to Almighty God every day and night, nay, every hour, till the day of our Lord's ascension-that is, the seventh before the kalends June (May 24th), and daily read lessons to us, his disciples, and whatever remained of the day he spent in singing psalms. He also passed all the night awake in joy and thanksgiving, unless a short sleep prevented it; in which case he no sooner woke than he presently repeated his wonted exercises, and ceased not to give thanks to God with uplifted hands. I declare with truth that I have never seen with my eyes, nor heard with my ears, any man so earnest in giving thanks to the living God.

Oh, truly happy man! He chanted the sentence of St. Paul the Apostle, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," and much more out of Holy Writ; wherein also he admonished us to think of our last hour, and to shake off the sleep of the soul. And, being learned in our poetry, he said some things also in our tongue concerning the departure of the soul. He also sang antiphons according to our custom and his own, one of which was, "O glorious King, Lord of all power, who triumphing this day didst ascend above all the heavens, do not forsake us orphans, but send down on us the spirit of truth which was promised to us by the Father. Halleluiah!"

And when he came to that word, "Forsake us not," he burst into tears and wept much; and an hour afterwards he began to repeat what he had commenced, and we hearing it mourned with him. By turns we read, and by turns we wept; nay, we wept always while we read. In such joy we passed the days of Lent till the aforesaid day, and he rejoiced much and gave God thanks because he had been counted worthy to be so weakened. He often repeated that "God scourgeth_every son whom He receiveth;" as also this sentence from St. Ambrose, "I have not lived so as to be ashamed to live among you; nor do I fear to die, because we have a gracious God." During these days he laboured to compose two works, well worthy to be remembered, besides the lessons we had from him, and the singing of psalms-namely, he translated the Gospel of St. John as far as the words, "But what are these among so many ?" (St. John vi. 9), into our own tongue, for the benefit of the Church; also some collections out of the notes of Bishop Isidore, saying, "I will not have my pupils read a falsehood, nor labour therein without profit after my death." When the Tuesday before the ascension of our Lord came, he began to suffer still more in his breath, and a small swelling appeared in his feet; but he passed all that day, and dictated cheerfully, saying now and then, among other things, "Go on quickly; I know not how long I shall hold out, and whether my Maker will not soon take me away." But to us he seemed very well to know the time of his departure, and so he spent the night awake in thanksgiving, and when the morning appeared-that is, Wednesday he ordered us to write with all speed what he had begun; and this done we walked till the third hour with the relics of saints, according to the custom of that day. There was one of us with him, who said to him, "Dear master, there is still one chapter wanting. Do you think it troublesome to be asked any more questions? He answered, "It is no trouble. Take your pen, make ready, and write fast," which he did. But at the ninth hour he said to me, "I have some articles of value in my chest, such as pepper, napkins, and incense. Run quickly, and bring the priests of our monastery to me, that I may distribute among them the gifts which God has bestowed upon me. rich in this world are bent on giving gold and silver and other precious things; but I, in love, would joyfully give my brothers what God has given unto me." He spoke to every one of them, admonishing and entreating them that they would carefully say masses and prayers for him, which they readily promised; but they all mourned and wept, chiefly because he said that "in this world they should see his face no more. They rejoiced for that he said, "It is time that I return to Him who has formed me out of nothing. I have lived long. My merciful Judge well foresaw my life for me. The time of my dissolution draweth nigh; for I desire to depart and to be with Christ.' Having said much more, he passed the day joyfully till the evening, when

The

the boy said, "Dear master, there is yet one sentence not written!" He answered, "Write quickly!" Soon after, the boy said, "The sentence is now written." He replied, "It is well. You have said the truth. It is ended. Take my head in your hands, for it is a great satisfaction to me to sit facing my holy place where I was wont to pray, that, thus sitting, I may call on my Father." And thus, on the pavement of his little cell, singing "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost!" when he had named the Holy Ghost he breathed his last; and so departed to the Heavenly Kingdom. All who were present at the death of the blessed father said they had never seen any other person expire with so much devotion and in so tranquil a frame of mind; for, as you have heard, as long as the soul animated the body, he never ceased, with uplifted hands, to give thanks to the true and living God.

A

Notes on Job xix. 25, 26, 27.

LITERAL VERSION.

