we see that every wife is more or less interested in having the number multiplied, as every new wife becomes a sort of slave to all the rest. And this is one of the great reasons, no doubt, why young women often make such desperate, even deadly, opposition to marrying a polygamist: for she must, probably, be a slave, not only to him, but to all the women which he took before her. Another great reason for this opposition, is, that it is not the nature of conjugal affection to be satisfied with the divided affections of its object in return, especially where, as in the case of secondary wives, the whole amount of reciprocated affection must be insignificant.

"Now, I ask, is it in the nature of such marriage laws, customs, and relations, to bring forth the fruits of love, peace, purity, and joy? Suppose a man has a dozen wives, and that several of them, perhaps all but the first, were dragged into this 'lawful' system of polygamic oppression and iniquity, by means of 'various kinds of torture;" to say nothing of the jealousy which must exist among them in respect to their common lord, who can fail to see that such a house must be divided against itself, and that witchcraft, hatred, variance, wrath, strife, seditions, envyings, if not murders or suicide, together with adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness, must be the inevitable fruit of such relations between a dozen women and one man? And who does not see that it is absolutely impossible to modify such a system, or such relations, so as to bring them into any thing like conformity to the demands of the Gospel, without uprooting it? And who can think of baptizing such a monster into the Christian church, without 'offense?' As soon might a man take fire into his bosom and not be burned!

"Take the power of a tyrant from the Kafir polygamist, and attempt to restore his wives to any thing like the rank and privilege which every man, to be a Christian, must accord to a woman to whom he stands in the relation of a husband, and the whole foundation of the polygamic house is swept away, and the superstructure must fall to the ground. The instructions of Christ and the Apostles to husbands and wives can never be obeyed by men and women who stand in the relations which the essential nature of Kafir polygamy inevitably imposes upon all who are involved in its iniquitous meshes. And the more you attempt to modify the hostile incoherent elements of the system, so as to make it more tolerable, the more hostile and incoherent they must become. It

can only exist in two circumstances-either in the grossest ignorance of God's will, and of the real nature, privilege, and duty of man and of marriage; or else in open positive hostility to the essential principles of Christianity. Whatever may have been the nature of patriarchal polygamy, and the requirements or forbearance of God under the Jewish dispensation-and we believe that not a few of the worst essential features of Kafir polygamy had no place in the patriarchal-we have no hesitation in giving it as our humble opinion, that the polygamy of this people will far sooner and easier break and crumble to dust, than be bent into any such conformity to the spirit and precepts of the Gospel of Christ, as to prevent its bringing forth those fruits of darkness which must ever prove a curse to the church in which they may be cherished and tolerated.

The question about polygamy and Christianity is likely to become ere long a practical question in these United States. By the deliberate treachery of the men entrusted with our national government since 1850, (we mean the majorities in Congress as well as the Presidents,) a state is growing up with a worse than Moslem polygamy for its "peculiar insti tution." That state will soon be demanding admission into the Union; and the principles which have been adopted for the sake of facilitating the extension of slavery will make it impossible to resist the demand, especially as Utah will be a slaveholding state, and will increase the predominance of the slaveholding power. Then we may have bishops and doctors in this country, (and why not Synods and General Assemblies?) to argue that inasmuch as Abraham and David were polygamists, therefore a brutish scoundrel like Brigham Young with his fifty wives, if he will profess an orthodox belief and give "evidence of piety" that shall be in other respects sufficient, may, without breaking up his harem, be admitted to Christian fellowship. And then the imprudent preacher who shall venture to argue in the pulpit or elsewhere, against polygamy, will be charged with prostituting himself to the service of a political party; and a thousand discordant voices from the custom houses, from the dram shops, and from the places where self-styled conservatives, meek and sanctimonious, do congregate, will bid him stick to the Gospel, and not intrude into the field of politics.

Oriental Acquaintance; or Letters from Syria. By J. W. DE FOREST. New York: Dix, Edwards & Co.

The multitudinous readers of Putman's Magazine will recognize large portions of this book as belonging to their own "Oriental Acquainttance." All who have read those portions of the work which have been published as articles in the Magazine, will be glad to learn more about the author's Syrian experiences. We have had heretofore many an amusing Eastern tourist, and many a one like Lamartine full of poetic genius. But here the utmost liveliness, the keenest sensibility to the ludicrous aspects of oriental life and character, and a ready perception of the beautiful in nature, are united with an exactness of observation which may be entirely relied on. The readers of Mr. J. W. De Forest's book, when they see how much "the Hakeem" contributes to his information, will probably remember that Dr. H. A. De Forest, an accomplished and devoted physician, has been for many years connected

with "the Syrian Mission" of the American Board of Commissioners, and will naturally and justly infer that the author of this little volume had more than ordinary advantages and opportunities for seeing the inside of things.

