allurements. Those who will "buy and sell and get gain" regardless of the will of God must suffer His displeasure; "He will judge His people." 8. "And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content,' verse Did Paul seriously think that readers of this verse would heed the admonition? Well; men committed to an idea, think-or hope-that others may see Christ, and as they do: Paul's idea was, he himself was "known and read of all men" as endorsing with his life this more than Socratean philosophy. The word "raiment "cannot, perhaps, well be displaced, but it is insufficient: the Greek word includes the idea of a dwelling-place. And what do we need more than these? Paul was content without these. "I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need;" many of us, perhaps would be ashamed of Paul's abundance-"poor, yet making many rich." Hear him again, ye lolling Christian voluptuaries! Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place." (1 Cor. iv. 11.) So that he had not even the foundation for contentment which he prescribes for others. What a bishop! 66 But what would become of our influential church members under such a depletion as this contemplates? Ay, indeed, what would become of them? They would no longer look upon the honest artisan, and say, "I have no need of thee." And how would one fare if he should preach thus against "the pride of life," and enforce this absurd doctrine of Paul's? Why he would be reckoned as was Paul, though on different counts; the one through much learning, the other as having men." the ignorance of foolish Let us beware, however, of saying hard words, albeit they do come from a loving heart. We rather beseech "by the meekness and gentleness of Christ," considering and being mindful of those whose " deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." Let us be watchful, lest the love of money, of show, or of comfort, lead into the mistaken labour of planting thorns for a sick bed; and that the Lord, when He cometh, shall find us so doing. Let us prayerfully consider the evils which the "love of money" is a root of, and force not on our loving Father a work which He declares to be "a strange work." 2 Pet. i. 9. "But he that lacketh these things, is blind, shutting his eyes, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins." No one who looks at the Greek text will complain of fastidiousness in the above rendering. It shows which of the three is the first step in the process of declension, and how it is effected; this the A. V. does not. The blindness is the result of shutting the eyes; both are stated in the present tense. The last mentioned step is really the precursory one, and is put in the past tense (λαβὼν λήθην). "Shutting his eyes" (uvwrákwv.) This is the present participle of the verb signifying primarily "to shut the eyes" and it is the cause of the blindness, as itself is the result of forgetfulness. Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not?" and do ye not remember?" (Mark viii. 18.) No: shutting the eyes follows forgetfulness, and thus blindness. Although forgetfulness is the alleged cause here, it is not the innermost root of the evil: Solomon declares this: "slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep." There is no forgetfulness like that of sleep, and how like death is sleep! Give diligence to make your calling and election sure;" being diligent in the business of our Father in heaven, there will be no forgetfulness of the cleansing. But though one may forget the cleansing, it cannot be abrogated; nor does our great High Priest need to rise again to offer another sacrifice for sins: "He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified;" He is therefore seated for ever. When He again riseth, it is not as High Priest, for there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins," but as "King of kings, and Lord of lords." "Having forgotten" is sufficiently literal to state the fact; but perhaps the Greek takes the mind deeper than this. It is not the participle of the verb proper to the thought, that is used here; it is not to forget, but to entertain forgetfulness. The one may be from debility of memory, but the other is an encouragement of the evil. There is no forgetting where there is a doing. Idle hands are our great enemy's favourite depository for mischief. At the same time let us remember that "it is good to be zealously affected in a good thing;" busy evil is a shade worse than idle nothingness; the latter is a bad nurse of a monstrous progeny. Clifton. W. HOWELL. SERMON TO JEWS AT WHITE- ON the Friday preceding Whitsunday, the annual sermon to Jews was preached in Whitechapel Parish Church. The service did not commence