spectators made between the administration of the bread and wine-a most unreasonable interruption. If any thing is said to the spectators, or in reference to them, it should certainly be after the celebration is entirely over;-after even the hymn;-otherwise it is either a part of the celebration, or an interruption to it. If it is a part, by what authority is it added; if it is an interruption, by what authority is the exercise broken off before its completion? Either is a kind of profane meddling with Christ's own most solemn institution. It might, perhaps, be best of all to say not one word to the spectators; to leave the scene itself to speak its own language. And if any thing can be profitably added, let it be when the congregation is

next assembled.

I was lately a little disobliged by having the hymn and the benediction both postponed until after the usual collection was taken up for the expenses of the church. This interruption also ought to have been avoided.

BIBLIACA,--No. I.

E. R.

GEN. iv. 23, 24. "And Lamech said unto his wives Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.". In respect to this passage, it may be observed that the words of Lamech as they stand in the original, are constructed in a metrical form, and exhibit the earliest specimen of the Hebrew canticle any where to be found. This remark will remove the idea that two different persons are spoken of; as nothing is more common in Hebrew poetry, than

such repetitions or duplications of the same sentiment, in slightly varied expressions. The true sense then of the passage will depend upon a correct explication of the force of the particle connected with the substantives. That this is in many instances equivalent to propter or for, any one may be convinced by consulting Noldius. See Lev. xix. 28. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead" (wa-propter mortuum.)

The following then may be given as the meaning of the passage: Lamech informs his wives that he has slain a young man for his wounding, i. e. on occasion of a just provocation, having been himself hurt and wounded, and his life endangered. He had therefore slain his antagonist in self-defence. The deed consequently was of a far different character from tle murderous act of Cain, who had slain his brother without provocation. So that if Cain, notwithstanding his crime, experienced divine clemency, and no one could offer violence to him without meeting with sevenfold vengeance, surely he might expect that whoever should undertake to avenge the blood which he had spilt in his own defence, would be punished with seventy times the severity of the other.

The suggestion of Gussetius is here worthy of notice, who supposes that Lamech might have been more emboldened to promise himself impunity, from the use of the newly formed weapons and instruments of brass and iron, which his son Tubal had recently invented.

Psalm 1xxiii. 10, 11. "Therefore his people return hither, and (or, when) the waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge with the Most High?" The true import of these

words, in the connection in which they stand, it is somewhat difficult to ascertain. Perhaps the following liberal paraphrase may justly represent the scope of the Psalmist. "Therefore, seeing that the wicked flourish in the earth, the people of God themselves are sometimes tempted to return hither, i. e. to adopt the conclusion that God has no care of human affairs. Especially is this the case, when they are in trouble, and the waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. Under these trying afflictions they are ready to say, even the saints themselves, How doth God know, &c. Can it be possible that he takes cognizance of the proceedings of men--that he governs the worldwhen such persons as these, the ungodly and the wicked prosper in the world, and increase in riches ?" This interpretation is confirmed by the fact that the word return in Scripture, is sometimes equivalent to changing one's mind—to coming to another conclusion--especially in respect to moral conduct. See Mal. iii. 18.

As to the expression which occurs in the 4th verse of this psalm,

there אין חרצבות למותם

are no

bands in their death-the literal rendering is, there are no cords to their death. This is perhaps equivalent to saying that they were exempt from those pains and diseases which remind man of mortality, and serve as a band, cord, or chain, to draw him gradually downwards to the grave. strength is firm--they are in perfect health; and to all appearance have no tendencies towards dissolution.

On the contrary, their

1 Cor. xi. 21. Και ἧς μεν πεινά, ός δε μεθύει. We may observe that the Corinthian church has been wronged by the charge of drunkenness commonly brought against them from the English translation. For

the original word does not always in the N. T. signify what we call drunken, as we may see by compar ing the use of it here, with the import of the same word in the history of our Lord's turning water into wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. John ii. 10. "Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. Seeing no Christian will readily suppose that the Lord wrought a miracle to give good wine to drunken men, it is evident it can mean nothing more in this passage than well refreshed. So also in Corinthians, as it stands in opposition to being pinched with hunger, it can mean nothing more than being plentifully supplied with meat and drink; so plentifully, as might have sufficed both for them and their hungry brethren, had they kindly invited them to eat. As it was customary for them when they came together in one place, to eat the Lord's supper, to bring food from their own private stock, which it seems some of them did not set forth in common, the apostle is here charging them not so directly with the crime of sensuality, as with a gross transgression of the law of brotherly love. GLAS.

Latter part of a Discourse on the Privilege and Duty of Possessing the Word of God. Translated for the Christian Spectator, from the Thirty-eighth Bulletin of the Protestant Bible Society of Paris. June, 1825. By Jacob Porter.

Previous to the general meeting of the Protestant Bible Society of Paris, its committee had invited the venerable Consistory of the Department of the Seine, to do them the favour of giving notice of this anniversary from their pulpits, and of recom. mending the Institution anew to the

attention of the faithful. Upon this invitation, the Consistory deliberated, and M. pastor Juillerat was charged with delivering a sermon particularly on the Biblical work. It Is from this sermon, which was delivered in the chapel of the Oratoire, on the Lord's day, March 6, that we present to our readers the following

extracts.

