the finger (Le-hovah). This at bottom could make no difference in the state of the deceased, but it expressed their desire that such a person might be among those who are written unto life. From a passage in Isaiah it appears, that persons were in use to mark with indelible ink on the hand, the words (Le-hovah) the contracted form of this sentence, I am the Lord's. This agrees with what Rabbi Simeon says, "The perfectly just are sealed, and in the moment of death are conveyed to Paradise.' This sealing St. Paul applies, as far as wishes can go, to Onesiphorus. May the Lord grant to Onesiphorus, that he may obtain mercy of the Lord in that day! As many, says the same apostle, as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, As upon the Israel of God! (Gal. vi. 16.)

"Such being marked in death with the expression belonging to the Lord, explains this sentence, the foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this SEAL, the Lord knoweth them that ARE HIS. Hurt not the earth, nor the trees, says the angel in the book of Revelation, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. This seal, we are told, is their father's name; that is, Lehovah, the Lord's, alluding to the Old Testament form. This name Christ says he himself writes, and by doing so, acts the part of the Kedosh-Israel, opening where none can shut. This sealing, then, is taking them off by death, and placing them in his father's house; for after they are so sealed, we find them before the throne, hungering and thirsting no more, and the lamb in the midst of them, and leading them forth into pastures.

"This ancient rite St. Paul improves upon. Men can, in sealing, go no farther than wishes, but the spirit of God can do more; ye are sealed by the spirit, until the day of redemption; that is, what others of old may have done symbolically, he will do in reality-he will write upon you Le-hovah. This is a seal which no power can

erase; it will last until the day of redemption. So in another place he says, ye are sealed with the holy spirit of promise. Now the seal Le-hovah, the Lord's, not only say's they are his, but it is also their memorial through the hidden period, that he will appear, and receive them unto himself, and in this way the seal itself has in it the nature of a promise." BENNET's View of the Intermediate State, p. 353-356.

No.159.-xxix. 3. When his candle shone upon my head.] The tents of princes are frequently illuminated as a mark of honour and dignity. Norden tells us (part ii. p. 45.) that the tent of the bey of Girge was distinguished from the other tents by forty lanterns suspended before it, in form of chequer work. If this was the custom formerly, it is possible that these words of Job might have a reference to it. Oh, that it were with me as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me, when his candle shone upon mine head, (when I returned prosperous from expeditions against the enemies of my tribe, and had my tent adorned with lamps) and I passed through the night by the light of it. HARMER, vol. ii. p. 133.

No. 160.-xxix. 6. Washed my steps with butter.] Chandler, in his travels, particularly observes that it was usual for men to tread on skins of cream, in order to separate the butter from its more watery part. This article was sometimes made in very large quantities; on which account such a method might be preferred for expedition. This circumstance Mr. Harmer considers (vol. iii. p. 173.) as a very natural explanation of the phrase, I washed my steps with butter.

No. 161.-xxix. 7. I prepared my seat in the street.] Sitting upon a cushion is an expression of honour; and preparing a seat for a person of distinction seems to mean, laying things of this kind on a place where such a one

is to sit.

Chardin says, "it is the custom of Asia for persons in common not to go into the shops of that country, which are mostly small, but there are wooden seats on the outside, where people sit down; and if it happens to be a man of quality, they lay a cushion there. The people of quality cause carpets and cushions to be carried every where that they like, in order to repose themselves upon them more agreeably." It is then extremely natural to suppose that Job sent his servants to lay a cushion or a carpet upon one of the public seats, or some such place. Eli's seat by the way side, (1 Sam. iv. 13.) was a seat adorned, we may believe, after the HARMER, vol. ii. p. 59.

same manner.

No. 162.-xxx. 22. Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.] Amongst other interpretations given of this passage, the editor of CALMET's Dictionary refers to a sand-storm, and justifies the application of such an idea by the following extract from Mr. BRUCE. "On the 14th, at. seven in the morning, we left Assa Hagga, our course being due north. At one o'clock we alighted among some acacia trees at Waadi el Halboub, having gone twenty-one miles. We were here at once surprised and terrified by a sight surely one of the most magnificent in the world. In that vast expanse of desert, from W. and to N. W. of us, we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at different distances, at times moving with great celerity, at others stalking on with a majestic slowness; at intervals we thought they were coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm us; and small quantities of sand did actually more than once reach us. Again they would retreat so as to be almost out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds; their tops often separated from the bodies; and these, once disjoined dispersed in the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes they were

broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon shot. About noon they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon us, the wind being very strong at north. Eleven of them ranged along side of us about the distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of the largest appeared to me at that distance as if it would measure ten feet. They retired from us with a wind at S. E. leaving an impression upon my mind to which I can give no name, though surely one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment. It was in vain to think of flying; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could be of no use to carry us out of this danger, and the full persuasion of this rivetted me as if to the spot where I stood, and let the camels gain on me so much in my state of lameness, that it was with some difficulty I could overtake them." (Travels, vol. iv. p. 553.) If this quotation is allowed to explain the imagery used by Job, we see a magnificence in it not before apparent. "We see how Job's dignity might be exalted in the air, might rise to great grandeur, importance, and even terror, in the sight of beholders; might ride upon the wind, which bears it about, causing it to advance or to recede; and, after all, when the wind diminishes, might disperse this pillar of sand into the undistinguished level of the desert. This comparison seems to be precisely adapted to the mind of an Arab, who must have seen, or have been informed of, similar phenomena in the countries around him."

No. 163. xxxi. 26, 27. Kissed my hand.] "If (says Pitts,) an inferior comes to pay his respects to a supe. rior, he takes his superior's hand, and kisses it, afterwards putting it to his forehead. But if the superior be of a condescending temper, he will snatch away his hand as soon as the other has touched it; then the inferior puts his own fingers to his lips, and afterwards to his forehead, and

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sometimes the superior will also in return put his hands to his lips." (p. 66.). Thus also Irwin (Voyage, p. 268.) "When the shaik of Ghinnah held a court of justice, and had condemned his vizier, he was immediately surrounded by a crowd of his courtiers, who kissed his hands, embraced his knees, and interceded with him for the pardon of the vizier." If Job had done this in the case he refers to, it would have been an idolatrous action, notwithstanding it is exactly agreeable to the civil expressions. of respect which obtain in the East.

No. 164. xxxi. 35, 36. That mine adversary had written a book! surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.] From the following extracts it appears what is the customary kind of homage, which, in the East, is paid not only to sovereignty, but to communications of the sovereign's will, whether by word or letter. "When the mogol, by letters, sends his commands to any of his governors, these papers are entertained with as much respect as if himself were present; for the governor, having intelligence that such letters are coming near him, himself, with other inferior officers, rides forth to meet the patamar, or messenger, that brings them, and as soon as he sees those letters, he alights from his horse, falls down on the earth, and takes them from the messenger, and lays them on his head, whereon he binds them fast: then retiring to his place of public meeting, he reads, and answers them." (Sir THOMAS ROE'S Embassy, p. 453.)

"The letter which was to be presented to the new monarch was delivered to the general of the slaves, it was put up in a purse of cloth of gold drawn together with strings of twisted gold and silk, with tassels of the same, and the chief minister put his own seal upon it; nor was any omitted of all those knacks and curiosities, which the oriental people make use of in making up their epistles."