ND I (emph.) know my Redeemer (1), the Living One (2), and (HE) the Last (3), over (4), the dust will arise.

And after they shall have destroyed my skin, this (5) (shall happen!), even from (6) my flesh (body) shall I behold God. Whom I (emph.) shall behold for myself, and my eyes shall see, and not (as) a stranger (7).

My inmost thoughts in my bosom are accomplished (8)!

PARAPHRASE.

I assuredly know my Kinsman Mediator (1), the ever living One (2), who is also the Last (3), and who will rise in triumph over (4) the dust of the grave.

And after these burning ulcers shall have consumed my skin, this (5) glorious event shall happen, even from (6) a resuscitated body (raised after the model of His), shall I behold God!

Whom I assuredly shall behold for myself, and my eyes shall see, not as a stranger (7), (but as my Kinsman Mediator).

In the realisation of this blessed prospect my deepest thoughts, my inmost hopes, shall have their full and final consummation! (8).

NOTES.

(1.) Nearest Kinsman, with whom the right of redemption rested, and also of avenging the blood of a slaughtered relative. See Numb. v. 8.; Levi. xxv. 25; Ruth iii. 12, iv. 1, 6, 8; and Numb. xxxv. 19, s. q.; Deut. xix. 6, 12; Josh. xx. 3; 2 Sam. xiv. 11; and Numb. xxxv. 12.

The is contrasted most beautifully with a stranger (27v.), but I am not aware that this striking contrast has ever been pointed out by scholars who have written upon this sublime but difficult text. The Kinsman Mediator, our adorable Saviour, will appear as no Stranger to His worshipping disciples at the Last Day. Precious thought!

(2.) "The Living (One)." Very frequently one of the distinctive names of the Godhead, the source of all being. See Job. xxvii. 2; Deut. xxxii. 40; Isai. xxxvii. 4, xlix. 18.

אַחַרדל

xlviii. 12.

(3.) "The Last." Clearly here a noun, as in Isai. xliv. 6, One of the special designations of Jehovah. Compare carefully our Lord's words in Rev. i. 17, 18, our great Kinsman Mediator's own comment upon Job's testimony.

(4.) "Over." Used here and elsewhere in a sense unusual in the later Hebrew. "Over against," as a conqueror of the grave. Surget contra pulverem; pulverem scilicet, mortem ac sepulchrum debellaturus." (Fred. Spanheim, the Younger. Misc. Sacr. Antiq. I. xiii. 12. Quoted by Dr. Pye Smith in Scrip. Test, Vol. I., p. 189.)

ואח

(5.) "This!" ("shall happen,"-understood).

The feminine form is often used in such a construction. Gesenius renders, "After they shall have destroyed my skin, i.e., after my skin shall be destroyed, 'THIS!' sc. shall be, happen, viz., that which precedes in v. 25, the advent of God." (Lexicon, on p.)

(6.)" from," equivalent here to with. The soul should again be embodied in a spiritual body, like the Kinsman Mediator's, and through it again behold HIM.

(7.) "a stranger." In opposition to D. In opposition to . See Note 1, last paragraph.

my inmost thoughts in my bosom are " כלו כליתו בּתֵקִי (.8)

accomplished."

The precise sense of this clause is the most difficult to determine. On the whole the above rendering, which is substantially the venerable Dr. Pye Smith's, appears to be the best.

"The reins" are often used in the O. T. for the inward part, mind, soul, as the seat of the desires, affections, and passions. Thus in Jer. xi. 20, xvíi. 10, xx. 12, Psa. vii. 9, lxx. 21, Prov. xxiii. 16.

"As the heart is figuratively used to signify the temper and disposition, so the reins to signify the close thought and reflection of the mind." (Taylor's Heb. Conc.)

The verb translated in the Auth. v. are consumed" means here are accomplished, completed, finished."

Sept. πάντα δέ μοι συντετέλεσται ἐν κόλπῳ. Vulg. reposita est haec spes mea in sinu meo.

That Job thoroughly understood the full meaning and application of his own sublime prediction is not at all likely. The prophecies were often mysterious to the very prophets who uttered them; so

much so, that they had earnestly to search out what the Spirit of Christ, who was in them, did signify. The divine afflatus carried them out of themselves, and when the God-inspired prediction was uttered, they had to sit down and prayerfully investigate its meaning. See for proof of this 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, 12.

