this opportunity of stating that view of it, which was there prefuppofed. These words are ufually understood, as if connected with the following-For my brethren, for my kinfmen, &c. and upon this fuppofition have proceeded various attempts of commentators to explain the paffage, which after all have explained nothing clearly, except that the writers were very much at a lofs. We therefore propofe that the fentence be enclosed as a parenthefis, fo that the fubfequent claufe fhall no longer ftand connected with it, but be referred to the affertion immediately preceding; thus-I have great hea-vinefs and continual forrow in my heart ( > for my brethren, my kinfman according to the flesh. This alteration too makes room for a verfion of the enclosed sentence, which must be allowed by those who know the original, to be more strict and natural than the common tranflation. Inftead of-I could wish that myself, &c. we readI myself was wishing to be (or 1 myself gloried in being) anathema from Chrift-or devoted to feparation from Chrift, and fo excluded from all the good whereof He is the author. Here we have a fimple avowal on the part of the apostle; that he himself once preferred, and gloried in that awful state, in which now, with heart-felt grief, he faw his brethren the Jews lying;-felf-devoted to deftruction, and choofing death rather than life, in rejecting the only Saviour: in which condition He alfo would have continued, as well as they, had he been left to his own will, to follow the wish and suggestions of depraved nature. Taking the apoftle's words in this fenfe, we are no longer doubtful as to the defign of fuch a confeffion it being, manifeftly, to imprefs : L 3 upon upon the Jews, in the ftrongeft poflible manner, a fenfe of his fincerity, in the profeffion of affectionate forrow he was then making; whereby he affured them, that while he could not but declare the counfel of God against them, because of their unbelief, yet he did not exult over their ruin; but on the contrary, compaffionated their fituation, and fympathized in their calamity, as one who had himself been involved in the fame blindness and obnoxious to the fame condemnation. A. 2 PETER, i. Part of Ver. 19. We have alfo a more fure word of prophecy. THIS paffage, taken in its present form, and viewed in its connection with the three preceding verfes, would seem to intimate that the word of prophecy was a more unequivocal atteftation to the truth of the apoftolic teftimony, than the voice which was heard in the holy mount, and which proclaimed from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed. The apostle, however, could not have intended to fay, that a revelation delivered through the mouth of a prophet, bore higher marks of Divine authority than a witnefs borne by the Father himself by a voice which came immediately from heaven. For though the glory of Chrift was fufficiently manifefted by the prophets, to rejoice the hearts of them that believed; ftill it was known to them only by REPORT: whereas the declaration vouchfafed to the three difciples, pointed to Jefus, then standing before them in bodily prefence, and fo furrounded with manifeftations of Divine and vifible fplendor, that they saw his glory-they were EYE-WITNESSES of his majesty. Befides, the prophecies, from their very nature, could never have had all the certainty whereof they were capable, till they were eventually fulfilled in the coming of the Juft One.-Nay, let us fuppofe for a moment that Christ had not come in the flesh;—then all must have fallen to the ground. Whereas the perfonal appearance of Jefus in the holy mount, had been to the beholders, an irrefiftible evidence of his dignity, though the Spirit of prophecy had never uttered his voice. But though the prophetic word could not be more fure than the voice from heaven, it could and did derive to itself further confirmation from that voice: indeed, it was now completely authenticated, in its true import, as teftifying to Jefus that he was the anointed of God. The apostle therefore, about to urge the study of the Old Teftament Scriptures, commends them as thus corroborated, and as having in their favor, the fame grand evidence upon which the truth of the Gospel refted; faying, We have more firm the prophetic word: that is, we have the teftimony of the prophets, further confirmed to us; feeing that the tranfaction on the mount has not only proved Jefus to be the Son of God, but has evinced him to, be the very One of whom the prophets fpake in times paft. Thus the fcope of the two difpenfations was there manifefted to be the fame; and when we look unto Jefus as that fcene prefents him to us, we discover a fixed fenfe and unity of defign pervading the whole. We fee the Old Teftament Testament revelation iffuing in Jefus, and the New Teftament proceeding from the fame perfon. We fee Mofes and Elias (apt reprefentatives of the law and the prophets) miniftering unto Jefus, and acquiefcing in the command to HEAR HIM alone: while we fee Jefus accepting of their fervice, and arraying them in fuitable glory, thereby acknowledging that they had, on earth, fpoken the word of truth, when they teftified before hand the fufferings of Christ, and the glory that fhould follow. A. 1 JOHN, v. Part of Ver. 1. Whofoever believeth that Jefus is the Chrift, is born of God. MEN are so apt to confider the term Chrift as a mere name, that they overlook the grounds upon which it is applied to the Redeemer. But though it be applied to Jefus, in the fenfe of a name, yet in more important fenfe he claims this title and he is in Scripture CALLED Chrift, because he is indeed the Chrift of God; that very person who was anointed of the Father for filling certain offices and executing a certain work; even exhibiting in himself all that, and nothing elfe, which the Scriptures of truth afcribe to him. : If therefore men were not unconcerned about the import of the words which God has thought fit to employ; they would find, in this text, a plain declaration of the nature and subject-matter of the faith of God's elet-namely, the tefti/ mony mony of Jefus Chrift; called by our Lord and his apostles, the Gofpel; and of which He faid, Whofo believeth, fhall be faved. But men, not liking a truth fo fubverfive of their pride, nor yet daring to avow their disbelief of it; fhelter, their denial under the common practice of explaining the more decifive and obvious teftimo nies of Scripture, by the more general and ambiguous, and even figurative. Many are the evils which have arifen from this most unwarrantable method of interpreting Scripture. In this instance, we are indebted to it for our mul-. titudes, of Chriftians, who know nothing of him whose name they bear-of believers of the Gofpel, who deny all that the Gofpel contains.. But, bleffed be our Lord, this declaration yet ftands good, and now, as well as in the time of the apostles, affords comfort and joy to finners, who have no hope, but that fet before them in the Gofpel-Whofoever believeth that Jefus is the Chrift, is born of God.. This paffage declares to us the nature of justifying faith; that it confifts only in believing a report for we find, the children of God diftinguished from the rest of the world, in that the former are perfuaded of the truth of a certain propofition, which (as will be, feen prefenely) is an epitome of the Gofpel report; while the latter are of opinion, that it is falfe. Nor is it. natural to fuppofe that the apostles would have used fo important a term as Faith in a fenfe in which it was not already understood; yet if they had meant by it any thing elfe than belief, or perfuafion of truth, they would certainly have done fo. Indeed we have fome reason to apprehend, that fuch of our readers as have not been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, in the rudiments of |