Ignatius was one of the earliest of them;-had seen some of the Apostles; and for this and his episcopal character, and his martyrdom, has been SAINTED, or made one of those demigods set up in the antichristian world under the name of Saints. Yet we find that IGNATIUS―the saint-the Bishop, "the blessed Martyr," does style the communion table an altar,-nay, the "one altar" of Christians! Indeed, in the selfsame sentence he gives the name of “ Eucharist" to the Lord's Supper; and (almost expressly) contradicts the Apostles by denying the Plurality of Bishops (or overseers.) in a Christian Church. (Tit. i. 5, 6, 7. Acts xx. 17. 28. Phil. i. 1.)

Now, is not this a sufficient specimen for Christians of what is commonly called, but falsely called, the primitive Church?

The really primitive age of the Christian Church was the Apostolic: and even in it an Apostle teaches us that there were "many Antichrists" (1 John ii. 18.); that is, many, who under the christian name, opposed the purity and simplicity of christian truth. But the disciples were warned, that after the removal of the Apostles the adversary should come in as a flood. (Acts xx. 29, 30. 2 Pet. ii. 1, 3.) Can we then wonder that those who wish to counteract the promised consumption of the man of sin, that consumption, which has been, and is blessedly progressive, are so fond of appealing to the ages succeeding the Apostolic; and of quoting the authority of the soidisant FATHERS in support of every antichristian corruption? it is a field, into which christians have no need to follow them.

"Let not the wife depart from her husband; but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband.”—1 Cor. vii. 10, 11.

To the attentive English reader there must appear something strange on the face of this passage. Would it not be strange if the Apostle should in one verse give a plain command to christian wives; and should subjoin in the next verse another command to the same persons, proceeding on the supposition that they would disobey the former? "Let her not depart, but and if she depart," &c.

The whole of this inconsistency disappears on a more accurate translation of the Greek. It ought to run thus: "Let not the wife separate herself from the husband:"- [the common reading xweisna is much inferior to that of some MSS. xwgisda, as in the 15th verse]" but even if she has been separated, let her remain unmarried," &c. even if she has been separated, [xv de xai xwçısûn, pass.]-By the act perhaps of an unbelieving husband putting her away; or in consequence of a domestic disagreement previous to the receipt of this Epistle.

XXIII.

"That thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right hand, and hear me? (or answer me.)"-Ps. lx. 5. and cviii. 6.

"

In order to convey the plural signification of the original word, we should read thy beloved ones.' The Messiah pleads that He may be heard and delivered, in order that all the children given to him (Heb. ii. 13.) may be delivered; their life being wrapped up in his. And when he denominates them the beloved ones of his Father, we are reminded of the same designation of them by the Apostle Paul (Rom. i. 7.)—" to all that be in Rome, beloved of God."

In the gift of his own Son, whom he spared not, but delivered him up for us all, (Rom. viii. 32.) "God commendeth his love toward us." And thus estimated, it appears indeed to have been "great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins." (Eph. ii. 4, 5.) And in every view of the greatness of the blessings bestowed on the rebellious, the forgiveness of all iniquity, adoption into the family of God, the inheritance of an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory,-the love of our Heavenly Father toward us appears truly "marvellous loving kindness" (Ps. xvii. 7.); in the contemplation of which we can but exclaim, "O! the depths!"

But there is a view of the surpassing greatness of this love of God toward us afforded by a few words of Christ, as recorded in John xvii. 23, which pre-eminently discovers it as one of the unsearchable things of God; while the faintest and most imperfect glimpses of it may well fill our hearts with adoring wonder and praise. There the Redeemer praying to his Father, just before the closing scene of his sufferings on the cross, praying for all those who should believe on him through the Apostolic word,-declares that he had given them the glory which he had received of his Father, and adds these words-"that the world may know [or, have a decisive evidence] that thou hast sent me, AND HAST LOVED THEM, AS THOU HAST LOVED ME." [καθώς εμε ηγάπησας.]

Be astonished, O heavens!-A sinful nation, a people by nature laden with iniquity, yet " beloved of God," even as He is beloved of whom the voice from heaven pronounced-" this is my beloved Son." In Him, the righteous and Holy One, was no sin. He who hum bled himself, to take upon him the likeness of sinful flesh, was one with the Father; and alone could say, I do always the things that please Him." John viii. 29. Yet it is He that says, addressing his Father," Thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."

66

But in the very next verse the Redeemer is recorded to have said -"Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."-And can there in this respect be any parallelism between Him and his redeemed?-There is! Accordingly, they are declared to have been

"chosen in Him before the foundation of the world," Eph i. 2. Chosett IN HIM." Yes: HE is the "firstborn among many brethren." It is IN HIM THE BELOVED-they are all "made accepted" (Eph. i. 6.) : IN HIM they are sanctified (1 Cor. i. 2.)—justified-saved-and glorified, even with the glory given unto him;--"Joint-heirs with Christ,” and therefore "heirs of GoD," is the wonder ul account of that inheritance we are allotted in Him. (Eph. i. 11. Rom. viii. 17.) With good reason does the Apostle speak of the "riches of Christ as unsearchable." (Eph. iii. 8.) În exploring them, we explore the riches of our inheritance, and at the same time the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." (Eph. i. 18.) And in this wonderful salvation of sinners is the Glory of the only true God displayed in an effulgence, in which it could not otherwise have been discovered.

