Galilee fpoke; the arm of the Lord was revealed; thousands in a day believed their report, and were added to the church, Acts ii. 41. To every nation were the apoftles fent to display a banner in the name of the Lord; God alfo bearing them witness, both with figns, and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his will, Heb. ii. 4.

Through the world these heralds

of the gospel flew. Many waters could not quench their holy ardor, nor could all the floods, caft out of the enemy's mouth, drown it, Rev. xii. 15. And, though fometimes thefe ambaffadors were bound, yet the word of God was not bound, 2 Tim. ii. 9.

Far and wide as the Roman eagle spread it's wings, the standard of the cross was borne. Their found went into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. As on the pole of the everlafting gofpel the rifen Redeemer was lifted up, and through the defarts he rode, Pfal. lxviii. * 4. Then the pro

*Through the defarts he rode. The paffage, Pfal. lxviii. 4. is in our verfion tranflated thus, Extoll him that rideth on the heavens by his name JAH; and rejoice before him. Which reading, though moft agreeable to the analogy of faith, is far from being the grammatical, and therefore the true fenfe of the words. The meaning of fome of the original words is mistaken, the facred accentuation neglected, and accordingly the intention of the Spirit is not rightly understood. The word here rendered extoll, occurs twice in the writings of our prophet, viz. chap. Ivii. 14. and lxii. 18. and is therefore tranflated, Caft ye up. The word tranflated heavens, is not that which is juftly fo rendered, ver. 33. It is found in the construct state, Num. xxi. 1. Deut. xxxiv. 1, 8. Jofh. v. 10.; in all which places it is read, the plains. It occurs in the abfolute state, Jer. v. 6. where fome read it the evenings, fome the plains, and fome the

phecy, Ha. xi. 10. began to receive it's accomplishment: In that day there fhall be a root of Jeffe, which Shall ftand for an enfign of the people; to it fall the Gentiles feek, and his reft fhall be glorious.

defarts; but nobody ever took it into their head to render it the heavens.-A lion out of the foreft shall flay them, and a wolf of the defarts fhall spoil them.

It is equally evident, that the laws of the facred accentuation are violated by our version: For these words, by his name JAH, are joined to the word heavens, whereas in the original they stand separated from it by the greatest dislinction, known among the Hebrews, fave one. Keeping therefore to the precife fignification of the original words, and to the rules of the original punctuation, the true reading turns out to be this, Caft ye up before him that rideth in the defarts: in Jah is his name; and rejoice before him.-Caft ye up, that is, caft up a high way before him. Compare Ifa. xl. 3. He rideth in the defarts, the rough uncultivated places where heretofore his name was not known. But, who is he that rideth in the defarts? why make fuch preparations for him? To this the Pfalmift answers, In JAH is his name. His name being himself, the meaning plainly is, He is in Jah: in him by nature, and therefore one with him. The name of JAH is in him, and in JAH is his name: My name is in him, faid God, Exod. xxiii. 21. I and my Father are one, faid he, John x. 30. Believe me, faid he, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, John xiv. 11.

It is evident therefore as the light, that the glorious Person mentioned here, as riding in the defarts, and whofe name is in JAH, is none other than the rifen, the afcended Redeemer, of whofe chariots we read, ver. 17.; and who having afcended on high, and led captivity captive, received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious, that God the Lord might dwell among them, ver. 18. And having received these gifts, he immediately gave them in a bleffed abundance, Eph. iv. 8,-13. Mounting the white horfe of the gospel, having a battle-bow in his hand, and on his head a crown of glory, he went forth, conquering and toconquer, Rev. vi. 2. In the defarts of the Gentile world he

The enemy came in like a flood, in the ten Pagan perfecutions. But ftill the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard, in animating the faints with courage to undergo all the cruelties which the enemy could inflict. Still the ashes of the martyrs were the feed of the church. The flood prevailed for many years. And how high were the waters in the reign of Dioclefian, when he erected pillars with that infcription, Deleta fuperftitione Chriftiana! i. e. The Christian fuperftition is destroyed. But when the waters were at the height, lo! deliverance under Conftantine the Great was at hand; as when the tale of bricks was doubled, Mofes the man of God was at the door.

