were converted to the fa h. This primitive society, the remains of that church which God had preserved from the beginning, was the "mother of us all." The gospel was first preached in Jerusalem and all the gentile churches were, considered as accessions to the ancient church, commencing its new existence, its changed, its perfected economy, in the metropolis of Judea. In conformity with this representation, St. Paul compares the gentiles to wild olives ingrafted into "a good olive-tree," and describes the unbelieving Jews as "branches broken off," while the ancient stock remained. The prophet, Isaiah's sublime predictions respecting the gentiles, convey, in a series of different allusions, the same idea of dependance and accession. On these accounts we are disposed to conceive, that the "Queen consort,' mentioned in the ninth verse of the psalm in question, is the ancient church of Jerusalem,—— the mother of us all;" and that the "daughters" are gentile churches, brought to participate in the splendour and privileges of Messiah's court. We find nothing, in this highly figurative description, that relates to nuptial festivities. It is not a marriage, but a presentation-a royal levee,, at which additions are made to the illustrious train of admirers. In the vision of the enraptured prophet, one is beheld approaching the royal presence with modest diffidence-as if unaccustomed to the splendid scene-as if former habits and impressions, were not yet obliterated: to her the voice of encouragement is addressed: "Hearken, O daughter, "and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine "own people, and thy Father's house. So shall the king "greatly desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord and worship "thou him."

But though we are not prepared to admit the learned prelate's interpretation of the third section of this psalm, we were highly gratified by the accurate and evangelical exposition of the two former sections. After adverting to what he calls "the literal and superficial sense of the second verse, as referring to the beauty of our Saviour's person, and the graciousness of his speech,' he adds:

External feature, however, is generally the impression of the mind upon the body, and words are but the echo of the thoughts; and in prophecy, more is usually meant, than meets the ear, in the first sound and most obvious sense of the terms employed. Beauty and grace of speech are certainly used in this text, as figures of much higher. qualities, which were conspicuous in our Lord, and in him alone of all the sons of men. That image of God in which Adam was created, in our Lord appeared perfect and entire, in the unspotted innocency of his life, the sanctity of his manners, and his perfect obedience to

the law of God,-in the vast powers of his mind, intellectual and moral; intellectu 1, in his comprehension of all knowledge; moral, in his power of resisting all the allurements of vice, and of encountering all the difficulties of virtue and religion, despising harhship and shame, enduring pain and death. This was the beauty with which he was adorned beyond the sors of men. In him the beauty of the. divine image was refulgent in its original perfection; in all the sons of Adam obscured and marred, in a degree to be scarce discernible. ...Christ, on the contrary, by the mysterious manner of his conception was born without sin; he grew up and lived full of grace and truth, perfectly sanctified in flesh and spirit. With this beauty he was "adorned

beyond the sons of men "

Again, the gracefulness of his speech is put, figuratively, for the perfection, sublimity, excellence, and sweetness of the doctrine he delivered; a doctrine, in truth, intrinsically perfect; sublime, as being far above the dicovery of human wisdom; excellent by its salutary effects and operations upon men, raising their mind to the knowledge of the true God-to a knowledge of his nature, as far as a nature so distinct from matter-so remote from sense-so transcending reason, can be made intelligible to man, united to matter-perceiving by sense what immediately surrounds him, but contemplating at a distance only the objects of pure intellecta doctrine sweeter to the regenerate soul, than honey and the honey-comb to the palate, by the disclosure of the great scheme of redemption in all its branches the incarnation of the son of man-the atonement for sin by his de th-the efficacy of his intercession-the constant supply of succour from the Holy Spirit. This doctrine, cherishing the contrite, consoling the afflicted, banishing despair, raising the fallen, justifying sinners, giving life to the dead, in a word the glad tidings of salvation, this is the " grace" which is poured over the lips" of the Son of God.' pp 93-96.

