such. But what a relationship is this! And here observe that Jesus does not except from this relationship the very lowest and meanest of mankind. Therefore let every one of us who would enjoy such an unspeakable honour, give himself up at once to "the will" of God" the Father."

Ch. vi. 2. The people of Nazareth stumbled at outward circumstances, and this kept them back from faith. The same thing frequently happens now. What though we enjoy some little advantage above our neighbours? If we make a mirror of it, we then look the wrong way, and thus getting wrong in our direction, we stumble and fall. And we must take equal care not to be led away by our partialities; as, for instance, by excessive admiration of any sermon, exposition, piece of poetry, or whatever may happen to strike and dazzle us. What the Scripture calls "stumbling," or being "offended," is any such shock to our faith as hinders us from properly recovering, rising, and advancing; and all because we unduly regard things exterior and circumstantial.

Ch. vi. 4. (Instead of" despising" humble appearances, or "the day of small things," especially as to the work of God's servants,) we must learn to infer and expect greater things from less; but if so, forasmuch as we have such abundant testimony of the actual death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and of his session at the right hand of God, &c., what will not that sinner have to answer for, who persists to the end of life in his rejection of the divine message upon these subjects!

Ch. vi. 50. "It is I.” (“I am he.") This satisfied and consoled the disciples. When any true disciple at present has become so intimately acquainted with the Lord Jesus, that if he say unto that disciple's soul, "It is I," or "I am he," or "I AM,"* he can become immediately satisfied and consoled, how good is it! He said the same on another occasion, namely, to his enemies in the garden of Gethsemane; but it produced a very different effect. When the soul is already favoured with a sound constitution, any temporary disorder in it may easily be rectified by a single saying of Christ. It is with faith as with a kindled brand, which, when it is only in a sleeping glow, may be put into a flame by a single breath.

*'Ey eiμ, "I am," "It is I," "I am He;" the expression in the Greek Testament being one and the same for each rendering. This observation explains that of Bengel in the next sentence; for in the two cases which he here adduces, the two Greek words need little more than to be turned into two German words of the same meaning, each for each, and the German expression, like the Greek, admits of either signification.-TR.

Ch. vi. 56. Why did they desire only to touch the border of his garment? for it is not said that they wished to get a piece of it. The Saviour's own presence was what contented them. Here is no Romish faith in relics. When religion degenerates into human inventions, we may be sure that God has no more to do with it. Ch. vii. 6. The Lord Jesus kindly took his disciples' part against the Pharisees. The disciples were unfledged pupils, under his own wing, and therefore must be protected. What a blessing is it to be really his friends, however exposed and helpless we may be in other respects.

Ch. vii. 7. Here we may see at once what true worship is. The heart must be near to God. Communion with Him is all our salvation. Is this what we are chiefly endeavouring to maintain? It is true He is a consuming fire; but we may draw near to him by that "new and living way" which "the kindness and love of God our Saviour" have "opened to us." (If in this way we approach him,) then we may say, O God! thou art my God! Then is a man's accusing and terrified conscience, which drives him from God and from himself, made tranquil and easy. God can then gain the heart; and all its humble and meekly submissive approaches to him become accepted as a service with which He is well pleased. As a man's heart is, so is he. (It is the state of the heart that must, after all, determine what we really are in spiritual respects.) Though we may have amassed treasures of understanding about the letter of Scripture, all this is but as so much household furniture, (in the midst of which a man may remain as insecure or as wretched as ever. We read of an apostle's hearers, that they were "pricked in their heart," and so converted. In like manner) we must be "pricked in the heart" (by a conviction of sin; deeply affected by a sense of our ingratitude to God, our guilt, pollution, helplessness, and misery ;) in order to apprehend and lay hold of Jesus in his love. All will then terminate in the firm conviction, that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed of God.

Ch. ix. 31. Jesus knew, beforehand, the whole amount of his sufferings, in all their connexions and bearings; and therefore never foretold them without likewise foretelling his resurrection: neither did he foretell this without foretelling his sufferings. Thus does true faith apprehend the latter and the former as one entire matter, and makes very much of every thing pertaining to either. Here is something for exercising the heart; something which must never be lost sight of in the darkest night of

affliction, or in the clearest blaze of a terrestrial noon; for it is to guide our feet into the way of peace. As we hold a candle to the flame till it is fully lighted, so must we hold ourselves to this subject with affecting meditation. If we do not keep our souls up to it, and much more if we never come to this light, we shall remain what we have been hitherto, unchanged and unamended. But when the heart begins to speak out, "Lord, thy considerate mercy in dying for sinners was a considerateness in behalf of me; and thy resurrection for the justification of sinners, was for the justification of me; and thus hast thou effected my restoration to life eternal, not less than the restoration of others; then we are at THE POINT where the heart becomes touched and softened, and now a spring of principle opens within us which had no existence before." He is the most welcome to Christ who thus applies to him with the least delay. O that such truths as we here see connected together may take fast hold of our hearts, that we may be slaves no longer to any thing that is incompatible with the high privileges and character of true believers!