till eight o'clock; but long before that time, some hundreds of Jews had assembled around the iron railings, which enclose St. Mary's. As the proselytes appeared and attempted to enter the enclosure, they were greeted with cries of “ Meshummed;" but with one or two exceptions they were allowed to pass unmolested. Still, when the service commenced there were not above fifty persons in the large Church and it seemed likely that the congregation would not exceed that number. But when the preacher ascended the pulpit and gave out his text, a stream of Jews, poured in, and soon the body of the Church was filled. Their conduct was admirable, and they listened most attentively to the sermon, which was taken from Ps. lxxii. 16: There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon." After briefly adverting to the occasion which called them there, the preacher, the Rev. H. A. Stern, proceeded to apply the text to the Messiah and His followers; only once was a voice heard, when some allusion to Bar Kochba and other false Messiahs was made, but it was instantly hushed, and solemn silence again reigned throughout the sanctuary as Mr. Stern, first in English and then in German, pro claimed the message of salvation to his Jewish audience. After the concluding hymn had been sung, the congregation dispersed quietly; two or three groups loitered about the doors to exchange a few words with the churchwardens and others: but as soon as they perceived that nearly every one but themselves was gone, they also took their departure. The whole scene was one which could not fail to impress even a casual observer with the fact that "a great door and effectual" is being opened, and that the time is not very far distant, when the promise shall be fulfilled: "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." H. [We have learnt, from another correspondent, the secret of the tardy entrance of the Jews into the Church. A Jewish master tailor, who employs a great many Jewish workers in his trade, but to whom he pays most scanty wages, came with a body of his poor work-people and barricaded the entrance to the church, and kept back the multitude of Jews who longed to enter the Christian sanctuary. At last one of the forcibly-prevented Israelites made his way to the zealous tailor, and thus addressed him" You think you are doing God service by this exhibition of opposition to Christianity. Let me tell you God would be far better pleased if you would go home and resolve to pay threepence more for the making of a coat to these half-starved workmen of yours." His body of poor workmen, as well as the other Jews, took up the cry against the pious tailor The ringleader was obliged to beat a precipitate retreat; the blockade was raised, the floodgates were opened, and hence the stream of Jews which poured into the church.Ed. H. C. W. and P. I.] Poetry. "THAT BLESSED HOPE." "REACHING forth," Thy love constrains us, Things behind our hearts forget ;* Beaming forth, Thy smile detains us, Willing captives, fondly met, * Phil. iii. 13. Blessed Jesus! On Thy heart so firmly set.* Now we run the race before us, When our foes no more beguile. Even now Thy grace approves us, Constant 'mid the foeman's darts. In our hearts the star arising,t Leads us on to that bright day; When our hearts all bliss comprising, Shall assume our heavenly lay, Blessed Jesus ! Thou the Life, the Truth, the Way. Crown of glory! Shall we wear it? Will that crown our brows adorn ? Could Thy saints, O Jesus, bear it? Say, oh, say, Thou great First-born! Blessed Jesus ! Who the "6 crown of thorns hast worn. "When, as Wisdom, I propounded Words in proverbs for the wise; Then, as now, My grace abounded, You were precious in My eyes, Blessed people! Soon to hear My word' Arise.' "Then I first the word recorded, Crown of glory as the prize ;‡ Win and wear it in the skies." || Jesus too that crown will share ;¶ Then we'll sing that wondrous story Of His love, both here and there. Blessed Jesus! Crown Him, crown Him, Son and Heir. Angels bright, nor saints united, Could that mighty theme exhaust; Creature thought with wisdom lighted Could unfold the boundless cost, Blessed Jesus! Of Thy ransom for the lost. O, the rapture of that meeting, Face to face in upper air! Oh, the nature of that greeting, Friends with friends in glory there! Blessed Jesus! All Thy joy with Thee to share. "Face to face!" and shall we see Him "As He is "behold His face? So become, as by a sunbeam, "Like Him ?" Oh, the wondrous grace, Blessed Jesus! Thou dost now prepare a place. Heavenly Photograph! whose features Life immortal beams around: Stamped with Christ, who in His creatures Sees Himself: loud praises sound, To creation's utmost