of cloven tongues, like as of fire. May we not therefore understand the passage thus? That as every sacrifice under the law was salted with salt, to purify and make it holy; so every one that is to be saved, shall be salted, purified, or have their consciences purged from dead works with fire, or the Holy Ghost: St. Paul says, "fire shall try every man's work," 1 Cor. iii. 13. which some learned commentators apply to the 'Holy Ghost.-Ostervald.

X.4.

"Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away." The bill of divorce runs to this purpose" On such a day, month, or year, and at such a place, I, N. voluntarily divorce, put away and restore to your liberty, you N. who was formerly my wife; and permit you to marry whom you please." This bill of divorce must be written by a woman, a deaf man, or a rabbi, on parchment, in twelve lines of square letters, two must sign their attestation of the man's subscription, and other two must attest the date of it. Ordinarily, there are other ten persons present at the giving of it. They generally advise the woman not to marry till after three months. But the divine law absolutely prohibited her return to her former husband. Deut. xxiv. 4. Jer. iii. 1.Brown. S X.12.

"If a woman shall put away her husband." This practice of divorcing the husband, unwarranted by the law, had been (as Josephus informs us) introduced by Salome, sister of Herod the Great, who sent a bill of divorce to her husband Costobarus; which bad example was afterwards followed by Herodias and others. By law it was the husband's prerogative to dissolve the marriage. The wife could do nothing by herself. When he thought fit to dissolve it her consent was not necessary. The bill of divorce which she received was to serve as evidence for her that she had not deserted her husband, but was dismissed by him, and consequently free. -Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page-321.

XI.-13. "And seeing a fig-tree afar off, having leaves," &c. The words in this verse And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves," should either be included in a parenthesis, or transposed thus: If haply he might find any thing thereon; for the time of figs was not yet; and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves.-See note on St. Matthew xxi. 19.

XII.- -1. "And built a tower." In the route between Jerusalem and the convent of Saint Elias, (which is situated about an hour's distance from that city,) Mr. Buckingham was particularly struck with the appearance of several small and detached square towers in the midst of the vine-lands, These, his guide informed him, were used as watch-towers, whence watchmen to this day look out, in order to guard the produce of the lands from depredation.-Horne's Introduction, vol. iii. page 458. at note. ..

XIII.- -32. "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man; no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." The Greek word rendered "knoweth," has here the force of the Hebrew conjugation hiphel, i. e. of that day and that hour no man maketh known, &c. Such also is the meaning of the same verb at 1. Cor. ii. 2.-See Ostervald. Also Valpy's Greek Testament.

5

XIII. 85. Or at the cock crowing." The antients divided the night into different watches; the last of which was called cock crow: wherefore they kept a cock in their tirit, or towers, to give notice of the dawn. Hence this bird was sacred to the sun, and named Alektor, which seems to be a compound out of the titles of that deity, and of the tower set apart for his service; for these towers were temples! See Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 322.

XIV.3. "And she brake the box and poured it on his head." Propertius calls the opening of a wine vessel, by breaking the cement that secured it, breaking the vessel.

Agreeably to this mode of expression we are doubtless to understand these words of Mark, that, as Jesus sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard (or liquid nard, according to the margin) very precious, and she brake the box. and poured it on his head. -Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. page 297.

XIV.-12. -12. "The first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover." They called the day on which the passover was killed, one of the days of unleavened bread and the first day thereof, because it was preparatory to that feast; though properly speaking, the first day began with the passover supper.-L'Enfant.

XIV.- -51. "And there followed him a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body," &c. Thus Saul is said to be naked, 1 Sam. xix. 24. when it is plain he had only cast off his upper garment; see also Isaiah xx. 2.3. -Doddridge.

As a probable conjecture who this young man was and what brought him to the spot in that stript condition, we have the following remark of Grotius, "Non de Apostolorum grege, sed ex villa aliqua horto proxima, strepitu militum excitatus, et subito accurrens, ut conspiceret quid ageretur.

XIV. 69. "And a maid saw him again." Rather, the maid. Michaelis, after stating that Matthew had said another maid, Mark the maid, and Luke another man, observes, "The whole contradiction vanishes at once, if we only attend to John, the quiet spectator of all which passed; for he writes, xviii. 25.-They said to him, wast not thou also one of his disciples? Whence it appears that there were several who spake on this occasion, and that all which is said by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, may very easily be true: there might probably be more than the three who are named; but the maid, who had in a former instance recognized Peter, appears to have made the deepest impression on his mind,

and hence, in dictating this Gospel to Mark, he might have said, the maid." Valpy's Greek Testament.

XIV. 70. "Thou art a Galilean, and thy speech XIV.70. agreeth thereto." The Galileans spoke an unpolished and corrupt dialect of the Syriac, compounding and using one letter for another; and also frequently changed the gutterals. This, probably, proceeded from their great communication and intermixture with the neighbouring nations. It was this corrupt dialect that led to the detection of Peter, as one of Christ's disciples.-See Horne's Introduction, vol. iii. page 14.

XIV. 72. "When he thought thereon." This does not seem an adequate translation of the original word, here rendered "thought thereon," which Elsner and Lambert Bos, upon good authority, would render covering his head, which was a token of mourning and shame, and well becoming Peter on this occasion.-See Ostervald.

XV.—25. “It was the third hour and they crucified him." St. John xix. 14. says that it was about the sixth hour. There are three ways of reconciling this: First, the Greek symbol for 6, may have been substituted for the one for 3, to which it bears some resemblance. Secondly, it was the custom to divide the day into four parts, answering to the four watches of the night. These coincided with the hours of three, six, nine, and twelve. Our Lord's crucifixion, therefore, might have taken place within the time from three to six. Thirdly, St Mark probably speaks only of the time of the preparation for the crucifixion; but St. John, of the crucifixion itself. See Horne, vol. i. p. 548 & 553.-See also Introduction to a New Version.

XVI. 5. "And entering into the sepulchre." The sepulchres of the Jews were made so large that persons might go into them: the rule for making them is this: he that sells ground to his neighbour to make a burying-place, must make a court at the mouth of the cave, six by six, according to the

bier, and those that bury. It was into this court that the women entered. Here they could look into the sepulchre and the several graves in it and see what were in them.-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 323.

ST. LUKE.

I.—1. (6 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand." This must refer to some histories of the life of Christ which are now lost; for Matthew and Mark the only evangelists that can be supposed to have written before Luke, could not, with any propriety, be called many.-Ostervald.

I.-13. "And thou shalt call his name John." This name, in Hebrew, signifies the grace or favor of the Lord; and therefore, very properly given to him who was the forerunner of the Saviour of men.

"

I.-19. "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." As only a select few in the Oriental courts were permitted to behold the face of the monarch, it is in reference to this custom that the angel Gabriel replied to Zechariah (who hesitated to believe his annunciation of the Baptist's birth) that he was Gabriel that stood in the presence of God; thus intimating that he stood in a state of high favor and trust with Jehovah (Luke i. 19.) To dwell, or stand in the presence of a sovereign, is an Oriental idiom, importing the most eminent and dignified station at court.-Horne's Introduction, vol. iii, page 87.

The

I.-63. 66 And he asked for a writing table." Moorish and Turkish boys in Barbary are taught to write