The enemy came in like a flood, in the time of Julian the apoftate. With his unhallowed hands he threw open the gates to Gentilism: and, like another Pharaoh, meditated the utter extirpation of the church.

But the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a ftaudard against him, in the Perfian war, anno 363. There he was mortally wounded; and fetting his mouth against the heavens, he cried, 'O Galilean, thou haft overcome me.'

At this time alfo the enemy came in like a flood in the Arian herefy. But, O how gloriously did the Spirit of the Lord lift up a standard against him, by the hand of Athanafius, the Elijah of his

rode. His people were willing in the day of his power; and the Spirit being poured from on high, the wilderness became a fruitful field, and blossomed as the rose, Ifa. xxxii. 1.5. and xxxv. 1. See Bolton's Tractatus Stigmalogicus Ebræo-Biblicus, pagina 26, 27. A small quarto, confifting of 220 pages; but which I would not exchange for fome bulky commentaries.

M m

times! Unmoved by all that the enemy could do, he continued invincibly firm in maintaining the Deity of the great God our Saviour. Athanafius, as the faying is, was against all the world. This bulwark of truth, having ferved his generation, fell by the hand of death, about the year 373.

About an hundred years after, as it would seem, the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard against Arianifm, in a moft miraculous manner, in enabling thofe Catholics, whofe tongues had been cut out by the Arian tyrant, Huneric, to speak diftinctly, and to proclaim aloud the divine Majefty of the Saviour of the world. This remarkable fact, as fays a celebrated hiftorian, can fcarcely be denied, fince it is fupported by the teftimony of the most credible and refpectable witneffes †.

† Eneas of Gaza, exprefly fays, "I myself faw thefe men, and heard them fpeak; and opening their mouth, I faw their "whole tongue cut out by the roots.'

"

Procopius teftifies, "That in his time, there were many fill "remaining at Conftantinople, whofe tongues, although cut out by the root by Huneric, yet they had the entire ufe of fpeech, as if they had fuffered no fuch punishment. That "only two of them, having committed whoredom, could fpeak "no more."

Marcellinus the Count, was another eye-witness of such prodigies; for he says, “That he had feen many of them at Conftantinople, deprived of their tongues, and yet enjoying the "full faculty of fpeech." Nay, he tells, "That one born "dumb, having had his tongue cut out, immediately refuted "the impiety of the Arians, and fpoke concerning the Chri“stian faith, as if his tongue had formerly been an hindrance "to his fpeech."

Juftinian the Emperor, does not only fay, but he commits it to writing, to continue from age to age, that he had seen such

The enemy came in like a flood, when the bishop of Rome began to affect univerfal dominion; and when herefy, idolatry, and perfecution began, in the most awful manner, to overflow the church. But ftill the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard. Not all the winds of error could caft it down, nor the flames of perfecution burn it up. Amidst the darkest times of Popery, there were who accounted it an abomination. The Albigenfes, the Waldenfes, the Wicklifftes, and Lollards, as they were called, witneffed againft it's abominations, when it was

witnesses for the Godhead of the Son. He avers, "That he "had not heard of them by report, but that he had seen ve"nerable men, whose tongues the Vandals in Africa had cut "out; and that yet they had not deprived them of the power "of speech."

I am not without my apprehenfions, that fome may treat thefe teftimonies as idle tales, reckoning it a thing altogether incredible, that a miracle greater than making the tongue of the dumb to fing, fhould be wrought at fuch a period of the church. Certain however it is, that to deny the truth of what is narrated above, goes far to destroy the credibility of history. It is alledged by many, that the tongues of these perfons had not been entirely cut out; and that therefore, without any miracle, they might still form an articulate found. Such an allegation, however, has nothing to fupport it, but an averfion that any thing preternatural fhould take place on any occafion.

It is highly probable, that the Arians were much more dexterous at their butcherous bufinefs, than only to maim the tongues of the orthodox in fuch a flight manner, that they might ftill fpeak without the intervention of a miracle. Add to this, that one of the witneffes quoted above, (viz. Æneas of Gaza) examined the mouths of the perfons in question, and found that their tongues were entirely rooted out. The reader may confult Mofheim's History, Vol. I. p. 261. cellanea Sacra, Tom. II. p. 901, 902.

Withii Mif