bound. W. HOWELL. Correspondence. WILL ISRAEL BE RESTORED IN UNBELIEF. To the Editor of the Hebrew Christian Witness and Prophetic Investigator. DEAR SIR,-So many thoughtful students of prophecy are of this opinion that it is with much humility and selfdistrust I here advance arguments drawn from sacred Scripture in favour of a contrary expectation; the subject can scarcely be too fully investigated, being one, if I rightly understand St. Paul's words in Rom. xi. 31, of great practical importance to the Gentile church. Faith being the divinely appointed channel for communicating every real blessing to fallen man (James i. 7), it is certainly surprising to find this ordained method of bestowment set aside in Israel's case, that the unbelief which lost him Palestine will not interfere with his return thither at the Lord's appointed time. But does the great Hebrew lawgiver, in his last solemn address to his countrymen, as recorded in Deut. xxx., authorise this expectation? Let us hear his words: "And it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shall call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that then the Lord thy God will have compassion on thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee." That it is to no mere legal ceremonial obedience this gracious promise is annexed, we learn from St. Paul's commentary on these words who tells us in Rom. x. 6, that Moses here speaks of faith in the Lord Jesus-the only root of grateful love and true obedience. And does not the great Apostle of the Gentiles, testify in like manner concerning his fellow countrymen that faith must precede their restoration ? If they abide not in unbelief, they shall be graffed in again? Jeremiah speaks of the penitential return of all the families of Israel to the land of their fathers.-" They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them." (Jer. xxx.) Ezekiel also predicts a return similar to that from Egypt, with judgment intermingled on the rebels who join their company. (Ezek. xx.) In the same prophet's most remarkable vision of the dry bones, we have first the gathering together of Israel by the preached word, and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the same blessed instrumentality, which combines them in military array," an exceeding great army," for purposes that may be conjectured from a comparison of Jer. xli. 20, 23, with Zech. x. 5, and Hos. i. 11, and Mic. iv. 13, and vii. 16. The attempt to explain away the grand Mosaic promise in Deut. xxx. of restoration on repentance-that it has been frustrated by Israel's obstinate unbelief, involves surely a denial of Jehovah's power and omniscience, whose prerogative it is to give repentance with faith for the remission of sins. Those passages in Ezekiel that are usually cited to prove the re-occupation by Israel and Judah of the Holy Land in a state of unbelief, will be found I humbly conceive, capable of a different construction, for they surely point to something far greater than what is justly termed conversion in Gentile times. If we weigh the full import of the promises in Ezek. xxxvi. from verse 25-31, they will be found transcending any thing experienced by St. Paul. "I will give you a heart of flesh, and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them "-"thy people shall be all righteous," &c. A perfect inherent righteousness is here promised far different to St. Paul's experience: "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no 66 good thing." O, wretched man that I am," &c. Thus also St. John: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." "The flesh," or natural man, now the great opposing principle, becomes, according to the language of the prophet, alive to the purest impulses. I should, dear sir, occupy too much space in your valuable periodical were I to attempt proof from these and other texts that a great physical change will be effected in restored Israel. This I know is expected by many who yet do not perhaps sufficiently consider the restraining, deadening influences these bodies of sin and death exercise over the immortal spirit. May I be allowed to renew the interesting theme in a future number? It will solve other difficulties concerning Ezekiel's temple, as explained by the Rev. A. A. Isaac, for men of heroic mould (see Isai. lxi. 9 and lxv. 20-23) will require a grander edifice for their worship than any thing now practicable. Respectfully and truly yours JANE BURNETT. Queries. PSALMS XXII. 16 AND XVI. 8. To the Editor of the Hebrew Christian Witness and Prophetic Investigator. Norwood, June 12th, 1874. MY DEAR SIR,-With the exception of some degree of happy, and indeed much valued understanding of the names given to us in