sage to refer to the communion of saints with one another, appears foreign to the Apostle's general argument, and interferes with grammatical accuracy. The Christian Knowledge Society's Family Bible quotes Dr. Whitby as observing, that "some manuscripts read with him, which is either the true reading, or gives the true sense of the other reading; that is, we have communion with God, as is evident from ver. 6." To the same effect speak most, if not all, biblical commentators of repute; but, as the mistake is of common occurrence among those who can refer only to the English version, and is often observable, even in discourses from the pulpit, it may be of service to notice it for the purpose of correction. BIBLICUS. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. THE practice alluded to by two of your correspondents, in illustration of some expressions in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, is not confined to India, but is observable even to the present day in oriental nations still nearer the scene of Scripture narrative. The following passage from Le Bruyn describes a similar torch used in Persia, at Ispahan. "En nous en retournant sur le soir, nous trouvâmes deux coureurs aux Chiaerbaeg avec des flambeaux allumés. Ce sont des certaines boules de toile trempées dans de l'huile, et fixées, dans une machine de fer attachée au bout d'un grand bâton, avec une platine de cuivre ronde etamée en forme de soucoupe pour recevoir l'huile qui en degoute. Il faisoit cependant encore assez clair; mais c'est une ceremonie qui se pratique parmi les personnes de consideration.' Le Bruyn, c. 38. E. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. It is undoubtedly the duty of every Christian, in reading the Scriptures, "which were written for our learning," to endeavour to derive from them the instruction which they were intended to convey, by no means excluding the historical, pa-, rabolical, and other parts, the practical use of which is not always so immediately evident as that of the more directly doctrinal or hortatory passages. But at the same time, we should beware of allegorising the narratives of the Bible; or of eliciting, from circumstances which were only intended to complete the description, (as is frequently the case in the parables,) a meaning which, however in itself useful or instructive, they do not legitimately afford. It is with some surprise that I observe, even in such works as Cruden's Concordance, and Goode's Essays upon the Names and Titles of Christ, (vol. III. p. 95.) the fatted calf mentioned as one of those titles, with a reference to Luke xv. 23: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound." I cannot see any one single circumstance in the passage to justify the application of this title to the Redeemer: the circumstance seems to have been added merely to represent the festive joy which fol lowed the return of the prodigal to his father's house. Mr. Goode considers it as a feast and a sacrifice; but I think he confounds the sacrifice of joy, and the sacrifice of propitiation. He writes: "Bring forth the fatted calf, says the Eternal Father, and kill it; or, in prophetic language, more expressive and significant, Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord Almighty. "The fatted calf," he adds, "is indeed represented as slain when the prodigal returned; whereas this sacrifice is already finished, never more to be repeated. But even in this we may be led to admire the fulness and all-sufficiency of the Redeemer's sacrifice, and the unchangea to be crucified again by the rejecting of him, so he is set forth as crucified afresh to every returning sinner, and again exhibited in all his dying love to the eye." Mr. Goode here evades the objection; and, like Samson from his antagonist, obtains "sweetness from the strong, and meat from the eater." bleness of its virtue. As he is said there be;" can be interpreted to refer to indwelling sin. This interpretation seems to have arisen from the use of the word plague. Had the Hebrew word been translated sorrow, affliction, or distress, the idea would not perhaps have occurred. The expression in Prov. xiv. 10. is exactly parallel. "The heart knoweth its own bitterness; and stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy;" and though it might with truth be applied to indwelling sin and spiritual joy, yet I think it is evident, that, as in his prayer at the dedication, Solomon here refers to individual and temporal sorrows. There are various other passages of the Bible which might be mentioned with the same view; one of which is an expression used by Solomon when, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, he beseeches God to "hear in heaven what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all his people Israel, which should know every man the plague of his own heart." (1 Kings viii. 38.) This phrase is a well-known Hebraism, and corresponds in meaning with the words in 2 Chron. vi. 29, "his own sore and his own grief." "The former petitions" (says Mr. Scott, in his Commentary, very justly), "particularly respected public judgments and distresses: but this passage related to private afflictions and trials, and whatever should fill the heart and conscience of any individual with anguish and dismay." "This interpretation," Mr. Scott proceeds, "doubtless includes, though it is not confined to, that meaning which is very frequently given to the expression, the plague of his own heart;' namely, the prevalence of indwelling sin, which, as a plague, or pestilential disease, is the grief and sore of every true believer." A marginal note in Charnock's excellent discourse on Providence also remarks, "Sin is called the plague of the heart," 1 Kings viii. 38. Now I do not see how the expression as it stands in the prayer of Solomon, in close connexion with the preceding verse, "If there be in the land famine, pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness a I would not object to every quo tation of a text except in its strict and literal sense. Passages of the Old Testament are frequently cited by accommodation in the New; and much valuable instruction may often be derived from the practical application of an historical passage. But when the interpretation is unauthorized by the original, and is incongruous with the context, such an application of Scripture, besides being improper in itself, tends to injure the cause which it is intended to strengthen, and excites prejudice in the minds of those who are but too ready to imbibe it. N. I. N. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. A CORRESPONDENT who signs himself Oμupov, in your Number for January, requests a reply to the query, "Is it rubrical for the congregation to repeat aloud, with the minister, the Lord's Prayer, at the commencement of the Communion Service?" He has, however, so satisfactorily proved the affirmative as to render any additional remark unnecessary. By "Divine service" your correspondent understands "the Book of Common Prayer:" he must mean the whole of public worship, as directed by that book. The same argument then must surely apply to the repetition of the Lord's Prayer, which is ordered, by the fifty-fifth canon, to be used at the end of the prayer before sermon; and in which, in one church which I have attended, the congregation joined. Archdeacon Sharpe, as quoted by your correspondent, observes, that the clergy have "tied themselves down to a regular, constant, conscientious performance of all and every thing prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer." I should be obliged to any of your correspondents to inform me therefore by what permission the great majority of our clergy read no more than the first sentence of the Exhortation to the Communion, in which the church prepares her members for the due celebration of the most solemn of her rites. She considers it her duty to exhort her communicants to consider the dignity of that holy mystery, and the great peril of the unworthy receiving thereof; and so to search and examine their own consciences, that they be received as worthy partakers of that holy table and offers to the dejected the comfort of absolution and counsel from the "ministers and stewards of her mysteries." I cannot see any reason why the clergy should neglect the rubric by omitting so useful and important an exhortation. In some dioceses a compliance with this rubric has been urged by Episcopal authority, but I am not aware with what effect. N. B. I. FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CCX. Proverbs xviii. 10.-The Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run into it, and are safe. "GOD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Such was the language of the devout Psalmist David; and it well accorded with the still more ancient declaration of Moses, 66 The eter nal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." And whence is it then that those who live under a dispensation of far brighter glory, who call themselves the followers of Him who brought life and immortality to light; who have a more ample revelation of the will of God, a fuller manifestation of his promises, and, above all, that most affecting display of his love and pity which is exhibited in the incarnation and death of his beloved Son for the redemption of a lost world; whence is it that those who are thus most favourably circumstanced should in general be so little sensible of the privilege of having God for their refuge; should often live almost as though the knowledge of his name and perfections were but an idle dream? It is, because men are too often Christians only by name; while they are practically ignorant. of all that is worthy to be called: Christianity. Christianity. They have no true love for God, no scriptural confidence in him; their pursuits, their hopes, and their enjoyments are not in heaven: they live only for this world, and all beyond it appears to them but as a distant phantom. True, they believe, or profess to believe, in the declaration contained in our text; they acknowledge the happiness of the righteous; in words, at least, they account his condition preferable to every other lot: but, while their judgment is convinced, their hearts are not interested ; they have far other preferences as it respects their own personal condition; they are content with far inferior objects of desire, and are willing to risk the favour of God and the happiness of eternity for their enjoyment. Let me urge you this day to a wiser choice: every thing earthly may and must disappoint you; but "the Name of the Lord is a strong tower," and, whatever events may ensue, those who "run into it are safe." With a view to impress the subject deeply upon our minds, we shall inquire, First, What we are to understand by the expression, "The Name of the Lord;" Secondly, What is meant by its being a strong tower; Thirdly, What is the security which it affords; And Fourthly, Who are the persons that partake of that security. First, What are we to understand by the expression, "The Name of the Lord." This comprehensive phrase is used in Scripture to point out all that relates to God, including whatever he has revealed to us concerning himself in his word. When Moses asked him what was his name, he made known to him his eternal, his independent, his incomprehensible existence, "I am that I am :" "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me." 66 I appeared," he says in another place, "unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." His name is used to express his character and attributes: thus it is said, "The Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with Moses, and proclaimed the name of the Lord; and the Lord passed by and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Here