Ch. ix. 33. While his disciples were constantly about him, they went on pretty well; but there was good reason for his leaving them sometimes to themselves. Souls committed to our own charge may be kept from many a fault while they are conscious of our watchful oversight, though their heart still remain unamended. Observe what direction your thoughts and feelings most readily take, when you are alone; and you will then form a tolerably correct opinion of your real state.

Another province of employment was opened to Bengel by the high consideration in which his learning and piety were held by people of all ranks, both far and near. When he was only tutor in the Theological Institution, persons of various countries and conditions applied to him, either upon subjects of literary interest, or upon matters of conscience; and he was always ready to oblige every one, as far as his time, learning, and abilities would permit. But after he was raised to the prelacy, he was more sought than ever; and though he had increased leisure for correspondence, he soon found it quite occupied in answering inquiries that daily poured in upon him. But as his leisure and capacity for it were regarded by him as entrusted talents, he most conscientiously and wisely studied to improve the trust, as may be seen in the third section of our former chapter, and as we shall further show

in this part of his memoir. He had also now better opportunities than ever for doing good by personal intercourse. During the first years of his prelacy, he had always an assistant minister, whose "sermons" became "sensibly improved," after being associated with such a man as Bengel. Several also of his former pupils contrived to get appointments near him, that they might continue to benefit by intercourse with their revered tutor. Oetinger, who came to reside at Schnaitheim in 1743, says he settled there on that very account; as did also Burk, who in 1742 took charge of the parish of Bolheim; his friend Käufelin did the same, for in 1746 he got appointed to the assistant ministry of Herbrechtingen. Two other of his pupils, Bardili and Ehrenreich, had settled in the neighbourhood before his arrival. And his intercourse with the excellent Cosman Frederic Köstlin, Master of Arts, and dean of Heidenheim, which commenced in 1747, was a real blessing to both parties, as well as to others.

Persons farther off, and a considerable number from foreign dominions, especially from the church of the United Brethren, as Weinel, Büttner, Lieberkühn, Layriz, and Timäus, found their way to distant Herbrechtingen, for the sake of intercourse with him. He was also commonly referred to when the neighbourhood was visited by great persons, (some of princely rank,) to whom respect was to be paid by a convocation of the chief inhabitants. Bengel was never disposed to court any favour by flattering the great; but he availed himself of these occasions to deliver, if possible, some testimony to the power and saving strength of the gospel.

Another demand on his present attention was the education of his two sons, Victor and Ernest, whom with a few boarding pupils he instructed partly himself, and partly by an able family tutor. His correspondence also was increased by a part of his family now residing in distant places, as his daughters were married.

All these occupations, however, were comparatively no more than a sort of recreation for a few years; for he was soon to enter upon far more comprehensive engagements.

Before we particularize the new circumstances awaiting him, we shall notice an incident which, while it betrays how carelessly certain things were attended to in those days, shows also Bengel's conscientious aversion to unmeaning formalities. It was not till after he had been about three years actual prelate of Herbrechtingen, that his bond of office in that station was sent to him for signature. It was drawn up in the ancient form, specifying all

the particulars of his obligations as prelate, and setting forth three principal matters,-obedience to the sovereign, ministerial requirements, and superintendence of the management and application of the estate property assigned to the support of the Theological Institution attached to the prelate's jurisdiction. Bengel was surprised at finding the third of these particulars included in his obligations; especially as no opportunity had yet been given him for obtaining information as to how the property was managed and applied. But though he was one of the last obtrusively to interfere in matters of this sort, he saw at once that our forefathers had good reason for inserting such a charge in the bond, as the superintendence and control of a resident prelate was likely, in many ways, to be a useful check upon the stewardship of the establishment. Therefore, not to appear inclined to raise needless scruples, he subscribed the bond, but added to it the following supplementary explanation; that "he was conscientiously disposed to perform all dutiful obedience to his sovereign, and meant to remain a loyal subject to the end of his life; likewise he was most happy to take the charge of every church duty belonging to his station; but as for superintending the temporal concerns of the prelacy, he could not promise to be of any use in this respect to its Theological Institution, as being too remote from his residence; for that many an explanation upon various matters would require his being there on the spot at the time of their occurrence, and could not otherwise be obtained. He thought, therefore, that he ought to remain non-interferent upon such matters; at the same time he would be careful to act as a fellow-worker to the general good, by attending diligently to the duties of his ministry, which he could the better do if exempted from every temporal avocation of the kind."

He sent the bond with this explanation, accompanied by a letter which stated yet more particularly his reasons for it, to the consistorial director Schäffer. The directory had nothing to object against his declining to interfere in temporalities, and thus far his mind was set at rest with regard to the past. But with respect to the future he did not seem to be quite satisfied; for in the year 1745 we find him writing to Lang, the prelate of Blaubeuren, requesting him to move in the Synod a general deliberation upon the subject. In this letter he says, “Upon receiving the formalities of my office, and signing the bond, I felt it my duty, for the sake of my oath of consecration, to add an explanatory note to my signature. The extensive power of our ancient prelates