Ver. 2. Miravort, Repent ye. In the same manner did Christ,-in the same manner did the apostles begin their preaching. In the same manner did the Lord command the Evangelist to write, at the beginning of the Apocalypse, Rev. ii. 5. (Serm.)

'Ovgavar, of heaven. This phrase, the kingdom of heaven, is only to be found in St. Matthew; and was employed by him in order to take from the Jews, for whom he wrote, the idea of an earthly kingdom.

Ver. 3. Ouros, this. Many are the individuals in the New Testament, who are predicted in the Old.

Kugiov, of the Lord. In the Hebrew of Isaiah, n, Jehovah. Christ is here intended. The title "Lord," as given to Christ, has various meanings in the New Testament, depending on the circumstances, the time, the speakers. In passages applied to Christ from the Old Testament, it often answers to the names

.אדני

and

The men among whom our Lord walked gave him the title of Lord, in a higher or lower sense, according to their faith.

Ver. 4. Aguativny, leathern. The girdle of John, however, like that of Elias, was properly not of leather, but of skin,1 i. e. of the most ordinary kind. The dress of many holy men is recorded in the Scriptures, and indeed that of Christ himself; and not without reason. (Serm.)

Teopn, meat.

What his drink was we may gather from Luke i. 15.

Ver. 6. 'Eoμodoyovμevoi, confessing. In the baptism of repentance, they confessed their sins; in the baptism of Christ, they confessed Christ. (Serm.)

Ver. 9. 'Ex Twy wy, from these stones. Or whence he pleased; as Adam from the dust. The Lord is bound by no law of succession in the church.

Ver. 10. Avogav, the trees. tiles as stones.

That is, the Jews; because they regarded the Gen

Ver. 11. Tuas, you. John therefore did not refuse baptism even to the Pharisees.

'E, idars, with water.

as himself.

Όπισου μου, αfter me. he was, a little before the

John does not so much mean to depreciate his baptism

This quite agrees with John's being born, as we know
Messiah.

Ver. 12. O TO TтVOY, whose fan. Neither the precursor, nor any of the followers of Christ, had this fan as Christ himself had. A consolation for the infirmity of ministers: He will do the work. Nor are their warnings vain, though powerless.

'Aλara, floor. The "floor" is the place of the pilgrims, the " garner," of the victors. (Serm.)

1 The Hebrew, 2 Kings i. 8, seems to support Bengelius in this observation. -Tr.

'Avrou, his. Heb. iii. 6. (Serm.)

'Axvgov, the chaff. Though sometimes not unlike the "wheat." The straw is not so much as mentioned.

Пvgi, with fire. Every one must either be baptized with fire, (ver. 11.) or consumed with fire. There is no other alternative. (Serm.)

Ver. 14. 'Eyw, I. It seems, then, that John himself had not received baptism.

Ver. 15. Пara dixαiosvrny, all righteousness. Jesus used this expression, while all others who came to be baptized, being sinners, confessed their sins (ver. 6.) Such a mode of speaking was suited to none but the Messiah. Thus, when he abases himself the most, the Son of God duly maintains his proper majesty. Comp. John xiii. 7: xviii. 5, 6, 36, 37.

Ver. 16. 'Eveus, straightway. There was nothing to detain him longer; so he straightway arose from the dead.1

Ver. 17. Kai, and. Our Lord received the Holy Ghost at baptism, in order that he might baptize us with the Holy Ghost. John i. 33.

'Ayarnros, beloved. It is natural that Christ should be the "beloved" of his Father, as being his only begotten "Son." But, besides this, he is his beloved Son, in whom the Father is "well pleased." This implies something additional, namely, that Christ should perform all his will.

[To be continued.]

Biblical Investigations.

"Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not ?"-Matt. xxii. 17.

THEY do not enquire about the right of Cæsar over Judæa; for among the Jews that was admitted to be none at all. It was the one hundred and twentieth year since Pompey, acting as mediator between Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, who were contending for the kingdom, subjugated Judæa to the Roman power. Jos. Ant. 14, 4, 4. and 5. Afterwards the Romans set Herod and his sons over the Jews, against their wills, and finally exacted the census, or capitation tax; and Judæa,

1 "Upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning." The former transaction was an emblem of the latter.-Tr.