his name exhibits to us the relations which he bears to his creatures, either in his goodness or his severity. In a particular manner, his name has respect to the revelation which he has made of his purpose of mercy to our fallen race through the atonement of Christ. He has not described himself to us merely as the God of nature or of providence. True indeed it is, that even in these points the Scriptures are full of instruction: they teach us to read his Divine name exhibited in the works of his creation and the events of his moral government of the world; with reference to which two points the sacred Psalmist devoutly exclaims, " O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who hast set thy glory above the heavens !" "When I consider thy heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, What is man, that thou art mindful of him; and the son of man, that thou visitest him!" Here the character of God is illustrated by the works of his creation and the dispensations of his providence; the Psalm concluding, as it began, with the devout exclamation, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" But this, though a part of what we are taught respecting God in his word, is not that which is more peculiarly meant when his name is spoken of. It is his conduct towards us as transgressors of his laws, and the means which he has graciously provided for our pardon and recovery, that the sacred Scriptures most emphatically connect with the name of God. "I have manifested thy name," says our Saviour, addressing his Father, "unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world." And what was the name or character of God which he manifested? It was, that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." His mercy was exhibited, his perfections were displayed, his name was, as it were, visibly embodied before us in the person of his Son, who was "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." The long-suffering and mercy of God, and whatever the Old-Testament writers assert of his infinite goodness, here connect themselves with the name of the eternal Word, the second person in the holy Trinity, and who himself is the only name under heaven given among men by which sinners, and such are all mankind, can be saved. His name, in a word, is a scriptural ex t pression for Himself; for all he is in his own Divine nature, and all he is in relation to his creatures; and his revealed word being a declaration of his will, addressed not to the fallen spirits or to the angels in heaven, but to the race of Adam, it especially exhibits his name in that aspect in which it was most important for us to behold it, as connected with all our hopes, and duties, and enjoyments, for time and for eternity. But, secondly, what is meant by this Name being a strong tower? A strong tower is a place of intended security for the lives and property of persons exposed to danger or depredation, especially amidst the perils of war. And such is God to all who trust in him. The verse which follows our text illustrates the meaning of the expression: "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own conceit." Is he exposed to danger? he trusts that his riches will allure friends, or purchase defenders, or bribe his enemies. But wealth is not always a strong tower even as concerns the affairs of this life; it may procure physicians, but it cannot purchase health: it may heap together all the accommodations and luxuries of life, but it cannot secure the enjoyment of them; much less can it still the voice of a guilty conscience, or open a bright prospect in the hour of death, or appease the just anger of an omnipotent and omniscient God. It is often most weak where its possessor had expected to find it impregnable, and may in a moment make to itself wings and flee away as an eagle towards heaven. But in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children have a place of refuge." "He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." The servants of God "shall be as mount Zion that cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." The sacred writers seem to delight in accumulating every image of strength and security as expressive of the protecting power of God towards his people. Thus, the Psalmist David, who had been remarkably exposed to alarm and danger both in body and soul, says, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, the horn also of my salvation, and my high tower." And in reference to Christ, who was to come into our fallen world to be the refuge of sinful men amidst the storms of life and the terrors of futurity, the prophet Isaiah prophesied: " A Man shall be a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” But we shall perceive more fully the aptness of the metaphor in our text, in considering, thirdly, the nature of the security which this strong tower affords. The great majority of mankind are insensible of the value of having God for their refuge, because they have not reflected upon the afflictions which lie around every path of human life, the dangers to which they are exposed, the enemies which lie in wait for their soul, or the peace and safety which are to be found in God alone. Our church has briefly summed up the various kinds of affliction which may befal us, under the heads of distresses of mind, of body, and of estate. Now, in all these this strong tower affords a place of refuge. With regard, in the first place, to troubles arising from our worldly condition, whatever our estate may be, whether high or low, rich or poor, there is in God a full supply for every necessity. He did not forget Joseph in the prison, or the people of Israel in the house of bondage, or Daniel in the den of lions; and if even an earthly parent who is evil, that is, encompassed with sin, and frailty, and ignorance, and imperfection, knows how to give good gifts unto |