obstinate and persistent foes; never a Redeemer. And as he sees the farther progress of that kingdom, he exclaims, "Alas! who shall live when God doeth this! And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim and shall afflict Ashur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish forever,"-where is a distinct prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; which is the New Testament type of the second advent of Messiah, the final judgment and overthrow of all the enemies of Christ. With a most fit and appropriate sadness does Balaam close his prophetic utterances, "He,"— all opposers of Jacob's Star and Israel's Sceptre," he also shall perish forever!" So the prophet himself sings his own hopeless requiem.

WARWICK NECK, R. I.

J. T. SMITH.

EXEGETICAL STUDIES.

"Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit: then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee."—PSALM li. 12, 13

THE

HE words "thy ways" are susceptible of two interpretations. They may mean either the ways in which God would have men walk, the method of life pleasing to him, or God's own ways, his ways of dealing with transgressors when they repent and seek his mercy.

In this verse, there can be no doubt that the latter is the true meaning. The forgiven sinner goes forth, not to preach God's law, but his Gospel; not to tell how man ought to live, but how wonderfully God deals with the guilty. To do this successfully, the joy of a conscious salvation is necessary, and the indwelling of the free, unconstrained, unbought, willing spirit. Out of the fulness of his own experience the redeemed sinner speaks of that marvellous grace, as much above all man's thoughts and ways as the heavens are high above the earth which comes to one of great and acknowledged guilt (v. S); a guilt which is not merely the result of sudden temptation, but flows from a sinful nature (v. 5); and teaches him confidently to look for forgiveness (v. 9); for a renovation which shall surpass the spotlessness of the untrodden snow (v. 7); for a happiness which shall find appropriate expression in song (vs. 12, 14, 15); for usefulness in the conversion of others (v. 13); and for the privilege of intercession for Zion at large (vs. 18, 19). Let any one consider the sin of David and its aggravation, and then what God taught him to pray for and expect, and see what a theme he had in "God's ways," and how appropriately he might look for the conversion of sinners when God's glorious, gracious character was made known.

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory."-MATT. xii. 30.

In this chapter the enmity of the Jewish nation against Christ culminates. Henceforth Christ pursues a new method of instruction, and devotes himself to gathering out of Israel those individuals to whom God would reveal the true character of the Saviour, and who would constitute the xxλnaía. The nation rejects their Messiah, and is doomed. Accordingly, in this chapter, Christ utters those fearful words concerning the climax of guilt, the unpardonable sin, declares the condemnation of the generation who had listened to his teachings and would not believe, and in the well-known words, "Behold my mother and my brethren," severs himself from all mere earthly and national relationships, and announces a new kinship, founded on obedience to the word of God.

By the quotation from Isaiah, of which the 20th v. forms a part, the Evangelist vindicates the course of Christ in evading his enemies, instead of meeting and crushing them, and setting up a national kingdom in spite of their opposition. "Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all. And charged them that they should not make him known: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias, the prophet, saying,

"Behold my servant, whom I have chosen;

My beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased;

I will put my spirit upon him,

And he shall show judgment to the Gentiles;

He shall not strive nor cry;

Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed shall he not break,

And smoking flax shall he not quench,

Till he send forth judgment unto victory.

And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."

Not from any fear of his enemies did Christ retire from before them, nor from any apprehension of their rage; they were but bruised reeds and smoking flax, powerless and contemptible; but in accordance with prophecy, and to accomplish God's yet unfulfilled designs. Their judg ment was certain, but it would not be executed till he should send forth judgment unto victory, then sweeping them out of his way, in his name should the Gentiles trust. When the Lord came to destroy the Jewish polity, at the destruction of Jerusalem, he removed the one great hindrance to the free proclamation of the Gospel among all nations. The evident purpose of the quotation is not to show Christ's wonderful tenderness, which would not be evinced by his retiring into the wilderness and prohibiting the publication of his miracles, but to meet the objection which would be naturally brought against Christ's declining a contest with his foes, and to show that this was the predicted method by which the Messiah was to establish his kingdom.

In the Old Testament, the emblematic meaning of a reed is very ob

vious. I. Kings xiv. 15, "For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their graves, provoking the Lord to anger. II. Kings xviii. 21, "Now behold thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him."

The matchless grace of our Lord is everywhere declared in the Holy Oracles; there is no danger that we overestimate it, or proclaim it too earnestly; but neither the words nor the context will allow us to use this verse to illustrate Christ's infinite tenderness.

"And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming their words with signs following. Amen."-MARK xvi. 20.

The number of the QUARTERLY for July contains an article from the pen of Dr. Broadus, of Greenville, S. C., on the genuineness of the passage Mark xvi. 9-20. His examination has referred to the style of the disputed passage, and most persons will be content to accept it as a part of the evangelical narrative on the evidence which he adduces.

There is, however, further evidence of its genuineness to be deduced from the fitness of the mooted passage as the close of this special Gospel. If we regard the passage as spurious, the Gospel closes with the flight of the women from the empty sepulchre of Jesus, and the reason therefor, "for they were afraid." Such a termination would strike an attentive reader as very abrupt. The Gospel itself would seem to be incomplete; and this incompleteness would be almost painfully felt.

The words which we have quoted above, the last verse of the disputed passage, furnishes a fitting close to this Gospel, in which Jesus is represented as the Servant of God, the mighty Worker. In verse 19, we are told, "He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." It might have appeared from this that he entered into rest, that his work was done. But verse 20 continues the representation. It says that the disciples "went forth and preached everywhere," a real working band, treading in the footsteps of him who had been depicted as the Servant of God, abounding in work. Then it advances yet further, and tells us that the Lord himself, though seated at the right hand of God, was still "working with them, and confirming their words with signs following." That character which Jesus maintained throughout the Gospel he maintains still, when the Evangelist is about to lay aside his pen. After such a statement, we can close the book with a devout "Amen," feeling that no more need be added to the portraiture which the sacred writer designed to present. G. W. A.

The Four Gospels: translated from the Greek Text of Tischendorf, with the various Readings of Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Meyer, and others; and with Critical and Expository Notes. By NATHANIEL S. FOLSOM. Boston: A. Williams & Co. 1869. 12mo. pp. 476. $2.25.

Those who have no other test of the worth of any version of the Scriptures than the narrow criterion of its fitness to be a substitute for the one in common use, will find little to attract them in the work of Mr. Folsom. Translation, according to Dr. Newman, is "a problem how, two languages being given, the nearest approximation may be made in the second to the expression of ideas already conveyed through the medium of the first. The problem almost starts with the assumption that something must be sacrificed, and the chief question is, What is the least sacrifice?" The answer to this question will depend greatly upon the design of the version. If it is to be received and daily read by the common people, it must be good idiomatic English, at whatever cost of nice distinctions and shades of meaning. Men of higher education, whether classical scholars or not, will value versions made on a different principle, conformed more to the Greek than to the English, and will find them of great benefit in many ways.

In the translation before us, Mr. Folsom, formerly an orthodox Congregational clergyman, now a Unitarian, and for several years a pro