The things that are revealed belong anto us and to our children forever.

MOSES.

It is we above all, reformed Christians, who are authorized to say with Moses and the ancient Christians, The things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever. It is especially to us that it belongs to place, with pious reverence, in the midst of our families the word of God.

When we hear it spoken of, even from our infancy, it is represented to us as the gift of God, as an inalienable property, which none has a right to take from us, and which we ought to preserve even at the peril of our lives. We are taught to read it, there to learn our origin and our destination, our privileges and our hopes, our duties and our happiness; we treasure up in our youthful memories its sacred truths and its precepts; we learn thence to draw the holy weapons necessary for defending ourselves against the enemies of our salvation, and the triumphant replies that we ought to make to those that ask us the reason of our belief; it puts entirely and unreservedly into our hands an invaluable privilege, the enjoy ment of which, sanctified by prayer, enables us and accustoms us, from early life, to know our spiritual wants, and choose for ourselves the supplies that they require. When we enter our temples, it strikes our eyes at once, placed by the chair of truth, in the view of all the people; soon it is addressed to our ears, it fixes our attention, it captivates our minds, which never fail there to

discover new treasures of instruction and new applications; it gives the public prayers elevation, strength, and sweetness; it is the text, the ornament, and the power of the discourse, that is addressed to us by the messenger from on high; when we return to our dwellings, we there review the word that we have heard, and consult it again, the better to impress its lessons on our memory; when we are detained there by infirmity or duty, it reveals to us the will of God in our involuntary retirement, and nourishes our souls with the bread of life; when we offer to the Lord the homage of private worship, it draws around its light the different members of our families, in the midst of whom it presides by the authority and sacred nature of its instructions. Does any one presume to dispute with us our glory as reformed Christians, and ask us where we were before the reformation? We appeal at once to its testimony; and on opening the gospel, we make it appear that we are the heirs of the first Christians, we make it appear that our worship is formed on the model of that which the apostles established. Is there any suspicion respecting our relation as subjects and citizens with princes and the public authority? The word, that directs us to render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's," and to submit to the higher powers from motives of conscience, is the venerated interpreter of our feelings, and the infallible guaranty of our conduct. By casting his eyes on this heavenly book, one knows what we believe, and who we are. Are we called to testify at the tribunal of a magistrate ? It consecrates to us the oath, that we take over the gospel. Enlightened by its sacred truths, aided by its precepts, enriched by its promises, depositaries, and confidents of its oracles, we rely upon it with confidence in the religious acts,

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The annual reports and monthly bulletins, published by the parent society, explain in detail these institutions and their benefits. Per haps also the most of you know that there exists in Paris, around the central society, a certain number of active Bible associations, both among males and females, that are engaged in searching out our brethren of all classes wherever they are to be found, in order to engage them in this work of faith and charity, and receive the smallest offerings, which the subscribers soon see converted into sacred books, that they have the happiness to possess or to provide for their indigent brethren. It is our duty, however, while applauding the zeal of those among us, who have already put their hands to the work, to say that these pious associations are not sufficiently multiplied in our church, and that our brethren of the confession of Augsburg do, by their exertions in this respect, furnish us with an excellent example to follow.

You will, by no means, remain in the rear. Spread far and wide in every direction the knowledge of our Bible associations, and let merchants, artisans, labourers, servants, all those, in a word, who are not already connected with them, come forward to increase the number. We shall not have attained our object till all the faithful without exception, from the young to the aged, are included in them.

Do you say that the Bible is useless to you, seeing you do not know how to read it? But you have brothers, children, friends, neighbours, who will make up for your ignorance, if the possession of the sacred book does not give you the desire and the courage to acquire in a little time, the easy science of which you are destitute.

Do you say that it is sufficient for you to hear the word of God in our temples? But you need to VOL. 1.-No. VII.

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have it all the time under your eye, so as to consult it or read it, one with another, with a method, that will give you the best understanding of it, and an exactness that will enable you to take the greatest pleasure in it.

God, who gave it to us, has willed that it should be for us and for our children forever. It is necessary that every family should possess it, and that the children should be accustomed to venerate it and read it even from the cradle. This is the example that is set us, in both hemispheres, by Protestant Christians, who passing, by a noble effort, beyond their own wants, are engaged, with so much perseverance and success, in supplying the wants of whole nations and smaller colonies whether pagan or Mahometan, in order to present them with the book of life, and likewise the wants of the lost sheep of Israel, in order to furnish them with the life giving food of the gospel.

You are reformed Christians and yet you do not possess the Bible! You are the descendants of those, who regained the rights and practised, in this respect, the duties of Christians, rights and duties forgotten in the days of persecution, and you do not possess the Bible, which is now read, on the other side of the globe, by the lately discovered and barbarous inhabitants of Polynesia, in their various dialects! It is not yet in your hands, and already they print, preach, and explain it.

You have not the Bible! And who then are you? To what banner do you belong? What do you believe? What is your hope? Wherefore in our ranks? And what guaranty do you offer to your fellow-citizens, what guaranty to society in general? How! though Providence has entrusted to men the care of preserving the Bible, you reject, on your part, this sublime concern, and range yourselves