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not revile again, and that, in the last moments of an agonizing and ignominious death, he uttered at once a supplication, and an apology for his destroyersFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Thus are the precepts of our religion, and the practice of its blessed Author in perfect unison with the most amiable feelings of our heart, and with all the affectionate sympathies of the wise and good. We are instructed indeed to disapprove and to discourage evil actions; but we are not permitted to speak with undistinguishing disapprobation, or to think with unrelenting severity, or to behave with an unrestrained hostility towards evil agents. On the contrary, we are positively forbidden to call down the fire of heaven upon any offender, because he is our fellow-creature, and, it may be, our fellow Christian, and because we are ourselves fellow-sinners. We are expressly directed to love those who hate us, and to bless those who curse us-and is it possible that love and hatred can dwell in our own bosoms, or that blessing and cursing can issue from our mouths, directed at the same moment against the same objects? If then, in opposition to commands so plain and just, so peremptory and solemn, you imitate the example of Shimei rather than that of Christ, heinous must be your guilt, and heavy must be your punishment. Mark well, too, that the infliction of this punishment does not depend upon the secret wishes, or the wrathful words, or the insidious contrivance, or the vindictive efforts of man, but is fixed irrevocably by the righteous and awful councils of God himself.

If a man delights in cursing, sooner or later it shall happen unto him; but if he loveth blessing, it shall not be far from him.*

*Having spoken of the change of number in the Psalm, I state from the Polyglott the following particulars. In the Hebrew the singular begins at the 6th verse, continues to the 19th, and all the plurals which intervene relate not to the adversary, but to his parents and children. In the 20th verse we have the plural belonging to the word adversaries.

In the Chaldee paraphrase the singular begins at verse 6th, goes on to the end of the 19th, and then comes the plural.

In the Latin Vulgate the singular begins at the 6th verse, continues to the end of the 19th, and the 20th verse begins"Hoc opus eorum."

In the Septuagint the singular begins in verse 6th, karáornσov Én' avròν, continues to the 19th, and in the 20th we have the plural τοῦτο τὸ ἐργὸν τῶν ἐνδιαβάλλοντων με.

In the Ethiopic version the singular begins at verse 6th. The order of verses is somewhat different, and the 19th verse, which corresponds to the 20th in the other versions, begins— "Hoc opus eorum."

In the Syriac version the plural is continued from the beginning of the Psalm to the 19th verse, and so on.

In the Arabic version the singular begins at verse 6th, the plural at verse 20th, and there the translation is not "Hoc opus est eorum," but "hoc fiet eis."

In the Latin Vulgate, the Septuagint, and the Ethiopic, the 109th Psalm is called the 108th. I shall explain this variation in the words of Calmet:-" The Jews make two of the 9th, and begin their 10th at these words of Psalm ix. v. 22. ‹ Why standeth thou afar off, O Lord?' so that from this place to Psalm cxiii. their citations and numbers are different from the Latin and Greek. The Protestant Churches and the English version, following this division of the Hebrews, quote the Psalms in like manner."

CHRONOLOGICAL ERROR NOTICED.

It may be of importance to notice a chronological mistake in our translation, when we read in 2 Sam. c. xv. v. 7. “And it came to pass that after forty years Absalom said unto the king." David, you will observe, reigned only forty years, seven in Chebron, and thirty-three in Jerusalem, and what passed between him and Absalom was long before the end of his reign. Absalom himself is described as a beautiful youth with flowing hair, and never reached his fortieth year. Now by some means or other a numeral jod seems to have crept into the Hebrew text, which being added to the digit, or daleth, the numerical 4, converted the number into tens. But, if we take away the jod, or tittle, all will be clear, and the four years must be calculated from Absalom's flight to Geshur. Here he continued nearly three years. During the third year he was recalled to his father's house, and he requited this mercy by estranging the hearts of his father's subjects from their sovereign to himself. When he had been in Jerusalem about two years, and the suspicions of his father were so allayed, that Absalom was admitted into the royal presence at that time, which was quite four years after his retreat to Geshur, he disguised his treasonable purposes by entreating his father to let him go down and pay his vow in Hebron.*

See Note to Baron Holberg's History, p. 13.

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*Note to page 531, concerning ȧñýykaro. ὥστε μ' ἀπάγχεσθαι.

Aristophanis Nubes, v. 984. Bergler's note is this:-" Pro cruciari in Vespis, v. 693. ☎ μάλιστα μ' ἀπάγχει, in Acharn. v. 125. ταῦτα δῆτ ̓ οὐκ ἀγχόνη: sic et πνίγεσθαι hic in Nub. v. 1035.” The passage in the Nubes is as follows:

Καὶ μὴν πάλ' ἔγωγ ̓ ἐπνιγόμην τὰ σπλάχνα.

We have in Herodotus, lib. 11. c. 139. p. 166. ed. Wesseling, ἡ παῖς ἀπήγξατο ὑπὸ ἄχεος. This is a disputed passage, and Wesseling's note runs thus::-" Obtinuerunt hæc locum in famosa nostræ ætatis lite, Tepì Toũ áñáуxeolαi. Jac. Gronovius illis aciem instruxit in Defensione Exercitat. de Pernicie Judæ, p. 62., contra acriter venit Jac. Perizonius Diss. de Morte Judæ, c. 9. p. 74. Amavi utrumque v. cl. ob. eximias ingenii et eruditionis dotes, rixa ipsa, etiamnum juveni, visa fuit modum excessisse. Gronovium laudo, ejus hic (i. e. in his Notes on Herodotus) iteratione abstinentem." From the praise bestowed on Gronovius for not resuming the subject, it should seem that Wesseling rather inclined to the opinion of Perizonius. “Αγχόμενος idem quod πνιγόμενος apud Hippocratem, i. e. qui suffocatur;" so says Gorræus in his Lexicon, where ȧyxívn is suffocation generally; but in the passage quoted from Dioscorides, the halter as the cause of suffocation is specifically mentioned, μύκητες ἐπιφέρουσι πνιγμοὺς ἐοικότας ἀγχόναις, i. e. "fungi suffocationem inferunt similem laqueo interclusis faucibus:" "vi et vyμòs est suffocatio, sive subitus interitus ob respirationis defectum." Gorræus mentions three causes from Galen, an external cause, as a halter or hand; an internal cause, as repletion, &c. Afterwards there is mention of suffocation from various herbs.

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SERMON XXII A.*

ON CHRIST'S GOING UP TO JERUSALEM WITH HIS PARENTS.

LUKE ii. 49.

Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business.

THERE is interwoven into the very frame of our souls, a curiosity to know the most trivial actions of illustrious men, and to pry into all the minute parts of such characters, as are lifted up to admiration, for extent of knowledge, brightness of genius, or eminence of virtue. On these occasions we mechanically, as it were, affix the idea of general excellence to particular circumstances in which that excellence can hardly prevail; and with the utmost eagerness inquire into those petty incidents, that in persons less respectable we should pass over with all the coolness of indifference. Thus, viewed through the medium of an honest prejudice, each object swells into importance, and we take a sort of interest in every event that brings back to our memory the goodness we love, and the greatness we revere. A little reflection on the workings of our own minds will account for this propensity to

* 1772.