his sons is not attributed to any misconduct of his. The people's saying to him, 'Thy sons walk not in thy ways,' was, no doubt, distressing to him enough, and yet could not be taken otherwise than as an implied commendation of himself, (1 Sam. viii. 3-6.) "We cannot but wonder that of all Jacob's sons, not one, during that long interval of years, disabused him respecting Joseph; and yet this was the 'Holy Family!' What a poor idea then must we entertain of mankind in general! How deplorably great must their corruption be!

"Ephraim and Manasseh.' What an importance is attached even to little things in the kingdom of God! Here, for instance, in the circumstance, that the patriarch prefers Ephraim (the younger) before Manasseh, (the elder.) In Jacob's blessing we may also perceive what a weight belongs to any blessing uttered by the true servants of God; for they are persons who know Him, and who live in the power and strength' of communion with Him.

"The Israelites did not fraudently obtain the jewels, &c. which they received of the Egyptians, but honestly demanded them; and the Egyptians virtually honoured the people of Israel at their departure, by liberally presenting them with these accommodations for their journey.

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Repeated instances in the conduct of Moses clearly show that God, so far from being offended, is rather well pleased, when in a proper and becoming manner we expostulate with him, or 'put him in remembrance' of his promises, &c.

"Levit. xvi. The day of atonement in the Old Testament, was not a festival.* Three annual festivals only were appointed, and they were to be solemnized with gladness. But this day was to be set apart for calling sin to remembrance, and we may suppose it to have been the very anniversary of the fall of man; for I find no particular national sin of Israel expressly named upon it. It was, therefore, a day of solemn remembrance for sin in general; the sin of mankind.

"The two he-goats on the day of atonement, prefigured Christ. The slain one was a type of Christ's sacrifice for all our sins; pointing out that he was to die for them: the other, being let go into the wilderness, prefigured Christ as the living surety of our forgiveness. As a single goat was insufficient for both purposes, two were made use of.

*See Matthew Henry's Note upon Lev. xxiii. 2.-T.

"God's general treatment of his people in the wilderness, was that of a father. He led them step by step. He could have announced to them the manna before they fell a murmuring,' but that their heart was to be made manifest. Their first offences were rebuked very gently, with words alone; but after the delivery of the Law in Sinai, where they had sworn fealty and allegiance, their transgressions no longer were, nor could be, so mildly dealt with.

"The language of Deuteronomy, which is addressed to the new generation, in their earlier days, treats much of the kindness and love of God, whose righteous 'severity' had been already manifested towards their fathers.

“The particular reason of several of the prohibited degrees with respect to marriage, is unknown; it is enough that God knows it. I cannot agree with some, who in these days refer the prohibitions to mere propriety in nature. Heretofore there has been too much strictness observed upon such matters; but now a perilous liberality of indulgence is beginning to prevail among us.

"The worship of God in spirit and truth was practicable, even through the multifarious ritual of the Old Testament, but true worshippers could hardly have helped perceiving, that there was 'some better thing' to come.

"Israel possessed the land of Canaan, under Jehovah, as his feudatories; hence they were annually to present to him of their cattle and of the fruits of their ground, by way of homage and quit rent.

"Job xix. 25, &c., will bear the following translation.

But I know that my vindicator liveth, and that he will at last set me up above the dust. But those who so vehemently persecute me, * must be cut down for this, and I above flesh shall see my God. Yea, I shall see him for myself, and my own eyes shall behold him, but no more as a stranger to me. My reins are consumed in my bosom.' I adopt this rendering, as taking every Hebrew expression in its ordinary meaning, without forcing it; as harmonizing naturally with the context; as maintaining the same impassioned feeling which pervades the rest of the speech; as being of a piece with the other speeches of Job; and agreeable to the scope of the whole book. The sense here given has also been established by what has already taken place since Job's time; it is not dissonant with revealed truth in general, nor by which Bengel seems to understand, "but (those who seek) after my life," (literally after my skin or body.)—T.

with any particular part of the doctrine which is according to godliness; but Scripture elsewhere in plain language, and in many places, speaks to the same effect.

"Jephtha had vowed, that whatever first met him (on his triumphal return from battle,) should be devoted to the Lord. As his daughter was the first to meet him, she was therefore to be consigned to perpetual virginity, which, as precluding her from offspring, would render her civilly dead.

"The high priest's garments seem never to have been replaced by new ones, but to have lasted till the destruction of the temple. The people of the east in general take extraordinary care of their raiment, preserving it neat and clean.

"The deed of Phinehas (Num. xxv. 6,)' was counted to him for righteousness,' though certainly not ex intuitu operis, on account of the act itself; but there was in it a kind of pure faith; he would see and hear of nothing else, so great was his zeal to vindicate the honour of his God.

"Balaam was a sort of propheta civilis, (a worldly prophet or diviner,) and not 'sent' to the children of Israel. This is very commonly overlooked.

"Samuel offered sacrifice, though he was no priest, but only a Levite. Moses did the same; for they both of them ranked above the priests, because God had given them commissions extraordinary.