By the sword and the arrows," mentioned as the offensive weapons employed by the king, our author understands the word of God in its different effects, and different manners of operation.' He considers the former as 'the word of reproof, commination, and terror; and the latter as the word of persuasion, promise, and hope.' We remember that Bishop Horne has advanced a different interpretation of the "arrows," and considers them as the weapons employed, not in the conversion, but in the destruction of enemies. The illustration of Bishop Horsley on this part of the psalm is highly interesting,-rich in christian sentiment, and adorned with all the graces of his manly and persuasive diction. The terrible things" effected by the right hand of the conqueror, he refers to the wonderful' events which characterised the commencement of the gospel dispensation; and were it not for the length of inquiry which still stretches before us, we should insert several admirable passages from these valuable disCourses. We cannot refuse the admission of one more ex

tract, for which both the critical and the pious student of revelation will thank us. It is the exposition of the eighth verse, on which various fanciful interpretations have been advanced, and the translation of which in our version is extremely ambiguous. The Bishop proposes the following literal rendering,' and then explains it.

"Thy garments are all myrrh, aloes and cassia,
"Excelling the palaces of ivory,

"Excelling those which delight thee."

'Ivory was highly valued and admired among the Jews, and other Eastern nations of antiquity for the purity of its white, the delicate smoothness of its surface, and the durability of its substance; being not liable to tarnish or rust like metals, or like wood to rot or to be worm eaten. Hence it was a favourite ornament in the furniture of the houses and palaces of great men; and all such ornamental furniture was plentifully perfumed. The psalmist therefore says, that the fragrance of the king's garments far exceeded any thing that met the nostrils of the visitors in the stateliest and best furnished palaces. But this is not all: he says besides, that these pertumes of the royal garments "excel those which delight thee." To understand this, you must recollect, that there were two very exquisite perfumes used in the symbolical service of the temple, both made of the richest spices, mixed in certain proportions, and by a process directed by the law. The one was used to anoint every article of the furniture of the sanctuary, and the robes and persons of the priests. The composition of it was not to be imitated, nor was it to be applied to the person of any but a consecrated priest, upon pain of death. Some indeed of the kings of David's line, were anointed with it; but when this was done, it was by the special direction of a prophet, and it was to intimate, as I apprehend, the relation of that royal house to the eternal priesthood, to be instituted in due season in that family. The other was a compound of other ingredients, which made the incense that was burnt upon the golden altar, as a grateful odour to the Lord. This too was most holy, and to attempt to make the like for private use, was a capital offence.

Now the perfumed garments of the psalmist's king denote the very same thing which was typified under the law by the perfumed garments of the High Priest; the psalmist's king being indeed the real person of whom the high-priest in every particular, of his office, his services, and his dress was the type. The perfumed garments were typical, first of the graces and virtues of the redeemer himself in his human character; secondly, of whatever is refreshing, encouraging, consoling and cheering in the external ministration of the word; and thirdly, of the internal comforts of the Holy Spirit. But the incense fumed upon the golden altar was typical of a far inferior, though of a precious and holy thing, namely, of whatever is pleasing to God in the faith, the devotions, and the good works of the saints. Now the Psalmist says, that the fragrance, breathing from the garments of the king, far excels not only the sweetest odours of any earthly monarch's palace, but that it surpasses those spiritual odours of sanctity in which the

king himself delights. The consolations which the faithful, under all their sufferings, receive from him, in the example of his holy life, the ministration of the word and sacraments, and the succours of the spirit, are far beyond the proportion of any thing they have to offer in return to him in their prayers, their praises, and their good lives, notwithstanding in these their services he condescends to take delight. This is the doctrine of this highly mystical text, that the value of all our best works of faith and obedience, even in our own eyes. must sink into nothing, when they are contrasted with the exuberant mercy of God, extended to us through Christ.' pp. 138–141.