We give an amusing illustration of how justice is administered under a "paternal government."

"Syrian intellects were fast getting into a muddled state, when I was in the country, by reason of the va raries of a certain neuralgic Pasha, who reigned at Beirut. This remarkable ruler's character seemed to consist of one monstrous oddity, which had swallowed up every other of his mental peculiarities, as Aaron's rod swallowed its brother switches. The Pasha hated noise; hated it with the hatred of a madman. Everything that was constitutionally, or by accident, of a noisy nature, came in for a share of his aversion. With this sensibility of nerves, it is no wonder that he entertained a mortal antipathy to babies. Now, close by the gubernatorial palace was the cabin of a poor widow, who had what she considered the good fortune of possessing a baby of her own. As the said widow was a washerwoman, and in moderate circumstances at that, she was obliged to be absent from home much of the time, leaving her offspring to the care of good luck and his own instincts. The consequence was, that the poor urchin hung himself, and drowned himself, and chopped his fingers and toes off every day of his uneasy little existence. And, after every one of these misfortunes, there being no other consolation nigh, he lifted up his voice and wept until the Pasha raved and blasphemed in the innermost recesses of his palace. In vain did the janizaries thunder the indignation of their master in the ears of the washerwoman and the washerwoman's baby. This unprotected female was, indeed, terribly frightened, and did all she could to abate the clamorous nuisance. But she was unable to be at home all the time, and the child almost always got into trouble just while she was gone, and invariably concluded that his griefs demanded an immediate and astounding uproar. Finally a guard of soldiers assaulted the house, ejected the vociferous garrison, and held it against the return of the garrison's mother. Lamentable outcrys, tearings of hair, complaints, public and private, on the part of the dispossessed widow. But the oppressor was relentless, and continued to hold the house up to my departure from the country. So much for being a Pasha, and so much for having a baby. Lucky thing for mothers that all old bachelors are not Pashas or Pharaohs!

"The above nuisance having been suppressed, the government turned its attention to another. There were some trees in the palace garden, where a number of birds used to collect and sing, whenever they felt so disposed. The Pasha set his janizaries to drive the feathered serenaders away. The janizaries commenced a leisurely fire of musketry upon them, but the Pasha soon found that the guns made more noise than the birds. He ordered a stop to the firing, and the aerial choir, being no longer put out by the irreverent whistling of bullets, resumed its psalmody at the old place. The Pasha was furious; he had the trees cut down. This circumstance amazed all Beirut, as the reverence of an oriental for tree is only second to his reverence for a fountain.

"On occasion of one of the Pasha's abrupt apparitions in the streets of the city, an unlucky butcher lost several cents worth of mutton, through the characteristic infirmity of his ruler. I will relate the circumstance: it will serve as a warning to the butchers of America; it will induce them to die rather than see their country subjugated by the Turks; and will, no doubt, give all their sympathies to the Czar, in his struggles against those unreasonable enemies. The Pasha was stalking through the market, when he observed a lean cat mewing, with clamorous perseverance, about a meat-stall. He stopped, and eyed the owner of the stall with stern reproof, which gradually deepened into fierce indignation. The object of that terrible gaze trembled in his bloody breeches

with fright, ignorant of his offense, but expecting every moment to feel his head hop from off his shoulders. The Pasha grew blacker and blacker at the supposed obstinacy of the butcher, and, arrived at the acme of his rage, thundered out: In the name of God, why do you not feed that cat.'

"I beg your excellency's pardon," stammered the butcher, I did not see the cat.'

646

'But you see him now?'

"I do, your excellency.'

666 Well, feed him!' roared the Pasha.

"I will,' said the butcher. I beg God's forgiveness and your excellency's for having neglected the animal.' And he commenced cutting off generous slices of meat for grimalkin, highly contented that the said slices did not come from his own ears. The Pasha stood gravely by, and saw the rations served out, until the voracious animal could positively hold no more mutton. 'Now,' said he to the butcher, never let me hear any more cats mewing about your stall for want of something to eat. And, as for this beast,' he continued, turning to his janizaries, I will not have him caterwauling about my city. Put him on board a ship going to some other country. Give him a sufficiency of meat for the voyage; charge the captain to take care of him, and in God's name let him not return!'