the Old Testament of "THE ETERNAL ONE," my knowledge of Hebrew, I need hardly confess to you, is very small; but from an early period of life, having been an admirer, if not a disciple of the Hutchinsonian School, I have felt a want of confidence in the vowel points. I have two cases before me just now, which I should like to have cleared up by some of your learned correspondents. First, then, with regard to the rendering of verse 17 in Ps. xxii. It has often been stated to me by a young friend (an Israelite), that our A.V. is incorrect; that instead of reading, "the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet," the verse should read, "they encompassed me as a lion, and bound Me hand and foot." I cannot say whether my young friend has throughout given the exact rendering of Dr. Benisch, but he refers me to Dr. B.'s translation as his authority. N is the word in dispute. Now which is correct, our A.V. or Dr. B.'s rendering? Are the vowel points ever used capriciously, or arbitrarily, and thereby dishonestly? Are they the same in all copies of the sacred Scriptures? While I can make out, or at least imagine that I can, that is the Hebrew for "as a lion," yet I want to know on what authority in this verse, the is to be construed • not as an as a prefix, and the affix ? There appear to me to be other objections to Dr. B.'s rendering of the verse, but I shall be glad to have the passage investigated. The other case is in reference to Ps. xvi. 8. In a pamphlet on "The Controversy of Zion: a meditation on Judaism and Christianity," by Stanislaus Hoga, second edition enlarged (B. Wertheim. 1845), in section vi. of his introduction, there occurs this observation: "The psalmist therefore comparing the holy law to his right hand, from which he can never be separated, after saying, 'I have set the Lord always before me,' adds that he was enabled to do so, 'because from my right hand I shall not be moved ;' and in a foot-note, informs us, that "the translation in the English Bible is not correct." [We will not keep our esteemed correspondent waiting for a reply. We frankly tell him that we sympathise with him in his "want of confidence in the vowel points." We adhere to the sentiments expressed, on that question, in a Sermon entitled THE ORACLES OF GOD AND THEIR VINDICATION.* He must be an Israelite young-very young in thought and in deed-who considers Dr. Benisch a reliable authority either in theology or philology. We have neither the time nor the space at present to marshal before our readers the legions of inaccurate renderings in Dr. Benisch's translation Page 11. Published by Samuel Bagster & Sons, 15, Paternoster Row, London. of the OLD TESTAMENT. We confine ouselves, in this issue, to his English version of the sixteenth verse-seventeenth, according to the numbering in the accepted printed Hebrew Biblesof the twenty-second Psalm. For obvious reasons that Jewish translator has discarded the translation of the English A.V. of that prophetic sentence, and adopted the untenable one-by no means original-as his own:"For dogs have compassed me; an assembly of wicked ones beset me round, like the lion my hands and my feet." The original of that verse consists of the following triplet : כי סבבוני כלבים עדת מרעים הקפוני כארי ידי ורגלי: The English translators have correctly rendered the verse-notwithstanding the degeneration of the first word in the third line-as follows:"For dogs have compassed me; The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: They pierced my hands and my feet." The first word of the third line, in its present degenerated form in the original, occurs four times in nonpunctuated Hebrew Bibles, and only twice in punctuated ones. In the unpunctuated Hebrew Scriptures, the word will be found in Num. xxiv. 9; in Isaiah xxxviii. 13; Ezek. xxii. 25; and in the verse under review. The context, as well as common sense and etymology point to the exact meaning in the three former instances, namely, "like a lion," whilst context and common sense are against such a meaning to be palmed upon the word under analysis. No Hebrew scholar-who was not bent upon sacrificing his grammar to his prejudices-has ever ventured to assert, much less to maintain, that the word in Psalm xxii. 16, belonged to the same vocable, or should be translated as in the other three instances. As we have already intimated, twice only does the word occur in the punctuated Hebrew Bible, as we have it in the Psalm under notice; namely here and in Isaiah xxxviii. 13. The authors of the MASORA-whatever we may think of their punctuations and accentuations- were well acquainted with the letter of the Hebrew Scriptures; they had a firstrate verbal knowledge of the text of |