being reduced to the state of a province, fell to the administration of avaricious and unjust governors. It grieved the Jews to see theatres erected by Herod,-eagles displayed aloft,-the sacred treasury plundered by Pilate,-the Antonia which overlooked the Temple fortified by a Roman garrison,-the high priests created and removed at the pleasure of the governor; and they, not unreasonably, feared worse usage. Hence, impatient of these injuries, they began to debate, whether the obedience so rendered to the Romans could consist with the duty which they owed to themselves, their fellow-citizens, nay, to God himself? Whether or not their ancestors were to be imitated, who had disowned the dominion of Pharaoh, and afterwards of the kings of Syria, with a success which they attributed to the co-operation of the Almighty? Would, therefore, God have instilled this love of liberty in their minds, -would he have made them his people by the command of circumcision and of the law promulgated and ratified by promises, that they should suffer a base and miserable bondage to foreigners, uncircumcised idolaters, and tyrants? See 1 Macc. ii. 24-68. iii. 59. Deut. xvii. 24. Thus Judas the Galilean taught them. Joseph. 18, 1, 1. & 6. B. 2, 17, 8. To others, however, who recommended pacific counsels, rebellion seemed not so much unjust, as unavailing and ill-timed. Joseph. B. 2, 16, 4. So King Agrippa and Joseph. B. 5, 9, 3. Their opinion, however, predominated, who urged revolt; and this they did with such union of mind, that the whole nation ran to arms, and were all involved in one common destruction. This opinion had, even already, taken deep root, when, by the confident expectation of the advent of the Messiah, not only were the bad impelled to hopes of innovation, under the guise of piety towards God, and attachment to their country, but even persons of probity and rectitude (and among them the disciples of Christ) wishing to create him the Messiah (Jo. vi. 15. Acts i. 6. Luke xxiv. 21.), which they thought never could be effected unless by shaking off the Roman yoke. Finally, such was the pride of the nation, that they could not endure the very name of servitude. Jo. viii. 33. Joseph. B. 3, 8, 4. The Pharisees, however, thought that they had so craftily spread their net for Christ, that, whichever way he should turn himself, he could not escape their snares. If he had pronounced an opinion in favour of the Romans, he would have alienated the minds of his countrymen and disciples. "Yet think ye him (would they have said) as Messiah, monarch, and liberator of the Jews, who thus adjudges you to Roman servitude? Can you consider him as true and regarding not the persons of men, who in the wilderness, in the fields and villages, and among the populace, inveighs against the extortions of publicans and the vices of rulers, but in the city, where freedom of speech and truth would expose him to danger, fawns on our tyrants?" If, on the contrary, he had pronounced an opinion against the Romans, nay, if he had uttered a word which might seem to glance that way, they would have delivered him up to the power of the governor, as an exciter of sedition, (Luke xx. 20. xxiii. 2.) which would have exposed him to inevitable death; for never were the judicia majestatis more severely

exercised than under the reign of Tiberius. Tacit. A. 3, 38. addito majestatis crimine quod tum omnium accusationum complementum erat. 66. Suet. Tib. 58. Senec. de Benef. 3, 26. Philostr. p. 18. de Statuis. Joan. Sausb. de Nug. Cur. 3, 10. What answer did Christ make? For liberty, or for subjection? Did he define the just limits of liberty and subjection? He did, I think, neither. For since (as Luke tells us, xx. 27.) the Pharisees themselves, admiring his answer, held their peace, and could not carp at a single word that he had said amongst the people; it is a manifest proof that he had uttered nothing which tended to the determination of the matter in question. Furthermore, since we know, from Luke xii. 13, and 14, that he had refused to undertake the office offered to him of arbitrator and decider in an inheritance, it is not credible that he would have made a similar disputed question his own; nay, one of much more difficult determination, especially if we consider that Christ, whose kingdom is not of this world, came to lead men to heavenly felicity, and not, by the gospel, to abolish forms of government, or to interpret pacts and covenants between rulers and subjects; which, indeed, was not necessary, since the rights of kings and people, the bounds of authority and obedience, may be sufficiently understood from the nature of man, of society, and of mutual compacts, and were understood even by those who had never heard the name of Christ. So that here there was no need for a new revelation. As the apostles left the liberty or slavery of men, and their condition in this life, in the very same state as they found it, so are we justified in supposing that Christ did the same. See 1 Cor. vii. 20, 21.1

On the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews.

OF THE VARIOUS KINDS OF HEBREW POETRY.

HAVING treated of the general nature and properties of the Hebrew poetry, we now propose to close this extensive, but, we trust, not unpleasing or uninstructive investigation, by noticing the several species of Hebrew poetry with which the books of the Old Testament preThese are reduced by Bishop Lowth to the following classes.

sent us.

1 Bloomfield's Critical Digest, &c. Vol. I. pp. 315-318.

Continued from page 274.

I. PROPHETIC POETRY, or that species of poetry which pervades the predictions of the prophets, of which we have given a variety of examples during the course of this enquiry. Referring our readers to what has already been advanced concerning the Hebrew metre,' we shall here only observe, after Bishop Lowth, that the prophetic office had a most strict connection with the poetic art. They had one common name, one common origin, one common author, the Holy Spirit. Those in particular were called to the exercise of the prophetic office, who were previously conversant with the sacred poetry. It was equally a part of their duty to compose verses for the service of the church, and to declare the oracles of God; it cannot, therefore, be doubted, that a great portion of the sacred hymns may properly be termed prophecies, or that many of the prophecies are in reality hymns or poems. Since, as we have already proved, it was from the first a principal end and aim of poetry, to impress upon the minds of men the sayings of the wise, and such precepts as related either to the principles of faith or the laws of morality, as well as to transmit the same to posterity; it ought not to appear extraordinary, that prophecy, which in this view ranks as a principal, and is of the highest importance, should not disdain the assistance of an art so admirably calculated to effect its purposes. Of this we have an illustrious proof in that prophetic ode of Moses, which he composed by the especial command of God, to be learned by the Israelites, and committed to memory: "That this song may be," says God himself, "for a witness against the people of Israel, when they shall depart from me; this shall be a testimony in their mouths; for it shall not be forgotten, nor shall it depart out of the mouths of their posterity for ever." Deut. xxxi. 19, 21.

But as, on the one hand, this poem of Moses is a clear and remarkable specimen of the prophetic mode of writing; so, on the other, there are many prophecies which are not less conspicuous as poems. Among these we may notice the imprecation of Noah, the blessing of Jacob, and the predictions of Balaam. Among the prophecies of Balaam we also venture to class that most elegant poem which is rescued from oblivion by the prophet Micah, and which in matter and diction, in the structure, form, and character of the composition, so admirably agrees with the other monuments of his fame, that it evidently appears to be a citation from the answer of Balaam to the king of the Moabites :

"Wherewith shall I come before JEHOVAH ?

Wherewith shall I bow myself unto the High God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings;

With calves of a year old?

Will JEHOVAH be pleased with thousands of rams?
With ten thousands of rivers of oil :

:

1 See Vol. I. p. 79, &c.