The eighth sermon is another critical dissertation. Its subject is John v 6. "This is he that came by water and blood, &c."-Many and contradictory explanations have been given of this enigmatical passage; and though the Bishop's opinion is not original, it appears to us the most rational and scriptural of any we have met with. It also afforded us no small satisfaction to find that our previous sentiments respecting its meaning, were confirmed by so eminent an authority. The water and the blood, which are two of the "witnesses on earth," are justly explained by a ference to that remarkable fact so distinctly attested by St. John. One of the soldiers with a spear, pierced his "side, and forth-with there came out blood and water: "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true, "and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might "believe."

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Some men of learning, says Bishop' Horsley have imagined, that the water, which issued in this instance with the blood, was the fluid with which the heart in its natural situation in the human body is surrounded. This, chemists perhaps may class among the watery fluids; being neither viscous like an oil, nor inflammable like spirits, nor elastic or volatile, like an air or ether it differs, however, remarkably from plain water, as anatomists assert, in the colour and other qualities: and that this fluid should issue with the blood of the heart, when a sharp weapon had divided the membranes which enclose it, as the spear must have done before it reached the heart, had been nothing more extraordinary, than that blood by itself should have sued at a wound in any other part. Besides, in the detail of a fact, narrated with so much earnestness to gain belief, the evangelist must be supposed to speak with the most scrupulous precision, and to call every thing by its name. The water, therefore which he saw streaming from the wound, was as truly water as the blood was blood the pure element of water,-transparent, colourless, insipid, inodorou s water. And here is the miracle, that pure water, instead of the fluid of the pericarduim in its natural state, should have issued with the blood from the wound in the region of the heart. ¡ his pure water and the blood coming forth together, are two of the three terrestrial witnesses, whose testimony is so efficacious, in St. John's jadgement, for the confirmation of our faith." pp. 188, 9.

We were not very much surprised at the Bishop's tenacious defence of the genuineness of the disputed passage, in immediate connection with the text. It is easy to account for his reluctance to submit to an amendment so eagerly supported by a hostile party, whose deference to scriptural authority he had the best reasons for suspecting, whose principles were in his view destructive of the whole system of Christian doctrine, and whose political character inflamed and exasperated his opposition. We say his reluctance may be accounted for but we do not pretend to justify it. On the contrary, we think it calculated in reality to injure the interests of truth: because it betrays a fear that if the authority of this single text be denied, no other succedaneum of orthodoxy can be found. Besides, the whole controversy resolves itself into a question of fact, and the motives with which testimonies on either side are adduced, have nothing to do with the question itself. But it is not our intention to enter again on a subject which has, on a former occasion, occupied a very large proportion of our pages.

The next discourse is a republication of one that was preached before the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, June 1, 1793. It is founded on that memorable passage, from which our Lord expounded the design of his mission, in the synagogue of Nazareth, Luke iv. 18, 19; and contains a variety of just and striking remarks the general character of the Christian dispensation, and its peculiar fitness to promote the best interests of "the poor." The following passage concludes this excellent sermon.

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It is no weakness to sympathise in the real hardships of the inferior orders; it is no weakness to be touched with an anxiety for their welfare, to feel a complacency and holy joy in the reflection that, by the well-directed exertions of a godly charity, their interests, secular and eternal, are secured; it is no weakness to rejoice, that without breaking the order of society, religion can relieve the condition of poverty from the greatest of its evils, from ignorance and vice it is no weakness to be liberal of your wordly treasures, in contribution to so good a purpose. The angels in heaven participate these holy feelings. Our Father which is in heaven accepts and will reward the work, provided it be well done, in the true spirit of faith and charity; for of such as these--as these who stand before you, arrayed in the simplicity and innocence of childhood, in the humility of povertyof such as these, it was our Lord's express and solemn declaration, "of such is the kingdom of heaven." pp. 220-221.

The tenth sermon was preached for the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 1796. On this occasion, so interesting to all the feelings of humanity, it might be expected that some