"Nadab and Abihu (Lev. x. 2,) offered strange fire before the Lord; probably while they were under the influence of wine.. Therefore (in verse 9,) the use of wine was instantly prohibited to officiating priests.

"With the age of Samuel commenced a new period in Israel's history. Before him the nation had had no prophet except Moses; but, after him, there was a numerous succession of prophets.

"Michal (2 Sam. vi.) imagined that David ought, on such an extraordinary occasion, to have appeared in state and regal distinction, instead of being clothed in the humble garment of a common Levite.

"In what difficulty and embarrassment do we see David in 1 Sam. xxvii.! One would have thought that his faults and errors were much greater than those of Saul; but he abode stedfast in the Lord. Saul's great guilt was not his persecution of David, but his unbelief towards God.

"As a swan, plying equally with both feet, gains upon the

water, however turbulent, so David's spirit, with all his faults, struggled along through every difficulty. Whatever cross occurrences he had to pass through, and they were many and various, his spirit set in one general direction; he took one mainly straightforward course, and thus he held on to the end of it.

"What a noble spectacle do we meet with in 1 Chron. xii. 18! It is military service conducted in the spirit of faith. David could well understand such a speech (of Amasai.) Most of Israel's northern tribes came over to David on this occasion.

"How industrious and active, even in advanced age, was David, that favoured servant of God! (1 Chron. xxix.) He did all in his power towards building the future temple.

"Goodness is not hereditary: tried and found approved must it be by the cross. Solomon had a David for his father: this was no small advantage to him; nevertheless, in the issue it did not benefit him.

"It has been questioned, whether Solomon was saved at last. I think he was; for it was an express part of the promise, that should David's son commit iniquity, still God 'would not suffer his mercy to depart from him, nor his faithfulness to fail.'0 the depth!'

"1 Sam. xvii. 26. Upon sectarian principles, Old-Testament believers ought not to have acted as they did. Thus they ought to have said, what is all this multitude of unconverted people to me? Goliah is serving them right. They are an ungodly mass. Their very king is a worthless character. Shall God work a miracle to save such a people as this?

"How many difficult and even culpable shiftings were made by Jacob and by David, before either of them reached the mark! This consoles me about many a disaster, yea, and fault, of God's true servants at present.

"It is possible that Hiel (the Bethelite), who rebuilt Jericho (1 Kings xvi. 34), had never heard Joshua's curse (Josh. vi. 26). The Book of Joshua was not read in the public assemblies.

"To know, from the Books of Kings, that every king mentioned as the son of a predecessor, was the lawful heir of his body begotten, we must observe, that the name of such king's own mother is never omitted, but expressly mentioned after that of his natural father.

"One instance in which the word Jehovah must have been articulated by the common people, was in their confession against Baal, (1 Kings xviii. 39.)

"The nations of Mizraim and Cush, descendants of Ham, who provoked his father's prophetic curse, are expressly mentioned in Psalm lxviii. 31, as trophies of Christ's redemption. If nations such as these, were to have a part and lot in the Saviour, surely he is the Redeemer of ALL mankind.

"The xliv-lxvi chapters of Isaiah, proceed connectedly and sublimely upon creation, redemption, and sanctification. The person who devoutly reads them to that effect, will meet with admirably fine thoughts to animate, encourage, and strengthen him.

"The Hebrew word in, todah,' (praise, literally, confession, or acknowledgment,) is beautifully emphatic. In praising a fellow-creature, we may easily surpass the truth; but in praising God, we have only to go on acknowledging and confessing what he really is to us. Here it is impossible to exceed the truth; and here is genuine praise.

"In the fifteenth chapter of Ezekiel, God puts forth a parable of the vine-tree; and speaks of its wood as 'insufficient for any work, or even for a pin to hang any vessel thereon; how much more when the fire hath devoured it,' &c. In the fifteenth chapter of St. John, Christians are likewise compared to vinebranches. And a true Christian is indeed a great blessing to the world, even in temporal respects, as vine-branches are very profitable while they bear fruit. But if he abide not in Christ, but decline into a worldly spirit, he is no longer even the valuable temporal man he was; as the vine-branches, severed from the green and bearing vine, are not fit wood even to form a peg, and are good for nothing except fuel.

"We cannot prove from the gospels, that by the coming of Elijah the prophet,' as foretold in the fourth chapter of Malachi, John the Baptist is exclusively meant. As the Pharisees erroneously held, that the real Elijah's coming would usher in that of the Messiah, there is a delicate peculiarity in our Saviour's expression, If ye will receive it,' (Matt. xi. 14.) John came in the spirit and power of Elias; but it cannot be evinced that he was Elijah himself.

"Some may be inclined to doubt, whether the Book of Esther was written by an inspired person; because, in ch. ix., we have so many words that appear tautology. Nevertheless, the impassioned joy and gladness of the writer may account for this; for gladness is commonly lavish of words.

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Apocryphal writings first became appended to the canonical