of the globe. In the glimpse of this subject which will be presented, the interest is increased by reflecting that some of the first books known, are, considered merely as specimens of language, among the most strikingly sublime and exquisitely beautiful, ever opened to human view. 284. In the few remarks here offered, it will be understood that it is not the design to explain the grammar of a foreign tongue; but to call the reader's notice to historic facts and philosophic principles, which, through the countless vicissitudes of thirty four hundred years, have extended their evident influence to the language of our present daily use. 285. In the word. light, the first or right hand letter, aleph, is the hieroglyphic emblem of unity, stability, and power: not on any principle resembling picture writing, but by a system much more intellectual and refined. The middle character was the appropriate symbol of natural or sensible light. The last letter, raish, r, was the general sign of movement or action. The letter answering to r, will be found very generally appended to radical words or ideas, to denote the acting principle, the immediate cause of movement: as, in actor, mover, and others, and enters into the infinitive verbs, in most known languages: for these primitive ideas, having given their impulse, to a great extent, the course was continued from habit, when the original associations were lost. The three seemingly trifling marks, then here adduced, stood in this double character, that while, as hieroglyphic symbols, they conveyed these combined ideas, they at the same time, as alphabetic letters, represented the sounds of the spoken word. 286. Without pretending to special means of knowledge, or designing to invade the rights of any sanctuary, it may be permitted to explain the mysterious word, so far as it stands connected with important principles in the structure of speech. This word is understood to be radically the same that the translators have rendered by the name JEHOVAH. It is the subject of remarkable variety, in its pronunciation, and is very differently written, in modern letters, by different Hebrew scholars. The mystery of the ancient word was understood to consist in the articulation, and in placing the minor points; for its meaning was liable to great change by slight appendages to the radical word. 287. The Hebrew hai, is understood to correspond with our h. Orthographic writers very generally agree in considering this letter not as a distinct sound, but merely a mark of aspiration, or strong breathing. It was therefore very naturally, by the ancients, made the hieroglyphic emblem of life, or being, and the root of the verb to be. The radical letters of the Jewish appropriate name of the Almighty are, יהוה The first, or right hand character, was the hieroglyphic sign of duration; and when unaccompanied by any restricting mark, denoted eternity, or duration without beginning or end. The second character was the typical representation of being, noun and verb, as was said before; and, in its unrestricted form, meant self-existent and unchanging being. The third letter has been before explained. That light and that genial warmth it typified, are the life-communicating medium to all created things. The repetitition of the sign of independent exis tence, to form the last character, is such a multiplication and compounding of the idea of being, into itself, as no English phrase can adequately convey to the mind. In the passage quoted from Exodus iii. the sacred name was expressed, by making the typical emblem of eternal duration the intermediate character, and substituting, at the beginning of the word, the symbol of boundless power. In this form, it became an altogether peculiar verbal assertion, which could only be uttered in the first person singular, and by Him alone, who could ever truly say, אהיה אשר אהיה I AM that I AM. The expression, according to the structure of the Hebrew language, presents an idea of the incomprehensible Sovereign, who was, and is, and is to be, in a manner which it would be presumptuous in the writer of this essay to attempt farther to explain. 288. Having given a faint view of the meaning of the verb to be, it remains to show its practical application. It will be seen that this verb is, in all its forms, active and transitive, and has nothing, except its very great importance in meaning and use, to distinguish it from others. It certainly implies, in all its uses, positive activity, or the real doing of something. A living be-ing must, of course, be one that does some kind of act, or at least exercises some inherent quality or attribute in order to be. The Germans say, ein Senender, or ein Gewesener, a be-ing, a be-er, one that bees or has been ; as we say, an operator, one who operates, or has operated or performed some action. In the extensive comparison of languages, the strikingly apparent singularity in one, of the same idiom, which is perfectly familiar in an other, will be found a very efficient aid to the philosophic investigator. PASSIVE VERBS. 289. 1st. "A passive verb expresses a passion, or a suffering, or the receiving of an action; and necessarily implies an object acted upon, and an agent by which it is acted upon as, to be loved; "Penelope is loved by me."-Murray's Gram mar. 2d. "A passive verb is conjugated by adding the perfect participle to the auxiliary to be, through all its changes of number, mood, and tense, in the following manner."-The same. 3d. "The learner will perceive that the preceding auxiliary verbs to have and to be, could not be conjugated through all the moods and tenses, without the help of other auxiliary verbs, namely may, can, will, shall, and their variations. That auxiliary verbs, in their simple state, and unassisted by others, are of a very limited extent; and that they are chiefly useful, in the aid which they afford in conjugating the principal verbs, will clearly appear to the scholar, by a distinct conjugation of each of them, uncombined with any other. They are exhibited for his inspection; not to be committed to memory."-The same. Penelope is loved by me. The scepter is departed from Judah. The man is addicted to intemperance. The criminal is found guilty of murder. "Penelope is loved by me." This is the passive verb to love, in the indicative mood, present tense. The grammatical resolution of it is, that me, in the objective case, acting backwards, through the preposition by, performs the present action, denoted by the perfect participle loved. This objective love causes the suffering of the lady, whose name is the leading word of the sentence. 290. "The scepter is departed from Judah.” This is precisely the same grammatical structure as the other sentence, except the "definite article." It is accordingly to be resolved in the same way. Judah, the real actor, disguised under the apparent government of a preposition, exerting his activity from this ambush, departs the scepter; and what is still more wonderful, differing entirely in disposition from other monarchs, departs this symbol of his authority from himself; yet Judah is no way affected by this circumstance, but the whole weight of suffering falls on the scepter. "Penelope is loved by me," is turned to the active voice by saying, "I love Penelope." If this theory of passive verbs is a good one, the other sentences will bear the same change: Intemperance addicts the man. Murder finds the criminal guilty, and the criminal suffers the finding. Passive verb. Penelope is sent to England. 291. An other difficulty arises in the passive verb This relates to the tense. |