p. 707. 9th edit.) It is observable also, that anciently they wrote their public records on volumes or rolls of lead, and their private matters on fine linen and wax. The former of these customs we trace in Job's wish, O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! There is a way of writing in the East, which is designed to fix words on the memory, but the writing is not designed to continue. The children in Barbary that are sent to school make no use of paper, Dr. Shaw tells us, (Trav. p. 194.) but each boy writes on a smooth thin board, slightly daubed over with whiting, which may be wiped off or renewed at pleasure. There are few that retain what they have learned in their youth; doubtless things were often wiped out of the memory of the Arabs in the days of Job, as well as out of their writing-tables. Job therefore says, O that they were written in a book, from whence they should not be blotted out! But books were liable to injuries, and for this reason he wishes his words might be even graven in a rock, the most lasting way of all. Thus the distinction between writing and writing in a book becomes perfectly sensible, and the gradation appears in its beauty, which is lost in our translation, where the word printed is introduced, which, besides its impropriety, conveys no idea of the meaning of Job, records that are designed to last long not being distinguished from less durable papers by being printed. (HARMER, vol. ii. p. 168. vide also JONES's Vindication of the former part of St. Matthew's Gospel, chap. 14 and 15.

No. 154.-xx. 17. The brooks of honey and butter.] In these cool countries we have no idea of butter so liquid as described in these words; it appears among us in a more solid form. But as the plentiful flowing of honey, when pressed from the comb, may be compared to a little

river, as it runs into the vessels in which it is to be kept; so, as they manage matters, butter is equally fluid, and may be described in the same way: "A great quantity of butter is made in Barbary, which, after it is boiled with salt, they put into jars, and preserve for use." (Shaw, p. 169.) Streams of butter then, poured, when clarified, into jars to be preserved, might as naturally be compared to rivers, as streams of honey flowing upon pressure into other jars in which it was kept.

HARMER, vol. iii. p. 176.

No. 155.-xxiv. 8. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.] This exactly agrees with what Niebuhr says of the modern wandering Arabs near mount Sinai. (Voyage en Arabie, tom. i. p. 187.) "Those who cannot afford a tent, spread out a cloth upon four or six stakes; and others spread their cloth near a tree, or endeavour to shelter themselves from the heat and the rain in the cavities of the rocks."

No. 156. xxiv. 16. Dig through houses.] The houses were built of mud, or at best with bricks formed from it, of a very soft texture, which rendered them liable to such an assault; the thickness of the walls, however, would require considerable labour to penetrate, and consequently digging would be requisite to effect a breach.

No. 157.-xxvii. 16. Prepare raiment as the clay.] D'Herbelot tells us (p. 208.) that Bokhteri, an illustrious poet of Cufah in the ninth century, had so many presents made him in the course of his life, that at his death he was found possessed of an hundred complete suits of clothes, two hundred shirts, and five hundred turbans; an indisputable proof of the frequency with which pre

sents of this kind are made in the Levant to men of study; and at the same time a fine illustration of Job's description of the treasures of the East in his days, consisting of raiment as well as silver.

HARMER, vol. ii. p. 11.

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No. 158. xxvii. 19. He shall not be gathered.] "The heathens had a conceit that the souls of such persons as had not had the due rites of burial paid them, were not admitted into Hades, but were forced to wander a hundred years, a parcel of vagabond ghosts, about the banks of the Styx. Hence we find the ghost of Patroclus supplicating Achilles to give him his funereal rites. Bury me,' says he, that I may pass as soon as possible through the gates of Hades.' of Hades.' So speaks Palinurus in Virgil; • Throw upon me some earth, that at last I may obtain rest in death, in quiet habitations.' Here the self-conceited philosopher smiles at the rite of sprinkling the body three times with dust; but this, although misunderstood, and tinged with the fabulous, was borrowed from the Hebrew nation.

"To gather denotes, as to the dead, the bringing of their souls to Paradise. Although this cannot be effected by mortals, yet they expressed the benevolent wish that the thing might be. On the other hand, Job says of the rich man, he shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered. In the ages which followed, the performance of this rite was termed sealing. Of this we have a bright instance in the second book of Esdras: "Wheresoever thou findest the dead, seal them, and bury them;" that is, express the benevolent prayer which is in use amongst the Jews to this day: May he be in the bundle of life, may his portion be in Paradise, and also in that future world. which is reserved for the righteous.' It would also appear that, in this act of sealing a corpse, they either wrote upon the head with ink, or simply made the form with

the finger (Le-hovah). This at bottom could make no difference in the state of the deceased, but it expressed their desire that such a person might be among those who are written unto life. From a passage in Isaiah it appears, that persons were in use to mark with indelible ink on the hand, the words (Le-hovah) the contracted form of this sentence, I am the Lord's. This agrees with what Rabbi Simeon says, 'The perfectly just are sealed, and in the moment of death are conveyed to Paradise.' This sealing St. Paul applies, as far as wishes can go, to Onesiphorus. May the Lord grant to Onesiphorus, that he may obtain mercy of the Lord in that day! As many, says the same apostle, as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, as upon the Israel of God! (Gal. vi. 16.)

"Such being marked in death with the expression be longing to the Lord, explains this sentence, the foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this SEAL, the Lord knoweth them that ARE HIS. Hurt not the earth, nor the trees, says the angel in the book of Revelation, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. This seal, we are told, is their father's name; that is, Lehovah, the Lord's, alluding to the Old Testament form. This name Christ says he himself writes, and by doing so, acts the part of the Kedosh-Israel, opening where none can shut. This sealing, then, is taking them off by death, and placing them in his father's house; for after they are so sealed, we find them before the throne, hungering and thirsting no more, and the lamb in the midst of them, and leading them forth into pastures.

"This ancient rite St. Paul improves upon. Men can, in sealing, go no farther than wishes, but the spirit of God can do more; ye are sealed by the spirit, until the day of redemption; that is, what others of old may have done symbolically, he will do in reality-he will write upon you Le-hovah. This is a seal which no power can

erase; it will last until the day of redemption. So in another place he says, ye are sealed with the holy spirit of promise. Now the seal Le-hovah, the Lord's, not only says they are his, but it is also their memorial through the hidden period, that he will appear, and receive them unto himself, and in this way the seal itself has in it the nature of a promise." BENNET'S View of the Intermediate State, p. 353–356.

No.159. xxix. 3. When his candleshone upon my head.] The tents of princes are frequently illuminated as a mark of honour and dignity. Norden tells us (part ii. p. 45.) that the tent of the bey of Girge was distinguished from the other tents by forty lanterns suspended before it, in form of chequer work. If this was the custom formerly, it is possible that these words of Job might have a reference to it. Oh, that it were with me as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me, when his candle shone upon mine head, (when I returned prosperous from expeditions against the enemies of my tribe, and had my tent adorned with lamps) and I passed through the night by the light of it. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 133.

No. 160.-xxix. 6. Washed my steps with butter.] Chandler, in his travels, particularly observes that it was usual for men to tread on skins of cream, in order to separate the butter from its more watery part. This article was sometimes made in very large quantities; on which account such a method might be preferred for expedition. This circumstance Mr. Harmer considers (vol. iii. p. 173.) as a very natural explanation of the phrase, I washed my steps with butter.

No. 161. xxix. 7. I prepared my seat in the street.] Sitting upon a cushion is an expression of honour; and preparing a seat for a person of distinction seems to mean, laying things of this kind on a place where such a one