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as in Ps. xxii. 12; 1. 13; lxviii. 30; Isa. xxxiv. 7 Jer. 1. 11. He therefore renders it thus :

"Every one ate the flesh of oxen,

He sent them venison (or victuals) in plenty."

;

But Parkhurst, with more propriety, renders it "bread of the strong ones;" meaning by that the material heavens, for in the preceding sentence it is called "corn of the heavens." See his note on Abir, Heb. Lex. p. 4.

Manna is the emblem or symbol of immortality, Rev. ii. 17, “ I will give him to eat of the hidden manna;" i. e. the true bread of God, which came down from heaven, referring to the words of Christ, in John vi. 51, a much greater instance of God's favour, than feeding the Israelites with manna in the wilderness. It is called hidden, or laid up, in allusion to that which was laid up in a golden vessel in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle. Comp. Exod. xvi. 33, 34, and Heb. ix. 4.

It is in a subordinate sense only, that what dropped from the clouds, and was sent for the nourishment of the body, still mortal, could be called the "bread of heaven," being but a type of that which hath descended from the heaven of heavens, for nourishing the immortal soul unto eternal life, and which is therefore, in the sublimest sense, the bread of heaven. The original manna was corruptible, and they who ate thereof died; but those who partake of this shall never hunger, but shall live for ever. The immortality which it procures, transcends all imagination.

In Luke xiv. 15, a person is recorded as saying, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God;" probably in allusion to the manna. To eat

bread is a well-known Hebrew idiom for to share in a repast, whether it be at a common meal, or at a sumptuous feast.

MAN of SIN-SON of PERDITION-LAWLESS ONE. 2 Thess. ii. 3, &c.

The figurative description of an eminently impious and wicked power, whose rise was to be contemporary with the "Apostasy," or general defection from God, and from genuine Christianity. He is called the man of sin, as being eminently wicked. The son of perdition, as being destined to certain destruction. The lawless one, as setting himself up above all law, human and divine.

He is said to oppose God, as being peculiarly an adversary to truth and righteousness. And to exalt himself above God, as being guilty of the most impious arrogance, as proudly raising himself above all institutions of religious worship, by assuming to alter and set aside all the divine appointments of religion and worship.

He is said to sit in the temple of God, as if he were God; i. e. he shall seize the primacy or sovereignty of the churches of Christ, and usurp the authority of the king of Zion. But properly, instead of sit, it should be he seateth himself, denoting his insolent and violent intrusion of himself into God's church as lawgiver and ruler.

Shewing himself, or rather "publicly declaring himself" that he is a God; i. e. impiously assuming divine powers and privileges, and arrogating that submission and obedience in matters pertaining to the conscience, which are due only to God.

An event, or order of things, is said to restrain his

appearance, and he could not be revealed till that was removed. All the Fathers considered this to mean the imperial power of Rome, which then maintained its own sovereignty, and prevented the usurpation alluded to. See Tertullian's Apology, and his treatise on the Resurrection, where he says, " until he be taken out of the way,-who? but the Roman empire, which being dispersed into ten kings, shall introduce Antichrist," ch. xxiv.

The poets and Roman writers in general having flattered the Cæsars with the eternal duration of their empire-see Virgil, Æn. 1, l. 281, &c., and given to Rome the title of the eternal city, it would not have been safe for Paul to have spoken more openly on this subject, whatever he might say to the Thessalonians in private, in explanation of his meaning. And therefore he says, "Ye know what withholds,"

&c.

This "mystery of iniquity," or concealed wickedness, was even then in operation, and was exerting itself covertly, till he who restrained it," the Imperial Government," was taken out of the way. The expression" taken out of the way," perhaps importing the violent deaths by which many of the Roman emperors perished, and the dreadful struggles and convulsions which preceded the dissolution of the empire itself.

It is further said, that the Lord will consume; i. e. gradually destroy this lawless one, or usurping and tyrannical power, by the spirit or breath of his mouth; i. e. by the word of his gospel, and the prevalence of the doctrine of Christ, which should supersede the errors, and expose the impostures, of Antichrist.

And destroy him, or render ineffectual, by the brightness of his coming; i. e. by breaking down his authority, reducing his influence, and bringing him to a state of inactivity and impotence.

The coming of the lawless one is described to be according to the operation of Satan; i. e. invisibly and imperceptibly-yet effectually by the use of false miracles, specious pretences, counterfeit signs, and all the apparatus of imposture, or, as Paul expresses it, with every kind of unrighteous deception: meaning, that he would scruple no arts or delusions, that might support and perpetuate his own usurpation.

Those who are deceived by him, are said to be "those that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." And, therefore, God abandoned them to strong delusion, so as to give credit to a lie. And having wilfully banished the truth from their minds, they rendered themselves liable to the righteous condemnation of God, as persons who had made iniquity their choice, and who preferred error to truth, as being most favourable to the indulgence of their criminal passions.

No man of understanding can be at a loss for the right application of this portion of Scripture, that it cannot reasonably be expounded of one or two particular deceivers, who arose, appeared, and perished. But of a power of great extent and of considerable duration, whose rise was gradual, his assumption of sovereignty progressive, and whose downfall may occupy a period proportioned to his rise. But see Whitby, Macknight, and Chandler in particular, and the commentators in general.

MARRIAGE, is symbolically used to signify a state, and reason or cause of great joy and happiness. A man is not perfect till marriage, there is something till then wanting to make him complete in his circumstances, according to the divine institution, Gen. ii. 18.

Therefore marriage by the Greeks was called reλOS, perfection. And a bride, in Hebrew, is called, cere, that is, a perfect one, from cere, to perfect or consummate.

Wife, according to the Indian Interpreter, ch. 123, is the symbol of the power and authority of her husband; and as he dreams of seeing her well or ill dressed, so he shall meet with joy or affliction.

The church of God, under the Old Testament, is sometimes spoken of as the spouse of God, in terms borrowed from the marriage covenant. She is the barren woman that did not bear, and was desolate; she is exhorted to rejoice, in Isa. liv. 1-6, on the reconciliation of her husband, and on the accession of the Gentiles to her family.

The same union is hinted at by the Apostle, in writing to the Ephesians, ch. v. 32, as subsisting between Christ and the church.

See also Isa. Ixii. 5, and 2 Cor. ii. 2, where Paul says, "For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

In the visions of John, a period is spoken of, when the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his bride hath made herself ready, Rev. xix. 7. As marriages were used to be celebrated with great joy, the marriage of the Lamb with his church is a fit emblem to shew the state of prosperity and happiness to which God will

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