And this fact, by the way, settles the question of the plenary inspiration of, at least, all the prophecies referred to by Peter in the above paragraph.

For, manifestly, clearness of apprehension is necessary to the correct utterance of any thoughts. If, therefore, the ancient prophets did not fully understand their own predictions relating to our gracious Redeemer (and Peter distinctly says they did not), God must have inspired the very words in which these predictions were delivered. No man is competent to give correct and full expression to ideas which he does not comprehend. The inspiration in all the cases referred to by Peter (ut supra) must have extended to the very words employed. In no other way could a correct representation of God's idea have been secured, as the mere scribes were incompetent to give one. Huddersfield.

JOHN STOCK.

Short Notes.

INSUBORDINATION IN THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.-During the last month and more the Church of England has presented scenes of open and audacious rebellion, which appear to foreshadow the approach of a serious crisis. Ritualism is becoming rampant and reckless. Mr. Tooth, the vicar of St. James', Hatcham, in the neighbourhood of Londona Ritualist of the first water, and a thorough Roman Catholic in sentiment was cited before the Court of Arches under the Public Worship Regulation Act, for having celebrated service contrary to the Rubric and the formularies of the Prayer-book, and ordered to discontinue these practices; but, on the 17th of December, openly and ostentatiously continued to repeat them, and appeared at the altar in all the forbidden vestments-chasuble, stole, amice, maniple, girdle, and all; he had the great bell tolled during the service; he took up the forbidden position at the Communion table. Candles were lighted and placed in the position which the Court had forbidden; nor was the crucifix removed. He was as resplendently robed as ever. The only difference between his appearance and that of a Romish priest was in the more glaring and ostentatious decorations of his dress. It was

manifest that he was courting notoriety, and anxious to attain the odour of martyrdom, by incurring the penalty of open rebellion against the authority of the Court. Lord Penzance then proceeded to inhibit his celebration of Divine service in the church, and his decree was duly posted up, and it became the duty of the Bishop of Rochester to provide for the performance of public worship on the succeeding Sunday in the parish, and he nominated Canon Gee to this duty; but he had no sooner entered the church than he was encountered by Mr. Tooth and the churchwardens, supported by a posse of twenty or thirty others, who planted themselves up in a line to resist his farther progress. The recalcitrant Vicar then read a document in which he utterly repudiated the authority of the Court of Arches, and declared his determination not to allow the Canon to officiate, thus setting the authority of the Bishop likewise completely at defiance. The Canon then appealed to the churchwardens to support the authority of the diocesan; but they assured him that they entirely concurred in the views of the Vicar, who would have their cordial support. Seeing them in possession of the field, and so strongly entrenched by physical force, the Canon, anxious to avoid a public scandal in a sacred edifice, read the bishop's license and retired under protest. On Christmas Day the condemned ritual was carried out to its fullest extent. There was a procession more elaborate than any yet seen in the church, carrying six banners, on which were represented a chalice and the host, as in the Roman Catholic services, and a monogram of the Virgin. The communion was celebrated with immense wax candles, lighted; bells and incense and all the practices and ceremonies which the Court of Arches had prohibited, and by the Vicar alone without a single communicant, thus turning the communion into a Popish Mass. On Sunday, the 7th January, Mr. Tooth and his churchwardens turned the parish church into a private chapel by blocking up the doors and allowing no one to enter without a ticket. They enlisted a body of twenty-seven policemen, who aided them in keeping possession of the edifice. A crowd of several thousand assembled outside the building, and endeavoured to obtain admission, and, while the service was proceeding within, commenced the national anthem, shouting and yelling, and pronouncing the words, "Confound their knavish tricks," with peculiar emphasis. A sermon of ten minutes was then preached, and, after the congregation had sat some time in great anxiety, the doors were thrown open, and they were enabled to retire, a passage being made for them by the police through the excited mob, who greeted them with loud hisses as they passed along. As Mr. Tooth continued to set the law and the court at defiance, it appeared certain that these riotous proceedings would be repeated on the ensuing Sunday, the 14th, and possibly with greater violence, and it became indispensable to take vigorous measures to vindicate the law and to preserve the peace of the parish. Mr. Tooth again disobeyed the injunction of Lord Penzance by performing Divine service at five o'clock in the morning, followed by