GOD IS LOVE:" and herein is love, not that we loved him, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the "propitiation for our sins." 1 John iv. 10. 16. According as "we know and believe the love that God hath to us," so do we "dwell in God, and God in us," ib. It is "by the Holy Spirit given to us," that this love of God, in the believing view of it, is "shed abroad in our hearts (Rom. v. 5.):” and that spirit in the highest exercise of this office, "fulfilling in us the work of faith with power," testifies of Christ alone; and testifies none other things, but what are "written in the Scriptures for our learning," and are declared to all alike wherever the Apostolic werd is "sent among all nations for the obedience of faith."

In the following verses of the 60th Psalm, we are called to hear the same glorious speaker, exulting in the confidence of faith-in the full assurance that God would make good to him, what he had "spoken," or pronounced, by his holiness: that he should inherit the people given to him out of all the nations of the earth, not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also. The language indeed is figurative; that of a mighty conqueror glorying in the extent of his dominions and conquests. But the Apostolic interpretation of that prophecy in Amos ix. 11, 12.-concerning the raising up "of the tabernacle of David, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen that are called by my name, saith JEHOVAH,"is the master key that opens the true import of such language, as we read in this Psalm, over Edom will I cast out my shoe,' as a token of his subjection; and the true import indeed of many other passages in the Psalms and other Scriptures.

We find in Acts xv. 13-17, that an Apostle expressly quotes the above prediction of Amos, as fulfilled in that wonderful work of God the calling in of the Gentiles to be one body with the Jews, by the faith of the one MESSIAH. And if we receive this instruction of the Spirit by the Apostle, we can be at no loss to hear that MESSIAN, in the 6th and following verses of the Psalm, rejoicing in the contemplation of the "goodly heritage" given to him, surveying the number and extent of the conquests of his redeeming love.

Upon this let me only add, that in the 8th verse the words rendered "Philistia, triumph thou, because of me"- ought to run "over Philistia is my shout of triumph." And without attempting to introduce here the critical reasons for this correction, (for which see

Dathius or Rosenmüller)-the English reader may be satisfied of its justice, not only by the context, but by referring to the perfectly parallel passage in Ps. cviii. 9. where he will read "over Philistia will I triumph." Having just now mentioned Rosenmüller, and having more than once referred to him, I think it needful to make a few observations for guarding the young scholar against him. It is one

of the black characters which apply to all men by nature as haters of the only true God-that "they delight in lies," and " only consult to cast him down from his excellency whom God hath crowned with glory and honour." Ps. lxii. 4. Heb. ii. 7—9.

"Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Rom. iv. 25.

SURELY the literal rendering of the Greek preposition [x] would be much more clear and emphatic :—who was delivered on account of our transgressions, and was raised again on account of our justification.

If any, contemplating the suffering and death of him, who was emphatically "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," over whom all the " waves and billows" of JEHOVAH passed,—and at the same time hearing the testimony of him, as the righteous servant of JEHOVAH, in whom was "no sin,"-should inquire on what account he was given up to be thus smitten and afflicted, on what account "it pleased the LORD to bruise him ;"-the answer of the LORD is recorded, Is. liii. 8.—" for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” It was on account of sin that he suffered, the righteous one for the unrighteous; -on account of the sin of many, even of all that great congregation of the elect that were chosen in him out of an apostate world before its foundation, Eph. 1, 4. The awful penalty of their sin he stooped to bear in their place, "giving his life a ransom for many;" that they all might be fully released from that penalty, in the only way consistent with the glory of his Heavenly Father. And on what account was this their surety and substitute raised again from the dead? It was on account of their justification being completed, their release effectually executed-in his obedience unto death;-because that work of righteousness was then finished, in which God is glorified and all the seed of Israel justified before him.

Undoubtedly, the common version-"for our justification"—may be understood in the same sense: but it is equivocal. For that expression might naturally be conceived to mean, that he was raised from the dead in order to obtain, or effect, our justification. Whereas the words on account of our justification"—really import, that the work of our justification was accomplished by his death. He died, because we were sinners, who must else have borne our own sin he rose from the dead because our sin was put away by his

obedience unto death. When he with his expiring breath declared —“ it is finished”—he pronounced the perfect removal of all the sin that had been laid upon him, and the consequent acquittal of all his ransomed people: his resurrection from the dead affixed the divine attestation confirming this joyful truth. Those who believe it are freed, of course, from the ungodly vain inquiry what they shall do to obtain justification in the sight of God: they have done with that question; and they glory in his holy name in whom they are justified; for his righteousness is unto and upon all them that believe, without difference and without exception.

My readers are aware, that the division into chapters and verses is altogether human and modern: also that the introduction of stops (or the punctuation) is posterior to the original text. These may therefore be altered without scruple, when the sense calls for it. Now I confess I think the last verse of the fourth chapter has been inexpediently disconnected from the first verse of the fifth; and that the comma in the latter should be placed after the word "justified,” instead of after "faith." The whole passage will then run thus: "Who was delivered on account of our transgressions, and was raised again on account of our justification. Therefore, being justified, by faith we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." It seems to me, that the context recommends this change; as well as the tense employed in the original word for "being justified,"—or rather "having been justified”[δικαιωθεντες hot δικαιωμενοι.] In making this remark, however, I am well aware, the expression "justified by faith," &c. is of frequent occurrence in the writings of the Apostle; and that men hostile to the truth will continue to misinterpret such language, and to suppose that it countenances their idea of something meritorious in faith, as a godly exercise of the mind, which makes it the procuring cause of our acceptance or justification in the sight of God; while the believer knows that in this respect his faith has no more to do with his justification than his works. But the heart of man still seeks something "to cast HIM down from his excellency," Ps. lxii. 4. upon whom God laid all the glory, and who alone shall "be glorified in his saints." 2 Thess. i. 10.-In Rom. iii. 24, the Apostle expresses the truth with admirable distinctness and accuracy, when he says" being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."