"This order was actually obeyed, and the cat was shipped to Cyprus in an Arab coaster, since which it has fortunately not been heard of in Beirut.

"The Pasha was also disturbed by the braying of a certain donkey, whose nasal clamor he got rid of by banishing the animal and its master to Tyre. But, perhaps, the most abominable of all the disturbers of his nerves, were some loud-voiced frogs that inhabited a ditch beneath the walls of the city. The janizaries were sent against them, as they had been against the birds, and soon captured numbers of the amphibious croakers. O, your Excellency,' said they to the Pasha, we have taken the frogs; what shall be done with them?'

666

'Hang them,' replied the Pasha; let them be hung after the manner of malefactors, among the Franks.' Accordingly, from the trees of the garden soon depended a score or so of the green-doubleted troubadours, swinging at the end of long strings, and kicking out their agonies with incomparable vivacity and duration."

A Key to the Bible: Being an Exposition of the History, Axioms, and General Laws of Sacred Interpretation. By DAVID DOBIE. New York: C. Scribner.

Mr. Dobie has prepared this book with much care and labor for "the every day reader of the Bible," and for "the Bible-class teacher," as well as for the student and the pastor. He is a clear thinker and a lucid writer.

Two Discourses on our own Religious Affairs. By RAY PALMER, Minister of the First Congregational Church, Albany. Albany: J. Munsell.

The great success of the attempt to establish a church of the New England order in the old Dutch metropolis, gives to these two discourses more than ordinary value. Those who engage in a similar enterprise ought carefully to study the conditions of success. In such a study they may be aided by Dr. Palmer's record of the origin and growth of the church to which he ministers.

Sacred Praise.

An Earnest Appeal to Christian Worshipers, in Behalf of a

Neglected Duty. By THOMAS HASTINGS, author of various musical and miscellaneous publications. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. 1856.

The

In this elegant duodecimo volume of two hundred and sixteen pages, the now aged and venerable author presents the fruits of long experience and careful thought on the subject of "the service of song." little book is as attractive to the eye as the art of the papermaker and printer can make it; and the author's views and opinions are expressed in that simple, clear, idiomatic English, which he has so remarkably at command, and for which, in former years, he has been known to our readers, in the pages of the New Englander. He starts with the postulate, which there will certainly be a general willingness to concede, that the exercises of praise, in the public worship of American churches, are the subject of prevalent and lamentable abuses. And in treating of the proper remedy, he speaks always with a wise moderation, and a Christian spirit which will command the respect of every reader.

Thus far we can praise without stint. We might go farther, and say, perhaps without exception, that the strictures upon existing evils are just, and that the suggestions and recommendations are uniformly judicious. But after all, we are convinced that the author has not touched the real root of the trouble, and that for lack of one discrimination of grave importance, the book will in some respects have an unfortunate influence in perpetuating the prevalent mischievous confusion between the singing of the choir for impression, and the singing of the people in worship. The teachings of this book carried out would still leave the churches suffering under the present half-and-half system-the people singing a little, but not much, for fear of troubling their neighbors, or embarrassing the choir; and the choir singing as well as they can without interfering with a certain amount of accompaniment from the people.

The above remarks will plainly enough indicate to the reader our own views of the cause of the inefficiency of our arrangements for singing in public worship. The author before us, after alluding to causes adduced by others, such as deficiencies in taste, the indifference of congregations, the intractability of singers, the low state of practical piety, &c., gives his own notions in the following language:

"All these views of the subject are too limited and superficial. A deeper view is that which refers to the wide prevalence of wrong notions of musical efficiency. Exercises in praise, as we shall have occasion to show, ought so to unite the pleasures of song with the fervors of devotion as to give to the worshipers an increased interest in the sentiments of the words which are sung. This will be seen at once from the early history of the art, from the importance of the language we employ, and from the intelligent nature of our holy religion. It is evident, too, as we shall see, that real praise is an employment most solemn and spiritual, involving the same responsibilities which prevail in prayer. The singers are, as personal worshipers, to adopt the language which is before them as their own; and the listeners are to yield to it, either audibly or inaudibly, their entire and devout concurrence. As this is in substance the Bible defini. tion of praise, we shall adhere to it in the succeeding pages.

VOL. XIV.

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